October Baby Premiers! Author and Co-director Jon Erwin Talks about the Film

Jon and Andy Erwin have produced a powerful message of Life in their first feature film

"October Baby" premiers in select theaters on Friday, March 23. As I said in my review, see the film then take others to it. The Erwin brothers have created this movie for us, delivering a powerful message of life that will become a tool we can use to witness for the cause of life. It's now in theaters and the rest is up to us.

WASHINGTON, DC (Catholic Online) - Andy and Jon Erwin's new feature "October Baby," a coming-of-age story about an abortion survivor, premiers in select movie theaters on Friday, March 23. It's been quite a while since a faith-based film has generated as much excitement and enthusiasm as this one - and rightly so. "October Baby" is a must-see movie.

Recently I was able to catch up with Jon Erwin to talk about the film and get an insider's perspective on the project.

While he co-directs with his brother, Jon also focuses on writing and producing. He has been around film and video production for just about half of his life. At fifteen years old he lied about his age and maneuvered his way onto a camera crew. By eighteen, he was already working full time as a camera operator for ESPN, ABC, NBC and others. He has developed a reputation as a skilled cinematographer who is adept at utilizing today's digital technologies.

In my preparation to review and write about the movie, I had read that Jon's inspiration for the film, of which he was the co-author, came from an interview he had seen with a real abortion survivor, Gianna Jessen.

"I heard Gianna speak," he explained, "and first learned that the words 'abortion' and 'survivor' could go together. Then I did something that I would encourage everyone to do, I 'googled' it - 'abortion survivor' - and just began researching it.

"I was just shattered by it. My brother and I both started thinking and praying about what we should do. God gave us a film camera and we thought we should do something with it, so we started writing this. I wrote it with Theresa Preston, who is just terrific. I had not met Gianna before the movie but we've become dear friends since then and she has done a lot of interviews for us and just loves the movie."

So why try putting together a story instead of making a documentary about the subject?

"We didn't think we could make it a documentary because it was almost too painful to look at. But what if we inserted the issue into an entertaining coming-of-age love story?"

"The movie does not tell you what to think as much as it encourages you to stop and think for yourself - think about the issue, think about your stance on it and how you should act with it."

Having watched the film a few times, I was taken with the fact that the Erwin's had delivered a powerful message without getting preachy or disguising fact sheets in extended plot exposition. They really told a story.

"We didn't want to villainize anybody, we didn't want to make a political film. We just wanted to treat this as a human issue, because you can't argue with the story. People won't change their minds until you first touch their heart with an emotional story. Then they'll be open to talking about the issues."

Erwin talked about one time where they saw their approach validated; it happened in a screening at a film festival in Los Angeles. After the show a lady approached him and began the conversation by saying, "I'm an atheist and I'm a liberal but I can't deny that the character in your story is a victim. And if that really has happened, I have to go home and re-think my view of this issue."

Not only has it really happened, such as in the case of Gianna Jessen, but at least one of the actors in the movie was a real-life counterpart to the role she was playing. It was Shari Rigby, who was the abortive mother in the film. Jon tells the story.

"That actor, Shari Rigby, I don't know if you saw the clip online. When I sent her the script. we just sent it to her because she looked so much like Rachel and we had worked with her on a Casting Crowns music video that had won video of the year. She called me back weeping, saying, 'How could you have known my story?' She was post-abortive and had lived her role in the movie twenty years prior. She lived with the secret for about a decade and then finally told her husband. She had gotten her life back together, rekindled her faith and met a great guy.

"As a result of the movie, she said, 'I think God wants me to share my story.' When she shared her story publicly for the first time, we videotaped it. The clip has really gotten some momentum and moved so many hearts that now she's speaking at a lot of pro-life events. I'm very proud of her; it was a very brave thing to do. It was just one of those 'God-moments' where we just kind of knew that there was something more to this movie than what we thought."

"October Baby" not only reveals the impact that the horror of abortion has on the mother, but even on people in the industry. We're now hearing about them in the news, like Abby Johnson, who has since become an outspoken voice for Life.

In the film, Jasmine Guy played one such victim. Her scene was one of the turning points in the story. Most people will remember her as Whitley in the Cosby comedy spin-off "A Different World." Still very busy as an actor, she eagerly joined the project.

