Hilary Swank, Rainn Wilson, Roma Downey and More Talk Representations of Faith and Spirituality in Entertainment
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From Rainn Wilson’s desire to start a spiritual revolution in Hollywood and beyond to Hilary Swank’s latest film “Ordinary Angels,” and a first look at the Amazon Prime Video series “The Baxters” the Variety Spirituality in Entertainment Breakfast, presented by Faith & Media Initiative, explored representations of faith and spirituality throughout media. Tuesday’s event, held at the Los Angeles London hotel, featured five in-depth conversations that dove into varied perspectives on the role of spirituality in entertainment and how industry leaders find inspiration from meditation to a whale’s song.
Rainn Wilson on Wanting to ‘Start a Revolution’ and How ‘The Office’ Played a Role in His Spiritual Journey
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Rainn Wilson sat down with Variety senior entertainment writer Angelique Jackson to chat about his latest projects, including writing his New York Times bestseller “Soul Boom: Why We Need a Spiritual Revolution” and SoulPancake, the digital media company he co-founded in hopes of creating content that sparks conversations about spirituality. It’s been fifteen years since the creation of the production company, so the actor reflected on the evolution of the company and his mission.
“My journey tiptoeing into the world of spirituality in media really came from some mental health crises that I had undergone as a youth and some issues that I’d had where I found great solace and peace and meaning through spirituality,” Wilson said. “I felt like culturally we weren’t exploring them, and SoulPancake was really the first of its kind. It was a positive, uplifting media company for young people that explored the human condition.”
Wilson then reflected on how he found himself deeply unhappy at times in his career, including while being on “The Office,” despite feeling like he should be living the dream: “The way that we’re wired, it’s never enough. It’s always searching for that next thing.” He said he found himself on this “hedonic treadmill” of constantly figuring out how to achieve more success, which led him on a journey of figuring out how to get out of this cycle.
Finally, when asked about his inspirations for writing “Soul Boom,” Wilson reflected on his journey as part of the Bahá’í faith and his realization that society did not have the spiritual tools to “move forward” with societal issues compounding over time: “‘Soul Boom: Why We Need a Spiritual Revolution’ I wrote because I wanted to start a revolution. I literally wanted a big giant conversation about how do we learn from any spiritual belief.”
He added, “There is a deeper truth and wisdom and applicability to spiritual ideas than just the ‘How does this benefit me personally?’ People are starting to understand that as systems continue to fall apart even more and unravel, people are more and more open to other paths.”
Watch the full conversation above.
Analysis of the The Global Faith and Entertainment Study
In a panel moderated by Variety Intelligence Platform president and chief media analyst Andrew Wallenstein, HarrisX CEO Dritan Nesho and executive director of The Faith & Media Initiative Brooke Zaugg broke down the recent faith and entertainment study. Nesho explained that the study aimed to see how entertainment “treats themes of faith, religion and spirituality in its narratives and characters” and to “identify if there is an opportunity for more accurate and diverse representation of faith.”
Indeed, they found that people feel underrepresented or misrepresented in media. Additionally, there is a large portion of the audience that yearns for more diversity in media representations of faith, especially with 73% of people identifying as spiritual, religious or a person of faith. After the analysis, Zaugg stated that as a Christian, it was “revelatory” to her to see in the study that faith plays an important role in others’ lives as well.
“Religion and faith is very politicized,” she said. It feels very uncomfortable, or you feel nervous to say, ‘I’m a believer, or I’m a person faith,’ and so you don’t talk about it. Because of that, you believe that there are very few people who think this is actually important to them. It’s become a muted narrative.”
Nesho discussed how the “flyover states,” are often overlooked. However, the streaming revolution and generative AI are likely to close that gap, which means entertainment must start prioritizing people’s desire to see faith represented on screen.
“If we’re not prepared to address it, the industry will be left behind, and someone else will actually seize on this opportunity … This is the new frontier. It shouldn’t be a new frontier, but really it’s an area where we need to invest more time, focus and energy on,” he said.
Watch the full conversation above.
Roma Downey and Ted McGinley on Starring in Prime Video Series “The Baxters”
Actor Roma Downey is known for starring in several faith-based projects including “Touched by an Angel,” “The Bible,” “Son of God” and “A.D.: The Bible Continues.” Up next, she is starring and executive producing the Prime Video series “The Baxters,” based on the novels by Karen Kingsbury. The show, set for release March 28, focuses on a married couple and their five adult children, with the matriarch played by Downey.
