A Conversation about the Film “Bonhoeffer” with Todd Komarnicki
Todd Komarnicki, writer and director of the film “Bonhoeffer” joins us for a lively discussion about many topics, including his creative process, politics, jazz, and faith. He shares insights into his portrayal of the film’s hero, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a German theologian and anti-Nazi dissident whose writings deeply influenced David’s spiritual and professional formation. Komarnicki reflects on the deep lessons he’s learned from Bonhoeffer’s life, and shares his frustration with some misconceptions about the film’s association with political ideologies.
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Todd Komarnicki is a prolific writer, producer, and director of film and television as well as an acclaimed novelist. Komarnicki’s screenplays include SULLY directed by Clint Eastwood and starring Tom Hanks, which opened at #1 in the box office to rave reviews from critics and audiences alike. Komarnicki has also written an adaptation of the international bestseller, THE PROFESSOR AND THE MADMAN, starring Mel Gibson and Sean Penn; and he wrote, produced, and directed, BONHOEFFER, the WW2 true story of legendary pastor turned assassin, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, which is being released theatrically worldwide November 22, 2024. In television, Komarnicki has written EARTH ABIDES, for MGM+, an adaptation of the international sci-fi favorite, by George Stewart, the series premieres December 1st. In the literary world, his first novel, Free, was published by Doubleday in 1993 and his second novel, famine (Arcade 1997), received tremendous reviews and was subsequently translated into French, Italian, and German. His third novel, war, was published to exceptional reviews in July of 2008 by Arcade.
Komarnicki is the president & founder of the production company Guy Walks Into A Bar. Komarnicki and Guy Walks partner Jon Berg produced the Christmas blockbuster ELF, starring Will Ferrell and directed by Jon Favreau. The film has become a worldwide perennial favorite every Christmas season.
Komarnicki lives in New York City with his wife, Jane, their daughter, Remy, and son, Dashiell.
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Bonhoeffer’s last words: ”For me this is not the end, but the beginning of life.“
For further reading:
Letters and Papers from Prison (1951) by Dietrich Bonhoeffer
The Cost of Discipleship (1937) by Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Life Together (1939) by Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Bonhoeffer, Christ and Culture (2013), edited by Keith L. Johnson and Timothy Larsen
Bonhoeffer’s Black Jesus: Harlem Renaissance Theology and an Ethic of Resistance (2021) by Reggie L. Williams
Letter from Bonhoeffer’s Relatives Against the Distortion of His Legacy (English translation from Zeit Online)
John 13:3-5,12-17
Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going back to God, rose from supper. He laid aside his outer garments, and taking a towel, tied it around his waist. Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples' feet and to wipe them with the towel that was wrapped around him.
When he had washed their feet and put on his outer garments and resumed his place, he said to them, “Do you understand what I have done to you? You call me Teacher and Lord, and you are right, for so I am. If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet. For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you. Truly, truly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them.
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Produced by Zach Van Dyke
