Filmmaker discusses latest project based on Book of Mormon and criticism toward LDS-themed movies
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IDAHO FALLS — A new movie set in ancient America tells the story of a Hebraic fugitive working to preserve the history of his fallen nation while being hunted by a band of tyrants.
“The Oath,” which came out in select theaters nationwide in December and was recently released on DVD and Blu-ray, is inspired by events in The Book of Mormon.
Among the cast of the independent film is Billy Zane, best remembered as Cal Hockley in “Titanic,” and Darin Scott, who appeared in an episode of “Yellowstone” in 2018. He is perhaps most recognizable for his starring role in another faith-based film titled, “Ephraim’s Rescue.”
Scott is the director, writer and star of “The Oath,” a film that was 14 years in the making.
It was a Kickstarter project that started around 2010. He and his team raised several million dollars for the production, with many delays and challenges along the way.
After seeing the project come to fruition, Scott tells EastIdahoNews.com he’s pleased with the final product and the overall reception. It has an 85% score on Rotten Tomatoes with more than 500 reviews.
But though there is a lot of praise for the film, there’s also a lot of criticism. And in terms of box office gross, many would say it’s a failure. It earned a little more than $500,000 in ticket sales, according to IMDB.
“Financially, it was not a success, and that’s unfortunate,” Scott says, praising the film’s quality.
He’s particularly proud of the film’s score, which is composed by Trevor Morris. Scott feels the score is Oscar-worthy and he’s grateful for Morris’s “immense sacrifice” in being a part of this movie.
He and his team are hoping to make back some of the profits through a DVD marketing campaign.
Despite its financial woes, Scott says that’s not the only way to measure success. He knew from the beginning it would be a controversial film, but felt compelled to tell it anyway.
Scott, a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from Utah, regards the Book of Mormon as scripture. He’s spoken in numerous interviews about his love for the book and how it was particularly meaningful to him as a teen when his dad passed away.
He’s been involved in numerous Latter-day Saint film projects throughout his career and “The Oath” was his first time writing and directing a feature film.
The central character in the movie is Moroni, who is a major player in the final chapters of the Book of Mormon. Latter-day Saints believe he finished the record of his people, written on gold plates, and buried it before Joseph Smith found the record 1,400 years later and translated it.
Scott explains why he specifically chose to focus on Moroni’s story.
“We intended initially to focus on Captain Moroni in the middle of the Book of Mormon around 73 B.C. It would’ve been an epic story with big battles, but it was too expensive,” Scott explains.
Ultimately, it was the budget that dictated what they chose to focus on. Scott says the story of Moroni was much more feasible because the script involved one man with a small skirmish at the end.
Playing Moroni wasn’t something Scott set out to do. He initially offered the part to a well-known Hollywood actor, who turned it down. He declined to say who it was, but said he’s been in “Twilight” and other big movies.
‘When people try and venture outside a certain box, they’re punished for it’
“The Oath” is one in a long line of Latter-day Saint-themed films over the years. Last month, Richard Dutcher, whose film “God’s Army” launched the niche market that earned him the title “the father of Mormon cinema,” gave us his perspective on the evolution of the industry.
He referred to specific movies that poked fun at Latter-day Saint culture or told “sentimental, polite stories” rather than providing meaningful explorations of faith.
“Because of that, Mormon cinema is insignificant in its power and effectiveness. I really think that’s a shame,” Dutcher said.
Scott’s goal with “The Oath,” which earned a PG-13 rating for violent content, was to tell a realistic story and humanize Moroni without throwing the religious themes in people’s faces. On that front, Scott feels like the film succeeded.
Yet, Scott says the film still has a message that’s relevant for society today.
“It’s about a man who kept his oath and retained his honor in a dishonorable time,” says Scott.
He feels many Christian and LDS-themed movies “have a tendency to preach to the choir” and tell inside jokes that only certain people get. Often, more serious stories are watered down, Scott says, because “no one wants to feel scared or anxious.”
He cites T.C. Christensen, whom Scott worked with for “Ephraim’s Rescue.” Christensen’s latest film, “Escape from Germany,” tells the true story of an LDS missionary who helped rescue his associates in the days before World War II broke out.
To date, it’s grossed over $2.5 million at the box office — a sizable profit for an independent film.
Scott says Christensen’s films typically stay within a certain box because that’s the safe thing to do.
“When people try and venture outside a certain box, they’re punished for it,” he says.
The most successful LDS stories have focused on missionaries or events in church history, but Scott is the first filmmaker to focus on this period in the Book of Mormon. That may be part of the reason the film suffered financially, he says.
“The first one is always bloody,” he says. “It takes that first one to say, ‘It’s ok to go here.'”
One of the biggest criticisms for “The Oath” revolves around a love story between Moroni and another woman, which many church members discredit because it’s not in the book.
Others have called out the film for introducing new characters and story elements.
“People on the sidelines want to sit and throw rocks at people who are trying (to create something meaningful),” Scott says. “If you just translate book to screen, you get a super boring movie. No one in the world wants to see a dude in the forest for an hour and a half.”
Some of the greatest supporters of the film have come from people who are not members of the church, Scott says.
Scott was one of only two cast members who was a Latter-day Saint and the crew were surprised to hear about church members’ “resistance” towards the film.
“Jews support each other (in creative endeavors), Christians stand by each other. We’ve never seen this kind of behavior,” the film crew said, according to Scott. “It doesn’t look good (to people of other faiths).”
Latter-day Saint history is full of violence and “heroic, heart-wrenching, uplifting, inspiring stories,” Scott says, and audiences’ unwillingness to see them portrayed in the first place, much less with any realism is “narrow-minded” and demonstrates a “lack of maturity.”
After 14 years of work on this project and a poor box office performance, Scott is not likely to get involved in something of this scope in the near future. But he hopes it inspires others to tell quality Latter-day Saint stories going forward and that audiences will be receptive to it.
WATCH OUR INTERVIEW WITH SCOTT IN THE VIDEO ABOVE.