Transcript of CS#54: Jason Jones Making of Bella Movie

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

Listen Now to the audio version of the show.

Bella DVD is available at The Catholic Company.

http://www.catholiccompany.com/catholic-gifts/4003737/Bella-DVD/

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Chris Cash: And today on the Spotlight we have Jason Jones, one of the Co-Executive Producers on Bella. Welcome to the show, Jason.

Jason Jones: Thank you for having me, Mr. Cash.

Chris Cash: It’s very great to have you on, Mr. Jones if we’re going to be formal today. This is very interesting. We started the show a few minutes ago and had a catastrophic failure in the recording system. This is something that has not happened. I think we’re on show 54 today. I believe this has not happened for about 20 or 30 shows now. You think that all the bugs are worked out but certainly it’s a sign that the devil is working time to try to keep Bella out of the hands of the public. What do you think, Jason?

Jason Jones: He’s tried but Our Lady has guided Bella every step of its way from the very beginning of its inception to winning the Toronto Film Festival and our theatrical release. I know her mantle will be covering Bella during the DVD distribution. So the devil can try but only in vain.

Chris Cash: Let’s talk a little bit about who you are. First off a Co-Executive Producer, you have quite a resume yourself in terms of the Pro-Life Movement, catholic radio and such.

Jason Jones: I’m the one kind of oddball in the family of Bella. My background, I was initially attracted to this film not because of a background in film although I produced documentaries in the past. But since I was 17 I’ve really committed my life to protecting the dignity of human life especially at its most vulnerable stages, the child in the womb, the elderly and the sick. So that was my motivation for getting involved in Bella. There are many people involved for many different reasons but that’s how I got involved.

Chris Cash: Now what exactly did you do on this project?

Jason Jones: As Co-Executive Producer, I really helped to arrange investors for the distribution of the film. That’s what that means.

Chris Cash: You were one of the key moneymen.

Jason Jones: I guess you can say it that way, yes.

Chris Cash: I mean certainly there are a lot of very important things that happen in a film and one of the most important I would think is having the cash to make it go forward, right?

Jason Jones: Right. I actually was blessed. I was in Mexico City working on a different project when mutual friends of mine and the three amigos – that’s Alejandro Monteverde the Director, Leo Severino the Producer and Eduardo Verástegui the Star. They had just finished producing Bella. They received the initial investing from the Wolfington, Sean Wolfington and his uncle, Eustace Wolfington who invested for the production which was such a courageous act. Sean said the Holy Spirit told him to do it and he invested in these first-time filmmakers. I had the privilege of being among the very, very first people in the world to see the very first cut, the roughest cut of the film and as soon as I saw that rough cut I just wanted to help these guys in any way I could. So I asked them, “What do you need? I want to help.” They said, “We need investors.” So I said, “Let me try to help with that,” and then I did.

Chris Cash: What is it that made Bella so special as a film?

Jason Jones: I just would like to tell you my experience when I first saw it because I think for those of you who’ve seen Bella, you understand. For me, I didn’t know who these guys were. They said, “This is the biggest star in Latin America.” I said, “So?” It was midnight and Congressman Chris Smith’s wife, Marie Smith who’s very active internationally in human rights issues said, “Jason, let’s go and see their new movie.” I said, “I don’t know these guys and I’m tired,” because we’ve been working all day and I got stuck in Mexico City traffic. There’d been a major waiver protest and so I was stuck in traffic for four hours and then the rest of the day in meetings under fluorescent lights. So I wasn’t too keen on getting in a van and driving somewhere in Mexico to go see a film by guys I never heard of. But Congressman Smith’s wife grabbed me by the ear and made me go. I remember it was a pretty long drive and it was very hot. We get to this theater and I sat down on these very comfortable chairs. It’s a very comfortable private theater in a movie studio so okay, now I’m going to go to sleep. Now that it’s playing I’ll just take in a nap. They didn’t tell us anything about the film. I just sat down, I closed my eyes and then I heard the first lines of the film which is, “If you want to make God laugh, tell him your plans,” and the movie instantly captivated me.

Chris Cash: You said, “Wait a minute. My plan was to go to sleep. Wait a minute.”

