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Andrew Hyatt is the director of the 2018 film Paul, Apostle of Christ, and a resident of the Spokane area. A graduate of Loyola Marymount’s film school, his early career was focused on secular films. But, in 2015, he made a shift to films about Christian stories. At that time, he directed his first movie titled: Full of Grace — about Mary’s last days. Andrew then collaborated with Sony’s Affirm Films on Paul, Apostle of Christ, which was recently released on DVD, Blue Ray and digital video. Inland Catholic was pleased to speak with Andrew about his work in the film industry and his new movie.
Inland Catholic: Looking at your background I see you attended Loyola Marymount for film school. Did you enroll at Loyola specifically for film school, or was it something you discovered at college?
Andrew Hyatt: It was something I had determined earlier on and decided to apply to this special program when I was looking at colleges. After you finished college, did you head directly into the film industry? I was fortunate enough to get some internships while I was still in school. There was a huge emphasis on interning within the film program. I received a few internships, including one with Sony Screen Gems. I was really set up by the time I graduated and immediately had a couple of opportunities. I ended up working for a producer that I had met at Screen Gems.
IC: Looking at your film productions, the early movies were not faith-centered films; was there something that lead to that change in the type of films you were interested in making?
AH: I grew up in the Church ... the Catholic Church, and I did what, unfortunately, a lot of young people do. When I arrived at college, it was an eye-opening experience being away from my parents for the first time. I had attended an all-boys Jesuit high school in Colorado. When I started classes at Loyola Marymount, I looked around and there were girls everywhere, drinking everywhere, and there were drugs everywhere. I asked myself this question: Is this faith tradition relevant to me, is it something that is my parents, or is it something that can be relevant to me? Moreover, unfortunately, I thought attending church is something my parents do and its not for me. So I ended up walking away from the Church for about seven years. During that time, I dug into film and Hollywood. I got excited about my career and making movies. I didn’t really have a faith component at all in those early years of making films and working in the industry. It wasn’t until I had a major reconversion back to the faith that set me on this path. There is a bigger purpose to what God is asking us to do, and the gifts He has given us. That was where that sudden twist of getting into films was to be more faith-based. You mentioned earlier that you had a “reconversion.” Would you be willing to share more about that? I ended up working for a company called Mpower Pictures, and it was a Catholic guy, Steve McEveety, that owned this company. It was small with five or six guys, all Christian. It was the first time I had been in Hollywood around other Christians. They were just great guys. They had a real heart for ministry and the mission of making films that matter and can help people. That turned me around into asking the right questions again. God never stops pursuing us; but it was really the first time I was aware of that. It was a very Paul-esque moment, kind of a “Road to Damascus” experience where God was literally reaching out and kind of knocking me into the mud and then pulling me back out and showing me the truth right then and there. So that’s why Paul’s story has always been so inspiring and encouraging for me. I was humbled to be able to make that film.
IC: Before you worked on Paul, you had directed another film on Mary right?
AH: Yes, Full of Grace — about the last few weeks of Mary’s life.
IC: And that was your first foray into directing faithbased films?
AH: Yeah, that was the first one. Again, I never wanted to make Christian movies — that was never interesting to me. Truthfully, it was trying to wrestle with questions I had about the faith. It allowed me to really think about that. It was a gift from God to be able to wrestle with these questions that I never had answered while growing up in the Church.
IC: I really appreciate the focus on the artistic value of your movies. So often the criticism of faith-based films is that they sacrifice quality for the message they want to share.
AH: Yeah, I think it’s important. I’m very inspired by the idea that the Church used to be and should be the center of culture, beauty and truth. We’ve moved away from that in the arts the last 60, 70, 80 years. It is so important to be able to capture the beauty of our faith. And when we are able to present it as raw authenticity, that is very human. So in these films I am really interested in speaking to the humanity of these characters. As we were growing up, we heard these stories all the time; but we struggle with the idea that these characters were real people and that they weren’t these beautiful statues we see in church with halos on their heads. They really were living, breathing individuals that struggled and had doubts, fears and weaknesses. I think that is what I am hearing most out of these films is that moviegoers are most inspired by looking at a guy like Paul, or maybe Peter in Full of Grace, and saying ‘whoa, that guy is just like me. That’s encouraging and look at what God used them to do.
IC: When you were filming Paul in Malta, what was that like for you to bring Rome to life?
AH: We had an amazing team — that was the blessing. We had an amazing production designer out of Scotland, Dave Arrowsmith, who was really obsessed over the details of ancient Rome. He wanted everything to be right, even down to the paint on the walls. To have it feel very authentic. We had great cinematography. We were lucky to be in Malta with a great crew. And you know, I would say that 99 percent of the cast and crew were not believers, were not Christian, but it was cool to see how passionate they became about Paul’s story after reading it, hearing it and seeing it. They really became passionate about telling it the right way. So, I thought what a cool ministry opportunity to share the Gospel in a totally different circumstance.
IC: Working on these two movies, has it had a big impact on your personal spiritual life?
AH: Yes, I think the writing process and being able to prayerful sit with these stories and direct for many months, and to see it come alive. Even working with the actors — to hear Paul’s words come alive — or hear Mary’s words come alive, it really is impactful. It is a beautiful thing to be able to ask these tough questions. For Full of Grace, I was really wrestling with this first idea that these people were real. They were real people who breathed and existed and who were just like me. With Paul it was very similar. I wanted to be able to leave the theater and maybe for the first time understand Paul and who he was as a person. It really is impactful and beautiful.
WATCH THE MOVIE Look for Paul, the Apostle of Christ, on DVD, Blue Ray and digital video