John Wayne needed divine intervention to make his toughest movie: “Duke had a priest on set”
Many actors and directors have compared filmmaking to a religious experience, but John Wayne took things more literally when he enlisted a priest to bless the set of a movie he knew would be the toughest of his career.
Dragging any production across the finish line requires plenty of hard work, dedication, and commitment, and for those who believe, it can also be a matter of faith. ‘The Duke’ wasn’t the type to get nervous, but he was clearly in need of assistance when he sought the OK from the man upstairs ahead of shooting.
To be fair, it was a massive undertaking. Not only had he developed the project from the ground up and nurtured it for over a decade, but the actor was so invested in The Alamo that he ended the longest professional partnership of his career to strike out on his own and guarantee his passion project was made.
It also happened to be the cinematic superstar’s feature-length directorial debut, one that he didn’t want to play the lead role in, but did because it was a lot easier to secure the funding for a John Wayne movie if John Wayne was the focal point. Armed with a sprawling cast, hundreds of extras, and a significant budget, principal photography couldn’t begin until the heavens had blessed it.
It was an unusual way to begin a movie, and while the odd eyebrow was raised at the leading man and director’s decision to kick things off with a man of the cloth, Ken Curtis, who played Almeron Dickinson, knew that Wayne wouldn’t have gone to such lengths if he didn’t think the lord above could aid him on his mission to make the darndest period-set blockbuster known to man.
“Duke had a priest come on the set of the first day of the filming to bless the production,” Curtis informed Michael Munn. “I’m not sure why Duke decided to do that. I guess he felt making The Alamo was his kind of divine mission, and he might just as well get the good lord on his side from the outset. It was actually an impressive moment when the priest said his prayer.”
As a man of upstanding principles and moral conviction, as far as they related to his worldview, Curtis thought that if anybody else had gathered everyone together to witness a priest blessing a film set, it would have been ridiculous. However, this being Wayne, he instantly knew it was serious business.
“If it were anyone but Duke, I would have said the prayer was a gimmick,” the actor acknowledged. “But you didn’t get gimmicks with Duke, especially not when it involved God.” Did it help The Alamo go off without a hitch? Not really, when Wayne frequently found himself at odds with some of his collaborators.
Did it make the movie a success? Technically, seeing as it was a ‘Best Picture’ nominee at the Academy Awards, but it didn’t perform well enough at the box office to earn him a single penny in profit. Was it the greatest film ‘The Duke’ ever made? Not even close, but nothing disastrous unfolded, so maybe the priest was the right call.
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