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In making the second installment of "The Work and the Glory," producer Scott Swofford knew the filmmakers must deal with a 200-year-old puzzle: How to depict Joseph Smith, the founder of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
With Mormons around the world celebrating Smith's 200th birthday this year, Swofford said, "you were going to be inundated with this divine mission of the prophet Joseph Smith. . . . The whole concept of the film was, 'Let's make him a human being, because that makes him a stronger character.' "
That was the mission that director Sterling Van Wagenen and screenwriter Matt Whitaker took on with "The Work and the Glory: American Zion," Swofford said.
"Unless you believe he's a human being, none of the stuff he did is remarkable," Swofford said. "It makes everything he did so much more remarkable if he in fact he gets angry, he is afraid, he doesn't see the whole plan all at once, he gets these moments of inspiration, he even acts goofy."
"There couldn't be a more fascinating character," said Jonathan Scarfe, the actor who portrays Smith. "The challenge of playing him is pretty enormous."
It's a challenge few actors have attempted. Vincent Price, before cementing his reputation in horror movies, memorably played Smith in the 1940 Western "Brigham Young." And Richard Moll - yes, Bull from "Night Court" - took on the role in a 1977 drama, "Brigham."
Scarfe said playing Smith presented the same challenge as playing Jesus, whom Scarfe played in a 2004 TV movie, "Judas."
"They were both human beings, they were both men," Scarfe said. "To make Joseph Smith perfect or inhumanly divine, without doubt and fear, is just nowhere near as interesting. I think it takes away from who he actually was and what he did accomplish."
Nowhere is Smith's humanity more evident than in the scenes between Smith and the non-Mormon Benjamin Steed, the patriarch of the fictional family at the heart of the nine Work and the Glory novels.
Sam Hennings, who plays Benjamin Steed, describes the arc of his character's relationship with Smith.
"From Movie 1, you see Ben's resistance to Joseph because he's a kid," Hennings said. "Then, as we go down the path of life, Joseph ages a while, he becomes a young man. I, as a tough frontierperson, see that this kid has turned into a very intelligent young man, very capable human being - and what's not to like, man to man?"
Through three movies in the series (the third installment was shot simultaneously with the second, and will premiere this spring), Hennings said Steed and Smith "become friends through respect of each other - Joseph to Ben first, because Ben Steed is an older, established man and Joseph saw his command, then Steed to Joseph as he watched him mature and develop from a teenage boy to a young man."