LOS ANGELES – Hundreds of aspiring actors, actresses and fans of the internationally bestselling book series Conversations with God will descend upon Ashland, Ore., on August 22-26 to audition for a role in the movie by the same name. Hopefuls will come from as far as Australia, Ireland and all across America to audition for a part in this touching human story.
Screen Actors Guild and non-union auditions for Conversations with God, the dramatic feature, will be held at the Ashland Springs Hotel in Ashland from Aug. 22-26.
Conversations with God: The Human Story will tell the true story of Neale Donald Walsch, who went from being a divorced, jobless, homeless man living with a broken neck in a park to a highly acclaimed bestselling author. At the lowest point in his life, Walsch started asking God some hard questions. And to his astonishment, God answered. Those conversations became the basis for a book series, Conversations with God, which spent nearly three years on the New York Times bestseller list, sold approximately seven million copies in 34 languages and launched thousands of discussion groups around the world.
Conversations with God: The Human Story is the first original film production of The Spiritual Cinema Circle, America’s fastest growing DVD club. Each month, Circle subscribers receive four films on DVD that heal, inspire and transform our lives. Subscribers hail from 70 countries around the world.
During the past 10 years, Walsch has received multiple offers from producers (and one major studio) to turn his book and life story into a film. He turned them all down.
"Just five years before I wrote about my experience, I was homeless, with a broken neck, living in a park. I spent my days collecting cans to sell for 5 cents each just to have enough money to eat. It was important to me that this story not become Hollywood-ized," Walsch said.
In 2003, Stephen Simon, co-founder of Spiritual Cinema Circle and veteran Hollywood producer of Somewhere in Time, What Dreams May Come and 23 other features, directed Walsch in the film Indigo, which premiered early in January this year in 100 Digital AMC Theaters and more than 600 new thought churches around the world.
While working on Indigo, (Walsch played the grandfather of an indigo child), Walsch observed that Simon had "an extraordinarily high level of artistic integrity, vision and willingness to collaborate" and he finally agreed to have the Conversations with God story told on the big screen.
"For the past 10 years I have dreamed of making this movie," Simon said. He will produce and direct the film. "Conversations with God will be a powerful, mystical, controversial and surprising film."
The Circle is financing the $2 million dollar project, which will premiere theatrically and in new thought churches worldwide in late October 2006 and will be available to Circle subscribers on DVD in December 2006. Gay Hendricks, who co-founded The Circle with his wife Kathlyn, will be executive producer.
Eric DelaBarre is writing the script. He won "Filmmaker of the Future" at the Newport Beach International Film Festival for writing, producing and directing his first feature, Kate’s Addiction. He also authored the book Why Not (Start Living Your Life Today) and spent six years as a writer/director/producer on NBC’s "Law & Order."
Production begins November 7 in Southern Oregon, where Walsch and Simon both live.
Full details and cast breakdown can be found at www.spiritualcinemacircle.com/public/cwg. The Spiritual Cinema Circle, a wholly owned subsidiary of Cinema Circle, Inc., is the pioneer in subscription-based home entertainment distribution for the niche market of Spiritual Cinema, with an audience waiting to see spiritually themed films that until now have gone virtually unappreciated and unseen. For more information on The Circle, or to join, visit www.SpiritualCinemaCircle.com
