Stephen Kendrick said something at this year's Christian Worldview Film Festival that resonated with me. He said you want lead actors that love Jesus and represent him on and off the camera. Thanks Stephen. That advice was hugely important for me in casting Rich as the lead in A Matter of Perspective Movie. Here are 12 reasons I think you should cast Rich in your film. Any one of them alone would have been well worth it:
1) He is sold out to God and is an ambassador for Christ wherever he goes. He encouraged me greatly in my relationship with God to walk closer, shine brighter, love deeper, witness often, give thanks in all circumstances and praise God for the victories.
2) He is a consummate professional that studied his lines and researched his character thoroughly.
3) He provides expert acting coaching making it fun and encouraging.
4) He brings other terrific acting talent with him. He even brought his lovely wife Joyce who became our prayer warrior on set.
5) He is a superb actor that requires little to no guidance during each take.
6) He is a smart marketer of his brand and adds tremendous value to the film conducting radio and TV interviews as well as film festival, web and social networking buzz.
7) He bathes everything he does in prayer from the first day of the project to the last.
8) He is extremely humble and kind, not even losing his cool after a 15 hour day when I did.
9) He fully expects every day to include divine appointments and it was impressive to me watching God provide them.
10) Through his "Big Kingdom, Small World" attitude he knows people everywhere and provided many needed resources through his friends.
11) He loves to laugh and brings fun and levity to some extremely long tiring shooting days. I haven't laughed that hard in a long time.
12) He has the gift of languages. We counted he spoke 7 languages in one day at Crater lake alone.
As you can tell, I am pretty impressed with this man and grateful to God for his assistance, talent and heart during our shoot. It was a tremendous encouragement to me and my family and he left a lasting impact on our lives.
Thank you Rich Swingle! You are a great blessing!
Mike Hill and the whole A Matter of Perspective team.
