Transcript of Interview with Tim Drake about Behind Bella. This interview and others like it can be found at http://www.catholicspotlight.com

Listen Now to the audio version of the show.

Behind Bella is available at The Catholic Company.
http://www.catholiccompany.com/catholic-books/1004799/Behind-Bella-Amazing-Stories-about-Making-Bella-Lives-Its-Changed/

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Chris Cash:  This is the Catholic Spotlight, the podcast where we talk about what’s new, cool, and exciting in the Catholic marketplace.  I’m your host, Chris Cash, director of eCommerce from catholiccompany.com, your source for all your Catholic needs.

Chris Cash:  And today in the Spotlight, we have Tim Drake, author of the Behind Bella, the amazing stories about the making of Bella and The Lives It Changed.  Welcome, Tim!

Tim Drake: Good to be with you, Chris.

Chris:  It is great to have you on the show.  A few months back, I had a chance to interview Jason Jones who was one of the producers on the movie and so it is very exciting to have another reason to bring up such a great movie and talk about it again.

Tim Drake: Yeah, and of course, the DVD came out earlier in the year and this book, Behind Bella is…it’s kind of a perfect companion to the DVD.

Chris:  So tell me a little bit about…for those who may not know the movie.  Why don’t we just run down real quick, brief synopsis of what happens in the movie and then what involvement you were able to get behind the scenes in the movie and putting this book together?

Tim Drake: Sure.  The film is very unique and it’s hard to even really to describe but what it is, is the day in the life of two people who are each facing a crisis of their own and they are brought together by the circumstances in the film and they spend the day together in New York and it really…it tells their story and how meeting one another, they are able to impact the lives of each other.  And of course the woman who plays the waitress was Tammy Blanchard, she is caught in a crisis pregnancy and the main male lead is Eduardo Verastegui who is a soccer player whose life has fallen apart.  I don’t want to give too much away for those who haven’t seen it but it shows how one day can change your life.

Chris:  And there’s a big story about redemption too because they both seem to find redemption in what they accomplish together.

Tim Drake: Yeah, they do and you asked about sort of how the book came to be.  I had written an early story on this film after it won the Toronto Film Festival two years ago.  It won the People’s Choice Award.  It was a surprise winner and it received a great deal of attention.  And that article which I wrote for the National Catholic Register then led into about four or five other articles that I wrote about the film as it was trying to find a distributor, as it found a distributor, and then eventually opened in theaters late last year.  And so in January of this year, Ignatius Press contacted me and asked if I would be interested in working on a making-of-the-film-style book.  This is a coffee table book but it goes beyond that in that it tells the amazing stories of how this film has impacted people’s lives.  And so in the course of putting the book together, I spoke to most of the actors and actresses in the film.  I talked to all of the producers, the writer, folks who helped to promote and distribute the film.  So I was able to really get the full story on how this film came to be and I think what’s amazing is that as remarkable as the film itself is, the stories about how this film actually came into being are even more remarkable, all along the way there are what we would describe as small miracles that took place to really bring this film into being and a lot of folks who kind of went against common sense and said yes to the Lord and it shows the power of what happens when we say yes to what God might be asking of us even if it doesn’t make sense to the world.

Chris:  So why don’t we talk a little bit about some of these interactions you had with the people making the movie and the stories behind how it was created and came together.  What do you think was one of the most striking things to you personally including the actors?

