Jon Erwin
Appearances
The Glenn Beck Program
Best of the Program | Guest: Jon Erwin | 2/24/25
Glenn, how are you doing, man? It's good, as always, man. She's been a wonderful friend for a very long time. And yes, it is an exciting time in our industry today. Um, for sure. It's, it's sort of an unprecedented moment. Uh, and I think that's just because the voice of the audience has been so clearly heard, you know, that it's given us the ability to maintain, um,
The Glenn Beck Program
Best of the Program | Guest: Jon Erwin | 2/24/25
control, creative control, but also really harness the relationships with some of these studios and streamers.
The Glenn Beck Program
Best of the Program | Guest: Jon Erwin | 2/24/25
It's Amazon Prime. Amazon Prime. Okay, good. Sorry about that. Thank you. It's House of David. It comes out this Thursday. It's the project that I've, I remember when I was 16 years old, my dad bought me
The Glenn Beck Program
Best of the Program | Guest: Jon Erwin | 2/24/25
a camera with money he didn't have and I didn't know how to use it and we went straight to Israel and filmed a little walk and talk documentary and there's something just the Bible came to life in a whole new way and I went to King David's tomb and right there I started dreaming about eventually getting to do the story of David and so a lot of the films that I've made
The Glenn Beck Program
Best of the Program | Guest: Jon Erwin | 2/24/25
uh, uh, me that you mentioned, I'm grateful for that are kind of working up the courage and the skill to try to helm, uh, David's story. And there's this wonderful group of filmmakers. You're exactly right. That we're, we're willing each other on to success and talking all the time. And, and, uh, I do feel like I'm in Dallas Jenkins' wake, and he's a wonderful friend and collaborator.
The Glenn Beck Program
Best of the Program | Guest: Jon Erwin | 2/24/25
It's amazing to finally get to tell biblical stories. It's been a dream of mine for quite a long time.
The Glenn Beck Program
Best of the Program | Guest: Jon Erwin | 2/24/25
Yeah, it really is the classic hero's journey. Season one of House of David is is is the story of the of the rise of this young outcast shepherd boy, you know, chosen to be king in a nation that already had one slaying a giant. You know, and it really is that classic storytelling. Um, and I think in any, in many ways, David is the origin of many of those other origin stories.
The Glenn Beck Program
Best of the Program | Guest: Jon Erwin | 2/24/25
I mean, this is the original hero's journey. And so if you like, you know, those classic stories like, like, uh, you know, Lord of the Rings or, uh, or Star Wars or Harry Potter, you know, I think a lot of those stories have their, have their roots in many ways in David. Uh, and this is the first, you know, the, the original, um, you know, uh, hero's journey kind of, uh, or one of them. And, uh,
The Glenn Beck Program
Best of the Program | Guest: Jon Erwin | 2/24/25
And so it's going to feel very familiar, even if you're not familiar with the material.
The Glenn Beck Program
Best of the Program | Guest: Jon Erwin | 2/24/25
Well, that's the fun thing. Ken Burns, I think, calls it emotional archaeology is the idea of when you study history and then you really make it real and emotional. And that was one of the questions that I had was how in the world did King Saul let this kid go out and fight this giant? And we really spend a lot of time answering that question. And I think the reason is that
The Glenn Beck Program
Best of the Program | Guest: Jon Erwin | 2/24/25
that Saul sensed, you know, David was also anointed king, and he sensed that courage and conviction. And when no one else was willing to challenge Goliath, you know, David was so passionate about it that somehow that convinced a king to say yes. And that was a pretty cool... Uh, thing to dramatize and really try to get right.
The Glenn Beck Program
Best of the Program | Guest: Jon Erwin | 2/24/25
I had not seen anything in film and television that really was like, you know, I feel like that, that feels real to me. And, uh, and so we, it's a pretty spectacular, uh, uh, episode of the series and the series really is. Um, I've never had resources to put things on an Epic stage like this. And, um, and, and it really is an epic TV show and I, I love it.
The Glenn Beck Program
Best of the Program | Guest: Jon Erwin | 2/24/25
And I really hope the, uh, the audience loves it as well. And I hope it draws attention to, to, uh, I remember, you know, when some Amazon executives first read the scripts, they're like, we really like these scripts. I'm like, you know, it's based off a bestseller. You should check it out. It'll change your life. You know, 5 billion copies can't be wrong.
The Glenn Beck Program
Best of the Program | Guest: Jon Erwin | 2/24/25
I'm in there. That's good. So that's what, that's my hope. I hope people will, will, will read the Psalms of David in a whole new way.
The Glenn Beck Program
Best of the Program | Guest: Jon Erwin | 2/24/25
Well, you know, what's interesting about that is we really go into a lot of the, the sort of, I would, I would call it the mythology of, um, of at least what, uh, you know, Israelites at that time would have thought Goliath was, and this whole backstory of, of, of the Nephilim and, and of sort of fallen angels.
The Glenn Beck Program
Best of the Program | Guest: Jon Erwin | 2/24/25
And there was sort of a, at least a myth in that day or, or, or true, who knows, you know, that, that, uh, that would have struck fear into Israel that really explains why he would have taunted them for 40 days. And so we needed an enormous guy, not only tall, but also broad. You know, Thanos in Avengers was always sort of my sort of benchmark for the character.
