Category: Entertainment Business

The Fate of Disney’s Brand Hangs in the Balance

The Happiest Place on Earth is in pretty sad shape.

A lot of folks, particularly some of the major shareholders and former diehard fans, are well aware of the predicament that The Walt Disney Company currently finds itself in.

Not too long ago Disney pulled CEO Bob Chapek out of his post and brought back the company’s former CEO, Bob Iger.

Iger now finds himself facing an extremely tough task – how to stop the deconstruction of the Disney brand before its too late, and how to then lift the company back up out of the rubble.

Signs of Disney’s decline recently became manifest by the Axios Harris Poll and the 2022 Corporate Reputation Rankings.

Disney’s score on the poll was 73.4, which resulted in the company’s ranking being 65th on the list. The entertainment giant had fallen 28 places since the previous year, experiencing its worst results in the history of the Harris Poll.

The Trafalgar Group conducted its own poll in Spring 2022, which showed that 68% of Americans consider themselves less likely to do business with Disney, due to the company’s activism.

A recent incident illustrates exactly why Iger needs to act swiftly. WDW Pro, a Twitter account that specializes in all things Disney, reported that the company has engaged in something that Christians of all persuasions consider an abomination, blasphemy.

The Epcot Candlelight Processional has been a tradition at Florida’s Epcot Center for the past 64 years. The event takes place at Christmas time and is part of a larger devotional service in which narrators provide inspirational messages that contain heartfelt Christian content.

In the most recent candlelight processional, the Christian content of the messaging was somehow modified. It turns out that within the content of the revised messaging, the actual divinity of Jesus Christ was denied, not once, but five times.

Simu Liu was one of the event’s theatrical readers. The actor performed a passage that actually denied a central tenet of Christianity.

“For all the miracles of Jesus Christ the Prince of Peace himself was simply a man, a human being, and he walked through this world in the most human way possible with love…,” Liu said.

Being labeled in the scripted words as “simply a man,” Jesus Christ, who is recognized by hundreds of millions of Christians around the globe as Lord and Savior, was stripped of His divine nature.

Across all of history there have been those who have attempted to rewrite Christian dogma.

But did Disney have to get into the heretical act?

Many may not have heard, but Disney was founded by a deeply committed Christian, Mr. Walt Disney himself. Early Disney entertainment fare was filled with Christian values, imagery, symbolism and storylines.

Here are but a few examples:

Several Christian leaders offered prayers during the opening ceremonies of the original Anaheim, California theme park. The finale of the “Fantasia” film includes the hymn “Ave Maria,” music that was created to honor the Virgin Mary. And even the character of Snow White takes time out to talk to the Ultimate Maker of her universe.

During the 1940s, Walt proved himself to be an ardent anti-Communist. He founded the Motion Picture Alliance for the Preservation of American Ideals, a group that once stated, “We find ourselves in sharp revolt against a rising tide of Communism, Fascism and kindred beliefs, that seek by subversive means to undermine and change this way of life.”

In an article penned in 1949, Walt revealed how his religious faith had guided him in life.

“I was grounded in old-fashioned religious observance,” he shared. “My people were zealous members of the Congregational Church in our home town, Marceline, Missouri. My father, Elias Disney, who was a contractor, built our local church and was a deacon of the congregation. I was baptized there and attended Sunday School regularly.”

Walt was vigilant in making sure that the company he founded did not stray from the principles of his faith.

“I have watched constantly that in my work the highest moral and spiritual standards are upheld, whether my productions deal with fable or with stories of living action,” his article read.

The Candlelight Processional incident compelled Dr. Gregory Seltz, Executive Director of the Lutheran Center for Religious Liberty, to call upon parents to seriously distance themselves from Disney.

“Any Christian parent who allows the glitter and glitz of Disney movies and Disneyland theme parks to take hold of our children’s imagination now delivers one’s children into the hands of people who actively seek to steal our children’s childhoods, and now, even their faith,” Dr. Seltz declared.

He concluded with the following unambiguous message for parents:

“This is about the hearts and minds of our children, not just a ride on Space Mountain. Parents of all faiths need to find other avenues for entertainment rather than anything Disney.”

Other boycotts of Disney are ongoing, including the one from One Million Moms, an arm of the American Family Association.

