NCIS and Hannah Montana Stars Talk New Film Hoovey

Biblical references were temporarily edited out of “Soul Surfer,” a movie based on shark attack survivor Bethany Hamilton, in an effort not to alienate non-Christians. “Soul Surfer” director Sean McNamara's latest film “Hoovey” will not have that issue.

The production company “has supported my vision for everything including Bible references, because they’re appropriate. The Elliott family is Christian, and so they are in the film,” he told Fox News. “’Hoovey’ is a natural story of a family that can only be told through the 'faith lens'.”

Like "Soul Surfer," “Hoovey” is based on a true story and tells the tale of a promising high school basketball player Eric “Hoovey” Elliott, who collapses on the court from a life-threatening brain tumor. Hoovey survives high-risk surgery, and is forced to re-learn the fundamentals of life from walking and reading, to even seeing clearly. And as his mother and father teeter on the brink of falling apart amid medical bills and stress, the entire family must rely on faith, tenacity and love to get through their darkest days.

“I fell in love while reading the book (written by Hoovey’s father Jeff Elliott) that first night. It’s a story of adversity and challenges resolved through the perseverance and faith,” McNamara said. “It can be summed up with this line: ‘Faith makes it real.’”

According to the film's star, there is plenty to be gleaned from believers and non-believers alike.

“It confirms that love and trust are the greatest gifts on earth,” said former “Hannah Montana” star Cody Linley, who plays the title role of Hoovey. “If you are willing to work as a team, then problems turn into an opportunity for all to grow and live better. Everyone has questioned their own purpose in life, and when we deal with near-death experiences it allows us to see ourselves more deeply.”
 
Fellow 'Hoovey' star Lauren Holly said she's honored to be part of a film that has a positive message.

“All of us know the power of family; we all know how to root for good against evil. We feel good when there is a happy ending, especially when the story is true. It gives us all hope,” she said. “And for me personally, I am proud to be in a film that I want my whole family to see, one that all of us would enjoy.”

Rick Santorum's Film Company to Release Movies to Churches Instead of Theaters

Former Senator Rick Santorum's film company announced on Monday that it would be distributing its movies not through the traditional box office but through churches.

EchoLight Studios, which released last year's adaptation of Max Lucado's The Christmas Candle, told Deadline that the studio made the decision as a strategic attempt to draw the masses into churches.

"We want to be a part of empowering the church to elevate its role as a cultural change agent," EchoLight President Studios Jeff Sheets said in a statement. "Our vision is not to create sermons wrapped in a movie but to create content that inspires, fascinates and incorporates a strong Christian worldview."

The Franklin, TN-based studio, which intends to release four films a year, wants both the film's message and financial profits to support churches. Consequently, EchoLight hopes to create movies which can also have a "strong ministry value as tools for the Church to use in their in-reach and outreach ministries," whose proceeds will partially "fuel the missional needs of the hosting local church."

Tickets for the studio's next film, One Generation Away, will go on sale on June 1. The studio will also re-release The Christmas Candle, which grossed $2 million over seven weeks last winter. Later this year, EchoLight will also release Hoovey, directed by Sean McNamara, who was also behind the camera in Soul Surfer.

Hoovey, starring Patrick Warburton and Lauren Holly and includes Disney Channel alums Cody Linley and Alyson Stoner, is based on the true story of a high school basketball player Eric Hoover Elliott diagnosed with a massive brain tumor.

Valerie Harper, Lauren Holly Cast in 'The Town That Came A-Courtin' for Up

Former "Rhoda" star Valerie Harper has joined the cast of "The Town That Came A-Courtin'" which will premiere on UP in January.

Lauren Holly, Cameron Bancroft and Lucie Guest have also been cast in the film, which is based on author and columnist Ronda Rich's bestselling novel of the same name.

In the film, Holly stars as as successful author and fiercely independent Southern woman Abby Houston, who finds herself being held captive in a remote cabin by an obsessed fan.

Harper -- who shocked fans earlier this year when she announced that she has terminal brain cancer -- will play Charlotte, the owner of a bed-and-breakfast in the fictional town of Bliss. The townspeople of Bliss plot to set Houston up with their widowed mayor, Spencer Alexander (Bancroft), a single father of two.


UP's Barbara Fisher said "This uplifting, sometimes bumpy romance showcases how a community’s spirit and good will can help people connect and find each other."