there's this pivotal moment where Chuck Smith is getting a lot of pressure from the elders in the
church that the hippies are staining the shag carpet because they're coming in barefoot. They
don't have shoes. They're not clean. They're very much just a ratty kind of bunch. And they're
saying they're ruining the shag carpet. And Kelsey playing Chuck is like, oh, the carpet,
we're worried about the carpet. Let's save the carpet. And so his answer to the solution to the
equation really happened in real life as he parked himself at the door and washed every hippie's foot
that came in the door. And it made a huge statement and I think was probably the most visual way you
could represent Christianity in its most authentic form is that moment. And I think that it really
hit home for Kelsey. I think Kelsey had a very profound personal experience in the filming of
the movie. Andy Irwin, it is great to have you on this Charisma News podcast to be able to talk about
this absolutely incredible, beautiful film, the Jesus revolution movie, Jesus revolution dot movie.
For those of you that need to go to the website right away, I don't want to make you wait for
that. Go check it out already. Andy, this is I am really blown away by this film. Just before
getting to talk to you, my wife and I got to watch this this film as a screener. And my response to
this was I just was teared up. I was tearing up. And as the movie was ending and the credits were
rolling, I was spontaneously praying and thanking God for this and asking God to be used in the next
move. So if this is happening to me, I can't wait to see what happens in theaters. So wow.
Well, I appreciate that, buddy. It's a timely story. You know, I think that this film
represents an inner yearning for so many people. You know, for believers, I think it represents
a desire of God, do it again, like like this, like never before. And for people outside the church,
especially for a younger generation, it represents the answer to the equation for something I think
they've been desperately looking for. This was a story that the hippie revival happened in the 1970s.
And, you know, after, you know, people were just burnt out on the free love and kind of sex, drugs,
and rock and roll kind of movement, looking for the right things in the wrong places.
They were looking for, you know, truth and love and to belong and identity. But they were looking
for it in this thing that was a bottomless pit. And when the bottom fell out, they had an encounter
with a living God. And it was a moment in time where Christianity was both very overt, and it
was very counterculture. And those things shouldn't go together. And they did. And so I think for the
people outside the church, it represents a desire for something they don't even know they need. But
I think they desperately want. And so it's gonna be, it's gonna be cool to see what happens.
Yeah, I absolutely agree. I mean, I have been in Christian ministry for a while in TV,
and now working with Charisma Media. We really care about revival and want to see it. And I think
we're going to be able to see revival and want to see revival happen again. I mean, right now, as
we're recording this, it's February 22. And just recently, one of the big stories that we've been
reporting about is the Asbury revival. I mean, that broke out in the 70s. And then the Jesus
movement, the Jesus revolution happened. And now that happened at Asbury now, and the Jesus
movement. Come on, tell me about this. What's going on with you guys? Try to tell me that there's
not a side. I mean, the cool thing about the Asbury revival, number one is I'm so grateful
that it happened before the movie's release, because it's all the credit. It's not something
that we feared. We have nothing to do with it. It's way above our pay grade. And God just sparked
it with young people, which is exactly what happened 50 years ago. And so the Asbury ties,
in our story, we cover the West Coast portion of the Jesus movement. They have Chuck Smith,
Elani Frisbee, and the hippies out in the West Coast. But it also simultaneously sparked 50
years ago, February 8th, at Asbury College. And so 50 years later, for God to spark that again. And
then now to hear that it's spread to, I think, last number I heard was 28 different campuses.
It's at Lee College now. It's spread to the West Coast. It's a little bit everywhere. And so
it was at Cedarville. The exciting thing is to see God creating this revival culture amongst
young people. And I think the thing that I love about the Asbury thing is that it's not
celebrity driven. Even I saw the story of Carrie Jobe, the singer, showing up. And they had her
sit in the balcony and said, we love that you're here, but we want this to be led by our students.
And just to hear stories like that is fantastic. And I think it's exciting. And I think now on the
heels of that, to have our film coming out allows us to harmonize and kind of tell the history of
what God did then and the hopes of it sparking even farther. But we get to be a part of that harmony.
So I want to talk about the making of this film, because I mean, obviously, anytime that somebody
is writing a book or making a film, there's a lot of production that goes into it ahead of time.
