A CONVERSATION WITH MITCH ALBOM on “Have a Little Faith.”
Albom’s best-selling book is now a Hallmark Hall of Fame Film.
Emmy and Tony Award winner and Oscar nominee Laurence Fishburne (“What’s Love Got to Do with It,” “Two Trains Running”) stars as Rev. Henry Covington in the new Hallmark Hall of Fame film, “Mitch Albom’s Have a Little Faith,” premiering Sunday, November 27 (9:00-11:00 p.m., ET) on the ABC Television Network. The movie, based on the latest best-selling book by Mitch Albom (Tuesdays with Morrie, The Five People You Meet in Heaven), was filmed on location in Detroit and also stars Bradley Whitford (“The West Wing,”) as Mitch Albom and Academy Award winner Martin Landau as Rabbi Albert Lewis.
Paula K. Parker recently had an opportunity to talk with Mitch Albom about the story, the film, and its message.
Paula K. Parker: This was a personal story for yourself, the rabbi and the pastor. What message would you want the audience to take away for themselves?
Mitch Albom: The first thing would be, if they were like me – where maybe they had faith in their lives when they were younger and then walked away from it – that it’s never too late to have that rekindled, no matter what faith you or no matter how far you’ve wandered. That is sort of what happened to me.
The second thing would be, keep your eyes opened to faiths of all kinds. We’re being indoctrinated – especially now – that, if it’s different, it had to be bad. That if it is not ours, it has to be bad; particularly with faith. I don’t believe that is true at all. I believe the story of the rabbi and the pastor proved that two men of different faiths and different looks – black/white, suburban/urban, Detroit/New Jersey, older/younger – still can have a lot in common when it comes to the most important elements of faith; believing in something bigger than yourself, taking care of those less fortunate than you. I think we have a lot more in common than we are different, if we just will choose to look at it that way.
PKP: You wrote the book, you wrote the screenplay and you also produced the film. How challenging was it to wear so many different hats?
Mitch Albom: I think the, “produced the film” part, you’ve giving me too much credit. I think that is one of those titles that they give you that means nothing. [laughs] I don’t think I did a whole lot with regard to the film, other than be there every day.
I did write the script, because I thought it made more sense, having written the book and knowing all the people involved. The film was going to be shot in Detroit and I knew some of the people who were going to be in it, because like Cass for example, plays himself. I thought it would be best if I wrote the screenplay rather than sit and tell the story to some other screenwriter. By the time I was done telling it to them, it would probably be six months.
As far as producing it, I didn’t have any powers like that. I sat next to Jon Avnet – which was a joy – he would make me fill very welcome as a director, but it was his film. He would ask me now and then what I thought and I would say, “Good,” “Bad,” and we would go from there.
PKP: You brought up Cass. It appeared from the credits that some of the real people from the story acted in the film. What was the decision on that and how did they respond to the experience?
Mitch Albom: From the very beginning, when Hallmark Hall of Fame came to me and said they were interested in making the film, they asked if I would come to Los Angeles to talk to them about it. I said, “I would prefer if you would come to Detroit, if that’s possible. I think you need to see Detroit in order to really understand this story.” They were nice enough to come and we met in the church, in the pews; that’s where we had our business meeting. By the time we were done that afternoon, we had sort of agreed to do it.
I think the church and the people in the church had a lot to do with what made the film good. Whenever you see the scenes in the church, most of the people who are in the congregation are the real congregants of the church. Many of the homeless people are real homeless people who sleep at that church.
Anthony Castelow, whom we call, “Cass,” was once homeless himself and a former crack addict and ex-con – and whom Henry Covington took into his life and let him sleep at his home for a year – and he turned his live around. He becomes an integral part of the film. He has one leg, he’s missing most of his teeth and it was always my belief that nobody could play Cass better Cass could play Cass. I kept pushing them to use him and not to get an actor. When they came to meet him and they sort of auditioned him, he just started talking and telling them his story, I think they realized what I knew, that there could be nobody better. They used him and he’s got a major post-starring role.
PKP: When it came time to write the rabbi’s eulogy, was it still a challenge?
Mitch Albom: It was eight years of build up, because he lived eight years from the time he asked me to write his eulogy. He died suddenly; I had just seen him two days earlier in the hospital. I was out of town and I had to turn around and come back. I really had to write the whole thing while I was on the plane. I didn’t have time to go home and check my notes, so I had to just do it. In retrospect, I think that is probably the best way; you should just write what’s from your heart. What’s in your heart is what will come out the fastest and the most true. It was probably a blessing in disguise that I didn’t have months to build it up; in an afternoon, I said what I wanted to say.
PKP: If it were you own eulogy, what one thing would you wish someone to say?
Mitch Albom: [laughs] I think the thing about having a eulogy is that you leave it up to somebody else. I would hope that somewhere in there, the words, “he tried,” got in. After that, they would say whatever they felt was fitting.
PKP: Last words?
Mitch Albom: I hope that people who see this film would see that there is a lot to celebrate about faith. In our modern world – and especially since 9/11 – when we talk about faith and religion, we hear only about the extreme factions on all sides. The fact is that most people who come to faith aren’t on the extreme. They are loving and they’ve embraced it; it’s part of their lives, it’s part of who they are. At one point in the movie, I tell the rabbi, “You’re a man of God,” and he says to me, “But you’re a man of God, too. Everyone is.” To me, that is the essence of the movie, that’s the essence of the book, that’s the essence of the whole experience. This pious 90 year old clergyman, turned to me – a fallen congregant – and said, “You’re a man of God too.” Don’t let our outside labels or how fervent we look or zealous we are or how righteous we seem; that’s not how you measure yourself against other people. Everyone is a child of God; if we really believed that, we’d treat each other better.
(Photo credits: Hallmark/ABC, Grace Hill Media)
