The new Left Behind film comes to theaters this weekend, and its got me nostalgic. Left Behind is one of the most important things that has ever occurred in my life. Almost 20 years ago, my Dad wrote the first Left Behind book. Ill never forget being excited that every time I walked into my girlfriends (now wife) Dads (now father-in-law) Christian bookstore, they were sold out of the 2 or 3 copies theyd ordered. Then I started overhearing people talk about them at my college. And then slowly but surely, I noticed MORE people talk about them, and I noticed people reading them in public. Then the sequel, Tribulation Force, came out. And that popularity grew. And then another one... And then my life changed forever. Namesake Entertainment, a tiny little production company based in Louisville, Kentucky of all places, led by a hyper, ADD, streetsmart salesman named Joe Goodman, whod barely watched many movies in his life, had gotten the rights to a couple of projects and sold them to TV. They were still small, and their investors consisted of several relatively wealthy members of the massive church they attended, Southeast Christian Church. It was basically a collection of Christians who wanted to make a difference in media. Joe was in a bookstore looking for more movie ideas, he saw Left Behind and immediately thought, this would make for a successful movie. And Joe went after my Dad and Tim Lahaye relentlessly until they agreed to sell him the rights to the first two books. This was huge for me. I was a movie buff (from my Dads influence), I wanted to be a filmmaker, and now one of my Dads books was going to be a movie. We immediately started dreaming about the big stars who could play roles. Joe Goodman heard I wanted to be in movies, and he needed a secretary/assistant, so he called me and asked if Id want to work for Namesake. Um, yes please. So right after college, I moved to Los Angeles all by myself to help handle things that were possibly developing there for Namesake. 8 months later, they moved me to Louisville to be with them, and for the next 3 and a half years, I lived in Louisville. During this time: 1. I got married, and Amanda and I lived in an apartment before moving into our first house, which we purchased from my still friend Phil Russell. 2. We were passionate members of Southeast, a phenomenal church that impacted us greatly. 3. Amanda met her current best friend in the world there, Ashley Davidson, and I became close with Ashleys husband Matt. Matt passed away from a car accident a couple years ago, but we and our kids remain close enough to be related. (So Ashley, you can honestly thank Left Behind for your relationship with Amanda) 4. I got the crap kicked out of me the first year or two working for Namesake, both as a man and a worker. I learned what a moron I really was, and I learned how humble I needed to become. I went from an entitled, lazy jackass to a very hard worker who got promoted almost immediately after I learned my lesson and decided to become invaluable to my bosses (a lesson that impacted the rest of my life). 5. Because of the movie development, we were at many Christian media events, and there Amanda and I met the lead singer of my favorite band in the world Jars of Clay, and his wife, and we remain brother and sister to Dan and Katie Haseltine to this day. 6. Amanda got pregnant with Sam. The development of the Left Behind movie at Namesake has become lore...it led to a combustible partnership with Cloud Ten Pictures out of Canada, who ultimately financed, distributed, and co-produced the film. It led to an ugly lawsuit from Tim Lahaye, the man with the original idea for Left Behind. It led to three movies that went direct-to-DVD but have sold millions, years before the explosion of the faith-based film market. My Dad and I still get asked about those movies, as people assume we made them or were part of making them. We werent. I was involved or connected to or aware of every step of the DEVELOPMENT of the Left Behind movie, and I learned countless lessons about business, relationships, handling conflict, etc.. Imagine what a gift it is for an aspiring filmmaker to get to be on the inside of EVERY step of a film, including all the different attempts at the script. But right when the movies were about to be made, I left/got fired (long story, nothing scandalous, everyone involved still friends). My Dad and I werent in line with the direction the movie was going, so we decided to start our own production company, Jenkins Entertainment. After all those years of being a part of the pain and struggle to get Left Behind made, I missed out on the making of it. We decided to finance and produce our first film, a little high school football movie called Hometown Legend. How was this even possible? Left Behind had become a phenomenon. By this point a million copies a month were being sold. My Dad was on the cover of Newsweek, he was on Larry King. It was insane. And we now had the resources to do our own thing. Left Behind was responsible for my first film, which I made at the ripe old age of 25. I had no clue what I was doing, so I broke a lot of rules (another great lesson I learned--break rules). It starred Terry OQuinn (Locke on Lost) and Lacey Chabert, and ended up getting distributed by friggin Warner Brothers. All this led to more opportunities in the business. Amanda and I moved to L.A., where we lived for ten years, and Jenkins Entertainment made several more movies. Left Behind gave my Dad more presence in the Christian world, where he met several leaders and influential pastors, including James MacDonald at Harvest Bible Chapel. They became friends, and when James decided he wanted Harvest to make some movies and expand their media department, he reached out to me, and my family and I have been in Chicago having our lives radically changed in every way possible for the past four years. About to make my next feature film. Totally separate from my Dad and Left Behind. But of course, non-existent without them. And now the new Left Behind movie is coming out. My Dad has made no secret of the fact that he wasnt a fan of the original movies, and thats an understatement. Whats happened since those movies has been even more difficult and contentious than what took place before (although my Dad has kept his incredible integrity and grace intact at every step), which makes this weekend a bit of a shocker. My Dad and I saw a rough cut of the film several months ago. And it was pretty bizarre to see Nic Cage (NIC CAGE!!!! The dude from Raising Arizona, Leaving Las Vegas, Honeymoon in Vegas, The Rock! Hes been at times one of my favorite actors in the world!) playing Rayford Steele, saying things my Dad wrote years ago. Watching Dr. Lahaye and my Dad actually enjoy the movie, which was made by the same producer of the original films, and have these guys work together for its success and become friends, is a miracle. For many people--non-Christians, Christian hipsters, cool people, literary types, cinephiles--Left Behind is a joke. They say the books were poorly written, the movies were horrible, the theology is bad. And many are mocking this upcoming film. And to be fair, I wasnt a fan of the original movies either, Im aware the books arent high-art literature (something my Dad is also aware of, although they were a hell of a good read), and I think the current film falls in the middle between the awful reviews its getting and the excitement some devotees will feel this weekend. However, even though Ive been asked about all this countless times for 20 years, youll rarely hear me say much about the books or even the movies other than this: Left Behind is responsible for, or has led to, nearly every part of the second half of my life. My Dad saying yes when Tim Lahaye asked him to write a book based on people disappearing on a plane has been a direct link to deep friendships, immeasurable growth in our relationship with God, the course of my career, the churches weve been part of. I owe more than I can ever come close to repaying to my Dad and those books. So well be there this weekend, and well no doubt take a picture of my kids next to the poster for Grandpas movie. And Ill continue to be immensely proud of being known as Dallas Youre DAD wrote Left Behind?! Jenkins the rest of my life.
Posted on: Fri, 03 Oct 2014 05:54:16 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015