Okay, we're from the time that we're seeing things publicly, the film has been already in
production for a long time. And so there's no way that the Asbury revival started. And you guys said,
hey, let's make a quick film about this. God has been speaking to you guys for years about this film.
Tell me about this story, what it means to you and your brother with the Irwin brothers.
You guys have done some amazing films like American Underdog, The I Can Only Imagine. I mean,
these films are great demonstrations of faith on the big screen and real stories. And they've done
very, very well. But where did you guys say this story needs to be told on the big screen?
Well, I think, you know, John, I think the thing that's exciting is this when it comes to
something that's so much bigger than any of us, an idea of revival and God's spirit sweeping,
you know, our planet again, in a fresh way. It's neat to see how it's been on the heart of so many
people, whether it's the Asbury revival, or, you know, our friend John Bevere,
just as a book coming out about revival, that comes out next week, I believe. And so it's just,
there's just so many kind of just this churning. But for us, it started about 10 years ago.
We did a movie called Woodlawn, John and I did. And it was a true story. And it was a story that
set in the 1970s about a school that was hit by this spiritual awakening. That was the Jesus
movement. It was the tale of it hit this school that was had a lot of racial tension from the
last part of integration and led to the biggest high school football game in the history of the
southeast. And, and so we kind of told the story through that lens of this one school,
kind of that small microcosm. And at the end of the movie, John found this, my brother John,
found this magazine from Time magazine that on the cover said the Jesus revolution. And he
traced back three years prior to that. And the cover of Time magazine was an all black cover
that just had the words, is God dead? And, and he just asked the question, what in the world
happened in those three to four years between the two covers? And he started doing the research
about what actually happened during the Jesus movement, and the Genesis and the, the kind of
inception of what happened amongst these hippie kids that nobody thought the church thought were
completely unredeemable. And God brought this one hippie evangelist that came from Haight-Asbury up
in, up in San Francisco, brought him down the coast. And he ran, he is a guy named Lonnie Frisbee
that's played by Jonathan Rumi from The Chosen in our film. And then he met this
old guard pastor, Chuck Smith, whose church was dying and Chuck's played by Kelsey Grammer.
And the two of those men just caught a vision from each other about reaching the hippie culture
and this revival swept the country. So when John found out the rest of that story, and then
then found out the story about a young Greg Laurie from Harvest Church and him being one of the
initial kids that was redeemed out of the movement, when he found out the rest of that story, he was
like, we have to do this movie. And I was like, we had just finished American Underdog, I was toast.
And I was like, John, I think we should wait a little bit and catch your breath. He's like,
no, you don't understand. There's an urgency. We have to do it now. I was like, John, if you feel
like you need to do it now, go for it. I'll slide over to produce, you direct it. And we brought in
a buddy of ours, Brent McCoracle, who's an incredible director to direct it with him. And I produced it
with the rest of the team. And just as he got done with it, and I saw the pieces start to come back,
I was like, everybody has to see this now. So I've been out on the road for the past four months,
just beating the drum of this movie is important because it's super timely and it has something
to say. So everybody see it. Yeah, I love how this movie is completely about Jesus.
And it's completely evangelistic, but it doesn't ever feel like you're beating, like you're getting
the cheesy gospel message that has been just not that the gospel message is cheesy, but the way that
it's been portrayed is often when that way. Yeah, the delivery is so casual and just real. And like,
oh my gosh, like Jesus really does speak to hippies and squares all at the same time. And
they need to work together. And I love how you had Lonnie Frisbee and Chuck Smith, like that
conversation they had at the dinner table, at the dining room table was something that you could just
see the old guard break down. And guys, Kelsey Grammer is playing this. You can just see these walls
of resistance fall down. And you were like, this is what needs to happen. And you're like,
this is what needs to happen. And it's amazing. Conversation is amazing. That conversation
between these two Titan actors playing these two Titans of the movement was just magic.
And it starts with Kelsey Grammer as this kind of old guard pastor with a little bit of a get off
my lawn kind of mentality. He just leans over to Lonnie and he says, tell me about your people.
