Why ‘God’s Not Dead 2’ Is Being Called ‘Little Spark in the Dark’ – CBN News Efrem Graham
Why ‘God’s Not Dead 2’ Is Being Called ‘Little Spark in the Dark’
That success opened the door for a sequel, which opens in theaters April 1, 2016. CBN News was the only television news crew invited to the set for the filming of God’s Not Dead 2.
Screen writing partners Cary Solomon and Chuck Konzelman wrote the story for the first installment of the film, that pitted a student against his professor in in a passionate debate about God’s very existence. Solomon and Konzelman have also written “Gods Not Dead 2.”
Konzelman added, “The first movie I think brought people to the point where they thought someone should do something. I think the second movie points more to, ‘I need to do something in my own life.'”
“God’s Not Dead” was filmed on the campus of Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge. Much of the production for “God’s Not Dead 2” unfolds in Little Rock, Arkansas, inside the state Supreme Court.
Not Just Another Role
“This was a calling for me to do this. I felt like this was a mission for me to go on and stand up for my beliefs and be a little bit louder about my faith,” Hart told CBN News.
“I was raised a Catholic girl and married a Baptist, so I became a Presbyterian, but all the while searching,” Hart continued.
“In the last few years, I have found a beautiful Bible study, where I have felt a lot of fellowship with the women and felt very loved and nurtured there and it has really helped my walk,” she said.
This isn’t your typical sequel. Hart leads an impressive cast of new faces that include Pat Boone as her grandfather. Robin Givens portrays Grace’s school principal. And Jesse Metcalfe plays her attorney, Tom Endler.
Describing the Endler character, Metcalfe said, “He is not a religious man. He is not a Christian. But he comes to respect Grace’s religious integrity.”
The “God’s Not Dead” song and The Newsboys are among the few familiar returnees in the “God’s Not Dead” sequel.
The band’s lead singer Michael Tait described the film franchise to CBN News saying, “It’s just a little spark in the dark can light up the whole scene. And ‘God’s Not Dead’ was that little train that could.”
The storylines in both films are personal to the members of the popular Christian rock band.
Singer and keyboardist Jeff Frankenstein told CBN News, “Some people will look at that and say … ‘you are being too sensitive about what you believe,’ but it really does exist.”
Drummer Duncan Phillips added, “I got little kids and I fight for those moments where we can enjoy time together and I think what the movie did was give families that moment.”
“‘God’s Not Dead’ dealt with the existence of God. Is God real? Is He not? ‘God’s Not Dead 2’ deals with who was He? And if He was Jesus, was He man, myth or Messiah?” Pure Flix producer Michael Scott told CBN News.
“Ultimately, my hope is to develop an army of people that can talk about their faith intelligently and really take that to the world,” he said.