Iger led The Walt Disney Company for 15 years. It is time for him to do what Chapek failed to do.

He has to dissociate the Magic Kingdom from woke Hollywood. He has to stand up to anyone within or without the company who seeks to undermine Walt’s legacy. And he has to rebuild the public trust in the once-beloved Disney brand.

Big Trouble in Little Hollywood

Over the past year, the gap between Hollywood and its customers has widened to a degree that should send shivers down the spines of every entertainment exec.

The industry has routinely used a fairly reliable gauge to measure the size of this gap. It’s called profit.

Sadly, 2022 was a disaster for the once-golden city. Media companies saw the loss of half a trillion dollars in equity.

A town that for a century had been recognized as the entertainment capital of the world has seemingly been reduced to a shadow of its former self.

How could this have happened?

In my opinion, somewhere along the road a decision was made to have entertainment take a bow so that a one-sided agenda could take center stage.

“Especially this past year, ideology has become more important than art,” Quentin Tarantino recently told the host of HBO’s “Reel Time with Bill Maher.” “It’s like ideology trumps art. Ideology trumps individual effort. Ideology trumps good.”

From the youngest of age, our primal need makes itself known with the simplest of words: Tell me a story.

It’s universal. Human beings crave stories, ones with characters, plots, and themes that reflect life’s truths. This is how Hollywood initially came to be. And how it grew to be an industry like no other, all entwined within our minds, hearts and imaginations.

We were happy when Hollywood profited. It meant more entertainment fare would be forthcoming, maybe even greater than that already experienced.

It’s hard to believe the once-great ocean of entertainment that existed steadily devolved into a digital stream of woke stories.

Evidently, the public doesn’t have the appetite for what the industry has been serving up of late. There are definite consequences when audiences’ wishes are ignored.

Movie theater attendees are now a fraction of what they used to be. Despite the solid successes of Tom Cruise’s “Top Gun: Maverick” and James Cameron’s “Avatar: The Way of Water,” the 2022 multiplexes saw their audiences essentially cut in half, when compared to four years ago.

Of course, movie theater companies experienced record losses in their share prices. AMC’s value dropped almost 80 percent, and Cineworld, owner of Regal, headed for bankruptcy court.

Likely hampered by projects that were saturated with woke ideology, Disney experienced its worst yearly stock-drop since 1974. Disney is the largest, most influential and sole media company that is listed in the Dow Jones Industrial Average, and it saw its shares drop a whopping 44 percent? Unbelievable.

The board of directors suddenly terminated CEO Bob Chapek and brought back former CEO Bob Iger, ostensibly to rescue the Mouse House.

Warner Bros., Discovery and Lionsgate also saw their stock prices take a plunge of over 60 percent.

With regard to television, traditional broadcast and cable TV (aka linear television) saw a significant ratings dip. Similar to what happened earlier to the music business, Hollywood executives discovered that streaming media does not yet provide sufficient revenue to offset the losses incurred in linear television and theatrical film releases.

However, a bright spot appeared on an otherwise dismal media landscape. “Yellowstone,” which is a modern perspective on the classic Western, garnered a huge audience hungry for retro-drama. Consequently, the series is continuing to enjoy stellar ratings.

Another media company that actually saw its investment value rise is the sports entertainment powerhouse WWE, which ended 2022 with a gain of 38 percent. It could be that this increase has to do with the moral sensibilities of a huge segment of viewers that find the clear distinctions between heroes and villains quite appealing.

The studios spent money galore on streaming content in 2022, and the cash layout just never panned out. Executive chairman James Dolan of AMC Networks explained Hollywood’s quandary in a memo that he recently wrote.

“It was our belief that cord-cutting losses would be offset by gains in streaming. This has not been the case. We are primarily a content company and the mechanisms for the monetization of content are in disarray,” he stated.

The AMC executive pointed out a reality that most of Hollywood is facing in 2023 and warned of “a large-scale layoff as well as cuts to every operating area.”

Netflix was first out of the gate to layoff employees, following a substantial loss of subscribers. Other major entertainment companies have also announced or have already started their layoffs, hiring freezes, and/or cost-cutting measures, including Disney, Warner Brothers, Paramount and CBS.

