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Bill Ewing, the producer, said this story is too big for one movie, so he tried to talk Mart into doing two movies. He suggested doing a documentary and a feature film, both packaged together so they feed on each other and support each other. They made the documentary first, Beyond the Gates of Splendor. And now the feature film.

The book has come during the process of making the movie. The book is really long, and I knew they would have to edit it down for the movie. So they took the pieces that they thought were more compelling and it tied together better.

Many of us know this story from reading Elisabeth Elliot's book, Through Gates of Splendor. What are some of the new things that weren't in Elisabeth's book?

Saint: Through Gates of Splendor is really just Chapter 1 of the whole story. Chapter 2 is Aunt Rachel going to live with the Waodani, and then the Waodani doing exactly what my dad and his friends did in Chapter 1—reaching other Waodani who hadn't been contacted. Chapter 3 begins 11 years ago when Aunt Rachel died, and the Waodani asked me to live with them.

People who know Through Gates of Splendor—and other books that have been written about it—really do want to know the rest of the story. The meat of the story that impacted people was what happened in 1956, but the rest of the story is that we didn't just make a flash in the pan and leave. Aunt Rachel lived the rest of her life with them. And after she died, the Waodanis insisted that we go on having relationship.

Why does the movie feature a fictional character named Mincayani? I understand he's a composite of several people, including Mincaye.

Louie Leonardo plays the role of Mincayani

Saint: The vast majority of Mincayani is Mincaye. But when I saw some of the things they were doing with the Mincayani character, I didn't want Mincaye to be hurt. There was no way I could explain to him, "This is mostly you, but there are some things they're going to attribute to you that aren't you, just like there's some things that they attribute to Steve that really are my sister."

The filmmakers told me there's only a certain number of characters you can introduce; if they introduce too many, you can't keep them straight and the story loses its appeal. So they explained that they had to make composites of some events and of some people. I understood, but I said, "I don't want Mincaye to think we're making up things about him; he doesn't understand make believe." So we decided to change his name.

I said, "How about if we call him Mincayani, because Mincaye is the individual and '-ani' means 'group.'" They said sure, that's great. Now, Mincaye knows he's not Mincayani, but the first time he saw the movie, he leaned over and said, "That one is like me." I said, "Yep, that one's like you. And that little boy, that's like me." I think that was the first time he really began to understand make believe.

I see some parallels between your role on this film and Douglas Gresham's role with the Narnia movie, where he served as a consultant and even had veto power over the script.

Saint: Yes. In fact, I was given more say than I think was reasonable, now knowing how complex it is to make a movie. I was representing the interests of the Waodani and five families up here [in the States], plus a huge Christian community that feels that this is their story. So I asked them for veto power over truthfulness and sensitivity, and they said yes. They've allowed me to have lots of input.

My objective was when North American people come out of the movie, I want them to perceive the film's story to be the real story. On the other hand, when the Waodani came out, I wanted them not to feel demeaned. And I think it has accomplished both of those.

At the end of the movie, Mincayani's character begs you to spear him to avenge your father's death. Did that really happen with Mincaye?

Saint: No. But I didn't mind that scene so much as the fact that the movie then ended without telling you what happens next. When I first saw it, I was stunned at the end, thinking people are going to leave the theater, and they won't understand that I really love Mincaye and Mincaye really loves me. It was like they told the whole joke and left out the punchline.

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