Mega Pastor & veteran actor deliver a man's message about marriage in the film "Not Easily Broken" San Diego, CA - Bishop T.D. Jakes, a mega pastor in Dallas, Texas, and Morris Chestnut, a Hollywood veteran, have teamed up to produce a film about marriage from a man's point of view. The film is based off the book of the same title written by Jakes. "It is a clear message that life doesn't always go the way that you want it to go, but you take what you've got left and you make it work for you" said Jakes. This story about marriage delivers a message of hope and gives women a peek into the often unspoken subject of a man's emotions.
The angle that most intrigued Bishop Jakes was writing a story about love from the male perspective, one that featured real men talking about real issues in there lives. Jakes states "I have women who are awed by the fact that men really care about their relationships, and have great angst when things go badly. Women think men are emotionless, but there is a huge amount of anxiety in men when things do not go well with their women." Jakes, who has written many books about the emotions of men, says he did the movie because he believes so many women today really do not know how men feel about relationships. "It really touches on some issues and areas that are really significant to men" says Jakes. He also states, "Many women never hear a male's point of view on relationships," Jakes wants everybody to benefit from an opportunity to witness this film and believes it has the potential to reach a broad base of people. During screening of the film Jakes says that many, many people have gotten excited about it.
For actor Morris Chestnut Not Easily Broken was not just another film he would star in, but the first film where he would serve as Executive Producer. His strong attraction to the script is what drove him to pursue the role as executive producer. "Just to have an opportunity such as this, you have to treasure it once it comes, and then when you have the opportunity, you have to give someone else the opportunity to go behind the scenes and produce films and do things like that" says Chestnut. His experience with the film has been a phenomenal one, and being behind the camera has taught him a lot according to the actor/executive producer. At the end of the day Chestnut hopes that this experience will be a stepping stone to something else bigger and greater. He believes that producing film like Not Easily Broken will help improve the unbalanced image of African American males that has historically been portrayed by Hollywood.
Morris Chestnut (Boyz n the Hood, Ladder 49, The Cave) and Taraji P. Henson play Dave and Clarice Johnson, who after more than ten years of marriage are faced with troubled times after a series of unfortunate incidents cause problems in their marriage. Soon Dave and Clarice must face a married couple's most serious questions: are we really meant to be together, and if we are, how do we fight to keep what we have built as man and wife?
This film features some of Hollywood's rising stars including Taraji P. Henson (Hustle & Flow, Baby Boy), Maeve Quinlan (TV's 90210), Kevin Hart (Scary Movie 4, Fool's Gold), Wood Harris (Remember the Titans, The Wire), Eddie Cibrian (TV's Vanished, The Cave), Niecy Nash (Reno 911), and Jennifer Lewis (Beaches, Cast Away, Madea's Family Reunion). Also on board as director is the critically acclaimed filmmaker Bill Duke (Hoodlum, Sister Act 2), a trailblazing director who had established himself as an actor as well. "Bill Duke creates an incredible experience for an actor," said Taraji P. Henson.
Not Easily Broken was adapted by Brian Bird from the novel by best-selling author and Pastor Bishop T. D. Jakes. Bird, known for writing the film Bopha!, had written another script that had caught the eye of the producers. "About four different people had sent us a script by Brian Bird called Magnolia Passion, which was about the civil rights movement and the story of Emmett Till. I read it and thought it was wonderful. It turns out executives at Sony had read the same script. We decided Brian was the right guy to write the screenplay," said Curtis Wallace, one of the producers of Not Easily Broken.
Bird, who is Caucasian, welcomed the opportunity to write not only about relationships within the African American community, but about the unique way men in general talk among themselves about the deepest thoughts and feelings in a way most women never are privy to.
For Bishop T.D. Jakes and his partner Curtis Wallace, the key to making Not Easily Broken was the ultimate abilities of the filmmakers and cast to flesh out the underlying theme of the film: that if you fight hard enough for love, then love (and marriage) will find a way to survive anything. "The idea behind Not Easily Broken that led me to writing the source novel in the first place was to say that relationships are difficult," said Bishop T.D. Jakes. "It takes a lot of prayer, tenacity and commitment to work through the issues that happen in all of our lives when we pursue love and intimacy."
Not Easily Broken hits theaters TODAY, January 9th nationwide.
Posted By: The SISTAHS Ministry
Friday, January 9th 2009 at 8:52AM
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