Tim Drake: Sure, I think yeah, I’ll tell you…many people are familiar with the story of Eduardo Verastegui, the main actor.  I’m not going to recount his entire story but just to let people know sort of the basics of that.  He was a very popular Mexican soap opera star; he was in a very, very popular Mexican boy band.  They call him the Brad Pitt of Mexico.  That’s how popular he is there and he was very much living a playboy lifestyle and in rehearsing for one of his roles, in learning the language of English, he had an English language coach who started to ask him some questions about the roles he was taking and why he was taking them.  And this kind of led him to discern that maybe what he was doing was not very Godly and he ended up deciding not to take any more of these kinds of roles and for three years, he did not have a role because he had turned down so many.  And that to me, the most remarkable story…one of the most remarkable stories in the making of the film was how Eduardo became connected with the producer, Leo Severino and what had happened is Eduardo had a re-conversion to his Catholic faith.  He started attending daily Mass in California and it just so happened that after daily Mass, he would go to a statue of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and he was praying.  He was praying for direction in his life; praying for decent roles.  And it was after Mass one day that Leo Severino who worked for 20th Century Fox, passed by Eduardo as he was praying and Leo took note of him.  I mean because he was a young man, he was at church, he was very attractive and Leo just made a mental note.  You know, I need to talk to this guy at some point.  And he said several weeks went by when he was at Mass again and saw Eduardo at Mass and he wanted to make a point of after Mass going up to talk to him but on his way out, a woman stopped Leo and asked him about restaurant recommendations in the area and so Leo was held up in trying to get to Eduardo.  As he left the building, there was Eduardo again with his hand on the statue of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.  He was praying and so Leo didn’t want to interrupt him and so Leo went out to his car.  As he backed up his car, he realized he was kind of penned in by another car.  It was the woman who he had been talking to so it took him a little while to get out and as he was leaving the parking lot, Eduardo passed in front of him and he rolled down his window and they started up a conversation and this is how the two of these men connected and this ended up leading to the production of Metanoia Films, the production company which then produced the movie Bella.  And to me, it’s one of many, many stories like that in the book that talked about the way that God was guiding these folks and guiding this film.

Chris:  So what other stories of some of the lesser actors or at least the ones that we don’t hear about as much?

Tim Drake: Yeah, you know, an interesting story that a lot of people have not heard, in fact most people haven’t heard this but the actress Tammy Blanchard who plays the female lead in the film and is in the crisis pregnancy, after the film was made, Tammy herself became pregnant.  And she talked to me about that she wasn’t sure she ever wanted to be a mother and that prior to making this film, if she had become pregnant, she’s not sure what she would have done.  But after making this film and interacting with the young girl who is in the film, she said that she was moved to give life to this child Eva Jean and so that to me is…it’s a remarkable story and it’s one again of many sort of the after-the-film kind of stories that showed the impact that this film has had not only on those who made it but also on those who have seen it.

Chris:  Now another thing that this film has done has been helping to dispel some of mythos of the Hispanic culture, I think, in terms of showing kind of the softer, more intimate side of a Hispanic household.

Tim Drake: Yeah, that’s right.  And one of the things Eduardo spoke about is that a lot of the roles he was getting…he was either the Latin lover or getting roles as the drug dealer, very sort of stereotypical roles and he felt those were denigrating Hispanic culture and so what he decided is that he wasn’t going to take any more roles like that.  And so in this film, what’s beautiful about it is that the writer and director Alejandro Monteverde, he said that what he set out to make was a pro-Hispanic and a pro-love film.  And really I think that really encapsulates what this film is about in its heart and it shows a loving, beautiful Hispanic family and it does nothing but lift Hispanic culture.  And that is why this film has been so popular particularly among Hispanics and it opened in Mexico earlier this year and it’s been doing quite well there as well.

Chris:  And as a playboy character, boy, he has…probably about half the movie, he doesn’t even look that attractive with…the fuzzy hair just going everywhere.

Tim Drake: Yeah, he of course, he’s experienced an incredible tragedy in his own life in the film and so he has this very heavy beard and is working as a cook in his brother’s restaurant.  So you’re right, yeah, he…

Chris:  Definitely not the playboy looks to him in most of the film.

Tim Drake: No.

Chris:  Okay, so when it comes to kind of the behind-the-scenes of the movie, you’ve got a lot of access, at least photographically to the behind-the-scenes in this book.  What kind of things happened behind the scenes that were just very interesting?

