Behind the scenes production
The legendary life of a gangster The gangster
named Sam Childers (Sam Childers) played by Gerald Butler in the film is not a dramatic image made out of nothing, but a reality A real historical figure. Sam Kidders was born in Dakota in 1962, and was originally a jerk. Later, their family moved to Minnesota. During that time, Kidders was relatively normal. But during the time Kidders was in college, he had undergone a fundamental change. He started smoking, smoking marijuana, and drinking alcohol. He eventually became an addict, drug dealer, and alcoholic. At the same time, Kiddes fell in love with drag racing, and he was also a member of the famous Hell Angel Motorcycle Club (HAMC). In 1992, Kiddes ushered in a turning point in his life. He came to a church and believed in God. That night, the pastor of the church predicted that Kiddes would go to Africa. In 1998, Kidders really went to Africa, where he rescued local orphans on his own. Now, Kiddes is a legend that has attracted worldwide attention. He not only no longer takes drugs and no longer commits crimes, but he also established an international children's aid called "Angels of East Africa" together with his wife Linn. stand. This rescue station was set up in Nimule, Sudan-the most intense part of the Sudanese civil war. In 2009, Sam Kiddes wrote his own experience into a book. This non-fiction literature called "Another Man's War" (Another Man's War) won him a great reputation. Since then, Sam Kidders has become more determined to start an orphanage in Africa, and more and more people are supporting him.
In fact, it is not difficult to put the story of Sam Kidds on the screen, because he has already had an incredible legend in his life, and this kind of true story with a little "action film" color is also extremely Suitable for Hollywood directors to put it on the screen. However, it is not easy to not superficially create such a character, because it requires the actor who plays Sam Kiddes to deeply display Kiddes's spiritual transformation on the screen. To this end, the action star Gerald Butler, who plays Kidders, did a lot of homework. Gerald Butler said: "I have never made a film with so many conflicts. The first is the war in Africa, which is a kind of conflict; the second is the American culture represented by Kidders and the local indigenous people. Conflict between cultures. Of course, for me, the most important thing is the inner conflict of Kiddes. He was just a mess at the beginning, trusting only himself. Then he discovered God, and God became his spiritual pillar. So He went to Africa and became a real man. When I read the script, my first reaction was, are you kidding? So much content, so it’s possible to show it in a movie? However, with From the contacts and exchanges between me and Kiddes himself, I found that the legend of Kiddes in the script is just the tip of the iceberg."
Gerald Butler is true to this, because he made a special trip to Pennsylvania to visit Sam Kidders, participated in his sermons, had a long talk with him, and seriously experienced Sam Kidd's words and deeds. Gerald Butler said: "I talked with Sam Kiddes for about 40 hours and learned about his life and experience in depth. I think this is an incredible guy. I tried to imitate his words. A trip to try to figure out his psychological and behavioral motives. This work is huge and difficult, but it is very fun. This is very different from any film I have ever made."
A person’s growth.
As the director of the film, Mark Foster did not shoot this film from a national and political perspective. He did not make the film into a main theme film of "White People Save Africa", but went a step further. In the heart of the character, the inner world of Sam Kidds is displayed. Mark Foster said: "When I first heard about this story, I thought it was a fabrication out of nothing. It wasn't until I met Sam Kidds himself, talked with him in detail, and got to know this person in depth. Began to believe that there are absolutely miracles and strange people in this world. Behind this huge transformation is the power of religion. Religion has turned a street drug dealer and a racing party into a holy person. "
Sam Kidders The story can be started from any angle, can emphasize his gang life, can render his African story, and can even be made into a gospel movie. Faced with such a subject that can be photographed from various angles, Mark Foss also made difficulties. Sam Kidds said: "I used to be completely different from who I am now. Now I have found the meaning and motivation of life." In this way of thinking, Mark Foster found a "religion makes people noble" for the film. "The keynote, he said: "When a person does these things, his moral standards and the person’s religious beliefs are two things that are difficult to separate. That is to say, it is difficult to explain that a person is born because of religion. Morality, I chose religion because of moral standards. My approach in the film is to let Sam Kidders grow up, observe the world with his own eyes and draw a conclusion. His transformation is caused by religion. But at the end of the film, he witnessed everything that happened in Africa, so he had doubts about the Almighty Lord he believed in, and he asked himself-where is God? I think, in the process of showing a person’s growth This process of going from blind faith to active practice and selective faith is extremely important."
Some people criticized the film and said that it was a cultural-chauvinist film. In the film, the director portrayed a "white savior" to save black people, but did not show the inner change of the protagonist. Faced with such criticisms, Mark Foster said: “In fact, for Western audiences, they are only exposed to news, movies, newspapers, etc. Africa. They have not really understood and contacted Africa at all. In his eyes, Sam Kiddes is just a person who came to Africa to fulfill his inner religious needs, ignoring his previous identity and his growth process. If you don’t care about the changes in his psychological level, you just watch The lives and sufferings of the African people are just curiosity or use stories in movies as footnotes to news, so who can understand what Sam Kiddes did? Many Western audiences are too arrogant because they are watching In the process of the movie, he always measured Sam Kiddes’s actions by his own standards. They would ask him if he went to Africa for himself, or did he really go to Africa for the children? These are all unnecessary cranky thoughts.”
Highlights
·The film is adapted from the autobiography of American missionary Sam Childers (Sam Childers).
Vera Farmega was originally the candidate to play Linn, but due to her pregnancy, the role was handed over to Michel Monaghan.
·The film was filmed in Michigan in 2010. Those African shots were indeed taken in Africa.
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