"I remember having lunch with Russ Holt to talk about the emerging LDS marketplace for film," Swofford said. "And it suddenly hit me. Why not do something like this? The books are practically a cultural phenomenon, and you've already got a built-in audience. The books have sold millions."

Miller says he "came in late in the game," both with the films and the books. He began reading Elder Lund's series with the fourth book and quickly became "one of those people who was writing to him to ask when the fifth one — and sixth one — were coming out."

And his "passion" for the books fueled Miller's desire to help see them turned into films. "I feel fortunate to be on the edge of a movie voyage that may take us five or six years to complete."

There is a lot riding on the success of the film. And both Swofford and Elder Lund say that if it doesn't at least break even, it may not be worth continuing the series. "This is a commercial venture, so we do have to be realistic and do have to look at the bottom line," Swofford said. " But we're hoping that won't be the case and that it won't come to that."

However, both also say they were heartened by the success of the LDS independent drama "The Other Side of Paradise," which cost $7 million to make and which did well in its theatrical release — so well that the home-video rights were eventually acquired by Disney, which released the film on DVD.

"That shows there is an audience for good stories, ones with LDS characters," said Elder Lund. "And it also shows there is an audience outside of this state. That's obviously who we're hoping will come see the movie."

Which leaves things in the hands of local film-distributor Excel Entertainment, which scored the first big hit in LDS filmmaking with the much more modestly budgeted 2000 film "God's Army." Excel also hit the $1 million mark with the World War II drama "Saints and Soldiers."

The company has an ambitious release strategy for "The Work and the Glory," releasing it the day before Thanksgiving in Utah and then in some already established markets before the end of the year. The company then hopes to expand its release to many larger markets in January.

In at least one respect, "The Work and the Glory" has already been successful. Elder Lund, who offered input during Holt's screenwriting process, has officially given the project his stamp of approval: "I trusted Scott and Russ to do the story justice. Their passion for it was very quite obvious to me from the beginning."

Swofford said he knew the film was on the right track when Elder Lund showed up on the set (in Tennessee) for a grand total of one day. "He turned to me and said, 'I see what you've built from nothing here, and the way you've handled the setting of my book, so I trust you with the rest of it. Make it into a film.'

"Then he got into a van and drove away."

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E-mail: jeff@desnews.com