by Tennessee and Kimberly Williams-Paisley, an actor, claims that her faith-based play, Jesus Revolution, gives a message of inclusivity and hope in these gloomy and polarizing times.
“God loves everyone. The most significant message of the movie, in my opinion, is that no one is too broken to find God and experience love and acceptance. Williams-Paisley, 51, made this statement to UPI in a recent Zoom interview.
The actress desired to portray Charlene Laurie, a struggling single mother. She enjoyed the movie, which was released on DVD and Blu-ray on Tuesday, because it gave her insight into a woman’s decisions and experiences that were dissimilar to her own.
“This paragraph drew me in so much. She is a completely different person than me, so as an actor, that was challenging.Very exciting notion for me,” said the mother of two teenage sons and wife of country music singer Brad Paisley.
“I also like the fact that this was based on a real person and period of history. Naturally, I enjoyed the ability to change my appearance with wigs, hair, and cosmetics. I also cherished the hopeful components of the movie.
Jesus Revolution, which is set in 1970s California, follows Charlene’s abandoned son Greg (Joel Courtney), an aspiring filmmaker and comic book illustrator, who is searching for meaning and purpose when he meets street preacher Lonnie Frisbee (Jonathan Roumie) and Pastor Chuck Smith (Kelsey Grammer), who are in charge of a massive, fervent Christian revival movement for hippies seeking fulfillment through faith rather than drugs.
I’d always heard the term ‘Jesus freaks,’ but I didn’t really understand what was happening,” Williams-Paisley said of the movement.
“I loved doing a deep dive into all of that and even seeing it on the screen, this whole time of upheaval and change and what came out of it and how long it has lasted in many ways. It’s a really interesting part of our history.”
The real Greg, now 70, has been a church pastor for decades and hosts the weekly Harvest at Home online church program.
He and his wife, Cathe, were on the film’s set to answer any questions the actors might have about his life and ministry.
“They are such a great, inspiring couple,” Williams-Paisley said. “They were there and available the whole time.”
The actress found talking to them and reading Greg’s books extremely helpful in relating to the late Charlene, who often ignored her son while she was getting drunk and dating men who treated her badly when Greg was young.
