Christian drama 'Fireproof' has unexpected success

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BY KATE BRUMBACK / The Associated Press

When brothers Alex and Stephen Kendrick were looking for inspiration for their third feature-length film, they turned to God for help.

“To be honest, I prayed about it,” Alex Kendrick said. “I said, ‘God, would you give me an idea that will impact all of our culture.’”

While he was out jogging and praying one day, the idea for “Fireproof” came to him. He footed it over to his brother’s house about a mile away and told him the story: A firefighter who lives by the mantra “never leave your partner behind” at work is about to do just that in his personal life.

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Kirk Cameron stars in a scene from "Fireproof." (AP photo)

Kirk Cameron stars in a scene from "Fireproof." (AP photo)

The movie, which has a strong faith-based message and was made with a budget of just $500,000 and a volunteer cast that includes former teen idol Kirk Cameron, has been surprisingly successful. Its opening on 839 screens two weeks ago was strong enough to propel it to No. 4 at the box office. It stayed in the top 10 last weekend and has earned an estimated $13.6 million.

The brothers said the overwhelmingly positive response to the film has been rewarding and cited the more than a thousand e-mailed stories posted on the movie’s Web site from people who have seen it and been affected by it.

They acknowledged the movie is not as artistically or technically fancy as many films out of Hollywood, but say its appeal is its relatable message that things aren’t always easy but marriage is worth fighting for. That message is conveyed by the title, which takes on a double meaning given that the main character is a firefighter.

“It doesn’t mean when something is fireproof that fire will never come, but when fire comes, it can withstand it,” Alex Kendrick said. “Every marriage will go through trials, or fire, as we say, and what’s going to happen on the other side of that fire? Will your marriage survive?”

The Kendricks grew up in suburban Atlanta and now live in Albany in southwestern Georgia, where they are associate pastors at Sherwood Baptist Church. Along with the church’s senior pastor, Michael Catt, they created Sherwood Pictures, a production company, in 2002 and scraped together $20,000 to put out their first film, “Flywheel,” in 2003.

With a budget of $100,000, the company released “Facing the Giants” in 2006. That film ended up grossing more than $10 million. Cameron, best known for the TV sitcom “Growing Pains,” saw the film and called the Kendricks to say he loved it and would be interested in working with them.

After auditioning several actors for the role of Caleb, the brothers decided to give Cameron a call, but they were skeptical. They saw the lead as a big burly guy, but Cameron flawlessly executed nine of the script’s most difficult scenes during his audition and won them over.

Cameron, 38 with six kids after 17 years of marriage, said he is very aware of the challenges of marriage and wanted to be a part of something that encourages people to fight for that union.

“This is a movie that gives people hope and inspires them that they can save their marriages — that love, in the end, won’t fail, if you pour your heart and your time and your energy into the things that really matter,” Cameron said.

The rest of the cast was made up of volunteers from the church. Most of the budget was spent on equipment and paying a handful of professionals to operate that equipment. The Kendricks, who plan to continue making films, wrote the script together, and 38-year-old Alex directed and edited the film, while 35-year-old Stephen worked as a producer. Catt served as executive producer.