Local writer to premiere movie at Perot Theatre,
When Christine Quarles self-published her inspirational self-help book “Pretty, Crossed & Tempted,” she may not have envisioned its ideas up on the big screen at the Perot Theatre.
But that’s what will happen at 7 p.m. on Saturday, Aug. 3, when Quarles’s movie of that name will premiere. It’s a fictionalized account of the ideas about celibacy and sex that she explores in her book. She worked with videographers Adrian DeMarcus Taylor and Trevon Jamison, who co-directed the movie version with her, she says.
And with “Pretty, Crossed & Tempted,” what audiences see will be a true Texarkana product. Quarles describes the movie as 99% Texarkana with the writer, director, cast, businesses and more all natives and residents of Texarkana.
She’s an Arkansas High School alum who then graduated from the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff with a degree in mass communication. She also went on to earn a master’s degree in creative writing.
Quarles wrote the book in 2015, and she credits God with giving her the idea to write about celibacy. At first, she didn’t want anything to do with it, but as she put it, God kept dropping it into her spirit. She went to a coffee shop, started writing, and ultimately finished the book in about a month.
After she self-published it, the book sold 400 copies in the first year. “My readers were saying they wanted more, they wanted more,” Quarles said.
To her, that meant doing a movie. “The same message, just a different way of giving it,” Quarles said, noting readers identified with the book because they were able to relate to it. The book explores a toxic side of relationships, the writer explains.
“The book goes over the emotional sides of casual sex,” Quarles said. “So
casual sex is this big deal now where we don’t date, we don’t court, we don’t honor marriage anymore. We just meet someone, we sleep with them, and relationships aren’t healthy.”
Her book explores how people deal with this. “So the readers could understand it and they could appreciate being able to talk about it,” she said.
Having a goal shower (like a baby shower but this is for a single person’s goals) this past year gave Quarles some seed money to start work on the movie. “I knew the next step,” she said, noting she wrote a short script at first, then worked on a longer script to create an hour-length movie.
“All the characters are fictional. The situations are inspired by true life,” Quarles said. In the book, she approaches it as a discussion. But for the movie, she created a plot where she’s a college professor, C. Quarles, who’s teaching a class called Psychology of Casual Sex. The text? Her book.
“The film follows four students’ in the classroom lives outside of the classroom, the relationships,” Quarles said. “So you see four different types of relationships. It was so fun filming this, it was emotional. But it was really fun.”
They filmed in local spots, such as Verona Restaurant downtown and Mooyah Burgers, Fries & Shakes. Graduates of Texas High, Arkansas High and LibertyEylau High School all participate, so it’s a real cross-town movie.
She describes it as a PG-13 film with some explicit language.
Quarles aims to have a red carpeted event with concessions at the Perot. Live performances will be included. VIP tickets (only 40 are for sale) include a meet-and-greet with the cast and photography opportunities, plus free admission to the after-party at Octavia’s Activity Center.
“I just want to see the city come out because it’s a big thing,” Quarles said, noting she aims to bring people together, no matter their religion, nationality or background. “I’m excited,” she said.