David Oyelowo, spouse Jessica speak sacrificial love of Jesus, Heaven and new movie 'The Water Man'

by means of Jeannie legislation, Christian post Reporter | Thursday, may additionally 13, 2021 Actor/host David Oyelowo and his spouse actress Jessica Oyelowo arrive for The Academy of motion photo Arts and Sciences Scientific and Technical Awards Ceremony on the Beverly Wilshire resort on February 09, 2019, in Beverly Hills. | NICK AGRO/AFP via Getty photos

Actor David Oyelowo, director and famous person of the brand new film “The Water Man,” mirrored on the movie’s themes of eternity and grief in the course of the lens of his family's powerful Christian religion in an interview with The Christian put up.

The Golden Globe-nominated actor commonly used for his roles in blockbuster films “Selma” and “The Butler,” and his equally gifted spouse, Jessica Oyelowo, primary for her roles in “Sleepy hole” and “Alice and Wonderland,” partnered together to help produce “The Water Man” under their Yoruba Saxon Productions banner. David made his directorial debut with the action picture along with starring in it, and Jessica lent her musical talents to the film’s soundtrack.

“we like observing videos collectively, and i simply discovered that one of the vital films that I adored transforming into up, movies like "E.T.," "Stand by Me," The Goonies," "Gremlins," "Willow," "NeverEnding Story," we had to revisit these movies to be able to share films of that nature with our children,” David told The Christian submit, explaining why he and his wife determined to be part of bringing forth a early life-delusion film.

“The Water Man,” now in theaters, tells the story of Gunner (Lonnie Chavis) and his mother (Rosario Dawson), who “share a special bond, however when his mother’s illness worsens, he [begins reading] stacks of books on both science and the supernatural searching for possible remedies. After studying in regards to the mythic Water Man, who might also lift the secret to eternal life, Gunner and his rebellious chum Jo (Amiah Miller) go on a quest into the Water Man’s mysterious forest,” The synopsis reads. “dealing with challenges and risks they certainly not imagined, the pals’ hope for rescue lies with Gunner’s father (David Oyelowo), who must immerse himself in his son’s world to follow the clues so one can lead him to the kids and put his family unit back collectively.”

To accompany the film, Jessica penned a brand new Christian music single titled “What Love Does” to spotlight the fantastic thing about sacrificial love modeled surest via our Savior, Jesus Christ.

“Lonnie's personality in the film is inclined to provide every little thing, the way Jesus gave every little thing for us,” David noted.

right here is an edited transcript of The Christian post's interview with David and Jessica Oyelowo, who've been married for 23 years. The couple share their Christian testimonies along with their suggestions on one of the vital subject matters explored in the film, which is rated PG and features some scary scenes and consists of some mighty language. 

Jeannie legislation: I first spoke to you, David, after your 2015 movie, "Captive." How have you each grown to your religion since the entire success that has followed that film?

David Oyelowo: "Captive" changed into our 2d movie at our production company, the construction business Jess and that i run together [Yoruba Saxon Productions], and "The Water Man" is our sixth film, so we now have made a couple of films considering that then. 

Our particular person religion walks ... I became a born-once again Christian when i used to be sixteen. I met Jess when i used to be 18. She likes to say that she turned into a Christian from beginning, which i will completely agree with she got here out this fashion. probably the most fascinating things about marriage has been that we married younger. We have been both believers and our marriage, our religion, our careers, our household have all grown together. When the Bible says one will put 1,000 to flight however two would put 10,000 to flight, I think like we reside embodiments of that, and that's the reason been a real blessing in our lives.

Jessica Oyelowo: We met in a youth theater once we had been teens and we happened to stroll out the door on the same time to go to lunch. We did not be aware of each other very smartly and [we said], "You need to get some lunch? ‘Yeah, let's get some lunch,’ ok!" And within about five steps, we discovered that David's grandfather became converted by means of English missionaries in Nigeria and that my grandparents have been missionaries in China. We had this weird connection over our grandparents. I do not know how we discovered that so promptly. It was like, "What do you desire for lunch? also, what did your grandparents do and when did they get saved?"

law: How did "The Water Man" come about? 

David: we've four youngsters. I say now, however our eldest is nineteen, so now we have had them for a long time. they're 19, sixteen, 13, and 9. we adore staring at movies collectively and that i simply discovered that one of the motion pictures that I cherished growing up, movies like "E.T.," "Stand by means of Me," The Goonies," "Gremlins," "Willow," "NeverEnding Story" â€" we needed to revisit these movies in order to share movies of that nature with our kids.

It obtained me thinking, why are there no longer extra movies like this? movies with magic and which means; films that have fact and fantasy collectively but they're really about whatever thing, they elicit a dialog. You see the story in the course of the eyes of a baby however you're now not speakme right down to toddlers. I adored those movies growing up and flicks which have those issues that in reality resonate with us as Christians. 

I bear in mind seeing "E.T." and searching at this family unit that had been coping with the incontrovertible fact that the daddy had left and the mother changed into coping with that, and the youngsters are now having to contend with that as neatly. kids move through complicated stuff as smartly. So when "The Water Man" came our means, it felt like a throwback to those kinds of films. that's why i wanted to jump into it. 

additionally, our youngsters are combined race and once I grew up, I on no account saw myself represented in those types of films. And we're all the time looking for movies that we could make that make them believe like they are represented in studies as important characters. in order that became partly why we jumped on board with this as neatly.

legislations: there's a quote within the film that asks, "the place do we go when we die?" if you had to reply that, what would you say?

