| The Jesus Factor | | Print | |
| Written by Christa Martin | |
| Wednesday, 18 June 2008 | |
 Cheri Lovedog follows up ‘Prey for Rock & Roll’ with new film
Some people “prey,” others “pray.” For Santa Cruz tattoo artist Cheri Lovedog, her experiences in the film industry have included a little bit of both. In 2003, her film Prey for Rock & Roll hit theaters, starring Gina Gershon and Drea DeMateo. Written by Lovedog, a long-time local who runs Lovedog Tattoo on Soquel Avenue, the film was based on true stories from her own life. Now, the scribe is going in a different direction. This time she’s penning a story about those who “pray.” The new comedic drama with an edge, The Jesus Factor, makes a drastic departure from her previous Hollywood film because it is independent and local—through and through. The subjects in The Jesus Factor cover a wide spectrum: Jesus, transgender people, fundamentalist Christianity, marijuana and more. Lovedog is filming locally and casting from the area’s talent pool. Actors will get paid. Those interested in getting involved in the movie, which will likely be produced on a $50,000 budget, and shot over the course of 10 days this summer, can simply e-mail her (see below). GT recently stopped by Lovedog’s tattoo parlor and sat down for an intriguing conversation about her upcoming flick.
SO YOU’RE MAKING A NEW MOVIE … I’ve been working on it for years, I did a reading last week at the Cayuga Vault and it went really well. The tag line is: It’s about the politics of family, sex, religion, marijuana, piercing and surfing. It’s sort of a comedy-drama. It’s called The Jesus Factor because everybody in some way has that in their life, ‘Oh, thank God I didn’t get hit by a car,’ to the people running off to church every minute, to the complete lunatics who hate everybody. It’s about a family where there are the two extremes of people who come together over the death of a family member, and have to deal or not deal with the changes and the people [in the family]. IS THIS A PRO-JESUS OR ANTI-JESUS FILM? It’s not really anti or pro. It’s just that there are characters in the film that take different positions with it. The one side of the family uses religion against the other side of the family because of the choices they make with their lifestyle. HOW DID YOU COME UP WITH THIS CONCEPT? There are all kinds of people here. It’s Santa Cruz. There are a lot of transgendered people here. (The film deals with this subject.) It’s also a very spiritual community, not a real anti-religion community. But a lot of it is really chill—not the picketing and hate. I thought it’d be cool to take that sort of a community in a family sense and put it up against a staunch born-again Christian situation and have them cross paths because they’re blood family. How would that work? WHAT’S THE PLOT? The mother dies so Danny (the protagonist and the main character in the film) goes to the funeral. His sister Ellen is married to this guy who is a born-again Christian and they’ve disowned Danny. Danny is chill. His church is surfing and going to the beach. Most of the people that are really good Christians don’t go around saying, “I’m a good Christian.” You just practice it and don’t advocate any kind of discrimination. THIS IS A TOUCHY SUBJECT … I was worried when I called it The Jesus Factor that it’d be viewed as an anti-religious film, so I put the tagline on it, so people would [know] it’s clearly not a religious film. But, throughout the film there are references to religion because we all utilize it in some way. DO YOU HAVE AN INTEREST OR BELIEF IN JESUS? I do believe he was a prophet. I believe the Bible is full of great stories, but you can’t take that stuff literally. HAS WRITING THIS FILM BEEN A SPIRITUAL JOURNEY FOR YOU? It just reaffirms my contempt for people who use the Bible to justify prejudices or racism, or sexism or homophobia. It’s like the Stone Age for some people. WHAT DOES THAT MEAN: THE JESUS FACTOR? I was reading a book by David Mamet who said when things are on paper it seems really good, but then you get it on its feet it doesn’t always work … like the Bible and Jesus. You read this great book—there are a lot of great things in there—but look what’s happened to religion. The Jesus Factor is how [Jesus] factors into everything and how we use it for good or for bad, depending on where you’re at. I think it’s bad for people to use the Bible to justify their ignorance. I think it’s good that people have a spiritual belief. YOU WERE ABLE TO BE ON SET FOR PREY FOR ROCK & ROLL. WHAT DID YOU LEARN THAT YOU’RE NOW APPLYING TO THIS FILM? I was very lucky that I got to be on the set. Writers never [get to be on set]. I put it in my contract. I learned that I don’t want to make a movie for millions of dollars and fight those battles. You’re just fighting people in suits and ties who talk about demographics and charts. That’s why I want to make the movie here. Interested in inquiring about the film? Contact Lovedog at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it Add this page to your favorite Social Bookmarking websites          |
Latest Comments
| Latest Forum Posts |
| Topics | By | Category | Date | |
 | The Billy Martini Show 8/22/08 at The C... | sugarmartini | Upcoming | 08-14-08 |
| Press Release 8/19 | Kelly | Community Bulletin Board | 08-14-08 |
| 9/3-9/4 Shri Anandi Ma - Kundalini Maha... | Torrey | Upcoming | 08-07-08 |
| Re:needing beta testers | bullfrogma | Community Bulletin Board | 08-06-08 |
| Re:needing beta testers | cmagyar | Community Bulletin Board | 08-06-08 |
The Write Stuff
A maiden with many wooers often chooses the worst.All the...
American Dreams & Sunday Streets
Dear Risa, Your insight and interpretation of universal ...
Meat-free: The Way to Be?
It is well known that red meat isn't very good for you at...