JWK: I watched the film. It has a very interesting plot. How did the idea for the story come to you?
Karen Kingsbury: Well, you know, I did not know that embryo adoption was a thing. About five years ago I was at an event and met a woman with three embryo-adopted triplets. I mean the wheels started turning. For me, it’s always that God puts a movie on my heart. Maybe it will be like an emotional response to something – and then God lands this beautiful movie on my heart and I get to just to take dictation from it and try to let you see what I saw. Of course, that wouldn’t be possible with a movie unless it was me making it.
KK: You know, I think IVF is something that is very personal to a family. Right now, we’re in a situation where science has raised questions that only God can answer. With that being the case, each family has to kind of address the issues of fertility themselves. I’d say IVF is a tool that has been very helpful for a lot of people – but what do you do with a leftover embryo? I mean, it’s a life. There’s no question. So, then, what do you do? I think people individually need to wrestle with that.
I love the idea that this couple (in the movie) back twenty-four years ago had IVF and one baby but then she couldn’t have another one and decided to give that little embryo off to a fertility specialist who gave it to a husband and wife doctor team. I loved the idea of following an embryo and what happens if you do give the embryo up? Right now, there are almost a million little embryos on ice, in deep cryopreservation awaiting adoption. The story is a love story. It’s not like a story that has a political message (regarding) IVF. It’s just this family’s story. I think along the way it brings up issues of secrecy, division and betrayal but also love, redemption and hope. I think it’s a hope that applies to anyone watching the movie.
JWK: It is amazing that the movie opens now when she issue is so much in the forefront.
KK: I know. See, that’s only God. I had no idea that that was coming down from the Supreme Court in Alabama. We filmed in Alabama. We filmed four weeks in Tennessee – my home state – and then we filmed one week at a beautiful glass house on Smith Lake in Alabama. So, the timing, I just smile. I just say “Lord, You’ve got it all!” People are gonna know more about the movie because of this. That means more people will be able to experience the beauty and the hope of the film.
JWK: What do you hope people take from the story?
KK: Well, you know, we’ve really come to hear something in the early screenings. That is that people are finding healing and hope. They’re crying. It’s a tearjerker, yes, but it’s a beautiful love story that leaves you radiant. I looked at (the audience) and was like “Wow! They’re really crying!” They were so moved but they were radiant. My prayer is that if people go to see Someone Like You…that they walk away with a hope that they never expected to get and that it changes them, they’re families and the culture.
JWK: As you did on the Great American Pure Flix miniseries A Thousand Tomorrows, you collaborated on this with your son Tyler Russel who co-wrote the screenplay with you and directed the movie, right? What was that experience like?
KK: It was amazing! Tyler was so ready for his directorial debut. We co-wrote. When we co-write, we outline together and then we take turns making passes at the script. When we’re kind of like, okay, we feel like it’s right where it should be then we sit down at a table and we do a table read and we adjust it to make it (closer to) the final version of the movie.
When it came to directing, I know nothing about making movies. So, I get to be considered a filmmaker. I was having an opinion and getting to speak to every aspect of the movie but when it came to directing – once we started rolling cameras – I just took the backseat…I had headphones and I just smiled like a proud mom because he killed it as a director! That’s what people are gonna end up knowing Tyler for. Twenty years from now, I feel like he’ll be one of the greats. We had big actors from LA that came in and they said he was easily like the favorite director they’d ever worked. He’s an actors’ director. Because of that, we got beautiful performances.
JWK: You have a young cast. Do you hope this reaches young audience?
KK: Absolutely. In fact, when the trailer released it actually went viral on Tik Tok. I didn’t have a presence on Tik Tok. I think I had 40 followers. We had just started it. We put the trailer up and it (received) well over two-million views. Another post has eleven-million views. We’re not paying for that. That’s just people liking it – and it’s young people. Part of that I think is that young people are really wanting the deeper love story. Hallmark is a lot of fun and that’s great but (they want) the deeper story that takes you to what happens if someone doesn’t live? What happens if you find out that some you loved has been lying to you? How do you wrestle with the bigger question as it wraps up into a love story. I think young people are gonna go crazy for this movie.
JWK: I know the movie is based on your book and the plot is pretty much baked in but, when you and Tyler were writing the screenplay, did you have any disagreements?
KK: Well, you know, Tyler is really good. He’s really talented. So, we’ve learned from each other. Neither of us has an ego. When we come to the table, he’s a believer in Jesus like I am. We pray before we work. We want to serve the story because the story belongs to God and what He’s gonna do with it is what only He can do with it.
