‘Reacher’ Actor Alan Ritchson Wants the ‘Name of Christ in Movie Theaters’
The actor who is known to millions for his edgy roles in Reacher and The Hunger Games: Catching Fire says he also has a passion for inspirational content and wants faith-based films to succeed at the box office so others can be made.
“I want to be a part of stories like that,” said Alan Ritchson, who starred as Jack Reacher in Reacher and Gloss in The Hunger Games: Catching Fire.
Ritchson has a lead role in the upcoming faith-based movie Ordinary Angels, which was made by the same company (Kingdom Story) that produced Jesus Revolution. It
tells the true story of a family facing a medical crisis and a single mom who rallied a church to help. Kingdom Story also produced American Underdog, I Can Only Imagine and I Still Believe.
Ordinary Angels is scheduled to be released Oct. 13. Ritchson calls it a story of God using broken people to accomplish His will.
“God continually shows up in our world in a way that kind of boggles our mind,” Ritchson said. “Because we, for whatever reason, I think we continue to buy into the idea that … God chooses heroes to do His work. And it’s just never been the case. It’s the broken and the dysfunctional that God proves His power and strength through. And this a story of that, too. It’s important that we remember that those who maybe struggle to follow the rules, who don’t look like the perfect Christians, who are the broken, are the people that God has a funny way of expressing Himself through. And that story is very much told in Ordinary Angels.”
Ritchson made the comments recently during a Zoom “prayer call” involving cast and crew from Ordinary Angels.
He acknowledged that some Hollywood executives are only concerned about the bottom line of faith-based films. (Jesus Revolution grossed more than $50 million.) Even so, Ritchson added, that “doesn’t change the fact that people are hearing the name of Christ in movie theaters.”
“And if that’s where the pulpit is for people who wouldn’t normally step foot in a church, then that’s still a great way to have that conversation,” Ritchson said. “ … It matters that these films get supported.”
When Christians support faith-based movies, he added, “Other people in [Hollywood] watch this and a groundswell kind of takes place in Hollywood that changes things in a real meaningful way.”
Photo credit: Courtesy of Kingdom Story
Michael Foust has covered the intersection of faith and news for 20 years. His stories have appeared in Baptist Press, Christianity Today, The Christian Post, the Leaf-Chronicle, the Toronto Star and the Knoxville News-Sentinel.
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