Our recent BUZZ interview found us sitting with Richard Hull, who makes his directorial debut with the documentary, “Fighting Spirit: A Combat Chaplain’s Journey.” Chaplains are truly the unsung heroes standing side by side with our soldiers. They carry no weapons stand up for our soldiers of all faiths – and no faiths. The film is also the first co-production between Hollywood and the U.S. Army Chaplain Corps.
Hull spoke about how he got involved in the project:
“I think that most people don’t know this to be a profession, or that it even existed. When people see it, they are interested in learning about it. I got involved in this years ago. I sit on the board of Paulist Productions, which started over 60 years ago by a Catholic priest. They came to me and said, ‘We want to make this documentary about military chaplains. Would you help us?’ They asked me because Halle Berry and I made a documentary about black soldiers that fought in all the U.S. wars we ever had. We both won the NAACP Image Award for that. It was a project that built a lot of trust with the military. When these guys came to me a dozen years later, and said, ‘We need somebody the military trusts, build that connection and get the support of the military so we can interview active duty soldiers in uniform.’ What I signed up for was one phone call, and as you can imagine, one phone call became more and more and more. The guy who had the original idea for the film ultimately could not be the filmmaker on it. So, I stepped in, and while it this marked my 28th film as a producer, it is my first time as a director. That, to me, was a fun experience to see the world through a different lens.”
As we dove more into the discussion, we spoke about how Chris Pratt, whom audiences know him from “Parks and Recreation” and “Guardians of the Galaxy,” joined as executive producer of the film:
“The tricky part is aligning the celebrity partner with the subject matter and really finding someone who is passionate about the subject matter. You don’t want some random celebrity just for the sake of having a celebrity. Chris has an incredible agent, manager, and publicist. We were able to galvanize all of them to recommend him to watching the movie. He watched and fell in love with it. That kind of steamrolled to where we are today. He’s incredible passionate. He’s very supportive of the military. He’s got a very heavy faith-based element to his life. There’s a lot of boxes this checked for him. Once he said, ‘Yes, I’m in,’ he has just been an incredible partner.”
Watch the full interview to hear our discussion about one of my favorite teen flicks, “She’s All That,” as well as more from the documentary itself and learning more about military chaplains.
For more information on the film, visit https://www.fightingspiritfilm.com/
“Fighting Spirit: A Combat Chaplain’s Journey” premieres in theaters in time for Veteran’s Day on Friday, November 8th.
Watch the full interview with Richard Hull below, or download from the podcast player above:
