Jesus Revolution Will Be The Movie That Brings People Back To Theaters - Cast Shocked

country is a dark and divided place but in that tent is Hope unity and miracles I can't even explain I felt like each of your characters had a character Arc in it and so can you guys kind of go down the line and talk about it Kathy starts in this you know hippie movement trying to figure out who she is and then her sister has a near-death experience involving drugs where she's present and I think it causes her to question everything why am I doing this what's the purpose of all this and it encourages her to find her faith and then she brings Greg into it and they find Faith together and they find each other such a beautiful love story and I was really honored to play Kathy oh yeah Lonnie frisbee is this uh charismatic hippie Street Preacher that connects with this Pastor Chuck Smith whose church needs a lot of help it's kind of dying and um Lonnie goes out and brings a bunch of hippies into the church and as a result this movement starts to grow and as the church grows but throughout the process of of this you know throughout time um uh Lonnie's wounds that stemmed from his childhood start to surface in different ways in the film and you you see his the the flaws of his Humanity start to um kind of deconstruct the thing that he was a part of building and uh yeah so so that's kind of his Arc in this film and as for Greg he's a he's a lost soul uh looking for meaning uh looking to be valued he's looking for um community and family and he looks uh at drugs uh he looks at um kind of this uh this lost um you know he has this Arc where he goes I mean he kind of arcs down and then he kind of finds uh finds the church and um he finds family in Kathleen and uh he he's saved and his life finds new meaning in that um identity that he's looking for he finds in church like so many people do and what do you feel like what would you hope his testimony like reaches people I mean I I know that it has his uh Greg's Harvest festivals have reached millions of people um and it it's a testament to the grace of God in his life um that uh he has been so blessed and given such a platform to spread the word in such a powerful um worldwide manner um and I and I think he's done so Faithfully um boldly and I'm honored to um even be you know in conversation just with his name you know it's it's an honor to be here and this movie is cool because it does have the different you know quirky people in it right where Greg's younger guy and Jonathan's this kind of quirky hippie and then Kelsey Grammer plays this character that's you know been in the church as a pastor for a long time so um talk about how you guys hope that you know all ages and will be reached by this movie I was at a screening at a university in Virginia recently and you know there were thousands of University students but there were also like hundreds of you know people from all gen all different generations and it was amazing the response like every generation had something to come away with from the film um there were a lot of people who identified you know in Kelsey's Generation Um and in my own generation and then in in you know Greg's generation teenage Greg's generation as well like so so everybody found something that they could connect to which I think makes this the appeal of this film Universal um and the themes are Universal as well so uh I I think anybody you know regardless of your faith or even a lack of faith will find something uplifting and encouraging uh by from the you know by the film and they'll be able to walk away from the film with at least something to think about and saying like huh what what would happen if I actually tried to give you know a a place to God in my life if I didn't have one for instance you know movie shows that you could have any platform you could talk about your faith anywhere I know you have a a great platform with social media is it is it kind of um invigorating to kind of do a project like this absolutely this this film is so uh important to me personally my faith um shared with Greg uh we have the same kind of background with you know what we believe and it's so core to who we are um and so on in terms of like platform um it's an honor to spread the gospel I love to spread this uh this story of love and of Grace and forgiveness uh that I have been shown you know by God thank God and um and uh Greg uses his platform in such a powerful way and it's an honor to um be spreading the same good news but the you know the production of it was so great you could bring anybody to the movie and the love story was really sweet can you talk more about like the luck because I thought that was a really sweet aspect to it oh I just loved the love story and it's true and they're still together for 50 years it's there are people that have chosen each other and I think that that can be a really good example for young people of like this is what respect and choosing somebody and putting the right things at the center of your relationship can look like yeah I love that what about for you about kind of the different aspects that you'd hope people to get out of it I would love for people to you know walk away uh intrigued and curious uh and and as much as you know uh the movie can uh affect like it it will it'll affect everyone in its own way you know like someone can walk and be like it was a really great feel-good movie it was a beautiful relationship and like wonderful story and some people are gonna walk away saying like like Jonathan said like oh like what if I did you know open some sort of idea of a relationship with God like what what would that look like in my life and then there are people out there who Our Haters are not gonna like the movie you know you can't please you can't please everyone um get these hippies out here um oh everyone's gonna love it yeah yeah yeah um so I I just I'm I'm so thrilled for the movie to come out and the reception of it has been yeah it's been amazing wonderful yeah wonderful and you're so thrilled I told you last night but I loved the movie I thought it was so amazing and the quality was just top-notch you know the music was good yeah um so how is it you know pairing with the Irwin Brothers and listen these guys are geniuses and I I really mean that when I say it and also I believe that they are the most important filmmakers of Faith of Our Generation I mean seriously this film is brilliant the writing the directing the production design the Wardrobe the the sets the music I mean I'm just honored to that they would in their Vision see that I would play a part in it so I'm just grateful to work with them and for them and like there's so many elements to it that even like people who maybe don't aren't Christian like could resonate with and love too you know the love story was so beautiful yeah so can you talk about how you hope both kind of sides of the audience enjoy it well that what I love about the film is that it's just it's great entertainment yeah and great entertainment comes down to Great characters great conflict and satisfactory resolution and this film has all of those things so I think that uh anyone coming to see the movie is going to enjoy the movie this is not just a film for people who identify as people of Faith this is a film for everyone and having seen this film screened across the country I can tell you that you know people of all walks of life see this film and are deeply moved by it and what a great message to talk about love you know especially like now where our everything's curated for us to go one way or another and there's division here you know and so this says like we gotta love everybody yes and so can you kind of talk about that kind of message of love Love and Hope and yeah I mean I think that this movie shows what we're in need of I think in our culture especially in our Christian Christian culture the culture is still too judgmental yeah it's still too wait a minute not you you no not you but you that's not our job yeah let God deal with with people let Christ do the convicting let us do more accepting and I think the movie challenges anyone in the Christian Community to be more loving and to be more accepting because when you see the power of the Revolution it is directly correlated to love and acceptance and we need that love and acceptance right now and that'll bring people in right to the faith then I understand that we you know love people no matter what absolutely but so often uh you know in the Christian Community we leave with judgment yeah and well God says this and God says that that the Bible speaks for itself let people come to Christ yeah let people come to Christ and even know who Christ is and then let Christ do the convicting yeah so I do think that this puts the church on notice the church has got to stop being so judgment mental and be more accepted yeah it did make me feel you know I've gone to church all my life whatever it did make me be like oh you know we've got to take it outside the church we gotta talk to people about the hope that we have because it's such a hard time period you know people have hard lives right yeah you know and so um I think to just impart that hope and you guys inspired people through the movie on that I thought absolutely it's it's critical I think now for your character what did you think he was you know looking for at the beginning and then what do you feel like he kind of found yeah I think you know I tried to bring a sense of curiosity with the touch of skepticism so I think at the beginning he's curious but he's also like um yeah I don't I think this could be a little crazy you know like I don't know like but he's like you know what let me you know wait to cast judgment or make a judgment until I explore what's here and the beauty of the Curiosity and the skepticism is that as he explores and as he does the interviews and as he observes what's going on he sees for himself Elf oh wow this is nothing to be skeptical over this is a real movement this is a real family this is love that I've witnessed and experienced like never before and so that's why near the end of the film he's able to encourage Greg in those ways because he himself has experienced the very things that he's encouraging Greg to continue to pursue yeah well I hope it happens again you know you guys are all over right heard some great reactions the reactions have been amazing wow I mean I mean amazing I mean I I'm like wow you know like people are love to film they are you know Vigilant over it they're bi churches are buying out theaters and you know Advanced ticket sales I hear are through the roof and so it really feels like we're teed up for another Revolution at least at the box office um because so far you know the initial screenings have been phenomenal well even varieties said that this movie could actually lead people into the theaters again oh it did I haven't seen that review yeah and so it's a great thing right because you know the theaters have not been doing well over the last two years and so this may be the movie that brings people back variety wrote that yeah that's amazing so that's encouraging that's extremely a good message right and so I love that I thought you guys did an amazing job production was great I thought that um and also my dad said he thought it was great for Christians and non-christians great he can do the Christian I'll do the none um look I love I love a true story and uh this is the longest I've ever worked on a film uh I bought the I actually have it here with me I bought the the Time Magazine cover uh uh story on eBay in 2015. uh so before I can only imagine and you know I I was I was so awestruck by this account of of of this spiritual awakening that swept America and I wanted to make a movie and uh I felt man we're in such a similar time and so we wanted to make it just an authentic story of the origin of that movement and uh and we've been working on it for a long time and as we screened it it's by far my favorite film to watch with an audience I love young and old uh I watched it I've watched it at colleges with thousands of people but you know it's just it's so fun to hear them laugh and cry cheer during the film uh but what's interesting is people that really don't have any any um any faith persuasion also love the movie and see it as just a parable of how we should treat each other and maybe we should love each other again and maybe that's the answer and I think it's the fact that you know people were caught up that Society said could not hang out together they were actually caught up in a movement together and uh and I think that that's just inspiring I think we all know that we that we need help in how we treat each other and so it's interesting to see how even though it's set in the world of church and and Kelsey plays a pastor and Jonathan plays a it'd be you know sort of preacher uh it plays much broader than we had ever imagined you know yeah uh for me you know I love Jesus um but the teachings of Jesus and everything he did Spilled Out of the church into the main and we wouldn't be sitting here having this conversation if like his entire Ministry was in a synagogue it was outside the church so two things I think happened there's a beautiful authenticity there's a Humanity in this and it's Universal like love love one another like we know that's right what's beautiful is it's in scripture too you know so you see it demonstrated but I think just as a human drama just the humanity of it um it can resonate with people from all walks of life we have people from all walks of life work on this movie and they were touched and moved came to me in tears like this is so beautiful this is the most important thing I've ever