does anyone know which actors are members and which ones aren't? i know jonathan scarfe isnt, which AMAZES me because his portrayal of joseph smith just radiates spirituality. he truly shows how righteous and amazing joseph was - scarfe is so amazing..
anyways =)
I am not %100 sure but i do not think any of the main actors are members
shareIf I am not mistaken, I think the girl who plays Melissa Steed (Brighton Hertford) is a member. She is presently at the U (University of Utah) studying drama. I agree about Jonathan Scarfe. He is incredible. Almost makes me wish one of the actors would investigate the Church and join. Lol.
shareOh and that reminds me. I think her sister is Chelsea Hertford who played the youngest daughter on "Major Dad." I think she is at BYU.
shareDear IHC,
Yes, Scarfe is so amazing. I agree. That's what great actors do. I know from the first movie--I'm guessing you saw it--that the gentleman who played Murdock is LDS. If you have seen The Testaments, he plays the blind man whom Jesus heals. The one from the first movie who plays Hyrum Smith is LDS. That's all I know.
As for the second installment, that's been covered by other comments, except I know many of the head crew members are LDS--the director, the cinematographer.
Unfortunately, it's kind of a good thing that the actors in this film aren't all LDS, or the performances wouldn't be as good.
Not that there aren't any good LDS actors out there, but the mistake a lot of religious film companies make is hiring faithful church members as actors based on their looks or their popularity in their congregation as opposed to their acting ability.
And heaven knows, there are indeed plenty of BAD actors in the LDS church, as anyone who's seen the various Mormon comedy movies can testify! :D
Hehe, I dont know, I like the Mormon comedies. Nice to see movies from "our" perspective sometimes.
Mentioning the first movie reminded me that Emma Smith in the first movie is a member. I dont know why she wasnt in the second one, but I understand that she will be back as Emma in the third.
I liked her better. No offense to the fine actress that played Emma in American Zion, but I thought she was plainer than I think Emma was. Likewise Jessica Roundy Steed was too pretty.
I'm almost positive Brighton Hertford (Melissa) is LDS. I watched the commentary on the first movie and I think someone said she was a memeber.
I'm also glad they didn't have a member playing Joseph Smith, or any of the other church leaders for that matter. To us, these people are so important that I think LDS actors get bogged down in the idea that they're playing such spiritual role models. Their portrayals often come out stiff and unconvincing. But as with Jonathan Scarfe, and Andrew Bowen they just make Joseph and Brigham seem like real people, which until I saw these movies and read the books, it was hard for me to imagine them as real people. They were perfect.
As for the comment on Jessica being too pretty. I don't think that's the case at all, not that Emily Podleski isn't pretty, but in one of the later books, Nathan even thinks to himself, that she really is pretty. When he first sees her, he thinks she's plain, but after she meets John Griffith and becomes more confident in herself, she does more with herself and is actually quite beautiful. I think she was perfect.
Brighton Hertford is listed on famousmormons.com. Something on the American Zion website said she was the only Mormon in this film.
My sister saw an interview with Jonathan Scarfe and he was saying that he would only read the positive books about Joseph Smith because any other would change his performance. That my be why his performance was so spritual.
Does anyone know if the guy who played Joshua Steed is a member or not? I'm just curious. Since he smoked in the movie, I'm guessing not. But anyone know for sure?
sharei dont know about joshua but i was wondering if nathan was just cause no one said anything about him and i was just wondering
shareThe guy who played Joseph Smith in the Restoration movie was really good and he's a memeber.
share