Article September 8, 2003 Issue

'Why God has me in this business'

Movie producer Elizabeth Avellan sees her work as spiritual ministry. By Kate Dearborn

I've loved movies ever since I was a child. On Saturdays, my mom would drop my sisters and me off at a theater for the matinees I shared with hundreds of other kinds in town, always accompanied by popcorn or candy. As soon as the lights went down, I would be on that western prairie or in outer space with the characters on screen.

I'm the mom now, and these days my family looks forward to seeing the big summer movies together. This summer's big "kid" movie, Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over, has many of the very elements—3-D projection, adventure, suspense, heroism, good guys and bad guys—that used to get me so far into the story that I forgot I was sitting in an air-conditioned theater.

Juni Cortez, Spy Kids' littlest Cortez, has all the characteristics of a classic hero. But for me, the qualities Juni has in spades—honesty, wisdom, intelligence, and humor—have a spiritual source. At first, Juni is afraid he'll fail. He has enough confidence and wisdom, though, to ask his grandfather to be his partner in a video game in which he must rescue his sister.