The Touch Interview

Art was screenwriter and executive producer of The Touch.

Art Ayris: Yes, within bounds. The story had to be true-to-life. Almost 100% of the women who come through our shelter have been abused, raped, or molested, and I couldn’t ignore that in the film. Even some of my own church members and friends were not happy with me about the movie. But we are saved from sin – I had to show sin and darkness to a degree.

CM: What is your intended audience? How may The Touch’s message speak to Christians? To non-Christians?

AA: Both audiences have responded well. Many believers have said, "This is what the church should be doing." Many unbelievers have said, "This is what the church should be doing."

We received many e-mails and phone calls from women who have gone through what Hannah goes through in the film, saying how much the movie impacted them. One e-mail was from a viewer in the Netherlands – not a believer – who said she had hidden these things, but now she thinks she needs God. We followed up with her.

One girl saw The Touch on an Orlando television station and became engrossed, thinking it was a detective show. She was in a hotel, on drugs, and was planning on aborting her baby. After seeing the movie, she changed her mind, called the church, and got the real Wanda on the phone. She ended up coming to stay in the women’s shelter. The day she shared her testimony in church, I cried a few tears for sure.

But there have been different reactions. One pastor mailed the movie back to me with an angry letter about how disappointed he was that we made such a filthy movie. I sent him back his money.

CM: Your screenplay is based on a true story. Are you personally acquainted with any of the people depicted in the film?

AA: I am very close to all the major characters in the story and film. Every incident in the movie is taken from true incidents that have happened in my ministry. For example, the mechanic proposition scene. We had a young woman who needed to get her car fixed, had two young kids, had to work, and her landlord said, "Hey, sleep with me four times; I’ll take care of it." One of our church members took care of her car.

CM: How did you conduct research for the screenplay?

AA: I have lived it; that made it very easy to write. Plus, I have been executive director of this non-profit on three different occasions, so I’m pretty well-versed.

CM: What legal issues are involved when a screenwriter bases his script on real events?

AA: You need to have permissions and releases. We also had our entertainment attorney check off.

CM: In the film, Wanda comments that "most churches are glorified country clubs." What should Christians do, corporately and as individuals, to erase this impression?

AA: That is one of my favorite lines in the movie. It actually came from our former senior pastor, Charles Roesel; I just borrowed it for the movie.

Be involved in the lives of the needy, right at the doorsteps of your church. As we began seeing some of the desperate needs in our community, people came to us and came to Christ, and people were changed.

Any church can give away food out of a closet or have food drives. Any church can do a back-to-school drive for needy kids. Any church can do a backyard Bible club for needy kids. There is no high expense involved in offering 12-step classes, divorce recovery, or sexual abuse support groups. Our church has grown into a model for community-based ministry as the movie documents, but I tell everyone, "Start with what you have and watch God grow it."

I think maybe a fair few in churches feel either consciously or subconsciously, "We really don’t want those kind in here." What is so cool in my church is that, on any given Sunday, there may be a former cable executive sitting next to a woman from our women’s shelter who was on the street selling her body two weeks prior. And they’ll both be happy sitting by each other. I think that makes Jesus real, real happy. In fact, I think if Jesus lived in Leesburg, he would attend here quite a bit.

I feel that I have fallen far short of who Jesus is and what he wants us to be when it comes to the call to be with sinners and to call sinners to repentance. This morning, I was reading about when Levi had his party and invited all his friends to hang with Jesus. Jesus uttered those classic words about how he was not calling the righteous, but sinners, to repentance. I really want to flesh that out in my life.

Four people received Christ before, during, and after the shooting of the movie. Plus, the movie and the work here at FBC Leesburg had a huge impact on a number of the unbelievers who worked on the movie.

Right now, due to the economy, we have just launched Fresh Start to help people with jobs. We are also partnering with the local hospital to plant a 1-2 acre garden to feed people in our city. Meeting Needs, Sharing Christ – it’s a powerful 1-2 punch.

CM: The Touch contains more course language than the typical "Christian movie." What are the costs and benefits of such language in films, and why did you ultimately decide to include it?

AA: The language is used to show Hannah’s transition from a sinner to a saint. It also somewhat shows the suffering she endured. We as believers should take into account the life stories of yet-to-be-redeemed sinners before they got to us.

However, I have made an edited version for Christian bookstores and Christian audiences with those and some other questionable items deleted.

CM: What was the casting process? Where did you all find your actors and actresses?

AA: We held casting sessions here at FBC Leesburg and at ACT 3 Studios at Universal Studios in Orlando, over four weeks. I was pleased with all who came out; 400 people tried out for 60 parts.

We did have a problem on the last day at Universal. We had three "Hannahs" who were all awesome. Deciding between them was very, very tough. We actually landed on another girl, but when I was driving back on the Florida Turnpike that late Friday afternoon, I called the producer – who had been very involved with casting – and said, "We’ve got to change it, let’s go with Kristia." It was a great decision. Kristia helped carry the film. She was and is awesome.

CM: What do you wish you had known before you started?

AA: There weren’t a whole lot of surprises, as my wife has been in television for years. Plus, I had done some stage productions myself. I wish I had known more about distribution ahead of time. I signed with an Orlando distributor and nothing happened with it, and I was locked in for two years. However, I signed with Imageworks Entertainment out of L.A. after that, and it is going very well.

CM: What was the biggest hurdle that you faced during the production process and how did you overcome it?

AA: At the mid-point, the director and lighting crew were having some disagreements with the DP, who was an Emmy Award winner and a friend of mine. At 5:00 a.m. in the morning, we had a talk in the car. The DP was very gracious about it, and everything worked well from then on.

CM: What was the most significant lesson that God taught you, from a personal standpoint, during the making of The Touch?

AA: Faith, and the power of film. The people He provided, the talent He provided, and the financing He provided at critical points totally humbled me. His hand was all over it.

CM: What will your role be as a faculty member at the Gideon Media Arts Conference?

AA: I will deliver the opening address which I am very excited about. I will also be a part of the graphic novel panel, will teach a class on raising media capital, and will talk about our Bible comics and project.

I am sensing that God may really show up at this event.

CM: Do you have another project in the works?

AA: Oh yeah, everybody does. Our new novel Sudan is coming out in April and it is extremely powerful. I wept many, many times just writing it and the screenplay. The screenplay version placed in three L.A. screenwriting competitions. A production company paid some serious pesos just to option it, but the option expired last November and we got it back.

Music star Akon is interested in the role of the father; we met with his agent at William Morris when in L.A. We also met with Laurence Fishburne’s agent at Paradigm, and he is a possibility. We’re in talks with an A-list person who I want, and Jude Law has read and has some interest. We have two big directors, one with CAA, the other with Paradigm, with strong interest. So soon after the novel is out and I finish current raise on our publishing company, I plan to attack the Sudan film with a vengeance.

I’m also looking at doing a small indie movie here on a lawyer in Orlando, based on a Scriptapalooza winning screenplay. Finally, I’m considering a sequel to The Touch because of a miracle that happened after the making of the film.

The Touch Trailer

Click here to purchase The Touch today!

Return from The Touch Interview to Interviews Home