Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Talk about a show that I've been watching. It's now
six episodes into the season and I watched five. I
have not seen the latest yet that came out yesterday,
but it's a fantastic news show that is making waves
on Amazon Prime Video ranging anywhere. I think I've seen
(00:21):
it within like the top five at one point, the
number two viewed show right now on Amazon Prime and
it is a religious program, The House of David TV
series again on Amazon Prime Video, and one of the
executive producers is John Gunn, who's also a writer, a
(00:44):
writer and director on the show. It happens to be
the director and writer of the film that's still in theaters,
The Unbreakable Boy starring Zachary Levi, who of course is
known very widely for shazam A. Needless to say, John
(01:06):
Gunn also happens to be my uncle Randy's brother, so
all the more reason to talk with him on the
program about what he's got cooking. John Gunn joining me now, sir,
welcome to KOA.
Speaker 2 (01:21):
Thank you so much. Thank you for having me.
Speaker 1 (01:23):
It is truly great to have you on. I'm looking
forward to our conversation. You are a a co writer,
co director, creator, with John Irwin, filmmaker John Erwin of
this show House of David, and I just want to
ask you right off the top, why David from the Bible?
Speaker 2 (01:45):
Well, you know, I'll tell you it's one of the
great stories of the Bible, and it is in many
ways the origin story of the hero's journey. So for
anyone who loves Luke Skywalker or Harry Potter, you know
these are this is side of the origin, those kinds
of of heroes rising from nothing and finding their destiny stories.
(02:06):
So John Irwhin in particular has dreamed of telling the
story for about twenty years since he was a kid
when he visited Israel. So I think this has just
been something that's been on his mind. And when he
and I were talking about what to collaborate on next,
it was the perfect moment. Because we've partnered with Amazon Prime,
we have the resources to do something of this scale,
and if we were going to do it, we wanted
(02:27):
to do it right, We wanted to do it really well,
and Amazon agreed, and so they partner. They have been
incredible partners for us and also have given us the
resources to do the show at a very high level
and given us total creative control to do it our way,
which has been incredible.
Speaker 1 (02:40):
The production values on this show, John Gunn, are tremendous.
I mean when you look at the way it is
representing the Bronze Age, which in film television we don't
see much of that kind of representation.
Speaker 3 (02:54):
You want to do two things. One make it look
really good.
Speaker 1 (02:58):
Which is something that's important and especially in this day
and age for any television show, but also be.
Speaker 3 (03:04):
Very authentic to that period.
Speaker 1 (03:06):
I mean we're talking thousands of years ago. Talk to
us for a moment about what it's like putting on
a program, putting it together when you want to be
true to the time period as best as possible.
Speaker 2 (03:19):
Yeah, that's really a big part of the fun of
this show, and the specificity of that era is what
makes the show really unique. And you're right, not a
lot of things about the Bronze Age have been done.
We do a tremendous amount of research. We have a
lot of consultants, we have an incredible art department, and
one of the great opportunities but also challenges, is that
pretty much everything has to be made from scratch, and
(03:40):
so we shoot the show in Greece, which has a
great long history and is also an origin of storytelling
and its own right. And so there are structures that
are three thousand years old and older that we can
build around. But mostly we have to create and build
every prop, every set, all the wardrobe, and so we
(04:03):
do a lot of research to make sure we get
it right. We have an incredible art department. We build
it on the land. We shoot most of the show
out in the wild, which is wonderful and challenging, but
it keeps it feeling very grounded and connected to the
earth and the time period.
Speaker 1 (04:17):
One thing to me as well, John Gunn, that is
striking about this moment in time is that you have
a resurgence of biblical based or biblically inspired programming. You've
got The Unbreakable Boy, your film that's in theaters that
is a religious focus. You have House of David with
(04:37):
this TV series. You have Jesus Revolution that came out
a couple of years ago starring Kelsey Grammer.
Speaker 3 (04:43):
What do you think it is about this moment?
Speaker 1 (04:45):
One that has people gravitating towards this type of spiritual content,
and number two, that is inspiring even the likes of
Amazon to say, yeah, we want to help and be
involved in this programming.
