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Leap of Faith | |
---|---|
Directed by | Richard Pearce |
Written by | Janus Cercone |
Produced by | Michael Manheim David V. Picker |
Starring | |
Cinematography | Matthew F. Leonetti |
Edited by | John F. Burnett Mark Warner Don Zimmerman |
Music by | Cliff Eidelman Billy Straus |
Distributed by | Paramount Pictures |
Release date |
|
Running time | 108 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Budget | $20 million [1] |
Box office | $23.4 million |
Leap of Faith is a 1992 American comedy-drama film directed by Richard Pearce and starring Steve Martin, Debra Winger, Lolita Davidovich, Liam Neeson, and Lukas Haas. The film is about Jonas Nightengale, a Christian faith healer who uses his revival meetings to milk money out of the inhabitants of Rustwater, Kansas.
Faith healer Jonas Nightengale and his manager Jane Larson break down in Rustwater, Kansas, a small, rural town suffering from a long drought. Learning they will be stuck there for four days waiting for replacement parts to come in for their truck, Jonas decides to hold revival meetings to help pay for the repairs.
Jonas and his staff use various cons to make it appear as if Jonas has divine knowledge granted by God. Despite his repeated diversions whenever he is asked when the drought will end, the townspeople find Jonas’s shows to be entertaining and hope-inspiring, and eagerly give their money to Jonas as donations.
Local sheriff Will Braverman is skeptical and decides to investigate Jonas' past. He learns that he is in fact Jack Newton, a native of New York City who lived a life of crime in his teen years. Braverman shares this information with the townspeople, who have gathered for another tent revival. Jonas storms off the stage, soon returning to successfully spin Braverman's report, leaving the crowd more energized than ever, much to Braverman's exasperation. Nightengale continues his dubious ministry over the next several days as Jane and Braverman find themselves falling for each other.
Nightengale attempts to begin a relationship with local diner waitress Marva, whose brother Boyd walks with crutches following an auto accident. She explains that doctors could not find anything physically wrong with him and his ailment is psychosomatic. Boyd comes to believe that Jonas can help him walk again. During a meeting, Boyd walks to the crucifix and touches the feet of Jesus. He drops his crutches and begins to walk unassisted. The awed crowd sweeps the stage. After the show, an enraged Jonas rails to Jane that he was conned and that Boyd upstaged him.
After the revival, Jonas enters the empty, darkened tent and mocks the crucifix and Christianity. Boyd walks in while he is talking and says he wants to join him on the road. Jonas agrees to meet him the following morning, implying he can come. Marva arrives and sends Boyd out of the tent. She thanks Jonas, who tells her that he will not be meeting her brother the next morning.
Jonas leaves the tent and sees the crowd that has gathered just outside it — many praying, some sleeping in groups, and others feeding the crowd that has gathered. He begins to understand that Boyd's miracle, and the faith that enabled it, are real after all. He packs a bag and departs alone under the cover of darkness, leaving behind his entire road show and hitching a ride with a truck driver bound for Pensacola, Florida.
When the driver asks if he is in trouble, Jonas replies, "No, no, no, no. No, sir. Maybe for the first time in my life I'm not." As they continue to ride along, the drought, threatening the crop harvest that is the centerpiece of the town's economy, comes to a dramatic end with a miraculous downpour. Jonas laughs silently to himself as he realizes the truth, and the film ends as he rides off into the stormy evening, hanging out the truck window loudly thanking Jesus for the rain.
The movie was filmed in Groom, Claude, and Tulia, Texas, though parts of the movie were filmed in Plainview, where the town water tower still has the fictional town mascot painted on the side. Michael Keaton was considered for the starring role, but ultimately Martin was cast. [2] The consultant for cons and frauds was Ricky Jay who was called in a 1993 article of The New Yorker as "perhaps the most gifted sleight-of-hand artist alive". [3]
David Picker was called in to help produce the film at short notice. He said filming quickly got behind schedule and he suggested the director, Richard Pearce, be fired. The studio refused this but allowed Picker to fire the cameraman and replace him with Matt Leonetti. According to Picker, Pearce was unable to handle Debra Winger and Lolita Davidovich. [4]
On Rotten Tomatoes the film has an approval rating of 64% based on reviews from 22 critics. The site's consensus states: "Steve Martin's layered performance transcends Leap of Faith's somewhat undercooked narrative." [5]
Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film three out of four, and wrote: "The movie itself has considerable qualities, among them Martin's performance as Nightengale. This isn't the sleek, groomed, prosperous Steve Martin we've seen in movies like L.A. Story . It's Martin as a seedy, desperate, bright, greedy man without hope." [6] Janet Maslin of The New York Times wrote: "Well acted and amusingly told, featuring a fine performance by Steve Martin in the central role, this tale ultimately switches gears and takes a deeply serious turn." [7]
The Center Theatre Group presented the musical at the Ahmanson Theatre, Los Angeles, with Rob Ashford as director and choreographer. [8] Performances began on September 11, 2010, with an official opening on October 3, 2010, running through October 24, 2010. Raul Esparza played the role of Jonas Nightengale and Brooke Shields played the role of Marva. [9] The musical began previews on Broadway at the St. James Theatre on April 3, 2012, and opened on April 26, 2012 before closing after only 20 performances. Direction was by Christopher Ashley, choreography by Sergio Trujillo, a revised book by Warren Leight, with a cast featuring Raúl Esparza as Jonas Nightengale, and Jessica Phillips as Marva. [10]
My Fair Lady is a musical with a book and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner and music by Frederick Loewe. The story, based on George Bernard Shaw's 1913 play Pygmalion and on the 1938 film adaptation of the play, concerns Eliza Doolittle, a Cockney flower girl who takes speech lessons from professor Henry Higgins, a phonetician, so that she may pass as a lady. Despite his cynical nature and difficulty understanding women, Higgins grows attached to her.