And he does it very sarcastically. And Lonnie just lets the guard down and says,
my people are sheep without a shepherd. And he proceeds to say, to kind of explain that these
aren't the bad kids. These are the kids that are looking for the right things, but in the wrong
place. And they need Jesus. And that conversation is fascinating. And I think the thing that's
interesting as we've shown the film to a lot of different groups is it's something that every
Christian will see their soul and their history in. But for the people outside the church walls,
it's so counterculture that these were the rejects. These were the outcasts. These were the people that
the church said, there's no way that hippies can get saved. And in the midst of that, God starts
doing this massive work. And so it's very countercultural and very overtly Christian. And
so as we showed it to Lionsgate, our parent company that is distributing it,
Lionsgate watched it. And our boss at Lionsgate, who's not a Christian,
is not really a particular person of faith at all. He watched it and he said, don't change a thing.
And he said, everything about this movie is exactly the kind of stories we want to tell.
And he said, it's made a huge impact on me. I can't stop thinking about it.
And so it's been a really interesting thing that it's a great conversation starter
with people that aren't Christians. And I think my encouragement is the audiences,
go to the movies this weekend and invite a lost friend because of the amazing conversations that
will come out of it of people that don't know Jesus. It's going to be powerful.
Totally. I know part of that dining room conversation, they talked about everybody's on a quest to find God. Some people were going to drugs and that's leaving them empty. But this line that stuck with me, it says, there's power and desperation.
Yes.
And that really describes a lot of what we're seeing today. Desperation is what God's really responding to with these revivals that are popping up in different places. It's desperation in people's hearts and lives.
Yeah. And he turns to Chuck right after that. And Lonnie asks, what would it take to make you desperate, Chuck?
Yeah.
And I think desperation is something that works both ways. I think for the hippies, the desperation came from the fact that they had tried everything. Everything that they were told was going to be what unlocked them to knowing God.
LSD and sex, drugs and rock and roll, free love, all these things that were going to be what unlocked the door of them understanding the eternal. And the bottom dropped out and it got ugly.
And so they were just completely hopeless that their movement had died. And then in the midst of that, on the other side, the church was dying. The church had lost their voice into culture. They had lost their ability to connect with people and it was a dying religion.
And that created a desperation for people like Chuck. So these two men that are completely desperate for change kind of all of a sudden saw that the answer was a really getting back to the pure essence of Christianity.
And that's where the revival sparked. And I think that's what you're seeing right now at Asbury College. I think you see a generation that's desperate for something real, desperate for something that has a tangible, believe matters, desperate to know God.
And I think the joy that's coming out of some of the old guard preachers that are watching this happen, seeing their history come back to life is they're desperate for God to do it again because the church is dying.
And so I just feel like this is a moment in time where God's going to do a massive work. I think it's bigger than a movie. I think our movie is to be a part of it. I think the movie is important.
I think it's a story that's entertaining and it's well worth seeing in the theater, but it's a part of a larger tapestry of God just massively moving in a way we haven't seen in 50 years.
Absolutely. And I love how this is coming out right now. And I think this will help. I think maybe the older generation that maybe they grew up during the Jesus Revolution days and the Jesus people days.
I mean, I know that for my entire life, I've heard stories of what happened in the 70s. I'm originally from the Pittsburgh area and there was a Catholic outpouring of the Holy Spirit there.
That changed the whole region. And there's a lot of non-denominational churches that grew very big there. So there's this affinity towards the move of the Holy Spirit.
But I kind of feel that maybe God is using this film to say, hey, you guys that went through this back then and you were the hippies. Now you're the squares.
I'm bringing a new level, a new breed of hippies into your churches and you got to be ready to receive them. I think God's going to use this movie to help people see that.
And in bringing this up, who do you think are the hippies of today?
I mean, I think you look at this current generation and I think a lot of people in the church, they call them the woke generation.
And I think that each of these kids are the young people, the Gen Zers. They're out and they're looking for significance. They're looking for identity. They're looking for truth.
They're really big on justice, all the things that they're looking for, the right things, but they're looking for it in this bottomless pit, whether it's causes, whether it's group identities, whether it's agendas, social media, all of those things.
They're looking for it in something that is just a bottomless pit.
And I think that hopelessness of like, you know, justice without Jesus is really an exhausting place to be. It's a dangerous place to be.
And so I think as the bottom drops out and they continue to desperately look for something that's ultimately true, I think there's a craving for something real.
