David L. Cunningham, Director of “Kevin Costner Presents: The First Christmas,” Reminds Audiences of the Historical Importance of the Christmas Story
David L. Cunningham is a film director known for To End All Wars (2001), Beyond Paradise (1998), and The Wind & The Reckoning (2022). His newest film follows a young Mary and Joseph as they discover they are going to be the parents of the Savior. Kevin Costner Presents: The First Christmas will be released on December 9th, 2025, on ABC.
Read the transcript below.
(Note: This interview has been edited for length and clarity. Watch the full conversation above.)
Nyah Carlson: David, congratulations on the film. It’s really interesting. I like how you set it up as a documentary. What led you to use that structure?
David Cunningham: It fit. We wanted to make it feel like you’re watching a movie with Kevin Costner, like when Walt Disney used to come out and introduce a film. We wanted to get back to that. Then we wanted to unpack certain facts and interesting tidbits that we didn’t know about in the story.
As we say in the script, we wanted to honor believers who—like myself—believe in every word of this. We also wanted to be welcoming to those who aren’t people of faith. We wanted to say, “Hey, you might be celebrating this holiday every year. Why don’t we go back and learn a little history together?” So the idea was to be welcoming, not cynical, and to be honoring of the text and the audience.
Carlson: Why Kevin Costner? How did that come about?
Cunningham: One of our partners, Mark Pierce, had worked with him before, and we thought we’d give it a shot. Kevin grew up in the church and has roots in the faith. When we approached him, he actually said he wanted to be doing something in the Christmas world. When he read our script and signed on, we just couldn’t believe it.
Carlson: Going back to approaching it as a historical document, because it is history, how much of the script came straight from the Bible? How much came from alternative sources?
Cunningham: Well, my true north was Scripture. We had some additional historical help from [Flavius] Josephus, a Jewish historian who wrote a lot about Herod and about Rome. But whenever anyone spoke, we tried to make it right out of Scripture.
Carlson: And you shot it in Morocco on the Gladiator set?
Cunningham: Yeah, we were in Ouarzazate, Morocco, and we were shooting on these epic sets that Ridley Scott built. We were a much smaller production, of course, but there was a lot invested by other projects that we were able to work with. We had fantastic extras and the whole nine yards—camels, goats, chickens, and sheep. We really wanted to bring people back into that world.
Carlson: As a director, what was your approach? Did your directing style change going from narrative films to documentary?
Cunningham: No, I originally started out in [documentaries] and then indie films. Then I worked with studios and features and narratives for many years and then back to indies again. I kind of bounced around different formats. I personally really love this format, because you’re basically showing a movie and then popping up and going, “Hey, do you know about this?” So I love the format.
Carlson: What do you want audiences to take away from this film?
Cunningham: I think it’s pretty basic. It’s the reason for the season. It’s Christ in Christmas. And I know that sounds cliche, but we hope to point people back to why we gather every year. And hopefully that will open some doors for people to look into the story further and meet the person of Jesus themselves.
Carlson: Thanks for talking with me, and congratulations and good luck on the film.
Cunningham: Thanks, Nyah. I appreciate it.
