CMR, in the movies

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http://www.gwinnettdailypost.com/index.php...hange_well_id=2

Richt pleased with movie role

07/13/2006

By Marc Weiszer

Morris News Service

ATHENS - In the spring of 2004, Mark Richt flew to South Georgia to make a cameo in a low budget film produced by an Albany church.

The role wasn't a stretch for the Georgia football coach. He plays a college football coach who is a devout Christian.

"Facing The Giants" was written and produced by Alex and Stephen Kendrick, associate pastors at Sherwood Baptist Church, and is scheduled to be released nationally on Sept. 29.

The brothers came up with the idea of getting Richt to appear in the movie, which has received nationwide publicity months ahead of release because of the backlash that followed the Motion Picture Association of America giving the Christian-themed movie a PG rating.

"Both of us were born in Athens before we came to Albany and we're huge Georgia Bulldog fans," said Alex Kendrick, whose father was a minister at Green Acres Baptist Church in the 1970s.

"We know he shares our faith and of course he has a love for football, obviously."

They sent Richt a copy of their first movie "Flywheel," made on a $20,000 budget, that has sold 35,000 DVDs.

"I took a look at it and I really enjoyed it," Richt said. "It was a fantastic movie for my family. I'm always looking for that, and it had a great message."

Alex Kendrick's foray into filmmaking came after reading a survey that said that movies and television were now more influential in culture than church and religion. He decided to make "Flywheel," a movie he said has a "wholesome God-honoring message."

At an Albany Bulldog Club meeting, Kendrick asked Richt if he would make the cameo in "Facing the Giants," which has an all-volunteer cast and crew of more than 500, mostly made up of church members.

"Essentially all we paid for was about $100,000 for the equipment rental," Kendrick said.

Richt plays the former college coach of Grant Taylor, the coach of a Christian high school, played by Alex Kendrick. Richt appears in two scenes during the last third of the movie - a three-minute locker-room scene and several reaction shots during the championship game.

"I gave him the information that he needed to say in the movie but told him, 'You say it however you want to say it,'" Kendrick said. "It really went well. I think he was a little nervous about acting, but basically he was playing himself. ... But we don't identify him in the movie as Mark Richt. He's wearing a red and black sweater and I come in and I call him 'Coach.' "

Richt believes the PG rating will bring more publicity to the movie.

"Some people are disappointed in that because they felt like it's a very good family movie, which it is," Richt said. "It's an awesome movie and you'd think there would be no reason other than for it to be rated G.

"When it got a PG rating and the reason for it, I felt like it would do nothing but help the movie get attention, and apparently it has."

House Majority Whip Roy Blunt sent a letter to MPAA Chairman Dan Glickman after reading that the movie received a PG rating because of its religious overtones.

"This incident raises the disquieting possibility that MPAA considers exposure to Christian themes more dangerous for children than exposure to gratuitous sex and mindless violence," Blunt wrote.

MPAA executive vice president John Feehery did not return a message, but MPAA ratings board chair Joan Graves told the Catholic League there was a "misunderstanding that the film received a PG rating for its 'religious viewpoint.'"

"This film has a mature discussion about pregnancy, for example, as well as other elements that parents might want to be aware of," Graves said in a statement on the Catholic League Web site.

Graves met with Blunt and others from Congress two weeks ago.

"They explained the process by which movies are rated, but I don't think that did much to alleviate the concerns of members of Congress with concern to 'Facing The Giants,'" said Blunt spokeswoman Burson Taylor, who said hearings are still possible.

Kendrick said the movie originally was scheduled to be shown on 100 to 200 screens. That was increased to 300 after being received well by test audiences, and now is up to as many as 400 after the ratings issue made national news, including on ABC's "Good Morning America," Fox News and CNN.

"I want to make this very clear. I'm not mad at the MPAA," Kendrick said. "We were never outraged. Either way it's PG, whether it's for football violence or the religious stuff. We can handle a PG rating."

"Facing the Giants," will be shown in 86 cities, including Athens, Atlanta, Columbus, Macon and Albany.

Richt doesn't expect a second career as an actor.

"My son Jon squelched that," Richt said. "After he watched it, he said, 'You look just like you're talking to the media. You're not a good actor at all.' But my wife thought I was cute."