"Captive" star David Oyelowo is all for faith-based films because he believes these movies have the power to change lives for good. However, the actor thinks that faith-based films should try to reach out to a wider audience and not just limit themselves to a Christian audience.
"I wanted to be a producer on 'Captive' because I'm very aware that there can be a temptation, in order to purely target that faith-based audience, that you end up cutting out a huge other audience who are also interested in and need to see these kind of stories," Oyelowo told The Christian Post.
"I also don't think you have to lose Christians as an audience in order to tell a well-produced, well-written and hopefully well-acted story that can speak to a broader audience," he added.
In "Captive," Oyelowo plays Brian Nichols, an escaped convict who holds Ashley Smith a hostage inside her own home for seven hours. However, when Smith starts reading out loud Rick Warren's book "The Purpose Driven Life," both Oyelowo and Smith had a miraculous change of heart, and he lets her go.
Oyelowo said he appreciates the way the movie's story is delivered since the element of God isn't forced but rather just presented naturally.
"I'm not a big fan of films that crowbar in elements of faith in order to do a sermon on film," admitted Oyelowo. "What I love about this film is that the faith element is so integrated and undeniable to the story that you don't feel like you're being preached at. You're just being shown how events played out."
The actor is actually amazed by the fact that Smith, who was a meth addict when she was taken hostage, did a complete 180-degree change after that night with Nichols. She has spent the last 10 years of her life free from drugs and spreading God's love and miracles to other people.
Oyelowo's character Nichols, on the other hand, is a sociopath who murders four people before the film ends. To get a better grasp of the character, he talked to Smith about him, and even wanted to meet Nichols himself, who is serving a life sentence in prison. However, he was unable to do so.
"You can't play a guy who killed four people in a day without having to really go there in your head. That is not a comfortable place to be, especially when you're the kind of person who detests that kind of behaviour and certainly hopes that it's not within you to do it," said Oyelowo.
The actor hopes that after people watch the film "Captive," they would realise that no one is above redemption, regardless of what they have done. At the same time, God can turn even the most hopeless situations around.
"Nowhere is hope more desired or more felt than when the situation seems hopeless," he said. "A meth addict and a murderer in an apartment for seven hours feels like a hopeless situation. It's certainly not the point beyond which you think you're going to regain life, new purpose, custody of your daughter, never take meth again and go on to be a spokesperson against the drug."