Warner chief David Zaslav actually stunned the entertainment world last summer, when he decided to shelve and write off the costs of “Batgirl,” a funded and completed film that was in post-production and had been approved by previous leadership at the company.

At an investor conference in November of 2022, he noted that in the past few months, things had gotten “a lot worse.”

The road that Hollywood will take going forward is yet to be mapped.

With a hope and a prayer, it will be one where entertainment takes center stage once again.

Walter Hill’s Stand against Wokeness

It has been noted recently by many of the greats within the comedy arts that wokeness has killed comedy.

But the truth is wokeness may actually be killing art itself.

Walter Hill is a famed director, screenwriter and producer.

He directed an amazing number of film projects over the years, including “48 hrs,” “Southern Comfort,” “Streets of Fire,” “Red Heat,” “Hard Times,” “The Warriors” and “The Driver.”

He also penned the screenplay for the crime drama “The Getaway” and produced a majority of the “Alien” film franchise.

Throughout his career, his baseline for storytelling has been the venerable western, the singular American genre that once upon a time was the envied export of the world.

He kick-started his Hollywood career as a production assistant. He was afforded the opportunity to work on iconic television shows that were set in the old American West; series such as “Gunsmoke,” “Bonanza” and “The Big Valley.”

To this day this classic American entertainment fare continues to be treasured by audiences around the globe.

Walter’s love for westerns has spanned the decades. It was on full display in works that include the 1980 movie “The Long Riders,” the 1995 film “Wild Bill,” the 2004 – 2006 television series “Deadwood” and the 2006 TV mini series “Broken Trail.”

The filmmaker once told a reporter, “Every film I’ve done has been a western.”

In a separate interview, he astutely pointed out that “the Western is ultimately a stripped down moral universe” and shared that he likes applying this principle to modern-day tales.

It is precisely this moral universe of which Walter speaks that is part and parcel of the western genre itself. It is also this moral universe that is in direct conflict with the dictates of contemporary woke ideology.

Traditional westerns have storylines that are in complete alignment with the moral constructs of integrity, justice, courage, individualism and loyalty, among others.

At the core of the filmmaking arts is contrast; i.e., clear distinctions between right and wrong, good and evil, hero and villain, etc. Not that there aren’t dimensions of character or plot or interrelationships. But good storytelling via film typically demands that the scriptwriter is able to freely create his or her work, untethered by external restrictions. This process results in characters to which viewers can intimately relate and storylines that can provide virtual life experiences that only one’s imagination could ever limit.

The present arts have hit a proverbial brick wall. This is because art cannot survive the current woke restrictions that Hollywood is imposing upon the entire entertainment industry.

Thankfully, the artist in Walter is unwilling to conform. Instead he is going against the grain, giving new life to his favorite genre.

His latest western, which he has directed and co-written, is titled “Dead for a Dollar.” The movie stars Christoph Waltz, Rachel Brosnahan and Willem Dafoe.

Perhaps not surprisingly it hasn’t been easy for even a successful director like Walter to get a western made these days. He recalls in his notes for the film that “getting it financed was a miracle” and that it had to be shot on a “very low budget.”

Waltz portrays a Danish bounty hunter who travels into Mexico. While there he encounters an individual, who years earlier he had sent to prison. The man, played by Dafoe, is a gambler and an outlaw.

While making the press rounds to promote “Dead for a Dollar,” Walter revealed some of his thoughts on the current woke state of affairs. In an interview with Moviemaker Magazine, he said ominously that wokeness is “death to the arts.”

“You’re giving me a chance to say this: this woke environment, politically correct environment, is a terrible thing. And it hurts. It is death to the arts and it’s death to creativity. There’s no question that there were injustices in the past. Nobody is arguing that point. But how you redress it is how you treat the future,” Walter remarked.

Most folks in Hollywood are under pressure to mold their projects to the prevailing woke mentality.

But like a character in one of his beloved westerns, Walter remains steadfast.

He understands that the creative impulses essential to filmmakers and all contemporary artists are thoroughly stifled by woke constraints.

Shallow characters, forced plots, anachronistic themes and the like make for extremely bland product, which is the antithesis of art’s purpose and its very essence.

How Jimmy Kimmel Became a Democrat Hack

A lot of folks have been wondering what’s up with Jimmy Kimmel. The late-night comic has become more and more vicious in his politics and extreme in his one-sided humor.

