David Nixon Interview
By Emirhan Kardes

Orlando- Filmmaker David Nixon came to Valencia Community College on December 3rd to give a press conference on the Christian based films for which he is best known. The audience made up of news reporting students listened intently as Nixon spoke of his rise as a film maker and how he advanced from being a missionary to applying his knowledge and skills toward making movies with a message.
Nixon’s first film was “Facing the Giants”, a very low budget movie filmed with an all volunteer crew from a church in Albany Georgia. His $80,000 investment ended up grossing $10.1 million at the box office and lasted in theaters for 4 months. The idea came from the pastor and a parishioner who wanted to make an inspirational film about football. They decided it could be done and contacted Nixon. They told him, “We can’t pay you, but we can feed you.” He accepted the offer.
They never thought the movie would go anywhere, but they were lucky to have made it at the right time. Their movie came out on the tail of Mel Gibson’s “The Passion” which made an astounding $610 million. The audience was accepting of another Christian film even though for years film makers stayed away from these movies because they didn’t want to offend anyone and they thought they wouldn’t make any money. But Nixon only wanted to make faith based movies that made a difference and he saw a need and an audience for them. Nixon went on to produce “Fireproof”, a movie about Christian values and marriage.
Nixon’s latest film to be released in Spring 2010, is called “Letters to God”, a touching story of an inspirational little boy suffering from cancer. With Letters to God, David Nixon saw the convergence or transition from people going to church, to the media playing a bigger role in gathering such masses or target audiences. He made this type of film because he wanted to make a difference in minds and hearts. For decades, Hollywood stayed away from making or even producing faith based movies thinking it would offend peoples’ personal beliefs. Directing two movies as well as producing them gave Nixon the experience, exposure, and know- how of how a true story can be powerful and compelling and yet preserve the fundamental Christian values. Nixon also acknowledged that his movies are independently done and that they don’t use the same marketing strategies as Hollywood. He was hugely inspired by the Passion which Mel Gibson has made and gave it away to the churches before actually releasing it to big screens in theaters.
The story of “Letters to God” was written by the boy’s father and was brought to Nixon’s attention by a friend. “A cancer story is more universal”, claims Nixon. The disease has affected so many people, that people can relate to it. In fact, Nixon’s own family has been touched by cancer. So when this story came to him, he felt that this movie could offer hope to his audience. When questioned why he sticks to making Christian based films, Nixon says, that “Culture used to be changed by the church, now culture is changed by the movies.” He wants his movies to make a difference.