Speaker 2 (05:01):
Well, it's funny, you know, I think I think it's
a bit of a joke that John Erwhen and I
talk about, which is that the faith market or the
sort of family values heartland market is so many people
considered a niche market, but it's probably the largest niche
in the world, right And you know, there's tens of
millions of people in America alone who consider themselves either
(05:24):
our churchgoers or people just who want to have content
to watch with their family, co viewing with their family,
multi generational. You want to be able to sit and
watch something with your kids, with your grandparents that you
don't have to worry about what's going to come up.
And that's something that's redeeming and aspirational and inspirational. And
so we find that there's a big market for that.
There's a lot of people who want it, and we
(05:44):
want to serve that audience in a really sincere way.
So yeah, so we and I think that what started
to happen is we've had success with the number of
our movies over the last decade, and Amazon realized there
is a real market there and so they wanted to
lean into that. They wanted to serve that audience, and
we were great partners to be able to do that
with them.
Speaker 3 (06:05):
Again.
Speaker 1 (06:05):
John Gunn is our guest executive producer of House of
David on Amazon Prime Video, episode six revealed yesterday, and John,
how many episodes in this season of the show.
Speaker 2 (06:22):
For eight episodes in season one? And season one is
basically the story of David going from a shepherd boy
to facing the giant Goliath, and so our two part
finale that starts next week is epic and really great
and very exciting to see the David and Goliath face
off in a way that no one's ever really seen
it before. And honestly, that was one of the great
(06:42):
challenges out of the gate that got me very intrigued
about this project was how can we do a version
of staging David and Goliath that would give it its
proper scope and emotional stakes and keep it really human
but also very exciting and very epic. And I think
people are who have seen it so far are really
really loving it. So I'm excited for people to see that.
Speaker 1 (07:02):
There are two aspects of accomplishing exactly what you just said, John,
that I want to dive into. One of them is
the cast and the casting process here, because I really
feel like you've approached this in a way that is
true to the region that the Biblical stories take place
and really fitting in terms of bringing the viewer into
(07:26):
that time period all the more.
Speaker 2 (07:29):
Yeah, it was really important to me, you know, on
that track of authenticity. When we came to this show,
we were like, we want to cast Middle Eastern actors.
We want to cast people who belong in the frame
in this story of this time and so we did
a global search, many many months of casting to find
incredible actors who were authenticallymperiod. A lot of Israeli actors.
(07:52):
Pyle standing actors are David Micha Leskander, who plays David,
who was born in Egypt, had never been on camera before.
He was this incredible discovery. Really, we needed someone who
was a teenager that we could believe would one day
be a king. We needed somebody who was Middle Eastern
and descent. We needed somebody who could sing beautifully, because
(08:14):
David's a warrior poet who sang for the king for
King Saul. He has an incredible voice and unbelievably he
in high school did shot put and discus, so he
had all the skills necessary to do the sling properly,
and so we brought in an ancient war paar specialist
who spent about a month and a half with him
(08:35):
teaching him how to use the sling, and that kid
can use that sling with precision.
Speaker 1 (08:39):
Let me just jump in real quick and say, that's amazing.
Michael as Gander does a phenomenal job in that role.
And to think that he's on camera for the first
time here let alone which you just described for training
leading up to the moment that we're waiting for in
terms of David and Goliath and so forth, it is tremendous.
Speaker 3 (08:57):
But please continue.
Speaker 2 (08:59):
Yeah, and it's really cool too, because when we set
out to do this, we realized, like, those words David
and Goliath are three words that almost everyone on earth
is familiar with. But there's so much to the story
that a lot of people don't really know. And even
if you know the Bible and have read the Bible,
you know that our entire eight episode season really only
(09:19):
tackles three chapters for Samuel, right, So there's you know,
there's a lot to fill in and a lot to
explore in between the text of the Bible, and so
that was part of the fun, was that we wanted
so much to honor this text and for people who
are who are believers, who love the Bible and love
the stories, we are bringing this to you with authenticity
(09:40):
and respect for it. And at the same time, there
is a lot there are a lot of characters that
get maybe one mention or one sentence in the Bible,
and so it gives us this wonderful opportunity to explore
who these people are and why they might have done
the things that they did. And so it's something that
we call like an emotional excavation, you know, and and
to just dig in between and find life and truth
(10:02):
and humanity to the best that we can as storytellers.
