PhotoMichael John Warren, the director of MTV documentaries about Drake and Nicki Minaj, perked up a few years ago when he heard about a big music film that was kicking around Hollywood. But in fact, like many nonreligious Americans, he had never even heard of the group in question: Hillsong United, the primary musical engine for Hillsong, the stylish, internationally expanding Australian Pentecostal megachurch that counts Justin Bieber and Kevin Durant among its flock. Photo“Why would I ever make a Christian rock film?” the director, who was raised Catholic but is now closer to agnostic, said. “You could have told me it was about ISIS or Satanism and I would’ve said, ‘Sounds edgy and cool — let’s go!’ But you say ‘Jesus’ and I’m like, ‘Whoa, whoa, whoa, no thank you.’”Yet it took only one Hillsong service for Mr. Warren. Photo“Have I had moments where I thought, ‘Did I just make a Jesus propaganda film?’” Mr. Warren said.

Source: New York Times September 14, 2016 22:01 UTC