Sparking the Big Questions

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The church itself is changing so much in terms of how it uses popular culture to convey a message. In recent weeks, my pastor has used everything from a U2 song to "The Apprentice" to get something topical and relevant.

Our expertise here is education. So we have a very good idea of how to use the film and make it relevant and applicable to the book. In terms of how the film can be used at church, we're out of our depth there. We really don't know how church and parachurch leaders are going to use the film. We offer no advice on how to do that. We just want to make sure everyone--whether a librarian in Louisiana or a pastor in San Francisco--understands we have this film, and film is a very powerful medium for all different kinds of things.

What is Walden Media working on next?

We just started filming a movie called "Amazing Grace." It's the story of William Wilberforce and John Newton and the rest of the Clapham Sect [a group of social reformers in England in the 19th century] working together to abolish slavery in the U.K. It's going to come out in March 2007, to coincide with the 200th anniversary of the abolition of the slave trade in the U.K. We're hoping we can launch a real campaign around it to get back that same sense of social justice the Clapham Sect had: How can we approach the social problems of today, and how can we can tackle things and make the world a better place?

We also have a project called Manhunt, which is the search for John Wilkes Booth, which Harrison Ford is attached to star in.

Where is the Narnia franchise going?

We'd love to do all seven, but Hollywood is certainly a bottom-line driven business, so I think the success of this film will dictate that. But we're pretty confident right now and moving ahead for the next one.

Have are your own spiritual and religious beliefs reflected in work?

It's tough for me to parse that out, because I try to have it influence everything I do. The key for me is to try to be humble. It's sort of paradoxical: By practicing humility and saying, "I'm no expert at this," and turning that over to teachers and librarians and parents, that's been the biggest influence, in terms of asking "What do you want to see?" That's where my faith has had the biggest influence--just getting out of the way.

How would you describe your religious identity?

A mere Christian.

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