In the movie there’s a pot that has a plant in it that (the character) London gave her mother. It’s a pot that’s got broken seams…The seams are affixed with gold. It’s called Kasuga. It’s a Japanese form of pottery. The point is sometimes you’re most beautiful in the broken places. That’s all Tyler. That’s not in the book. Tyler said “I have this idea! What do you think?” He always very collaborative that way. He doesn’t put a big stomping footprint on it. He said “What do you think about this?” I loved it! That’s partly why we co-write together – because, between the two of us, we’re bound to come up with a great idea for each scene.
JWK: The male lead, Jake Allyn, is also in the new Amazon Prime show based on The Baxters book series that you wrote.
KK: Yes. That’s how I found Jake. In fact, when we started this I thought I know who my lead actor should be for (the character of) Dawson Gage…He was perfect for Dawson Gage. He is such a talented actor and soon all the world will know. Once they watch Someone Like You in theaters they’re gonna know who Jake Allyn is. The Baxters released Easter weekend and everyone around the world got to see that. So, these are two things in my life that are happening at same time. Good for Jake too!
JWK: How does it feel to have a TV show and a movie launching pretty much at the same time? The Baxters took a long time to get there, right?
KK: It took years – five plus years. It needed to go through all kinds of transitions – including Amazon buying MGM who owns the rights to it. Honestly, the timing could only be God. If you made it up you wouldn’t think it was real. I have twenty books about The Baxters. The fact that (the TV series dropped) Easter weekend and then five days later our first theatrical feature hits the theaters. It’s just surreal. I’m truly starting every day and ending every day – and throughout the day – just praying “Lord, keep me centered. Keep me centered on You.” I want to enjoy it. I am enjoying it. I don’t feel stressed. I’m so excited. I’m in a humble awe of something only God could do.
JWK: What’s it like working with Roma Downey?
KK: She’s a lovely, lovely woman. She’s become such a friend over the years. We both agonized over the seasons as we would wait and wait and wait for The Baxters to be released. (Besides producing) she’s also playing Elizabeth Baxter, the matriarch in the family. This is the first time since Touched by an Angel that she has stepped in front of the camera (to star in a series). She only did that because I begged her to do it. She is perfect as Elizabeth. She’s tender and kind but she has an edge to her as well, a protective edge for her children. She will fight for them – whether that’s on her knees or in some discussion that might go out of the bounds of what she’s used to talking about. She’s just really perfect for the part and lovely as a person. She’s a good friend.
JWK: How long do you see the show lasting?
KK: Twenty years. Who knows how they’ll actually film it but, right now, what we’re doing is one season per book – and there are twenty books. Maybe they’ll put out two or three seasons a year – so maybe ten years. It’s the kind of a thing that can grow (and) you can grow with it. I think it’s similar to the movie Someone Like You. You’re gonna find a character you relate to and that helps you to take the journey with them. Anything that’s gonna happen in your life that’s gonna stay with you will happen in the backdoor of your heart. The Baxters are like that. People resonate with it. They either feel like it’s like the family they lived in or it’s the family they never had. Either way, I think when they tune in to watch The Baxters they’re gonna feel like they’re coming home.
KK: That’s actually a phrase that we’ve been both using. My dad coined it from the beginning. When I wrote the first book, Redemption, my dad read it. He’s in Heaven now but he read it. He had tears in his eyes and he said “Karen, everyone needs to know about this. It should be a TV show!” I said “Yeah, I agree! It would be so great!” Maybe I was in my late twenties when I wrote Redemption and my dad said “Karen, you need to contact that Touched by an Angel woman Roma Downey. She’ll make it into a TV show!” You know, I kind of laughed. I said “I would love to (but) I don’t have her phone number.” It was like an impossibility at that point. Then, maybe fifteen years later, Roma had read the books – unbeknownst to me. She loved them. She got hold of my phone number through my agent and she called me. I got this phone call. (She had) this beautiful Irish lilt in her voice. She said “Karen, I love your books The Baxters. I would like your blessing to make them into a TV show.” That was the beginning of our journey. It’s been a long time but it’s built patience, faith and trust in God along the way.
JWK: It’s amazing that your father suggested the Roma Downey connection all those years ago.
KK: I really have to believe that my dad (had) a window from Heaven when the series (debuted)…and again when we’re all in the theaters for Someone Like You. He’s going to be just beaming. He saw all of this way before I did.
John W. Kennedy is a writer, producer and media development consultant specializing in television and movie projects that uphold positive timeless values, including trust in God.
Encourage one another and build each other up – 1 Thessalonians 5:11
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