My Movie Is Filming!

Tomorrow's a pretty big day, now that I think of it.

My first movie begins filming in the morning.

A few years ago I was contracted by friend and frequent collaborator Rich Christiano to come up with a movie that retells a Bible story--any story. I got to pick. The Bible is filled with tremendous accounts of men and women against all odds in the name of their faith, but there's one little prophet tucked in the corners of obscurity who has always meant a great deal to me:

Hosea.

Who?

Hosea is a man who God called to marry an unfaithful woman. Why? Because God's own bride--the nation of Israel--was playing the harlot by falling into idolatry. God wanted someone to identify with Him; He wanted someone to share in His pain. Someone to relate to. Hosea was chosen to marry this woman--not as a punishment, but because he was faithful. God led him into a difficult situation so that God could share His own great pain with a mere mortal. What a story!

I've taught the story of Hosea for many years in Bible studies, and I wanted to bring Hosea's story to the big screen. Now, these many years later, my script is in production. The movie is tentatively titled:

Amazing Love: The Story of Hosea.

But this is not just an adaptation of the Hosea story. In fact, it's crouched within a modern day context. In the film, we follow Staurt, a youth group leader who takes his teens on a camping trip. There they deal with strife within the group and Stuart begins to share the story of Hosea's love--a lesson that will impact all the kids.

Now, obviously, this is not my usual kind of story. There's no monsters or bogeymen. This is a much gentler, heartwarming tale of a few kids learning the value of friendship and unconditional love. It's a family movie. That might not be your cup of tea--it's rarely mine :p But I'm proud that Hosea's story will be brought out of obscurity and get some screen time.

Over the years, Rich and his brother Dave have worked on the script. It looks a little different than when I left it, but I'm eager to see the finished product. It is being directed by Kevin Downes--an actor, producer, and director--who is currently starring in Courageous.

I'm SUPER pumped to reveal that the actor who will be playing the part of Stuart, the counselor who tells Hosea's story, is none other than Sean Astin! Better known (by my circle of friends at any rate) as Samwise Gamgee from The Lord of the Rings films!


I was also able to see the kids who will be starring in our movie and we've got some incredible talent lined up for this picture. I'll keep everyone in the loop as the production progresses. We're looking at having this finished by February--which is coincidentally when Enemies of the Cross, the next novel in my supernatural thriller series The Coming Evil, is being released! So, you've got two sides of Greg Mitchell coming at you at the same time: Hallmarky warm and fuzzy, and unrelenting terror :) Take your pick.