And we always tell people to this show is not
the Bible. This is a TV show, but it's a
TV show about the Bible that honors the Bible, that
will lead people to the Bible to read your story.
Speaker 1 (10:15):
Yeah, let me jump in on that point, because it
is one thing I really wanted to ask you about.
John gunn Is in each episode or before each episode,
you do have a note saying this isn't just from
the Biblical text or the history this fills in with
some creative license letting viewers know that, because it's especially
important for people who have read the Bible and know
(10:37):
it inside and out, because they've studied it very closely,
and they watch a program and they're like, wait a second,
that's not in there, and they might be like, wait,
why are you doing? Well, you give them that understanding.
But when you're doing this emotional excavation, when you are
exploring more to fill in some gaps and expand on
maybe just one little reference in the Bible, how do
(10:58):
you do that and approach that as a filmmaker in
such a way that really is striking a balance between
what is actually written and what is appropriate to fill
in and expand on what's written.
Speaker 2 (11:12):
Yeah, I mean it requires a lot of research, a
lot of consultants. We have a Bible board, in fact,
the same board that reviews The Chosen with Dallas Jenkins.
Dallas is a partner to us and a creative consultant
on the show as well, and so we have a
tremendous amount of consultants. We have a lot of people
who read the drafts and the scripts understanding that our
intention is to honor and serve the text, and then
(11:37):
there becomes that really wonderful opportunity in the way that
a pastor might tell a sermon, right, you put it
in context, You dream about what might have happened in
between these moments you and you share it all, you know,
to an audience who loves these stories already. And even
if you don't read the Bible or don't know these stories,
it's a wonderful way to become familiar with them. And
(11:58):
they are some of the greatest stories ever told. So
and so it becomes it's a great responsibility for us.
We take it extremely seriously and yet and we also
have a wonderful opportunity, I think, as storytellers to dream
of these characters, what they might have done living in
this time, knowing where they're headed from the Bible, and
(12:22):
creating and imagining some of the scenes in between.
Speaker 1 (12:25):
Again, we're talking with John Gunn, executive producer, one of
the writers and directors of House of David, which is
streaming now on Amazon Prime Video. As we look at
the biblical text and some of the messages, because you're
talking about a very important and profound story, David, I mean,
(12:45):
who was the star of David referencing for the Jewish people,
for example, he's such a pivotal individual in the Bible
in so many ways. But while you're telling that story,
you also have moral and ethical lesson which come from
the Biblical text and also clearly are something you want
to drive home when you're creating a production like this.
(13:09):
What are some of the takeaways that you're hoping viewers
will watch, whether they are religious or not, in terms.
Speaker 3 (13:15):
Of maybe some ethical lessons or.
Speaker 1 (13:17):
Moral understandings, or anything else that you hope they take
away other than yeah, I really liked this show.
Speaker 2 (13:23):
Yeah, I mean, I think that it's a story that
one of the things that's so incredibly relatable about the
story is that it's about a teenager who's dreaming of
a destiny and pursuing his destiny is God given destiny.
In this case, this was a kid with a heart
for God who called out and cried out from the
field so as a shepherd for what am I meant
to be? What is my purpose? And then once he
(13:46):
discovers that purpose and is anointed by the prophet that
he's going to be the next king of Israel, the
question then becomes am I worthy of this destiny and
how can I be worthy of this destiny? How can
I live up to it? And so I think there's
a very relatable ideas that so many of us that
are around and want to know what am I meant to be?
And what does God call me to be? And how
(14:08):
do I rise to that through fear, through circumstances to
achieve you know, ultimately my destiny. So I think that
that's again that is in many ways the origin of
the hero's journey story we've seen so many times before,
and it's there's a reason why so many people have
told the story in different ways.
