News Releases

Award Winner

Award Ceremony

Suggest Nominee

Calendar

Info Request

FAQs

Robert Duvall in "The Apostle"

The following article is copyrighted and is reproduced here with permission from Guideposts^® magazine and Robert Duvall.

What started as an actor's exploration of character became a discovery of faith

My Search For The Apostle
by Robert Duvall

I've been an actor all my working life, and learning a part has always meant more than just memorizing my lines. I immerse myself in the character I am to play.  I find out everything I can about who he is, the world he comes from, his dreams, his fears, his passion, his humanity.  I try to transform myself.  A remarkable thing can happen in this process.  Many times I discover something new about myself.  Sometimes it is a discovery that changes my life.

In my current movie, which I also wrote and directed, I play a troubled preacher who calls himself The Apostle.  For years I have wanted to make this film.  It's been a labor of love, and it began in 1962 when I prepared to play a character from the rural south in an off-Broadway play.  To research the role I traveled to Hughes, Ark.  Wandering the streets of the sleepy Delta town, hanging out in the coffee shop and the post office, I hoped to learn something about my character from the way a man tipped his hat or drawled the directions to the local hostel.  But what I never expected to find was something that would change how I looked at religion.

Guideposts®, the world's leading inspirational magazine, presents true, first-person stories of individual spiritual experiences and offers a practical guide to successful living^TM through faith in God.