Four years ago, Tiffany Dupont was crowned Miss University of Georgia. Today, she’s the queen of Persia.
Dupont plays the lead role of Esther in the new film One Night With the King, which opens in almost 1,000 theaters this Friday. The film, three years in the making from Gener8Xion Entertainment, is the story of the book of Esther, the courageous young Jewish woman who risked her life to ask Xerxes, king of Persia, to spare the lives of her people. The screenplay was adapted from Tommy Tenney’s book of the same title.
It’s the first leading role for Dupont, 25, who had parts in 2003’s Cheaper by the Dozen and 2004’s The Work and the Glory, in addition to TV roles with Joan of Arcadia and The Bedford Diaries. In One Night With the King, Dupont joins Luke Goss, who plays the role of Xerxes, and veteran stars Omar Sharif (Prince Memucan), Peter O’Toole (Samuel, the Prophet), and John Rhys-Davies (Mordecai).
Dupont—a committed Christian who has said she only wants to play wholesome roles, a la Reese Witherspoon—recently chatted with us about the movie, about her co-stars, and about how her pastor was the one who told her she’d landed the role of Esther.
I hear there’s a cool story about how you learned you got the part.
Tiffany Dupont: Yes. I go to a Calvary Chapel church out here in Los Angeles. I had been here about two years at the time. I’m very close with my church, very close with the pastor and his wife, and I work with a girls ministry here.
Anyway, I had auditioned like five times for the role, but I still hadn’t heard anything. So I’m at church one Sunday, sitting with the pastor’s wife. Then the pastor starts talking about this movie, and that they’re praying for it, they’re excited about it, and all that. All of a sudden he goes, “And one of our own is going to be playing Esther!” And I was like, “What???” I was the only one at our church who had tried out for it, so I knew it was me. And they filmed the whole thing of me getting the role at my church.
The pastor announced it from the pulpit?
Dupont: Yes. Only in Hollywood, huh? It was such a sweet moment. Aside from my parents not being there, it was pretty much perfect. Everyone stood up and applauded. I was crying. I was caught off guard for sure.
What a great story. Before all this, you were familiar with the story of Esther, right?
Dupont: Yes, but there’s not a whole lot to the story in the Bible. But this script painted it out so beautifully, with more details.
What was it like making a film in India?
Dupont: It’s always going to be difficult shooting in a foreign country; it was extremely trying and challenging. We all had awesome days and very difficult days. But it brings you all together.
It’s an irreplaceable experience, but a very hard experience. Playing a lead character, knowing that this whole film is on your back and you could totally ruin it—that’s a lot of pressure. And working 12 to 14 hour days, that’s hard enough. Then, you put that in India, with food that your stomach doesn’t agree with, and you feel like you’re literally a million miles away from home, and it’s just a little scary.
So you really didn’t get a chance to be a tourist and enjoy it?
Dupont: It took me about a month and a half to get used to it. But during that time, I made very good friends with all the cast—and it’s basically me and a bunch of guys! We all became good friends, and they would take me out to explore—it looks like National Geographic come to life, a totally different world.
Did all of those veterans make it easier for you, because you were kind of the rookie …
Dupont: Not kind of the rookie. I was absolutely, 100 percent, definitely the greenest one there. I knew nothing. I still don’t.
And here’s Omar Sharif and Peter O’Toole and John Rhys-Davies and …
Dupont: I have a sweet story about John Rhys-Davies, who plays the role of Mordecai. It was my third or fourth day of filming, and it was really hard. I was sitting on the set with my iPod, and John Rhys walked up. I knew who he was, but I hadn’t met him yet. I took out my earphones and said, “Oh, hi, oh my, it’s so nice to meet you.” And the first thing he said was, “How are you?” Like, “How are you really?” I was like, “Um, I’m okay. It’s a little hard. And I really miss my parents.” I probably looked just pathetic. I was trying to act like everything was fine, but he saw right through me. He put his arms out and said, “Come here,” and he gave me the biggest bear hug and said, “It’s all going to be okay.” It was so, so sweet.
This story is well loved by Christians and Jews, but do you think it will appeal to others as well?
Dupont: Absolutely. I don’t see how it couldn’t. Even just watching the trailer, I’m like, Wow, I would go see that movie. It’s a beautiful film. It’s adventurous. The love story part of it is just perfect. And there’s that poster with the flowers falling down—they’re calling it the chick poster, and I mean, it is! It makes you want to go see these two people fall in love. It’s fun to watch celebrities do it in the movies, and it’s also fun to see some new people that you don’t know anything about—like us!
The religious part of the story is of course very important—the faith that she had in God to be able to do all these things. That’s absolutely the backbone of the film. But it’s not one of those movies that people will be “against,” because it’s not forcing any beliefs down your throat. It’s just this incredible story that I don’t see how people could not feel some sort of inspiration after seeing it.
It’s made out to be a little bit more of a love story than in the Bible.
Dupont: Definitely. That’s the Hollywood side, or just the entertainment side, to bring people in. I’m not a scholar on this, but I believe that in the Bible, Esther would have been about 14 and the king would have been in his 60s or 70s. So there certainly would not have been a romance, not at all.
And Luke Goss is a bit more of a hunk than some 70-year-old guy, isn’t he?
Dupont: (laughing) I think so. We’re going to go ahead and say yes to that!
What do you hope people take away from seeing this movie?
Dupont: I think this movie is a welcome relief to so many things out there—especially in filmmaking, where everyone wants to be so real and so dark, where you leave the movie and you’re like, Oh my, I can’t believe that happened. It’s a relief to have a movie that’s just a nice sweet story about what you can do through faith and hope and hard work.
It’s just a feel-good, easy, beautiful movie to simply be entertained by, and to walk away knowing that whatever is going on in your life, it’s going to be okay. You can get through it. I think that’ll happen for everyone who sees the movie—men and women, everyone. It’s not a “girl movie.” It’s for everybody.
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