Getting the opportunity to talk with a man behind some of Hollywood's best action movies, specifically the best action movie of all time by Entertainment Weekly, doesn't come my way very often. So, I couldn't help but ask writer/director Jeb Stuart about why he chose the project Blood Done Sign My Name after nearly a decade of "radio silence."

Stuart said, "I'm in the hero business so to speak, trying to find projects, good stories. I'm looking for ways to tell those stories differently. I don't think it was a big stretch to go from making The Fugitive to making Blood because it's sort of an everyman type of story. I was drawn to the characters."

Delving into the movie's story as well as his own experiences, Stuart talked about his own father, a Presbyterian minister in the south during the 1970s. The Stuarts discussed the difference between being the priest, who marries and buries, and the prophet, who challenges and pushes toward change like integration, and the elder Stuart admitted that it was the hardest time of his ministry.

Still, the fifty-four year old director remembers that he lived an idyllic childhood and wasn't aware of the pressures. "I told my wife that my father spoiled me," Stuart remembered. "He was a wonderful preacher but an even a more powerful figure of leadership for congregation. His inner strength gave me strength to be a leader. I saw that all things were good inside the church. In my community, the church was very central to the life of the community; it extended to every aspect of the parts of our lives."

It's no wonder then that Stuart would find Blood so attractive. His relationship with his own father, modeling the ins and outs of manhood and faith, has strongly affected his desire to tell good stories and be faithful in his career. The stories of fathers and sons are ingrained in his latest story, whether it's the relationship of Rev. Vernon Tyson and his son, Tim, or the lessons learned by Ben Chavis, whose father had died prior to the events of the movie. Chavis "was and still is a strong leader in the African-American community. There wasn't anywhere in Oxford for young people to socialize so he reopened his grandfather's drive-in and it became a safe place for folks to debate ideas and socialize."

Stuart's hopes for our lives and for telling good stories still revolve around strong protagonists like John McClane or Dr. Richard Kimble, but this time, the characters are a United Methodist minister and a high school teacher. "Vernon Tyson did get run out of town. But he had a powerful message for me when he said you can do the right thing and still lose," Stuart said. "There is no harm in that. He will quickly say that Christianity is all about standing up. Some people will say 'but Christ didn't have to die to make it work' but he did. Vernon went on to a better church and worked happily for fifty years through the United Methodist Church.

"Ben Chavis took his kids out of that classroom and lost his job but found a vocation so it's shortsighted to say what's a win and what's a loss. When Jesus went into the wilderness and he was tempted by the devil, the devil said he could end hunger; but Jesus said man doesn't live by bread alone. The puzzle is a bigger picture than what we see sometimes, and we need to see the whole thing."

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