Guess who is coming to the the Firm Foundation’s 31st International Book of Mormon Evidence Conference? KIETH MERRILL! The most unique thing about Kieth is not how he spells his first name. KIETH, not the usual Keith. The most unique thing will be that he will be a new spokesman for Phoenicia Museum.
Kieth Merrill-Spokesman for the Phoenicia
Read about the unveiling of the Phoenicia Model Museum created by world renowned architect Clark Schaffer.
The best and most exciting thing about this Oscar winning, 45+ film and documentary maker, is he will be on our video screen from California at 9 am at our Main Conference Stage at the Mountain America Expo Center at 9575 S. State St. Sandy Utah, 84070 in Hall 4. He is the longtime Heartlander friend of many of us. We know him best for this video you can watch below about how much he loves the heartland. Kieth has agreed to be the new spokesperson for the Phoenicia Museum, that Mike and Betty Lafontaine, and John Lefgren own in Montrose, Iowa. On the Lord’s day April 6th, 2023, Kieth will present a video endorsement of the Heartland and the Phoenicia Museum. See the flyer above. You don’t want to miss it.
The internationally recognized and popular Schaffer Studios, owned by Clark Schaffer and is located at 265 S 400 E, Spanish Fork, UT 84660 is creating a architectural Model for the Phoenicia Museum which will be built based on the sketch below at Montrose, Iowa on the Mississippi River. A huge touch of the Old World right in the middle of the Heartland of the United States. An incredible tourist opportunity. Visit and Donate Here: phoenicia.rocks.
Clark Schaffer has built a replica model of how the museum will actually look. The prosess for building this wonderful museum on the Mississippi has begun.
In the video above, Writer/Director Kieth Merrill discusses the purpose of “The Testaments” and it’s testimony of Jesus Christ and the new evidence pointing to the geography of the Book of Mormon in North America. To share the preceding video with others, here is the link: https://bookofmormonevidence.org/kieth-merrill-interview/
Renaissance man Kieth Merrill lives life on a large scale
KIETH MERRILL writes screenplays, produces award-winning films, is an adventurer, a family man and now adds author to his résumé. Democrat photo by Shelly Thorene
What makes a person interesting is often a different perspective than most and actions and accomplishments that reflect that perspective.
“Everybody has a story. The longer I live, the easier it becomes to step into someone’s story,” said Kieth Merrill, 71, author, film director, screenwriter, artist and producer.
Merrill’s own story comes from a bigger perspective than many others — from dairy farm childhood, to living with an isolated tribe in the Amazon, to the Academy Awards, to raising eight children, and making 45 movies.
In 1972, Merrill was making industrial education documentaries when “On Any Sunday,” a documentary film about motorcycle racing by director Bruce Brown, came out in movie theaters.
“The theater was sold out and there were lines around the corner — for a documentary,” remembered Merrill.
After watching the film, he realized it was something he could have done. The next day he brainstormed a list of grand adventures that no one had yet explored in film and decided on professional rodeo.
A year later, Merrill earned an Academy Award for Best Documentary Film for “The Great American Cowboy.” His documentary about professional rodeo was told through the battle between veteran rodeo rider Larry Mahan and newcomer Phil Lyne for the world championship.
Many worlds, many stories
Through the making of 45 movies, Merrill has lived in a variety of worlds.
“When I’m making a movie, I drop into a completely different world — one I’ve created and inhabit. It’s not an experience that most people have.”
He developed “destination cinema” with such subjects as the Grand Canyon, Zion National Park, the Amazon, Yellowstone National Park, the Alamo, San Francisco, Polynesia and the Ozarks — almost all for the huge IMAX screens. He has plans to do an IMAX destination movie at the Great Wall of China.
His movies have won a plethora of awards and two of them, “Windwalker” and “Grand Canyon: The Hidden Secrets” are listed in the top 100 independent films of all time.
New adventure
Merrill has written many screenplays, but his newest writing adventure is his first book titled, “The Evolution of Thomas Hall.”
“It’s a story I wrote for a film that wasn’t produced. I’ve always been fascinated by God, the Universe, evolution, creation, why we’re here — this book is the collision of all my fascinations.
Thomas Hall is a brilliant artist with two important commissions — a mural of Christ for a children’s hospital and a mural honoring Charles Darwin and the theory of evolution.
The polarization of the two projects propels Hall into a powerful journey of self-discovery described with all the color, action and realism of Merrill’s considerable writing skills.
Merrill said he has sketched, painted and experienced everything Thomas Hall encounters.
“I wrote this book for my publisher, Sheri Dew, but I have other books in mind,” said Merrill who has a series of fiction books about a documentary filmmaker who has Indiana Jones types of adventures while filming.
One story, he plans to call Jack Stone and the Amazon Woman, has the main character filming endangered tribes in the Amazon, something that Merrill actually did himself.
A writing cocoon
Merrill goes into what he calls “creative seclusion” in order to write — “only my wife and God are allowed to interrupt me,” he said.
Fueled by a combo of orange juice and RedBull with a lot of ice, he finds even rewriting to be fun. “After the first hour and a half, I get into the zone and writing is joyous.”
Merrill and Dagny, his wife of 47 years, have eight children, 33 grandchildren and one great-grandchild. “Whenever I went out scouting locations for movies, I always took along at least one of my kids.”
“Dagny is my best friend, confidant, business partner, family partner, mother, wife and the love of my life for 53 years,” said Merrill.
The couple, who married in the Salt Lake City Mormon Temple when Merrill returned from a stint in the Army and a two plus year mission to Denmark, agreed to live the first 35 years of their marriage where Dagny, a California girl, wanted to live and the next 35 on a ranch where Kieth wanted to live.
Dagny picked Los Altos Hills — “the most expensive place on earth,” according to Kieth, and when their youngest child went off to college, the couple moved to a ranch in Rogue River, Ore.
After a year with cows on the lawn and 40 minute drives to the closest grocery, they moved to El Dorado County, eventually onto a mini-ranch in Shingle Springs where Kieth works out of a writer’s fantasy cottage with a fireplace, ceiling to floor bookshelves and French doors that open right into Dagny’s magnificent rose garden.
“I had to write a book just to justify the cottage,” said Merrill.
With a sequel to “The Twelve Dogs of Christmas,” on his plate, a trip to China to film the Great Wall, at least three books to write, serving as assistant Boy Scout leader and counselor in charge of support and teacher training for the El Dorado Stake Sunday School Presidency, a swirl of ideas to act on and a big family to love, Merrill continues adventuring through life.
“I don’t know what I want to be when I grow up,” said Merrill. “I’ve never had a real job — I’m never sure where life is going to go. The phone can ring and open a window I never thought about before. I think the creative spark keeps you alive. There’s one last great epic I want to make and on the last day of shooting I want to say ,’Cut and wrap,’ and then keel over dead.” Source
“The Evolution of Thomas Hall” is available from deseretbook.com here
