Jason Burkey

Talk about the character you play in "A Long Way Off"

My character Jake wants this better life for himself, he just leaves his family and pursues worldly desires. I think we all can relate to wanting something out of life that we think we deserve. My character learns the hard way that the life he wanted was outside of God's will. We've all been there and pursued our desires but at the end, God has welcomed us back with open arms.

In taking roles, what type of films do you look for?

I like to do stories that have hope and redemption in them. You go on these journeys with the characters and your with them in the highs and lows. I just hope that people are entertained by the roles I play.

Can you talk about the landscape of faith-based movies?

I think Hollywood is starting to capitalizing on the audience. My hope is that they do justice to the stories that they're telling. I see Christian movies continually getting better, in the past it's been cheesy and I think we are slowly getting out of that, it's a good time to be involved in it.

There's been a great debate on how Hollywood is altering Biblical movies, can you share your thoughts on that?

There's enough entertainment in biblical stories, you don't need to change it and you don't need to sugar coat it either. They can be raw and dark, it doesn't always have to be all smiles because that's not what it was like. In the story of David you get to see the darkness, the temptation, so you have to stay true to the story.