ARGH! What Have You Done to Our Beloved Pilgrim's Progress?

Probably the most negative feedback we get is from people expecting the EXACT, Year of our Lord 1678 Pilgrim’s Progress story-a super, in-your face, message filled classic allegory. It's great and iconic however some folks just don’t see or get what we were trying to do which was something different than your traditional faith-based movies that prosthelytize quite often and formulaically seem to work in terms of box office numbers and also for evangelicals who want nice family entertainment with a very overt message. I’m not judging, seriously, I get it. There's a need for those for sure. But that’s not me.

What drew me to this type of project as a lover of high-quality cinema and story, was telling an allegory that people could discuss and figure out. By the way, that's great art. It doesn’t slap you in the face with the message. You are left staring at it and trying to pull meaning. Let the audience interpret it. Yes, guide them but let them deduce. I did NOT want to do a story with an overt message. Plenty of those out there. I definitely WANTED a message, but sort of wrapped in the different characters and events. Tell the story. People’s disdain confuses me because so often Jesus spoke in parables, and his disciples were like...what? Huh? Case in point, this week two women on Facebook were discussing who the Interpreter was in our film. Wisdom? Angel? Holy Spirit? Male? Female? That's perfect.

To be honest, the original “script” read a bit more like the first part of Pilgrim’s Progress. But we then moved to this prequel idea because our hope was that if this did well and gain enough traction, we could make it a trilogy continuing the story with Christian and Christiana. But maybe you’re still like...WHY? Some will say, “Matt, why have you forsaken this wonderful book and taken the name???” When I read the original, I realized it would take a large sum of money, in the millions, to really do it well, so instead, we could tell an intimate story of this fella who later became God’s man and lead Christian to salvation. That was doable on the cheaper budget, it didn’t require huge set pieces or battles, it didn’t require huge amounts of VFX. This was the fit for what we could hopefully do well. If someone would like to hand me $2-4 million, I’d be happy to give them the Pilgrim’s Progress they’ve always dreamed of. But as creators, that’s what we did. We created something. Different.

So Heavenquest is this intimate tale of Vangel (Later Evangelist) who goes on his journey and encounters fear, lust, anger, deceit, friendship, healing, help, hope, and salvation. It’s an everyman’s story. It’s filled with messages and no, it’s not in your face, which oddly upsets people quite a bit as I’ve said. Heck, someone even called it “demonic.” What? Some want the cross, some want Jesus to swoop in and literally lead Vangel in the sinner’s prayer. Some are upset our symbolic Jesus character, Elikai, was Asian. This is what I deal with. Sometimes my jaw just hits the ground. IT'S AN ALLEGORY, PEOPLE! (Notice the caps there...) But our film, much like the original is not the Bible. And our film is trying to bridge a gap. A void where anyone, believer or not, could see our film and hopefully see those messages or get something out of it. BUT, it’s not some sort of Bible track or Hallmark card.

I have a massive desire to see God glorified through what I create, but I also feel like

there is something missing in Christian art. And, um, even Bono from U2, agrees with me. Something to the effect of..ART REQUIRES HONESTY. I want to make gritty (not gratuitous, of course) content in the fantasy, sci fi, thriller space that gets people thinking and talking! Let’s move the needle with great stories that inspire and move people. Maybe Heavenquest doesn’t quite get there for some, but that was totally the intent.