The Herdmans are the absolute worst kids in their small town. They lie, they steal, they bully and, this year, they’re taking over the town’s Christmas pageant. What could possibly go wrong?
The Best Christmas Pageant Ever, based on the 1972 best-selling book by Barbara Robinson, tells the story of the six Herdman siblings who, after sneaking into the church looking for snacks, come out with lead roles in the town’s beloved annual Christmas pageant, which portrays the Nativity story. Despite the entire town wanting the Herdmans to be kicked out of the pageant, these six mischievous kids end up reminding the town about the true meaning of Christmas and that Jesus came into the world for everyone — even the Herdmans.
The movie will be released in theaters nationwide on Nov. 8 and was directed by Dallas Jenkins, creator, writer and director of the hit series The Chosen.
Jenkins spoke to the Register in an interview, sharing how much making this movie means to him and what he hopes people will take away from it.
Almost 20 years ago, his wife Amanda brought the book home for the couple to read to their children. Jenkins shared that as he was reading the book to his family, he was “appreciating the humor, and the nostalgia, and the Christmas of it all, and it’s great. And by the time I get to the last chapter, I’m crying so hard I can’t see the pages.”
His wife decided to take over, he recalled, and then “she’s crying so hard she can’t get through it. She hands it back to me so I can continue, and we just trade it back and forth while the other person recovers.”
“As soon as I closed the book, I said, ‘I have to make this movie.’”
From there, Jenkins went on to find the man who owned the rights, who had the story set up with other studios and other directors. Every time Jenkins came close to getting permission, he was told, “No.” However, he continued to pray about it — so much so that he had a daily reminder on his phone that read “pray for pageant.”
It wasn’t until a few years ago, thanks to The Chosen, that when the rightsholder’s relatives heard Jenkins wanted to make the movie, they encouraged him to give the rights to Jenkins. And so, he did.
“It’s truly, I could say, a dream come true, but I would also think it’s a calling fulfilled,” Jenkins said.
A major theme portrayed in the film is reminding believers of the true meaning of Christmas and that Jesus came into the world for everyone.
Jenkins explained that “because Jesus was born as a humble servant, not as a conquering king, the Herdman kids, who are, in this movie and from the book, the outsiders — and they’re in poverty … but when they hijack this Christmas pageant and they’re playing all the lead roles — they haven’t heard the story before, so they’re asking all these questions; and it’s because of their poverty that they’re actually closer to the true story of Jesus and Christmas than anyone else.”
The last words of the book and of the movie are: “Unto you a Child is born.”
“Those six words, I think, summarize the Gospel, if you think about it,” Jenkins said. “God became man — Emmanuel, ‘God with us’ — in the form of a baby and was born for all of us. And all of us have this opportunity to wrestle with what that means for us and what that means for the world. And when we truly believe that, how do we want to live out that truth once we understand it? So this movie can hopefully give you a taste of that and help you just wrestle with and comprehend ‘unto you a Child is born.’ What does that mean for me? And what does that mean for me towards others?”
WATCH: For theater times and showings near you, click here.
Francesca is the social-media manager for Catholic News Agency. She received her degree in communications with an emphasis in digital media from the University of Colorado-Denver.
This post was originally published on here
