From "UPI" : "Joel Courtney: 'Jesus Revolution' is a fun movie about grace, forgiveness"

NEW YORK, Feb. 24 (UPI) -- The Kissing Booth, Sick and Super 8 actor Joel Courtney says his new, faith-based film, Jesus Revolution, offers two simple, but essential, messages: Be kind to others and give people who are different from you a chance.

"It's a story of grace and of love and forgiveness. Greg is taken out of this world of drugs and he's saved," the 27-year-old actor -- who plays real-life, artist-turned-minister Greg Laurie -- told UPI in a recent Zoom interview.

Emphasizing how it is just as important to accept mercy from others as it is to extend it, Courtney said he hopes Jesus Revolution, which opens in theaters Friday, gets viewers talking because "there are too many people nowadays just judging others immediately and not having a conversation."

Set in 1970s California, the film follows Greg, an aspiring filmmaker and comic book illustrator looking for meaning and purpose when he meets street preacher Lonnie Frisbee (Jonathan Roumie) and Pastor Chuck Smith (Kelsey Grammer), the leaders of an enormous, enthusiastic Christian revival movement for hippies seeking fulfillment through faith, not protests or drugs.

Kimberly Williams-Paisley plays Greg's troubled mother, Charlene, and Anna Grace Warlow plays his girlfriend and eventual wife, Cathe.

"Greg is a real guy, a lost soul in this era when there were so many lost people who were just searching, doing what they needed to do to be seen, to really be present -- tuning in, turning on and dropping out, trying to do whatever they could do to feel like they mattered," Courtney said.

"It turns out LSD and these drugs can be incredibly harmful to your system and corrosive to your soul."

Courtney described the real Greg, who is now 70 and has been a church pastor for decades, as a "great guy," who was supportive and generous with his time when the actor approached him to discuss the nuances of his life story.

"What a gold mine of insight into the character that I'm playing is the man himself," the actor said.

"It was a little nerve-wracking the first couple of days when he was on set and I was playing him. [I wondered,'] 'What does he think?' But he was so encouraging, that totally evaporated," Courtney said.

"He was saying he felt like he was being transported back to his childhood in the 1970s because of how good [the film] was turning out."

The role required the actor to explore the depths of despair, the peaks of joy and just about every other human feeling in between.

"The emotional journey on this was so tantalizing. When I was reading the script at first, I thought, 'This is going to be fun,'" Courtney recalled. "We really wanted it to be as natural and real as possible."

Although Greg's introduction to Christianity happens after the mesmerizing, but egotistical, Lonnie comes to his aid after a drug-fueled, near-death experience, Greg more closely aligned with Chuck's less-ostentatious style of ministry and followed in his footsteps after Lonnie burned out and hit the road.

"Lonnie had this relationship with the Holy Spirit in a profound and daunting way. He had this power of healing in which people have these testimonies where they truly had no hearing in their ear and they had hearing after he blessed them and prayed over them," Courtney said.

Numerous former drug addicts also insisted that they were miraculously relieved of their cravings after meeting Lonnie.

Joel Courtney and Anna Grace Barlow play real-life minister Greg Laurie and his wife, Cathe, as young adults in "Jesus Revolution." Photo courtesy of Lionsgate

"The way that Chuck really structured his ministry as a pastor was scriptural from the pulpit, theological, almost heady, as opposed to leading from the heart, which was Lonnie's style," Courtney said.

"Greg sought the balance of both. He got some of that scriptural cornerstone foundation from Chuck, where it is the Gospel first, but he has a powerful way of speaking similar to Lonnie. I almost want to say he is the perfect middle ground of the two of them."

The actor said the title of his movie might scare some moviegoers away, but he expects others will check it out and find themselves pleasantly surprised by an entertaining, uplifting story.

"The way that you get audiences that you wouldn't otherwise get is you make a high-quality movie, and 'Oh, you know what? It also talks about faith,'" he said.

"I think there are going to be a lot of people who are going to be curious more than anything and excited to maybe just go to the theater, see a fun movie and then have a profound conversation afterward about it."

From "Showbiz CheatSheet" : "‘Jesus Revolution’: The True Story Behind the Movement Turned Hollywood Movie"

A new Christian movie called Jesus Revolution is about to hit theaters. The film tells the true story of the Jesus Revolution, a movement that took place in the ’60s and ’70s across the world. 

‘Jesus Revolution’ tells the true story of one man’s conversion to Christianity

Jesus Revolution tells the story of Greg Laurie, who was one of the real-life people involved in the movement. He converted to Christianity in the ’60s after crossing paths with pastor Chuck Smith, one of the leaders of the Jesus Revolution. 

The movie also deals with the cultural clash that happened during the Jesus Revolution movement. Hippies and young people began attending church alongside more conservative older people, and both parties disagreed with the other’s views on life and religion. 

The cast includes Frasierstar Kelsey Grammer as Chuck Smith and The Kissing Booth’s Joel Courtney as Greg Laurie. Other actors involved in the project include Jonathan Roumie, Kimberly Williams-Paisley, Julia Campbell, and DeVon Franklin. 

 

 

‘Jesus Revolution’ was in development for seven years

Jesus Revolution has been in development for almost seven years. According to Liberty University, producer Jon Erwin shared that he got the idea for the film after picking up a 1970s copy of TIME magazine that featured a cover story about the movement. 

