USA – God’s Not Dead 2, opens in April. When the first part was presented, it surprised Hollywood with a box office collection of more than 60 million dollars. It also sparked a social media movement with a modest budget of just $2 million.
This success opened the door for a sequel, God’s Not Dead 2, which opens April 1, 2016. CBN News was the only television news crew to invite a crew from the film’s set.
Cary Solomon and Chuck Konzelman wrote the story for the film’s first installment, where a student confronts his professor in an impassioned debate about the existence of God. Now both are again the writers of the script for God Is Not Dead 2.
The creative process
They talked about the creative writing process for the film. Solomon told CBN News: “We pray in everything we do. And the Lord inspires. And that’s really the creative process.”
Konzelman added: “The first movie, I think it brought people to the point where they thought somebody had to do something. I think the points of the second film, is, ‘I have to do something in my own life’”.
God’s Not Dead 2 was filmed on the campus of Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge. Much of the production takes place in Little Rock, Arkansas, inside the state Supreme Court.
The fictional script often feels like a page torn from real-life headlines. A public school teacher finds herself on trial for answering a student’s question about Jesus Christ.
Not just another paper
Melissa Joan Hart plays Grace, the school’s history teacher. “This was a call for me to do this. I felt like this was a mission for me to follow and stand up for my beliefs and be a little bit stronger in my faith,” Hart told CBN News.
“I was raised a Catholic girl and married a Baptist, so I became a Presbyterian, but all while searching,” Hart continued.
“Over the last few years, I’ve found a beautiful Bible study, where I’ve felt a lot of fellowship with some women and felt so loved and nurtured there and it’s really helped me,” she said.
This is not your typical sequel. Hart brings an impressive cast of new faces including Pat Boone as his grandfather. Robin Givens portrays the principal of the school where Grace works. And Jesse Metcalfe plays her attorney, Tom Endler.
Describing the Endler character, Metcalfe says: “He is not a religious man. He is not a Christian. But he comes to respect Grace’s religious integrity.”
From alcoholic to Christian actor
Metcalfe recently spoke about his personal faith and admitted that he began a personal relationship with God five years ago when he became sober through Alcoholics Anonymous.
The actor told Fox 411: “A big part of that show is giving life and will with the character of God or how God understands it and prayer is also a big part of that show as well.”
“I feel like this really got me through a tough time in my life and since then it has really deepened and enriched my life in so many ways,” she said.
‘A spark in the dark’
The song “God Is Not Dead” and the Newsboys are among the few that return to the sequel to the second part of the film.
The band’s singer, Michael Tait describes the film saga saying, “It’s just a little spark in the dark that can light up the whole scene. And ‘God Is Not Dead’ was that little train that could do it.”
The arguments in both films are expressions of the members of the popular Christian rock band.
Singer/keyboardist Jeff Frankenstein told CBN News: “Some people will look at this and say…” you’re being too sensitive about what you believe, ‘but it actually exists.’
more than a movie
“God Is Not Dead” is no longer just a movie. It is a franchise of Pure Flix.
“’God Is Not Dead’ dealt with the existence of God. Is God real? Is not the? What if he was Jesus, was he man, myth or Messiah?” said Pure Flix producer Michael Scott.
“Ultimately, my hope is to develop an army of people who can intelligently speak their faith and take it to the world,” he said.
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