Is Scott Derrickson a sellout?

Lies down in green pastures

In 2005, director Scott Derrickson hit it big with The Exorcism of Emily Rose, a good little film respectful of faith and never gratuitous despite the genre.

Better yet was the prospect of Derrickson, one of those "Christians working in Hollywood," gaining a foothold in the industry, which he next parleyed into directing 20th Century Fox's enviro-retake of The Day the Earth Stood Still.

Saying yes to a goofy message movie like Earth should have been my first clue, but I guess I hoped he would subvert the Utopian brotherhood-of-man stuff with some sort of Christian subtext.

Based on his interview at Dark Horizons, it would appear our pilgrim's progress either ended in Vanity Fair quicker than most, or he was one of those Christians from the get-go.

"Derrickson: ...I was struck by the idea that updating this movie had tremendous value because of the original being so rooted in the social issues of its time. It was such an intelligent and interesting self-reflective commentary, coming from an American studio and an American filmmaker, on the Cold War and the fear of the atomic bomb and the struggle to establish the UN, and things that were controversial and divisive.

I loved the idea of being able to tell basically the same story but bring in these new social issues that we have now, these new interesting messes that we’ve gotten ourselves into now in the world, and that alone seemed to have value to it and made sense."

Only in your town, Scott.

He goes on.

"Question: Wasn’t this a green production?

Derrickson: Yeah, this was Fox’s first show that was a green production. The generators that were used…I honestly don’t know all the ins and outs of it. I do know that there was a lot of effort that went into making it a true green show. It didn't have much of an effect, the only effect that it had on me personally was that it was paperless, and for a director storyboards become very complicated because they were all digital and so I never knew who had what. There was no notebook to carry around and that became confusing.

I think that, you know, I’ll join in. We got rid of our SUV and got a hybrid and all that stuff but I’m also of the belief that those contributions are important but not in the end going to solve the problems. I really like Thomas Friedman who writes for the New York Times and his perspective on these issues and his statement, ‘Don’t change your light bulbs, change your leaders.’ I think that the larger solutions are going to come from larger places..."

"I think that, you know, I’ll join in."

Well said, Klaatu.

Can't wait to see what he does with Paradise Lost. I mean apart from the scene where Lucifer tempts Eve with the keys to a shiny new Chevy Suburban.