"We went out to meet with her in Atlanta and if there was ever a 'you had me at hello,' it was from Jasmine. It was unbelievable. She just got it. 'I see this person as a very weary soul,' she said. In many ways she played the key that unlocks Hannah's story and gets her the answers she so desperately wanted and she does it with such grace...

"And I'll say this. She is a working actor and working actors have to work. For her to take a role like this, which is not popular in LA. This was not a popular movie with Hollywood movie studios; we were rejected by every one of them. So for her to take this bold of a stance on this issue, in taking this role and giving her all to it, is very brave. I'll be forever grateful to her."

The story is really about Hannah, who is a college freshman and, through an episode with her health, learns she was adopted. Not only that, she was the survivor of a failed abortion. The actor, Rachel Hendrix, was incredible in the role, especially given the fact this was her first feature film along with only a handful of smaller projects.

"We discovered her at an art school in Alabama," Jon stated. "She was studying to be a photographer. A member of my crew had put her in a short film that he had done on his own dime. I thought she did great, so we cast her in a Michael W. Smith music video called 'How To Say Goodbye.' Oddly enough the song was about a father letting go of his daughter to go off to college. We've developed her over the last few years and I'm very proud of her.

"We wrote the film for her. A lot of people asked us, 'Why are you doing this?' 'Why don't you cast a well-known actor?' We just believed in Rachel and believed in her potential. We didn't quite know if she could pull it off but we believed that she could.

"She hit it right out of the park. We were just jumping up and down because she was going to a place far beyond what even we expected. Her performance is amazing. In fact, there's a film festival, called the Red Rock Film Festival, where we won Best Feature. They actually created an award for her for achievement in acting on the spot just because of her performance."

She had great chemistry on the screen with John Schneider, who played her father. Moving on from his early days as Bo Duke in the "Dukes of Hazzard," Schneider has continued to keep busy as an actor as well as in music. As a father (and a grandfather) I really felt Schneider did a good job as a dad concerned about his daughter - perhaps a little too-concerned - but that sometimes goes with the territory for dads toward their daughters.

Erwin agreed with me that the two of them worked really well together. He also said that sometimes hiring a "name actor" can cause headaches for a small production. Schneider, however, doesn't come close to fitting that category. He became a genuine part of the cast and really worked hard.

"He really gave it his all. You sometimes worry about an actor like that, that they'll just come for a paycheck and breeze through."

Ever since I first saw the film, there was one question I really wanted to ask Jon and Andy Erwin about the story. I knew they were evangelicals who loved the Lord and were very committed to their faith. At one point in the film they have Hannah going into a Catholic Cathedral to think and pray. She has an encounter with the priest that was very well written and executed in the movie. It was filmed at St. Paul's Cathedral in Birmingham, Alabama, which provided a visual feast of religious art and architecture.

So I wanted to know if they had intentionally written that scene in or if it was added later for some reason.

"That was absolutely intentional," Jon said without hesitating. "I was raised a Baptist and evangelical, but I so firmly believe that there are times to put aside all disagreements and unite around a common cause.

"That's the beautiful thing about movie theaters. There's not a Baptist movie theater or a Catholic movie theater; there are just movie theaters. It was my vision and my goal that there would be this scene in the movie where there is this mutual connection of truth that we can all agree on. I've been so privileged and so blown away by the Catholic community rallying with the evangelical community behind this film."

The Erwin brothers have produced award-winning documentaries. In 2005, the young team began to venture into directing commercials and music videos. They found their greatest success in the world of music, directing music videos and producing concerts and television programs for platinum artists like Amy Grant, Michael W. Smith, Switchfoot, Skillet and American Idol Ruben Studdard among many others. They have received eight nominations and back-to-back wins for Music Video Of The Year at the GMA Dove Awards.  They are now veterans of nearly a hundred music videos and concerts.

But I believe you'll see more from the Erwin's on the big screen.

"October Baby" premiers in select theaters on Friday, March 23. As I said in my review, see the film then take others to see this film. The Erwin brothers have created this movie for us, delivering a powerful message of life that will become a tool we can use to witness for the cause of life. It's now in theaters and the rest is up to us.

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Randy Sly is the Associate Editor of Catholic Online and the CEO/Associate Publisher for the Northern Virginia Local Edition of Catholic Online (http://virginia.catholic.org). He is a former Archbishop of the Charismatic Episcopal Church who laid aside that ministry to enter into the full communion of the Catholic Church.

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