Actor Kelsey Grammer became emotional while talking about his portrayal of Pastor Chuck Smith in a new motion picture titled “Jesus Revolution” during a recent appearance on the syndicated program “Live with Kelly and Ryan.”
Grammer’s comments came after the show aired a clip from the film.
“I love this movie,” Grammer said through tears. “I really love it.”
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He added that his wife Kayte Walsh, loved it too when they both sat down in their home to watch the first cut of the film.
“When Kayte saw it she said, ‘Oh my God, it’s the best thing you’ve ever done,'” he recalled. “She started crying.”
Becoming emotional, Grammer told hosts Kelly Ripa and Ryan Seacrest that his character “is a man looking for his own faith and finds it as well. A man whose church is empty. He can’t get traction and he’s started to think he’s going to be fired from his job as a pastor.”
“This hippie comes into his life,” he continued. “And he finds new purpose and started a movement that’s still going. It’s extraordinary.”
Ripa asked Grammer if the film was a true story.
“Yes, it’s a true story,” he replied.
Grammer then told Ripa and Seacrest that he has been approached by a number of people, who said, “You’re playing Chuck Smith! Oh, I listened to him all the time.’ Or they’d say, ‘He married us’ or ‘I was baptized by Chuck Smith.'”
“You can see this light in their eyes,” he said before breaking into tears again.
Grammer, 67, is a Christian. He’s well known for the character of Frasier Crane whom he played for 20 years in the television series Frasier and Cheers.
“Jesus Revolution” is a Kingdom Story film in collaboration with Lionsgate. Filmmaker Jon Erwin of I Can Only Imagine and American Underdog directed the new film.
Other members of the movie’s cast include Joel Courtney, Anna Grace Barlow, and Kimberly Williams-Paisley.
The story of Pastor Greg Laurie is also included in the film. Laurie was a teenager at the time of the Jesus People Movement of the 1970s, but he went on to found Harvest Christian Fellowship, in Riverside, California, one of the largest churches in America.
In the film’s special feature posted to YouTube, Laurie explained, “The Jesus Movement was an awakening. Not only was it the last great American awakening, I think it may have been the most significant of all.”
Courtney, who plays the teenage Laurie in the movie, agrees but thinks another great movement could be just around the corner. “Our country and the world is primed for another revival,” he said.
Some believe that revival could be getting underway after the outpouring of God’s presence at Asbury University that has been ongoing for more than 10 days straight.
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