Michael Landon Jr. Brings Faith to Film
Following in his father's footsteps, Michael Landon Jr. is a filmmaker whose work has distinctly Christian values.
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If you’re 30 or older, the name Michael Landon probably projects images on the screen of your memory: his Pepsodent smile as Little Joe in “Bonanza”; his pioneer grit as Pa Ingalls in “Little House on the Prairie”; his angelic charm as Jonathan Smith in “Highway to Heaven.” Michael Landon says all things family-friendly in the bygone days of television.
These days another Michael Landon—junior—is writing, directing and producing films with his father’s style of family friendliness but with a distinct stamp of Christian values. While not all his projects speak of his faith, the younger Landon isn’t silent about his personal convictions, nor is he shy about sharing them through film.
Beyond rebellion
Michael’s commitment to Christian values took years to develop. Who thinks about Christ when growing up in a Beverly Hills mansion with a famous father? But at age 15, Michael’s cushy world collapsed.
The senior Landon had an affair and left the family. Pain and despair swamped young Michael and, over the next four years, pulled him into drinking and dabbling in drugs. When his grades at the University of Southern California plummeted, his mother, Lynn—by then a Christian—sent him packing.
“It was the best thing she could have done for me,” Michael says. “This privileged kid from Beverly Hills needed to be kicked out of the house. And even though I was going through painful stuff with my family and my father’s divorce, it didn’t matter. For the rest of my life, I would have gone nowhere.”
That tough love had eternal consequences. At 19, in a church service he attended with his mother, Michael gave his heart to Christ.
Expressing faith
Michael says his was an “onion version of conversion.” God gradually peeled off the layers of sin and rebellion. He also gave Michael a wife, Sharee; they later had three children: Ashley, Brittany and Austin.
God planted a desire in Michael to express faith and family values through filmmaking. He had learned the craft by watching his father on “Little House” and “Highway to Heaven,” and by working nearly every job behind the camera, such as film loader, assistant cameraman, apprentice editor and production assistant. Until he could direct full time, Michael wrote some of his own projects and sold them to networks. One was a made-for-TV movie, Michael Landon: The Father I Knew (1999).
“Not everything I pursued had a strong faith element in it,” Michael explains. “But nothing I ever pursued went against what I believed.”
No audience?
One of the projects Michael trotted around Hollywood was Love Comes Softly. Janette Oke’s book about a freshly widowed frontier woman entering a marriage of convenience became his passion for several reasons.
“I found the faith element very compelling,” Michael says. “I found the love story compelling. And one of the things I really loved about the story was the lead male role of Clark Davis. It’s very rare when you see a godly [male] figure in any film. This man embodied everything I strive to be as a father and husband.”
But this was not his father’s Hollywood. The senior Landon had seamlessly glided from the Ponderosa to the prairie to paradise in three consecutive TV series. His son, however, spent 10 years pitching Love Comes Softly to networks and production companies.
“Everybody thought it was too soft and that there wasn’t an audience for it,” Michael recalls.
Everybody, that is, except the Hallmark Channel. Love Comes Softly slid easily into its family fare. When the film aired in 2003, it sprinted to the top and became the highest-rated movie in the channel’s history. The film’s sequels—Love’s Enduring Promise, Love’s Long Journey and Love’s Abiding Joy, all based on Oke’s other books—aired over the next three years. Each claimed No. 1 positions on Hallmark and enjoyed strong DVD sales in the Christian market. In fact, in 2006 and 2007 Love Comes Softly was the strongest selling Christian video through Christian retail stores.
Worthwhile pictures
The film’s success turned heads at Fox Home Entertainment, distributor of the DVDs. Now known as Fox Faith, the company centers on films with Christian themes. Fox wanted to work more with Michael on fulfilling that vision.
So in 2006 he and his longtime friend and filmmaker Brian Bird formed Believe Pictures. The Last Sin Eater, based on Francine Rivers’ novel, was their first project, with a limited theatrical release in February 2007. Its evangelistic message and unique expression of the Gospel appealed to Michael. So did the themes of forgiveness, redemption and love in Believe’s second film, The Redemption of Sarah Cain, released this fall. Two other faith-friendly films are waiting for distribution.
A devotion to faith and family values in film isn’t all that drives Michael. He’s also committed to his craft.
“I don’t want to make a bad movie,” he says. “I don’t want to be a bad storyteller. I want to do my work with excellence.”
A stand for virtue
Now in his 40s with more than 20 years in film, Michael remains committed to good storytelling and Christian values. And he feels that Christians should share that commitment in what they watch.
“You can’t get upset about inappropriate films if you’re still going to support them. Christians see a movie because there’s a big star in it with good laughs, clever writing and fun characters. But then the theme of the film is that you can have a happy ending if you sleep with someone after the first or second date. Films today normalize that. But if we, as Christians, are going to continue to support those kinds of films, filmmakers are going to keep making them. And without Christ, how would they think otherwise?
“I think Christians are getting what they deserve, in essence. Stop complaining about bad films. If you really believe something, stand up for it.”
Michael isn’t sure what’s in his future, but he knows the One who is controlling it. He’s writing a novel due out the end of this year. But don’t expect him to forsake the medium he grew up in. He’ll continue to bring stories to the screen that will no doubt reflect his earthly father and, more important, honor his heavenly Father.
Sherri Langton is an editor, writer and workshop speaker.