As a result, the ratings for his TV show have really taken a hit.

Here’s a theory about how Jimmy’s comedy got wrecked and how his once-popular program fell into a rating’s ditch.

James Christian Kimmel was raised a Catholic. In his youth, he was fervent enough in his faith to step forward and serve at Mass as an altar boy.

Now, both in his politics and joke delivery, he appears to back every left-wing narrative that the dominant media and reigning powers-that-be are pitching, including a load of Dem-devised policies antithetical to his own faith heritage.

As host and executive producer of “Jimmy Kimmel Live,” he has consistently been serving as sort of a polar opposite altar boy for the Democratic Party.

He recently admitted that using so much of his show to aim insults at former President Donald Trump had resulted in his audience being cut in half over the last several years.

He also revealed that ABC is less than pleased with the loss in ratings.

In an interview with the Naked Lunch podcast, he spoke about the shrinking number of viewers, telling hosts Phil Rosenthal and David Wild, “I [Kimmel] have lost half of my fan[base], maybe more than that.”

“Ten years ago, among Republicans, I was the most popular talk show host, at least according to the research that they did,” he said.

He also shared that the network had discussed the idea of easing up on the constant barrage of Trump barbs. But according to Jimmy, he responded to the ABC heads by offering to leave the show rather than moderate his attacks.

“If you want somebody else to host the show, that’s fine, that’s okay with me. I’m just not going to do it like that,” he apparently said. He also claimed that the network reluctantly conceded.

The truth is he has been a Republican basher for as long as he has been a late-night host. Most recently, he was featured in a nasty partisan campaign ad, where he attacked the Republican who is running for the U.S. Senate in the state of Nevada, Adam Laxalt.

A glance at Jimmy’s past provides insight into the possible rationale for his unwavering allegiance to radical left-wing political and cultural ideology.

Prior to becoming the woke host of “Jimmy Kimmel Live,” he was the unwoke co-host of Comedy Central’s “The Man Show.”

When “The Man Show” first debuted in 1999, he accurately referred to the program as “a joyous celebration of chauvinism.”

The show began with a MeToo-violating theme song that included accompanying footage of a male using a leaf blower to remove a woman’s dress.

The program also had a regular segment in which The Man on the Street, namely Jimmy, recruited female volunteers to participate in a supposed game called “Guess What’s in My Pants.”

“I’ve stuffed something in my pants,” Kimmel said, explaining that “you’re allowed to feel around on the outside…You’ll have 10 seconds to then guess what is in my pants.”

Other skits on the show degraded women through use of vulgar props, partial nudity, and highly suggestive language.

In a sketch that degraded African-American individuals, prior to taking to the stage Jimmy applied a dark shade of makeup to his face for a supposed comedy effect.

By committing the above cultural violations over the years, he has broken a whole host of woke rulebook provisions, many of which were memorialized on video.

Maybe he has been trying to do penance as it relates to his newfound woke religion. Or maybe his kowtowing to the left has been the means in which he has avoided the cancellation of his prized television show and reputation.

In any event, although things seemed to have worked for him up until now, the past has a funny way of catching up with a person.

Or in Jimmy’s case, maybe a not-so-funny way.

Scott Baio and Wife Renee’s Reliance on Faith

Through the decades of the seventies, eighties, nineties and beyond, Scott Baio was riding the wave of fame in the TV and film world.

His Hollywood journey began when he landed the title character role in the children’s movie musical “Bugsy Malone,” which co-starred Jodie Foster.

But his career really caught fire in 1976. The then-16-year-old actor snagged the coveted role of Fonzie’s cousin Chachi Arcola on the blockbuster sitcom hit “Happy Days.”

Scott’s television run would continue on in the “Happy Days” spin-off “Joanie Loves Chachi,” and in yet another successful sitcom “Charles in Charge.”

The 1990s saw him portraying a doctor in the medical mystery drama series “Diagnosis: Murder,” as well as a young prosecutor in a classic made-for-TV “Perry Mason” movie.

In between takes, he guested on numerous other popular television shows including “Full House,” “Touched by an Angel,” and “The Nanny.”

