No 'Grey' Areas in Old Fashioned Movie

Love has many languages. Some say love is patient. Others point out it is kind, not jealous or even self-seeking. Sound familiar? But for a few, love’s allure is sought through curiosity, obsession, and even eroticism.

Movie audiences will inevitably flock to the much-anticipated Fifty Shades of Grey this weekend to take in a steamy tale depicting a masochistic relationship between a brilliant businessman and an inquisitive college student. 

Interestingly enough, juxtaposed against the cinematic version of the E. L. James 100-million bestseller is Old Fashioned, a sweet, romantic movie that is everything Fifty Shades is not.

Fifty Shades is exploitation. Old Fashioned is innocent.

Fifty Shades is self-fulfilled fantasy. Old Fashioned is chivalrous.

Fifty Shades is raw. Old Fashioned is heart-warming.

Interested?

I recently sat down with Old Fashioned writer, director, and lead actor Rik Swartzwelder to discuss whether chivalry can still exist, the sacredness of romance, and why lasting love can be found through courtship, not fantasy.

If you could, please give me a sky-high view of the movie Old Fashioned. What is it about and what are you trying to convey in the film?

Old Fashioned is a contemporary love story. It takes place right now, it’s not the 1800s, because when you hear it’s kind of like being old fashioned, you start to think 1800s, Amish country, long dresses.  Old Fashioned is right now. It’s about a former frat boy and a free-spirited woman who, together, attempt what many would say is impossible and that’s a God-honoring, old fashioned courtship in contemporary America.  It’s important to know that they’re not two 26-year-olds. When you use the word “courtship,” you start to think of 16-year-olds with their families all around. These are two people in their mid-30s who come to the relationship with damage and baggage, and a lot of history.  It’s about how they tried to, in spite of all that and in spite of a culture that doesn’t necessarily affirm the sacredness of romance, how do you try to do it, how do you try to honor God in how you date as a single person. It’s messy and complicated, and right now it’s downright countercultural.

Is there an evangelistic message in Old Fashioned, or does faith simply come through in its storyline and characters?

I think primarily faith comes through in the characters and that it’s organic. But the film does two things: it holds up the godly standard for dating, and it does it without apology, and it’s strong and it’s clear.  I don’t want to get muddy on that.  What it also does is it does all of that in a way that doesn’t heap guilt upon those that may have blown it, people who don’t have perfect love stories, people that have bruised and battered love stories, and people that might be alone right now and have blown it. Maybe they’ve been hurt by someone or maybe they even hurt somebody. It’s about saying you still have a second chance of love, it doesn’t disqualify you because of your brokenness, and I think that’s what makes Old Fashioned unique is seeing there is a Godly standard, it’s very hard to obtain and we’re here to encourage you along that way. We’re not here to judge you or condemn you if you’ve blown it. I think that sort of sets our film apart.

I couldn’t help but notice in the marketing materials for Old Fashioned that in the tagline for the movie, you used the phrase “’chivalry makes a comeback.”  Did it ever go away?

I think the idea of taking things slowly goes both ways. When you hear the word “chivalry,” you think it’s the man being chivalrous to the woman, but I think there’s a call for the woman to be chivalrous toward the man, too. It’s about mutual respect and honoring, and approaching this whole thing with the measure of intention. And the other thing is it’s not just about not having sex outside of marriage. I think that’s a component of it, I think sex is for marriage and it’s a gift created by God, a wonderful gift, but it’s also about emotional boundaries and spiritual boundaries, and realizing that we’re not playing—this isn’t a game. In Song of Solomon 8:4 it says, “Do not awaken love before its appointed time.” We’re not playing games here. Love is something sacred and should be approached as such. And so I think it has. I think we live in a hook-up … the hook-up culture is almost our national pastime.

We can’t do this interview without talking about Fifty Shades of Grey and how Old Fashioned is being positioned to be a counter of sorts.  Was this movie written specifically to be a counterweight to Fifty Shades of Grey or is this just a coincidence?

When I was developing the idea, when I wrote the first draft of the screenplay, it was before the book Fifty Shades of Grey was even published. It wasn’t even on my radar. The making of the film was all about trying to tell a more beautiful love story that made room for God as part of the process of dating.  The film came to be, really, because at the time I was hanging around with a bunch of singles, all the way from people in their early 20s to mid 30s, and we were talking, all of us film lovers, and none of us had seen a film that really reflected our lives on screen. And with most movies there’s a segment of the population whose story isn’t being told, and someone steps out and says “I’m going to try and tell that story,” and that’s really how Old Fashioned came to be. It was just trying to tell the story, reflect our own lives on screen. The film was originally going to be released in the middle of last year, then just about a year ago, right after we had our first big public screening to 1,100 people it was announced Fifty Shades of Gray is going to release on Valentines’ Day of this year.  It was literally one of those moments where everything goes still.  You see lights start to shine down from Heaven.  So, we opted to release Old Fashioned on the same day Fifty Shades of Gray to show there is more to a relationship than sex.

As the writer, the director and lead actor, perhaps you washed pots and pans too ... what is your greatest hope for Old Fashioned?

I just want people to enjoy the story. It’s entertainment. We’re going to the movies here. We’re not going to church to hear a sermon. And I love a good sermon, but when you’re going to the movies, you’re going to the movies. You want to be entertained. So I hope they see the story unfold, that it moves them. I hope they laugh and I hope they cry.  I think if anyone comes to see our movie that maybe has some brokenness or some relational damage from the past, or maybe there’s something in them that still isn’t quite healed like the wound is still healing, that when they walk out of our film that their soul is somehow touched, their soul is somehow more complete leaving our film than it was going in. I hope some people might be challenged. I hope some people who don’t see romance as something sacred or love as something that is the spiritual component of love, that they might be challenged to raise the bar in their own life. I love movies that challenge me. I see a lot of movies that I don’t agree with what the filmmaker believes, either religiously or politically, and I love movies that challenge me, because it does two things. It either helps me clarify my own position or it changes me, and I love that. That’s the magic of a great movie.