Jason Jones: My plan was to go to sleep, exactly. I sat there and I thanked God for the gift of being in the first group of people to see this film. I realized I had the three amigos sitting in front of me. I looked at the Director, Alejandro Monteverde and I remembered thinking I never thought I’d see these guys again or have anything to do with this film. I remembered thinking this is the most talented director in our generation and no one knows his name yet. Here I am with the privilege of sitting behind him with his first screening of his first film out of college. I thought this is going to be a story to tell my grandchildren and they won’t believe me but I’ll know it’s true that I knew Alejandro Monteverde before anyone did. Not that I really knew him but I was sitting four rows behind him and I looked at the three guys. This was the most beautiful movie I’ve ever seen and I’m a movie buff. Life is Beautiful, the French version of Cyrano de Bergerac, these are among my favorite, Casablanca. But I realized this is the most beautiful film I’ve ever seen and what a privilege I thought to sit here behind it. Afterwards I met the guys and as everyone did, said, “I’d like to help.” I think everyone who sees this film wants to be a part of it. In fact everyone has been a part of it. You’ve been a part of our success. Your listeners have been a part of our success. Catholics, evangelical Christians, secular people from the left to the right, La Raza has been very supportive of our film and the Crisis Pregnancy Center networks, everyone who sees Bella. Rosie O’Donnell wrote on her blog it’s like her best thing of the year. Most of her pictures are of Eduardo. So from the left to the right, people love this film and they want to help this film.

Chris Cash: What is it that’s made it so appealing to both the left and the right when it comes to this film? I mean just the fact that you won the Toronto Film Festival which is one of the most liberal film festivals in the world says so much about the broad-reaching effects of what this movie has to say.

Jason Jones: The three amigos, their goal was in this film it’s really the sacrifice of three people and just the faith of two men. It was the sacrifice of Eduardo Verástegui, Leo Severino and Alejandro Monteverde who stepped away. Leo Severino stepped away from a very successful career as a lawyer for Fox and Eduardo who’s the Brad Pitt of Latin America, for three years he refused to work after his conversion, and Alejandro with the talent and his record in college was asked to do a lot of films that went against his morals. For three years these guys just didn’t work and they sacrificed to build this company. Sean and Eustace Wolfington with their faith. The three amigos, their goal was this, to simply make films that are true, that are beautiful and that are good. That’s it, knowing that all human beings have in their heart to be attracted to truth, beauty and goodness. That was their goal with Bella. Another goal was Eduardo was sick and tired of playing roles of stereotype Latinos and he really wanted to play a role that celebrated his culture. He wanted to play a role that reminded him of men like his father and his uncles. He wanted Latino women to be portrayed in a way that reminded him of his sister, his mother and his aunts. So that was one of their goals as well. Also to show the dignity of the person. One thing is clear in this film that the director loves people and that Eduardo loves people. It comes across. I think that’s why everyone is attracted to the film.

Like you said, Toronto, it’s very liberal. It’s very risqué. It’s the biggest and most prestigious film festival in the world. I knew we were going to win it. I was confident and maybe it was naïve but when I first saw the film I called all my friends from Mexico City at 2:00 in the morning and said, “I had just seen the most beautiful movie of all time and it’s called Bella.” It is. The beauty captures people’s heart.

Chris Cash: When people like Rosie O’Donnell are behind this, what is it that they are specifically touting that they see in this film?

Jason Jones: Without giving too much of a plot, you deal with a young woman who’s caught in a crisis pregnancy and it’s in a very empathetic way. It’s not done in a way to trivialize what it’s like to be pregnant in an early age or to be pregnant when you’re alone if you don’t have a family, a husband or even a boyfriend who is caring. It’s done in a very sympathetic way and that’s one thing I find that everyone appreciates. The acting is incredible. The music is incredible. It’s not done in a cheap, didactic way. It’s not done as propaganda. It’s done as just genuine. It’s storytelling. It was inspired by true stories and it’s done in an empathetic way. I think that’s why even folks like Rosie O’Donnell love it. Latino groups across the spectrum, conservative Latino groups, liberal Latino groups love it because something… I’m a white guy, blond hair, blue eyes. I don’t know what it’s like not to go to a film and see a positive portrayal of me because I see it all the time. But one of the striking things for me is when we screen it for Latino audiences. It’s something I didn’t even catch is that they’d come up and hug us. They’d cry and say, “That’s the first time I’ve seen a Latino family like mine portrayed on television. It’s always the Don Juan, the Casanova, the pimp or the prostitute, the drug lord.” It took me by surprise. That’s another reason why a lot of other folks love it. It’s just a beautiful film. It tells a beautiful story in a very empathetic way.

