Peter Boehler (Bill Oberst, Jr., left) a Moravian missionary, gives advice to John Wesley (Burgess Jenkins) in a scene from "Wesley."

SOURCE: Our Town Cinemas

Winston-Salem landmarks came in handy when the Rev. John Jackman was directing his latest film, “Wesley.”

“We found, in a five-mile radius, settings we could use for 18th-century London, that worked for Oxford, Savannah, the Savannah River, the English countryside,” he said. “I’m not sure where else I could have pulled this off.”

The Rev. Jackman will be here Friday when “Wesley” opens an exclusive run at Davidson’s Our Town Cinemas.

Next week: special showings of “Casablanca” and “Wizard of Oz.”

Old Salem and Bethabara play prominent roles in the film, as did sites including Salem College and Academy, The Children’s Home on Reynolda Road, and St. Paul’s Episcopal and Centenary Methodist churches in downtown Winston-Salem.

“Those places were just tremendously helpful,” Rev. Jackman said. “They bent over backwards to help us with this.”

The movie tells the story of John Wesley, the founder of the Methodist movement, focusing on his life from 1736 to 1742. “For us, that was the real crisis period of Wesley’s life,” Jackman explained, “the turning point that had a lot of drama in it.”

The film follows English-born Wesley, an Anglican priest who makes an ill-fated journey to the New World, where he tries to bring religion to the settlers in Savannah, Georgia and to American Indians as well. His faith is tested and he returns to England, dejected. There, he has an epiphany that leads to a spiritual awakening and the realization that he should focus on helping the downtrodden.

“It is incredibly rewarding to see how well the final project turned out and how much talent was brought together on screen, “ Rev. Jackman says,

THE CAST

That talent includes screen legends and local actors seen in other recent films.

Burgess Jenkins, who plays Wesley, was born in Winston-Salem, and has appeared in such mainstream movies as Remember the Titans and The Reaping and TV’s “One Tree Hill.” He lived in Los Angeles for a time, but returned to Winston-Salem to raise his family. He is Presbyterian but found the story of John Wesley compelling.

“The more I read it, the more I realized what an interesting character he was,” Mr. Jenkins said.

“All of us believe in our faith, and this is a story of conversion, a story of someone who has his faith tested on so many levels … and has an awakening to what faith really means.”

When Jenkins got the part, he started studying Wesley by reading biographies about him, “but I came to stop, because every historian’s perspective included a big helping of their opinion,” he said. “It was confusing,and it was frustrating me to get a feeling about this man.” So he went directly to Wesley’s personal journals, which formed the basis for much of the movie’s script.

R. Keith Harris of Greensboro portrayed his brother. Charles Wesley became one of history’s most prolific hymn writers. Keith Harris prepared in part for his role by reading years of Charles Wesley’s journals online. “It was an amazing insight, He says. Mr. Harris appeared in films “Big Fish” and “Junebug.”

Television and film actress June Lockhart joins the cast as Susannah Wesley, Charles and John’s mother, who plays a pivotal role in both sons’ early spiritual growth. Lockhart was for an entire generation the quintessential “TV Mom” from her roles in the series “Lassie” and ”Lost in Space.”

Golden Globe winner Kevin McCarthy (“Death of a Salesman.” “Invasion of the Body Snatchers”) is Bishop Ryder, who defends John Wesley against attempts to defrock him.

The rest of the cast is largely regional, many of them from the Triad. R. Keith Harris and Michael Huie play Wesley’s brothers, and Carrie Anne Hunt plays Sophy, the niece of a Georgian magistrate, who is smitten with Wesley.

THE PRODUCTION

Filmed in summer 2007, “Wesley” was privately financed through investors who were interested in the project, Jackman said. The Rev. Jackman declined to give a specific budget number, but said it was under $1 million – and he didn’t let that keep the film’s ambitions low.

“I pretty much broke every rule for doing an independent feature,” he said. “There are children, animals; it’s a period flick so everyone has to be in costume. There are 76 speaking roles and 200 extras that come in and out, and about 100 other people were involved in the movie at some level.”

He even included a sequence set on the ocean, which required the construction of a ship set in an unused gymnasium at The Children’s Home and the use of computer-generated special effects in the film.

“Rather than rely on pre-recorded music, he chose to hire composer Bruce Keisling, former resident conductor of the Greensboro Symphony Orchestra, who created an orchestral score that is performed by members of the Greensboro and the Winston-Salem Symphonies.

The Choral Society of Greensboro and the Greensboro Youth Chorus contributed vocals.

DIRECTOR HERE FRIDAY

Jan Black, a spokeswoman for Our Town Cinemas, said the exclusive run of “Wesley” came partly in response to requests from Davidson United Methodist and Mt. Zion United Methodist churches.

John Jackman will appear at the 4:15 pm show for Q & A and will introduce the 7:10 show on opening day at Our Town Cinemas on Friday, April 23. Show times are daily at 1:30, 4:15, 7:10 & Fri/Sat at 9:40.

Reservations are suggested by purchasing tickets in advance at the box office or by calling 704-237-3238 as this is an exclusive run in the Charlotte region April 23-29.

Our Town Cinemas is located at 227 Griffith St in Sadler Square, off I-77, Exit 30 Davidson. www.OurTownCinemas.com ^[1].

For more info and a trailer on the movie, go to wesleythemovie.com ^[2].

CLASSICS NEXT WEEK

Our Town Cinemas is bringing in a pair of classics next week – your chance to watch great old movies on the big screen. Both Humphrey Bogart’s “Casablanca” and “The Wizard of Oz” open Friday, April 30, and run through Thursday, May 6. The week also includes the slasher classic “Nightmare on Elm Street.”

Advance tickets now on sale at the box office, which opens daily at 1 p.m. Our Town Cinemas ^[3] is in Sadler Square shopping center, off Griffith Street, near the Healthy Home Market. 704-237-3238