A Rich Mullins... movie?

Matthew Johnson alerted me yesterday to the trailer that’s out for a movie about Rich Mullins. Before I comment, here’s the trailer:

Honestly, my first thought was that it’s been more than 15 years since Rich died in a car accident, and I’m still not really ready to see a movie. All the trailer’s foreshadowing with him driving in the Jeep is enough to bring tears to my eyes.

I never met Rich Mullins or even saw him play a concert, and yet he remains my most significant musical influence. I listened to his records (well, cassette tapes and CDs) over and over and over through high school and college. I sang his songs. I learned his piano riffs. After he died I organized a little band to do a 4-song memorial tribute to him in our college chapel service. I guarantee you if you sat me down at a piano I could play and sing at least three dozen of his songs from memory.

Here’s my other hang-up with the movie: I know Rich almost exclusively from his songs. Do I really want to deal with some other writer’s dramatization, and some actor’s impression, of his life? Maybe not.

Instead, I kicked up iTunes and started on a bender playing through Rich’s classic albums The World As Best As I Can Remember It, Vol. 1 and 2, Never Picture Perfect, and A Liturgy, A Legacy, and A Ragamuffin Band. You guys can let me know how the movie turns out, but those records may be all of the Rich I ever really need to know.