“I studied it for years,” Erwin said of the magazine cover. “We were just dreaming of being able to make this movie. It’s a miracle that Lionsgate let us make it.”

Part of the development process meant casting changes. For example, stand-up comedian Jim Gaffigan was originally set to play Chuck Smith, but was replaced by Grammer. 

The real-life movement that inspired ‘Jesus Revolution’ 

“The Jesus Revolution” began in the late 1960s on the West Coast and eventually spread across the globe, according to Encyclopedia. Some major themes of the movement included a return to simple and communal living and rejecting drugs and alcohol in favor of religion. 

Members of the movement made music a central part of their faith, incorporating the rock and country sounds from popular songs of the day into their services. They also expressed their dissatisfaction with typical middle-class Christianity, preferring to blend it with their hippie sensibilities, according to The Conversation.

Some of the big names in the Jesus Revolution include Smith, who was the founder and pastor at Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa, Nashville pastor Don Finto, and Steve Freeman, who opened the Kingdom Come Christian Coffee House in South Carolina. 

The movement came to an end by the late ’80s, but its influences on Christianity can still be felt today. The Jesus Revolution brought more young people to churches, created youth groups for young Christians, and started the trend of modern worship songs being used during services. 

From "Just Jared Junior" : "Joel Courtney Premieres New Movie ‘Jesus Revolution’ with Wife Mia"

Thanks, Jared, for this excellent article!

Joel Courtney dons a maroon corduroy suit for the premiere of his new movie Jesus Revolution held at TCL Chinese 6 Theatres on Wednesday (February 15) in Hollywood.

The 27-year-old The Kissing Booth star was joined by his wife Mia for the big event, celebrating his latest film.

If you didn’t know, the cute couple has been married for nearly two and a half years now.

The upcoming film is based on a true story of a divided moment in time when people came together by checking their preconceptions at the door – and formed a movement by listening to each other, looking beyond their own beliefs. It led to what TIME Magazine dubbed the Jesus Revolution in 1971.

From "Christian Headlines" : "Jesus Revolution Is an 'Opportunity for Evangelism,' Producer Says of Feb. 24 Film"

When Lionsgate announced last summer that a film about the hippie-led revival of the 60s and 70s would be released on Feb. 24, no one knew that a real-life revival would be sweeping Asbury University and college campus at the exact same time.

Some are calling it divine timing.

Andy Erwin, the producer of that film, Jesus Revolution (PG-13), told Christian Headlines that he got "chills" when he learned of the Asbury revival.

"It's very similar," Erwin said. "... I think the underlying hunger for revival is there [in America]."

Jesus Revolution tells the story of a major revival that also swept college campuses in the early 70s and sparked the ministries of countless individuals, including Greg Laurie, Lonnie Frisbee and Chuck Smith. That revival was such a big deal that it landed on the cover of Time Magazine on June 21, 1971, under the headline, "The Jesus Revolution." The cover artwork included a painting of Jesus. Historians dubbed it the "Jesus Movement."

Jesus Revolution stars Jonathan Roumie ( The Chosen ) as Frisbee, Kelsey Grammer ( Cheers, Frasier ) as Smith, Joel Courtney as Laurie, Kimberly Williams-Paisley ( Father of the Bride ) as Laurie's mother and Anna Grace Barlow as Laurie's girlfriend and future wife Cathe. It was made by the same filmmakers who produced I Can Only Imagine, I Still Believe and American Underdog.

The revival in the film took place in California. Even so, a college-led revival at Asbury University broke out around the same time – in February 1970 – and lasted 144 hours.

Revival "swept the country" in the early 1970s, Erwin said. He sees similarities to 2023. The 60s and 70s were engulfed with social unrest and polarization, similar to today. Young people, Erwin said, were searching for purpose and truth but reaching dead ends until they encountered the gospel.

"These weren't the bad kids," Erwin said. "These were kids that were searching for the right thing. They wanted to belong. They wanted truth, they wanted justice. … But they were sold a bill of goods that LSD was going to be what unlocked their potential. And when the bottom dropped out, it got ugly. And I think in society today, the same kind of generational gap exists. The younger generation that are often portrayed by the church as bad kids, these are kids that are searching for those same things of belonging, of justice, of identity, all those things. They're just looking for things that can't satisfy that. And I think we're primed for another Jesus movement and another Jesus revival."

The film is the most evangelistic movie yet released by Erwin and his team at Kingdom Story Company , he said. Kingdom Story previously released I Can Only Imagine, I Still Believe, Woodlawn and American Underdog .

"I think this one more specifically than anything we have done, is an opportunity for evangelism. It's 'take your lost friends,'" Erwin said.

It's important that Christians support Jesus Revolution if they want to see other films like it in the future, he added.

"By nature of coming out of COVID, studios are making a lot of snap decisions right now on what's viable and what's not," Erwin said. "And so, if this works, there is a massive door for the gospel that could last years. If it doesn't, they probably will begin to say, 'Hey, this audience isn't viable anymore. Let's move on to other kinds of products.' So it's important for people to vote with their ticket and show up. And it's important to take your friends that don't know the Word. … It's a great conversation starter."