"In this film, the Lord's hand was in every aspect of it," he said. "Period."

Merrill, a 1974 Academy Award winner, looks to his faith — he's a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints — for inspiration. "Testaments," a 65-minute large-format (70mm) film, is set between 20 A.D. and 33 A.D. It begins its run later this month.

The film tells the tale of the fictional character Helam in "ancient America" (assumed to be Guatemala or southern Mexico) who sees the resurrected Christ, as detailed in the Book of Mormon.

Merrill said he knew God was guiding him, because amazing things happened in 1998 while they were filming the drama in Kaua'i.

For example, the crew had fallen behind schedule in building an elaborate set. Slated to shoot on the dry side of the island, they had to make new plans after arrangements with a rancher fell through. The crew moved all the trucks and containers of materials and prepared to raise a Mesoamerican city, complete with Mayan-style buildings and pyramids stretched out over 450 feet — about a football field and a half.

"It was an absolute impossibility," Merrill said.

The set coordinator, a kahuna, gathered his crew together. They knelt down and said a prayer at the new site.

To make the buildings look antique, production staff needed to mist the entire structure with water. But as if on schedule, the clouds opened up, and a light rain shower dampened the whole set at once — saving them entire days of work.

"It was pretty amazing," Merrill said. "The rain never came at the wrong time. It always came at the right time."

During shooting, when a sunny day was needed, the sky would be filled with brightness — "just 10 miles from rainiest spot in the world," Merrill recounted, incredulous. "The weather always cooperated."

"Testaments" cast member Al Harrington, a fourth-generation Mormon best known for his role as detective Ben Kokua on "Hawai'i 5-0," had his own brush with the miraculous — or at least, highly advantageous — occurrences.

One scene had Harrington preaching the gospel from under a waterfall.

"I've done scenes like that before, and we always have trouble with the sound," Harrington said by phone from Salt Lake City, where he's performing in "Light of the World" at the Utah Conference Center.

In this case, however, there was no need to redub it — the sound came through, loud and clear.

"I said, 'Hey, wait a minute,'" Harrington recalled. "For me, there was a little bit more power here than normal. You see that thing happen and say to yourself, 'Nah.'"

His theory: The spiritually inclined bring their mana to projects close to their hearts. Good things are bound to happen.

The city of Zarahemla was created for the film "Testaments," which was filmed on Kaua'i. Hawaii Honolulu Mission

Both Merrill and Harrington are arriving in town on March 20 for a gala screening of the movie, which screened on Kaua'i last year for the cast and crew.

Merrill won his 1974 Oscar for his documentary, "Great American Cowboy," about the sport of rodeo. He was nominated for the 1997 large-format movie, "Amazon," and is at work on another project near and dear to his heart: a commercial theatrical film on the life of Christ.

"It's not often a filmmaker has the opportunity to combine who they are with what they do," said Merrill, who also is film editor for the church's Meridian Magazine.