I just found out that Ken Wales went to be with the Lord on August 21. The news brought back a flood of memories.

Sometime in 2004 I heard from my friend Sean Gaffney that Ken, who had produced the original Pink Panther films, Breakfast at Tiffany's, Christy, and many others, was interested in producing the rest of the Chariots of Fire story. I was working on Beyond the Chariots, my one-man play that tells that story, at the time, so I was very interested in auditioning for Eric Liddell in the film. 

At the time I knew they were working on Amazing Grace, so I was shocked when Ken called me up. I told him about my play and hoped he could see a reading of it at a Christians in Theatre Arts gathering near him that year, hoping he'd think of me for Liddell. He shocked me again when he mentioned that they didn't have a script yet! 

In 2006 I was back in LA, and I invited him to a performance. He saw it, and took the stage afterward to tell the audience how much he loved it. At a late dinner he invited me to work on the screenplay. 

I invited him to teach at the MasterWorks Festival two different summers, and he always made an effort to meet with each student, to hear their dreams and encourage them. One of the reasons he was so enthusiastic about encouraging the next generation was that Walt Disney invited him to stay in his home when Ken was in high school. Walt wanted to hear from a young person, and Ken's principal recommended him. At the end of the week, Walt took him around Disneyland, which I believe was still in testing mode at the time. On the It's a Small World ride Walt asked Ken what he wanted to do in life. When Ken told him he wanted to make movies, Walt took out his personal checkbook and wrote out a check for Ken's tuition for five years at the University of Southern California film school. 

At MasterWorks and Christians in Theatre Arts, Ken would stay up until the wee hours telling stories of his adventures in Hollywood with students. I remember being shocked once that he beat me to the classroom where he was teaching first thing in the morning after he'd kept many of us up past 2:00 a.m.!

Ken's greatest help with my career was probably when he recommended me for Alone Yet Not Alone, which he was producing . I landed a small role, but it connected me with so many wonderful people that I've worked with over the years. 

Sadly, Ken got dementia before we were able to get our screenplay to market. 

I got to visit Ken once after that. I made him weep as I reminded him of some of the stories he told me and thanked him for his great influence on my life and career. I'll always be glad I was able to spend that time with him. 

Join me in praying for more mentors and producers like Ken to rise up and create films that point people to Christ. 

Here's a great article on the MovieGuide website: 

See the rest of Olympic champion Eric Liddell's Chariots of Fire story in Beyond the Chariots. Watch it online and book a live performance. 

Joyce and I recently saw a pre-release screening of Captive at The Sheen Center.

It's a very powerful film about how Ashley Smith, played by Kate Mara ( Fantastic Four), was held captive by Brian Nichols, played by David Oyelowo (Martin Luther King, Jr. in Selma),  in her own home for seven hours. Brian put a woman in a coma and then shot and killed four people as he made his escape from an Atlanta area courthouse and carjacked one vehicle after the next. He took refuge in Ashley's home, where she read from The Purpose Driven Life, the second most translated book next to The Bible, to Brian, and he turned himself in to authorities.

The film has the crucible of Ashley's home at the center of its tightly wound plot, with glimpses of the world outside, terrorized. Michael K. Williams ( RoboCop) plays Detective John Chestnut, who is leading the pursuit. Joyce pointed out that his character sets up a picture of the power struggle between Satan (Nichols: "I have a demon"), Man (Chestnut, so frustrated by his powerlessness he destroys a coffee machine while Brian Nichols' image mocks him from the monitor behind him), and Jesus Christ (in a postlude Oprah says to the real Ashley, "Jesus loves you!").

Ashley's book is titled Unlikely Angel because she was a methamphetamines addict at the time she was taken hostage in her own home. After the screening we saw, Ashley was a part of a panel interviewed by Gayle King of CBS Good Morning. Gayle asked Ashley about a moment in the film when Brian asks Ashley for drugs. She brings out the methamphetamines she almost flushed earlier. Brian tells her to take the drugs along with him. Ashley told the audience at the screening that in that moment she knew she had been more of a captive to drugs than she was to Brian that night. She refuses the drugs as he's taking them, but later, when he thinks they were laced, he tries again to force her to take them. Still she refuses. Ashley told us that her Aunt Kim had prayed for the Lord to take Ashley Home if she were not able to stop taking the drugs.  Ashley thought that if she capitulated to taking the drugs when Brian held the gun to her head, she would literally die.  Caught between death at Brian's hand and death at the drugs' hand, she chose obedience to God, risking her life with the man who'd killed four people that morning. Brian hijacked five vehicles within fifteen minutes, and one woman reported that he told her, " Don't you see this blood on my hands? I'm a dead man." Ashley also knew he had nothing to lose, but still she chose not to take those drugs. Ashley told us that after that moment she began to see Brian through the eyes of Jesus. Later in the interview Gayle King asked Ashley what compelled her to make pancakes for Brian. She took us back to that moment of refusing to take the drugs and how it sparked her ability to see him through the eyes of Jesus and treat him as a real human being.

