God's hand touched actor, film

WCR ^ | May 28, 2007 | DEBORAH GYAPONG

[NYer]

If the story of the rich young man from the Gospel of Matthew had a sequel updated for modern times, it might resemble the life of actor Eduardo Verastegui, a Catholic who stars in the new film Bella.

In the Gospel account, a rich young man asks Jesus what he needs to do to inherit eternal life. Jesus tells him to sell all he has and follow him. But the man goes away sorrowful because he had great wealth.

In the modern day sequel, Verastegui, a rich young man, does sell all he has and is prepared to give up his budding acting career to follow Christ.

Verastegui had reached the zenith of Mexican celebrity as a soap opera star and singer who had toured at least 13 countries to sold-out concerts. He'd appeared as Jennifer Lopez's love interest in her popular music video Ain't It Funny.

His growing Hollywood TV and movie credits included the starring role in the 20th Century Fox movie Chasing Papi and a co-starring role in the independent film Meet Me in Miami. He'd been listed as one of the 50 most beautiful people in the world in People en Espa?ol.

Devout Catholic teacher

In Los Angeles, while studying English, he found himself drawn to a deeper faith in Christ through his devout Catholic teacher. He began to see all the reasons he had wanted to be an actor - fame, money and pleasure - as empty and vain.

He realized he'd been typecast into portraying the unfaithful, lying Latin lover and playing those parts promoted negative stereotypes. The media portrayal of Hispanics in general demeaned both men and women, resembling nothing like the dignity and beauty of his mother and sisters in Mexico.

He understood he had hurt people through the work he had done and the messages in his movies were "poisoning society."

"This guy's the Brad Pitt of Mexico."

- Leo Severino

"It broke my heart," the actor told the annual Rose Dinner in Ottawa May 10, following the annual March for Life in Ottawa.

"I realized I had offended God."

He said he spent "many months in tears."

Deeply influenced by Scott and Kimberly Hahn's Rome Sweet Home, Verastegui sold his possessions, wondering if God was calling him to be a priest, perhaps in the jungles of South America. His spiritual advisor, however, told him: "Hollywood is a bigger jungle."

He vowed to refuse parts unless they affirmed life and human dignity. For three years he went without work because all the parts offered him involved the "same negative stereotypes."

"We are not called to be successful, we are called to be faithful," Verastegui said.

"I wasn't born to be famous, or rich, I was born to know and love and serve our Lord Jesus Christ."

Then in 2004, he met movie producer Leo Severino while attending daily Mass.

Severino, who also spoke at the dinner, returned to the Catholic faith in 1999 through reading Christian apologetics. He began attending daily Mass, but he found most of the other churchgoers were "grey hairs cramming for their final exam."

Younger Christians like himself were scarce in the mostly anti-religious world of Hollywood.

Then one day he noticed another young man who was standing next to a life-sized statue of Jesus, his hand on the Sacred Heart, his head bowed in prayer.

Severino soon discovered, "This guy's the Brad Pitt of Mexico."

"Art and morality go hand in hand."

- Eduardo Verastegui

Not long after their meeting, Verastegui and Severino co-founded Metanoia films with some like-minded people who had also gained their movie-making and acting chops in Hollywood.

They intend to produce movies that could change lives and hearts. Bella is Metanoia's first.

Set for release in selected U.S. cities in August, Bella won the coveted People's Choice Award at the Toronto Film Festival last fall. This festival rivals Cannes in size and star power.

The award began opening doors for the film, though Metanoia still needs to find a distributor for wide release.

Media's impact

Severino said the media, especially film and television, are "shaping our culture." He noted how the movie Million Dollar Baby promoted euthanasia and Cider House Rules glorified abortion. Natural Born Killers influenced the Virginia Tech shooter, he said.

"Art and morality go hand in hand," he said, urging the many young people present to guard their eyes and ears and their innocence.

"God does not use evil means," he said.

Rose Dinner attendees were invited to screen Bella. Many leapt to their feet, tears in their eyes, as the credits rolled.

The lean script co-written by director and Metanoia co-founder Alejandro Monteverde contains nothing overtly religious or preachy. With strong performances from Verastegui and female lead Tammy Blanchard, the movie affirms life and family in ways Metanoia Films hopes will appeal to a general audience.

[Salvation]

The story of the rich young man as told in the Gospel of Mark was the Gospel reading for today!

Gospel
Mk 10:17-27

As Jesus was setting out on a journey, a man ran up,
knelt down before him, and asked him,
“Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
Jesus answered him, “Why do you call me good?
No one is good but God alone.
You know the commandments: You shall not kill;
you shall not commit adultery;
you shall not steal;
you shall not bear false witness;
you shall not defraud;
honor your father and your mother.”
He replied and said to him,
“Teacher, all of these I have observed from my youth.”
Jesus, looking at him, loved him and said to him,
“You are lacking in one thing.
Go, sell what you have, and give to the poor
and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.”
At that statement, his face fell,
and he went away sad, for he had many possessions.

