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Oh My God: Peter Rodger Talks Religion
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MM: Your world premiere took place at the Jerusalem International Film Festival. What was it like debuting in the Holy Land and what sort of response did you receive from the audience?
PR: The response was phenomenal. Q&A sessions that were meant to be only 20 minutes wouldn’t end. It is such a charged place, the Holy Land, as far as God is concerned, that the audience really lapped up the global objective questioning that goes on in the film. Of course, there is a whole section in the film on the Israeli-Palestinian issue (it’s very difficult to make a film about what people think God is without including such a subject) so of course that section was under a lot of scrutiny. I am happy to say that none of the Palestinians I have shown the film to have been offended and no Israelis I have shown the film to have been offended. Phew! But the reaction was certainly charged. They embraced and loved the film there. It took us eight weeks to edit that section.
PR: MM: Did you encounter any danger in certain areas? For example, how were you able to capture insights from Muslim extremists?
PR: Finding Muslim extremists to talk on camera was extremely hard, as you might imagine. In the end the best and most radical English-speaking gentleman came to me—quite by chance. I was shooting in a mosque—somewhere in the world that I don’t wish to divulge, and as I exited, he aggressively approached me and asked in very good English, “Are you Muslim?” I said I was not. Then he said, “Then what was I doing in the mosque?” I said I was filming and why couldn’t I be in the mosque anyway? He said that non-Muslims were not allowed in the mosque, and that I should not be there. I said, “Really? Well you know what—I’d love to ask you some questions about this. Would it be possible to film you?” I told him what the film was about and surprisingly he agreed. I cancelled my afternoon shoot (I had a whole load of stuff lined up) and spent the rest of the day with him. He was very accommodating and spoke his mind.
Finding Muslim militant terrorists was tough indeed and took over a year. I had to go up into hidden areas of Kashmir and find them. I had help from powerful friends. Getting them to talk on camera with language barriers and the very charged nature of the questions was difficult. The point is, most of these extremists are just poor, ill-educated villagers that are promised better food, living conditions and support of their families—as well as salvation in the afterlife —if they join the Taliban or other extremist Jihadist groups. Underneath it all, they are just scared human beings who are being brainwashed into carrying out evil acts. Their evil leaders are not going to talk on my camera—especially as I was a one-man-show, without a CNN or BBC behind me. What you did not see was behind my camera: I had about 17 armed guards with machine guns—my “escort.” So this was one of those moments. We made it to the village and found the guys who were going to talk. I set up my camera and turned it on. NOTHING. It was dead. Something was wrong with the power going from the battery to the camera. I was thinking, “Oh no, not here, not at this place, not today, not after all this work finding these guys. This is really bad.” I had a back-up power supply that I could run off a car battery, but I needed a cigarette lighter to plug it into and none of our transport had cigarette lighters. I shared this problem with all the very armed people around me, and soon we were off in the trucks with the terrorists into the local town. We dug out a man who was sleeping under a sheet of plastic. He turned out to be the local electrician, and I kid you not, within 20 minutes he had soldered a car battery with a cigarette lighter. We all piled into the trucks, plugged in the camera, and it worked!
Was I under any kind of danger on this trip? Yeah, all the time. But I never felt it. I just felt humanity.
MM: What about the more day-to-day moviemaking problems such as transporting equipment, crowd control and such. How did you manage with a “skeleton” crew?
PR: Very easily. There were two of us, but we had both shot many times around the world. We could sneak in and out of countries and no one would know we were making a theatrically releasable movie. Modern technology helped a lot. Furthermore, this was a documentary and there didn’t have to be continuity from scene to scene like in a drama, so that gave me enormous license to put people where the light was right, use the resources I had in front of my eyes rather than creating a scene to match the previous one. Our equipment fit into four bags. I still have a bad back from it.
MM: What did you personally take away from the making of Oh My God?
PR: I really warmed up to the immense humanity and humor I found in people. Get the most vehemently radical militant face-to-face and even he, who has killed and maimed and blown people up in the name of God, could crack a joke. One-on-one he was not the animal he had once been in my mind and maybe still was. I realized that we all have a responsibility to live our lives with tolerance and understanding for our fellow man. Don’t be barbaric and ignorant. Learn about different cultures and soon one realizes how very much the same we all are, that most barriers are of our own creation, that hostility is manufactured by power-seeking humans and has nothing to do with God. I learned that the world is way more united than divided, but most of us are conditioned to believe otherwise.
