Dallas Jenkins, the director of "The Chosen," have released a new movie with Lionsgate that many are saying could become a new Christmas classic. The film, called, "The Best Christmas Pageant Ever", is based on the hit book and tells the story of misbehaved kids who put on a Christmas pageant and shock their community. Dallas Jenkins joins Glenn Beck to go behind the scenes of the film, which is in theaters now!

Transcript

Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors

GLENN: Dallas Jenkins joins us. Hello, Dallas.

How are you?

DALLAS: Good, I'm actually wanting to write down what you were just talking about. It sounds great.

GLENN: I'm telling you, every school should have these things. Nobody wants to arm teachers. If you put your hand around the corner of the door. And somebody in the hallway. Yes, kids will be hit with tear gas. But nobody will die.

And the police can take that guy down.

It's crazy.

DALLAS: Yeah. No. It sounds amazing. I'm literally going, I'm going to get them for my home.

GLENN: Yeah, yeah. They're great. How are you?

DALLAS: Here's the thing. I'm looking at you, and you're a handsome guy. But behind you is this big picture where you look phenomenal.

And it's -- it's like, it's not good for you to put it right behind you.

Because I'm like, wow. Wait a second. There's a difference. Like, you're -- again, you look good in person too.

GLENN: That's me happy.

DALLAS: But over there you look happy and rugged and handsome. Wait a minute.

GLENN: Yeah. So tell me -- tell me the story of the film Best Christmas Pageant Ever.

I have -- I admit to you. I have not seen it. I have others who have seen it, and just rave about it. I've seen the trailer.

This is before you ever sent me anything.
I didn't know who it was. And I watched the trailer.

And I'm like, this looks fantastic.

It looks heartwarming and funny. And all of it. And it's true!

DALLAS: And I really think -- we talked before. This is your kind of movie. I really think you will really love it.

I read this book almost 20 years ago to my kids. My wife brought it home. And the first couple of chapters, it's been around 50 years. I read it in public school, which is why I was so surprised by what happened when I read it again to my kids. First few chapters, I'm laughing. It's very witty. Very nostalgic. Just a terrific story.

And I get to the last chapter. And I'm going, I don't remember how Jesus-y this was.

Like I don't know how we got away with reading this in public school. I guess because of the Christmas of it all.

GLENN: Right.

DALLAS: I get to the last chapter.

GLENN: You get to Oklahoma?

DALLAS: Yeah. Illinois. I don't know. Yeah, a little different.

GLENN: Okay.

DALLAS: But, anyway, the first -- the story is the six Herdmen kids. The worst kids in the world. The ones that everyone is looking down on.

GLENN: This is -- I just want to read it -- it's not true? Okay. Somebody told me it was a true story.

DALLAS: No. That's The Chosen.

GLENN: Okay.

DALLAS: But this -- she captured, it feels very real. It's very nostalgic. Remember the movie, the Christmas Story. Very much that feel to it.

In this case, these six kids. They're on the wrong sides of the tracks. They're in poverty. They're mean.

They're feeler.

And this church and had this town, don't want them around. And they hijack the town's Christmas pageants. They take over the roles. They bully the other kids into saying, we will play these roles of Mary and Joseph. So of course everyone is scandalized and thinks it will be the worse Christmas pageant ever.

GLENN: Because they're so un-Christ-like.

DALLAS: Right. And so much like Mary and Joseph.

Like you can't have this awful girl playing Mother Mary. Mary is beautiful and sweet and pretty, and always looks clean.

So they get to the performance of the pageant. And I don't want to give anything away.

Of course, it's called The Best Christmas Pageant Ever.

But we get to that last chapter. I start crying so hard.

I can't see the pages. My kids are looking at me like, what is going on? And my wife Amanda goes, give me the book. Let me read it.

She starts reading it. She starts crying.

We are passing the book back and forth to each other, while the other one recovers.

The story is just so beautiful.

