Kevin Sorbo: Morals are Falling but Biblical Films are on Rise

Modern society may be in moral decline, but Hollywood seems to be warming up to telling Biblical tales.

"Morals are declining and I don't care if you're religious or not. Morals are declining," Sorbo told "The Steve Malzberg Show" on Newsmax TV. "The country is going under. We're getting worse and worse and everything is okay according to half the population in this country. Not everything is okay."

In his new movie, "God's Not Dead,” Sorbo plays a college philosophy professor who demands that his freshmen students accept that God is dead. If that seems like a far-fetched premise, Sorbo says there have been dozens of court cases that have dealt with such situations.

"The atheists are stirring up. You know, I find it interesting that people who don't believe in something get so angry about it," Sorbo said. "You've got extremes on both sides and I get it and I understand it."

Sorbo said that Hollywood may be coming around to Christian-themed movies, in part because they have proven money potential, and because the quality has improved.

""Blindside' was the kick off point," Sorbo said. "[Hollywood executives] said, "you know what, there's an audience out there we're not serving.'"

Sorbo said that faith and politics don't have to be divisive issues, but he sees hypocrisy on how people approach them.

"I don't vote with anger. I vote with my head and my gut and my heart," Sorbo said. "I look at the person, I look at what they stand for and what they believe in, and I just know, during the last two elections, if you didn't vote for Obama, you're considered a racist and I said "what does racism have to do with it?'

"I have white actor friends who said "I'm going to vote for him because he's black, it'll be cool to have a black president.' I said, "but that's racist.' If I said I'm going for McCain because he's a white guy, you'd call me a racist. But it's such a weird reverse thing. No matter if you say anything negative about anybody nowadays, they want to play the race card and it's insane. I just don't believe in his politics."

Sorbo said that regardless of belief, the ability to turn personal hardships into inspiration has been key to his personal success. At the end of his "Hercules" run Sorbo suffered three strokes, the result of an aneurism, that impacted his balance and vision and took years for him to recover from. He has since become a health and fitness advocate; he is a spokesman for antioxidant measurement product Fluitec and he said that simply stretching before going to sleep at night can have positive long-term health benefits.

"You've got to make tragedies comedies real quick in your life otherwise you're in for a long life," Sorbo said.

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Kellan Lutz Watched ‘The Passion of the Christ’ Religiously to Prep for ‘Hercules’

Asked how he prepared to play the ancient mythical warrior in The Legend of Hercules, the star counted — among other things — his time spent on horseback during the shoot. “Riding a horse is a great workout for your legs, and for your core. And wielding the sword — I’m topless most of the time, so I’m able to do push-ups in between takes without sweating through the costume.”

Emotionally, Lutz credits his faith with helping him to connect to Hercules during some of the film’s more difficult scenes. “There’s a scene halfway through the movie that’s the crucifixion, where I ask my father Zeus for help. I’m a man of faith, so I would just religiously watch ‘The Passion of the Christ,’ and I’d use that.”

For Harlin, the story of Hercules had always been a source of fascination. “I grew up watching movies like ‘Spartacus’ and ‘Ben Hur,’ so to be able to make a movie like this, I think it’s every director’s dream.”

“If you look at all the modern comic book movies, they come from that mythology,” Harlin added. “And Hercules is the father of all superheroes.”

Kellan Lutz Watched ‘The Passion of the Christ’ Religiously to Prep for ‘Hercules’

Asked how he prepared to play the ancient mythical warrior in The Legend of Hercules, the star, Kellan Lutz, counted - among other things - his time spent on horseback during the shoot. “Riding a horse is a great workout for your legs, and for your core. And wielding the sword — I’m topless most of the time, so I’m able to do push-ups in between takes without sweating through the costume.”

Emotionally, Lutz credits his faith with helping him to connect to Hercules during some of the film’s more difficult scenes. “There’s a scene halfway through the movie that’s the crucifixion, where I ask my father Zeus for help. I’m a man of faith, so I would just religiously watch ‘The Passion of the Christ,’ and I’d use that.”

For the director, Renny Harlin, the story of Hercules had always been a source of fascination. “I grew up watching movies like ‘Spartacus’ and ‘Ben Hur,’ so to be able to make a movie like this, I think it’s every director’s dream.”

“If you look at all the modern comic book movies, they come from that mythology,” Harlin added. “And Hercules is the father of all superheroes.”

John Woo: When Doves Cry

Many Christians have problems with violent action movies, so it's ironic that one of the most successful directors in the genre is a christian.  John Woo insists that his movies bolster his own strong family values. His heroes are “always reaching out a helping hand,” he points out, “even sometimes sacrific[ing] himself for the others.”

Characters in his movies have both good and bad qualities – everyone does horrible things and makes mistakes. They're equally fallen and in need of redemption. Characters face moral dilemmas and their own sins throughout .Woo doesn't resolve dilemmas in simple ways – he leaves them hanging, much like in real life.

The symbolism, the framing, the way everything looks is intentional. As he says in an interview with Premiere Magazine:

I love doves. I am a Christian. Doves represent the purity of love, beauty. They’re spiritual. Also the dove is a messenger between people and God. When I was in high school and I used to draw posters for the church, I would draw a picture of a dove. When I shot The Killer... In the church scene, I wanted to bring them together. I wanted to use a metaphor of the heart. I came up with doves-they’re white. When the men die, I cut to the dove flying-it’s the soul, rescued and safe, and also pure of heart. So the dove became one of my habits: I used it in Hard-boiled, Face/Off, and in [M:I-2], at the end of the movie.

Surprisingly, he even wanted to be a minister at some point:

When I was a kid growing up in Hong Kong, our family was so poor, and an American family sent money to the Lutheran church and supported me going to school for six years, and also my brother and sister. And I was grateful to the church because, without their help, I might have become a different person. I had great parents, but at that time I was so scared, and so lonely, and I had to fight so hard, because I had to deal with gangs almost every day. So you can see how rough it was — I felt like I was living in hell, and the church became my shelter. I felt safe and happy and comfortable in the church. When I was 16, I really wanted to be a minister, to pay back the people who gave me help, and help other people.

So what does Woo truly believe, anyway? In his interview with Woo that closes Between the Bullets: The Spiritual Cinema of John Woo, author Michael Bliss leads us to an answer:

- Do you think that the traditional values that you cherish -- such as honor, devotion, religion, family -- aren’t very popular anymore?
- “Yes. It seems that many people have lost them. I think it is my duty to bring all of these things back, these things that people have lost.”
- With that in mind, would it be fair to say that more than anything else, you’re a religious director?
- “Yes. I’d agree with that.”

Updated: great article on Theology Gaming