Company is a musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and book by George Furth. The original 1970 production was nominated for a record-setting 14 Tony Awards, winning six. Company was among the first book musicals to deal with contemporary dating, marriage, and divorce, and is a notable example of a concept musical lacking a linear plot. In a series of vignettes, Company follows bachelor Bobby interacting with his married friends, who throw a party for his 35th birthday.
Godspell is a musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz and a book by John-Michael Tebelak. The show is structured as a series of parables, primarily based on the Gospel of Matthew, interspersed with music mostly set to lyrics from traditional hymns, with the passion of Christ appearing briefly near the end.
James Elliot Lapine is an American stage director, playwright, screenwriter, and librettist. He has won the Tony Award for Best Book of a Musical three times, for Into the Woods, Falsettos, and Passion. He has frequently collaborated with Stephen Sondheim and William Finn.
William Marrion Branham was an American Christian minister and faith healer who initiated the post-World War II healing revival, and claimed to be a prophet with the anointing of Elijah, who had come to prelude Christ's second coming; some of his followers have been labeled a "doomsday cult". He is credited as "a principal architect of restorationist thought" for charismatics by some Christian historians, and has been called the "leading individual in the Second Wave of Pentecostalism." He made a lasting influence on televangelism and the modern charismatic movement, and his "stage presence remains a legend unparalleled in the history of the Charismatic movement". At the time they were held, Branham's inter-denominational meetings were the largest religious meetings ever held in some American cities. Branham was the first American deliverance minister to successfully campaign in Europe; his ministry reached global audiences with major campaigns held in North America, Europe, Africa, and India.
Lolita Davidovich is a Canadian film and television actress, best known for portraying Blaze Starr in the 1989 film Blaze, for which she received a Chicago Film Critics Association Award nomination.
Jesse Lamont Martin is an American actor and singer. He is best known for his role of Tom Collins on Broadway in the musical Rent and performed on television as NYPD Detective Ed Green on Law & Order, Captain Joe West on The Flash, and professor Alec Mercer on The Irrational.
Asa Alonso Allen, better known as A. A. Allen, was an American Pentecostal evangelist known for his faith healing and deliverance ministry. He was, for a time, associated with the "Voice of Healing" movement founded by Gordon Lindsay. Allen died of alcoholism and liver failure in a coma at the age of 59 in San Francisco, California, and was buried at his ministry headquarters in Miracle Valley, Arizona.
Richard Pearce is an American film director, television director and cinematographer. In addition to feature films, he has directed made-for-TV movies and TV series.
Atlantic Theater Company is an Off-Broadway non-profit theater. The company was founded in 1985 by David Mamet, William H. Macy, and 30 of their acting students from New York University, inspired by the historical examples of the Group Theatre and Stanislavski.
Kendra Kassebaum is an American theatre actress, who has performed in many different musicals, and is perhaps best remembered for playing the role of Glinda in the first national tour, Broadway, and San Francisco casts of the blockbuster musical Wicked.
John Francis McMartin was an American actor of stage, film and television.
Tent revivals, also known as tent meetings, are a gathering of Christian worshipers in a tent erected specifically for revival meetings, evangelism, and healing crusades. Tent revivals have had both local and national ministries.
Raúl Eduardo Esparza is an American actor. Considered one of Broadway's most prominent leading men since the 2000s, he is best known for his Tony Award-nominated performance as Bobby in the 2006 Broadway revival of Company and for his television role as New York Assistant District Attorney (ADA) Rafael Barba in Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, where he had a recurring role in Season 14 and was promoted to a series regular in Seasons 15 to 19.
Boyd Payne Gaines is an American actor. During his career, he has won four Tony Awards and three Drama Desk Awards. Gaines is best known for playing Mark Royer on One Day at a Time (1981–1984).
Stephen Bogardus is an American actor. He originated the role of Whizzer in the Broadway musical, Falsettos.
Leap of Faith is a stage musical based on the 1992 American movie of the same name, which starred Steve Martin. The music is by Alan Menken, with lyrics by Glenn Slater and a book by Janus Cercone and Warren Leight about a con man posing as a man of faith, who is redeemed by the love of a good woman.
The 66th Annual Tony Awards was held on June 10, 2012, to recognize achievement in Broadway productions during the 2011–2012 season. The ceremony was held at the Beacon Theatre, and was broadcast live on CBS television.
Rafael Barba is a fictional character portrayed by Raúl Esparza, who joined the cast of the long-running NBC crime drama series Law & Order: Special Victims Unit on a recurring basis during the 14th season episode "Twenty-Five Acts". The character was promoted to a series regular for the 15th season and exited the series during season 19. He has since made guest appearances in the 21st, 22nd and 23rd seasons and a brief appearance in the spin-off series Law & Order: Organized Crime.
Krystal Joy Brown is an American actress. She made her Broadway debut playing various roles in the musical revival of Hair (2009). She has since played Ornella Sturdevant in the musical Leap of Faith (2012), Josephine Bloom in Big Fish (2013), and Diana Ross in the jukebox musical Motown: The Musical (2014). She gained prominence and acclaim in a replacement role portraying Eliza Hamilton in the Lin-Manuel Miranda musical Hamilton, and as Gussie Carnegie in the Stephen Sondheim revival Merrily We Roll Along (2022–2024).