And so I think it's, you know, I think I, you know, you hear a lot of pastors out preaching about people with woke agendas, but I think that that's, that's the thing that's really important.
I think that Jesus is just calling people to himself and saying, you know, you're looking for the right things. We all want justice. We all want, we all want to belong. We all want identity.
But I think that there's, there's a missing element. And I think that, so I think that that's the hippie generation right now that desperately wants something that is bigger than themselves.
And now, and they don't know what they need. And I think it's, it's, it's found in this story.
And I love the, the, just the storyline of how Chuck Smith is really dealing with these, these people that were part of his congregation that were not friendly to the hippies.
And you have some of them walk out, but I love the point in the, in the movie where there's a line of people getting in to the church and you just can't get in because this line is so long.
And then you get to the, see the front of the line and really at the door is Kelsey Grammer, I mean, playing Chuck Smith, washing people's feet.
Yep. Okay. Two things. Tell me about that powerful moment in that, in that scene as you're filming that, because you can see that that's not, that's more than just acting going on there, but also did that really happen?
Yes, it did. It absolutely did. Yeah, it really happened. And like I said, I'm a producer on this film. The credit really goes to my brother and John Gunn, the writers, and then John and Brent McCormick.
The directors, you know, we really facilitated their vision. So I'm, you know, but as we kind of watch the story play out, there's this pivotal moment where Chuck Smith is getting a lot of pressure from the elders in the church that the hippies are staining the shag carpet because they're coming in barefoot.
They don't have shoes. They're not clean. They're, they're very much, you know, just a ratty kind of bunch. And they're, they're saying the street is a mess.
And, and Kelsey playing Chuck is like, Oh, the carpet, we're worried about the carpet. Let's save the carpet. And so his answer to the solute is the solution to the equation really happened in real life, as he parked himself at the door and washed every hippies foot that came in the door.
And, and it made a huge statement, and I think was probably the most visual way you could represent Christianity. And it's both authentic form is that moment. And, and I think that it really hit home for Kelsey. I think Kelsey had a very profound personal experience in the filming of the movie.
He, you know, he had always, you know, been friendly to faith, but he was out of his back porch said he was kind of having a reflective moment, saying a prayer to God saying, I want to do something with my life that matters. And the next day, the script for Jesus revolution ended up on his doorstep from his agent.
And he read the script said I'm doing this movie and, and made a huge impact on him. And he was on live with Brian Kelly. Ryan Kelly the other day, and when he's promoting the movie and he, you can see it on YouTube, he breaks down. Oh, yeah, ears, and says, I'm so proud of this movie. You know, because it made such an impact on him. And so yeah, that, that's, that's a great point.
I'm so proud of this movie, you know, because it made such an impact on him. And so yeah, that those moments are not faked. That's very much something that impacted Kelsey personally. And I think it shows up on the on film. And I think people have to see it on the big screen, because it's a couple of moments that will take your breath away.
I totally agree. I mean, I saw it on my laptop as I'm watching a screener. And I'm like, I gotta go see this on a big screen. I mean, there's something about going to the theater with other people watching it there and experiencing something this emotional, this raw, this real all together. I mean, there's, there's a reason people don't want to gather at Asbury, there's a reason people want to get together in different places, because there there's, there is the experiential part of it that is really an important thing. And
I'm glad that you brought up the fact that, you know, Kelsey Grammer was on live with Kelly and Ryan, and he broke down. I mean, I started sharing that clip because I was just like, Oh, my goodness, here's Frazier. He's, you know, he's so used to him in that role in that role. And now he's playing a pastor that his life was totally changed by by opening the door to a hippie. So that's, that's really cool.
It's powerful. And I think what you said, john, I agree with it. There's just something about seeing it in the movie theater. The communal aspect of watching a movie is so palpable and important. And this movie is one that has that kind of communal experience, we've
screened it at this point for groups all over the country, probably a couple of times. And we've done some very large screenings and Lionsgate, you know, generously allowed us to do that. Typically, that's frowned upon. And they just saw the value that you can't over screen the right film because the communal aspect when we would show it to a theater full of people is just it sparked this moment of life and shared experience that was just electric.
