September 23, 2002
JONAH (Archibald the Asparagus), on his camel Reginald, arrives in Joppa to deliver his message in "Jonah: A VeggieTales Movie."
(RNS photos)
Veggies splash onto big screen
___By Bob Smietana
___Religion News Service
___CHICAGO (RNS)--From the vantage point of America's best-known vegetables, there's only one thing wrong with the New Testament: No good chase scenes.
___So when Phil Vischer, creator of the animated "VeggieTales" video series, was looking for a Bible story on which to base his first motion picture script, he leafed through the Old Testament.
___"It's hard to get kids excited about the woman at the well," Vischer explained. "But Jonah and the whale--that will get kids excited."
___Since 1993, Vischer's company, Big Idea Productions, has sold more than 25 million copies of its
APROMOTIONAL POSTER for "Jonah: A VeggieTales Movie" shows the Veggie crew sailing toward their destiny with a big fish. "VeggieTales" videos series for kids. The profits from those sales have helped finance Vischer's latest project, "Jonah: A Veggie Tales Movie," which opens Oct. 4 on 1,100 screens nationwide.
Veggie Tales Creator Phil Vischer.
___The film cost "somewhere between $10 million and $20 million," Vischer said.
___Unlike other recent films with a Christian message--"Left Behind," "Extreme Days" and the upcoming "Hangman's Curse"--"Jonah" is not being marketed by a Christian film distributor. Instead, the veggies will be sold by Family Home Entertainment, a division of Artisan Films, best known for distributing "The Blair Witch Project."
___"The most important issue for us was to get 'Jonah' in front of as many people as possible, while retaining complete ownership and creative control of the film and how it would be presented," Vischer said. "Artisan was the best choice because they're big enough to handle a wide release, yet unlike a major studio, were willing to let us keep control."
___In the film, an Israelite prophet named Jonah (played by Archibald Asparagus, an upper-crusty English butler-type) is told by God to go and preach to the city of Nineveh. Jonah refuses to go, instead fleeing his home by ship. The ship almost sinks during a massive storm, which calms only when Jonah is thrown overboard and swallowed by a whale. While in the whale's belly, Jonah repents and gets a second chance.
___The look for the belly of the whale was inspired by a visit Art Director Joe Sapulich made to Stateville (Ill.) Correctional Facility. Sapulich has run a prison ministry at Stateville for 10 years.
___"I wanted to make the scene in the belly of the whale seem real," he explained, "so I asked a guard to lock me up in a cell for 10 minutes." The guard came back in 20 minutes, giving Sapulich a small sense of what it means to be locked away.
___The scene in the belly of the whale features the musical highlight of the film, an infectious gospel song called "Second Chances" by the musical group Anointed, along with a gospel choir. In the song, members of the choir flip through the air in a scene inspired by "The Blues Brothers" film.
___The veggies' big-screen debut was harvested almost entirely through computer-generatation at Big Idea's studio, except for one brief dream sequence. In that sequence, done in cell animation, Jonah imagines that the city of Nineveh is destroyed by fire from heaven.
___But the people repent, of course, and God spares the city, which angers Jonah.
___As Jonah stews over God's decision to spare Nineveh, his sidekick Khalil asks, "Has it ever occurred to you that God loves everybody--not just you?"
___That's a message Vischer hopes to get across to the evangelical Christian world, which he said is too often tempted to "forget about trying to save the world," and focuses only on trying to "keep our own kids Christian."
___"We need to remember that we're all called to have a cultural impact," he said. "The message for Christians from the story of Jonah is all about God's deep compassion and mercy for everybody. Not just us. Not just those on the inside."
___Still, Vischer knows that for Jonah to be a success, it has to attract its core evangelical audience. Big Idea estimates that more than 5 million households own four or more "Veggie Tales" videos. So besides running trailers with family films like "Scooby Doo" and "Stuart Little 2," Big Idea has advertised in Christian magazines and radio programs and has encouraged churches to hold "whale watching" parties to promote the film.
___The company also developed a "Jonah" curriculum for the Vacation Bible Schools many churches run in the summer. This past summer, an estimated 750,000 to 1 million children went to "Jonah"-based VBS programs.
___"Jonah" won't be the last "VeggieTales" film to sprout from Vischer's imagination. Big Idea has a two-picture distribution deal in place with Artisan, and work on the next film--featuring Bob the Tomato and Larry the Cucumber, the Abbott and Costello-like stars of "VeggieTales"--already has begun.
___
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