To receive daily emails from Breaking Christian News to your inbox CLICK HERE

"Life is how you live it...not how you spend it."

Aimee Herd: Jim, you used to be a champion Olympic weight lifter, and you are co-founder and president of the Narrative Television Network for the blind and visually impaired. How did you begin writing?

Jim Stovall: I never intended to be a writer. I was on a speaking tour on the West Coast to promote our television network, and I was on a program with Dr. Dennis Waitley and Dr. Schuller. At one point we were sitting backstage, and Dr. Waitley said, 'You really ought to write a book.' I'd never thought about it, but while I was out speaking for the next hour, he called his publisher?and Dr. Schuller was all for it?and by the time I came back [Dr. Waitley] said, "We have it all worked out. They're going to publish your book. [I'll] write the forward and Dr. Schuller will endorse the book?we need your manuscript in 90 days."

AH: What gave you the inspiration to write The Ultimate Gift?

JS: I had written five or six books before this which were all non-fiction?"how to" books. I decided it was probably time for me to write some fiction. In my company here at Narrative Television, my first employee or colleague/co-worker was a young lady who was diagnosed with terminal cancer. She made me guardian of her child when her daughter was 11, she was a single mom. We had many conversations about, "When Jessica's 12 tell her this...when she starts dating tell her this...." So, this whole concept of someone leaving behind more than just their money, but a piece of themselves, I think that's where that came from.

AH: Did you write the manuscript as a novel, or were you thinking screenplay and movie?

JS: I wrote it as a novel, and it sold 4 million copies. Several movie studios contacted me and wanted to make it into a movie, but I told them unless they could keep the message and the meaning behind it in place, I wasn?t interested.

Later, Rick Eldridge contacted me?I liked his work?and he let me have input and actually control the script to make sure the message stayed in tact.

AH: Do you feel that the movie captured and conveys all that you wanted it to?

JS: Yes it does. Obviously, there are things in the book that are not in the movie, but given two hours, I feel that it did everything it could do.

AH: Did you work one-on-one with the director, Michael Sajbel?

JS: We had many script conversations before it started?there?s probably never been an author who had as much input as me?I even played a little part in the film. I was in a brief scene at the end of the film, I played a limo driver and had a couple of lines. Somehow I thought it was poetic justice to have the blind guy driving the limo!

AH: What about any future projects?

JS: I have a new book, [which just came out] it?s the sequel to The Ultimate Gift, it?s called, The Ultimate Life. I continue with the story in this book.

AH: Perhaps another film then, also?

JS: There?s an option, I?m not sure whether we will or not. It?s quite a process going from my book to a movie?all of a sudden this solitary process turns into 3 or 4 hundred people working on this deal. Time will tell if we do it again.

AH: And I would imagine the book, The Ultimate Gift, is available in Braille?

JS: Yes, in Braille and also audio book. I had the actor Tom Bosley, (from Happy Days) do the audio read on it.

MICHAEL SAJBEL:

AH: Michael, what moved you about The Ultimate Gift when you first read it?

MS: Well, I had just finished the epic-scale film One Night With the King, we had finished editing it, and it was kind of in a ?holding pattern? till they could get the right theatrical release times. So there was a bit of a lull, a calm before the storm. There was a group of producers who had me in mind to do The Ultimate Gift. Even before they sent me any versions of the script they?d had written, I ordered a copy for myself. I read it, and marked it up with pencil, underlined in places, and I said, ?This is how I would do this book.?

I felt that there was a ?strong spine.? Whenever I read a book, or an article, or even a screen play, I want to know that there is a strong spine of a story. A story that would come through and be very compelling and redemptive. We were off to a good start.

AH: As the director, are you in control of who you?re going to cast, and was that a difficult process?

MS: Almost universally, the director picks the cast, but it?s a collaborative effort. For every different actor in this film there is a different story. For example; Brian Dennehy (who plays ?Gus?) ?unquestionably one of the finest actors out there?he was in London for a year, doing Death of a Salesman. We weren?t even sure if we could get him. But his manager read the script, and said, ?This is one of the best scripts I?ve read in 20 years.?

Finding someone like Abigail Breslin (playing ?Emily?), she had a choice between our film and a couple of others, and she picked our project over the other ones. She loved the way the character was written. I don?t read a lot of critics, but I?ve heard that some are saying that [Abigail] had an even better performance in The Ultimate Gift than she did in Little Miss Sunshine.

