In the new satirical comedy Honk for Jesus. Save Your Soul., Sterling K. Brown plays Lee-Curtis Childs, a pastor at a Southern Baptist megachurch trying to rebuild his congregation after a huge scandal.
The film is not afraid to dive into deep topics – sexual impropriety, hypocrisy and pride, to name a few – and Brown tells ABC Audio he knows that will possibly upset some people. And that’s OK.
“I’m somebody who’s grown up in the church, has a deep affinity for it, but I feel like there’s some critical thought that could be examined,” Brown says. “Nothing is perfect, everything can be looked at further.”
One of the biggest topics the film handles is marriage. Specifically, Brown says, it asks “what constitutes the breaking of a covenant” and “when is the right time to be out” of a marriage.
Regina Hall, who plays Brown’s wife, Trinity, in the film, agrees, saying that marriage is “defined in this movie specifically, as, ‘are you a Christian?’ And, if so, ‘how much you are willing to endure?'”
“Trinity is a Christian,” Hall says. “She just has to endure Lee-Curtis. That’s a bit of a measure on her Christianity.”
Brown says he was – at first – a bit hesitant to take on a role some might find controversial.
“Not enough to not let me do it,” he says. “But, yeah. I hear my mom’s voice all the time … my mama will ask with every role that I do, ‘Now how does this honor God?’ And I’ll be like, ‘Well, Mama, God made us. And he made each and every one of us and God didn’t make no mistakes.’”
Honk for Jesus. Save Your Soul. is in theaters everywhere and streaming on Peacock this Friday.
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