The Making of the Shack

Did you read the best-selling novel? Are you planning to see the movie? The lead actor shares some of the real miracles behind the scenes

- Sam Worthington

Sometimes as an actor you feel an instinctual connection to a role, but it’s only in hind-sight, after the filming is over, that you can see why you wanted to do that movie. Why you needed to play that particular role as part of your own spiritual journey.

That’s what happened to me with Mack, the lead character in The Shack. When I first read the script, based on the novel by William Paul Young, I knew I wanted to be in it. Only looking back now do I fully understand why.

The book, as you probably know, was a huge best seller. Young originally wrote it as a Christmas present for his kids. He never expected that its message of hope in the midst of despair would reach millions. The plot centers around Mack, a dad with a complicated past. As the film begins, he is in deep mourning for his six-year-old daughter, Missy, who’d been abducted on a camping trip four years earlier and brutally murdered. Mack is tortured by guilt over the crime, blaming himself for not protecting his little girl, and he is unspeakably angry at God. How could a loving Father let such a thing happen?

Then Mack gets a mysterious letter with no stamp, postmark or return address. There aren’t even any footprints in the snow around the mailbox to indicate who delivered it. “It’s been a while,” the letter says. “I’ve missed you. I’ll be at the shack next weekend if you want to get together. —Papa.”