Oscar-nominated actor Chiwetel Ejiofor was raised as a Roman Catholic who went to Sunday school as a child. He also read the Bible in his teens but admitted that he did not have a deeper understanding of faith until he worked on two religious movies back-to-back.
In preparing for a supporting role in "Mary Magdalene" and the lead role in "Come Sunday," Ejiofor said that he had a chance to revisit his faith. A year of research and visits to various churches not only prepared him for his work but it also gave him new understanding and respect for religion.
"I got an admiration for people who really engage with faith in its purest form and live lives according to that," he told the Los Angeles Times.
In "Come Sunday," which has just streamed on Netflix and was showcased at the Sundance Film Festival, Ejiofor plays the real-life Southern Baptist pastor Carlton Pearson, who founded a megachurch in Oklahoma in the 1990s. In 2004, however, Pearson's peers declared that he was a heretic after saying that he didn't believe hell exists or that God would punish men's evil deeds in the after life. Church members also left his ministry after he created a new doctrine called the Gospel of Inclusion.
Ejiofor said that he had not heard of inclusion churches until the project landed on his lap. He had several conversations with director Joshua Marston and the rest of the crew about theology in order to bring out the message of the film. Marston told the LA Times that the actor also delved deeper into the doubts that his character had.
"Come Sunday," however, does not tell a story of Pearson having the right conclusions about hell. The movie is more about a man who changes his whole belief and loses the trust of his friends and colleagues in the process because of their differences in beliefs.
The movie is based on an episode of the radio program "This American Life," which aired in 2005. The film also stars Martin Sheen, Condola Rashad, Danny Glover and Jason Segel.
