Not so very long ago, the words ‘Christian film’, like ‘Christian rock’ inspired incomparable dread and bespoke what Ian Faith once called ‘selective appeal’. But a lot can change when Holy War swings around.
In recent times, neo-Puritanical tastes nurtured by the current American administration propelled The Passion Of The Christ toward blockbuster status. Mel’s tidy haul ensured that both Hollywood and the independent sector have started to pay attention to the holy dollar. Suddenly, even well known Zionists like the Brothers Weinstein have come to realise what televangelists have known far ages – there’s money in this here God racket.
Earlier this year, they part financed and distributed Hoodwinked, a Shrek-ification of Red Riding Hood. In its first week it almost topped the US box-office and has gone on to dominate the DVD chart. To date it has grossed $55 million, easily surpassing more lavishly budgeted Disney films such as Home On The Range and The Wild.
An independent animated feature from Christian director Corey Edwards, Hoodwinked could, according to Entertainment Weekly “end up doing for independent animation what Tarantino and Soderbergh did for indie films.” A sassy, snappy CG cartoon that replays Angela Carter’s favourite fairytale in a splintered Rashomon fashion, the screenplay for Mr. Edward’s debut attracted the vocal talents of Glenn Close, Anne Hathaway and Patrick Warburton, plus the attention of Robert Rodriguez who promptly put Harvey and Bob on the case.
“It snowballed,” Corey tells me on a visit to Dublin. “I mean, if we had known all the challenges of doing an independent animated film – which nobody has ever gotten all the way to the theatre release – we might never have attempted it. But beyond our wildest dreams, not only did the film get picked up by the Weinsteins – and that was at the final, eleventh hour – but they said, “We’re going to go out with a wide release, and at first maybe 1,800 screens,” and the awareness got so great with the grassroots promotion and their ad campaign that we expanded to 3,000 screens by the second week. It was amazing.”
The recent affordability of animation software is part of Hoodwinked‘s success story, but a marketing strategy stressing the film’s Christian-friendly content, similar to tactics employed by Disney for The Chronicles Of Narnia, has also made headlines. Sure enough, the director has, in his time, also presided over several Christian pop videos and worked the clubs as a Christian comedian. How, I wonder, does his faith impact on the movie. And what does Christian film mean anyhow?
“Well, like most people my age Star Wars was the defining event of my youth,” he says. “And I loved Indiana Jones and Disney cartoons and anything by Jim Henson. The Muppets had a big effect on my sense of humour. All of these films are funny and entertaining for adults but aimed at kids. I think even with the Shrek movies, there’s a lot of stuff designed to sail right over kids’ heads. With The Muppets everybody laughed at the same moments. So I wanted to do clean comedy like that. I tried to make a film that would be suitable for everybody but still funny.”
On the back of Hoodwinked’s success, the Weinsteins have commissioned a sequel and parachuted Corey into existing projects for rewrites and dialogue polishes. Even with the backing of such august industry figures and a neat, if not gorgeously animated film under his belt, one wonders if Corey’s new ventures can score similar audience figures on this side of the Atlantic, where the Christian tag may well do more harm than good. Many people, I point out, might think of Christian comedy as an oxymoron.
“It’s a funny thing. There are some comedians who can use blue language and get away with it. I love Eddie Izzard, but he can make anything sound funny. But some comedians just swear for laughs. You can’t do that when you’re keeping your act clean enough so people can take their mom or grandmother along.”
He laughs.
“So it keeps you on your toes, you know?”