Speaker 1 (14:27):
The hero's journey you mentioned earlier for Luke Skywalker of
course from Star Wars, and George Lucas really studied the
hero's journey in those qualities when crafting the Star Wars
saga and approached that element from many different aspects, including
that moral development and that growth of an individual in
(14:50):
the progression of the journey. When you look at the
hero's journey and adapting that into this program, or how
you even have that in terms of the story of
David in the Bible, what is it about that hero's
journey that resonates with people so much that it has
stood the test of time to the point that we
(15:13):
go back millennia with that test of time well again.
Speaker 2 (15:17):
I think it has to do with finding your purpose
and finding your purpose. The odyssey of finding your purpose
could take you all the way around the globe, or
it could happen all within under the roof of your
own house or within your own town. But the idea
of battling against obstacles, facing the unknown, rising through your
(15:38):
fear to find what your purpose is in life, I
think is It's epic right. It's exciting, it's dramatic, it's frightening,
it's got all the great elements of good storytelling. But
it's also extremely relatable. And the truth is, David as
a shepherd didn't know he was going to be King David.
He didn't know what his future was, as none of
us do. And so the history of that and the
(16:01):
challenges of that are exciting to live and very exciting
to watch.
Speaker 1 (16:05):
I want to ask you real quickly about your other
project still in theaters right now, the film Unbreakable Boy.
Speaker 3 (16:12):
Tell us what that is about.
Speaker 2 (16:14):
It's a wonderful, wonderful story that I love so much.
Zachary Levi stars in this film, and it's a story
about a father and his autistic son, his son who
is born a brittle bone disease and autism that has
this incredible spirit. And it's really a movie that explores,
very honestly, the challenge is of parenting for any parent,
of marriage and parenting, and also of raising a child
(16:37):
with special needs. But it's a hopeful and optimistic and
joyful story that is narrated by the autistic child. And
you know, there's a saying that if you've met one
autistic person, you've met one autistic person. That they're all different,
just like we all are, and some are very non verbal,
but Austin was very verbal, is very It's based on
(16:58):
a true story. It's based on a book written about
the Lorette family, and he's very verbal and charming and
full of life and really in many ways helps his
parents to understand how to appreciate every day and to
understand that every day can be the best day of
your life. So that it's heart that's a story about gratitude,
that it's got tons of color and joy to it,
(17:20):
and it's a movie I'm super proud to share.
Speaker 3 (17:22):
Two part.
Speaker 1 (17:23):
Final question for you John Gon and that is when
you look at sort of your career and progression, how
do you reflect on that and where you're now working
on such big pivotal productions like House of David and
so forth. I mean, being involved with Jesus Revolution with
the likes of Kelsey Grammar was amazing and I really
(17:43):
enjoyed that film myself. And then as you look ahead,
and I know you've got to be a little circumspect
in what you say, but can you give us any
ideas to other projects you're working.
Speaker 3 (17:54):
On or looking at?
Speaker 2 (17:56):
Yeah, happy to so. John Urban and I are building
together this company called The Wonder Project, and that is
the company that's producing House of David. We did just
get the official news that's in the press this week
that we are green lit for a second season at
House of David.
Speaker 3 (18:11):
Amazing, congratulations.
Speaker 2 (18:12):
We're already we're already back in Greece working hard on
season two, which is going to be incredible, by the way,
bigger than season one. We're very excited about it. We
have a movie about young George Washington that we're producing
that John right, I have a story about the Wright
Brothers that I'm working on that I've been wanting to
tell for many years, no one's ever really properly told
(18:33):
the right brother's story. In my opinion, we have a
Nate Bargatzi comedy, the comedian Nate Bargotti that we're working on.
So many good things.
Speaker 3 (18:43):
That's tremendous.
Speaker 1 (18:45):
Lots cooking from John Gon, one of the again executive
producers of House of David, working closely with John. John
and John do you and you both spell it ja Owen?
Do you get confused at all? Do people get confused?
Speaker 2 (18:59):
They just call the Johns and usually it's like as
as long as one of the Johns says it's okay,
then we're good to go.
Speaker 1 (19:04):
There you go, John, God, thank you so much for
joining us. Really appreciate it. This has been a lot
of fun. And let's keep in touches you bring out
some of these new projects.
Speaker 2 (19:14):
Thanks so much, Jim, it's a pleasure to be with you.
