From Movie Web : "Jesus Revolution: Plot, Cast, Release Date, and Everything Else We Know"

Starring Kelsey Grammer and Joel Courtney, Jesus Revolution tells the story of the 1970s religious movement. Here's what to know!

Hippiedom and films go hand in hand and have ever since the counterculture first appeared. Think Easy Rider and Alice's Restaurant, which both released in 1969. However, marrying movie-making with hippiedom's spiritual side has always been a tougher sell. The impending release of Jesus Revolution represents the latest attempt to reconcile the two.

Jon Erwin and Brent McCorkle's drama about the Jesus movement that so energized young Christian believers in California during the 1970s stars a mix of Hollywood royalty and up-and-coming stars; the film is now in post-production and is slated for release early next year. Here's what we know.

Jesus Revolution: The Plot

Jesus Revolution tells the true story of Greg Laurie, who converted to Christianity in the late 1960s and went on to be influenced by the burgeoning Jesus movement. Laurie was also influenced by pastor Chuck Smith, who, in real life as in the film, opened the doors of his church to a new generation of hippie followers and was supportive of the formation of communes that would eventually span the length and breadth of southern California in particular.

As one might expect of a faith-based film, Jesus Revolution leans heavily into the social tensions that were prevalent in the United States at the end of the 1960s. The friction caused by the cultural and generational clashes between generations, ethnicities, and people of differing political beliefs forms the backdrop. The most obvious example is the clash in sensibilities between the hippies who suddenly begin attending Smith's church and the buttoned-up, conservative congregants who take umbrage at their barefooted appearance.

However, if the trailer is any indication, the film aims squarely for feel-good territory. Will the film gloss over some of the more problematic aspects of Smith's ideas, including his belief that the world would end in 1981, that homosexuality was "perverted," and that 9/11 represented God's wrath? While the film will surely find a ready audience among those who agree with its message, the wider appeal of charismatic Christianity of this sort on the big screen remains to be seen.

Jesus Revolution: The Cast

Heading the cast as Greg Laurie is Joel Courtney, who burst onto the scene as Joe in J.J. Abrams' paean to early 1980s-era Steven Spielberg movies, Super 8 (2011). Jesus Revolution represents a return to the big screen for Courtney after a quiet 2022, and also Courtney's first foray into straight drama as an adult actor after a series of turns in teen comedies such as The Kissing Booth trilogy and horror films such as 2020's cult supernatural drama The Empty Man.

Kelsey Grammer also stars as Chuck Smith. Grammer has been busy in recent months, with a slew of appearances in independent films such as producer Rachel Winter's (Dallas Buyers Club) directorial debut The Space Between, as well as Civil Rights Movement drama Charming the Hearts of Men, and voice work for the animated movie co-written by Guillermo del Toro, Trollhunters: Rise of the Titans. The big news for Grammer fans, of course, is that the new Frasier series has been given the go-ahead, and rehearsals are due to begin in February, albeit without David Hyde Pierce as Niles.

Also, Jonathan Roumie stars as Lonnie Frisbee, one of the key individuals in the Jesus movement whose chance meeting with Smith helped spur the movement. Roumie has appeared in supporting roles in a wide-ranging selection of primetime TV dramas, including The Good Wife, NCIS: Los Angeles, The Mindy Project, and Chicago Med.

However, it is for his work in the role of Jesus in the crowdfunded historical drama The Chosen that Roumie is best known. The series, which began in 2019, has already been translated into over 60 languages, and the third season premiered last month and is dropping throughout December. Roumie is also due to voice the character of Merenkhare in Night at the Museum: Kanmunrah Rises Again, the fourth installment in the franchise (and the first to be animated), which also features the voice talents of High School Musical alum Joshua Bassett, Community star Gillian Jacobs, and Good Omens' Jack Whitehall, and premieres on Disney+ this Friday.

Other cast members include Anna Grace Barlow (The Big Leap, The Never List); Kimberly Williams-Paisley (Father of the Bride, Two and a Half Men); Julia Campbell (Tell Me a Story, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation); Nic Bishop (Body of Proof, Legends of Tomorrow); and DeVon Franklin (The Pursuit of Happyness).

Release Date

Filming for Jesus Revolution took place in Alabama earlier this year, with Grammer being cast as a late replacement for Jim Gaffigan. The film is scheduled for release in the United States on February 24, 2023.