And, and so I think it's one that deserves to be seen on the big screen. And I think this weekend, especially opening weekend is so important. Because Lionsgate, you know, all the films that we've done up to this point, whether it's, you know, I can only imagine I still believe, you know, American Underdog, all those films have kind of led to a moment where we like we pushed it all in the middle of the table and said, let's let it all ride, we're gonna make something that's the most overt thing we've ever done. And Lionsgate got behind it gave us the resources to get this
movie made with a movie. It's coming out wider than anything we've ever done with Jesus in the title. I mean, they can't get over that. Yeah. So the fact that that's happened so much is riding on this weekend for them to determine not just the viability of the movie, but the viability of the audience. Are they going to invest in more films like this? So this is an opportunity for the church, the the audience to stand up and let their vote be counted with their ticket and say, these are the kind of movies we love.
And you can do that experience in the theater. I think this weekend, I think Jesus could be the headline on Monday morning. And he already is I mean, with Asbury's, but I think the headline could continue to grow. And so I think it's, it's exciting to see what God's going to do.
Yeah. So we've talked about Kelsey Grammer. He's the he's one of the big names. But the other big name up until a couple years ago was really unknown. And that's Jonathan Rumi, who plays Jesus in The Chosen. So I mean, and he's well loved in that role. So now you have the guy that's best known for playing Jesus in the Jesus Revolution film, but not playing Jesus. So just just tell me about like, the people that you're working with, tell me about these actors and how God's been playing Jesus. And I think that's a great
opportunity to see how God's brought them together for this purpose.
John and Brent did an amazing job casting this film top to bottom. There's not a weak link, like everybody just plays their role to a T. And, you know, like you said, Kelsey was fantastic. But Jonathan Rumi, you know, is such a special talent. And, and so he just when he signed on for the role of Lonnie Frisbee, this hippie evangelist, it's a
shade of Jonathan you've never seen before. He's mysterious, super funny, very powerful, conflicted, just a very complicated character. But he absolutely steals the show as Lonnie Frisbee. And, you know, and Jonathan's just such a amazing individual like, and see, you know, the mantle that's been put on him with what Dallas has been doing with The Chosen has been so cool to see him stand up under that mantle. He's so cool. He's so cool.
He's absolutely the real deal. Had a funny moment the other night. I don't think I don't think they'd mind me sharing this. But at a funny moment the other night, we were at a gathering at a friend's house, you know, talking about the movie and having some prayer time. And, and there's a lot of actors there that are believers. One of those actors was Craig T. Nelson. And so Craig T. Nelson from, you know, The Incredibles and Coach and Parenthood is there. And he comes up and he's like, he's like, Andy, can you introduce
me to Jonathan Rumi? I'm a huge fan of The Chosen. I've just really been wanting to meet him. I want to meet him. And I'm like, yeah, well, I'll introduce you. It's fine. So go over and introduce him. He's like, hey, Jonathan, this is, he's like, oh, he's like, he's like, Craig, so good to see. He's like, Jonathan, I've wanted to meet you for so long. This is a real privilege. Jonathan is like, Craig, I arrested you. He's like, what? He's like, I was a guest actor on Parenthood. And there was a scene where you got arrested and I arrested you.
Craig's like, my head just exploded. What just happened here? I don't know what happened. So it was, there's so many people are a fan of The Chosen, myself included. I was watching episode three of season three last night, but it's, it's a, an amazing phenomenon. And Jonathan has handled it so well, but he just, it's a different role for him. This Lonnie Frisbee character and he plays it to a T. He's such a good actor. And then the rest of the cast have got,
Joel Courtney from Super 8 plays Greg Laurie and Anne Grace Barlow is an actress that just is magnetic as Kathy. And then Vaughn Franklin plays this time reporter that's getting story named Josiah.
