Andrew Peterson Interview from

Andrew Peterson Interview from CJ Casciotta on Vimeo.

If you need an introduction to Rob Reiner, it's likely that you haven't seen very many films. The multitalented Director, Actor, and Activist has been making films for years, most of which are prime examples of their respective genre's. He essentially invented the "mockumentary" with "This Is Spinal Tap," made the perfect drama in "A Few Good Men," the ultimate fantasy film with "The Princess Bride," the brilliant coming of age film "Stand By Me," and too many others to count.

Reiner was kind enough to sit down with ConversantLife for a 1 on 1 interview to talk about his newest film "Flipped," family systems, and the importance of connecting with others.

Christopher Faris: I like to think about how film and therapy can inter-connect.  This is a great film for that, especially with communication, other perspectives, etc.

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Madeline Carroll is the star of Rob Reiner’s newest film “Flipped” which has been out since the beginning of August.  In addition to “Flipped” she has also starred in “The Spy Next Door” with Jackie Chan and “Swing Vote” with Kevin Costner.  Carroll is as endearing in person as she is on screen, quick with jokes, humor, and kindness.  Below you can read her thoughts on working with Rob Reiner, horror films, and how she is involved in justice related issues.

Christopher Faris: What was it about “Flipped” that drew you to it initially?

Madeline Carroll: Just the script basically. The script kind of spoke for itself. The people who were telling me about it were so excited about it, and I was wondering why they were so excited about it?  Then I read it and I was like, I get why they are so excited about it.  I just loved it, I thought it was so nice.  It was really a breath of fresh air because everything I had been getting was either too dirty, or too this or too that.  It was really cool to be able to play Juli Baker.  I just loved the script!  I went and I auditioned for Rob Reiner and I think I was the first girl that they saw.  Later on that day I had found out that I had gotten it, and it was a dream come true.

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It is less a contrast than it is a similarity. Two men, both highly educated Jews, both bold and passionate preachers of the message of the Gospel, both leaders in the first century Church.  Paul and Apollos were both used by God to build His Kingdom in the precarious, turbulent infancy of the Christian faith.  But only one of these men still has a ministry today.  Indeed, Paul’s contribution to the New Testament is central to our understanding of the Gospel.

Why is Paul’s influence greater than that of Apollos?  Spiritual calling aside, there seems a simple reason:  He Wrote Stuff Down.

I’m a big Writer of Stuff.  I have To-Do lists, archives of song lyrics, sermons and speeches, unpublished books and written meanderings.  According to the stats counter, my personal blog site just hit 100 blog entries last week.  I even have an archive of carefully documented calendars that stretches back to my freshman year in college, which I can’t bear to throw out.  What if I suddenly need to know what I did during the summer of 1984?

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It had been at least 10 years since I walked into the Family Christian bookstore around the corner from where I went to high school in Costa Mesa. I used to go there on weekdays in the lull between the end of the school day and the start of theater practice. I went there for music, and Tooth and Nail records was all the rage. With the exception of Wish For Eden and Everdown, I bought nearly everything that had the labels name on it, and Family was my Christian music dispensary of choice. Half the store was CD’s, and the rest of it could have been stocked with groceries for all I cared. It was my music place.

Revisiting Family Christian bookstore 10 years later was sort of disheartening. What used to be rows of CD’s was a sparse collection of music comprised of worship leaders and things they play on KFSH. Taking its place was the hot new Christian media – the DVD. Several aisles of colorful DVD’s, sitting right next to a DVD player that would censor out the naughty bits of whatever you were watching, which was certainly nothing carried on the shelves. In fact, they even have 30 dollar versions of your favorite secular movies, without any of the aforementioned corruptible content.

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"This album grew into something I couldn't foresee and didn't intend," Andrew Peterson says of his new music project. "Counting Stars has songs that are so personal I'm a little embarrassed to incude them." A beautiful example is "Dancing in the Minefields," a haunting yet hopeful song about love and marriage.

Andrew Peterson - Dancing in the Minefields from Centricity Music on Vimeo.

Centricity Music artist Andrew Peterson is a guy with a guitar, yes, but a guy-with-a-guitar who is so intentionally rooted in the stuff of life—in family, friendship, community, home and even the very plot of land he lives on—that he seems almost counter-culture. Okay, maybe Andrew Peterson is counter-culture. But it’s not his fault. It’s the culture that shifted.

Over the last ten years Andrew Peterson has quietly carved out a niche for himself as one of the most thoughtful, poetic, and lyrical songwriters of his generation. More recently he’s established himself as the grassroots facilitator of an online literary and songwriting community (www.RabbitRoom.com) and an emerging fantasy novelist as well (The Wingfeather Saga).

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