Morning Wire - Jesus Makes a Comeback: Jesus Revolution Film | 3.5.23

Episode Date: March 5, 2023

The writer and co-director of Jesus Revolution shares what sparked the idea for Jesus Revolution, his seven year journey to make the film, and the hope he’s sparked with audiences -- all with the support of a major Hollywood studio. Get the facts first on Morning Wire.   Epic Will "Get 10% OFF your Will! EpicWill.com/WIRE" Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The faith-based film, Jesus Revolution, stunned Hollywood by more than doubling expected revenues at the box office in its opening weekend. The film has even managed to beat Marvel's latest blockbuster Ant Man in terms of earnings per theater over several days last week. The story about a revival of Christianity among the hippie culture of the 1970s coincides with media reports of a current revival that began at Asbury University, a private Christian school in the small town of Wilmore, Kentucky. We recently aired a segment on Jesus Revolution, and now for this Sunday edition of Morning Wire,

we hear Megan Basham's complete interview with director John Irwin, in which they talk about revivals, movie making, and why the success of Christian films keeps surprising Hollywood. I'm Daily Wire editor-in-chief John Bickley with Georgia Howe. Thanks for waking up with us. It's March 5th, and this is your Sunday edition of Morning Wire. According to a recent poll, 62% of Americans who think about their own death a lot of the time, Don't have a will. That's kind of like being afraid your house will burn down, but not having homeowners insurance. Don't put it off any longer.

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Here's their conversation. I keep seeing some headlines over the weekend about the surprising success of this film. And that kind of makes me chuckle because I have written a number of stories myself on the success of faith-th themed films, yours. I know, right? In particular. So I guess I want to start out by asking, why do you think everyone keeps being surprised by this? Why does Hollywood have short-term memory loss over and over again? It's like we keep surprising them because our audience is very large and very hungry.

I think, honestly, there's a reason it's just because of COVID. And, you know, there's been a massive question mark of what kind of films work in theaters after this gigantic disruption. And so this is such a huge win, not only for this movie, but for this kind of movie. It's such a statement that says our audience is still. you know, hungry and eager if the product is right and ready to go to the theater. And this is really the first fate film theatrical besides fathom events I've chosen that has really overperformed. And so I love that it just proves that the audience is still hungry and still

eager. And we make so much noise together when we unify our voice as a community and the industry does take note. I mean, your movie ticket really is like a vote. And what I love about it is just hanging out in a lot of theaters across the country is people are lingering in the lobbies and talking to each other. It's like we haven't had this kind of community event in a theater in a very long time. Well, you know, it's funny because you mentioned people getting out to theaters and yes, you see that as a faith-based film, but also there was sort of this perception that only the really big like superhero stories or massive event stories were going to draw people out. Obviously, this undercuts that narrative. That's right. That was the win of the weekend.

between cocaine bear and Jesus Revolution, as you saw counter-programming work. You know, yeah. I think it was funny. Brad Paisley posted a meme, you know, with like Jonathan healing this cocaine bear or whatever was hysterical. And when an audience that's underserved and overseen,

you know, when they feel seen by a piece of content and embraced, they'll show up, you know, and they'll show up in large numbers. So I'm just grateful to Lionsgate that they let us make a movie called Jesus Revolution. You know, that's not something in movie studio would typically do. And then putting it out wide in theaters in this environment is a risk in movie studio typically wouldn't take. And so I'm grateful to, you know, the whole team at Lionsgate

for letting us do this and do something so authentic for our audience. Well, let's talk about that storyline then. You know, obviously it's very compelling. We seem to be in as much, if not more, divided culture now. I mean, I'm sure you're getting this question all over, but what lessons do you hope people draw? from then for today. Well, that's what drew me to the project. I bought this magazine in 2015 on eBay, this Time magazine, and just had this psychedelic Jesus and it said the Jesus Revolution.

And it was four or five years after there was a cover of time with no picture. The first cover of time was no picture, and it just had a black background, red text and it said, is God dead. They had this very bleak assessment and then this incredible cover. And I was like, what happened between these two magazines? and I'm uncontrollably curious by nature. So I just started researching it, and I read this article, and it was such a beautiful, hopeful, optimistic article in Time magazine

about this spiritual awakening sweeping the country. I felt like you could feel on the page people being lifted out of despair. And there was a lot of fears, and there was a lot of desperation, was the key word that I found. And so the article gave me great hope that, okay, we've been here. before. And when your pain outweighs your fear, change can begin. And sometimes it's good to get to a moment of desperation and say, where are the answers?

And that's certainly what happened then. And I think that's what's beginning to happen today as you see all these revivals break out at college campuses. There's just a desperation for God. And so the more I researched the film, the more I just felt like this story really did offer some answers to the problems that we're facing today. even then it was this beautiful, funny, heartwarming, meaningful story from a wonderful decade to create on film. It really was prescriptive for today, and it gave me great hope that, man, this could happen again.

The table is sort of set for something like this to happen again. So that's always why I wanted to make the movie. So to see 10 days before the movie, a revival at Asbury and all these things happened in the same auditorium that happened back then in 1970. was mind-blowing to me. I just couldn't believe it. And I just love that people love the movie, and I love that it's a clear indicator that the Heartland audience,

the faith audience is viable and back and going to more than just superior films. Right. Well, you kind of covered the next question I was going to ask, which was about kind of those headlines that we're seeing that between this film, between Asbury, they're saying, revival is in the air.

