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Hollywoods Bright Light
Hollywood's Bright Light
An Interview with Jim Caviezel, star of "Frequency"
By Caroline Eichenberg
(from the Denver Catholic Register)
When asked, "Who's `it'?" by Entertainment Weekly, Andre Braugher said his "Frequency" co-star, "Jim Caviezel. I would want my son to grow up to be a man like Jim." After speaking with this rising Catholic star and former YOU!/Veritas reader shortly before the release of "Frequency," the source of Braugher's admiration became clear to me. He is the real thing in a business all about fabricated ../../images and scripted lines.
On Frequency:
JC: I chose to do that film right after I'd done "The Thin Red Line." Maybe 10 months prior to reading the script, my dad had open-heart surgery. I was so scared. I love him so much. The void inside my soul was tremendous, `What if my dad dies?' I remember saying to him before he went in, `I'm scared.' He said (The Thin Red Line hadn't come out yet), `Well, just know that I want to see that movie. And if my soul gets taken I'll make sure and ask the Lord if I can stay just a while longer so I can see it. But if I can't, then you know where I'm at, because if you don't, then everything I've taught you doesn't mean a thing." I used that image of my father in the movie, and my belief in Christ and knowing that if he was taken from me that I know he's with God.
How do you choose roles that are consistent with your convictions?
JC: It is a struggle all the time. Would I play Christ in a movie? Of course. Would I play Satan? Absolutely. I would show you how evil he is. It's tough when you find the ones [scripts] that are well written, that are extremely tempting to do, because when Lucifer puts his art out there he's not going to make it stupid. He's going to make it very clever and make it in a way where you're like, `That's brilliant.' Evil has it's own art. You have to be weary of that, and I try to be...
What would you like to tell our readers?
JC: I would tell every 18-year old right now, their goal should be to become a saint. If your goal is that, you'll be what God wants you to be, whether you're a doctor, lawyer, whatever. If you pray, he will tell you. Your life will become very simple, and you will have great joy; even in misery, you will have great joy.
Satan would say to you, your goal right now is to be the best basketball player, or actor, whatever. You obsess on that. You should obsess on God. He is our obsession. [Be] so obsessed that it lives in you and comes out of you; that the fruits of the Spirit will just come flying out and you really will have happiness.
When you read about the girl at Columbine [Cassie Bernall] who when asked, `Do you believe in God?' was able to say, `Yes, I do.' Wow. She had courage that even Peter didn't have, and he became one of our greatest saints. Be a saint. Be a saint. That's the most positive affirmation I could ever say to anyone.
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