Chris Cash: Certainly there’s a huge pro-life message in here but it’s not in-your-face. It’s very subdued. Certainly there is a scene in an abortion clinic but it doesn’t portray the abortion clinic as evil like some films might. So it doesn’t come off as in-your-face pro-life but the message is definitely very strong when taken as a whole.

Jason Jones: Right and I don’t think that the director who was the writer with Leo Severino the Producer and one other gentleman, I don’t think that they were. Alejandro Monteverde the Director said there was some controversy that came up saying that this was a pro-life movie. I responded to it because I loved the message and the Pro-Life Movement has responded to it. But when they wrote it they didn’t even think of that as controversial. Alejandro says, “Look, I’m Mexican. Choosing life is what we do. It’s not a controversy.” So they didn’t expect that and if there was one thing that they were conscious of, it wasn’t trying to send a pro-life message. It’s not she was to celebrate the dignity of all human life and especially of their culture. I think that was one thing because Eduardo had always been cast to play these stereotype roles. I think it took them a little aback but at the same time the movie has saved so many lives. We’ve already confirmed 16. We’ve gotten dozens and dozens of letters and e-mails of women who went to see Bella, had abortion scheduled and after seeing Bella, chose life. We also won awards from many different adoption groups and it’s inspired so many people to adopt. How many movies save lives? Bella’s saving lives. The DVD, I knew it was going to save lives. I knew as soon as I saw it. I said, “This is going to change the heart of a nation,” and I’ve seen it. I’ve seen people who were hardened pro-abortion folks see this film, come up to me and say, “You’ve just changed my mind on abortion and I don’t think that was your goal.” I don’t think it was the goal of the directors and the writers that they weren’t sitting there thinking about that but it does because it demonstrates the truth and the beauty. I mean the movie is named after the child in the womb, Bella and the whole movie is about Bella.

Chris Cash: Not to give anything away there of course.

Jason Jones: Yes. If there’s one thing I know it’s that your listeners have probably been amongst our most hardcore supporters so they know a lot about our film and you’ve there for great support.

Chris Cash: But it is certainly a tremendous story of redemption and I don’t want to get into the specifics of the redemption because that would probably be giving away too much for those who have not seen the movie. But it is a tremendous story of redemption for the main character and is just very sympathetic to many different issues besides just the life issue.

Jason Jones: It’s like an onion. One of the greatest experiences of my life, Goya Foods… You know Goya, right, “If it’s Goya, it has got to be good”? They loved the way that Bella portrayed Latino families. Just with asking nothing in return, Goya Foods purchased a lot of tickets for the people of New York City. I had the privilege of sharing the tickets with schools, church groups and homeless shelters in New York City. It was an incredible experience. The most moving experience for me was I went to a shelter for homeless folks and a lot of these guys had hardcore drug problems. In fact I loved this people so much I wanted to give them money to buy food and one of them said to me, “Please don’t give us money because I’m not going to use it for food. If you want and you’re willing to get some popcorn and soda, can you please just buy that for me?” I thought that was just so very honest so I went and I bought popcorn and soda for all the folks in the homeless shelter. After the film, this gentleman came out. Big guy, really loud because for days later he came and helped me. He wanted to be my partner in helping to share the tickets with the people in New York and he was really good at it. But afterwards he said to me, “This really to me was about second chances and it tells me I can have a second chance. That’s what I got from this movie,” and he’s going on and on about how Jose who is a chef and was a soccer star, who befriends the waitress Nina who’s in her crisis pregnancy. He has a problem in his past and he flashes back to it. It really haunts him.

Chris Cash: It’s a serious problem too. We’re not talking like jaywalking here.