And so maybe what I can lean into then is the next question, which was part of that discussion that I'm at least seeing around Asbury is the balance between, okay, sound doctrine, but also not feeling cynical about a movement and cynical about the people that that movement may bring you. So I guess the question is, what lessons do you think a story like the Jesus Revolution has for the balance between sound doctrine, but also welcoming those who are searching. That is a good question.

I would say that the Asbury revival is a sign of hope for all of us and is absolutely legitimate and real. My wife Beth and I, we were up in Kentucky anyway, working on another film, and it was like day two of the service at Asbury. So it was very early.

And we were 60 miles away, and I saw a social media post. I'm like, that's why we made this movie. And then a pastor friend of mine had driven over, so I'm like, let's just go. And it was the time where you just walk in, and we just sat there and listened, which by the way,

we should take the time to listen to Gen Z. I think they have a spectacular opinion, an incredible insight, and they have a very similar spiritual awakening happening in their generation that was happening in the generation in this movie. Now, when spiritual awakening happens, get ready to be disrupted,

you know, because there was cultural upheaval in the 60s because a generation was suddenly awake saying this is not, something's missing and they had to go to a lot of the wrong places before they found the right place that's why back then they said Jesus is the real drug as then i finally found what thing that works of course theology matters but we've got to capture the hearts of people i mean god's got to recapture our own heart like you don't have that you don't have anything and so i think

i would just dare us all to be optimistic again and to believe that maybe it's not all over and God can show up in our time and in our society and in this generation in a big way like he did before because I think in my research the Jesus movement was a lot like the movie and a lot like the Asbury revival. If your heart's open to it and you're willing to step past a certain cynical mindset, you experience it. If your heart's not open to it, it passes you by. And that was certainly the Jesus movement, the churches and the leaders that that were open to it, they were open to what God was doing, even though it was so against their thinking of like,

hippies can't come to church. That's not, you know, their path to church is to go home and get a job and take a bath and cut their hair and rejoin society. And then maybe they can come to church. So it was very, it was challenging the perceptions of the day, but that's where God was working. And sometimes I think we get in a mindset that is self-fulfilling negativity. Yeah.

And I think it's time to be optimistic again and be hopeful and just celebrate what God's doing. Will some of them get theology right and wrong? Sure. But just the fact that it's happening is a reason to celebrate. And let's do that first. We criticize something that we don't really even understand. And I'm also grateful that, you know, I was talking to Dallas Chikin as the creator of the chosen. And I was like, we did not get in a room and plan this.

Like, okay, Dallas, you anchor the first week of the month. and then we'll make sure some Super Bowl commercials are bought. And then, you know, they have the name of Jesus in it. And then we'll do the end of the month and we'll schedule a revival in between. Like nobody, we didn't plan this February to be like the month of Jesus, you know. But one of the reviews I saw said, I guess Jesus is making a comeback. You know, I thought that was really cool. All right.

Well, maybe last question then. When you look at the Jesus Revolution, what is the impact that you still see today? I actually feel, and there's several historians that feel that it's actually, at least by the numbers, the greatest spiritual awakening in American history. But some stats that are definitive, you know, all of Christian music, as we know it today, came from that movement. You know, we portray it in the film when Chuck Smith put Love Song on the stage. That was one of the first beginnings of what is this entire industry of music that we all listen to today. Many, many, many leaders in the church today like Greg Lurie and all the work. that he's accomplished came from the Jesus movement.

What I really hope, if I had a single hope after this movie, is that 1972, at least for the largest denomination in America, the Southern Baptist, is the most recorded baptisms in a single year in American history, which was the culminating year of the Jesus movement, the same year as Explos 72, which we dramatized in the beginning of the film. My parents were to explode 72, and their lives were changed. Dallas Jenkins' parents were at Explos 72,

as well as his wife Amanda's parents. It's the reason he's named Dallas is his dad was so moved. He named him Dallas. So what I would love to see is for that record to be beaten and for their beat to be more baptisms than a year, this year or next year,

than there were in 1972. I do think we've lost our way and we've lost connection with a generation. And my daughter's 14. So these things are very top of mind, you know, to me. And that's why we made the movie specifically to be enjoyed by several generations.

So much of entertainment now rips our families apart. So you're in your house or wherever and everyone's got their own screen and it's like being alone in your own home. It makes me as a father feel like Jerry McGuire when he's like, I'm cloaked in failure, you know? And so we try to combat that.

We try to really architect the films to be these multi-generational experiences. And so that's the thing I love the most is that it's one of those rare pieces of entertainment that is pulling generations together. And that's just so cool to see. And otherwise, it's my favorite film ever to watch with an audience.

I've just never had an experience like this in a theater. Typically, I don't watch the movies after they're done because all I see is the mistakes. But this one, I just love sitting in an audience with this movie. It's just they laugh, they cry, they cheer during the film. It's so cool. And there's something beyond the movie going on. I can't really fully articulate.

but there's just something in the room, you know, there's just a feeling. And it's the same feeling I felt at Asbury in that chapel. And so, you know, my hope is that we can see revival in America. I love, this why I wanted to call it Jesus Revolution. I love the word revolution. First of all, love is in the word backwards. And then secondly, it's a cyclical word. You know, it's like we need another revolution of this.

We need another cycle. We need a return. And we've had revivals in America about every 50 years. all the way back to the Great Awakening. So I don't even think there is a country without spiritual awakening, you know? And we need one again. And hope is not lost.

It is not. And just thank you so much. And we really appreciate you're taking the time to talk with us. Oh, well, I say hello to everybody, love Jeremy, loved anywhere. Appreciate you guys very much. That was John Irwin,

writer and co-director of the hit film, Jesus Revolution. And this has been a Sunday edition of Morning Wire.