The former lead actor of "Frasier" plays a pastor at the heart of the last great revival in America in this film from the Erwin Brothers.
From the 1980s through the early 2000s, Kelsey Grammer rode an incredible 400-plus episode sitcom wave between the hits Cheers and its spin-off series Fraiser, which was centered around his eponymous character. While no longer the star he was then, the 67-year-old actor nonetheless brings some major name recognition to Jesus Revolution, his latest project.
A faith-based film from the Christian brother team of Andrew and Jon Erwin, this picture tells the true story of the Jesus movement that started in Southern California counter-culture circles in the late 1960s. It eventually swept the nation, with young people of all stripes turning to Christ for salvation.
Grammer's character, Pastor Chuck Smith, joined forces at the time with a hippie street preacher named Lonnie Frisbee and they led thousand to Jesus, including now pastor Greg Laurie, who wrote the book on which this film is based. We at Christian Film Blog do not know exactly where the actor stands on issues of faith, but judging by an interview he recently gave on the Tonight Show, it would seem God brought this role directly to him.
"I was having a sort of meditative evening one night in my home, and I was up pretty late - it was about 3:00, 4:00 in the morning - and I started to think, 'I want to do something worthwhile, something that has a bigger purpose than just me.' And I was kind of saying a prayer, I guess, and the next morning the script lands on my door.'"
Grammer read through it and liked the story. So much so, that he wasted no time even considering the next step, saying to himself, "That's it, I'm doing this Jesus story."
He will be joined by a strong cast that features Jonathan Roumie - of The Chosen fame - in the role of Frisbee and Joel Courtney, who plays Laurie. Jesus Revolution releases nationwide on February 24th, and you can check out the trailer below to get a better sense of what to expect.