Actor Neal McDonough, who appears in the new Angel Studios film “The Shift,” told Newsmax Wednesday that the reason faith-based projects are taking Hollywood by storm is because “people want to see good messages” in movies.
“I think that [film industry] people weren't so ready to give these projects a green light and fund them because they thought that they weren’t going to make money. And let's face it, Hollywood likes to make money,” McDonough said during an appearance on Newsmax’s “The Chris Salcedo Show.” “Everyone likes to make money. Every business wants to make money, not lose money. That's part of it.
“But they're allowing us now to tell these stories because the people are coming out to the theaters, and they're supporting these films,” he said. “A lot of the original faith-friendly films were very small in budget, so you didn't have that much money for advertising, either, so people didn't really know about it.
"Look at ‘Greater,’ this film I did almost a decade ago. We had no money for printed advertising, one of the first films that I ever helped produce. It was such a word-of-mouth film that it just got back on Netflix last week [and] was the No. 3 most-watched film on Netflix.
“Why is that?” he asked. “Because people want to see messages in movies and good messages. You can drag the lead character through tortuous journeys; but, at the end, he has the belief in himself and his faith in God, that he’s going to get through whatever problem it is.
"Pretty simple recipes for the films that I like, and that's what ‘Greater’ was. But it’s films like ‘Greater’ that really started the path of, Wait a second — these films, people really like this stuff. People really enjoy going to the cinema as a family, as an extended unit and then have a conversation after. ‘Jimmy, what did you think of the film? Mary, what did you think?’ You can't do that with most Hollywood films now.”
It’s because of the success of films like “Greater” that the budgets and films are “getting bigger” and the scripts are getting “more fascinating as we progress,” McDonough said — “because more money is being pumped into films like this.”
“Angel Studios has just taken the bull by the horns to say we're going to do it and these guys aren't making any money,” he said. “They’re not making any money yet. They will at some point, but they don't care.
"They want to make great projects for the American heartland, and that's what they're doing, and I'm blessed to be partnered with them.”
The studio behind “The Chosen” and “Sound of Freedom,” Angel Studios’ latest film “The Shift” is a dystopian drama and sci-fi thriller based on the biblical Book of Job. McDonough plays Lucifer in the film.
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Nicole Weatherholtz ✉
Nicole Weatherholtz, a Newsmax general assignment reporter covers news, politics, and culture. She is a National Newspaper Association award-winning journalist.
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