Catholic World News News Feature
Making Movies, The Little Way February 01, 2004
By John Herreid
For decades now, Catholics have been chafing at the portrayal of their faith in film. It is a rare occurrence when a movie accurately depicts what Catholicism is about. Only a handful of Catholic-friendly films have been made since the 1960s, while scores of anti-Catholic and anti-Christian films have been released. Even when a movie seeks to depict Catholicism in a positive light, the writers, directors and producers rarely have a firm grip on what Church is, and the end result is a distorted view.
As the great Catholic actor Alec Guinness said in his memoir, A Positively Final Appearance:
I always suspend belief, whatever the film, when a camera glides around a Catholic church; there is always a blaze of limb-sized candles, vast blue and white statues of the BVM, and never a sign of a tabernacle or anyone at their devotions.
Can this trend be reversed? That is what one small Catholic production company is seeking to do.
St. Luke Productions, founded in 1980 by Leonardo and Patti Defilippis, a Catholic couple from Oregon, started as a small venture, presenting one-man shows of the gospels and lives of saints. Supported by private donations and the revenues from live shows, it has grown slowly over the years. Now in its 23rd year, the homegrown production company has earned a loyal following among orthodox Catholics, presenting such popular dramas as Maximilian: Saint of Auschwitz and St. Francis: Troubadour of God’s Peace. These dramas, performed by Leonardo and written by Patti, were later filmed on stage, reaching a wider audience on video.
Following their first on-location film project, John of the Cross, St. Luke Productions tackled its most ambitious endeavor yet: a full-scale motion picture on the life of St. Thérèse of Lisieux. St. Luke’s Thérèse was made to be big in a small way, with Leonardo directing and Patti providing an original screenplay. But this project has ended up being far larger and more elaborate than either the director or writer could have foreseen.
NEW METHODS, NEW INSIGHTS
How was a small Catholic company able to produce a movie that has the technical quality of a Hollywood blockbuster, while maintaining the faith and reverence that only a group of believers can provide? Imitating St. Thérèse, they did it "the little way." Securing donations and spreading news of the project by word of mouth, St. Luke’s was able to raise the funds for a big-budget film without the backing of a major studio.
The remarkable story of “The Little Flower” has inspired filmmakers in the past, most notably with The Miracle of St. Thérèse (1952) and Thérèse (1986), both French films. Patti Defilippis, comparing the 1986 film with the St. Luke depiction of the saint, says that the earlier movie missed the conversion of St. Thérèse from selfish child to mature adult. “I thought about it a lot, about why they didn’t get who she was," she recalled. "What they really missed was that transformation.” This omission made it hard to gain insight into the true character of Thérèse, and to learn from her example.
The scale of production for the new film will also make it distinctive. Leonardo Defilippis promises:
Our movie will be different; it’s longer, and it’s bigger, so it will show more of her life. We tried to make the look of the movie historically accurate. We worked intimately with the Discalced Carmelites during the shoot.
Working with religious, and gaining their insights, allowed for details that previous attempts might have missed, such as the day-to-day life and personal struggles in Carmel. In addition, a set was built based on photographs made available by the Carmelites, replicating the interior of the convent at Lisieux as closely as possible. Exterior shots of Rome and Lisieux were edited together with the filming done in Oregon to create the illusion that the viewer was actually seeing France and Italy of the late 19th century.
SETTING THE CAST
On set the crew was a mix of Catholics and non-Catholics, with a large number of film professionals brought in to help give Thérèse the "look and feel" of a big-budget picture. But the greatest difficulty was selecting an actress to play St. Thérèse.
Leonardo Defilippis recalls, “I was searching for a lead. You have to have a good Thérèse or the movie goes down the tubes.” After days of auditioning, he happened to be walking by the casting director’s room while videotaped auditions were being viewed. One look at an audition tape convinced him that he had found his lead, even though the actress was reading for the part of Celine, the sister of Thérèse.
It was a tape from 18-year-old Lindsay Younce, whose only previous experience had been high school plays. After one of her shows, an audience member had suggested auditioning for St. Luke Productions. She had initially been interested in only an extra’s part, but was convinced to audition for a larger role. Another remarkable coincidence clinched it for Leonardo. “The next day I went to go to daily Mass, and because of the traffic I ended up going to another parish I didn’t usually go do,” he said. “As I looked up from praying, I saw this woman there, praying.” The young woman was Lindsay Younce, who had never met Defilippis. “I took it for a sign from God,” the director said. Younce was called back to read for the role of Thérèse, and the hurdle of finding a lead actress was soon cleared.
A WELCOMING AUDIENCE IN ROME
Unlike the usual small-budget Christian film, Thérèse is presented in full wide-screen glory, with impressive period costumes, Dolby surround sound, professional editing, and a fully orchestrated original soundtrack.
The research and care that went into the Thérèse production shows even in the short clips available on the movie’s web site. From those who have seen previews of the entire film, the early reviews have been enthusiastic. According to Father Donald Kinney, OCD, who has translated the writings of St. Thérèse, the movie is “a masterpiece" He adds: "Of all the films I have seen on St. Thérèse, it is the best. I repeat: it is a masterpiece, a chef d’oeuvre.”
In May of 2003, St. Luke Productions brought their movie to Rome, screening it for an international audience representing 110 countries. Before the screening, the cast and crew were able to visit with Pope John Paul II, who blessed the reels of film. Lindsay Younce remembers being taken aback by the enthusiasm of the audience in Rome, saying that the response was “overwhelming, it honestly surprised and delighted me. People were asking, ‘When will this film come to our country, and our town?’” As the film ended, the attendance rose for a standing ovation.
Later in the summer Leonardo Defilippis returned to Italy seeking a second meeting with the Pope. Bringing along a poster from the film, he and a few others made the trip to the summer residence of Castelgandolfo. Defilippis was not entirely prepared for what happened. “We went to Castelgandolfo and showed the poster to the Pope. He blessed the image," he reports. "And then, without our even knowing it, he watched the movie later that night."
FROM ROME TO HOLLYWOOD
Like other faithful Catholics, Leonardo Defilippis feels a special attachment to Rome. And as he reflects on the fact that the Holy See was established in Rome, he draws encouragement for his own work in film:
If you think about it, why did Jesus choose Rome? Because it was the most powerful epicenter in the world. What is the most powerful epicenter today? The motion picture industry.
By transforming the film industry, Defilippis argues, Catholics could influence far more souls than through any other medium. This is the ultimate goal of St. Luke Productions: to convert an art that has become increasingly secular and even anti-Christian over the years. And the conversion can happen, he believes, in the way that the Defilippis team has learned from the saint herself: the little way.
The atmosphere that prevailed on the Thérèse set was described by Younce as “a real sense of family.” She added that while most members of the cast and crew were not Catholic, they were nevertheless affected by the filming of the movie. “Even if this film never got off its feet and people never saw it, the people who worked on set were touched by this story,” she says. St. Luke Productions is now working to demonstrate to distributors that the public interest in Thérèse is sufficient to make its release financially feasible. To help spread the word, interested readers can contact St. Luke Productions on the web at www.theresemovie.com, or by phone at 503-524-7760.
[AUTHOR ID] John Herreid, who works in the marketing department for Ignatius Press in San Francisco, doubles as a free-lance writer.
