You have a history of playing flawed, complicated, broken men. What attracts you to these roles?
Well, they present themselves to me, and those characters make good drama. If people don’t have conflicts, contradictions, and faults, then there is no drama there. My favorite part of all time was probably Gus McCrae in Lonesome Dove; I also played Josef Stalin in a TV movie. I also always try to find the vulnerable side and the positive side of the character….
Some people thought The Apostle was mocking Southern holiness or Pentecostal preachers ”¦
Who said that?
Oh, some Christians wished it had been a more positive portrayal of a preacher rather than a man with all these ”¦
Let me straighten these people out. And you can put it in print. My guy [Rev. Euliss “Sonny” Dewey, the title character] killed a guy out of anger, right? But he wasn’t one half as bad as King David in the Psalms, who sent a man off to be killed so he could be with his wife. Every time I read the Psalms I think of that. But on the other hand, I heard that Billy Graham liked the movie, and many, many preachers did. Rev. James Robison of Fort Worth said I could use anything from any of his services to put in the film. So I’m not mocking.
If Hollywood had done this, they would have mocked these people. No, I did not mock these people. I didn’t patronize these people. I’ve been in many, many churches, Pentecostal churches. I could have made these people look bad if I wanted to. So you can tell these people I did not mock these people or condescend at all. Had I done it in a Hollywood movie, we would have patronized these people. That’s why I had to do the movie myself.
Christianity had a similar positive article with (or about) Duvall back when “The Apostle” first came out. I rented the tape back then and I’ll admit that I only got 1/2 way thru it. I found it very unpleasant. Perhaps there is a redemption theme at the end that I didn’t make it to see. But I can fully understand why the Pentecostals were upset.
Duvall is a splendid actor and we are blessed to live in the same time with him. “The Apostle’ was not a film about Christians any more than “Bonnie and Clyde” was about the banking business. But the protrayal was magnificent. People need to understand what movies are.
The Apostle was a Christian film from the first shot to the last (which left me with a chill). I cannot understand how someone could say it was not, except that the central character, Duvall’s, was a profoundly flawed man who loved Jesus. As a profoundly flawed man who loves Jesus (but so far has avoided murdering anyone) I felt every inch of his struggles with his jealously, his rage, his sexual urges, and everything else that made him a sinful human being — and the equally powerful urge that kept leading him into worship and service and kindness to others. Only seeing half this film is like reading the Gospel of Matthew and stopping after Chapter 14. The Apostle is about forgiveness and spiritual redemption even in the worst of us — or the worst in us. If you haven’t gotten that message before the last scene, then it should be all the convincing anyone needs. It is where he truly became an apostle….