By Shelisa Payne
After its success as the all-time best-selling LDS fiction series, ?The Work and the Glory? also proved to be a sensation with its debut on the big screen over the Thanksgiving holiday, and this week it has grossed more than $500,000.
Since the film?s release on Nov. 24 across the state of Utah, ?The Work and the Glory? claimed the no. 3 spot in the nation for per screening averages. This encourages optimism for more success as it ventures across the nation on January 21, 2005.
Excel Entertainment, the film?s distributor, said this kind of success is very exciting after such anticipation for its debut.
?This film has intrigue, suspense, romance, betrayal and dramatic action, all elements of good movie making,? said director Russ Holt.
This film, based on true historical events during the early 19th century religious revivals, is a fictional story featuring an outstanding cast including Alexander Carroll as Nahan Steed and Tiffany DuPont as Lydia McBride.
?This is a love story set against the background of the restoration of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints,? producer Scott Swofford said.
The story follows the Steed family?s triumphs and tragedies in the midst of an intense controversy sur-rounding Joseph Smith and the unfolding of Mormonism while dealing with issues of feminism, open-mindedness and prejudice.
?Joseph Smith is really the catalyst for the conflict in the Steed marriage, the conflict in the relationship between the Steed brothers, the con-flict between Lydia and her parents and the conflict between the Murdocks and the Steeds,? Swofford said. ?It all hinges on Joseph Smith, but this isn?t the Joseph Smith story, it?s the Steed family story.?
Swofford, best known for his work in IMAX, said he hopes that the film succeeds as a very meaningful and thought-provoking film and that people will walk away with a compelling, emotional experience.
?I?d like to say that one film could change your life, but as a producer and director, I?d be happy if for an hour you could change somebody?s life,? Swofford said. ?If for an hour, on the way home in the car or when they go out for pizza after the movie, they talk about it, I?m happy.?
Swofford said test screenings in California and Virginia with both LDS and non-LDS groups encourages success outside of Utah. He said the LDS people walked away with a context for their faith and ask themselves, ?If that had been me, how would I have reacted??
Swofford said that 59 to 69 percent of people with no LDS background who watched the film said it was very good or excellent. They indicated that they would bring a friend, that they identified with one or more of the characters and that they laughed at certain scenes and cried in others.
?If someone laughs and cries at a film you know you did something right, even if you didn?t do everything right,? Swofford said.