The Blind, a movie about the early years of Duck Dynasty patriarch Phil Robertson and his wife Miss Kay, is one of the year’s quieter movie success stories.
Released in late September by Fathom Events, a company that typically does short one- or two-night specialty releases, the film cracked the top five at the box office and stayed in the top ten for four weeks, grossing $17.3 million and passing The Chosen Season 3: Episodes 1 & 2 to become the top-grossing Fathom release ever.
I have never watched Duck Dynasty myself, so I wasn’t planning to see this film—but then I learned it was directed by Andrew Hyatt, whose best-known films before this were the Bible movies Full of Grace (2015), about the last days of Jesus’ mother Mary, and Paul, Apostle of Christ (2018), about the life and death of St Paul.
Like those films, The Blind could fairly be described as a “faith-based” film, but it’s very different in tone and focus. Where those films were about New Testament saints who were nearing the ends of their lives, The Blind is basically about the beginning of the Robertsons’ marriage, and how troubled it got before they found Jesus.
And where the earlier films had a distinctly Catholic sensibility, especially in Full of Grace’s case, The Blind is a much more evangelical sort of pre-conversion story.
The Blind came out on DVD and Blu-ray this week, so I had an opportunity to talk to Hyatt about his film, and of course, along the way I asked a few questions about his Bible movies, and what they do (or don’t) have in common with The Blind.
You can watch our Zoom chat above. Some of the main points we cover include:
The similarities, and differences, between Hyatt’s “lives of the saints” movies and the evangelical pre-conversion story he tells in The Blind (1:45).
The differences between telling someone’s life story when it’s over and telling it when the person is still there to shape the narrative (6:45).
Being mindful of the evangelical audience’s limits when it comes to things like drinking and swearing in a warts-and-all pre-conversion story (11:40).
The depiction of marriage, ancient and modern, in Hyatt’s films (14:20).
What sort of input the Robertsons’ sons had into the portrayal of their parents’ relationship when they, the sons, were still just kids (20:13).
The box-office success of The Blind (24:25).
Watching the audience for faith-based films “grow up” (25:41).
Hyatt’s next film, Sight, about eye surgeon Ming Wang (31:35).
Hyatt’s on-brand camouflage hat (32:40).
And yes, I can’t believe that I didn’t even notice, much less joke about, the fact that the first film Hyatt directed after The Blind is called Sight. Ah well.
For further reference:
My post on films about Mary after the gospels, including Full of Grace.
My scene guide for Paul, Apostle of Christ.
My interview with James Faulkner, the star of Paul, Apostle of Christ.
The Blind is available to rent or purchase both digitally and on DVD or Blu-ray.
Exclusive: The Blind director Andrew Hyatt on his Duck Dynasty origin story and what it has in common with his Bible movies