'Boardwalk Empire' Writer on Fighting to Keep Christian Elements in 'The Good Lie;' Displaying Faith Organically
'I Was Like, 'No Way;' I'm Not Cutting Out That Bible, That Bible Is Awesome'
Margaret Nagle, a screenwriter who's worked on hit TV shows such as "Boardwalk Empire" and recently penned the screenplay for "The Good Lie," which details the lives of Christian Sudanese refugees, describes how she incorporated the characters' Christian faith in the film.
"It was organic [to the refugees]. I haven't been raised going to church but I write historical projects, a lot of true stories, and so, I felt, I'm just going to use their faith as they use their faith in the telling of the story," Nagle told The Christian Post, explaining how she included the Christian faith of the lead characters who are based on people that fled the Sudan.
"I love the way their faith generated a belief system for them and carried them through. It was sort of a love letter from me to their personal faith and how it opened them up and kept them strong," she said.
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Four characters in "The Good Lie," Mamere, Paul, Jeremiah and Abital are portrayed to be devout Christians who rely on their faith while fleeing from vicious civil war conflicts in the Sudan. They even carry a Bible during their plight to the refugee camp in Kenya. Some tried to persuade Nagle to take the Bible out of the script.
"The kids, they carried their mother's Bible across the sub-Saharan desert and someone said to cut that Bible out," she explained. "And I was like, 'no way.' I'm not cutting out that Bible. That Bible is awesome. [The characters] are learning the lessons of life, the lessons of literature, how to write, how to speak from that Bible. That Bible is their mother, and it's God, and why would I ever take that out."
Nagle admitted to fighting with others who were also working on "The Good Lie" to keep all of the Christian elements in the film. Some of the real lost boys of the Sudan expressed their gratitude to her for portraying their Christian faith accurately on the big screen.
She understands that some viewers might not be able to accept Christianity a recurring theme throughout the movie, and because of that, she said it was important for her to not overwhelm the audience.
"Anybody else would have been destroyed by [what they went through]," she added. But with faith they were able to survive. So I thought it was a beautiful, extraordinary thing the way they believe in God, and I was very moved by it."
