Rick Santorum was glad-handing a friendly crowd at a cocktail reception recently, seeking support just as he did for many grueling months on the 2012 campaign trail for the Republican presidential nomination.
But this time he wasn’t looking to get on a ticket — well, not yet, anyway — but rather, to sell tickets. Movie tickets.
Many might not know that Santorum, the former Pennsylvania senator and darling of America’s social conservatives, is now a movie mogul. In June, he became CEO of EchoLight Studios, a Dallas-based Christian film company that produces and distributes what it calls faith-based family films. In the past few weeks he’s been promoting his first theatrical release since taking over; Aptly, given the season, it’s a Christmas film.
“The Christmas Candle,” which features Scottish singing sensation Susan Boyle in a minor speaking role, is about a minister in a small 19th-century English town, at odds with his congregation’s belief in a blessed, miracle-producing candle.
Based on the book by Max Lucado, it opened last week in Atlanta — none too soon, says Santorum, who believes Hollywood has fallen down when it comes to Christmas films.
“Name a Christmas movie produced by Hollywood that has anything to do with Christmas,” Santorum said at a recent Manhattan screening of his film. “Not elves and Santa Claus and reindeer and ‘The Polar Express’ — some of these are very good movies, uplifting, wonderful, but none of them mention what Christmas is about! None of them mention the birth of Jesus Christ. That is remarkable.”
It’s also one of the reasons he got into the movie business, he says, capitalizing on his newfound visibility after the 2012 campaign. Santorum quit the race in April of that year, ceding to eventual nominee Mitt Romney, but his surprising performance in the hard-fought primaries left him, at least for the moment, as a prominent social conservative voice.
“After the campaign, I had this newfound gift: fame,” he said. “People knew who I was, all across the country. And I thought, well, how could I take this gift and help God and country?” A supporter from Texas brought him in, he says, and he soon became chairman of the board, then ultimately CEO.
Santorum says he’s a big movie fan. (Asked what his favorites are — besides “The Christmas Candle,” of course — he mentions “It’s A Wonderful Life” and says he also plans to see the “The Hunger Games: Catching Fire.” But there’s a lot about current fare he doesn’t like.
“Look, violence for the sake of violence is not a good thing,” he said. “Sex for the sake of sex is not a good thing. That doesn’t mean there can’t be sex or violence or language in a movie if it’s put in the context of what it is and the effect of it, the consequence of it. But if it’s just gratuitous, that’s another thing.”
Santorum says his studio is now working on several new movies, with three scripts in development. Some will make it to theaters, others will go straight to DVD or to television. As for his own tenure, he can’t say how long it’ll be, and that’s partly because he hasn’t ruled out the possibility that he’ll be on the campaign trail again sometime soon. He offered a quick “Sure!” when asked if he’s open to running again.