Kimberly Williams Paisley plays Greg's mom. And so it's, it's a fantastic cast. Not really real quick. And then is one of the actors that you'll see when you see it is this actor, Sean Weiss. And I don't know if you remember him from as kids watching the Disney movie, The Mighty Ducks. And he was the goalie. He played Goldberg, the goalie on The Mighty Ducks. Well, Sean, Sean plays a Vietnam vet. That's a homeless Vietnam vet in our, in our
story. Oh my goodness. Yeah. Yeah. So that's, that's Sean. So what happened is Sean, after playing as a kid actor, he ended up having a really rough go of it ended up addicted to meth and other drugs and ended up being homeless on the streets of Los Angeles. And last year started trying to get sober and kind of trying to turn his life around. And he ended up doing,
some social media stuff about it. Lionsgate saw it and saw his story, send him his, us his info and said, you ought to cast Sean in the movie because he's kind of like one of those guys that you're talking about that you're ministering to. So we cast Sean in the movie. He comes in and does an amazing job in this, this supporting role. Well, long story short, it gets to the baptism scene. And right before he filmed the baptism scene, he goes up to Greg Laurie and he said, can you walk me through how to make this decision for real? So he's like, that's what I want to do. I'm going to go to the bathroom. And he says, yeah, we're going to do this. And they're like, oh, you know, we're going to play this. And then he's like, oh I'm going to go into the bathroom. And I'm like, oh, I'm gonna go do, I'm going to do this. He's like, oh, I'm going
I would really like you to help me understand it.
I want to make this decision.
I would love for you to really baptize me.
And so right before his scene
where he's baptized as his character,
he became a believer in real life.
So it was these amazing moments
that happened during the filming.
Oh my goodness.
I just saw something
in preparation for our conversation here.
I just saw an interview that your brother, John Irwin,
and Dallas Jenkins did with Jonathan Rumi.
It was, I guess, a live stream or something.
And they were talking about how people were really
getting baptized in real life.
And they were really,
this was not just something that was done for the film,
but it was really happening in real life too.
What was that like knowing that like,
this is still really happening?
We can't fabricate this.
This is just real.
This is a production magic.
Yeah, it was pretty amazing.
They filmed, so there's this sacred place
called Pirates Cove in Orange County.
And it's where the baptisms really have,
they have these mass baptisms,
is this hollowed out beach out of the cliffs
to make kind of a natural amphitheater
that go down into the water.
And it was where they would do these mass baptisms.
They still do it to this day there.
But we went and used that as the location.
And as they were filming it,
and the team was filming it,
Jonathan Rumi came up to Greg Laurie.
He's like, hey, Greg,
can you walk me through how to do this for real?
Because people are coming up and asking me to baptize them.
And I want to make sure I'm doing it right.
And so like these extras that were on set
were just having the,
it was just amazing spiritual experiences
and saying like, I want to make this decision for real.
And, or I want to publicly kind of acknowledge
a decision I've already made.
But it was just, it was really cool
to just see moments like that organically happen.
And I think it's just, it's the power of the story.
It's just the story, revivals,
stories of revivals tend to spark revivals.
And just as people kind of experience this idea
of the move of God's spirit,
they had legitimate experiences themselves.
So it was pretty cool to watch.
Yeah.
Now I did notice a little bit of a cameo
that happened, I guess, on the boardwalk there,
where you had Paris Patel, I think that's his name.
The guy that plays Matthew in The Chosen,
like literally Jonathan Rumi comes up to him
and says, do you know Jesus?
And it's just like this moment of like, oh my gosh,
this is an Easter egg for every chosen fan to know
what's going on.
That was my brother's doing.
He decided to just do a little bit of
an acknowledgement of the chosen audience
and just kind of a Easter egg for them.
So Paris, it's a small role.
He was there for a day playing this kid on the boardwalk
when they're out witnessing.
And it's a fun, it gets an audible laugh
from audiences that are fans of The Chosen
because it's kind of a moment.
But Paris, for me, it was kind of a guilty pleasure
because Paris is Matthew and The Chosen is my favorite.
Like every time I see him, I walk by him
and I just whisper, Matthew's my favorite.
And so the way he plays that character is,
especially playing him on the spectrum
and the character that he and Dallas created
is so intricate and interesting and beautifully done
that it's, I absolutely love that character and The Chosen.
Yeah, so I want to encourage everybody to go to this film
in theaters, get information at JesusRevolution.movie online
to get all the information to see where it's playing.
I believe it's playing everywhere.
Yeah, it's the widest release to be ever.
Yeah, since I saw it this morning, just a few hours ago,
I've told a number of people and they've already told me,
oh yeah, I've got tickets for this already.
