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How I became a movie star

How I became a movie star

Last updated on: January 28, 2026 at 9:24 am by Dan Peterson

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How I became a movie star 2026-01-28T09:24:20-07:00 Dan Peterson

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“God Took Enoch,” by Gerard Hoet (1728)
Wikimedia Commons public domain image

Posted today on the website of the Interpreter Foundation, a concise set of notes for teachers and students of the Come, Follow Me curriculum of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints: Come, Follow Me — Old Testament Study and Teaching Helps (2026) February 2-8: Moses 7 — “The Lord Called His People Zion”

Also worthy of mention: This coming Saturday, 31 January 2026, will be another notable day in the history of the completely comatose and unchanging Interpreter Foundation:

At 7 PM that evening, we will host a Becoming Brigham fireside in the Orem Lakeview Stake Center, which is located at 450 West 1800 South, Orem, Utah.
And there is this, as well: “Conversations with Interpreter: A New Video Podcast, Starting Saturday, January 31.” “The Interpreter Foundation is pleased to announce a new video podcast, Conversations with Interpreter. In this series we will join Avram and Thora Shannon as they talk with scholars who contribute to The Interpreter Foundation through articles, book chapters, and conference presentations. Together, they’ll explore the insights, research, and faith that inspire these contributions and enrich our understanding of the restored gospel. . . .

The core of our Interpreter Foundation film crew is (from left to right) James Jordan, Mark Goodman, and Russell Richins. Together, they constitute Redbrick Filmworks, and they are very, very good to work with..

Episode 1 of Becoming Brigham is a tad atypical of the series as a whole because it doesn’t feature guest interviews with historians. (It does, of course, hint that such interviews are on their way, specifically mentioning imminent visits with Sam Weston and LaJean Carruth.)

A central topic of discussion in Episode 1 is the claim that Brigham Young was behind the murders of Joseph and Hyrum Smith, using Elders John Taylor and Willard Richards as the instruments of his homicidal plot. (I can scarcely find the words to express how perverse and crazy I find this idea to be.). At one point, I’m effectively asked how, given all of the evidence that exists to support the standard (and sane) narrative of what happened on 27 June 1844 at Carthage Jail, there can be any room or basis for a wildly different alternative version of the story.

Our scenes in Carthage were filmed back in March 2025. If I were asked that question right now, I might respond by pointing to the cases of Renee Good and Alex Pretti in Minnesota. We actually have abundant video evidence in both instances, from multiple angles, and yet, notably under the influence of self-interest and ideology, we also have wildly different claims as to what happened. Is it likely to be otherwise in the killings of Joseph and Hyrum Smith, from which videos don’t seem to have survived?

Was Alex Pretti merely recording the actions of ICE with his cellphone and then coming to the aid of a woman who had been violently shoved down into the snow? Or was he, as Kristi Noem immediately declared him, a “domestic terrorist” who was “brandishing” a gun and “attacking” federal officers? Was he, as White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller called him, “an assassin” who “tried to murder federal agents”? Was he simply a peaceful protester? Not according to Border Patrol commander Gregory Bovino, who says that it “looks like” Pretti “wanted to do maximum damage and massacre law enforcement.”

Incidentally — and changing the topic rather dramatically — it wasn’t my idea to include me as one of the three hosts (along with Camrey Bagley Fox and John Donovan Wilson) for Becoming Brigham. So how did that happen? My speculative scenario for the decision to include me goes roughly as follows:

Our filmmakers first thought of Gregory Peck as the third of our co-hosts. They had worked with him on the PBS documentary American Prophet: The Story of Joseph Smith (1999). But Mr. Peck, who died in 2003, is unavailable for the foreseeable future. They then turned first to Paul Newman, who is similarly unavailable, and thereupon to Robert Redford, whose calendar was too full and who then himself became unavailable mid-way through the project. (Are you sensing a pattern here? Perhaps Brigham Young is behind their deaths, as well.) So they next considered George Clooney and Brad Pitt. But the price tag for Mr. Clooney and Mr. Pitt was too high. At that point, they turned their attention to me as the logical next step in the sequence of Peck, Newman, Redford, Clooney, and Pitt. Plainly, a reasonable extrapolation. (I mean, really: Given that set of names and faces, whose thoughts wouldn’t automatically leap next to mine?) Plus, I also had the advantage of coming at no charge. And that, I firmly believe, is how I was chosen.

The main entrance to BYU-Hawaii, in Laie (BYU-Hawaii website)

Here’s an interesting article by a Protestant author in the Deseret News that I think merits some attention: “Perspective: What statistics about religion tell us — and what they don’t: The numbers may say there’s no revival under way, but there are other things to watch besides data”

I think it worthy of reflection from a Latter-day Saint perspective. Incidentally, data seem to say that applications to Latter-day Saint colleges and universities, and enrollment in seminaries and Institutes, are up, as are convert baptisms. This is interesting. It may be that the irreligious sector of our society has stabilized and is no longer growing, while the similarly stabilized religious portion of our society is, if not exactly growing, becoming more committed to religious belief and practice. Maybe. Just thinking aloud.

Los Angeles, with the San Gabriel Mountains somewhat dramtically exaggerated in the background (Wikimedia Commons public domain photograph)

It’s been about a year since the massive wildfires of January 2025 in the Los Angeles metropolitan area — most especially the Palisades Fire in Pacific Palisades (where good friends of ours lost their very nice home) and the Eaton Fire in Altadena (not terribly far from my native stomping grounds). Approximately 59 square miles or 40,000 acres burned and an estimated 440 people died. More than 200,000 people were forced from their homes. About 13,000 houses and residential properties were destroyed. (Some sources say 17,000.) According to several articles that I’ve seen, long after the mayor of Los Angeles pledged to “expedite” the process fewer than ten of those homes have been rebuilt.

I’ll pose a question: Do you think that the delay in rebuilding should be laid at the feet of private contractors and the free market? Or does the responsibility for it belong more likely to government regulators and bureaucratic red tape? I know where I’m inclined to place the blame. And that’s just one reason among many why I don’t favor ceding more power to the State.

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