It's because of these kids' poverty, because of their outsider status, they're actually closer to the heart of the true story than anyone else is.

And so it ends up transforming this town and the town, of course. So everyone is learning something new, because these kids have never heard the story before.

So they're asking all this question.

GLENN: Oh, that's a better ending than I thought -- I thought that it was they -- the -- the people that were helping the kids, actually kind of changed the kids to have those kids transform the -- it's fantastic.

DALLAS: That's the thing. The chump learns from these outsiders.

We've taken for granted the Christmas story and the Christmas pageant, and we think of the sweet little nativity.

And the halo around everyone's head. And the kids are going, why wouldn't they let a pregnant woman into the inn? And they're asking all these questions, that we take for granted. And so their perspective on the story is just closer to the truth of it.

Because of their unique perspective. And outsider status.

And so it just was so beautiful. There's a very common connective thread between that. And the chosen.

My passion has always been. And we talked about this before. I'm taking Jesus and the apostles down from stained glass windows.

Down from the pretty paintings that we've seen. And try to give you the most active direct portrayal of the humanity of these people, and their true story. And that's what really stood out to me, about the best Christmas pageant ever.

It's funny, it's witty. It's a traditional Christmas classic. Bits got this -- it's probably the only of the movies that I would consider to be Christmas classics. And hopefully, this becomes one of them.

That really does put a spotlight on the true story of Jesus.

But in a fun way.

GLENN: It's amazing to me how snotty Christians can get.

And maybe it's because they either -- they either didn't have that kind of experience, or didn't need the redemption of Christ as much as others do.

But the -- you know, Christ came for -- for the ones that needed redemption. We all need it.

But needed the redemption really badly.

He -- he was always around those kinds of kids.

GLENN: Yeah. He came for the sick. Not for the healthy. There's a line in the trailer or the movie.

Where the mom is volunteering to do this pageant. Everyone in the church is telling her, no. Just get rid of the Herdmans. We need to protect our sacred Christmas pageant. And at one point, her daughter says, shouldn't we just get rid of them?

You know, and she says, I think that would contradict the whole point of the story.

GLENN: Right.

DALLAS: And she said Jesus came for the Herdmans as much as he came for you and me.

GLENN: Right. He was -- everyone in that story was rejected and despised.

DALLAS: Yes. And there was also a moment where the herd men walk out on stage. And they are wearing the clothes.

They cobbled together at home.

To portray Mary and Joseph instead of the pretty costumes that were given to them by the church. Right?

And one of the girls in the choir, who is against them, goes, look at them. They look like refugees. And the main character is looking at them. Yeah. They do.

And she's smiling going, this is what Mary and Joseph were. They were refugees. They were outsiders.

It's those kinds of moments that unlike some of these other Christmas classics that I love.

You know, Elf and Christmas story. Home Alone. They're all great.

But this is a movie that has all those elements of humor and what not. But then there's these moments that they go, oh, my goodness. That is the true story. I think the moment about Christians and those in America. I think sometimes we -- it's not that we need redemption less. If anything, we need it more.

It's our awareness of our need. Which sometimes goes away if you live comfortably.

Comfort can sometimes cause you to take for granted. What -- who came for us. Not comfortable.

Jesus was born into a stable, into a rough environment on the run.

Hiding. Outsiders. Refugee. All that stuff. He came as a suffering servant.

Not as a conquering king.

And we sometimes forget that.

GLENN: Yeah. And it's -- it's remarkable to me, the best Christians -- I put -- I put a few people like Billy Graham into other categories.

But the best Christians I have met.

Regular people.

Are those people usually from the Middle East. Or from China.

The ones who are just like, oh, they -- they have to know God. Because it's literally all that gets them through their day.

DALLAS: Oh, yeah. I have a friend who runs this ministry. Called world relief.

And he said, the church in Iran is cool, man.

GLENN: Oh, I bet it is.

DALLAS: He said, we just had another great bopping. They were like, what? We had a bombing of one of our churches. We've never been closer to God.

We've never been more desperate for him.

We've never -- and I'm like, man, I wish I could reach that level of passion and desperation. Without needing to be oppressed for it.

GLENN: Yeah. I went to Iraq years ago, and we were rescuing the Yazidis. And I was supposed to come and pick them up.

And then we were going to take them to some other country in Europe.

And so when I get on the plane in New York. I'm told, you may not be able to go see them.

Because ISIS has just targeted the church, at the time, you're supposed to arrive, and they're having a final service.

And so I'm on the plane. Wondering, I mean. What am I going to do when we get there?

And I get there, and they say -- I say, so where are we meeting?

I said, oh, the church. Did ISIS?

They said, no. They're not changing their plans.

And I said, okay.

And then halfway through church, Russia said that they were going to start bombing that city.

And I --

DALLAS: You laughed at this, and said, this is not something we think about in America.

GLENN: Shh should we all maybe -- is there a shelter around here?

They just kept singing and praying.

And they said to me, oh, if we die, we're with God. Right now, we're fine.

This is great.

It was amazing to see it.

DALLAS: Very humbling. And so that's the kind of thing I'm hoping, not only that it reaches me. But the viewer, when I do the chosen. When I do a movie like best Christmas pageant ever.

It's, can we somehow remove these -- sometimes it's religion. Sometimes it's our sin.

Sometimes it's our art. That gets us -- gets us further away from that -- what actually happened. And from that desperation. And from that authenticity.

So in this case, it's wrapped in a fun, PG-rated Christmas movie. But it's all the same intention of, man, I would love to get that level of direct connection.

So connected to Jesus. That everything around you is so irrelevant.

GLENN: This is so important. This Christmas. I mean, I've been fighting Santa.

Not in a -- I didn't want to be that bad dad. We want Santa. Santa.

You know, I had fun as a kid with Santa. But I -- it was a different culture. The culture said, Christmas was about Jesus, not Santa. And Santa was just the fun part.

And it is so important. And this is a fun way to bring your kids to the true story of Christmas.

It's called the best Christmas pageant ever. It's in theaters now.

Are you going to release it, on video, on demand before Christmas or not?

DALLAS: Just close to around Christmas. But I do hope the people see it in theaters now. We want it to last in theaters for as long as possible. But yes eventually, shortly before Christmas, it will be available at home as well.

GLENN: Yeah. I will tell you, that the -- it -- it speaks a lot -- I think this came out November 5th. Yeah, eighth.

DALLAS: Right after the election.

GLENN: And it is doing really well.

This early in the season.

DALLAS: New York Times liked it, Glenn. It's got a 91 percent on Rotten Tomatoes.

GLENN: Wormhole.

DALLAS: I know, there's a glitch in the Matrix.

There seems to be this reaction of, wow. This movie does take me to where Christmas should be about. And it's been a really, really cool -- really cool experience, to see the reaction.

GLENN: That's great. Can you hang on just a second? I have to take a one-minute break.

We are with Dallas Jenkins, the creator/director of the Chosen. And the new movie, must-see, The Best Christmas Pageant Ever.

See it this week in theaters. It will be great to kick off the holiday, and kind of also remind us. Hey, God just played a big role in our lives here recently. We saw some miracles. Let's thank him. Let's thank him for that.

GLENN: That is part of the Christmas album done by my daughter with the Czech Symphony Orchestra.

Comes out, Black Friday.

It's called home For Christmas. Can we play the trailer of the Best Christmas pageant ever?

Please.

Listen.
(music)

VOICE: They're advertising it on TV now?

VOICE: The pageant is an especially big deal this year. It's the 75th anniversary.

VOICE: I want to be of special mention to Grace for volunteering to direct it.

VOICE: You did, what?

VOICE: Oh, no. Did somebody die?

VOICE: It's worse than that, son.

VOICE: It's going to be the best Christmas pageant ever.

VOICE: Oh, no. It's the Herdmans now.

VOICE: The Herdmans are absolutely the worst kids in the history of the world.

VOICE: What did they do now, dear? Break another window?

VOICE: Set something on fire?

VOICE: Steal your lunch. And then punch you for not having any candy.

No, even worse.

We're going to be in your Bible.

VOICE: Herdmans in church.

VOICE: Oh, boy.

VOICE: We take the pageant seriously.

VOICE: It's about community and tradition.

VOICE: What do you all suggest? That I kick the Herdmans out of the church?
VOICE: Yes.
VOICE: I want to be Mary, and Ralph wants to be Joe.

VOICE: And the angel of the Lord.
(laughter)

VOICE: The Herdmans shouldn't be here. They're a poor influence.

VOICE: You don't look like any Mary I've seen before.

VOICE: Don't touch him. I'm happy to take over the part at any time.

VOICE: I can't just kick them out.

VOICE: I thought you might all be interested in one of my stops.

VOICE: You never told me you visited the Herdmans.

VOICE: I got the biggest ham for you guys. Is your mom home?

VOICE: Not when the sun is up.
(music)

VOICE: What if the Herdmans ruin this for you?

VOICE: They probably will, but it's not about me. Jesus was born for the herd man's as much as he was for us. We will be missing the whole point of the story if we turn them away.

GLENN: The best Christmas pageant ever. It is playing in theaters, right now.

And I've never heard this before. The people that I know that saw it. And that I trust.

They said, Glenn, I saw the trailer. And I saw the trailer. I thought it was great and funny.

I saw the trailer. And it seemed like a little holiday, you know, Hallmark kind of thing.

And they said, the movie is so much better than the trailer. And I've never heard anybody say that about any movie. Ever.

DALLAS: Yeah, typically the trailer is the very best -- the highlights of it.

GLENN: Yeah. So I can't wait. I'm making reservations at the theater for Thanksgiving. After we've -- we have our Thanksgiving. We'll go to the theater at night. And watch the best Christmas pageant ever.

I have to get you to correct something. There was somebody that I was talking to, that goes to a Christian school, here in Dallas.

And they were talking about it. With a more and more friend, who has a child in that school.

And it came up that the Mormons distorted The Chosen because they were involved. And so you can't believe The Chosen scripturally.

And I want you just to verify that you used the set, I think for the first year, from the Mormon Church.

And there -- all churches are involved. But you have -- I said to them. You need to go back to the classroom and say, that Dallas Jenkins has a group of Bible scholars, that look at it from all angles.

And they argue, make sure it's exactly Biblically correct. Correct?

DALLAS: Yes, 100 percent. And number one, I'm an evangelical Protestant. I have the final say and control of every single piece of content in the show. It's not influenced by anybody.

And as I'm sure you wouldn't be that surprised. But all of the Mormon friends or people that I have, that I work with.

I mean, I have people of all backgrounds.

GLENN: Yeah. All faiths.

DALLAS: And lack thereof.

Half of my cast weren't believers. But there hasn't been any arguments. None of them said, well, we wished we would do this instead.

Like, it's the gospels. It's the story of Jesus.

GLENN: It's pretty cut and dry.

DALLAS: The arguments we have about Jesus. Are based on things that took place after he was here. Or before he was here on earth.

It was astonishing some of the rumors. I use a set that was owned by the church.

It's not like they said, okay. Now, if you will use our set, you have to Mormon this up --

GLENN: Yeah.

DALLAS: Because this set doesn't come free.

GLENN: That was the first time I ever had to defend my Christian friend. Against like the Mormons.

It was weird.

DALLAS: Yeah. No. It's been -- it's been wonderful. And a great, great relationship with everyone who was involved.

GLENN: Thank you so much for everything that you do.

Dallas Jenkins. Movie, Best Christmas Pageant Ever. See it.