(RNS) — Want to spice up a biblical epic?
Add some mixed martial arts.
And a heavy metal soundtrack.
That’s the magic behind “The Carpenter,” a new film opening this weekend, which tells the story of a first-century prizefighter whose day job is apprenticing for a mysterious, miracle-working craftsman from Nazareth.
Think “Rocky” meets “The Chosen,” or “Gladiator” meets “Passion of the Christ” — with some life lessons and a Hallmark meet-cute romance added in for good measure — backed with a soundtrack featuring songs from bands like Motley Crue, Godsmack and the Drowning Pool.
“The Carpenter” film poster. (Courtesy image)
Filmed in South Africa for $3 million, the independent film opens Friday on 1,000 screens nationwide.
“It speaks to that audience of sports fans who go to church on Sundays,” said director and co-screenwriter Garrett Batty. “It’s been a fun adventure to be a part of.”
The film is the brainchild of Kameron Krebs, a former University of California football player with a lifelong love of ultimate fighting, and his father, Kenny Krebs, owner of Concrete Reinforcements Inc., which makes the steel frames used in concrete construction projects.
About a dozen years ago, the two were working on a carpentry project at home, and the young Krebs was making a mess of it. His father took him aside and reminded him of some of the adages of good carpentry — like “measure twice and cut once.”
That led the Krebs, who are Latter-day Saints, to discuss the kind of craftsman Jesus might have been — and what it would have been like to be an apprentice in a carpentry shop run by the Son of God. Kameron Krebs, who stars as Oren, the main character in the film, recalled his father saying, “Someone should make a movie about that.”
“Then I said, wait, we should make a movie like that,” he said.
The first draft of the movie was a dud. The scenes of conversations with Jesus, written mostly by Kenny Krebs, were fine. But nothing was happening in the story. “It’s going to be boring if it’s just drama and teaching moments,” Kameron Krebs recalled his real-life brother, Kaulin, who also stars in the film, saying.
Since the brothers were fans of mixed martial arts and ultimate fighting, why not add that as a plot point, they thought.
The mix of action and the chance to dramatize the life of Jesus before his public ministry began — accordin …