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It's a long way from Da Nang to the North Pole, but Bill Broyles has somehow found the way. In 1970, while walking knee-deep through a rice paddy near Da Nang in the Vietnam War, Lt. Broyles wondered if he'd ever make it back home. He did make it back, and went on to enjoy an acclaimed career as a journalist-founding Texas Monthly magazine and later serving as editor-in-chief at Newsweek-before turning to screenwriting. Broyles wrote such well-loved films as Apollo 13 and Cast Away, both starring Tom Hanks. Now Broyles, Hanks and director Robert Zemeckis, who teamed up for Cast Away, are together again for The Polar Express, based on the Chris Van Allsburg children's book of the same title. Hanks plays the role of five different characters in the film, which technologically is a cross between live action and animation-a new Zemeckis-developed technique called "performance capture."

The Polar Express, which opens in theaters next Wednesday, November 10, is the story of a doubting boy who takes an extraordinary ride to the North Pole on Christmas Eve. Ultimately, it's a tale of faith, hope and love, as the boy's skepticism melts away into the wide-eyed wonder of belief. That's what attracted Broyles to the story in the first place-the journey from doubt to faith-because it so much mirrors his own odyssey.

Were you familiar with the book before you got involved in this project?

Bill Broyles: Yes. I've been reading it to my five children since it came out [in 1985]. The reason I did the movie was because the book was such an incredible bonding experience with my kids.

The story is about childlike wonder at Christmastime. Did you have that wonder as a kid?

Bill Broyles

Broyles: Yes. I was always lying awake on Christmas Eve, wanting to hear the sound of the bells on Santa's sleigh. I did it every year, and kept thinking I would hear them. For that reason, this story has such resonance to me.

But I've always thought of this as not just a book for children, but for anyone, because we all go through that passage from the innocence and wonder in the magical world of childhood, to that world of adulthood where that magic and wonder is gone-or maybe deeply buried. I think every year at Christmas, particularly if you repeat it with your children, you relive that world of magic and wonder and belief with them that you had yourself.

So when I get to the end of this book, when it talks about how the bell still rings for all those who truly believe, I always choke up. It always gets to me deeply emotionally. My kids think it's just a nice story, but I am deeply affected by it because it touches that portion of me that I don't want to be lost. And it kind of reconnects me to the power of belief.

What kind of belief are you talking about?

Broyles: We did not want to make this movie theologically heavy-handed. The idea was that it would be a kind of non-sectarian journey of belief-but if anyone wishes to see it as a parable of a journey to belief in a religious way, all the elements are there. The classic parables in the Bible are stories that don't have an obvious religious import until Jesus explains them. In that way, we feel it's a very deeply spiritual movie.

We did the same thing with Cast Away, which to me is a great movie of redemption. If you were going to pick any text for Cast Away, it would be that you have to lose your life in order to save it-think of the moment where he lets go of the oars and gives himself up to whatever higher power you want to imagine. That's when he's finally rescued. We were aware those things had potentially religious or spiritual implications, but when you're making movie that's not directly taken from biblical texts, it really has to work as a non-religious story first. And then, what spiritual dimensions are in there need to be wisely played; they can't overwhelm just a simple story.

The Polar Express is really a journey of belief. The premise is that the girl who truly believes already can hear the bell, which helps her find their way to Santa Claus. But when Santa Claus does appear, the boy still can't see him. It's only at the moment where he says I believe that Santa Claus appears to him.

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