(Clint Archer – The Cripplegate) “They don’t use computer graphics to remove the clothes off actors in nude scenes; that’s them baring what God wants to be covered in public (Gen 3:7,21; 9:22-25). And they don’t CGI a finger on the Christian actor to create the illusion of a rude gesture.”
Actor William Shatner once did a parody performance of himself reacting to his obsessed fans at a Star Trek convention. He exploded with a sharp rebuke: “Get a life! It’s only a TV show!”
To a Trekkie that’s like being told Santa isn’t real…by Santa.
Shatner then apologized to his rattled fan base explaining he was merely in character as Evil Captain Kirk. So, no harm was done as long as it was “in character.”
Not so fast.
A negligible slice of the world’s population is comprised of genuine believers who are professional actors. But I have a handful of dear actor friends who are believers in Jesus Christ, seek to honor him in their chosen profession, desire to be shining lights in a shadowy entertainment industry, and are thus sometimes confronted with conundrums the watching world isn’t.
We all face the temptation to sin in our jobs, and it may happen that a boss instructs you to do something against your conscience. But in those situations at least you know what the sin is and you know how to please the Lord. But what if you were required by your boss to pretend to sin? Granted, that’s not a scenario we face every day, but it is one that actors face whenever they are working (which also isn’t every day).
Imagine you are assigned the role of Lady Macbeth or Darth Vader or Judas. Someone has to play the villain. And no director would allow you to massage Shakespeare’s script; “Out, out darn spot” doesn’t quite have the same ring to it. And, except for the role Jim Caviezel snagged in The Passion, even good guys sin—The Good the Bad and the Ugly demonstrates this as adequately as the Die Hard franchise.
Here are two very basic guidelines my actor friends employ when selecting scripts: