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It is probably the case that no Protestant author has been quoted more often by contributors to The Catholic Thing than C.S. Lewis (1898-1963). It may also be the case that nobody in contemporary media has done more to celebrate Lewis and his work (other than Lewis’s own books) than Max McLean, founder and artistic director of New York’s Fellowship for Performing Arts (FPA).
His latest film project, with director Norman Stone, is The Most Reluctant Convert: The Untold Story of C.S, Lewis, in which Mr. McLean, playing Lewis, narrates the author’s journey from atheist to Christian. And some evangelizer Lewis was. He belongs on a last century’s shortlist with Billy Graham and Pope St. John Paul II.
I’ve previously reviewed two FPA stage productions of Lewis’s books: The Great Divorce and Shadowlands, and my wife and I also saw The Screwtape LettersOff-Broadway in 2006 – before the advent of this website. Mr. McLean was superb as the eponymous senior devil instructing his acolyte, Wormwood.
The Most Reluctant Convert begins and ends by shattering the so-called “fourth wall,” the one between the actors and the audience. Mr. McLean – as C.S. Lewis – walks right out of makeup, passed technicians and cameras and lighting devices, and, looking straight at us, begins to tell the great author’s story. At the conclusion, he walks out of Lewis’s own Oxford home, The Kilns, and receives the film crew’s much-deserved applause.
McLean has said of the film that it’s “cerebral but moves very quickly.” Indeed, that is one of the keys to its greatness.
Continued below.
A Pint with C.S. Lewis: ‘The Most Reluctant Convert’ - The Catholic Thing
His latest film project, with director Norman Stone, is The Most Reluctant Convert: The Untold Story of C.S, Lewis, in which Mr. McLean, playing Lewis, narrates the author’s journey from atheist to Christian. And some evangelizer Lewis was. He belongs on a last century’s shortlist with Billy Graham and Pope St. John Paul II.
I’ve previously reviewed two FPA stage productions of Lewis’s books: The Great Divorce and Shadowlands, and my wife and I also saw The Screwtape LettersOff-Broadway in 2006 – before the advent of this website. Mr. McLean was superb as the eponymous senior devil instructing his acolyte, Wormwood.
The Most Reluctant Convert begins and ends by shattering the so-called “fourth wall,” the one between the actors and the audience. Mr. McLean – as C.S. Lewis – walks right out of makeup, passed technicians and cameras and lighting devices, and, looking straight at us, begins to tell the great author’s story. At the conclusion, he walks out of Lewis’s own Oxford home, The Kilns, and receives the film crew’s much-deserved applause.
McLean has said of the film that it’s “cerebral but moves very quickly.” Indeed, that is one of the keys to its greatness.
Continued below.
A Pint with C.S. Lewis: ‘The Most Reluctant Convert’ - The Catholic Thing