Jesus looked around and said to his disciples,
“How hard it is for those who have wealth
to enter the Kingdom of God!”
The disciples were amazed at his words.
So Jesus again said to them in reply,
“Children, how hard it is to enter the Kingdom of God!
It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle

than for one who is rich to enter the Kingdom of God.”
They were exceedingly astonished and said among themselves,
“Then who can be saved?”
Jesus looked at them and said,
“For men it is impossible, but not for God.
All things are possible for God.”

[NYer]

Deeply influenced by Scott and Kimberly Hahn's Rome Sweet Home ...

"Scott's and Kimberly's spiritual duet is gracious, inspiring, and convincing, just like the Catholic faith they have embraced." -- Karl Keating, Author, Catholicism and Fundamentalism

Rome Sweet Home is the conversion story of Scott and Kimberly Hahn. Learn the joys and struggles faced by two devout Protestants as they each converted to Catholicism.

In this moving account, the reader cannot escape learning the insights Dr. Hahn and Kimberly gained as they made their journey home. The discovery of new conceptions of God's covenant, one of Dr. Hahn's primary contributions to contemporary theology, is just one of the gems the reader can mine from this sometimes painfully-candid account of conversion and the effect it can have on today's families.

"I wasn't born to be famous, or rich, I was born to know and love and serve our Lord Jesus Christ."

[livius]

Very interesting!

The life-affirming old movies we all like today (ranging from It’s a Wonderful Life to the many Bing Crosby films and onwards) were not pious and sappy. They were fun, had wonderful engaging actors and had a great positive impact - without being drippy or prissy.

[Tax-chick]

This was in our Diocesan newspaper recently. I’d like to see the movie!

[JillValentine]

The media portrayal of Hispanics in general demeaned both men and women, resembling nothing like the dignity and beauty of his mother and sisters in Mexico.

Hmm. I'm a Latina and I haven't seen much of this alleged "demeaning" by the media.

Jesus ain't no race-baiter.

[NYer]

The life-affirming old movies we all like today (ranging from It’s a Wonderful Life to the many Bing Crosby films and onwards) were not pious and sappy. They were fun, had wonderful engaging actors and had a great positive impact - without being drippy or prissy.

These are amongst my most favorite and still the best movies produced by Hollywood. Be it Bing Crosby or Spencer Tracey, there was a time when Hollywood dished up some truly outstanding moral messages via the cinema. Perhaps some day, they will recognize that faithful audience and return to their roots.

[livius]

Jesus was not a race baiter.

But I think this actor was talking about two things: (1) the somewhat trashy portrayal of women in telenovelas, which unfortunately some people believe to be true (although would be like watching the old “Dallas” series and thinking that every woman who lived in Texas was a two-timing slut and all the men were manipulative cheaters); and (2) the completely unrealistic picture that everybody in the US has of Mexico and Mexican life, based mainly on the fact that most of the people Americans see are very poor, uneducated people, some of them involved with crime, and they believe that all of Mexico and Latin America is like this. Obviously, that’s not true. And more North Americans should know this, and should know about the level of devotion and intellect that exists in Latin America.

[livius]

I know, they were great movies. They were produced mainly by Jews, who obviously didn’t have a dog in that race, but knew what would appeal to their audience. Also, before Vatican II, the Catholic film board (I don’t remember its name) was very active in rating films and approving them for Catholic audiences. At that time, of course, people actually paid attention to what the bishops said.

I’m not in favor of prior censorship, but I surely don’t see why we couldn’t have a somewhat more influential Catholic screening board to recommend films for Christians. Except, of course, that the bishops essentially undermined themselves and gave up their authority a long time ago, and it will take quite a number of years to get it back.

[JillValentine]

(1) I don’t watch telenovelas, and

(2) As a member of “everybody in the US,” my picture of Mexico is not “completely unrealistic,” having seen many different parts of the country. If anyone in the US is an ignorant bigot, it’s the rich white Northeastern liberals like “Sheets” Byrd, Ted Kennedy, and John Kerry.

Maybe “everybody in the US” wasn’t the best choice of words to use?

[Salvation]

The Scott Hahn Conversion Story

[AliVeritas]

bookmark to post pics later

[It's me]

August 15th is the release date.

The Feast of the Assumption of Our Lady.

[Tax-chick]

I’ll try to remember. Probably it will show up on DVD in our library.

[klossg]

Some of Eduardo's pics:
From Chasing Papi:








He gave up a ton. May it pay off!

[BipolarBob]

Anyone that depends on telenovellas to form an opinion of about anything has to be gullible.If they are not outright fiction, they are semi-fiction with a severe bias. Thinking people have resources available to them if they want to try to have a understanding of world politics and economies. If the world judged Americans solely by what their government or religious leaders told them then everyone would have a negative opinion of us. Okay not the best example. But I severely limit my television time to avoid its propaganda.