Jessica: Wow, smartly, Heaven! within the film, Rosario's character has to supply a solution and or not it's a tricky question to ask in a film where you're attractive to a wide viewers, but she offers a extremely first-rate answer. 

What we agree with for my part is that we reside as soon as, we die once, we're judged once, if we're with Jesus [then] Heaven is the best vicinity we may also be. he is the important thing, he is the style, he is the truth, he is the life! There is no method to the daddy except via Him.

it be now not necessarily that Heaven is the simplest house that the father inhabits. but the solution to the daddy's heart, the way to be one with Him, as Jesus prayed for us in John 17, is Jesus. it be to be one with Him, to abide with Him, that we may be one with the daddy. That become Jesus' want for us â€" that we would be one with the daddy, that for eternity is what we get to be.

David: it really is also one of the topics of the film, which Gunner, as a younger kid, he doesn't have these revelations yet. So of direction, with the possible lack of his mom, he is prepared to move and search for the Water Man who supposedly has the important thing to immortality. but he is looking in the wrong region for that immortality. and never handiest for that, he's looking in the incorrect location to in reality be in a position to recognize the love in his lifestyles.

probably the most gifts in existence, one of the the reason why love right here in the world is so precious, is because it's finite. Our lifestyles here isn't always, however this is a blip in time in terms of eternity. The conception is to have fun with day by day, peculiarly if you're round americans you're keen on. And for us in my opinion, figuring out that there's an everlasting relationship with the daddy, an eternal relationship with each different that goes to transcend anything else and every thing we are able to journey here.

legislations: Jessica, you lent your voice to this film in a tune titled, "What Love Does." in the movie, we see the sacrificial love that the son confirmed to are attempting and store his mom’s life. can you talk about the proposal of the song?

Jessica: The song is about that potent, sacrificial love. That when you actually love someone or not it's not about what you might be going to get from them, is what you may give to them. Lonnie's personality within the film is inclined to give every little thing, the manner Jesus gave every little thing for us.

What love does is, it would not are trying to find its own. or not it's 1 Corinthians 13 and there are many references in the tune to that desirable chapter from the Bible. but it truly is exactly it. the important thing theme of the film is sacrificial love, seeing what Gunner will do for his mom. The music is solely a reflection of that, or not it's a spread of that, giving it phrases, giving it melody, and giving it visuals too.

legislations: David, in the film we see your character scuffling with grief as he cares for his death spouse. What would you say is a great way to address grief or elaborate instances like that?

David: all the way through the route of making this movie, my mother grew to be sick and eventually passed away. She handed away four years ago just as this film turned into coming into our lives. and then my dad in reality passed away closing September. So within the closing 4 or 5 years, we lost both of my folks and that they were very close to us, very near my children as neatly. 

Jessica: They lived with us, so they had been very close family.

David: i would say one of the things I even have realized through that own event is to be variety to yourself, to be first rate to yourself, to be patient with yourself because you simply have no idea how grief goes to hit you. as the eldest son, because the head of my domestic in my household, I felt the need to push aside my grief, above all with my mother. I do not suppose I grieved as healthily as a result of I felt I obligatory to be strong for my brothers, for my dad, for my own family, for my youngsters.

The different issue that got affected is my relationship with God. now not in a religion way, however in my angle towards prayer. as a result of my mother had this aneurism and she turned into in a vegetative state for three years. So each time I prayed it might be about wanting a miracle of my mom being introduced returned. So prayer equaled ache for me. Prayer equaled hope deferred for me.

It took a long time for me to be capable of recalibrate that and are available back to the indisputable fact that prayer is about relationship. Prayer is about the proven fact that i will be able to nevertheless have pleasure, even when i am no longer happy and it being a pleasure that surpasses my own understanding. in order that changed into whatever that helped me when my dad passed away. 

there may be pretty much a maturation in grief as smartly, weirdly sufficient. but my dad hit me in a different way. And ... [it] would come at surprising times. there's no effortless strategy to stroll the grief walk. i'd simply say, be type to your self and be patient with your self.

legislation: despite the sickness, the mom within the movie prays to God and shows gratitude for the established blessings. What do we study from that? 

David: I believe we've all, as a global neighborhood, just undergone an event that basically highlights how hard existence may also be, but yet how remarkable lifestyles is also. The proven fact that we're alive is a mathematical miracle in itself, in case you believe concerning the probability of even being alive. 

yes, life will also be fraught with suffering. but when you happen to be one of the blessed ones who've either love in your existence, where you have got linked with God, and you are feeling His love, otherwise you have a family that loves you, friends that love you, you know what love appears like. You are literally the richest of people here on planet Earth. There isn't any stronger feeling, no stronger attribute, no more desirable circumstance to find yourself in than to be loving someone and be loved, and that's something to continuously be pleased about. and that's the reason in reality what she prays within the movie, and that is the reason the revelation Gunner's character has at some point of the story.

legislation: Is there whatever thing, in certain, you want audiences to take from observing “The Water Man”?

David: My hope is that families will watch this together, that they're going to have an excellent time staring at it, but it'll also elicit a dialog. i am hoping that folks admire that kid's emotional intelligence more and that i hope that kids are a bit greater patient with their fogeys as a result of we go wrong too.

“The Water Man” is now in theaters.

Jeannie law is a reporter for The Christian publish. reach her at: jeannie.legislation@christianpost.com follow her on Twitter: @jlawcp fb: JeannieOMusic