Is this the golden age of faith-based cinema? Two years ago, Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ shattered box office records. That same year T. D. Jakes drew attention with his drama Woman, Thou Art Loosed. Last year a little film called The Gospel had a respectable run, and, as expected, The Chronicles of Narnia is a huge hit. Things are already afoot in 2006: In January, the missionary drama End of the Spear opened in theaters. And in February, Christian singer Michael W. Smith made his motion picture debut in The Second Chance, which is now available on DVD.
A simple film about faith, race, and reconciliation, The Second Chance doesn't feature big special effects or an epic storyline. But it may be the most relevant of the recent crop of religious movies, because it tackles complex issues of everyday church life. For many viewers, in fact, it will hit extremely close to home.
At its heart, the movie is a tale of two churches—one white and one black. The Rock is an affluent, mostly white, suburban megachurch. The Sunday crowds are big; the music and multimedia are cutting edge; the missions programs are massive. Yet The Rock's pastor, Jeremiah Jenkins, seems strangely detached. Ethan (Smith), Jenkins's son and The Rock's image-savvy worship minister, is set to inherit the senior pastor role, but a scandalous episode prompts the church's elders to ship Ethan to its inner-city "satellite congregation," Second Chance Community Church.
Jake Sanders (jeff obafemi carr*) is Second Chance's street-smart pastor. A tireless community servant, Jake works hard to keep his church going while confronting the social ills and economic disparities in his mostly black neighborhood. He resents the arrival of Ethan, with his fancy car and "cash can solve anything" attitude. But the two men slowly bond as they face street gangs, their own prejudices, and those who would sell out the church for political gain.
•Crossing the Divide
The Second Chance may be a bit unsettling for those expecting an unambiguous "message movie," which is why Smith insists, "I wouldn't necessarily call this a Christian film." Yet, by zeroing in on the mundane facets of church life and shattering our culture's stereotypes of evangelical believers, it's probably the most believable Christian film we've had in a long time.
Director Steve Taylor, better known for his work as an artist and producer in Christian music, dreamed up the idea for the film six years ago over cups of coffee with screenwriters Chip Arnold and Ben Pearson. But things really took off when Smith and jeff obafemi carr, a prominent Nashville thespian, were recruited for the starring roles.
Today's Christian spoke with Taylor, Smith, and carr about the making of The Second Chance and the lingering racial divide that the movie explores.
Steve, you've directed a lot of music videos through the years. Why did you choose The Second Chance as your first feature-length project?Steve: I had the idea awhile back. The first guy I talked to about it was [the late author and ministry leader] Mike Yaconelli, who had been a longtime friend. I told him about the idea of trying to tell a story that was set in contemporary church life, and trying to make it feel real to those who actually go to church or who grew up in it. He gave me some great advice, but he died [in 2003] before the script was finished. He was an inspiration. Also, my dad is a pastor. So seeing the kind of things he went through provided a lot of inspiration.And finally just living here in Nashville, which supposedly has the most churches per capita of any city in the country, helped inspire me. The churches here are so segregated, like they are, I'm guessing, in most of the country. I wanted to explore that issue.Did you always have Michael in mind for the film?Steve: Ben Pearson, my director of photography and co-writer, was the one who suggested Michael. Of course my first question was the one everyone had: Can he act? We talked to him about it and began running through some rough scenes, and I got the sense that he would be able to do it. So at that point we wrote the part with him in mind.Alfred Hitchcock used to say the reason he liked to cast stars in his movies was because he could get the movie going a lot faster, because the audience would have an immediate empathy with those personalities that they knew. And I certainly felt like that was one advantage of having Michael.I have to say, though, he was pretty brave going into this. He's one of Christian music's biggest names, and a lot of people in his position would be concerned about how their public image is portrayed; they kind of want the idealized version of themselves on the screen. Well, there are a lot of things about the character of Ethan Jenkins that are not very flattering. But Michael was fine with it, and it's a better movie because of that.Michael, what drew you to this film?Michael: I've been interested in acting since high school. I've been in front of a camera, doing videos and things like that, for the last 23 years. I never felt compelled to move to Hollywood, but always in the back of my head, I thought, If a movie comes my way that I really believe in, and it has some sort of redemptive quality to it, then I would love to consider it.Were you concerned about playing a role that is so, in a way, anti-Michael W. Smith?Michael: I wasn't that worried about what anybody was going to think of me. My management and record company were! There was even one place in the script where I was supposed to say a cuss word. Everybody was freaking out, and we ended up removing the line. But, to be honest, it probably should have been in the movie, because it wasn't just profanity for the sake of using profanity. It made sense for the story.jeff, how did you get involved in this film?jeff: In the beginning, I wasn't supposed to have the role. It was going to go to a Hollywood star, like Don Cheadle. I was brought in just to do some read-throughs with Michael and to maybe do a smaller part. But after I read for Steve and the other producers, they asked me to consider the role of Jake Sanders.I was always drawn to the story. I call it the "re-movie," because so many of the themes it deals with—reconciliation, rebirth, and redemption—have the prefix "re." Re means to do again, to go back and repeat. For me, that's what a second chance is.What about the racial and class divisions that the movie addresses? How did taking on such a controversial topic affect you personally?Steve: An observation I've heard a lot is, "Ask the average white person about race and racism, and they'll say everything is fine and there's no reason to talk about it, but ask a black person the same question and they'll want to talk about it." I've realized that African Americans are living things that I don't notice, that I don't have to think about.Michael: There were all these revelations, even in the heat of doing fictional scenes, that I learned about myself. jeff and I had a pretty good rapport. He taught me a lot as an actor. But he also showed me that I haven't totally figured this race thing out. Honestly, I thought I had a real good handle on this whole thing between whites and blacks. But I came away from the experience going, "Hmm …. I probably need to listen a little more."jeff: This movie challenged me on many levels. I think as Christians we have to be careful not to turn the church into an exclusive club of folks just like ourselves. We have to understand that the church goes beyond the four walls, and that if our mission is to transform lives, we do that because God did it for us first. We've got to do it because Christ sacrificed Himself for us. And I think what the church needs now—whether we're black, white, brown, or yellow—is a little more sacrifice.This is a gritty film that some folks might find a bit offensive. Ultimately, what do you want Christian audiences to get from it?Michael: First of all, I'd like them to walk away saying, "Hey, he can act!" But even more than that, I hope people leave the theater thinking, I need to be more compassionate. I need to be more giving. I need to be more tolerant. I need to be more like Jesus in every part of my life.Steve: In most of the screenings that we've done for pastors and other Christian leaders, we've gotten feedback that this is a movie that changed the way they think about things. Many said, "I've got to have my congregation see this" or "This movie made me really uncomfortable." It's not a film that you can easily shrug off, I guess.There was a well-done film out last year called Crash. It was one of the few movies in recent memory that takes matters of race seriously. After I saw it with a friend, I just needed to talk about it. I hope The Second Chance can have that same effect.
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