Home Media Magazine - November 11-17, 2007 - (Page CER11) EXTRA NOTES “ … Many of the guys in my band and crew have been with me since the beginning. It helps to have your friends with you. I thank God every day for it.” Travis and his wife, Lib. gentleman and has no complaints.” Travis is a movie fan, citing the highschool football drama Facing the Giants (on DVD from Sony Pictures Home Entertainment) as an example of a faith-based film that inspires, and a possible starting point for young people wishing to better understand the power of God and faith. “Faith-based films are making a lot of headway in Hollywood, and I’m not surprised,” Travis says. “It probably should not have taken this long because I believe the numbers point out that people are hungry for this kind of entertainment. I read something recently that ‘PG’-rated films outperform ‘R’-rated, so it’s not surprising that films with a message of faith are doing well.” Travis says he will continue to mix acting and music. “Musically, there is a lot more leeway for me to pick and choose what music I’ll record and sing,” he says. “I enjoy acting, though I still feel some nervousness when I first walk onto a set. But I pull that under control once I stop focusing on everything around me and pretend it’s just me there with the other actors, or more specifically, the character I’m playing.” Travis admits that nothing beats the thrill of performing music live. “You can feed off the audience and change the tempo and do all kinds of things to make it more exciting,” he says. “One of the reasons it still works for me is because so many of the guys in my band and crew have been with me since the beginning. It helps to have your friends with you. I thank God every day for it. I certainly hope acting is part of my future, but I’ll always say I’m a singer.” When he is offered movie roles, Travis says he will choose those with his beliefs in mind. “Because I do profess to be a Christian, I’ve got to be careful,” Travis says. “You can’t tell one crowd you love the Lord and profess to be a Christian, then do anything you want, including roles in films that go against your beliefs. But I’m hopeful there will be opportunities for me as an actor that fit into my faith. This is a good time for finding roles like that.” Featuring God M onthly film nights at churches are ready for a revival. Outreach Cinema (www.outreachcinema.com), a division of Christian film studio Pure Flix Entertainment, is ready to launch an ambitious direct-to-church film release program. The series begins on New Year’s Eve with The Wager, a faith-based film starring Randy Travis. Travis and his wife, Lib, are founding partners in the marketing and distribution company, along with veteran film producers Russell Wolfe and Michael Scott, marketing pro Byron Jones, and actor and producer David A. R. White. “For us, it became a matter of what can we offer to the churches,” said White, a regular on the 1990s television series “Evening Shade.” “We are a conduit between Hollywood and the churches. Church movie nights went out of style when the VCR came along, but the time is right to start again. Churches have spent more than half a billion dollars upgrading their audio-visual equipment. Movies are a great way to get the congregation together.” Outreach Cinema offers churches complete movie-night packages, including a Web site allowing pastors to preview the films. Churches obtain an exclusive license to screen a new release in a city or neighborhood. The February 2008 release is Hidden Secrets, which White likens to a faith-based The Big Chill. “If people have films with a faith-based message, we encourage them to approach us,” White said. NOVEMBER 2007 / CHRISTIAN ENTERTAINMENT REVIEW 11
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