Jason Jones: No, it’s a serious problem and one of the things of working with Bella. I found that a lot of people have one way or another been involved in Jose’s situation where they’re losing a family member, being responsible for hurting people or even worse. This gentleman said, “I, like Jose, am haunted day in and day out from the mistakes of my past and this movie tells me that I can write this above my haunted memories,” and that’s something I never thought about. That’s what you get every time I have done special screenings for Bella. I just moved into a new house. We befriended our neighbors so I shared Bella with them. That was the first thing she said. She goes, “This movie is a movie about second chances.” It is definitely a movie about second chances and it’s second chances for Nina, the mom, Bella, Jose so there’s so many layers to this film.

The writing is incredible. The directing is incredible. The acting is incredible.

Chris Cash: You also get a second chance for Manny to be a real man and part of the family there to, right?

Jason Jones: Right. Manny Perez is such a great actor and he’s such a wonderful human being himself. I didn’t realize he’s just like one of the really humanitarians involved in a lot of good causes. You judge Manny harshly. This movie caught me judging. Every little trap to judge somebody incorrectly I fell into when I watched Bella for the first time. The mission of Metanoia Films, one of their missions is they want people after seeing their films to love more and judge less. That’s one of the main themes of Bella. I judged people harshly every step of the way. You catch yourself.

Chris Cash: You find yourself giving every one of them a second chance, I’m sure.

Jason Jones: Yes and then you realize you were wrong in your initial judgment.

Chris Cash: We’re going to take just a short break here to hear from our sponsor but when we come back we’ll be speaking a little bit more with Jason Jones, Co-Executive Producer or Bella. This is the Catholic Spotlight.

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Chris Cash: And we’re back on the Spotlight with Jason Jones, Co-Executive Producer of Bella talking a little bit more about the genesis of this movie and just what makes it so powerful a movie. I want to give a real quick plug to Jason as a speaker. You can get Jason booked as a speaker for your conference by going over to cmgbooking.com. You just heard an ad for them. You can also find speaking information on Greg Willits and his wife Jennifer there as well.

You say when they sat down to write this movie their idea was just to portray Latinos and Latin American people in a very realistic way.

Jason Jones: Right, that was one of the missions of the company. How the story came about was the director was driving from his college town of Austin, Texas to LA and he was scheduled to do a project that he wasn’t really excited about. He was thinking about some experience that his friend was going through and as he was thinking about it he said that the screenplay Bella just came into his mind. He said he would drive and he would write down notes. He’d pull over, he would cry, he would drive and he would cry. So really the director was just inspired to tell the story that he was thinking about involving his friends. That was the story of Bella but one of the goals of Metanoia Films was to give Latino actors an opportunity to portray with dignity because Eduardo after doing a film that he wasn’t really proud of and living in a way that didn’t honor God, he was sort of ignorant. He didn’t realize he was honoring God and thanked God for opportunities not to honor him. I’ll put it that way to be tactful.

But he was a celebrity from a very young man at a very young age. At 18, he’s a big telenovela star, a big music pop star but after his conversion he said, “I’m never going to make a film again that dishonors the dignity of women, of Latinos or of men.” After he made that promise he couldn’t get roles. He was offered role after role until after three years. Eduardo this big star who’d been with millions but investing his money into his company and not working after three years, he was on the verge of being homeless and he thought he’s might have to get a job working at a restaurant. Here’s the most recognizable Latino male star was getting ready to go get a job waiting tables which is a great job. I waited for many years and it’s a good job.

Eduardo I’m sure would get big tips from the ladies because he’s been in People Magazine’s 50 Most Beautiful People for the past several years and I’m sure it would’ve been good for him. Right when he was about to hit the wall, the Wolfingtons came through and invested in Bella. But for three years every role that Eduardo was offered was degrading to either women or Latinos. He realized that if he wanted to play roles with dignity he would have to be a producer which is pretty sad because even during segregation there were some wonderful movies, A Patch of Blue. Sydney Poitier played so many wonderful movies but it’s been 40 years since that time and still Latinos, there are very few opportunities to play roles that don’t fit the stereotype. As catholics especially we have a duty, an obligation. As I’m talking I’m looking at an icon of Our Lady of Guadalupe and I think that we have a special responsibility to help lift that stereotype.

Chris Cash: Absolutely. We have a moral obligation to make sure that people are treated with dignity no matter what their station in life is as Christians especially.

I even have a personal story to share on Bella. One of my friends, his children wanted to go to the movies and he was leery about the choice that they had made. He dragged them kicking and screaming to see Bella. They were hardened teenagers and he said he really wasn’t expecting too much out of the movie himself but when he looked over and saw both of his hardened teenagers watching this movie and crying that he knew there was something transcendent and special about this beyond what you could really just put your finger on.

Jason Jones: I think that’s it you feel. I’d like to share some stories with you. God’s hand was all over this film and yet teenagers, you’re going to cry. I think this film has the single most emotionally moving scene that I’ve ever seen. It also has the most surprisingly uplifting scene that really just captures your heart. Every week I hear different stories. Last week I was in Dallas, Texas visiting with some friends and a friend of mine who runs a pregnancy tier center in Houston said, “Jason, I’m waiting to see you in person to share this story with you. You and I were texting each other back and forth the opening week of Bella and I texted you, ‘Jason, I had to go. I have a client.’” I remembered that and she said, “Now the reason I had to go I didn’t know at the time. But I had a client and it was this young Mexican woman in her late 20s who came in crying.” She said to my friend, Sylvia, “I need your help. I have an abortion scheduled but I just can’t do it. Last night I went to see my favorite telenovela. It was my favorite soap opera star and his new movie Bella.” She said to Sylvia, “You probably never heard of this film,” and then Sylvia smiled – I was just texting the producer. She didn’t tell her that. The young woman said to her, “I saw this film and I know now I just can’t go through with the abortion. What do I do now? Help me.” The pregnancy centers of course were there and they provided help. Now this little baby is going to be born. We have story after story after story like that. These are just the stories of people that know how to contact us so how many stories are out there of folks who had just saw it quietly and made their decision for life?

Another sort of miracle that happened during the filming of Bella – it was the last day. It’s a very small budget film but you’re never going to know that by seeing it. I mean we won the biggest film festival in the world because of its quality but as far as films go it’s budget is not what you’d expect for a major Hollywood success story like Bella. It was the last day of shooting, it was pouring down rain. It was for the most important scene of the movie. It takes place in the middle of the street and it was raining all over the Eastern Seaboard but the director had faith. He called in Eduardo, Leo and some of their close friends into his trailer and said, “Let’s pray.” The rest of the cast and crew thought they were nuts that there was no way they could shoot today. But the way it works in New York City is if they were to have went one more day or anymore over budget for the unions it would push them into a bracket of film that they couldn’t afford and it would’ve probably been the end of the project so they needed to shoot this day.

So they went in and they prayed. The lighting guy came, banged on their door and said, “You wouldn’t believe this.” As they walked out it was raining all over the Eastern Seaboard but right above the street the clouds had parted. It was raining on the left side of the street, on the right side of the street, one block down north, one block down south and where they needed to shoot there was no rain. Not for one hour, two hours, three hours but for seven hours the clouds left a perfect little part so the sun poured down on this one little square block of New York City that you can stand in the middle and turn in a circle 360° and see rain in every direction falling. If you look at the scene closely you can actually see the water running on the opposite side of the street. To me that’s just really a miracle but the miracles that really move us is almost daily now we receive several e-mails and letters from young women and couples who chose life because of seeing Bella.

Chris Cash: Of course if you know anybody personally or have personally even had that experience yourself of choosing life because of Bella, please contact the producers and let them know. You guys are actually putting together a compilation of stories right now, correct?

Jason Jones: Right, Bella Babies is a website that we’re launching. There’s a book coming out. There’re actually several books coming out in Bella, one by Ignatius about just how this film came about then one on all the Bella baby stories. So we definitely want to hear your stories but more than that we want more stories, Chris. I know that your listeners, most of them are hardcore supporters. A lot of them adopted theaters. We had folks adopt theaters. We had some people adopt whole markets, markets as big as Chicago and New York City. But one of our goals is that every Crisis Pregnancy Center in America have a DVD to offer every young woman who comes in for a pregnancy test. We have set up a website. We have two websites set up. One is called BellaDVD.com and you can go there to get DVDs individually or in bulk. The other is bella10campaign.com. The goal of that really is just to share the film because it’s a great way to share your faith, it’s a great way to share the gospel of life and it’s also a great way to share the gospel because the gospel message is throughout the entire film. It’s also a great way to share the gift of life. I want every school to see it.

