Salt Lake City, USA - Kim Stinger never thought her boys looked like Gordon B. Hinckley until Mormon director T.C. Christensen tapped them to play the late LDS prophet in different boyhood stages.
First up was 5-year-old Koleman Stinger, who got to portray a disobedient Hinckley, whose mother washed his mouth out with soap for swearing.
Most Mormons have heard the story either from Hinckley himself during one of his many sermons, or from reading it in Hinckley's best-selling book Standing for Something: 10 Neglected Virtues That Will Heal Our Hearts and Homes.
But when actress playing Hinckley's mother became stern, the little Bountiful boy burst into tears, not at all like the stoic Hinckley. So the scene had to be changed to fit
the action.
No matter.
The DVD docudrama "Gordon B. Hinckley: A Giant Among Men," now available in stores, offers many real-life situations drawn from the life of the 15th president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, who died in January at 97. He is seen at his home, studying with his mother from the great books; in England as a Mormon missionary; in the railroad car; behind a typewriter; and hand in hand with his wife, Marjorie, who walked beside him for seven decades. Christensen started filming in July and just finished editing the film last month. He was hired to make it by Living Scriptures, a Utah company that produces and sells Mormon-related DVDs.
Christensen said he hopes his film will humanize the beloved LDS leader so people will understand that Mormon prophets don't live "this sanctified, holy existence the whole time. They are people just like us."
Stinger, mother of six, thinks her three boys got the message. The experience was " a treasure" for the whole family, something they will always remember.
"I played President Hinckley as a 12-year-old. I got a patriarchal blessing and got in trouble for missing school," 10-year-old Kaleb said. "It was really fun and I'm glad I could do it."