Winter On Religion And Hollywood

Ralph Winter, familiar to Star Trek fans for his work on the second through sixth Star Trek films, finds that having a good support session is crucial to having one's faith survive a high-stress environment.

As reported by Acton.org, a supportive wife and friends help to kee Winter grounded. "I've got a support system in place that helps make that all work," he explained. "Primarily, a wife who understands as well as challenges me. I've been married for thirty-one years. Our lives are centered around our faith in terms of what we're about, where we're going, and why we do things. That remains at the center. And this is a fun job. I like it. I think I'm making a contribution by what I do."

A film producer who got his start with the Star Trek movies, Winter was a post-production supervisor on Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. With each film, he worked his way up, moving from associate producer in Star Trek III: The Search for Spock to executive producer on Star Trek IV: The Voyager Home and Star Trek V: The Final Frontier, and finally to producer with Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country. Winter has gone on to produce other films such as Hackers, Mighty Joe Young, Inspector Gadget and all three X-Men movies.

Winter does not find Hollywood to be hostile to Christians, although he acknowledges that sometimes bad behaviors on the part of prominent Christians can lead to generalization of the group as a whole. "I think Hollywood is made up of a lot of people who are good people and family oriented, [who] want to do good things that aren't anti-faith," he explained. "I think there are certainly people who want to wear their faith on their sleeve. What did Pat Robertson say about trying to assassinate somebody? Well, when some guys like that say things like that, we all get lumped into one category. But I think that happens in manufacturing, in business, in retail, and in banking. It's easy to get lumped in with the whackos that are out there. And I think I haven't really encountered a hostile environment because I'm a Christian. It's known at the studio what I stand for and who I am."

To read more, including Winter's views on values-driven films versus more provocative offerings, head to the article located here.

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