Kevin Sorbo – Christian Hercules in Hollywood
Kevin Sorbo, the former "Hercules" actor, is on a new adventure – a Christian one in the famed land of Hollywood.
As some of us grew up watching Sorbo as Hercules on T.V., very few might have missed the fact that he was personally trying to teach us a lesson, one based not only on his moral views but most importantly, his Christian values.
Sorbo, who recently hosted the 19th Annual Movieguide Awards and took home the Grace Award for "Most Inspiring Performance in Movies in 2010," told The Christian Post, "If you ever watched 'Hercules,' you can see that it was made in a comical way for the most part. I remember getting lots of letters from kids around the world saying that the show helped them curb their temper and not look for trouble and just walk away from it because that was the stronger thing to do."
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He was raised in a Lutheran family and later in life decided to attend a nondenominational church. His strong background was probably one of the reasons why he decided to take his faith with him while working in Hollywood.
Of course, Sorbo is no stranger to playing the bad guy but he will refuse to "play a part of a guy that blows the face off a 13-year-old girl" as it was asked of him for one role.
The 52-year-old distinctly recalled, "I said 'no way,' I will not do anything like that. I have a role coming up in a Western where I play a bad guy; it's a good vs. bad where at the end of the movie my role pays for the crimes. There's a lethal pay-off to show what's wrong and what's right."
As he takes on Christian films, such as "What if …" and "Soul Surfer" while also leaving room for secular films, his only wish is to change the face of Hollywood as we know it.
His personal worry is, what will the public consider normal when most things portrayed tell us that our innate moral views might probably be wrong.
"Hollywood likes to put out their own message out a lot of times, and that message isn't the best one for everyone," he noted. "If you keep saying two plus two equals five over and over again, then that is what people are going to think. Maybe it does equal five if we keep changing the definition of what's normal and what's right and what's wrong."
Sorbo's concern also carries over to how much Christianity is being bullied by the press over and over again. He lamented, "Christianity takes this beating that I really don't understand and yet you can't say anything negative about the Muslims because that's horrible, you can't say anything negative about other faiths. "
Through his new roles, he hopes to not only stop the big bullies from beating down Christianity but also transform Hollywood by refining its definition of what is truly right and what is truly good.
"What If…," now available on DVD, gave him the opportunity to give his first sermon as a pastor. It allowed him to show that even though the wrong choices, the carnal choices are the road most taken, God will always give everyone a second chance – of course, hopefully with the help of a quirky angel as a guide through the process.
"Hollywood is still in the business of show business," he said. "If we hand them a message loud enough and clear enough and if people start supporting movies like these, movies that have a good message, movies that the whole family can go to that aren't cheesy, that aren't cheap looking, that have a good story, good acting, good writing, good directors and good cinematography, then these are the movies they need to support."
He concluded his concern by reminding the Christian audience to choose what's right.
"So it's really up to the people to send a message to Hollywood and start supporting movies like these as opposed to movies that show only the dark and negative side of life. "
On the Web: http://thewhatifmovie.com/
