A week before the 200th anniversary of his birth, a film biography of LDS Church founder Joseph Smith debuted Friday for local media and hundreds of church employees in the building that bears his name.
Crowds lined up early and often at the Joseph Smith Memorial Building's Legacy Theater before and after the media showing, anxious to catch a sneak preview of the film that will open free to the public today. Advance reservations are required, and most time slots have already been snapped up for the first few weeks of the film's run.
The two-year film project, titled, "Joseph Smith: The Prophet of the Restoration," portrays key events in the life of the man church members believe restored Jesus Christ's original gospel to the Earth and translated a seminal work of scripture, the Book of Mormon.
Digitally produced video and audio capabilities allow special effects in the film that are new to the Legacy Theater. They immerse viewers in a story line that Smith himself said once he would not have believed had he not lived it.
His early boyhood in Vermont is portrayed, including scenes depicting an operation on one of his legs, endured without the use of modern anesthesia.
Producers sought to be realistic in their portrayal of this and other intense scenes "without going over the top," according to T. C. Christensen, co-director and cinematographer. "It is the same approach we used with the violence," inflicted on early Latter-day Saints and Smith himself, who was once dragged from his home by a mob to be tarred and feathered in the dead of winter.
"We tried to give a feeling of it without really showing it in detail. You see just little clips filmed in a way" that lets viewers understand the evil motives of those who hounded Smith and the early Latter-day Saints in the church's infancy.
Two scenes — one in the Sacred Grove where Smith said he saw God and Jesus Christ, and the other during his stay in Liberty Jail — feature dark cinematic techniques that Christensen said he felt best represented the reality of Satan's attempts to dissuade Smith from the work he said God had called him to do.
The 68-minute film also includes liberal doses of laughter and slices of everyday interactions Smith had with his early followers, particularly children.
Other key scenes portray the death of Smith's older brother, Alvin; the appearance of heavenly messengers, including John the Baptist and the apostles Peter, James and John; the organization of the church; construction of both the Kirtland and Nauvoo temples; Smith's frequent imprisonment and threatened execution by a Missouri mob; interaction with Jane Manning James, believed to be among the first African-Americans to join the church; his journey to Carthage and his martyrdom there at age 38.
Christensen said filmmakers were striving through story line and emotion to let viewers know "you don't have to meet (Smith) to know he is a prophet."
That belief is central not only to the film itself but to the beliefs the actors themselves share, according to Lyle Shamo, managing director of the church's audiovisual department. He said the film has long been discussed, and some 18 different scripts were written since 1994, with "tens of thousands of hours" dedicated to coming up with a story line that was true to Smith's legacy.
The decision was made to produce the film in-house, using the church's own motion picture studios and the acting talent of active Latter-day Saints, rather than contracting with Hollywood professionals. "I think it's true that if you have people who have testimonies (of Smith's work), they operate from their heart as well as their heads when they act."
He declined to discuss the cost of producing the film, which was shot at the church's motion picture studio in Provo and also on location in Missouri, Illinois, Canada and Manchester, England.
Nathan Mitchell, who portrays Smith, said his love for the LDS prophet grew immeasurably from "attempting to do justice to his portrayal. I think I've come to know him in a way few have had the opportunity to do. Through that process I believe I know him quite intimately."
Since filming finished in August, I've realized how much I miss him," Mitchell said. "There's a part of him that will never leave me now. It can't." The emotion that went into portraying Smith's trials was sometimes "overwhelming, but you just have to draw on your training as an actor."
A theater graduate of Brigham Young University, Mitchell said he is now in graduate school seeking a degree in mental health counseling while building furniture in Logan for a living. The film contains no credits for actors or production staff, and Mitchell said though he was paid for his time on the project, the experience changed his life so deeply that "I would do it all again on a volunteer basis."
Dallyn Bayless, who portrays Smith's brother, Hyrum, said it was a privilege for actors "to bear our testimonies on the screen. This was a great work of love for all of us . . . There is no fabrication up there. I hope that will pull people into the story."
As Latter-day Saints, both Mitchell and Bayless believe they will one day meet the men they portrayed, in the afterlife. "We hope they will be pleased," Mitchell said.
Elder Keith Hilbig, a member of the church's Quorum of the Seventy and executive director of the audiovisual department, said members of the First Presidency, the Quorum of the Twelve and other general authorities and family members saw the film Thursday.
President Gordon B. Hinckley seemed please with the effort, and complimented the cast and crew following the screening, he said. "My impression is he was satisfied with the outcome. Considering this has been a decadelong effort, it's nice to see it come to fruition."
Reservation requests through the end of January were taken in November. Showings for later dates will be made available, either online or by phone, at www.lds.org/events, or by calling 1-866-537-8457 or 570-0080 locally.
E-mail: carrie@desnews.com