Ashley told how she watched Captive for the first time sitting beside her daughter, Paige, who is now 16. Ashley thought she'd gone through all of the emotions since that day, but the film brought them flooding back for both of them.

Ashley was joined in the talk-back by Kate Mara, David Oyelowo, Mrs. Nichols the mother of the murderer, and Terry Botwick, one of the producers. In the audience were director Jerry Jameson, Mr. Nichols and Ashley's Aunt Kim, who had a major role in Ashley's recovery.

Kate talked about spending the day with Ashley. She focused on being truthful to who Ashley was at the time she was a hostage, though Ashley has been drug free since that night and was clearly transformed.

David Oyelowo pointed out that his character didn't speak for the whole first act of the film. We don't hear his voice until he was in the apartment with Ashley. That was an intentional choice to make him the two-dimensional mugshot we all saw on the news when he was the most wanted man in America. When we first hear his voice he's yelling over Ashley: "If you scream again I'll kill you!" But as Ashley is able to see him through the eyes of Jesus, gradually, so are we.

Gayle King asked David what drew him to portray someone who could murder four people in one day. He's made it clear he is a Christian, and he told us he doesn't naturally go after that kind of role. He said that was a sacrifice he knew he had to make so that Ashley's story could be told. He believed in it enough that he came on board as a producer.

On August 27, 2013, I was in LA to perform in my former student Nathan Clarkson's Confessions of a Prodigal Son. While there I was having lunch with Susan and  Ken Wales (producer of Alone Yet Not Alone, Amazing Grace, Christy), who I've taught with on a number of occasions. He told me how excited he was that the LA Times had run a full-page spread the day before: " David Oyelowo delves deeper for role in 'The Butler'." It was confirming to Ken that David had what it would take to pull off the role for Captive and get it some attention.

David was unable to meet Brian Nichols because Brian is still -- a decade later -- in solitary confinement serving four consecutive life sentences. His mother explained during the talkback that she and his father are the only ones allowed to see him at this time. When Brian's son turns 18 he will be added to the list.

Mrs. Nichols told us that she feels no personal guilt over what Brian did because they raised him right. They always brought him to church, and he was living a good life, but when he was accused of raping a woman something snapped. Mrs. Nichols said demons entered him.

David asked Mrs. Nichols what it was like to watch the film. He almost stopped himself from asking the question, acknowledging how awkward it might be. Mrs. Nichols honored him, saying she was so drawn into David's work that there were times she forgot it wasn't her son.

She and her husband continue the ministry into Brian's life that Ashley began. His mother said he is deeply repentant and knows that turning himself in was the very best thing he could have done. He recognizes that part of his purpose is showing others that they should never turn from God.

Caroline Duffy is Ashley Smith's publicist. When I contacted her she was on her way to a screening of Captive, but she took the time to send the following about working with Ken Wales:

I can’t recall if I found Ken through connections or he found me, but I can tell you that it felt like a God thing when he called me out of the blue in the middle of so much chaos.  He had worked with ‘instant celebrities’ before and gave me a primer on what to expect.  Ashley was too overwhelmed to even consider the dozens of movie offers coming her way and Ken understood that the movie would only happen in God’s timing.   She initially was very wary about Hollywood, so it was critical for us to do the movie with someone who respected her faith and frailty at the time.   We agreed to table any movie discussions until after the book launched.  Ken stayed in touch, assembled the right players, and persevered with this project through many highs and lows.   The fact that it has landed with a major studio and major actors has us all in awe of what God can do when you get out of the way and just let him direct the show!

We had an amazing month at the MasterWorks Festival!

Ken Wales (far right), producer of Amazing Grace, Christy, Breakfast at Tiffany's, and the original Pink Panther films, among many others, met with most of our students to help them see how their unique giftings can help them fit into the entertainment industry. This was his fourth year, and the reason he didn't get to every student this year was because he was hard at work on another film he hopes to shoot in Winona Lake, just before MasterWorks.

John Kirby (next to Ken), acting coach on The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, Count of Monte Cristo, Déjà Vu and about 20 others, shared about his work as director of The Word of Promise: Next Generation and directed us in Our Town. People were saying our production was better than renditions they'd seen at Notre Dame University, New York and London! One faculty member attended at least two performances and told me that the third act of the play got him thinking about eternity years ago. That was what started him on a journey toward Christ, and we're confident our four performances planted and watered a lot of seeds.