Tim Drake: Well I think, there are a lot of things that were quite interesting.  I think the most interesting aspect for me was the fact that they were on an extremely limited budget and so they had only a certain number of days that they could shoot in New York and the shooting took place in the late summer.  It would have been, let’s see…probably it was going back three years ago.  Late summer in New York City which I guess was one of the most expensive places to try to shoot.  And one of the stories that many of the people tell is that they were down to their last day or two and here it was calling for rain throughout New York City and as they looked at the radar, what’s incredible was that in the sort of the few blocks’ area where they needed to shoot to get some of their final shots, it appeared as if the rain was not hitting that area.  And so Alejandro made the decision to go ahead and shoot and they did and they got the scenes that they needed but everyone associated with the film that I talked to really described that as what they saw as a miracle.  That they were able to shoot this film in the days that they have, that it didn’t rain in this particular area on that particular day.  What a lot of folks don’t know is that during the making and the shooting of the film, Leo Severino, one of the producers and Eduardo, the actor stayed with Franciscan Friars of Renewal in New York City and I’ve talked to some of the Franciscan friars and they talked about how steep these guys were in prayer and how they would sometimes go into the Adoration Chapel and they would find Eduardo either in prayer or he may have fallen asleep there while praying in front of the Blessed Sacrament.  And so there’s all these kind of back stories that we tell in the book that showed the deep faith of these guys who put this movie together.  And it’s really a remarkable story.  Another thing that the producers and the actor told me is that they put this film under the mantle of Mary and a lot of the key dates in the filming and the production all landed on key Marian feast days which was quite interesting because before when they were praying that the film would get accepted into the Toronto Film Festival and they made a trek down to the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico and when the film was accepted for the festival, they made another trip down there in thanksgiving and of course, then the film ended up winning the People’s Choice Award and then they made a third trip down to the Shrine in thanksgiving for that.  So there are all these particularly Catholic moments that I think bring beauty to the story and to this film.

Chris:  And the financial success of this film has been…while it’s not a multi-billion dollar blockbuster or anything…it’s certainly been a lot bigger than was expected when they first put this together, wasn’t it?

Tim Drake: Yeah, I think they did not know what to expect but they did a great deal of both grassroots marketing getting the word out to average folks and then also, they did something called grass tops marketing which is a newer term but what that means is it means reaching the heads of organizations that could support this film among their membership and they work with people like Carl Anderson of the Knights of Columbus, you know, Dr. James Dobson of Focus on the Family.  They really tried to reach out to the presidents, of CEOs of organizations who they felt might support the film to try to get support for it among their members.  And so they ended up working with pro-adoption groups, pro-life groups, evangelical and Catholic groups and when the film opened, one of the things that led to its success is that they really were encouraging pre-sales of theaters.  And so you had a lot of theaters that had been sold out over its opening weekend.

Chris:  I saw stories locally of high school students buying out entire theaters and getting everybody in their class to buy a ticket to go.

Tim Drake: Yeah and there were certain places in the country too where they had a phenomenal success at that. Texas was one of those and so as a result of that, the film actually had one of the highest, I think, per-screen averages ever.  And what you have to take into consideration there is that the average film like a Stars Wars film or something is opening up on thousands of screens nationwide whereas this film opened up on hundreds of screens nationwide and so when you factor in the number of screens it was actually playing on, the per-screen average was actually quite high.  And then it ended up staying in theaters amazingly in some theaters for as long as 26 weeks.  That would have been I think, over Thanksgiving and Christmas of last year.  And so it really, in terms of an independent film, it really did very, very well.

Chris:  Okay, well we’re going to take a short break to hear from our sponsor but in just a minute, we’ll be back with Tim Drake talking more about Behind Bella.  This is the Catholic Spotlight.

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Chris:  And we’re back on the Catholic Spotlight talking with Tim Drake about Behind Bella.  So Tim, you mentioned earlier about all the different lives that have been affected by the movie.  Can we get some specifics maybe on just one or two of these real conversions that have happened after people have seen the movie and the 21 known babies that have been saved after their mothers have seen the movie.

