Filmmaker pursues controversial side of denomination founder

Independent filmmaker Richard Rossi has found a story worth telling a second time. After producing the award-winning documentary “Saving Sister Aimee” in 2001, Rossi set his sights on making a feature-length drama that would explore all facets of the female evangelist’s life, including her 1926 disappearance from Venice Beach and two failed marriages. It is ultimately a story about one woman’s search for love.

Celebration was in the air on a recent Sunday afternoon as cast and crew gathered at the Beverly Theater for a “rough-cut” preview screening of the new film, “Aimee Semple McPherson.”

Newcomer Mimi Michaels portrays Sister Aimee from her teen-age years as a Canadian farmer’s daughter until her death from an overdose of barbiturates in 1944. Veteran actor Rance Howard, father of director Ron Howard, delivers a strong performance as McPherson’s father.

“This is a story about faith,” Rossi said as he introduced the film about L.A.’s famous faith healer and evangelist. He described her as a woman ahead of her times.

“She was the first woman to drive across the country and the first woman to own a radio station,” Rossi said.

McPherson’s prominence in Los Angeles history cannot be denied. She is best known as founder of the International Church of the Foursquare Gospel. In 1923 she opened the doors to the 5,000-seat Angelus Temple, now a city landmark, which she built with cash donations. A year later she began live broadcasts of its church services on her radio station, KFSG, an acronym for Kall Four Square Gospel.

Her flair for incorporating the performing arts into Sunday services drew criticism from many in the religious establishment. Yet, her ministry was known for helping those in need by providing food or job assistance during hard times. She ministered to people from all walks of life.

Rossi account challenged
Ron Williams, historian for the International Church of the Foursquare Gospel, declined to comment on the film because he had not seen it nor read the script. He did relate that church members who viewed the film found the portrayal of McPherson to be misleading and disappointing.

Williams recommended Daniel Epstein’s biography, “Sister Aimee: The Life of Aimee Semple McPherson” as an objective source for those interested in learning about the evangelist’s life and ministry.

It is not surprising that McPherson’s life and ministry have generated a variety of interpretations. Rossi’s script was based upon interviews with McPherson’s surviving family members and associates, as well as personal insight from his own work in healing evangelism.

“I wanted to tell a story of God’s love and forgiveness, like the Bible stories,” Rossi said as he explained his depiction of McPherson’s life. “I wanted the film to display rigorous honesty and not cover up the brokenness she experienced.”

Although formal charges against her were eventually dismissed, McPherson was accused of staging her own kidnapping after she surfaced in the Arizona desert a month after she disappeared from Venice Beach. Although the public speculated on what might have happened, she claimed to have escaped from kidnappers who had drugged her and held her for ransom in Mexico.

Rumors widely circulated then that she had been seen in Carmel, Calif., with her radio station engineer.

As her ministry continued on for two more decades, other controversies surfaced and she eventually lost the affection of a press that had once admired her. Much of her later years were spent struggling to break free from her many troubles. Yet, despite the controversy that touched McPherson’s ministry, her gospel message helped many to embrace Christ.

“I thought the movie showed that we all sin, but God forgives us,” said Barbara Jacques, who attended the preview screening with family members.

Winning souls
A retired school teacher and widow of a Presbyterian minister, Jacques characterized McPherson as God’s servant.

“Angelus Temple, to me, was a beacon of light,” she said. “Hearing Aimee prepared me to accept Christ,” the 87-year-old great-grandmother added as she recalled that her family often attended Sunday afternoon services at the historic church when she was a child. “The fact that the Foursquare Gospel is still going, in spite of her failures, proves that a person’s sins cannot thwart God’s purposes.”
Rossi’s film touches on significant events in McPherson’s life before she arrived in Los Angeles. He examines the circumstances surrounding her conversion as a teen-ager and subsequent first marriage to evangelist Robert Semple. The couple went to China as missionaries, but Semple died of Malaria a month before the birth of their first child.

Church remains strong
In spite of the controversies woven throughout McPherson’s lifetime, her legacy remains intact. Today the church of the International Foursquare Gospel claims more than 4 million members in 38,000 local congregations in 138 different countries.

Rossi characterized the primary message of the film as one of God’s grace.

“The end of the film shows her being embraced by Christ, despite her humanity and mistakes,” Rossi said. “Aimee was not perfect.”

His compassionate portrayal of McPherson as the healer who could not heal herself of her own loneliness is a theme Rossi said he understands.

“I felt compelled to tell her story because I related deeply to it,” he said. “Most people either see her as a saint or a sinner,” the filmmaker added. “It’s as if no one sees her as more than a one-dimensional person. That is not realistic and doesn’t pay homage to the amazing things she did.”

Rossi said the film is scheduled to screen in selected theatres next March but he is not yet committed to a distributor for its general release.

For more information, contact Richard Rossi Productions at (323) 550-3370.

Published by Keener Communications Group, November 2004

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