STUDIO CITY, CA — The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has announced that acclaimed actor Tim Robbins, known for masterfully falling out of a window in The Hudsucker Proxy, will be playing the role of Joseph Smith. The film makers noted that falling out of a window to his death was the greatest gift Smith had given to mankind. “We realized the last two hours of his life were really the focus of his life’s work,” remarked Shannon Farnsworth, assistant producer.
Tim Robbins is also known for his role in The Shawshank Redemption, where he convincingly plays an overly-persecuted white man who relies on an African American man (played by Morgan Freeman) to cheer him up, therefore perfect for his new role as a personable-yet-out-of-touch Mormon.
Robbins, whose unparalleled ability to convincingly tumble from high places and land with all the dramatic intensity of the atonement itself, was chosen for the role after a lengthy search for an actor who could truly embody Smith’s final moments — namely, a dramatic fall through a window after being shot by an angry mob, the completely normal way for any respectable man of God to die.
“We wanted an actor who could not only capture Joseph Smith’s deep spiritual conviction, but also someone who could sell the absolute gravity of the moment when Smith fell through a third-story window after being fatally shot,” said the film’s director, Jared McMillan. “And Tim Robbins, well, nobody does a better window-fall than Tim. If he’s good enough for the Coen Brothers, he’s far too qualified for this production.”
Indeed, many critics have noted Robbins’ unparalleled prowess in this department, from his memorable dive into a prison sewage tunnel in Shawshank to his unforgettable plummet from a skyscraper in The Hudsucker Proxy. “It’s almost like he was born to fall,” said cinema historian Barbara McGregor. “His falls are poetry in motion. You know exactly when the window is coming, but he still manages to surprise you.”
The movie, tentatively titled Obedience to the Law (of Gravity), will focus heavily on the final moments of Smith’s life, when he was fatally shot by an angry mob in Carthage, Illinois, before falling dramatically out of the window of a jailhouse. The moment has been described by LDS historians as “perhaps the most iconic window fall in all of religious, and soon, Hollywood history.”
Line upon line, precept upon precept is how I plan on memorizing this script.
Tim Robbins as he was getting into character as Joseph Smith
“It’s an incredibly emotional scene,” said screenwriter Rick Dunford, who has spent months poring over ancient documents, church records, and, of course, YouTube clips of Tim Robbins falling to craft the script. “You have Joseph Smith, a man of great conviction, though vulnerable and unable to defy death as Robbins does in The Hudsucker Proxy. It’s compelling stuff. It’s a fall that symbolizes so much more than just physical demise; it’s the fall of a visionary who believed in something higher, and the physical manifestation of that belief is… falling. A lot.”
Filming is set to begin next month at the Church’s Salt Lake City headquarters, with state-of-the-art harnesses, green screens, and special effects to ensure that Robbins’s performance truly delivers the gravity of the moment. The director emphasized that this would be a faithful retelling of the story, including the specific angle at which Smith’s body would have likely flown out the window, as well as the exact “flailing motion” of his limbs, which has been the subject of intense debate among LDS scholars and apologists alike.
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Robbins, for his part, is said to be taking the role very seriously. “I’m honored to be portraying Joseph Smith, the infamously accident-prone prophet. But let’s be honest — I’m really looking forward to the window scene,” Robbins said in a recent interview. “I’ve fallen through a lot of windows in my career, but this one feels special. It’s not just a window. It’s the window. I just hope heaven opens its ‘blessing windows’ once shooting begins.”
Despite the film’s heavy focus on Smith’s death, sources reveal that the movie will have lighter moments as well, such as the moments before violence erupted when Smith beat all other Carthage prisoners in a game of leg wrestling.
The casting decision has sparked mixed reactions from the LDS community, with some praising the choice for its artistic vision and others wondering if they’ll see Robbins attempt a CGI-enhanced re-enactment of Smith’s infamous First Vision, with the only question being, which of the many versions of the vision will be portrayed?
The Church has already floated the idea of offering Robbins the role of Adam in a future production, although a much more metaphorical fall would be required of Robbins.
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