The Book of Mormon Movie, Vol. 1: The Journey

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The Book of Mormon Movie, Voulme I: The Journey is an LDS-themed movie version of the first two books in the Book of Mormon. Gary Rogers directed the movie from a screenplay written by himself and Craig Clyde. The movie had a limited theatrical released on September 12, 2003.

[edit] Summary

In the year 600 B.C. in the land of Jerusalem; it is the story of Lehi and his wife Sariah and their four sons: Laman, Lemuel, Sam, and Nephi. Lehi leaves Jerusalem because he prophesied unto the people concerning the destruction of Jerusalem, and they sought his life. He journeys into the wilderness with his family. He sends Nephi and his brethren back to Jerusalem after the brass plates and the family of Ishmael. The sons and daughters of Lehi marry the sons and daughters of Ishmael. They take their families and continue into the wilderness. Ishmael dies in the wilderness. They come to the sea. Nephi's brethren rebel against him. He confounds them, and builds a ship. They cross the sea to the promised land in the Americas. Lehi dies in the promised land. Nephi's brethren rebel against him again. Nephi departs again into the wilderness.

Gary Rogers' inspiration was the Cecille B. DeMille 1956 version of The Ten Commandments which he first witnessed over 50 years ago. He envisioned The Book of Mormon as one long historical epic. His plan is to make nine movies that cover the entire scripture of the book.

The movie, although an ambitious project, was critically and commercially panned, including bad opinion from most LDS members. The movie received a 17% freshness grade at Rotten Tomatoes= 17% freshness

The movie was produced for only $2 million, and barely made profit. The film ended up making $1,672,730 in the USA. The movie's running time length was two hours, and it was revealed on the DVD commentary that the first cut of the film was 2 hours 40 minutes long.

[edit] Trivia

  • Noah Danby, the actor who played Nephi, had never read the Book of Mormon before making this film. Before the end of the project, he was preparing for baptism and dating Jacque Gray, the actress who played Terza, Nephi's Wife.
  • The first day of filming was ruined by rain. Rain was forecast for the next ten days, so they altered the schedule to begin filming the tent scenes inside a neighbor's barn. The second day of filming was clear and weather did not significantly hinder filming again.
  • Each day of filming began with a word of prayer.
  • The "great and spacious building" was a five-foot miniature.
  • The costume designer used Mormon art and illustrations to guide her selections.
  • Noah Danby was cast as Nephi because of his strong resemblance to the art of Arnold Friberg.
  • The desert scenes were filmed in Utah in the spring, and it was actually very cold
  • The boat does not appear in the theatrical version of the scene in which the family arrives in the promised land. It was digitally added to that scene for the DVD version.
  • The theatrical release was rated PG-13 and contained an image of Nephi with blood splatter on his face after beheading Laman. This image was removed from the scene, and the film received a PG rating for the DVD release.

[edit] Sequel

The next installment, entitled The Book of Mormon Movie, Volume II: Zarahemla, is scheduled to begin production in Hawaii and Utah sometime in the summer of 2006 for a winter 2007 release.

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