We had the amazing opportunity to check out a pre-screening of HEAVENQUEST: A Pilgrim’s Progress. The film imagines an origin story surrounding the character Vangel (better known as The Evangelist in the Pilgrim’s Progress book).
The film’s back-story is as interesting as the movie. Check out this conversation with Director Matt Bilen, Writer/Actress Rachel Tan, and Producer Dan Mark…and make sure you buy a ticket. HEAVENQUEST is only available for 48 hours starting October 25…If you miss it, you’ll have to wait until 2020 to catch the film!
Where did the idea for Heavenquest come from?
Matt – I was doing a variety of film work – everything from shooting to editing, composing music to motion graphics, and at some point started producing some short films. As I grew in skill a bit, I felt a very strong pull to do a feature film and, in particular, something with “Pilgrim’s Progress.” I was reading an adaptation to my two young sons at the time, and I thought, “this book has everything, epic set pieces, quirky characters, creatures like giants and demons, a redemptive story, even a sequel.”
Dan – Our director Matt loved reading John Bunyan’s “The Pilgrim’s Progress” to his kids, and now that they are teenagers, he wanted to make an edgier version of it that would appeal to teens and young adults, something more modern and for today.
What would you say to people who question if a 430-year-old book can still be relevant today?
Matt – The original is written very modularly, moment by moment, almost separate from each other. It’s as if each section teaches a lesson to the reader, which was the intent all those years ago, it was an evangelistic tool in some regards but written in pure allegory. We went through SO many versions of script and treatments, but ultimately we decided on a backstory for a major character from Pilgrim’s Progress. The thinking was that the actual Pilgrim’s Progress would require a very large budget to do well, even possibly 2 movies, so we told this intimate little world-building story about Vangel (Evangelist). It fell more within what we could do and handle. And it created an overarching story that could thread through multiple films.
What is it about the story of Pilgrim’s Progress? The story appears to be having a resurgence in popularity.
Matt – I think it has elements that every person of faith can understand, what we go through while on earth. And it’s very much a fairy tale, fantasy type story, way ahead of its time. It even inspired the likes of Mark Twain and JR Tolkien. It’s been a fairly un-mined story source, which is surprising. It’s been done a couple of times including a recent animated version, but I’m someone who likes a certain type of edgier content and felt that I could build a world with great redemptive messages, tapping into all of Bunyan’s great work but also with a fresh take. I think the response so far has been good. Some may be upset that we deviated so far from the original, but the intent was ALWAYS to do a follow up with Christian’s story and with hopefully a larger budget.
It’s been said that you did everything you shouldn’t do for a first feature film. What was it like creating an epic film like this? What were some of the challenges you faced?
Matt – Wow, where do I start. We did everything you shouldn’t do in a first feature and with a limited budget. The main reason for this is, honestly, limited money, limited time, and limited people to help. Even though we typically had 4 – 5 vehicles and 20+ people on set, that’s still small for a film. We shot a period piece with costumes, shot at night which is very hard to do with a small crew, shot in multiple locations (like 14) when most first time, low budget films might shoot in 2-3, had a large cast with up to 20 extras, had numerous fight scenes using stuntmen, we used a ton of VFX which was very difficult to pull off, and the list goes on. We all did 3-4 or more jobs, and we were flat out tired by the end of this thing. The shoot itself is up there with one of the hardest things I’ve ever done in my life.
The cast is fascinating. How did you choose the actors? How did they feel about the challenges that you faced with the film?
Rachel – Patrick Thompson, the lead actor, had done many short films with our director, and he was great. We brought on our friend Ricky Kim who brought on Cha Inpyo whose acting and character amazes us! They ended up helping us s Executive Producers on this project as well. WE wanted to be diverse to truly represent the faith community around the world. So we also appreciated our friends from the Hispanic community and were introduced to Karyme Lozano (Mexican Golden Global Award Winner) whose audition tape for the “Interpreter” blew us away and that led us to Fernanda Romers, our other actress who is also a big digital influencer.
Our director also found our lead actress Peta Sergeant from Australia and she gave an amazing audition. Alan Powell is a well-known lead actor in many faith-based movies and in the hit show “Quantico.” Both Dan and I are entertainment lawyers so we connected with him through our law network. One of our producers also owns a big casting agency in Hollywood so we had a thorough casting process with his company.
And the actors helped write their lines? How was that experience?
Rachel – It was amazing and challenging at the same time. We wanted to let God lead the way and provide a creative space for the talent. At the same time, as mentioned, it was a lot of work to keep track and make sure each line of improvised dialogue would serve the entire overarching story and not just the characters. We had optional worship sessions with the actors. We prayed. We had passionate and fiery brainstorming sessions together. We had to improvise the dialogue when we arrived on set at 100-degree weather! It was truly a unique experience but if all came together at the end.
The film is launching in an interesting way – how and when can we see Heavenquest?
M – We are doing an exclusive 48-hour premiere which has been a pretty good release strategy for WP films, our Executive Producer’s company. Exclusivity is also always good with these types of projects, and you give people an opportunity, for a low price, to be part of a big event in advance of the larger roll-out. The full release in retail, streaming video on demand and global take place in early 2020. However, this was a way to get some buzz and get the film out. It has been a long road, and Dan (Producer) and I felt like we were living the journey that our main character went on. It was very hard, sometimes roaming the wastelands, getting stuck in a swamp, fighting doubt. But we did it, and we’re proud of finishing this race!
HEAVENQUEST is available to view October 25-26 for just $5, exclusively at https://www.heavenquestfilm.com/ Check out the trailer here:
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