Faith in Hollywood:
Up Close with Kristin Chenoweth
 She had a recurring role on the Emmy Award winning television
show West Wing. She won a Tony Award in 1999 and was nominated
again in 2004 for her performance in the Broadway musical Wicked.
She has played in such Hollywood films as Bewitched (2005), The
Pink Panther (2006) and Barry Sonnenfeld’s family comedy RV (2006).
She has even premiered a new opera with one of the three most famous
tenors in the world, Placido Domingo. Who is this star that has
shined in nearly every square inch of the performing arts? And
is it possible that someone with such professional credentials
could also be a person whose faith is in Jesus Christ?
Born and raised in a small Bible-belt town in Oklahoma, it is
easy to understand how singer / actress / yodeler Kristin Chenoweth
would have strong roots in the Christian faith. But how do her
values and beliefs translate to an industry of entertainment where
she is becoming more and more in demand? With a resume that has
been mounting over the past ten years (and people like Mel Brooks
bugging her to do a new Broadway musical with him), one may wonder
how she is able to do it. Quite simply, you might say it is the
favor of God. Whatever your opinion, some of the things Chenoweth
had to say during our interview for RV gave me insight
into the person and perspective of this talented performer.
Kristin
Chenoweth openly shared that she is a person of faith. She also
agreed that for this reason it is very, very hard to work in
this industry. She says, “The minute you say, ‘I
am a Christian’ or ‘I have faith’, people are
like ‘Ooh!’ scared.” But,
she says, “I
do have faith and I do pray, and it is part of my childhood. And
I am really glad I have it because it is what has kind of sustained
me.” This she qualifies, too, by asking, “But do I
meet people at Starbucks and say they are going to hell? No. No,
no, no.”
 Chenoweth’s
role in RV is Marie
Jo Gornicke, wife of Travis Gornicke (Jeff Daniels), who are
regulars at traveling around the country in their bus and staying
in recreational vehicle parks with their kids. Chenoweth’s view of her character
and the entire Gornicke family is that they have probably lived
in a doublewide trailer for a while. But she says, “Actually,
I think the Gornicke’s probably were pretty well to do before
and they just gave it all up – and now they sing and cook
hot dogs and stuff.” They are contrasted with the other family
in this film, the Munro’s (Robin Williams and Cheryl Hines),
who are consumed with money and materialism, causing a breakdown
in how their functions.
The
contrast between the Gornicke family and the Munro family is
what provides some of the humor in this oft times slapstick comedy.
Due to the good-naturedness of the Gornicke family, it almost
seems as if they were supposed to be emulating an ideal Christian
family. Producer Lucy Fisher talks about how she sees the Gornicke
family, saying, “…We knew that we didn’t
want…that family to be a parody, but we wanted them to be
able to be funny. But we didn’t want them to just be dismissible
because we don’t dismiss their values at all…” Producer
Doug Wick dovetails off of Fisher’s comment to describe the
Gornicke family, as well:
…They [the Gornicke’s] would be the person that you
at first completely underestimated; were judgmental, disapproved,
contemptuous. And then by the end of the story you would say, “Oh,
these are really decent, good people. And these people are connected
in a way that our family isn’t – and their values are
different than ours. They actually are not so driven by making
a buck that they cannot spend time with their family.”
It’s
not certain that the parody here is of an ideal Christian family,
but it is easy to see some parallels, particularly with how they
are seen by other people.
While
the parody is a bit ambiguous in its intention, Chenoweth, however,
has an interesting line that she delivers when the Gornicke’s
first meet the Munro’s. While the Munro’s are making
another frantic attempt to flee the presence of the Gornicke family,
Marie Jo (Chenoweth) says, “Do you want us to tell you how
Jesus saved us from a twister?” The line is humorous, and
comes at a moment when the Munro’s are not able to take any
more from the Gornicke’s, but it indicates to us what their
background and beliefs may be.
What
was interesting to find out, however, is that Chenoweth actually
came up with this line about the twister. She did not explain
how she discussed it with Director Barry Sonnenfeld, but she
did in fact compose the line herself. The line is used for comedy
sake, but it seems that some of Chenoweth’s beliefs and background
have seeped through into this production. Again, it is not specified
as to what the background and beliefs are of the Gornicke family,
but Chenoweth’s line certainly affects our perception of
them.
While Chenoweth has included a hint of her spiritual background
into this script, I did not get the impression that Chenoweth is
out to affect all of the roles she takes in this way. In fact,
some of the roles she takes are quite the opposite from her personal
beliefs. For instance, she mentions her role in Running with
Scissors where she plays Annette Benning’s lesbian lover.
She states that taking that role was an important decision for
her to make.
With
that, Chenoweth confesses that she does feel pressure from the
Christian community to take certain roles. She seems to be aware
of it, but also not afraid. She says, “I knew that
doing an FHM cover would be a certain backlash from the Christian
community. But I don’t live my life in judgment, and I don’t
think anyone should…That’s not what I am about at
all.” After sharing that one of her best friends is gay,
she continues:
And
I don’t try to walk any sort of line. I guess I am…somewhat
of a dichotomy because I do love to perform and act and sing – but
I am a person of faith. That’s a major aspect of who I am.
But I am also in this industry, and there are certain business
decisions I make. Would I do Playboy? Probably not. But do I judge
people who do? No.
While
not everyone may fathom the workings of an industry like this,
Chenoweth’s challenge as a believer
in Christ to be in the world and not of it is still the same.
Perhaps in some ways, it is even harder.
What is unarguable is that, as a believer, Chenoweth is acting
as salt and light in this industry. Maybe the roles she takes or
the lines she delivers will not express her faith directly, but
because of who she is it seems inevitable that she will have a
positive impact. Interestingly, my friend who watched RV with
me leaned over and said, “I think that actress is a Christian,” referring
to Kristin Chenoweth. Before seeing this movie, my friend knew
nothing about her.
Chenoweth seems happy to have worked on the family comedy RV.
Overall, it is a clean movie and has something positive to say.
For Chenoweth, she says, “I love this movie because I love
that my niece and nephew are going to be able to go with their
mom and dad – and they are all going to be able to enjoy
it. That’s what I like about it.”
Kristin Chenoweth will be seen in such upcoming movies as Running
with Scissors, Stranger Than Fiction, and in the
role of soul singer Dusty Springfield. |