In conversation with Variety co-editor-in-chief Cynthia Littleton, Downey said of “The Baxters,” “The stories unfold in such elaborate ways. It plays out a little bit like a soap opera, but we think it serves it better to call it a ‘hope opera.’ Not since ‘Touched By an Angel’ and ‘Seventh Heaven’ have we seen a drama like this come back to TV.”
She also lamented the decrease of television shows that bring families together and the prevalence of gathering around phone screens instead: “Part of my intention was to make a show [so] that we could once again gather as a family…but it doesn’t shy away from those issues. It has a boldness. I think it’s the right time for a show like this.”
Joining the conversation, Downey’s co-star and on-screen husband Ted McGinley added, “A lot of the faith-based shows round off the edges too much. This one will smack you right in the face. And you will tune in again because it’s so shocking sometimes. It is so not like what you have seen up to this point. And this young cast is so good.”
Watch the full conversation above.
Spiritual Storytelling Breakthroughs with Neal Harmon, DeVon Franklin, Tamera Mowry-Housley, Shakyna Bolden and Jennifer Quainton
Co-editor-in-chief Cynthia Littleton returned to moderate a conversation with talent and executives from across the industry who are shaping the way faith is portrayed on screen.
Actor, producer and talk show host Tamera Mowry-Housley kicked off the conversation by detailing the qualities that speak to her in a character: “I have more fun playing a flawed individual. You can have a little more creativity. For me, whether you’re a Christian or not, it’s relatable. Christians aren’t these perfect individuals. The reason why we need God is because we are imperfect.”
DeVon Franklin, producer of “Miracles from Heaven” and “Flamin’ Hot,” offered his perspective on portrayals of faith in film: “I’ve worked on everything from ‘Pursuit of Happyness’ all the way to ‘Flamin’ Hot.’ When you look at the power of faith, people only look at it sometimes through a religious lens. To me, the biggest faith-based movie of all time is ‘Star Wars.’ The force is faith.”
Also included in the discussion was Shakyna Bolden, vice president of digital revenue and experiential operations at Will Packer Productions. On the topic of selling and marketing faith-based projects, she discussed how essential it is to have universal themes at the center of stories: “There’s a thin line between making universally digestible content and being able to present that to different brands, different distributors, different studios — but also having that faith-based discipline at the root of it. Being able to intersect that, being able to have that thread is super important. At the base of the message is, we all have those universal laws, we all have those universal principles.”
Meanwhile, Neal Harmon of Angel Studios explained the unique concept behind the Angel Guild: 260,000 people from around the world who vote on whether or not the company should pursue stories that have been pitched and also offer feedback on those ideas. Harmon said, “I can’t take a project and release it unless the Angel Guild says I can.”
Watch the full conversation above.
Hilary Swank: Unpacking ‘Ordinary Angels’ and the Significance of Acts of Service
Variety senior culture and events editor Marc Malkin and two-time Oscar winner Hilary Swank discussed her latest role as Sharon Stevens in the upcoming drama film “Ordinary Angels,” which is based on a true story. In the film, set for release on Feb. 23, Swank stars as a Louisville woman experiencing personal hardships who steps up to help the family of a widowed father.
“I love Sharon. She’s just a true tour de force human being who’s imperfect,” Swank said. She’s flawed, she struggles with loss, she struggles with keeping her faith during that loss.”
Swank continued to unpack the character, explaining how the film explores the idea of finding faith after losing it. “She loses her son, he doesn’t want anything to do with her. How do you find your faith after that again? How does your faith help you through that after you have found it again?… Also, the power of church and community and how community comes together to help one another is depicted in this film in a very beautiful way.”
The conversation also emphasized the importance of acts of service as they relate to spirituality and finding one’s purpose. Swank said of her job as an actor, “I feel personally as a storyteller that that’s my act of service, that I get this blessing to walk in different people’s shoes and see through their eyes. And it blows the blinders open of how I walk in the world and how I see the world. Because we see the world through our experiences, so I get to enrich mine through walking in Sharon’s shoes or Brandon Teena’s shoes or Maggie Fitzgerald’s or Erin Gruwell’s in ‘Freedom Writers.’ That act of service is how I’m evolving as a human.”
Watch the full conversation above.
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