By RODNEY HO/ rho@ajc.com, originally filed Thursday, April 2, 2015
The amount of suffering Joe Patterson endures in the TV One film "To Hell and Back" airing Saturday is unrelenting: multiple deaths, a collapsed business, a bitter separation from his wife, mysterious lesions on his body.
But Ernie Hudson - best known for his roles in "Ghostbusters," "The Crow" and "Oz" - embodies Joe's faith in God with power and grace in this modern-day retelling of the Bible story of Job.
"My grandmother raised me and we grew up in church," said Hudson on set earlier this year in Atlanta. "When I read the script, I thought of her. This is for her and for people like her. This is an important story. I love the interpretation."
His character Joe starts the film as a successful Atlanta real estate developer with a mansion, five children and a happy spouse. He's a model Christian.
Then God and Satan have an argument over whether someone as fortunate and righteous as Joe could remain faithful to God if he was stripped of all his material and familial comforts. So in a rather cruel experiment, they agree to lead Joe downward.
D'Angela Proctor, a Spelman College graduate and head of original programming for TV One, said given the rise in popularity of Christmas films and Bible-based programming, the network has committed to creating current-day versions of Bible parables. "To Hell and Back" is the first.
"It's the quintessential every man's story," Proctor said. "It's about faith and resilience. It's about what you do when nothing you do works and you are no longer in control."
TV One, a relatively small cable network targeting blacks seen in 56 million households, doesn't have the budgets of NBC or HBO or even Lifetime. This film, shot for less than $1 million, is set in Atlanta and was shot in a mere 14 days. An opening scene is set at Atlanta City Hall. The Bank of America building is used for office space. And a home outside of Fayetteville is featured.
Proctor gives credit to Marietta screenwriter Rhonda F. Baraka for the script. "She has a great grasp of dialogue and character development," she said. "She's a strong structural writer."
Scenes are filled with heartache. During a hospital shoot, Joe finds out his daughter was in a car wreck and starts yelling at a nurse, breathing heavily, wracked with despair. After one take ends and the director yells "Cut!," Hudson starts breathing with even greater exaggeration. The crew laughs as his panicked face melts into a smile.
Clearly, off-camera comic relief is necessary given the heavy material.
At age 69, Hudson sees a bit of Joe Patterson in himself. "I grew up in the projects without a dad. But I've been very blessed. It's great to have nice things and have success. But that's not really who we are. It's the belief in something that doesn't change. It's a man being tested."
Hudson said he took on this lead role not for the perks but for the challenge. He's been in dozens of movies and has never done one with such a compressed schedule. Major motion pictures can take four or five months, he said.
He accepted the modest conditions and a tiny trailer, which couldn't fit a queen mattress.
"Of course, I'd prefer a bigger trailer," Hudson said, "but you have to learn to be flexible. Everyone else here is in the same boat as me."
Acting, he said, "is a calling. Once I went into theater in 1966, I've been committed to this."
A few months ago, he wrote an essay for Entertainment Weekly about the mixed legacy that is "Ghostbusters" for him. His role was supposed to be much bigger than it was.
"It didn't change my career," he said to me. "I'm thankful for it. It had its challenges. I've done very well but it wasn't any one role."
He is also in the upcoming Netflix show "Grace and Frankie" starring former Atlantan Jane Fonda, Lily Tomlin, Martin Sheen and Sam Waterston. He plays Lily's boyfriend in a recurring role.
TV PREVIEW
"To Hell and Back," 8 p.m. Saturday, April 4, 2015, TV One
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