AH: Do you feel that the end result of The Ultimate Gift conveyed all that you wanted it to?

MS: No director is ever 100 percent happy with his or her work. But, I would say with The Ultimate Gift, it?s a very satisfying result. With this movie, I was really given the creative reins, and I feel?well above 90 percent?that this end result conforms to my original idea. To be fair, there are times when you just run out of time and money. But the people who have seen this film in the theaters have?almost universally?loved it and have bonded very positively to it. That is part of the experience for me, not just making the movie, but hearing that audiences have responded positively.

AH: I appreciate the fact that this movie didn?t in any way seem ?sub-par.? It was consistently interesting, it was well-acted, and it honestly left me wanting more.

MS: That?s fantastic. I?m from an era where I made movies for Billy Graham and others, and I?ve found that if you really want to honor God with your life and the talents He?s given you, then you?d better make the best possible product. That applies to anything and everything. This is a movie where you can go, purchase a ticket, and no matter what your world view is, you will be affected in a positive way?perhaps even changed.

AH: Do you ever feel that there is somewhat of a wall that you?re up against in respect to the public and peers when directing family-friendly and values-oriented films?

MS: Well, yes, but not that one should ever feel ?persecuted? or anything like that. I feel that there have been some films which have come out that were really true to the director?s vision, and the American public responded. Such as, Mel Gibson?with the Passion of the Christ, Steven Spielberg for Amistad?to me, there is no more powerful a scene in any movie than when he had his slave going through a Bible explaining to each other what the pictures must mean. But at the same time, when our film came out, it was released by FOX Faith, and a lot of critics immediately took it to be a dogmatic movie or ?propaganda??but this movie is not necessarily ?Christian? per say. It?s just got a very positive world view (which is also a Christian world view) in it. I feel that we accomplished making a movie that has an ?element of faith? [but that was not overtly Christian]. I think we made a really entertaining film that is steeped in values which resonate with us, it?s finely crafted and well-acted, and?through its release now on DVDs?we?re hoping it will find an even wider following.

?The Ultimate Gift? is now available on DVD. To see a trailer of the movie, CLICK HERE.

To receive daily emails from Breaking Christian News to your inbox CLICK HERE

Tens of Thousands Attend Jerusalem Annual Passover Priestly Blessing, Focus on Hostages, Families

Oregon Taps Out of Drug Decriminalization: Three Years after Voting to Make Drug Use Legal, the State Has Reversed Course

Pro-Life Democrat Runs 'Graphic' Abortion Ad during the 'Today' Show

Outrage Follows Biden's Abortion Blessing at a Recent Rally

Alberta Official Reveals 'Almost All' Wildfires in Province This Year Have Been Started by Humans, Not Climate Change

Biden's EPA Rolls Out Regulations Aimed at Killing the American Coal Industry

New York City Union Workers Backing Trump 3 to 1 Over Biden; Chant 'We Love Trump' during Impromptu Visit

8 GOP States (and Counting) Ban Biden's DOJ from 'Intimidating' Voters at 2024 Polls

Poll: A Majority of Americans Support Mass Deportation for Illegals, and Nearly Half of Latinos Agree

West Virginia Student Helps Pass Bill to Teach Intelligent Design: 'This Is a God-Fearing State'

Free Speech Resolution Allows Satanic Temple 'Invocation' Sparking Chaos at a Michigan Board Meeting

Paris Olympics Will Feature a 'Pride House' to 'Celebrate' Homosexual and Gender-Confused Athletes

Video Captures Drag Queen Indoctrinating Kids, Getting Them to Chant... 'Free Palestine'

Who's Funding the Anti-Israel, Pro-Palestine Protests?

More Lawfare: Former Arizona GOP Chair Kelli Ward, Rudy Giuliani, Mark Meadows Indicted for Role in Alternate Electors Case

DEVELOPING: Harvey Weinstein Rape Conviction Overturned By New York Appellate Court

Supreme Court Puts Final Nail in Coffin of Effort to Block Trump from Ballot in Arizona

SCOTUS Begins Hearing Arguments on Presidential Immunity: Is This the Most Important Day for Donald Trump?

Courageous: Worship Leader Sean Feucht Prepares to Confront Anti-Israel Evil, Darkness, and Horror

'Australian Censorship Commissar' Orders X to Globally Remove Video of Islamic Terror Attack on Christian Bishop

Steve Shultz, Managing Editor
Founder and Owner

Aimee Herd, Editor