The brand-new movie ‘New Life’ is a romantic drama that celebrates life’s beauty and producer and actor Drew Waters (Friday Night Lights) is an integral part of it.
This film featuring Erin Bethea is a story of love’s power through all of life. “I was drawn in from the first scene and found myself impacted on every possible emotional level,” says Jim Stovall, New York Times BestSelling Author of ‘The Ultimate Gift’. Ben Higgins and Lauren Bushnell from ABC’s ‘The Bachelor’ say, “The story is magnificent at revealing real life experiences. It’s emotional from start to finish.” Further, Garry Brown, Producer, ‘Agents of Shield’, says this film is “One of the most moving, most heartfelt movies I’ve seen in a long time. People should see this movie!”
Erin Bethea plays a wife whose love story with her husband takes on the worst life can throw. ” ‘New Life’ follows Ben and Ava, who meet as children, marry as young adults, and together face what life brings,” Bethea says. “Audiences respond to seeing young love become something lasting and strong. We wanted to inspire audiences with love’s power, in any circumstance, to give strength and hope.”
‘New Life’ is produced and co-written by Erin Bethea and DREW WATERS as the premiere feature of their production company, Argentum Entertainment. Sonoma Christian Home interviewed Drew Waters, who has a prolific career in movies especially as an actor with roles in TV’s Bones, True Detective, and Friday Night Lights among his many credits. He is also the producer, director, writer, as well as an actor in ‘New Life‘. Drew Waters makes his feature film directing debut with ‘New Life’, for which he recently won Best Director at the Love International Film Festival in Los Angeles.
Drew Waters, ‘New Life’ director and actor. Photo Courtesy of Lovell-Fairchild
SCH: What is the backstory for your developing this movie?
DW: The story behind the scenes is personal for me. It concerns my loss of my grandfather with his death, his losses with the deaths of two wives, and then his death shortly after the death of his second wife to cancer. Working on this movie is still helping me to process my own story with my grandfather that includes his stories with his first and second wives’ deaths. This project started out as a short project to assist grief counselors in hospitals but developed into a feature movie with Erin Bethea.
SCH: What are major themes of ‘New Life’?
DW: The major themes involve love, hope, and that life is worth living. The movie deals with trials in honest, beautiful, and hopeful ways.
SCH: Who is the target audience for this movie?
DW: The wide target is largely for women, especially 18-55; but following screenings men have responded almost equally as positively as women.
Erin Bethea and Jonathan Patrick Moore star in ‘New Life’. Photo Courtesy of Lovell-Fairchild
SCH: What do you want the audiences to take away from this movie?
DW: I want them to take away hope and the belief that life is beautiful and worth living.
SCH: How can this movie help those who see it connect with others experiencing grief and loss?
DW: It is an honest picturization of real grief and loss and how to go through it with hope and experiences that show that life is beautiful and worth living. We worked with grief a counselor to show this process accurately.
SCH: What does this movie show about lasting love and of hope?
DW: It starts with Ben and Eva as children and follows their developing love story with thirty years together. Their antagonist is their inner struggles that they overcome.
Ben and Ava met as children. ‘New Life’ movie. Photo Courtesy of Lovell-Fairchild.
SCH: What does this movie show about the stages of grief?
DW: It shows the human reality that eventually we have to grieve loss. It shows how to go through and survive the loss of a love.
SCH: What is the worldview of the movie?
DW: It is a Christian worldview that picturizes, shows, paints a picture of reality of human life. It begs or stimulates questions. What brought me to Christ. This movie does not have the shock value of added violence, sexuality, foul language. It is an honest, real, heartfelt story that keeps viewers engaged from beginning to end.
Erin Bethea as Ava and Jonathan Patrick Moore as Ben in ‘New Life’. Photo Courtesy of Lovell-Fairchild
SCH: Why are good romantic films needed today?
DW: We need to see movies that show what it looks like to still be married over time. We need to see the internal, emotional side of marriage over time. The character Ben, especially, sets the bar of real love in men that grows over time.
SCH: Why are inspirational movies needed today?
DW: We are living in world full of trouble. Many movies today with weak stories use the props of foul language, sex, and violence. We need honest but positive inspiration in movies, even if the movie shows taking baby steps toward hope. ‘New Life’ is more than a film. It was made to inspire others to celebrate the beautiful moments in their own lives and create those moments for others. More than anything, ‘New Life’ is a chance to rekindle hope, wherever all of life takes you.”
Argentum Entertainment, founded by Drew Waters and Erin Bethea, creates quality projects for mass audiences by appealing to the highest demand in entertainment for just good movies. Their movies are planned for the faith stream and beyond. They are planning good family movies in a wide number of genres to wide audiences with good storytelling without gratuitous violence, language, and sex.
In partnership with MudLOVE, ‘New Life’ will help bring clean water to the Central African Republic. Every ‘New Life‘ bracelet sold covers the cost of a week of life-giving, clean water for a person needing it. Each bracelet sold also adds to an adoption grant through Steven Curtis Chapman’s Show Hope foundation.
Fans may share their own “New Life Moments” in an online tapestry of love and hope, and possibly appear in the film’s theatrical poster. Visit the website for details.
‘New Life’ premieres in selected markets Oct. 28: Los Angeles, New York (Brooklyn), Chicago, Phoenix, Dallas, Houston, Atlanta, Orlando, Miami, Washington D.C., and Indianapolis.
Connect with the film on social media on Facebook and Twitter and connect with Drew on Facebook.
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