Last Tuesday, Jan. 21, in the CFAC Recital Hall, as people gathered around waiting for the next session of the January Series, words floated around the room. These words formed personal stories, all of which were uniquely different from one another. Each story was written on the bodies and faces of the people telling them, even though their mark was not always physically visible, some covered it for the sake of others or themselves. These stories emerged from one seat to another, from one ear to another ear, and later on, speaker Todd Komarnicki’s own stories were shared in front of the awaiting audience.
This phenomena is what Komarnicki means by the “Eternal Now,” where people gather in a place with different stories to tell. The act of stories intertwining with one another is the act of communication that shows how Komarnicki fell in love with storytelling.
Todd Komarnicki was the producer of the famous Christmas movie “Elf” (2003), the writer of the biographical drama movie “Sully” (2016), and has just recently written, directed, and produced another biographical drama, “Bonhoeffer” (2024). He was invited to speak at the January Series in order to share his experiences making these three movies.
Shirley Hoogstra, the president emerita of the Council for Christian Colleges & Universities (CCCU) who has previously worked as Vice President of Student Life at Calvin and serves on the Board of Trustees, was the moderator as Komarnicki shared the theme of bravery in filmmaking and storytelling and how it is connected to our faith.
Komarnicki’s newest movie, “Bonhoeffer”, is a good example of explaining this theme as it tells the true story of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a pastor swept into a deadly assassination plot. Bonhoeffer was a man who wrestled intensely with faith like Jesus in Gethsemane, as Komarnicki explained. Not only does the real story of Bonhoeffer convey the theme of bravery, but the whole filmmaking process expands Komarnicki’s understanding of being brave.
Making “Bonhoeffer” was exciting for Komarnicki because he wrote, produced and directed the film, which created more room for his creativity and his vision. He also claimed that writing the film required a lot of trust and courage, as he had to let the real-life events of Dietrich Bonhoeffer take the wheel and unfold on their own rather than forcing it through the script.
Komarnicki’s work in the film industry makes bravery a journey. He reminded the audience that movie-making is a business and that there are certain authorities and guidelines he has to follow. It requires years and years of persistence and bravery to create a single movie; Komarnicki shared that he wrote “Sully” for years.
Komarnicki told the audience that no matter what level of success one has in Hollywood, the answer that this industry gives is always a “no” and rarely a “yes.” The entire process, from submitting a script, making directing decisions and choosing actors, started with countless rejections. This is why people say that the filmmaking industry is one of the hardest industries to get into.
As a Christian, Komarnicki looked at these rejections through a faith-based lens. God said to him that all the rejection “is not a ‘no’, but a vitamin ‘no’” and that he should drink them, even though sometimes they might not taste as good as candy. Every time he takes that vitamin, it makes him stronger. All the rejections lead to revisions, so that eventually, when the “yes” comes, he’s the man that he’s supposed to be to make that “yes” as good as it can be.
For Komarnicki, rejection is not an ending but a redirection. The rejections don’t mean that he is not a good storyteller; rather, it is a way to lead him to kneel and surrender to God, guided by his faith and courage. This act of surrender is a way for Komarnicki to let the real-life events and conversations of both Capt. Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger and Bonhoeffer take over the script and make the movie realistic and enjoyable.
Through the wonderful example of his newest movie “Bonhoeffer”, Komarnicki said that one of the key elements of storytelling is as simple as telling the truth, just like being a true agent of faith. Komarnicki suggested that screenwriting must vanish and be replaced with an accurate script, where what a character says is reflective of the life that they live. In “Sully” and “Bonhoeffer”, Komarnicki stated that 90% of the script is a migration of real-life conversations that happened or were likely to happen. Writing their dialogues does not mean making their life a fiction; rather, it means honoring the person experiencing the story.
