Christmas has come early this year with the release of Lionsgate’s The Best Christmas Pageant Ever.

 

Based on Barbara Robinson’s novel of the same name the film tells the story of six misfit children who volunteer to star in their town's Sunday school Christmas pageant, and end up teaching the town the true meaning of the holiday.

 

Our very own Dempsey Pillot was fortunate enough to speak with the film’s director Dallas Jenkins. In the interview, the two discussed the unbelievable true story about how Jenkins finally acquired the rights.

 

“For 20 years, I was pursuing the rights,” he says. “[I was] calling the rights holders every year, and they had it set up at other studios and with other big directors, and I checked the trades to see if there were any announcements. And it just never got made.”

 

To his surprise, the last time he called he learned that the studio that owned the rights forgot to renew them. At the same time, the mother of the person he was in contact with was obsessed with this show called The Chosen, which Jenkins also happens to be the creator of. As it turns out, she was the driving force that ultimately led to Jenkins finally getting the rights. Knowing what a great storyteller Jenkins was, she believed he would be a perfect fit to helm this adaptation.

 

When asked what makes this story so special, Jenkins praised how the film “takes the religiosity out of” Christmas. “We have added things to the Christmas story and put things between us and the authenticity of that story,” he says. And so we think of the nativity with the precious moments and it's a white people sitting around a Jewish baby born in Israel.”

 

He adds that the 6 children at the heart of the story, the Herdmans, recontextualize how far we’ve strayed from the story’s true meaning. “They're outsiders,” he says. “Sometimes we get in our own bubbles and whether it's church or any other bubble, a political party, a group of people, an ethnicity - whatever it is. It's very easy for us these days to [exclude them].” 

 

But he explains that the beauty of this particular story is that not only are the Herdmans able to help put together the Christmas story, they also help us see that we’re not so different after all. 

 

Now, in addition to talking about the film, Jenkins also teased the upcoming fifth season of The Chosen. 

 

You can check out the full interview below! 

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