MM: Most books are turned into films, however you have decided to write a book about your moviemaking experience. Can you tell us about that?
PR: It’s one helluva story. It’s quite a journey and I kept a journal throughout. The quest was very hard and very surprising and the story has many components that are relevant in these difficult, polarized times. I wrote the first chapter and sent it off to a publisher and they loved the concept. Without sounding pompous, it really will be compelling reading and there is so much more to add. There are some extremely funny moments too that have to be shared.
PR: MM: The soundtrack is stunningly original, was it important to have an original soundtrack?
PR: Absolutely. I was very fortunate to have a genius composer, Alexander van Bubenheim, who did a stunning job. He actually came as the sound man and other crew member for a significant part of the shoot. He would record weird sounds across the world—a witch’s door creaking in England, flowing water in Bali, feet in the rain in Tokyo—and then he would blend these sounds into the score. He would record drumming and singing and all sorts of things and then make tracks of them on his laptop while we were traveling. Then I would shoot footage that the music inspired. It was a great organic way to blend sound and vision.
PR: MM: This is your first feature documentary. How did your background in photography and commercials help you prepare for moviemaking?
PR: I was blessed by having a great teacher – my father, George Rodger – who was a Life Magazine War photojournalist and went on to found Magnum Photos with Robert Capa, Henri Cartier Bresson, and Chim Seymour. He taught me how to see and about composition. Then I was blessed by working in advertising for many years directing TV commercials and doing print campaigns. “Oh My God” is just an extension of that privileged education and experience.
PR: MM: What do you hope the viewer will take away from your film?
PR: I would like the viewers to be ambassadors to the discussion the film creates. I would like viewers to be educated in the fact that we share this world with many diverse groups who are very much like we are and that the way forward is to understand our similarities and not obsess about those with different beliefs. If a viewer is religious, I would love them to take away from this film the desire to study their religion themselves, to understand their holy book and not rely on other human beings who might be manipulating the meanings of their scriptures. I would like viewers to come away exhilarated, with a feeling of having had an amazing journey and adventure with me seeing places they would never see normally, hearing music that inspires and words that enlighten and fill them with love, understanding and tolerance toward the other individuals who share our planet. We are just primitive little organisms on a big rock in a scary vacuum driven by fear and desperately searching for something to hold onto. Finally, I would like viewers to come away with the commitment that what they end up holding onto doesn’t push others away, that we are all in this together and that one club isn’t necessarily better than any other club. If we are to succeed in having a peaceful, fulfilling life we should listen to other cultures and learn from other people to enrich our existence on this wandering rock.
Visit http://www.omgmovie.com for more information.
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COMMENTS | POST A COMMENT 
- Comment by McKyle SENECA on 12/17/09 at 5:40 am
I have a fictional version of your movie which I started writing in 2008. I lost my original script to laptop theft but the concept still prevails so I have re-written it. The title means everything to me so I will not state it here. I am happy to say you did a good job. You went out to get answers to create a non-fiction. I should see this film someday if I get my ands on that. I will like to present my idea and extract from yours and create a great movie bout god.
- Comment by Green Car on 4/21/10 at 12:38 pm
It is rare when a company has two successful beginnings. Such is the case with The Peter Rodgers Organization, a distributor of television programming to the global markets.
- Comment by kemi nahal on 4/22/10 at 6:21 pm
I am looking forward to connect with Peter Rodger to create my movie.
It is a true and very divine -godly story, I worte the music and released the CD of this story. (I am a singer-song wirter-perfoming artist, composer..master healer and more..)I am working on the manuScrip. I would love to conenct with Peter to create my movie.
Please contact me via my email-
thanks.. and many blessings,
kemi- Comment by شات on 11/22/10 at 8:14 am
- Comment by شات on 11/22/10 at 8:14 am
- Comment by شات on 11/22/10 at 8:15 am
- Comment by شات on 11/22/10 at 8:15 am
- Comment by شات on 11/22/10 at 8:16 am
- Comment by منـتـديـات on 12/08/10 at 12:17 pm
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