Episode Details

Wendy Corr:

Well, hey there folks, welcome to the Roundup. We're a Cowboy State Daily podcast, and we focus on interesting people in the Cowboy State. And the longer I do this podcast - we're now into our second season - the longer I do this podcast, the more I realize how many really interesting people live in the cowboy state, including our guest today, and this is going to be a fantastic conversation. I'm very, very thrilled to introduce you to this gentleman.

First, though, I want to make sure that you all know about the Wyoming Business Alliance "Business from the Basement" podcast. Just like we're a podcast, you can find us on any of those services, on Apple Music, on Apple podcasts, on Spotify. You can find us on any of those. You can also find the Wyoming Business Alliance "Business from the Basement" podcast. Check them out. If you're a business owner, if you are in business in Wyoming, they've got great content and really excellent resources for you, so check them out.

But don't go anywhere just yet, because today we are talking to a filmmaker, a film producer, who lives here in Wyoming, in Pinedale, as a matter of fact. And he has found his way to the cowboy state by way of some really interesting stories.

But one of the things that you might not be aware of is that there's a wonderful film out there right now called "Bonhoeffer," and this was an independently produced film, and I'm going to let John tell you about this.

But John Scanlon was instrumental in getting this film made, and he's out there promoting it, as you can see from his background. But there's ways that we're going to be able to watch this movie if you haven't already seen it. So folks, let me introduce you to John Scanlon, Hello, John. Welcome to The Roundup.

John Scanlon:

Hi. Thank you so much for having me on. It's a pleasure to be with you.

Wendy Corr:

I have to say, John, I've learned about you because one of our reporters, Dale Killingbeck, he got your information and he did a feature story on you. I'm really curious about the making of this movie, because, I mean, obviously we've got a Wyoming resident who's instrumental in creating this movie!

And so I want you to first tell us, John, how you got involved in this movie, and then tell us about the movie itself.

John Scanlon:

Sure. Yeah. Pleasure. About 12 years ago, some friends of mine named Emmanuel and Camille Kampouris, who live in New York City, read a book by Eric Metaxas called Bonhoeffer. Eric wrote probably the best selling book of all time on this amazing German World War Two figure who was a patriotic German, but very, very strongly anti Nazi from the beginning.

He was a brilliant seminary student who actually studied in New York and wound up in Harlem at the Abyssinian Baptist Church, where he really got turned on in his faith. And he went back to Germany and fought on behalf of the victims of Nazism, and was very courageous in his stand against Hitler and the Nazis.

He had a very interesting life, lots of twists and turns, almost reads like a spy thriller The way Eric wrote it, the Kampourises read that book and were really inspired to dig further into Bonhoeffer's life. A lot of people really became aware of Bonhoeffer at that time, and we went out and raised money from a bunch of friends to make the film.

And we hired a terrific screenwriter named Todd Komarnicki, who wrote the film "Sully," starring Tom Hanks, directed by Clint Eastwood, about the airline pilot. He was also a producer of "Elf," which I'm sure many of you are going to be watching this year at Christmas. A lot of families watch that every year, and he has a number of other very signific