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Frank Cappello: The idea of redemption came about [partly] due to casting Keanu. Keanu's a very spiritual person in his own right. He basically believes that we all have a purpose here.

Keanu Reeves plays John Constantine, a chain-smoking exorcist

Keanu Reeves: I think of it as just a kind of secular religiosity. The piece itself is using icons and a platform of a kind Catholic heaven and hell, God and the devil, human souls, fighting for those. But I was hoping that these concepts could become a platform that [is] humanistic, that the journey of this particular hero is hopefully relatable to [viewers]. It's still a man trying to figure it out.

I think those kinds of journeys—the hero's journey or with Siddartha—are all kind of seeking aspects [that] have some kind of value to our lives. They offer up [questions like] "Where have you come from?" "What are you fighting for?" "What is striving against you?" [They're about] coming into a kind of grace—into a kind of light. I think they're worthwhile.

Do you think good and evil exist in a balance, or is one of them stronger?

Hounsou: I don't think evil is stronger, or I don't think any of us would be here! What is the balance? I don't know. I don't know that I have the ability to see that. So that's one subject I'll leave alone.

Lawrence: I believe the world exists in a polarized way. For there to be good, there has to be evil. There are people around us who have these kinds of energies about them. I think there are two equal forces—there is a balance, and when it shifts one way or the other, something changes. You need one to have the other.

Rossdale: Ultimately, I believe in good over evil.

Whatever the balance—why is it that this movie shows us so much hell, and so little heaven?

Cappello: That's the point of this story—that it has changed, the balance is shifting, something is going wrong. [Good and evil] are supposed to be equal, they're supposed to be balanced. So then why are we seeing demons? The balance is upset. Constantine helps balance it out.

The reason heaven isn't shown as much in these kinds of movies, honestly, is that no one knows how to depict it in a cool way. It seems like an audience loves hell—they want to see demonic images—but if you show them angelic, if you show them light, they go, "Oh gosh." It is hard to get away from that classic image of light, angels, that sort of thing. So it is a practicality. You're trying to do something cool, and what does the audience want to see?

Lawrence: [Heaven] is definitely part of John Constantine's world. It just wasn't as much a part of this story, because he had to do the fighting.

From his ultimatums to demons, John Constantine clearly understands that one must ask for God's forgiveness to be forgiven for sins. Why does he insist on working his way into heaven? Why doesn't he repent and ask God for forgiveness?

Cappello: He wouldn't. That's the thing about his character—his pride gets in the way of him asking to be let off the hook. He basically says, "I'm going to do it myself. I believe in myself." When you believe in yourself, you're not going to ask for help. You don't want to lower yourself to beg.

When you walk that line with John Constantine, knowing there's a heaven, knowing there's a hell—there's no faith there! He knows it. He's not going by blind faith. He's been there. He's seen it. What we all wish we knew. Some people accept it totally, some people say, "Prove it to me. I have to see it." John's seen it.

Reeves: I think the aspect of repentance is born and expressed in his act—I don't want to give it away—in what he asks from Lucifer. That's his repentance—and his sacrifice, and what goes on there—and I think that's what gives him a shot at going Upstairs. But there's also the Constantinian twist of, "Did he make the sacrifice so that he could go to heaven, or does he really mean it?" But ultimately he does. Otherwise the Man Upstairs knows—just like Santa Claus—if you're telling a lie or if you're really nice. He knows.

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