My background is, Chris, I’ve been in the Pro-Life Movement since I was 17. I was the Public Relations Director for Human Life International. I was a National Youth Director for American Life League. Prior to that I was a Director of Hawaii Right to Life. I started the Pro-Life Student Union at my university, the University of Hawaii. I was moved into the Pro-Life Movement by my personal experience. On my 17th birthday my high school girlfriend told me she was pregnant. It was my birthday. I had actually just turned 17. So we came together with a plan. The plan was we would get married and we would tell her father after basic training. I would join the army, and she would wear baggy sweaters and take vitamins.

A few days after my 17th birthday I trekked down to the army recruiters office and just a few weeks later I was off to Fort Benning in Georgia. I dropped out of high school. For her part she took her vitamins and she wore baggy sweaters but after a couple of months of being pregnant she thought she needed prescription vitamins so she asked her friend’s mother who’s a doctor if she would prescribe her prenatal vitamins. Her friend’s mother called her dad and told her, “Your daughter’s pregnant.” I found out about the abortion issue. I’m a catholic now but I was raised on a very secular household. In fact scientology was the religion of my family. I found out about the abortion issue. I never thought about it, never knew about it. I found out about it from six months after my daughter Jessica was conceived. My girlfriend called me on a Sunday morning in Fort Benning, Georgia and I found out hearing her cry, she was crying so hard she couldn’t breathe. She just kept saying, “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry.” Her father said over the other line, “Jason, we know your secret. Your secret’s gone. You can come home now.”

Since that day I promised her if it took me the rest of my life, women and children will be protected from abortion so I’ve been committed to this. I was Senator Sam Brownback’s National Grassroots Director when he ran for president. I’ve run campaigns at the state house local and national level. I’ve worked for the Republican National Committee as Councilor *** 00:33:36 Director. All of the work I’ve done from working for great men like Senator Sam Brownback and I worked for Alan Keyes, Human Life International and American Life League. All of the privileged work I’ve gotten to do – I’m on the board of Pregnancy Center network – Bella’s been the greatest gift to me because it’s been our greatest opportunity to share the gospel of life with the world.

That’s what I’m here to ask the folks. It’s our tool. I always see myself as a guy straddling both worlds. I’m a part of Metanoia Films but I’m really not a filmmaker. I’m committed to keeping my promise to my ex-girlfriend, my high school sweetheart and to our child, and I’m going to keep that promise. In many ways sometimes like this election we feel frustrated. We don’t have a lot of great choices but we can always end abortion. We can end abortion today for that young woman who’s going to walk into that abortion clinic and I see that Bella is just our greatest tool to end abortion for so many babies and protect women.

Go to the bella10campaign website, go to BellaDVD.com website and share it with everyone you think needs the message. Get it into your local high school, library, junior high library. This is good for even junior high children. Make sure your local pregnancy centers are supported. Don’t use the money you were going to give them anyway to buy DVDs because they need every penny you’re going to give them but on top of it maybe you can order both DVDs, just bring them down and say, “Can you pass these out?” because this is a major motion picture hit with the Brad Pitt of Latin America. They’re going to watch it and they may not watch other things you’re going to give them. Before they know it they’re going to be persuaded and choose life. That’s what I’m really going to ask your audience today to do, Chris.

Chris Cash: When you present this movie to your friends certainly don’t say, “This is a great pro-life movie.”

Jason Jones: Never, no.

Chris Cash: You can say, “This is the most incredible Latin film you’ve ever seen. The Brad Pitt of Latin America is the star and it will definitely move your heart in many ways.” That’s all you’ll need to say to get people to say, “Okay, I’ll give it a try and see what Bella is.” As they pay the bills, I’ve certainly got to mention CatholicCompany.com also is another source where you can get Bella as well.

Jason Jones: That’s right. Get them from CatholicCompany.com. Yes, definitely.

Chris Cash: Certainly don’t discount the other websites either. We want to be supportive to the movie as a whole and to the mission of the movie. So wherever you get it, get it and share it.

Jason Jones: Chris, can I go through the bella10campaign what it is real quick?

