The Pentecostal preacher Richard Gazowsky claimed the Lord commanded him, saying, “You will start a film company.” And not just any company, but a studio to produce the biggest movie ever, the biblical sci-fi epic Gravity: The Shadow of Joseph, a $200 million-budgeted spectacle billed as “Star Wars meets The TenCommandments.”
Documentary filmmaker Michael Jacobs gained access to Gazowski’s San Francisco church and recorded, in deadpan verite, their fools’ errand. Audience of One, a film festival favorite, is out on DVD.
Gazowsky and his congregation funded Gravity out of their own pockets, investing an ocean of sweat equity. Encamping in a scenic Italian town whose peculiar conical architecture was well suited for a sci-fi setting, Gazowski discovered that Europe runs on different electrical current than the U.S. And that was only the beginning of the troubles. With no usable footage to show for their efforts, the congregation returned home and promptly ran up unpaid film lab bills all over the Bay area as the project continued. Railing against a satanic conspiracy to thwart their mission, the congregation huddling in spasmodic exhibitions of Pentecostal possession and pep rally enthusiasm.
And then, Gazowski told his followers that the Lord spoke again, commanding him to launch television channels and a network of resorts, a Christian theme park, an airline and—yes—an expedition to colonize another planet. “It’s either God,” he said of the voice inside his head, “or I’m crazy.” Without resorting to Bill Maher heavy-handedness, Jacobs allows Gazowsky and company to manifest egomaniacal delusions that grew ever more absurd, even as their field of dreams withered before their eyes.
