...continued from "A closer look at David Wall" Favorite food: “I love a rare steak. Tacos. Sushi. Out here in California we have something called the In-N-Out Burger. It’s amazing.” Favorite thing to do with his family: Making movies and watching movies. “We’ve probably watched The Lord of the Rings trilogy more than anything.” His hero: “It would have to be my grandmother. She was an amazing woman who just died three, four years ago. She was a total artist in everything she did, and she never discouraged me, ever. She used to constantly tell me to never, never, never give up, that nothing was impossible. And she would always tell me, too, that the best part in life was the struggle. That stuck with me.” Best advice he’s ever received: “Don’t be afraid. Believe. Anything’s possible. [My grandmother] used to tell me that, but you know, the more I look into what Jesus said, that’s what he said too. That’s sort of like the magic key. You could fly in the dark with those words.” Where can I see the film? To learn more about the film, and to find a cinema showing Noëlle near you, visit noellethemovie.com.

	David Wall on the set of Noëlle (©Beecher Cotton)

CD: The movie deals with themes of forgiveness, vocation, second chances. It also has a pro-life message. It can be a challenge for a writer to address these themes without being heavy-handed. How did you handle that during the writing process?

WALL: I think the first way is to keep everybody human. I think if somebody was portrayed as perfect, or having all the answers, the film [would] get preachy real fast. And the thing that I also think is key is humor. Whenever a scene starts to get heavy, I would bring in humor. And lastly, in editing, I made sure with music that we didn’t play the obvious.

CD: The film takes place during Christmastime and has a Christmas release. What made you choose this setting for the film?

WALL: Well, one of the reasons that brought the whole story into existence was the Christmas story, so everybody in this [movie] mirrors somebody (in the Christmas story). Maybe not verbatim, but they’re going to play a similar role.

CD: You’ve said that your dream for the film is "Good news of great joy for all." Can you elaborate a little on that?

WALL: I think we as humans do tons of things out of guilt. Keene is really just an exaggerated example of that in human nature. This story, and even more importantly, the outcome of this story, addresses that guilt and, I think, offers healing. And hopefully audiences are going to identify that. It’s healing to laugh, it’s healing to cry, it’s healing to be filled with hope and to feel. That is good news. That’s joyful. That’s what I believe is going to happen to people when they watch the film.  CD

Julie Rattey is managing editor of Catholic Digest.