A few weeks ago, I spent a couple of days on the set of a faith-based movie being filmed in Waxahachie, Texas, called Hoovey. If you’re not familiar with Hoovey’s true story, don’t feel bad. I wasn’t either. But I got up to speed quickly. It involves a high schooler with a passion for basketball who has his dreams threatened by a near-fatal brain tumor, even as his medical bills push his family to the brink of ruin and challenge their faith.
One of the opportunities that being on a film set affords is the chance to rub shoulders with the cast. For instance, I had quite a chat with Rules of Engagement‘s Patrick Warburton at dinner one evening when I was seated across from him. I now know he really has a heart for St. Jude’s Children Hospital and loves to golf. And when I sat in a press session with Hart of Dixie’s Allie DeBerry, I heard her talk about her Christian faith. I was glad to know that.
Glenn Morshower is also in Hoovey, playing Dr. Kattner. If you don’t know him by name, you might recognize him in the photo (I’m the good-looking guy to the left). In our conversation, he mentioned that he has played more military roles that any single person alive today. I believe him. Check out his IMDb page! Glenn has a role in the upcoming After Earth, and he’s acted in a number of heavy hitters such as X-Men, Transformers and Moneyball. But Glenn is probably best known for his role as Secret Service Agent Aaron Pierce in 24.
I’ve been with Plugged In for 20 years. I’ve heard many, many accounts of how some type of entertainment has influenced culture and people’s behavior. For example, I’ve documented dozens of murders related to media, heard of a young girl who saved her parents from a house fire because of something she learned on Barney and noted how The Lord of the Rings trilogy produced a marked increase in New Zealand’s tourism industry.
But to date, outside of the fact that John F. Kennedy was considered a better debater in front of the cameras than Richard Nixon, I’ve never heard about any type of media that may have helped sway a presidential election—until last week. Here’s what Glenn said about how President Obama believes the show may have helped him get elected:
When they hired me for the role, [24] was scheduled for two episodes—not seasons, episodes. … What happened was they saw chemistry between David Palmer and Aaron Pierce—and it was a southern white guy and a black president. So it was something—not something the country was used to seeing. And I want to tell you it was interesting that President Obama called us to thank us for our role in his being elected. Because he really believes—no truly—he believes that a change had been made and the road had been paved for people to at least accept [an African-American president] as a possibility. And he happens to be right even if it’s only a couple of percentage points.
I’m a strong believer in the power of the media. After that conversation, I became an even greater believer.
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