wfn.org | ELCA Pastors, Family Tale, Lead to Motion Picture

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Title: ELCA Pastors, Family Tale, Lead to Motion Picture
ELCA NEWS SERVICE

>May 11, 2009  

ELCA Pastors, Family Tale, Lead to Motion Picture
09-111-SH

CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Felix "Uncle Bush" Breazeale sat in the
front passenger seat of the hearse headed to his funeral. In back
was the coffin he'd made himself from walnut. The 73-year-old
recluse was a man of few words but not even close to death on
that hot June day in 1938.

Thousands of people from several states gathered for the
service in a Tennessee field. Most wanted to see Breazeale, a
scraggly-bearded man who insisted on a funeral before he died.
"Just wanted to hear what the preacher has to say about me while
I am alive," he told a newspaper.

A movie version of the event is expected in theaters later
this year, in part because of the persistence of a pastor in the
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA).

The Rev. Scott Seeke of suburban Atlanta first heard the
funeral story from relatives of his wife, the Rev. Beth Birkholz,
also an ELCA pastor. Her great-grandfather, Frank Quinn, owned
the Loudon, Tenn., funeral home that handled the service. Her
grandfather, Frank "Buddy" Robinson, drove the hearse. Both men
are now deceased.

"When Mr. Robinson told this story I thought it would be a
really good movie," said Seeke, pastor of The River Church,
Alpharetta, Ga., an ELCA congregation. "I called a buddy from
college who was a Hollywood writer. He liked the idea. We worked
on it together."

The movie, titled "Get Low," probes spiritual themes --
grace, forgiveness, accountability. Breazeale lived in the hills
with his parents until they died, then he lived alone and kept a
mule. His sordid past included a murder allegation.

"We all want to be forgiven for the things we've done
wrong," said Seeke, who was an extra in the movie, along with
Birkholz and their six-year-old daughter Miriam. Birkholz is
associate pastor, Holy Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church,
Marietta, Ga.

The script faced years of rejection. Then an Oscar-winning
crew signed on: director Aaron Schneider, The Zanuck Company and
producer Dean Zanuck, actors Sissy Spacek and Robert Duvall, who
plays Breazeale. They took significant pay cuts to make the
$7 million movie, a low budget film by Hollywood standards.

"They are in this movie because they love the story," Seeke
said. "The producers are billing it as a thriller, but I would
say it's a drama, though parts are really funny."

Oscar nominee Bill Murray plays the funeral home director,
who saw a business opportunity in Breazeale. Murray was the
perfect choice to play her quick-witted great-grandfather,
Birkholz said.

"He wasn't a money grubber, but definitely a shrewd
businessman and very funny," she said. "He advertised the
funeral. He imported a preacher. It was a slow summer in the
funeral business. People weren't dying. He saw a business
opportunity."

Although the funeral service was somber, the atmosphere was
like a county fair. Vendors sold hot dogs and soft drinks.
Florists donated funereal flowers. A clothier provided the dark
suit worn by Breazeale, his first ever.

The Breazeale event is legendary in eastern Tennessee,
according to Renee McGill, who now runs the funeral home with her
family. Kids prepare projects for school about the funeral. Older
people tell firsthand accounts. "People wanted his autograph, but
he didn't know how to write," said 87-year-old J.Y. McNabb.

Breazeale lived for five years after his "fake" funeral.
When he died in 1943 only a handful of people turned out. No one
recalls what was said.

>--

To see a photo of Felix Breazeale at the 1938 funeral, go to
http://tnsos.org/tsla/imagesearch/citation.php?ImageID=29533 at
the Tennessee State Library. For information about the movie, go
to http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1194263/ on the Web. To learn
about The River Church and the Rev. Scott Seeke, go to
http://www.wadeintheriver.org/ on the Web. The link
http://www.holytrinitymarietta.org/ is the congregation where the
Rev. Beth Birkholz ministers.

For information contact:

John Brooks, Director (773) 380-2958 or news@elca.org
http://www.elca.org/news
ELCA News Blog: http://www.elca.org/news/blog