Jon Erwin is one of the most successful “faith-based” filmmakers working today. His credits include two of the genre’s biggest hits—the pop-music biopic I Can Only Imagine, which he co-directed with his brother Andrew, and the Christian-hippie drama Jesus Revolution, which he co-directed with Brent McCorkle—and he is one of the co-founders of Kingdom Story Company, which has produced a few “faith-based” hits in addition to his own films, most notably Dallas Jenkins’ adaptation of The Best Christmas Pageant Ever.
Most of Erwin’s films have taken place in the present day—or in a past that was so recent you can still, as he puts it, “talk to the people that were there.” But now he’s changing gears. Through The Wonder Project, an independent studio he co-founded just over a year ago, he is now tackling his first streaming series, for Prime Video. And, what’s more, it’s a biblical series—called House of David—that not only takes place in the ancient past but leans into some of the more supernatural, almost fantasy-like aspects of the story that other films about David and Goliath have tended to overlook. It’s based on an idea by Erwin, who is also an executive producer on the series, and the first eight-episode season was directed by Erwin, Jon Gunn, Alexandra La Roche, and Michael Nankin.
I’ve spoken to Erwin a couple times in the past. I interviewed him seven years ago when I Can Only Imagine came out—we also talked about his documentary on Steve McQueen—and thirteen months ago I bumped into him at the world premiere of The Chosen Season 4, which happened to take place just a few hours after news first broke that Amazon was making House of David. (I also interviewed his brother Andrew, another of Kingdom Story’s co-founders, when The Best Christmas Pageant Ever came out last year.)
I had a chance to speak to Erwin again this month after watching the first three episodes of House of David, which will arrive on Prime this Thursday, February 27. You can watch or listen to our chat above. (For some reason the recording didn’t pick up my video feed, just his, but you can still hear my side of the conversation.)
Some of the main points we covered include:
Erwin’s previous experience directing Bible stories on God Provides (0:44).
Applying the Ken Burns concept of “emotional archaeology” to Bible stories (1:58).
How Erwin has been working towards the David story since his teens (2:40).
How House of David leans into “the mythology of Goliath” and ties together different Bible passages about the origin of the giants (4:40).
How “terrifying” it was to film the showdown with Goliath (7:30).
The parallels between the biblical story and “the Lord of the Rings genre” (8:14).
The archetypes that drive the hero’s journey (9:30).
Exploring “mystical” elements in the Bible that other films ignore (10:03).
How the series is “a love letter” to the Bible (12:08).
How the different phases of David’s life fall into different genres (13:42).
The fleeting references in the Bible to the other giants of David’s day (16:37).
The potential for a broader biblical “universe” (18:47).
For background, here are some links to a few of the things we discussed:
The Mad magazine avatar that I use on social media (Twitter/Substack).
The God Provides series of biblical short films that Erwin co-directed in 2009.
The Chosen’s expanding “universe” (Sep 2024).
Alejandro Monteverde’s upcoming Nativity thriller Bethlehem (Nov 2024).
You can also watch two trailers for the series here:
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