Talk about a show that I've been watching. It's now
six episodes into the season and I watched five. I
have not seen the latest yet that came out yesterday,
but it's a fantastic news show that is making waves
on Amazon Prime Video ranging anywhere. I think I've seen
(00:21):
it within like the top five at one point, the
number two viewed show right now on Amazon Prime and
it is a religious program, The House of David TV
series again on Amazon Prime Video, and one of the
executive producers is John Gunn, who's also a writer, a
(00:44):
writer and director on the show. It happens to be
the director and writer of the film that's still in theaters,
The Unbreakable Boy starring Zachary Levi, who of course is
known very widely for shazam A. Needless to say, John
(01:06):
Gunn also happens to be my uncle Randy's brother, so
all the more reason to talk with him on the
program about what he's got cooking. John Gunn joining me now, sir,
welcome to KOA.
Speaker 2 (01:21):
Thank you so much. Thank you for having me.
Speaker 1 (01:23):
It is truly great to have you on. I'm looking
forward to our conversation. You are a a co writer,
co director, creator, with John Irwin, filmmaker John Erwin of
this show House of David, and I just want to
ask you right off the top, why David from the Bible?
Speaker 2 (01:45):
Well, you know, I'll tell you it's one of the
great stories of the Bible, and it is in many
ways the origin story of the hero's journey. So for
anyone who loves Luke Skywalker or Harry Potter, you know
these are this is side of the origin, those kinds
of of heroes rising from nothing and finding their destiny stories.
(02:06):
So John Irwhin in particular has dreamed of telling the
story for about twenty years since he was a kid
when he visited Israel. So I think this has just
been something that's been on his mind. And when he
and I were talking about what to collaborate on next,
it was the perfect moment. Because we've partnered with Amazon Prime,
we have the resources to do something of this scale,
and if we were going to do it, we wanted
(02:27):
to do it right, We wanted to do it really well,
and Amazon agreed, and so they partner. They have been
incredible partners for us and also have given us the
resources to do the show at a very high level
and given us total creative control to do it our way,
which has been incredible.
Speaker 1 (02:40):
The production values on this show, John Gunn, are tremendous.
I mean when you look at the way it is
representing the Bronze Age, which in film television we don't
see much of that kind of representation.
Speaker 3 (02:54):
You want to do two things. One make it look
really good.
Speaker 1 (02:58):
Which is something that's important and especially in this day
and age for any television show, but also be.
Speaker 3 (03:04):
Very authentic to that period.
Speaker 1 (03:06):
I mean we're talking thousands of years ago. Talk to
us for a moment about what it's like putting on
a program, putting it together when you want to be
true to the time period as best as possible.
Speaker 2 (03:19):
Yeah, that's really a big part of the fun of
this show, and the specificity of that era is what
makes the show really unique. And you're right, not a
lot of things about the Bronze Age have been done.
We do a tremendous amount of research. We have a
lot of consultants, we have an incredible art department, and
one of the great opportunities but also challenges, is that
pretty much everything has to be made from scratch, and
(03:40):
so we shoot the show in Greece, which has a
great long history and is also an origin of storytelling
and its own right. And so there are structures that
are three thousand years old and older that we can
build around. But mostly we have to create and build
every prop, every set, all the wardrobe, and so we
(04:03):
do a lot of research to make sure we get
it right. We have an incredible art department. We build
it on the land. We shoot most of the show
out in the wild, which is wonderful and challenging, but
it keeps it feeling very grounded and connected to the
earth and the time period.
Speaker 1 (04:17):
One thing to me as well, John Gunn, that is
striking about this moment in time is that you have
a resurgence of biblical based or biblically inspired programming. You've
got The Unbreakable Boy, your film that's in theaters that
is a religious focus. You have House of David with
(04:37):
this TV series. You have Jesus Revolution that came out
a couple of years ago starring Kelsey Grammer.
Speaker 3 (04:43):
What do you think it is about this moment?
Speaker 1 (04:45):
One that has people gravitating towards this type of spiritual content,
and number two, that is inspiring even the likes of
Amazon to say, yeah, we want to help and be
involved in this programming.
