At this year’s Toronto Film Festival, I was able to speak with Sam Childers and screenwriter Jason Keller about director Marc Forster’s Machine Gun Preacher.   The movie is based on the real-life story of Childers (played by Gerard Butler), a former drug-dealer who turned his life around and now devotes his time to saving kidnapped and orphaned children in Sudan.  The film also stars Michelle Monaghan and Michael Shannon.  It’s a hell of a story and one that I’m glad got told.  You can watch some clips here.During the interview, they talked about how much is based on real events and how much was Hollywoodized, the way they worked together to get everything right, the current status of things in Sudan, and the way regular folks can help out.  Hit the jump to watch.And if you missed it, here's my video interview with Gerard Butler and Michelle Monaghan.Sam Childers and Screenwriter Jason Keller

  • Sam says he's taking my t-shirt
  • How much of the film is real and how much was Hollywoodized. Says they amped up some of the action scenes.  Sam also talks about how they had to condense some of the time line but the first part of the movie is extremely accurate.
  • How did they work together to craft the story and get everything right
  • How have things been going in Sudan
  • Sam mentions where people can go to help out with the cause

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