And I'm just like, wow, okay, this is spreading far and fast
and this is really encouraging.
So, Andy, what is,
you've been working kind of towards this,
you said this movie is kind of like all the chips
are on the table and you've just put it all in right now.
I know that God has something more for you guys next.
Can you give us a taste or a glimpse
of what's coming up next or what things
that you believe that God wants to,
what other stories does God want to put on the big screen?
I think that there's several different things
that we're interested in.
We continue to try to earn the right to be heard.
So with each of our stories,
we try to figure out what does this story wanna be.
And so there's different things that we'll do
that are for the family that have faith as a part of it,
like American Underdog.
And then we have things that we go for
where it's just the story serves it for us
to go through something very overt.
We still want it to be entertaining to the audience
and earn that right to be heard.
But the thing is, is like as believers,
we're really kind of stepping into a kind of a new renaissance
that what I'm excited about
and the thing I'm most excited about with Jesus Revolution
is I didn't direct it.
Brent McCorkle directed it with my brother
and Brent's a director that we've been working with
for about 10 years on different projects.
He helped me edit Woodlawn, I can only imagine.
And the Jesus music.
And so like, and he helped write
and all these things that now he directed.
So to see this next round of filmmakers
stepping into those roles
and us being able to kind of fuel their stories,
I feel like there's an opportunity for us
to blow the top off and be able to say,
hey, we're gonna experience a heyday of fate film.
And I think a lot of it is just determines that,
again, it's we get the talent is there,
stories are there, it's about the audience voting
and the studio pouring resources into it.
The stories that we have on the horizon,
we're very interested in biblical stuff for sure.
I mean, I think I would love to see
what The Chosen has done
and continue to see that universe grow.
I think it's something my brother's really passionate about.
And then for me, there's a, my favorite book
is a book called Fearless.
And it's a New York Times bestseller
about a Navy SEAL named Adam Brown
and his redemption story
and him going from being a drug addict
with seven felonies on his account
to dying a hero's death as a member of SEAL Team Six.
And his story has stuck with me for so many years
that when we finally got the rights to it,
Jason Hall, who wrote American Sniper
is writing the script right now.
And that's the next one I'm sinking my teeth into.
And so that one's gonna be an amazing project
that I've, you know, that has been a passion project of mine.
So I think we've all have our stories,
but you know, God's just, I think has the ability
to blow the doors off right now.
Wow.
So there's a couple of scenes that I just really loved
and I can relate to.
I was a missionary with Youth of the Mission for eight years.
So whenever they were praying,
whenever they were praying for the car to start,
that scene cracked me up because it's so relatable.
I mean, I think everybody that has had a bit
of a junker car or has had to like,
you've had to really have faith to get from one place
to another has had an experience just like that.
And that just made me laugh out loud.
I just appreciate the prayers.
God, you're not making me look too good right now.
Yeah.
A lot of that humor,
a lot of that humor came from Jonathan Rumi.
He's hysterical.
Like they would have these scenarios written out
with a little bit of dialogue
and they're supposed to pray over this car
that to try to get it started
and all the hippies are praying for it.
And Jonathan just kept going with it
and ad libbing this prayer.
And like it just got more and more hysterical
and relatable because it's like very real life,
especially to those of us that have grown up in the church.
But that was Jonathan.
And so there's a lot,
the thing that people have watched the movie,
one of the comments they make
that they're most surprised about
is how much humor there is in the story.
There's a lot of just fun humor,
kind of these scenarios.
And then it turns on a dime to give somewhere
that just really grabs your heart.
So that was one of those scenes that,
yeah, we've all been there.
It's great.
Yeah.
So definitely audiences are going to laugh.
They're going to cry.
They're going to shed a tear in an emotional way
where you're moved by the Holy Spirit
as you're watching this.
And so I just wanna encourage everybody again,
go to JesusRevolution.movie
to get all the information to watch.
I know you guys are all over social media as well,
but go to this film, take a friend,
and your life is gonna be changed.
And I know I just had an emotional experience
with my wife watching this film
and wanting to be used more by God
as a result of watching this.
And so if we get a whole bunch of people
to have a similar type of experience,
I can't wait to see what type of Jesus Revolution 2.0,
the 2023 edition, we can really get rolling here.
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