In 2005 his career came full circle when he played lawyer Bob Loblaw in the TV series “Arrested Development,” a role that passed to him when Henry “Fonzie” Winkler bowed out. It also had “Happy Days” lead star Ron Howard at its helm as executive producer and narrator.

From 2012 to 2015, he starred in the Nickelodeon sitcom “See Dad Run.”

His charmed Hollywood path continues to this day. Present times find him touring the country with his one-man show, titled “How Did I Get Here?”

Interestingly, his most challenging role is one that has been playing out in real life – that of being an immensely devoted husband and father trying to cope with suffering that is being endured by those he loves the most.

Recently, Scott took to Twitter to share details of a personal struggle that he and his wife Renee have been forced to deal with.

Renee has to undergo a brain tumor scan every year. This is because after already having dealt with breast cancer a few years back, she then began to suffer from painful migraines.

Her doctors initially blamed the headaches on changes in hormone levels. But further tests sadly revealed that she had three meningioma brain tumors.

Fortunately, the tumors turned out not to be malignant. But despite their benign nature, they are nevertheless categorized as “tumors that grow on the outer casing of the brain.”

Scott explained that such tumors “can cause serious problems depending on the size of the tumor and the location.”

As a result of the medical condition, Renee has to see her neurologist regularly for anti-seizure and pain management medication, and for the monitoring of her health situation via regular MRI scans.

Like so many others who have faced similar circumstances, Scott instinctively knew that he would have to rise to the occasion in order to provide the much-needed strength and support his family required.

It was faith in God that allowed both Scott and Renee to deal with the extremely difficult situation.

On the day they received news of Renee’s diagnosis, Scott posted the following on Facebook:

“Renee has been down some rough roads in her life, yet each time with her strong faith in God, she comes through a better and stronger person. During this time we ask for your prayers and support. My wife is my rock. She refuses to even shed one tear, nor will she question God’s will. Renee, Bailey and I will get through this. . .”

The two are fully united in their faith. Renee beautifully demonstrated how to “walk the walk” and provided words of advice on where to turn when help is needed the most.

“I will tell you my faith in God is greater than the fear of the unknown,” she said.

In speaking so openly, the couple hopes to spread knowledge about the medical condition and also provide assistance to those seeking help from a higher power.

“God does not challenge weak people – he has laid this upon me, and I’m not going to question it. If I can save one person along the way, I’m okay,” Renee said.

Scott shared that the hardest part of his wife’s diagnosis was trying to figure out how to break the news to their daughter.

“It was all about our kid,” Scott said, “…because she’s everything to us…”

Memories of their child’s medical history were front and center in Scott and Renee’s minds.

In 2007 Bailey came into the world five weeks premature. During a newborn screening test, she came up positive for a potentially deadly metabolic disorder called glutaric acidemia type 1 (GA-1).

The two thought they were going to lose their new little baby girl.

“Every time [Scott] would see a child, see a baby, he would just break down,” Renee said. “He’s a first-time father. He didn’t grow up with younger siblings. And it would just break him down…break us down. It was so tough to go through the holidays, our wedding…all the while knowing, our kid may die.”

Blessed news would be on the horizon. Further testing on baby Bailey revealed that the initial result had been a false positive.

The couple later started the Bailey Baio Angel Foundation to raise funds and awareness for children with metabolic disorders.

You can hear a lot more Scott stories and life lessons when you catch his one-man show “How Did I Get Here?” at a venue near you.

Should make for some Happy Days for attendees.

Jason Aldean’s Wife Brittany Battles the Cancel Culture

Jason Aldean is an A-list country music singer, songwriter and record producer.

Twenty-seven singles from his 10 albums reached the top of the country charts.

Born in Macon, Georgia, his parents separated when he was only three years old. Summers were spent with dad in Homestead, Florida, where the future star first learned how to play the guitar.

By age 15 he had landed a gig in the house band at a Georgia nightspot. Greater things would be in store both professionally and personally. He’s still riding the wave of success on both fronts.

His latest album “Macon, Georgia” features the single “Trouble With a Heartbreak.” Another single has him teamed up with multi-crossover super star Carrie Underwood in “If I Didn’t Love You.” And his latest song “That’s What Tequila Does” helped make it a triple play, with all three tunes hitting the country chart’s high mark.

