So many things that seemed just physically impossible turned out to have been medically documented hundreds of times over. Elements of our culture that we had always taken for granted - the New Testament for example - turned out to be minefields of contradiction and even conspiracy.

While it must be said that Stigmata is not a true story, and that its characters are fictional, many of its most dramatic events are based on actual stigmatic accounts.

As you can guess, the film involved quite a substantial amount of research - from examining historical records on the actual methods of crucifixion, to studying the strands and layers of the New Testament; from the journals and diaries of noted stigmatics of this century (for example Padre Pio, who has recently been beatified by Pope John Paul II), to the writings of female medieval mystics such as Juliana of Norwich and Theresa of Avila; from research on extraordinary human behavior in "supernatural" situations, to the written history of the pre-Roman Christian Church; from the internal security systems of the Vatican to the rituals involved in possession and excommunication. Our research took us places our imaginations could not.

In point of fact, we were intent on trying to keep Stigmata within the realm of an audience's acceptable reality. We did not want to be sensational or exploitative for entertainment's value. It was our goal to present this story as an unbelievable, yet wholly possible phenomenon. While the film is certainly not a documentary, in the realm of the "supernatural," we have found truth to be stranger than fiction.

Rupert Wainwright, Director
Frank Mancuso Jr., Producer
Tom Lazarus, Screenwriter
Rick Ramage, Screenwriter

Los Angeles, July 1999