The good thing about “Heaven Is For Real” (in theaters nationwide now) is that, like its title, the movie doesn’t scream that assertion in all caps and with an exclamation point at the audience.

Based on the homonymous book, the movie tells the allegedly true story of a pastor, his family and his community dealing with his 4 year-old son’s recount after visiting Heaven. It treats all positions respectfully and shows skepticism in a positive light.

I had a chance to briefly speak with the fantastic protagonist Greg Kinnear (“Little Miss Sunshine”), director Randall Wallace (“Secretariat”), and mega producer Joe Roth (“Oz the Great and Powerful”) at a recent press event in L.A.

Heaven-is-for-Real-Interviews-Director

Néstor Bentancor: The movie doesn’t show a monolithic religious community. I enjoyed the fact that even a pastor struggles with his faith.

Randall Wallace (Director): I really related to the issue of doubt as a Christian myself. But I believed that even Jesus had doubts and pain. Outside the Christian faith people think that we are monolithic and that is an ignorant and prejudicial thought. That we take the brains out of our heads and we vanish doubts from our lives, as opposed to feeling that doubt is an opportunity to grow. Another thing that I love about your question is that the church, having this struggle with their pastor didn’t make them a mob standing with their pitchforks. They could oppose him and still be good and decent people. I think that Margo Martindale’s character speaks to that. Todd’s faith was always in question in our story.

Heaven-is-for-Real-Interviews-Greg

N.B.: When reading scripts, do you look for roles and genres that you haven’t done before?

Greg Kinnear (Todd Burpo): I never called my agent and said “I want to do a comedy,” “I want to do a drama,” or “I want to do a pastor that his son dies and sees Heaven” [laughs] I have never done that. I don’t know if actors really do it. Do they? I don’t know. I have been very lucky. Sometimes I have been hoping for something more serious and something more serious has come. But it is never by design. Like anything else with me, it’s an accident.

Heaven-is-for-Real-Interviews-Producer

N.B.: Hollywood has targeted religious people with mixed results. Why some of those films just don’t work?

Joe Roth (Producer): I don’t think that movies that are targeted work, period. I think that good stories work and people find them if they are interested. I didn’t buy this book to target a faith-based audience. I bought it because it was a good story. The more you target a film, the less chance it will be a success.

Heaven-is-for-Real-Interviews-Poster

“The film stars Academy Award® nominee and Emmy® award winning actor Greg Kinnear as Todd Burpo and co-stars Kelly Reilly as Sonja Burpo, the real-life couple whose son Colton (newcomer Connor Corum) claims to have visited Heaven during a near death experience. Colton recounts the details of his amazing journey with childlike innocence and speaks matter-of-factly about things that happened before his birth … things he couldn’t possibly know. Todd and his family are then challenged to examine the meaning from this remarkable event.”