By By JONATHAN CLAYBORNE
Staff Writer
A congressional candidate and minister in the east wrote and directed a 2005 film that ostensibly references his stint as a maker of pornographic movies.
This week, the candidate said the pornography-related portion of the partly autobiographical docudrama was a work of fiction.
“I had to embellish and fabricate a rather unsavory past in order to be more accessible to people who want to enter the body of Christ, but unfortunately have been hurt by communities of faith or have been hurt by people in the ministry,” said Jerry Grimes of Goldsboro.
In an interview with the Washington Daily News, Grimes said some of the seamier parts of his film “Death of a Preacher” were designed to capture the attention of youths who feel neglected by the church.
Grimes, 32, has said he is assistant pastor of Peter’s Tabernacle Missionary Baptist Church in Wallace. He has characterized the film as part of his religious outreach efforts.
He is one of four candidates seeking the Republican nomination to run against U.S. Rep. G.K. Butterfield, D-N.C., of Wilson.
In addition to being a minister, Grimes is a onetime film student.
He said the original, 35-minute version of “Death of a Preacher” was a “very censored, sanitized version” that attracted little attention.
He said a longer cut of the film — which includes the references to adult filmmaking — “is far more of a docudrama than a documentary.”
“If you notice, the more unsavory and scandalous parts of the film are always dramatized,” he noted.
A Daily News reporter viewed the grittier version of the film, which is just over 75 minutes long, online.
The film mentions “certain distractions in Hollywood,” and around this point a scantily clad woman dances around the seated narrator — presumably Grimes.
“I can’t lie to you,” Grimes says in his narration. “I was just mesmerized by half-naked, beautiful women.”
The narrator says his film company was losing money, indicating that the loss of revenue led him into the adult-entertainment field.
The narrator wonders aloud what would happen if he paid a woman $1,000 “to maybe engage in some very natural action in front of the camera.”
The film documents the narrator’s journey from eastern North Carolina to California, back home — and to the church.
In the interview, Grimes said he never actually entered the adult-film industry, adding that the admittedly shocking material was calculated to minister to a hardened and disgruntled generation of young people.
“As a minister, believe it or not — and this is rather unfortunate — it is much easier to do the work of ministry when people believe that you have been involved in some sort of scandalous activity,” he told the Daily News.
In an online letter titled “Why I Cannot Run for U.S. Congress,” Grimes wrote about his filmmaking.
One incarnation of the letter asserts, “Because my moral code was driven by profit margins, I had no problem lending my services as a filmmaker and consultant to production companies whose target demographics consisted of adult audiences.”
Grimes says an altered version of this letter was authored by someone using his identity at LiveJournal.com.
In the interview, Grimes said he has made “so many powerful enemies” during his bid for office that his detractors would have provided proof of his pornographic work long ago, if such evidence existed.
Grimes said he has never been involved with pornographic filmmaking, though he did acknowledge having visited a strip club.
“What I needed was a tool of evangelism to reach … people who are unreachable,” he said.
Grimes claimed that, as a candidate, he has received hate mail and threats, including political threats from people pledging to force him out of the race.
“It has made the primary, for me, difficult,” he acknowledged, speaking of “Death of a Preacher.”
“It might possibly cost me the primary,” he said. “It has certainly caused my supporters quite a few headaches.”
Grimes said he’s fielded questions about the film on the campaign trail, but he insisted that he didn’t broach the issue early in his campaign because he didn’t want voters to think his candidacy was a publicity stunt to promote “Death of a Preacher” and its sequel, “Death of a Preacher II: Western Wall.”
The film aside, it appears Grimes harbors doubts about his chances of political success this year.
The candidate said that one of his GOP opponents, Ashley Woolard of Washington, is the front-runner in the race. He cited a poll that couldn’t be located or verified by the Daily News on Wednesday.
Asked about the content of “Death of a Preacher,” Woolard had this to say: “If this is true, this saddens me. As Republicans, we must always take the moral high ground. Without knowing more at this time on this issue, I feel any further comment would be inappropriate.”
In response to a follow-up question, he added: “Numerous people have asked me about this throughout the district. And they certainly do not believe this (film) is fiction.”
Grimes directed further inquiries about “Death of a Preacher” to his campaign Web site.
“One thing I would say is that in watching the video on my home page, I clarify it to a great extent,” Grimes said of his intentions.