Star-studded movie premieres are just part of the job for successful Hollywood screenwriter Mike Rich, who’s written such films as “Finding Forrester,” “The Rookie” and “Radio.”

This weekend’s premiere of Rich’s latest film, however, will be more exciting than usual — not because of the guest list but because of where it’s taking place.

The Vatican is hosting its first movie premiere ever with a showing of “The Nativity Story” for an audience of more than 7,000 people on Sunday. Rich, a 1982 graduate of Oregon State University who now lives in Beaverton, will be on hand along with director Catherine Hardwicke and several of the actors.

“The Nativity Story” opens Friday in more than 3,000 theaters nationwide, and before the end of the holiday season it will appear on another 5,000 screens around the world. The film will show locally at Corvallis’ Carmike Cinemas.

During a recent visit to the mid-valley to see his youngest daughter, a junior at OSU, and attend the Homecoming football game against Arizona State, Rich spoke of the whirlwind schedule leading up to the movie’s release.

“It’s been tiring, but boy, it’s also exhilarating,” said Rich. “I’m more excited about making this film than any other because it was such a passionate project.”

Rich said the idea for the movie was sparked by cover stories about the birth of Jesus that appeared in Newsweek and Time during the same week in December 2004.

“It struck me that the story is usually told as an event-based story. We rarely look at it as a character story,” he said.

That’s not surprising, he continued, since the Nativity is mentioned in just two of the four Gospels and the 110-mile journey between Nazareth and Bethlehem is described in just one sentence. But buoyed by warm memories of Christmases spent in his hometown of Enterprise, Rich decided to dig deeper.

“Christmas was the centerpiece of our calendar,” Rich said of his family, which includes two younger brothers and one younger sister. “We didn’t just put up the Nativity set — our family had discussions about it.

“And I remember speakers were put up on the telephone poles downtown to play Christmas carols. It was really a special time of the year,” he said.

Rich spent 11 months researching the biblical, historical and cultural background of Jesus’ birth, and by Thanksgiving 2005 he was ready to write. The script was finished in just five weeks.

The dramatic circumstances of a young Jewish couple told by an angel that Mary will give birth to the long-awaited Messiah, coupled with the difficulties they faced when the rest of their community discovers Mary is pregnant, offer a naturally compelling story.

As he wrote, however, Rich realized that in taking on such a revered topic, coming up with the right context and appropriate dialogue would be critical.

“The easy approach would have been to tell it as a love story. But I wanted to go beyond that and write it as a story of faith and courage,” he said.

Rich acknowledged many of the scenes and conversations in the movie are speculative but he worked hard at fulfilling the spirit of the biblical account of Mary and Joseph’s experiences.

His research confirmed the picture he’d always had of Mary as a remarkably faithful young woman. But he had no preconceived notions of what Joseph was like.

“It was a journey for me. Joseph became a much more heroic character to me as it came together,” he said.

Joseph was willing to sacrifice his own reputation to fulfill the will of God, he explained, adding he believed his kind treatment of Mary was based not only on his love for her, but also on his commitment to God.

A few liberties were taken, in that the film’s manger scene includes simultaneous visits of the shepherds and the Magi, which might bother some purists, Rich said. But the filmmakers decided on an all-inclusive approach and used elements from both accounts in Matthew and Luke.

He is not aware of any major “red flags” raised by the film. “The Nativity Story” has been previewed by a number of Jewish and Christian scholars, clergy and organizations and several have expressed appreciation to the filmmakers for their attention to detail and accurately portraying Jewish traditions.

The $35 million movie was made in record time. New Line Cinema — the production company behind “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy — purchased the screenplay in January, determined to have the movie in theaters by December.

“On the one hand, that was pretty thrilling,” said Rich, “but on the other, it was terrifying. We needed to start filming by May 1.”

Within a few weeks, Catherine Hardwicke was hired as the film’s director and a search for actors was launched. Rich said there were days when 30 to 40 audition tapes from five different casting agencies arrived at his home in Beaverton.

“We weren’t looking for a cast of big-name stars. We wanted more of an international cast,” he explained. “We didn’t want someone to point to Joseph and say, ‘Didn’t I see him in ‘Mission Impossible III’?”

Rich thinks they hit the jackpot in casting Keisha Castle-Hughes — nominated for an Academy Award as a 12-year-old for her role in “Whale Rider” — as Mary. Oscar Isaac, from the upcoming movie “Guerrilla,” plays Joseph. Elizabeth is played by another Oscar nominee, Shoreh Aghdashloo from “House of Sand and Fog.”

The crew was shooting the film by May 2 in Matera, Italy, where much of Mel Gibson’s “The Passion of Christ” was filmed.

The production experience was inspiring, Rich said, as he watched the words he had written on paper come alive, revealing an intimate look at the human circumstances underlying the divine birth of Jesus.

One of his favorite scenes, when the light from the bright star overhead filters into the manger near the end of the movie, still gives him goosebumps every time he sees it.

Although he did not set out to write an evangelical film, Rich hopes “The Nativity Story” will do more than just entertain.

“Christmas has become such a hectic time filled with shopping deadlines and getting the decorations put up and Christmas cards mailed out,” he said. “If by going to see ‘The Nativity Story’ families can slow down for a couple of hours and contemplate the deeper meaning of this particular season and, ideally, have a conversation afterward about the characters’ strength and faith, I’ll be happy.”

Carol Reeves covers religion for the Gazette-Times. She can be reached by e-mail at carol.reeves@lee.net or by phone at 758-9516.At a glance

Mike Rich

AGE: 47

HOMETOWN: Enterprise

CURRENT RESIDENCE: Beaverton

FAMILY: Wife, Grace; and three children, Jessica, 22, Caitlin, 20, and Michael, 17

EDUCATION: Bachelor’s degree in business, Oregon State University, 1982

WORK EXPERIENCE: News writer for KINK Radio in Portland; Hollywood screenwriter

MAJOR FILMS: “Finding Forrester” (2000), “The Rookie” (2002), “Radio” (2003), “Miracle” (2004)

IN THE FUTURE: He would like to write more films with biblical themes, perhaps ones about John the Baptist, the Apostle Paul or the disciples after Jesus’ resurrection.

If you go

“The Nativity Story” will open at Carmike Cinemas, 750 N.E. Circle Blvd., on Friday. Showtimes are at 1, 3:10, 5:20, 7:30 and 9:40 p.m. The film is rated PG for mild violent content.