worked on and and so for me um that's always a Bellwether of everything I try to do I think a great faith film that that contends with faith should play for people from all walks of life and play well I think you guys are so right that it's so so needed for this time and that this you know the last two years were very divisive um and social media kind of played a part in that and so what would you hope you know young people I feel for younger people because it's a hard time to live in um and I know it was kind of showing Jesus Revolution during that time people it was hard for younger people too so what would you hope you know the younger audiences get out of it man the kids today have so much to say and I love their hearts they're for justice they're for social justice they see all the inequality man let's use that for change but the cancel culture and the hatred and um just the vitriol Like It's gotta go we think it's it's a dead end Road like we're not built to be that we're built to love each other and we're built to actually be okay with someone disagreeing with you but but above all that faith hope and love love is at the height of it it's Paul put it above Faith that's crazy that blows my mind but the most important thing we need to push for as people of faith and just as humanity is love and um I think we can start turning more to loving conversations even against the other or the perceived enemy Jesus said love your enemies who does that so if if the kids of this generation can latch on to some of those things man I just see a beautiful path forward for us you know and I think this movie for a brief moment in time you know it celebrates that and I think I think it is going to start a lot of great conversations yeah I I actually the whole reason we made it was sort of like if this happened before it can happen again and again we're working on for years so the timing is kind of crazy but um but last week you know Beth and I we were in Kentucky anyway so we we just were like hey let's just go let's so it's very early we drove over to Asbury College to this Hughes Auditorium and this sort of spontaneous Revival and service has been going on now for like over a week and and um and just sat there and I remember Greg Laurie called me and said what was it like and I said it was just like the scenes of the movie like identical to the scenes the movie I just so that's my hope is that um uh at a very similar time in history this happened maybe it can happen again and it happened in such an undeniable way that Time Magazine gave it credit and called it the Jesus Revolution with a cover story so I would hope that something sweet being undeniable could happen again that could teach us to love each other again that would be that would be amazing yeah what an amazing message when everything right now is curated for us to go one way or the other way kind of butt heads God help us and so you guys didn't shy away from hard things right you know you show his kind of drug use and but it shows the testimony without even verbally saying the testimony so talk about kind of that and writing that and the process there um you know I wanted I wanted to make a movie about because I deeply restate with this about flawed imperfect people being caught up in a perfect moment together uh and in a moment that became a movement you know and there's not a perfect character in the story and most of you know half of the movie you're Living Through The Eyes of this teenage kid Greg Laurie who who who is not a Christian not not a part of it becomes a part of it and and you even see the flaws and cracks of the people that are leading it you know and I think that's important because I think so many of us think well God can't use me I can't be meaningful because I'm not talented enough I struggle with this or that I've done this whatever I hope this movie challenges that notion that uh we all have a role to play and sometimes uh you know movements are a team sport you know and uh and I love how these very different characters portrayed by Kelsey uh who's amazing uh Jonathan and and Joel uh you know sort of converge their stories converge at this moment in time and I wanted to make an authentic movie that people could relate to that processed some of the flaws in the characters because I deeply relate to that and so and that's what we tried to do yeah I mean by Design I mean you know you have characters that are of college age or high school age as well as older characters and so we want to really have entry points for uh all age demographics um and and make sure that this was a movie for everyone and so I think we're getting that I had some buddies that were at the premiere last night and like man I can't believe how this really resonates with a younger crowd and which is great that's exactly what we want because that younger crowd is really active and they're Dynamic right now and so as we're seeing and so uh we're excited about the release and this generation knows we're all flawed and they want to talk about it yeah and our movie doesn't I don't know I'm very excited I really hope young people go see this and it just ignites a spar Arc of spiritual renewal in our country and in the world for sure but I think you're right though it does reach older audiences too and you've got really quirky character you said everyone can relate to one or another so that was good we we try to design experiences that are multi-generational you think about screens used to be things that pulled us together as a family anything about you know I Love Lucy or Carol Burnett or what you know you know whatever these experiences that you'd gather for screens Now sort of pull us apart so one of the things I think movie guide celebrates and one of the movies that we try to make are intentionally designed to be multi-generational experiences because there's nothing like getting around the screen and enjoying experience together as a family and uh and that's very rare today and so we we try to architect the movies to create those experiences for families and I think this is a great movie I watched it last night with my wife and daughter and my daughter's 14 was like crying and she's like this movie's emotional you know and and we loved it too and and that's what we those are the experiences that we try to we try to make it's a family man don't give up on it foreign [Music] [Music]

Channel: Movieguide

Views: 99,233

Keywords: Streaming, Youtube, Movieguide, Dr Ted Baehr, Review, interview, red carpet, hollywood, family, guide, christian, reviews, movies, movie, tv show, series, netflix, hulu, theaters, hbo max, amazon prime, apple tv+, disney+, disney, movieguidereview1, paramount +, HBO Max, Jesus Revolution, Interview, Movies, Jonathan Roumie, Jesus, Revolution, Kelsey Grammer, 1960's

Id: ml5CQxIv1f0

Length: 21min 8sec (1268 seconds)

Published: Thu Feb 23 2023