The book of Matthew in the New Testament captures Jesus telling the parable of the 10 virgins in just 13 verses. Writer and director James Dalrymple is working to expand that to a full-length motion picture. He just wrapped up shooting the project in Morocco.
Dalrymple says to write the 100-page script, he paired the parable with the parable of the wedding feast. Then he started to ask himself some questions.
“Well, who were these girls? What were their lives like? What did they do? Why were five wise and why were five foolish?” Dalrymple asked. “And so, as I start to ask those kinds of questions, then I start to create characters. And so, we've created 10 characters of the 10 virgins. And I can name them all off. They each have a little different story to their lives and why they became, eventually became wiser, why they became foolish.”
Dalrymple says to write this story, he had to do a lot of research into what religious leaders and scholars have said about the parable. It’s been around for 2,000 years, so there are a lot of writings about it. As a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, he researched what Latter-day Saint general authorities have said but didn’t limit his research to their writings. He looked at Christian apologists, Christian scholars and Jewish scholars.
For Latter-day Saint leaders, the parable seems to have taken on an urgency. Three leaders used the parable in their general conference talks in October 2025. Dalrymple says the original Twelve Apostles heard the parable because Jesus was teaching them about the signs of the times, or the signs of when He would return, so the message of the parable of the 10 virgins is especially poignant today.
“It's timely now because there's so much turmoil in the world,” Dalrymple said. “If we look at the signs of the times that the Savior has given us, we start to see those signs of times.”
The parable of the 10 virgins is the second parable movie Dalrymple has directed. The first is the good Samaritan. The 45-minute movie came out this last spring and is available to stream on Angel. Dalrymple hopes to direct many more, with the parable of the prodigal son next.
This was a big project for Dalrymple. There were about 60 cast members and more than 100 with the crew. They shot on a set in Morocco that’s also been used for movies like “Gladiator” and “The Odyssey.”
The actresses portraying the 10 virgins come from around the world and make up different faith traditions. They came from Israel, the United States, the United Kingdom and Spain. While the Christian members of the cast were familiar with the parable, the Jewish and Muslim cast members didn’t know it.
“And so it was, for me, it was a fantastic experience because each day on set as we would have scenes to shoot, I would have the opportunity to kind of teach the parable of the 10 virgins and to talk about what the Savior 2,000 years ago was teaching to his disciples and what he was intending to say,” Dalrymple said.
While shooting the film, Dalrymple says they experienced many miracles. Some of them, he says are too sacred to share, but he did say that through prayer and faith they saw the weather cooperate more than once. For example, there were days when it was raining, which could delay shooting the movie and cost them thousands of dollars.
“So, we offered prayers, sincere prayers that the Lord, that our Heavenly Father would temper the elements in our behalf that we could accomplish this work,” Dalrymple said. “And quite literally, moments after those prayers, the skies cleared, the rain stopped, the sun came out, and off we went. And we were able to accomplish our work.”
Dalrymple feels grateful he is making this movie. He says he’s learned more about himself, and about his faith. He feels the process has helped him grow closer to Jesus Christ and he hopes the film can do the same thing for audiences.
“I hope they feel the spirit of the Lord when they watch it and the spirit of the Lord will teach them those things they most need to know,” Dalrymple said. “Not me, I'm just creating this environment that I hope invites the spirit to come into their lives as they see and hear the story.”