Reese Witherspoon Quotes Rick Warren While Promoting 'The Good Lie'

By Vincent Funaro, Christian Post Reporter Friday, October 03, 2014

Reese Witherspoon in 'The Good Lie' — Reese Witherspoon in "The Good Lie" | (Photo: Courtesy of Grace Hill Media)

Academy Award-winning actress Reese Witherspoon stars in the new film "The Good Lie" and recently quoted Pastor Rick Warren of Saddleback Church while promoting the film.

During a press conference for the movie, which tells the story of four Sudanese refugees who flee a vicious civil war and arrive at a refugee camp in Kenya, which eventually gives them the opportunity to make a life in the U.S., she discussed a statement made by the Purpose Driven Life author related to the perception Americans might have about refugees, such as the ones seen in her new film.

"I was talking to Rick Warren yesterday, he said sometimes we assume that if people are poor they're not intelligent or they don't have anything to offer to society," Witherspoon said. "[Sometimes] these are people who were top of their field, and they're doctors, they're educators, they're community leaders, and essentially they're [just] displaced."

Witherspoon, who plays employment agency worker Carrie Davis in the film, is challenged with the task of finding these refugees work in the U.S. Most of her scenes in the film were shot in Atlanta, Georga.

Fortunately, Witherspoon was able to experience the refugees' conditions first hand when she visited the Kakuma refugee camp in Kenya after filming "The Good Lie."

"I really wanted to see what the experience was like, so I took my teenage daughter [to the camp]," she said. "It was very emotional seeing 250,000 people displaced, sleeping on concrete slabs, and just the sprawl of that many people living [there] with 12 different languages being spoken, with seven different kinds of religions, very little healthcare, very little food. It just really brought it all home to me that this [movie provides] us with an opportunity to raise awareness, but it's also an opportunity to create change."

"The Good Lie" also stars "House of Cards" actor Carey Stoll and the four Sudanese stand-outs: Arnold Oceng, Emmanuel Jal, Ger Duany and Kuoth Weil and opens in theaters Friday, Oct. 3.