DESTIN—Arms crossed, nose pinched and a beatific smile on his face, Ott Sathngam let himself be guided backward into the Gulf of Mexico on Friday by Matt Plunk, the worship director at Village Baptist Church.
With a whoop, Sathngam launched himself in the air, arms pumped high. His jubilance was nearly matched by the onlookers who cheered and clapped.
But the joy from his “baptism” was short-lived.
“Brittany, did you get it?” director Sharon Wilharm called from shore to the teenager in the water holding a small camera near Sathngam.
“Ott, that was supposed to be practice!” casting director Grace Plunk laughed as Sathngam waded back to shore.
Filming the beach scene for the silent evangelical film “The Good Book” wrapped up Friday afternoon in Destin.
The movie follows a copy of the Bible as it make its way through the hands of seven people, Wilharm said. The Bible is found in the Gulf during the baptism and then sent to a country that bans Bibles.
Wilharm grew up in Destin and decided to come back to film after her friend, Grace Plunk, moved to the area.
Wilharm hopes a silent movie cross cultural and language barriers and reach more people. She wanted to expand on the idiom, “show, don’t tell.”
“Why not take it to the extreme?” Wilharm said.
More than 30 local extras were at the beach for Friday’s filming.
Grace Ann Mottola also was baptized in the scene. The 11-year-old aspring actress tried to imagine the happiness of someone who “wanted to be with God for the rest of their life.”
“That's a great feeling to have,” she said.
Her grandmother, Katie Corbett, also was an extra.
“It runs in the family,” Corbett said.
For Sathngam, the film offers a chance to witness to others and spread the Bible.
Filming is not exactly what he imagined, though. There were a lot of retakes.
“Now I know why brad Pitt makes a lot of money,” Sathngam joked.