Bev Holloway (next to John), casting director for Bobby Jones: Stroke of Genius, The Ultimate Gift, An American Carol, and about 30 others, did a casting session with our students, and some of the roles they read are for two upcoming films! A man who lives in the community came up to me with tears in his eyes and shared that he's always enjoyed MasterWorks, but when he attended Bev's workshop and watched her giving direction and the students taking that direction and instantly making great adjustments, it finally dawned on him: MasterWorks is really training up the next generation of professional artists!

Patricia Mauceri (center), called us the week before she arrived, saying that she'd been given a script she couldn't perform. She made rewrites, but they were refused, and the role was recast. Her bold stance was a great witness to our students.

All four of them participated in one of two panel discussions, set up to answer questions the students had. Both panels were recorded for Romanian radio by one of our students, Krisztina Fekete, far right in the photo below.


This panel featured (from left to right), myself, Kohli Hessler Calhoun (dialect coach at NYU and the Stella Adler Studio, and our first master class instructor who attended the program!), Susan Sommerville Brown, and Harvey Johnson.

I was so thrilled with all that Harvey, Susie and Kohli brought, not only to this session, but to each one-on-one and class session they had with our students. The level of artistic and spiritual growth that was achieved because of their efforts is mind-boggling.

The only master class artist who wasn't around during a panel was Mac Nelson. He shared stories from his work with Liz Taylor and Jerry Lewis, from his most recent book, Memoirs of a Hollywood Adventure. He also shared from his first book, Waiting for my Fingers, about how he was healed from near-paralysis of both arms through surgery and the Lord. After the surgery he only had one note in his vocal register, but during a faculty recital he sang with his full range and tap-danced, swinging both arms with full-strength, to the Glory of God!

One of the spiritual highlights of the festival was when Joyce, my bride, led our students in a foot-washing. After we finished, the presence of the Lord was so palpable that I didn't want to lead them in anything. I just said, "Do whatever you want to do." They chose to wash each other's feet.

By the end of the month, one of our students asked to be baptized. Since Joyce is an ordained minister, we made plans. Another student had been taking baptism classes but had never been able to follow through to actually being baptized. She was delighted to do it with the close friends she'd made over the month. We went down to Winona Lake, the site of our festival, before church on Sunday. Their parents read scripture and prayed over each of them. Joyce baptized them officially, and then I got to dunk them. As we were walking off the dock singing, " Down To The River To Pray," Joyce yelled, "We've got another one!" The friend of one of our students was so moved by the service he asked to be baptized, too.

Photos from top to bottom by Nathan Nesbitt, Rich Swingle, Bernie Bernhardt (last two).

To download a PDF of this article, click here.

To audition for MasterWorks 2010 visit MasterWorksFestival.org.

I just received a couple of books from award-winning author, Joan Bauer, who I met at this year's Christopher Awards. The theme of the Christopher's is, "It's better to light one candle than to curse the darkness." Joan and filmmaker Ken Wales (far right in the photo) were both presenters at the awards ceremony: Joan for books and Ken for films.

Joan's book Hope Was Here was previously awarded the Christopher Award, along with the Newbery and other honors. Joan just learned that the State Department is translating the book into Russian. Her understanding is that it's the first time a novel has been translated for official public diplomacy.

The other book she gave us was Hudson Taylor on Spiritual Secrets, a 30-day devotional, which I'm looking forward to, since I'm reviving a monologue I created in which I portray Hudson Taylor.

Also in the photo are Joan's husband, Evan (far left), and Mac Nelson (between Evan and me), author of Waiting for My Fingers and Memoirs of a Hollywood Adventure.

You can see photos from the evening by clicking here.

One of the highlights of the evening was when Caroll Spinney shared a very touching story about how a father wrote to him to see if he would call his dying son as Big Bird, who he's played on Sesame Street for decades. Caroll did so, and after the call the boy said, "Big Bird called me! He’s my friend." And he closed his eyes. And he passed away. Caroll shared how the incident made him realize how important his words to children are.

Ken Wales (actor in 34 films opposite James Dean, John Forde and the like, and filmmaker on all the original Pink Panther films, The Tamarind Seed, Breakfast at Tiffany's, The Party, Christy and Amazing Grace) blessed our theatre department for four days. He critiqued a runthrough of The Crucible and met one-on-one with every student but one (he gave him his personal phone number because he ran out of time). He said to post how much he loves our students.

All sessions are in free, open to the public, and held in  McLain Auditorium unless otherwise noted.

7/3, 8:30pm-?

Actor Coaching in Hollywood

7/4, 8:30pm-?

Improv performance with students

7/11, 1:45-2:45

testimony

Edwina has said she wants to stick around after the session to answer questions.

7/15, 7:30-?

Ken Wales will give a brief talk during the faculty recital in Rodeheaver Auditorium, then afterward he will invite people to stick around and he'll answer questions until curfew at 11.  He may stick around for those who don't have curfew.