Rediscovering Heaven: Arnie Holland on Diane Keaton and a Timeless Documentary
- luiz4791
- 2h
- 4 min read
When Heaven first appeared in 1987, it arrived quietly and disarmingly, choosing curiosity over persuasion at a time when films about faith often sought certainty. Directed by Diane Keaton, the documentary explored the afterlife with humor, humility, and openness, allowing contradictions to coexist. Following her recent passing, her presence gives Heaven its lasting emotional weight. She feels less like an authority offering answers and more like a companion asking the questions alongside us, a quality that makes the film resonate even more deeply today.
Nearly four decades later, Heaven has been restored under the supervision of Arnie Holland, who helped bring the film into existence in the 1980s and has overseen its distribution ever since. In this interview with Miami Living Magazine, Holland reflects on a restoration completed shortly after Diane Keaton’s passing, a process that feels less like preservation than rediscovery. Seen today, Heaven resonates with renewed tenderness. Its refusal of dogma, its embrace of uncertainty, and its gentle wit feel strikingly contemporary, inviting audiences not toward answers, but toward reflection, conversation, and shared imagination.
Miami Living (ML): Heaven explores the afterlife without offering definitive answers. From your perspective as the restorer, what do you think the film ultimately asks of its audience?
Arnie Holland: The film asks the audience to think hard about what they believe, and discuss it with family and friends. It will create stimulating conversation. Note: I am not just the restorer. I did the deal in 1983 with Diane to make the film, and I have been in charge of distribution since the film was released in 1987. I own Lightyear Entertainment, which was the result of a management buyout of RCA Video Productions, Inc., also in 1987.
ML: How does Heaven differ from other documentaries of its era that dealt with religion or spirituality?
Arnie Holland: It approaches the subject with humor. Not just any humor but Diane’s uniquely quirky style of humor.
ML: The film embraces uncertainty rather than doctrine. How does that openness shape its emotional power for you?
Arnie Holland: The film is not dogma, not an imposition of the filmmaker’s opinion, and that makes the film way better than doctrine. Because the answer is unknowable.
ML: While restoring Heaven, were there any visual or emotional details that newly stood out or deepened the film’s spiritual resonance, especially after Keaton’s passing?
Arnie Holland: For me, I remembered how sweet and funny Diane was when we worked with her. I really enjoyed the clip that David Letterman posted of Diane promoting the film on The Late Show. When he asked her what she thought about Heaven, she responded “I believe in the possibility of Heaven.” And I agree with that.
ML: Did working so closely with the film change your own relationship to its questions about faith, doubt, or the afterlife?
Arnie Holland: No. I was always an agnostic. But when I watched the film in a theater for the first time in over 35 years in two LA screenings at the Philosophical Research Society, I was struck by how it is just as relevant now as it was when it was made. And I can’t help wondering if Diane is actually in Heaven and watching us.
ML: Can you speak about your personal and working relationship with Diane Keaton, and perhaps share a lesser-known story or memory from your time together?
Arnie Holland: Working with Diane was an extraordinary experience. We took the film to Cannes, where it was featured in Director’s Fortnight. I was worried about whether Diane would actually get on the plane. But Diane came, and there was a packed press conference, which she handled brilliantly. After that we took her and her friends to dinner at a lovely restaurant in Cannes. I remember it was a private room and sort of an oval table. I don’t remember any of the food. I do remember that sitting next to me was a young Woody Harrelson, who at the time was dating Carol Kane (who was also there). I wish I had talked to Woody more and gotten to know him.
ML: What initially drew you, on a personal level, to restoring Heaven?
Arnie Holland: I have wanted to restore it for years, and procrastinated. I wanted Diane to do a new commentary, but that never happened. We did it quickly after Diane suddenly passed away.
ML: Finally, what are your impressions of Miami as a place to reintroduce Heaven to audiences today?
Arnie Holland: I love Miami. My Uncle Al lived in Miami Beach and I would go there on holiday breaks. On one of those breaks I scored a ticket to Super Bowl III and watched Joe Namath and the Jets beat the Colts. The ticket cost me $15. Later in life I met with two of the Marley brothers at their Miami house. And an incredible band we were working with from Haiti, Boukman Eksperyans, played a show in someone’s back yard in Miami. I brought my mother to the show, and the people there brought out a rocking chair for her.
ML: Outside of work, what activities do you enjoy, and what inspires or motivates you?
Arnie Holland: I love music, and play the guitar for fun and to sing to my wife. I also love gardening. Right now the camellias are blooming. And I have two sons that I love.