Jason is happily married to Brittany. She’s a devoted mom to their four-year-old son and three-year-old daughter. She’s also the latest target of cancel culture’s woke warriors.

Brittany’s societal faux pas? She captioned an Instagram before-and-after makeup video with some comments about a chapter in her childhood.

“I’d really like to thank my parents for not changing my gender when I went through my tomboy phase. I love this girly life,” she wrote.

Jason posted his approval with the following reply, along with a laughing emoji: “Lmao!! I’m glad they didn’t too, cause you and I wouldn’t have worked out.”

Left-wing bots on social media sprung into action, which resulted in Brittany being verbally assaulted. And some virtue signaling country artists piled on as well.

Winner of “The Voice” Cassadee Pope launched a tweet attack.

“You’d think celebs with beauty brands would see the positives in including LGBTQ+ people in their messaging. But instead here we are, hearing someone compare their ‘tomboy phase’ to someone wanting to transition. Real nice,” Pope stated.

Brittany responded to Pope, clarifying her position using Instagram Story.

“Advocating for the genital mutilation of children under the disguise of love and calling it ‘gender-affirming care,’ is one of the worst evils,” she wrote. “I will always support my children and do what I can to protect their innocence. Love is protecting your child until they are mature enough as an adult to make their own life decisions.”

Singer Maren Morris slid into insult territory with her own Twitter slam.

“It’s so easy to, like, not be a scumbag human? Sell your clip-ins and zip it, Insurrection Barbie,” Morris remarked.

Brittany responded to Morris via an Instagram post that included a new collection of conservative merchandise adorned with the words “Don’t Tread On Our Kids.”

“Instead of getting twisted about the twisting of my words, I’ve chosen to bring some good out of it. Introducing our NEW Barbie inspired line LIVE **Through this launch we will be giving back to and supporting @operationlightshine in effort to help fight child exploitation and human trafficking,” Brittany posted.

In a recent statement quoted by US Magazine, Brittany further discussed the safeguarding of children from those pushing questionable medications and medical procedures.

“I think I’m advocating for children. I think that children should not be allowed to make these life-changing decisions at such a young age. They are not mature enough,” she cautioned.

Jason and Brittany have drawn the ire of the politically correct crowd in the past.

In a previous marketing of merchandise, right-of-center political views were on display through comedic slogans that included the famed “Hidin’ From Biden.”

When the backlash kicked in, Jason again took to his Instagram account in defense of his wife.

Included with a picture of the singer’s silhouette in front of a giant American flag were the words: “I will never apologize for my beliefs or my love for my family and country.”

“This is the greatest country in the world and I want to keep it that way,” he added.

After one Instagram user commented, “If you thought Trump’s path for America was any better, you’re delusional!,” Jason gave this sage reply: “…We will teach our kids what we think is right and what we think is best for their future.”

Flash forward to the present. Jason now has to deal with the cancel culture muck on a business level. He has been unceremoniously let go by the PR firm that has represented him for 17 years.

Public relations company The GreenRoom has a roster that includes country artists Dierks Bentley, Kip Moore, Thomas Rhett and Lady A.

The publicity firm’s co-owner Tyne Parrish released a spineless statement, seemingly trying to justify the company’s separation from Jason.

“We aren’t the best people for the gig anymore,” Parrish stated.

https://people.com/country/jason-aldean-publicity-firm-17-years-parts-ways-after-wife-brittany-transphobic-comments/

Looks like Nashville isn’t Nashville anymore.

Like so many other formerly balanced industries, institutions and ideologies, the country music capital has gone woke, and it feels as though the transformation happened overnight.

Many of our nation’s major corporations have flipped as well.

So where do we go to at least get our unique and legendary all-American country music back?

Kudos to Jason and Brittany for helping to lead the way.

Here’s hoping that other courageous country loving artists follow suit.

Shia LaBeouf’s Faith Enhancing Film Role

Shia LaBeouf is a changed man. And it looks as though the spiritual prep for his latest movie role deserves a lot of the credit.

Playing the lead in the upcoming biopic “Padre Pio” appears to have guided the actor toward a new commitment to Christianity.

The film relays the real life story of one of the most beloved Catholic priests and humanitarian figures, an individual who within Catholicism has been given the designation of “Saint.”

