Hi Jonathon, it’s always great to catch up with you and see what exciting projects you have coming up. Can you tell us what your new movie “The measure of your Faith” is about?
The measure of your Faith is a retelling of the famous biblical story “The book of job” from the King James Bible. It is about a pastor that is challenged with his faith during the events that come into his life.
What made you sign up for this role?
I read the script and the idea of playing a conflicted pastor who is challenged in ways we would not expect was such a challenge and also an exciting role to play. I say that because in real life we almost see pastors as men of Faith that live blessed lives but that is certainly not the case with Samuel.
That sounds like something we do not see on a regular basis!
Exactly! I did not want to play a pastor that led an easy going life where it was always rainbows and lollipops wherever he went. So the idea of playing a great man of Faith who is struggling with his own Faith and the events that compound his life during the movie was so fascinating!
How did you prepare for a role like this?
It all starts with the King James Bible and understanding “the book of job” story and what he went through and why. After that, I researched the life of a pastor and what that may entail, I spent a lot of time in churches watching sermons and building on my own Faith. Then I play with my imagination and start to imagine what it’s like to build a story and a past for the character which leads up to the movie.
Is “The measure of your Faith” a religious movie?
Yes and no. Yes it is about a Christian pastor in a local community who is challenged by his Faith and is finding it extremely hard to hold to it. It is also a movie that allows you to understand Faith can be in anything- in yourself, your family, in your career and obviously in your religion. Even trying to get this movie made and the test of Faith we had with all the production issues and other events I won’t even mention. That in itself was a test of Faith. Faith in the sense that we have a great movie here that can help and effect people and we are getting challenged by certain conflicts. But let’s put some of our own Faith into this movie and get it made.
You are actually directing this movie, also. Tell us about this:
Yes, I was originally signed on to star in the movie as the lead character. Then three weeks out from shooting the director quit. It was a moment of shock were we like “what do we do”? We took some time to think about it, then we came to the fact that we have all been heavily involved in this project from an early stage, so, let’s serve the film and get it done!
What is it like be a director and an actor in the same movie?
It was a challenge… BUT, I must say I loved both roles! In saying that, we put a lot of work into the pre-production which made it easier than I thought it would be. In my mind I had two jobs I had to do, 1: to serve the role of Samuel and bring him to life and 2: to make the best picture I could. Ultimately it comes down to what best serves this film.
Thank you for your time today and when can we expect to see “The measure of your Faith” released?
We are targeting an October 30th release date. Thank you so much for your time