The Glenn Beck Program
Best of the Program | Guest: Jon Erwin | 2/24/25
And Martin Ford, who's just wonderful in the Mortal Kombat movies and just a great guy, played the role. And you get to know the character as well. I think, you know, that's what television gives you the opportunity to do is And he and we went big. I mean, he is he's he's as tall. He's as big as could be historically justified. But I also think it's justified by the material.
The Glenn Beck Program
Best of the Program | Guest: Jon Erwin | 2/24/25
I mean, he really did strike terror into, you know, into the army. And that's why they there was this 40 day standstill. And when you see Martin Ford, when I saw him in person, one of the questions people asked for the trailers was David afraid, right? And I can assure you he would have been afraid.
The Glenn Beck Program
Best of the Program | Guest: Jon Erwin | 2/24/25
And I think anytime you try something great or something that you feel you're destined or called to do, you're going to have to step beyond your fear. And so Martin is just terrifying when he's in costume. And then when you use visual effects to blow him up, it's even more scary.
The Glenn Beck Program
Best of the Program | Guest: Jon Erwin | 2/24/25
Yeah, I'm glad you mentioned that because he was coming off the Roland Emmerich TV show, Those About to Die, on Peacock. And he was very sort of... He played a gladiator and he was very sort of cut.
The Glenn Beck Program
Best of the Program | Guest: Jon Erwin | 2/24/25
And I did say that these people would have had to survive... on the land and, and with really formidable circumstances, he just would have been big. He would have been like a gigantic grizzly bear, you know? And, uh, and so that's what we went for. And he started, uh, uh, whatever bodybuilders say carving, I don't know, but he did whatever he needed to do to just get big.
The Glenn Beck Program
Best of the Program | Guest: Jon Erwin | 2/24/25
And, uh, and he does, he looks like, okay, I, I buy that this character would have just been a formidable beast, uh, you know, of a human, uh, but not, not necessarily a, a bodybuilder. And, uh, and I credit Martin for doing that. I mean, he's just very, very, very dedicated as an actor.
The Glenn Beck Program
Best of the Program | Guest: Jon Erwin | 2/24/25
I'm, I'm willing to eat as much as you want, you know, if you'd be like big spectators, I'm not going to go out there. I am, I am often, I remind myself how glad I am to be on the dark side of the camera.
The Glenn Beck Program
Best of the Program | Guest: Jon Erwin | 2/24/25
I love working with a great actor, but, uh, but it's nice to be on, uh, it's nice to be on the camera on the side of the camera where no one recognizes you and you can eat Taco Bell whenever you want.
The Glenn Beck Program
Best of the Program | Guest: Jon Erwin | 2/24/25
Yeah, we're developing quite a bit. Jeremy Latcham that produced Iron Man and many other movies at Marvel. You know, there's just this movement. And, you know, the things that I'm really passionate about are, you know, the Bible and then also the American story. You're doing George Washington still? I'm doing, yeah, my next movie as soon as I wrap. I guess it's OK to say this. It's live.
The Glenn Beck Program
Best of the Program | Guest: Jon Erwin | 2/24/25
Who knows? It's live. Uh, my next film that I go immediately into pre-production on is the, is the young life of George Washington. And I know we share that passion for just the great figure in, in American history and his formation. We're developing the Wright brothers and, um, and, and there's just quite a bit of stories. I just, I love America's story and what it represents.
The Glenn Beck Program
Best of the Program | Guest: Jon Erwin | 2/24/25
And you know, hang on, just a second.
The Glenn Beck Program
Best of the Program | Guest: Jon Erwin | 2/24/25
You know, in the three revisions of the script, it's trying to figure out... on a dial of like two to nine, how much of a pain she could do. I mean, not many people realize, I think you pointed this out. I remember that she wrote a letter like in criticism of him, not, he shouldn't like run president for a second term because of his ice cream habit.
The Glenn Beck Program
Best of the Program | Guest: Jon Erwin | 2/24/25
Yeah, that's one of the real elements of the story. Oh, good. And it brings comic relief, but also you see the pressure he was under. Yeah, yeah, yeah. He really had to become a man long before his time because of the death of his father. Yeah.
The Glenn Beck Program
Best of the Program | Guest: Jon Erwin | 2/24/25
He did that over and over again. Yeah, that is a common thread of his relationship to what he felt was his his duty and purpose was so strong. And long before there was an American anthem or an American flag, you know, there was one man. that galvanized this idea for a long period of time. And so I love to study the formation of leaders like that.
The Glenn Beck Program
Best of the Program | Guest: Jon Erwin | 2/24/25
And that's also a story I've been wanting to tell for a long time. And I do want to just say, it is the voice of the audience that allows us to do these projects. When we started negotiating with Amazon Prime,
The Glenn Beck Program
Best of the Program | Guest: Jon Erwin | 2/24/25
creative control was an essential non-negotiable item and they they were glad to give it to us because of the success of the work and so there's a relationship between a small group of filmmakers uh that i'm so grateful to be a part of but there's also a relationship with all of us as an audience and when we support these things it gives us leverage to get more things made and if you watch the trailer to house of david you know i've never been able to put anything on this this sort of
The Glenn Beck Program
Best of the Program | Guest: Jon Erwin | 2/24/25
ethic, scope, and scale. And it really is because of our unified voice that these things are happening. And I'm telling you, there is a revolution of values and belief going on in Hollywood right now.
The Glenn Beck Program
Best of the Program | Guest: Jon Erwin | 2/24/25
Yeah, God bless. Good to talk to you. Take care.