Chris Cash: Yes, you can. Go ahead.

Jason Jones: The idea of the bella10campaign is we’ve been a grassroots-driven movie from the very beginning. All of our success comes from the grassroots so it’s very simple. On May 6th buy the Bella DVD for yourself. Buy one for yourself then buy 10 more to share those 10 DVDs. On top of that find the 10 friends you give the DVD to. Ask them if they’ll buy 10 DVDs and share it with their friends. We’re a grassroots film. We’re a grassroots movement. The Pro-Life Movement is the largest grassroots movement in the history of the world and this film is the greatest tool we’ve been given. So that’s what the bella10campaign is. It’s just very simple. Buy the DVD, recruit your friends to buy 10 DVDs, mobilize your friends to follow up with what you’ve already done and when we do that, we capture the world secular success. On May 6th of course Eduardo’s going to be on the Today Show promoting Bella and we’re just getting a ton of secular media but the more DVDs we sell, the more secular media attention we get, the more regular folks just walk into the target, the Best Buy and the Wal-Mart are going to be grabbing it and that’s where we really begin to evangelize the world.

Chris Cash: Now are there any follow-ups that you guys are doing to Bella? Is there another movie project in the works? Obviously it’s going to be hard to duplicate the success of Bella in any planned, methodical way but are there any plans to try to latch onto this success and push it forward with more films.

Jason Jones: We’re not only going to duplicate the success of Bella, we’re going to magnify the success of Bella because again Bella is a small film with a big heart. We learned a lot. Hollywood, it’s a very difficult industry and they’re good at putting up walls. We learned how to navigate through these obstacles and Metanoia Films is absolutely committed to continue to produce films that honor God, that are true, that are beautiful, that are good and that celebrate the dignity of the human person. So Bella is just the first film and I think that the films are going to get bigger and bigger and bigger and bigger and more successful and more successful because we have an incredibly talented Producer Leo Severino, we have committed investors and financers who are committed to engage in a culture, we have who I think is the single greatest director of a generation Alejandro Monteverde and we have Eduardo Verástegui who looks a lot like me. Not, really.

Chris Cash: If you darken your hair significantly.

Jason Jones: No, he doesn’t. I joked that Eduardo’s what I see when I look in the mirror but not only is he the Brad Pitt of Latin America, he’s a very soulful actor and thereto a great producer. So this is really Bella is just the beginning and with God’s grace we’ll continue to produce films. If you want to make God laugh, tell me your plans. It’s just a question of is He laughing at you or with you. We want Him to laugh with us because we’re planning to really continue to create films that engage the culture.

Chris Cash: Maybe someday you’ll have the American Brad Pitt sitting next to the Mexican Brad Pitt together on a film, right?

Jason Jones: One of the great things is that to Eduardo, he’s really an ambassador. He meets with people at the highest level of government not just in the United States but around the world. They love him all across the political spectrum. Not only that but he’s a star and he’s my friend. It’s hard for me to remember sometimes, and honor and respect his boundaries because he’s such a star and he’s just our friend. But he’s very good friends with Tony Bennett. Tony Bennett saw the film, and befriended Eduardo and the guys after that. He just loved it. He called it the best film of the year. He said everyone needs to go see it. Eduardo’s really a light in Hollywood. You just can’t help but be attracted to Eduardo, Alejandro, Leo and Alejandro’s wife Ali Landry. They’re really working miracles everyday in Hollywood. Yes, maybe one day you’ll see Metanoia Films as it grows. More and more they’ll be casting some bigger named stars as the budgets grow along with Eduardo.

Chris Cash: That will be an awesome day for the church. Just to see some of the bigger stars being in more honoring films will be tremendous to me I think.

Jason, it has been a pleasure having you on. Thank you so much for being part of our show and I hope that all or our listeners will go out, and somewhere pick up a copy of Bella and share it with a friend, family member or somebody who needs it.

Jason Jones: Thank you for letting me on your show, sir.

Chris Cash: God bless. You have a great day.

Jason Jones: God bless.

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

Listen Now to the audio version of the show.

Bella DVD is available at The Catholic Company.

http://www.catholiccompany.com/catholic-gifts/4003737/Bella-DVD/