In 1973, the United States Supreme Court struck down state laws that ban abortion, but the moral controversy surrounding the issue is far from resolved. If it is legally true that a woman can make her own decision regarding her reproductive health, Sarah's Choice is a film that offers compelling moral reasons to choose life.

Recording artist Rebecca St. James plays Sarah Collins in her first lead role in a motion picture. She is a young woman on the rise. As a junior account executive at a major advertising agency, Sarah is poised to get it all: executive promotion, salary increase, new car, fabulous apartment and first-class travel. There's only one thing that's going to keep her from getting it; her unborn baby.

The movie, available on DVD in stores now, follows Sarah's decision that will not only change her life but the lives of her loved ones both now and forever.

NRT's Bill Lurwick sat down with Rebecca St. James earlier this year to talk about her role in this new movie and the many opportunities God is continuing to open up for her.

It's great to see you again. We haven't seen each other in about two years.

That too long. Two years is too long!

You and I go way back, and you were telling me you've been hanging out in San Diego lately.

I have, for the past nine months.

Well, tell us why you've been out there Nashville girl!

[Laughs] Well, I've lived in Nashville for 17 years, so it has been a little bit of an adjustment. One of the things that drew me out there is that the climate is a lot like Australia, so it felt a little bit like home. I was at a point in my life where I was ready for a new adventure. But the main reason I've been in San Diego is that there have been some faith and family film opportunities that I've been exploring. I've done a few movies and really feel passionate about it.

You've done a couple of movies now including Sarah's Choice, which recently came out on DVD. How is making a movie different from making a record?


There are a lot of similarities actually. The main tie is that in music and in live performance, authenticity needs to show up in the heart and in what we're giving. People want to see that. They want to see something real that they can relate with. Film is different in that you are representing someone else's life, but you still have to bring your heart and your experiences to play in that set of circumstances.

The biggest difference is that you're learning someone else's words. So much of what I've done is me writing my own songs and sharing on stage and I can go wherever with it. But this is learning a new script so making that your own and making it real to you is the challenge.

Is memorization hard?

Well, yeah, it is, but I've kind of worked something out with that. When you're acting, you're responding to audio cues. So just reading it out of your script is not like it's going to be in your audition. I actually get on my computer and I go on garage band and record everyone else's lines, leaving room for me to say my lines while listening to it back. Just a little secret that helped me.

What about improvisation? Did you experience the freedom to change your lines?

Well, you have to have a flexible director and material that needs that. I haven't done much of that yet. Sarah's Choice was really my first lead but I've been involved with five different films, like a VeggieTales movie.

It must have been tough to get into that costume!

[Laughs] Well, I was an angel, but my friends called me Susie Squash for years! It was fun. I enjoy this whole dramatic thing.

Tell us about Sarah's Choice. What are some of the themes of the movie?


Well, I play Sarah, a gal in her mid 20's who is not a Christian and finds herself unmarried and pregnant. She has people in her life telling her to have an abortion. Her mom is a Christian so she's telling Sarah not to do that. But she has pressures at work and with her boyfriend, and she's really in turmoil. There is a lot of humanity and realness that is in the movie with this character. She has these three visions, kind of like in A Christmas Carol, where she sees her child as a baby, a six year old and then grown up with her a baby of her own. It's really insightful because she gets to see her life growing up with her daughter. I had my first on-screen kiss and my first on-screen crying scene--I mean, it was pretty intense for me. There was a lot of me screaming, "God, how am I going to do this?"

How do you prepare for an on-screen crying scene?

That was the most intimidating part, and it was day two of filming. Talk about throwing me in the deep end! Even though I had been living with the material for a few weeks before we started shooting, I didn't have a lot of time to prepare, but I had gotten involved with a crisis pregnancy center in LA through some friends, so once I found out I got the part, I had a great resource to turn to for research. So I was reading a lot about how girls get into this situation and considering an abortion. A lot of them feel they have to do this just to survive, even though they don't want to and they think it's wrong. These stories are filled with pain and hurt. They typically have people feeding them this information about abortion and then they are the ones that pay the consequences after going through with it. So I prepped a lot and had a lot of emotion going into this crying scene. I was sitting in the makeup chair and just tearing up thinking about all of these stories. Then I go to the actual set and there's 30 people standing around and it's like, "Ok, we need snot and tears." I had nothing the first two takes. The third time, I had a time out and just spent my time praying. I was remembering what an actor told me that any time I could bring my legitimate emotion from my personal life into the scene, it's going to play better. So that's what I did. I started out this prayer legitimately saying, "I don't know how to do this, how to be a mother," and I transitioned it into what my character says, and God just brought the tears.

Talk about a role reversal for you though. For years, you've been talking about purity and abstinence. You got to see the other side of the coin here, so to speak.

You know, I've talked about forgiveness and second chances for so long, and playing this character made all of that very real to me. I was playing this character for months and I saw how she got to that point. I think it gave me much more compassion and empathy for people dealing with difficult situations.

From that perspective, are there points along the way that we as believers can make a difference in the lives of these girls a lot sooner than we are?

My co-worker in this film actually had an abortion, and she's one of the main characters encouraging my character to move forward with this decision. I think that for a lot of us, the people that we work with are going through some hard things, not only with struggling with the decision of abortion, but with marriage and raising families or other devastating circumstances. People who we work with are going through things, and I think it's easy for us to get caught up in our own situations and our own lives. When we're honest with other people about our struggles, they often open up with their own and who knows, a life could be saved with that honest conversation. I just think we need to engage with others and reach out beyond ourselves.

What was the shooting schedule like for Sarah's Choice?

We were working 12-14 hour days! One night, we showed up at set at 8PM and worked all the way through sunrise, until about 6:30AM. I remember hitting about 4 o'clock in the morning and some of the crew were starting to fall asleep in chairs. I'm supposed to be doing this lively date scene with my boyfriend and the director's going, "We need more energy!" It just wasn't working. It's a challenging schedule, but God gave me a lot of passion for this.


How did you get called into film?

For years, there have been opportunities to get involved. When I was involved in Hero: The Rock Opera, I visibly saw people encountering the story of Jesus through acting every night and that really inspired me. Plus, since a little girl, I've had a passion for this and have wanted to be in The Sound of Music [laughs]. In the last few years especially, I've seen that when you put spoken word, visuals and music together, which are all three extremely powerful on their own, you have this potential to change the world.

What does the church need to do to continue to influence Hollywood.

Well, Christians shouldn't be scared of the arts, although Hollywood does seem to be intimidating. We've got to be wise but we've got the creator of the universe inspiring us and going with us. I do encourage people to be involved in all forms of art. We can honor God with photography, acting, song, and Christians need to be involved with all artwork.

Are you at a transition point in your ministry right now?

[Laughs] I think we're all in a transition point in our ministry!

Well, people want to know if there is new music coming from Rebecca St. James?

You know, I'm writing a lot for the soundtracks and other songs, but we are talking about new music coming soon.

Do you have any specific prayer requests that we can join with you in?

Yeah. For protection and wisdom with these opportunities that God is giving. I just want to navigate it in a way that is honoring to Him. I don't want compromise to creep in. I'm also just juggling a lot right now with songwriting, acting and writing books. I've struggled before with burning out, saying "yes" to too many things and not being able to handle it all, so just wisdom to navigate all of that.

It's always a pleasure Rebecca. Thank you so much for joining us!

Thanks Bill. It was great to catch up!