Kirk Cameron has been working in the faith-based film market in recent years. His latest is Fireproof, the story of a firefighter challenged to have faith in his failing marriage. The film opens on September 26, 2008 and Cameron described it in his own words in a roundtable interview in Beverly Hills.
So it is sort of that fire is a metaphor for marriage right?
Kirk Cameron: "It is. In the movie the word fireproof is used a couple of times from one firefighter to another, specifically talking about marriage. What he says is, 'Look when something is fireproof, it doesn’t mean that fire is never going to come to it. It is that when fire comes you are going to be able to withstand the heat,' and that is the idea behind fireproof and the marriage analogy. It is not about whether or not flames are going to come to your marriage, it is about when they come can you stand the heat are you going to be able to with stand it and out last it. Unfortunately many people today, most people today don’t, and firefighters actually have a divorce rate of around 75% so it is really high but relevant for everybody."
Any time something has an inspirational message or a faith-based place it is coming from, it is treated differently out here. Is it an uphill battle?
Kirk Cameron: "I guess it depends on how well it is done. There are a lot of movies that inspire us. There are historical dramas, documentaries, comedies, dramas that inspire us in one way or another. I think what makes a movie cheesy is not whether it has an inspiring message or a faith based message – it's if it's just not well done. I’m guilty of being in movies that were a bit cheesy in the past, but I really like this movie, Fireproof, because it's not a $100 million budget, these are guys who know how to tell a story really well in a way that hits home with the average person and they do it without a tremendous amount of resources."
"They had over a thousand volunteers with this movie that pitched in to make it what it is. They had so much community support for the movie that they had fire trucks, they were donating trucks, people were donating houses, they were donating wings of hospitals and entire freight train lines and saying, 'How many trains and cars do you need and where do you want it to show up?' They didn’t have to pay for any of this because the people there felt that they were part of something bigger than themselves, that was going to reach to more people than they could individually about a subject that they believe is vitally important and that is a marriage and love and it all seems to be hemorrhaging in our culture today."
How do you tell a story that’s about saving a marriage?
Kirk Cameron: "Most love stories in movies are kind of about this unlikely person meets that unlikely person and there is chemistry and fireworks and it is the story of the obstacles until they finally get together and that’s your crescendo. This movie starts 10 years after the honeymoon is over and what do you do when there is no fire left? There is no heat, there is no spark, there is no love, it is more characterized by anger and bitterness and wrath. All of those things you don’t want, maybe the same things you see in your parents marriage or in your friends’ marriages and you go, 'I don’t want that.' Well, what then? Do you bail and look for a new husband or a new wife? Do you determine that marriage isn’t at all what it is cracked up to be? Or you can turn around and say, 'Wait a minute. Maybe I’ve got the whole wrong idea about what this marriage thing is. Do I really understand what love is? Can a couple who seems to have lost it get it back again? Fire it back up to the point where they would still say ‘I do’ all over again.' I find the movie very, very inspirational."
How did you prepare for the role?
Kirk Cameron: "Honestly, this was the hardest role I’ve ever played because number one, just as an actor it was far more challenging than anything else. I’m not just playing a practical joke on Ben and Carol in this movie. This is being a firefighter; he’s the captain of the fire department. He’s commanding his team in how to rescue people. He’s also a man who’s been married for 10 years and he’s a very type A jerk kind of a guy, a very macho kind of a guy. He goes from extreme frustration and anger and rage to all of the brokenness and the humility that comes with realizing that so much of this is his fault and his problem and he’s asking for his wife to forgive him and to try to rebuild his marriage. I worked with an acting coach a lot on this movie."
"From a physical stand point I had to put on about 15 pounds of pure muscle to be able to do some of the things required like pulling people out of buildings. Fortunately I’ve got an NHL hockey-playing brother-in-law, a Russian one. I told him I needed to put on some weight and he said, 'Ah, so you want me to pump you up?' So he gives me the protein shakes and we get the work out schedule and the whole deal. I worked really hard shadowing firefighters, training as a firefighter, putting out fires, crawling through houses that are on fire, learning to use all the equipment. I got to do my own stunts so it was very exciting. It was really challenging. I have a lot of respect for firefighters after working on the movie."
How do you feel when you look back on Growing Pains?
Kirk Cameron: "I have great memories of Growing Pains. Some of the most fun memories of my whole life, the practical jokes that we would play on the set on each other, all of the great times that we had. All of our problems got worked out in 27 minutes and 45 seconds. They were like my real life family in a lot of senses. I spent more time with them than I did with my own mom and dad and brothers and sisters during those years. You’ve got a full time work schedule. I know that there are actors who look back on that kind of stuff – I don’t know if Leonardo DiCaprio is often reminiscing about his Growing Pains days, but I do because I had a great time and it is what led to things like this movie and other things. I’ve got nothing but good memories, even in spite of some of the growing pains we had as a cast along the way."