Speaker 2 (05:01):
Well, it's funny, you know, I think I think it's
a bit of a joke that John Erwhen and I
talk about, which is that the faith market or the
sort of family values heartland market is so many people
considered a niche market, but it's probably the largest niche
in the world, right And you know, there's tens of
millions of people in America alone who consider themselves either
(05:24):
our churchgoers or people just who want to have content
to watch with their family, co viewing with their family,
multi generational. You want to be able to sit and
watch something with your kids, with your grandparents that you
don't have to worry about what's going to come up.
And that's something that's redeeming and aspirational and inspirational. And
so we find that there's a big market for that.
There's a lot of people who want it, and we
(05:44):
want to serve that audience in a really sincere way.
So yeah, so we and I think that what started
to happen is we've had success with the number of
our movies over the last decade, and Amazon realized there
is a real market there and so they wanted to
lean into that. They wanted to serve that audience, and
we were great partners to be able to do that
with them.
Speaker 3 (06:05):
Again.
Speaker 1 (06:05):
John Gunn is our guest executive producer of House of
David on Amazon Prime Video, episode six revealed yesterday, and John,
how many episodes in this season of the show.
Speaker 2 (06:22):
For eight episodes in season one? And season one is
basically the story of David going from a shepherd boy
to facing the giant Goliath, and so our two part
finale that starts next week is epic and really great
and very exciting to see the David and Goliath face
off in a way that no one's ever really seen
it before. And honestly, that was one of the great
(06:42):
challenges out of the gate that got me very intrigued
about this project was how can we do a version
of staging David and Goliath that would give it its
proper scope and emotional stakes and keep it really human
but also very exciting and very epic. And I think
people are who have seen it so far are really
really loving it. So I'm excited for people to see that.
Speaker 1 (07:02):
There are two aspects of accomplishing exactly what you just said, John,
that I want to dive into. One of them is
the cast and the casting process here, because I really
feel like you've approached this in a way that is
true to the region that the Biblical stories take place
and really fitting in terms of bringing the viewer into
(07:26):
that time period all the more.
Speaker 2 (07:29):
Yeah, it was really important to me, you know, on
that track of authenticity. When we came to this show,
we were like, we want to cast Middle Eastern actors.
We want to cast people who belong in the frame
in this story of this time and so we did
a global search, many many months of casting to find
incredible actors who were authenticallymperiod. A lot of Israeli actors.
(07:52):
Pyle standing actors are David Micha Leskander, who plays David,
who was born in Egypt, had never been on camera before.
He was this incredible discovery. Really, we needed someone who
was a teenager that we could believe would one day
be a king. We needed somebody who was Middle Eastern
and descent. We needed somebody who could sing beautifully, because
(08:14):
David's a warrior poet who sang for the king for
King Saul. He has an incredible voice and unbelievably he
in high school did shot put and discus, so he
had all the skills necessary to do the sling properly,
and so we brought in an ancient war paar specialist
who spent about a month and a half with him
(08:35):
teaching him how to use the sling, and that kid
can use that sling with precision.
Speaker 1 (08:39):
Let me just jump in real quick and say, that's amazing.
Michael as Gander does a phenomenal job in that role.
And to think that he's on camera for the first
time here let alone which you just described for training
leading up to the moment that we're waiting for in
terms of David and Goliath and so forth, it is tremendous.
Speaker 3 (08:57):
But please continue.
Speaker 2 (08:59):
Yeah, and it's really cool too, because when we set
out to do this, we realized, like, those words David
and Goliath are three words that almost everyone on earth
is familiar with. But there's so much to the story
that a lot of people don't really know. And even
if you know the Bible and have read the Bible,
you know that our entire eight episode season really only
(09:19):
tackles three chapters for Samuel, right, So there's you know,
there's a lot to fill in and a lot to
explore in between the text of the Bible, and so
that was part of the fun, was that we wanted
so much to honor this text and for people who
are who are believers, who love the Bible and love
the stories, we are bringing this to you with authenticity
(09:40):
and respect for it. And at the same time, there
is a lot there are a lot of characters that
get maybe one mention or one sentence in the Bible,
and so it gives us this wonderful opportunity to explore
who these people are and why they might have done
the things that they did. And so it's something that
we call like an emotional excavation, you know, and and
to just dig in between and find life and truth
(10:02):
and humanity to the best that we can as storytellers.
