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Director Aaron Burns on BIRTHRIGHT OUTLAW’s Message of ‘Hope’
By Cooper Dowd, Movieguide® Staff
Director Aaron Burns, known for LEGACY PEAK, recently discussed his upcoming faith-based movie, BIRTHRIGHT OUTLAW.
The producer and director said that he hopes the new Great American Pure Flix movie, starring Lucas Black, is a step in a new direction for faith-based movies.
“The projects that me and my production company make, I have four words that I feel like I’ve kind of been given that we strive to find and fulfill in these: aspirationally timeless, faith, family, adventure,” he said. “I think of myself when I was a little kid, just the adventures that I went on, and having a dad who told me great stories every night and a mom who gave me good books to read and learning the power of storytelling, and having the desire to experience stories and see how those could be transformative in our lives.”
“But then so many of the family movies or ‘faith-based’ movies are just modern-day dramas that really, as a kid, won’t capture your attention,” he added. “For me, bringing that sense of hope and that sense of adventure to the stories makes it something a family would want to sit down and watch together.”
Burns said that he wants to first and foremost entertain an audience and then impart a message that goes beyond the adventure on screen.
“Now I’ve got a bunch of kids of my own, and we have a family movie night, and I want something that we can all watch,” he said. “So that’s kind of my heart, and my passion is to entertain, which means to hold one’s attention. But not just to amuse, which means to not think. We want to hold your attention. You enjoy the experience and then leave you with some thoughts and some questions to wrestle with and see how it translates into your own life afterward.”
BIRTHRIGHT OUTLAW explores the themes of fighting for family, fatherhood and forgiveness through a character’s lawless past catching up with her, an idea that Burns said is relevant for many today.
“I think for all of us, when you get up in the morning, you look in the mirror, you have the opportunity to read over yourself, disappointment, failure, brokenness, or you have the opportunity to have to look at yourself through a new lens, as the son or daughter of God, and you can read over yourself, beloved, forgiven, wanted and given a purpose, given good works to do,” he explained. “That core theme of identity kind of permeates this story.”
“Through the course of the journey, as each one of them wrestles with what to do, and how to process these things, they find their identity, not in their particular tasks and their particular past, but in their place as God’s beloved son or daughter, then they can find that sense of hope for themselves,” he added. “And that hope fuels their ability to stay true to each other in those key turning points of the story.”
“We genuinely hope you have a great time that you you enjoy watching it and that we were able to capture some of the beauty of God’s creation,” he continued. “Ultimately, one of the fathers’ roles is to accurately represent the Heavenly Father to their kids. I think you see Lucas’s character do that, where he says, ‘I’m going to love you, no matter what, and I’m going to put myself at risk and sacrifice myself, on your behalf’ for his wife and his daughter. And I think seeing an example of someone who’s willing to do that is powerful. And then see an example of a woman who is now willing to admit her failures and admit her past and share the truth. And then trust God’s providence to work out those details.”
Read More: BIRTHRIGHT OUTLAW Star Lucas Black Talks Faith, Family, and Freedom
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