Padre Pio was an Italian Franciscan Capuchin friar who was canonized by Pope John Paul II in 2002 and has been venerated in the Roman Catholic Church ever since.

He was known around the globe for manifestations that many believe could only have emanated from above.

Over the course of his lifetime in shepherding his flock, he exhibited numerous supernatural phenomena and miraculous occurrences, including the marks of stigmata (wounds on the body that correspond to those suffered by the crucified Christ), visions, healings, and the ability to bi-locate and prophesy.

The Sanctuary of Saint Pio of Pietrelcina is located in the Province of Foggia, Italy, the southern Italian region (Puglia), where much of the filming of the “Padre Pio” movie took place.

Shia accepted the starring role of the film in the summer of 2021 and immediately arranged to spend time with a group of Capuchin Franciscan friars who resided in Northern California.

Traveling later to Rome, he went to stay at a monastery in southern Italy, the same locale in which the movie had initially been filmed. He even chose to sleep in the same bed where Padre Pio had rested his head.

In a recent conversation with Bishop Robert Barron, Shia revealed how he was led to become a Catholic Christian.

Referring to the time spent at the California monastery, he said, “When I walked into this, my life was on fire.”

The “fire” of which he spoke related to the personal tribulation he was going through, not only dealing with feelings of shame and depression, but even thoughts of ending it all. This was because back in 2020 his former girlfriend had sued him, accusing him of sexual assault.

In the aftermath of the debilitating experience, Shia parted with his agency and made the decision to take time off from his career.

He described a moment where serious suicidal thoughts were flooding his mind.

“I had a gun on the table. I was outta here,” he said. “I didn’t want to be alive anymore when all this happened.”

He also described the depth of emotion that had overtaken him.

“Shame like I had never experienced before — the kind of shame that you forget how to breathe. You don’t know where to go…,” he said.

He came to a point where his past actions made him feel as though he wasn’t worthy of being loved by God or of being received into a faith community.

He would soon be in for a blessed surprise. Living with the friars, he got to experience the love and support his heart and soul were aching for.

As Shia interacted with the friars and immersed himself in the Bible, he felt an “invite” to “let go” of obstacles.

Learning about the gifts of repentance, redemption and forgiveness convinced him of that all-important truth – in God’s eyes he is, as we all are, precious, worthy, and yes, loved beyond measure.

“It was seeing other people who have sinned beyond anything I could ever conceptualize also being found in Christ that made me feel like, ‘Oh, that gives me hope,’” he explained. “I started hearing experiences of other depraved people who had found their way in this, and it made me feel like I had permission.”

A transformational event in Shia’s personal journey was experiencing the Catholic Mass in its traditional Latin form.

“While we were practicing Latin Mass, I was having genuine emotional experiences,” he said.

Shia thought he had taken on the “Padre Pio” movie part for career reasons. However, he eventually came to realize that the Ultimate Director was working on a most beautiful subplot.

“I know now that God was using my ego to draw me to Him. Drawing me away from worldly desires. It was all happening simultaneously,” he said. “The reach-out had happened. I was already there, I had nowhere to go. This was the last stop on the train. There was nowhere else to go—in every sense.”

No doubt Shia’s spiritual path has been a unique one. His mother is Jewish and his father is a Christian. Both a bar mitzvah and a baptism graced his childhood.

As his first religious denomination, he chose his mother’s Jewish faith. Then in 2004 he shared that he had a “personal relationship with God that happens to work within the confines of Judaism.”

He later discovered his father’s Christian conviction while filming a movie. He said in an interview in 2014, “I found God doing [the film] Fury. I became a Christian man. Brad [Pitt] was really instrumental in guiding my head through this.”

In June of 2022, while at a park in Pasadena, California, he was seen reuniting with his estranged father, where the two read from Bibles as they sat next to one another.

Shia sees his religious pilgrimage as analogous to his method acting approach.

“I like to be immersive,” he said. “I like all immersive experiences, not just acting. That’s probably why I like Catholicism as well. I like adventure, and that requires full immersion.”

It seems to me that we could all use an immersive experience in faith these days.

“Padre Pio” is scheduled to premiere at the 2022 Venice International Film Festival, which runs from August 31 to September 10.