Tim Drake: Yeah, you know, first of all, those who were involved in the making of the film, this film really did have a profound impact on their lives and as I mentioned earlier, the actress Tammy Blanchard deciding for life for her child after making this film but in talking with the producers, I think the film had a profound impact on them in terms of what it means to when you say yes to God and when you follow through with that even when everything you’re doing seems to go against common sense.  You’re producing this independent film and they had a very, very difficult time finding a distributor because it’s a hard film to kind of pigeon hole.  You can’t really describe it as a straight love story.  It’s not an adventure film.  How do you classify this film?  And I think that’s why they had a difficult time finding a distributor.  But again, you know what happened; another story is true of connection of someone that they met at a screening.  They got a contact with someone from Lions gate and that eventually led to distribution.  And I think for those involved with the film, it really showed the power of God’s providence and relying upon the Lord, not always knowing which direction things are going to go.  And so, from a faith perspective, the film certainly had an impact on a lot of folks but it also had a great impact on those who saw the film and the producers are aware of, at this point, about 21 babies whose lives have been saved, whose mothers had been considering abortion but did not because in part they saw this film.  And I interviewed quite a few of those folks for the book.  One who stands out in my mind was a young woman named Lia up in New Hampshire and she was a college student.  She had her whole life planned out.  She knew what she wanted to do after college but she ended up discovering that she was pregnant and she, like many girls of that age, she was confused.  She didn’t know what to do.  She was frightened so she ended up scheduling an appointment at an abortion business and went with her boyfriend and they had an initial counseling session in which that person talked about the various options, abortion and adoption or keeping the child.  And she said she came out of that meeting, she was still very confused.  By the providence of God, she was led to talk with a pregnancy counselor through Operation Outcry, a woman by the name of Kelly Roy and Kelly counseled her and had talked about the decision she had made earlier in her life to abort and the pain and suffering that that caused and she encouraged Lia to go see Bella which happened to be opening in theaters about that time.  And so Lia went to see the film and she described the film as watching almost certain aspects of her own life on the screen and she came out of that committed more than ever to not only keep the child but they ended up several months later having the baby and they named her Isabella.  They call her Bella for short and this is just one of many of the stories that coming out of this film.  A lot of crisis pregnancy centers now that the DVD is available, a lot of crisis pregnancy centers are making the DVD available and they’re having it play in their waiting rooms and they’re saying that it is having an impact in the lives of women who are confused and not sure which way to choose and it’s helping many to choose for life.

Chris:  And what’s really interesting is that we know of 21 cases but how many more out there that haven’t been reported?

Tim Drake: Yeah, it’s very hard…it’s hard to know.  And Leo Severino, the producer has described the film as an entertainment ultrasound because he said the impact that it’s having and like you said, they’re not aware of everyone who has been impacted by the film but I think that’s quite remarkable for a movie.  If you think that most movies that we go see, you walk out of the theater and yes it was entertaining but how long does it stick with you?  And does it have an eternal impact the way that this film has truly had an eternal impact on the lives of so many.

Chris:  And something else that was very interesting, just about films in general last year, was that there were several films about crisis pregnancies and I think there were five actually that showed crisis pregnancies at least in somewhat positive light.

Tim Drake: Yeah, this film happened to come out…

Chris:  Even the extremely gross Knocked Up movie…

Tim Drake: Yeah, I mean, that is remarkable because most folks wouldn’t have known that Bella was in production but this film happened to come out in the same year that you had August Rush, Waitress, and then Juno, I believe, opened after Bella but those are some other films.  So it really in some ways…

Chris:  And then of course, Knocked Up which you know…we don’t recommend but it…I’ve been told that it does have a very interesting ultrasound scene.

Tim Drake: Yeah and so this film was one among five that came out in a single year which really, we’d say had a pro-adoption theme to it.  And that’s really quite remarkable.  Does it mean to create a trend?  I would tend to think that yes, in many ways, a pro-adoption or a pro-life kind of a story…that there is a trend there because as we know, more and more young people are increasingly pro-life.  They’ve lived in a generation where they’ve seen a third of their own generation exterminated, you know, killed in the womb and so they’re missing siblings, they’re missing friends and they see the impact that abortion has had.  And so, does it indicate a possible future trend in films?  I certainly would like to think so.

Chris:  Well you know, we’re seeing also positive trends in Christian films as well coming out so let’s just hope that that overrides the not-so-positive films that come out also.

Tim Drake: Yeah.

Chris:  Well Tim, it’s been great having you on.  Was there anything else you wanted to share with our audience before we take off.

Tim Drake: No, just folks can order the book through Ignatius Press or certainly through the Catholic Company and it’s a beautiful book.  It would make a wonderful gift for folks especially with Christmas coming up.

Chris:  And do keep in mind, this is a coffee table book.  It’s got beautiful pictures in it, of the movie and of the behind the scenes so there’s just a real wealth of information at your fingertips.  It’s going to be something that will be really beautiful to have in your home.

Tim Drake: That’s right.  Thank you, Chris.

Chris:  Well, thank you very much, Tim.  It’s been great having you on and we’ll hopefully talk with you some time soon.  God bless!

Tim Drake: Yeah, God bless.

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Transcript of Interview with Tim Drake about Behind Bella. This interview and others like it can be found at http://www.catholicspotlight.com

Listen Now to the audio version of the show.

Behind Bella is available at The Catholic Company.
http://www.catholiccompany.com/catholic-books/1004799/Behind-Bella-Amazing-Stories-about-Making-Bella-Lives-Its-Changed/