INTERVIEW: 'Letters to God' Director David Nixon

Director David Nixon says Hollywood should stop being shocked when a no-budget, faith-based movie makes a profit.

“This has been an under served audience, with ‘The Passion of the Christ’ opening the door,” Nixon tells Big Hollywood. “Millions of people out there are looking for these kinds of films.”

And Nixon just co-directed one which falls squarely in that genre.

“Letters to God,” inspired by a true story, hits theaters April 9. The movie follows a boy named Tyler (Tanner Maguire) who galvanizes his community with his bravery – and faith – in the face of brain cancer.

The story is unapologetic in how it uses God as the narrative thread which ties the characters, some noble, others in need of redemption, together.

“Letters to God” employed seasoned actors this time around, a far cry from the “let’s put on a show” pluck that helped make “Facing the Giants” for a paltry $100,000.

“We had enough money to attract up and coming or emerging actors and hire the entire crew instead of using 100-plus volunteers,” he says. Television veterans Robyn Lively and Jeffrey Johnson anchor the film as the boy’s mother and the mailman who must decide what to do with the letters to God, respectively.

Nixon, a film industry veteran who recently produced the spiritually based films “Giants” and “Fireproof,” says the marketing plans behind movies like “God” fly in the face of traditional media efforts.

“We give it away,” Nixon says. “We go to the churches and Christian groups and screen the movies for them months ahead [of their release dates]. We ask them, ‘if you like the movie, tell everybody about it.’ They become evangelists about it.”

He says fans of faith-based features tend to be loyal and active social media users.

“The same ones [who saw ‘Facing the Giants’ and ‘Fireproof’] wll come out to see this,” he predicts. “We found an audience.”

The major studies are taking notice, he says, witness the birth of spiritually aware sub-divisions like Fox Faith.

“I don’t know if they know what a faith-based film is,” he says. “They want to make those ‘God films,’ as they call them.”

But Dixon argues there’s not much secrecy behind the success of the recent faith-based movies.

“It’s telling a real life story, or a story that could be true, in a very simple way,” he says, enhanced by characters with whom audiences can relate.

Nixon knows people often look down on Christian films – often for good reason. Up until recently, the level of craftsmanship simply hasn’t been worthy of the material, he says.

“Yes, we’re trying to raise the bar,” he says of films like “Letters to God.” “We’re movie people. We live movies. We want to do the best job we can do, especially when we’re doing a God film.”

Not every member of the “God” cast and crew attends the same style of church – if they attend church at all.

“It’s not a problem, it’s an opportunity” he says of employing a cast and crew of varying faiths. “We want people who are good at what they do.”

People working on “Letters” understand the film isn’t just another motion picture, though.

“They realize this was more than just entertainment,” he says. “Even the filming part of it was a wonderful opportunity to change people’s lives. It touched people profoundly, even those on the crew.”

“Letters'” cast member Ralph Waite, best known for playing “The Waltons'” patriarch, told Nixon “these are the kinds of films we ought to make,” Nixon recalls.

“We don’t get a lot of these scripts in L.A.,” the veteran actor told Nixon.