EWTN’s TV Movie
THE CURÉ OF ARS
An Adventure in Catholic Film Production
It’s always a special event in the life of a director when
he is commissioned to work on a new film, so you can imagine my excitement when
the email came through from my executive producer, John Elson that Doug Keck
has signed off a TV movie to be made about the Curé of Ars. My brief from EWTN
was to make a biopic on the life of St John Vianney that shows him as the true
hero he is, a film that could inspire young men to come forward and try their
vocation to the priesthood.
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| Jean-Marie Baptist Vianney |
In
some quarters, there is a tendency to regard St. John Vianney as just a fierce
hellfire and brimstone preacher who attacked local dances and taverns, had them
closed down, forbade people from working on a Sunday, was very strict and
forbidding, and who was probably under the influence of Jansenism. However, this is far from the true story of
this fascinating saint. As I researched the life of St. Jean-Marie Baptised
Vianney, a different picture emerged: one of a very deeply caring priest who
was exceptionally devout but at the same time had a great sense of humour and
was very humble. These, among his many qualities, were essential keys to
understanding him. This is how Billy Gurney, the actor who played St John
Vianney in the film, would portray him as a holy man who would not take himself
too seriously and yet take the priesthood very seriously. To help realize
Vianney’s story, I had the American West Coast screenwriter Trina Smolen as
co-writer.
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| Vianney sees the dissipation in Ars for the first time |
Young men and women attended wild dances that
Vianney described as events that would shame the pagans, leading to children
being born out of wedlock, causing more misery and mouths to feed. Many
children, especially little girls, were abandoned in the countryside. Vianney
set to work to save Ars and its people; however, he met with stiff resistance,
especially from the innkeepers and those who benefited from cheap labour in the
fields. But slowly, little by little, he won the people back to the Catholic
faith; he confronted the innkeepers and preached strong sermons; a sick society
needs powerful medicine. The devil knew that the Curé of Ars was one of his
most formidable adversaries on earth and tried to scare St John Vianney off.
However, Vianney knew that whenever the devil, or the Grappin, as Vianney would
call him, was angry, a major sinner would convert.
Recreating the haunting scene was fun, with plates, candles,
and chairs flying around the room. However, it took Ross Yeandle, our
cinematographer, colourist, and VFX specialist, the best part of a week in
post-production to paint out the wires and blowing machine digitally.
Perhaps
one of St John Vianney's most formidable weapons in bringing the people back to
the faith were his sermons, which were always deeply compelling and spiritual
and often focused on the Blessed Sacrament. Vianney was a very sacramental
priest and became a great confessor; in later life, he would spend over sixteen
hours a day in the Confessional. He could read people's souls when necessary
and help people confess their sins. There were also many miracles attributed to
him; however, when Blessed Pauline Jericho gave him a relic of St Philomena,
and from then on, he modestly attributed these miracles to her.
Production Phase - Cast
and Crew – Brining the story of the Cure of Ars to life
An important task of any filmmaker is to put in place the
right personnel for the production, find locations, etc. Early in the
development phase, I contacted the Sanctuary at Ars to introduce myself. They
were invaluable and offered the use of Vianney’s actual rooms and his pulpit as
locations. There are a large group of re-enactors that often perform pageants
to celebrate the life of St John Vianney in Ars under the directorship of
Marie-Cecile du Manoir, and this, together with authentic costumes and local
Ars extras, made filming actually in Ars very attractive. It was an offer I
couldn’t refuse, but how would we get the English cast and crew together with
equipment, costumes, and props across the English Channel and on to Eastern
France? Flying or going by train turned out to be prohibitively expensive. The
only solution was to buy a second-hand 19-seat mini-bus and put racks for
luggage on the roof. David Slater, the father of the actress who played Pauline
Jericot, adapted the bus; the idea would be to re-sell the bus at the end of
filming. There was a new crew to work with, and I was surprised by the amount
of interest there was in this production; we needed a Director of Photography,
and we were delighted to sign on the vastly experienced Ross Yeandle, who had
worked on many feature films over the last thirty years.
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The mini-but that took the Actors and Crew from
England to Ars and back together with
equipment, props, costumes. |
In May 2024, we all assembled
in a car park near Gatwick Airport and boarded what turned out to be our faithful
old but cramped bus, headed for the channel tunnel and Le Shuttle, the freight train that would take us under the channel
to France. Many of us were on the road for at least twenty hours. We arrived
late in Ars and had dinner at the Providence. Being late for our meals would be
a common occurrence, however, the sisters who looked after the Providence never
complained and were always very helpful. The Providence is a pilgrim’s hospice,
originally set up by St John Vianney himself as a girls school and orphanage.
Pilgrims to Ars can stay there at a reasonable rate. EWTN had sent us Betty
Pilco-Perez, a French speaker as our script coordinator and slate/clapperboard operator
and it was good to meet up her again. French actress, Camille du Manoir was to be
the first assistant director and production coordinator. She was invaluable in
helping to convey my notes to up eighty French extras we had on set on
occasions.
It was an unsettled Summer in Eastern France;
however, providentially, we only had rain during one afternoon of filming, and
we managed to move this scene, the dance, into a barn. We needed to make two
trips to Ars and film when the bulk of the actors and extras in Ars were available.
In total, we filmed twelve days in Ars, France, and four in Cornwall, England,
at the Carmelite Convent at Lanherne in St Morgan.
Ross Yeandle the DoP with film camera
Post
Production
After
the sixteen days of filming, which took place over five weeks, we moved into
Post-production. This final phase can take the longest in any film production,
which was the case for us. We also had a docudrama version to complete. The
docudrama version, called St John Vianney - Confessor of Souls, is a shorter
version of the film with added expert interviews. I worked remotely with the
editor, Mike Pike, only meeting up twice over the editing program, and this all
went remarkably smoothly.
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| With crew filming on location in France |
Ross
also colour-graded the film; although it was shot digitally, he shot some
footage with an actual film camera, as the film gives him a more historical
feel to the colour, and he adjusted the digital colour accordingly. Once again,
Adam Tucker produced an excellent score; as usual, we discussed the various
themes, agreed that a folkie feel would suit, and worked on two songs together.
I wrote the lyrics that Adam set to music, a remarkable feat in its own right.
I suggest the feel of French composer Georges Bizet’s L’Arlesienne suit would
be a good starting point for some of the music. Adam produced an excellent original
piece of music using this as a springboard.
The
Curé of Ars TV movie is a co-production between EWTN and St Michael the Archangel Productions. We would like to say a very big thank you to the members of CUT and the Crusade of Prayer who are also part of StMA Productions for their help in prayer and also financially to bring the production to a successful completion.
The Cure of Ars TV movie will be broadcast on May 31st, the
one-hundredth anniversary of St John Vianney’s canonization, at 8 pm ET in
North America and 2 pm British Time in Europe. There is also an encore at 9 pm
British Time in Europe on June 1st.
Stefano Mazzeo
Director/Producer/Screenwriter – The Cure
of Ars.