And we always tell people to this show is not
the Bible. This is a TV show, but it's a
TV show about the Bible that honors the Bible, that
will lead people to the Bible to read your story.
Speaker 1 (10:15):
Yeah, let me jump in on that point, because it
is one thing I really wanted to ask you about.
John gunn Is in each episode or before each episode,
you do have a note saying this isn't just from
the Biblical text or the history this fills in with
some creative license letting viewers know that, because it's especially
important for people who have read the Bible and know
(10:37):
it inside and out, because they've studied it very closely,
and they watch a program and they're like, wait a second,
that's not in there, and they might be like, wait,
why are you doing? Well, you give them that understanding.
But when you're doing this emotional excavation, when you are
exploring more to fill in some gaps and expand on
maybe just one little reference in the Bible, how do
(10:58):
you do that and approach that as a filmmaker in
such a way that really is striking a balance between
what is actually written and what is appropriate to fill
in and expand on what's written.
Speaker 2 (11:12):
Yeah, I mean it requires a lot of research, a
lot of consultants. We have a Bible board, in fact,
the same board that reviews The Chosen with Dallas Jenkins.
Dallas is a partner to us and a creative consultant
on the show as well, and so we have a
tremendous amount of consultants. We have a lot of people
who read the drafts and the scripts understanding that our
intention is to honor and serve the text, and then
(11:37):
there becomes that really wonderful opportunity in the way that
a pastor might tell a sermon, right, you put it
in context, You dream about what might have happened in
between these moments you and you share it all, you know,
to an audience who loves these stories already. And even
if you don't read the Bible or don't know these stories,
it's a wonderful way to become familiar with them. And
(11:58):
they are some of the greatest stories ever told. So
and so it becomes it's a great responsibility for us.
We take it extremely seriously and yet and we also
have a wonderful opportunity, I think, as storytellers to dream
of these characters, what they might have done living in
this time, knowing where they're headed from the Bible, and
(12:22):
creating and imagining some of the scenes in between.
Speaker 1 (12:25):
Again, we're talking with John Gunn, executive producer, one of
the writers and directors of House of David, which is
streaming now on Amazon Prime Video. As we look at
the biblical text and some of the messages, because you're
talking about a very important and profound story, David, I mean,
(12:45):
who was the star of David referencing for the Jewish people,
for example, he's such a pivotal individual in the Bible
in so many ways. But while you're telling that story,
you also have moral and ethical lesson which come from
the Biblical text and also clearly are something you want
to drive home when you're creating a production like this.
(13:09):
What are some of the takeaways that you're hoping viewers
will watch, whether they are religious or not, in terms.
Speaker 3 (13:15):
Of maybe some ethical lessons or.
Speaker 1 (13:17):
Moral understandings, or anything else that you hope they take
away other than yeah, I really liked this show.
Speaker 2 (13:23):
Yeah, I mean, I think that it's a story that
one of the things that's so incredibly relatable about the
story is that it's about a teenager who's dreaming of
a destiny and pursuing his destiny is God given destiny.
In this case, this was a kid with a heart
for God who called out and cried out from the
field so as a shepherd for what am I meant
to be? What is my purpose? And then once he
(13:46):
discovers that purpose and is anointed by the prophet that
he's going to be the next king of Israel, the
question then becomes am I worthy of this destiny and
how can I be worthy of this destiny? How can
I live up to it? And so I think there's
a very relatable ideas that so many of us that
are around and want to know what am I meant to be?
And what does God call me to be? And how
(14:08):
do I rise to that through fear, through circumstances to
achieve you know, ultimately my destiny. So I think that
that's again that is in many ways the origin of
the hero's journey story we've seen so many times before,
and it's there's a reason why so many people have
told the story in different ways.
Speaker 1 (14:27):
The hero's journey you mentioned earlier for Luke Skywalker of
course from Star Wars, and George Lucas really studied the
hero's journey in those qualities when crafting the Star Wars
saga and approached that element from many different aspects, including
that moral development and that growth of an individual in
(14:50):
the progression of the journey. When you look at the
hero's journey and adapting that into this program, or how
you even have that in terms of the story of
David in the Bible, what is it about that hero's
journey that resonates with people so much that it has
stood the test of time to the point that we
(15:13):
go back millennia with that test of time well again.
Speaker 2 (15:17):
I think it has to do with finding your purpose
and finding your purpose. The odyssey of finding your purpose
could take you all the way around the globe, or
it could happen all within under the roof of your
own house or within your own town. But the idea
of battling against obstacles, facing the unknown, rising through your
(15:38):
fear to find what your purpose is in life, I
think is It's epic right. It's exciting, it's dramatic, it's frightening,
it's got all the great elements of good storytelling. But
it's also extremely relatable. And the truth is, David as
a shepherd didn't know he was going to be King David.
He didn't know what his future was, as none of
us do. And so the history of that and the
(16:01):
challenges of that are exciting to live and very exciting
to watch.
Speaker 1 (16:05):
I want to ask you real quickly about your other
project still in theaters right now, the film Unbreakable Boy.
Speaker 3 (16:12):
Tell us what that is about.
Speaker 2 (16:14):
It's a wonderful, wonderful story that I love so much.
Zachary Levi stars in this film, and it's a story
about a father and his autistic son, his son who
is born a brittle bone disease and autism that has
this incredible spirit. And it's really a movie that explores,
very honestly, the challenge is of parenting for any parent,
of marriage and parenting, and also of raising a child
(16:37):
with special needs. But it's a hopeful and optimistic and
joyful story that is narrated by the autistic child. And
you know, there's a saying that if you've met one
autistic person, you've met one autistic person. That they're all different,
just like we all are, and some are very non verbal,
but Austin was very verbal, is very It's based on
(16:58):
a true story. It's based on a book written about
the Lorette family, and he's very verbal and charming and
full of life and really in many ways helps his
parents to understand how to appreciate every day and to
understand that every day can be the best day of
your life. So that it's heart that's a story about gratitude,
that it's got tons of color and joy to it,
(17:20):
and it's a movie I'm super proud to share.
Speaker 3 (17:22):
Two part.
Speaker 1 (17:23):
Final question for you John Gon and that is when
you look at sort of your career and progression, how
do you reflect on that and where you're now working
on such big pivotal productions like House of David and
so forth. I mean, being involved with Jesus Revolution with
the likes of Kelsey Grammar was amazing and I really
(17:43):
enjoyed that film myself. And then as you look ahead,
and I know you've got to be a little circumspect
in what you say, but can you give us any
ideas to other projects you're working.
Speaker 3 (17:54):
On or looking at?
Speaker 2 (17:56):
Yeah, happy to so. John Urban and I are building
together this company called The Wonder Project, and that is
the company that's producing House of David. We did just
get the official news that's in the press this week
that we are green lit for a second season at
House of David.
Speaker 3 (18:11):
Amazing, congratulations.
Speaker 2 (18:12):
We're already we're already back in Greece working hard on
season two, which is going to be incredible, by the way,
bigger than season one. We're very excited about it. We
have a movie about young George Washington that we're producing
that John right, I have a story about the Wright
Brothers that I'm working on that I've been wanting to
tell for many years, no one's ever really properly told
(18:33):
the right brother's story. In my opinion, we have a
Nate Bargatzi comedy, the comedian Nate Bargotti that we're working on.
So many good things.
Speaker 3 (18:43):
That's tremendous.
Speaker 1 (18:45):
Lots cooking from John Gon, one of the again executive
producers of House of David, working closely with John. John
and John do you and you both spell it ja Owen?
Do you get confused at all? Do people get confused?
Speaker 2 (18:59):
They just call the Johns and usually it's like as
as long as one of the Johns says it's okay,
then we're good to go.
Speaker 1 (19:04):
There you go, John, God, thank you so much for
joining us. Really appreciate it. This has been a lot
of fun. And let's keep in touches you bring out
some of these new projects.
Speaker 2 (19:14):
Thanks so much, Jim, it's a pleasure to be with you.
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