‘Wizards of Waverly Place’ star David Henrie credits role in faith-based film ‘Little Boy’ for return to Christ
A former Disney star says that playing a role in a Christian film brought him back to faith. David Henrie, known for his previous role in the Disney show Wizards of Waverly Place, said that he was agnostic before accepting a role in the upcoming Christian film Little Boy.
“I think the people in Hollywood who take their sort of abilities more seriously and who are always working on their craft or trying to be the best that they can with what they’ve been given, those are always the most successful people cause they don’t buy into the whole lifestyle that goes along with it,” Henrie said on TheBlaze’s Billy Hallowell and Raj Nair on their “Freefall” podcast
In Little Boy, The How I Met Your Mother actor will portray London Busbee, the older brother of a boy who will do anything to end World War II and bring his father back home. Henrie confessed that he was moved to tears reading the script and knew he had to be in the movie.
The cast and crew all had different beliefs but Henrie says they were a positive influence in his life.
“They were instrumental in changing my life, helping me to find the greater good and awaken the little boy in my heart, and led me back to my faith, led me back to my beliefs, and it has completely changed my life,” he said to Breathecast.
“I will forever be grateful for Little Boy because it was the film that saved my life.”
He acknowledged that being a role model is not always something that an actor wants, but considers it a responsibility that one must accept.
“I remember people were looking at me as a role model when I was a teenager and I was like I don’t want to be a role model, you know, I just want to be an actor. But then the older I got, the more I was like ‘well shoot, even though I didn’t ask for that responsibility to be on my shoulders, should I still be accountable for it?’”
Henrie made the comparison to Spider-Man. “With great power comes responsibility, and it’s true, even though Peter Parker didn’t ask to become Spiderman, he still ended up embracing that responsibility and doing the best that he could with it.”
Little Boy was written by Alejandro Monteverde and produced by Mark Burnett and Roma Downey. The film also stars Emily Watson, Tom Wilkinson, Kevin James, Ted Levine, Abraham Benrubi, Michael Rapaport, Ben Chaplin, Ali Landry, James DuMont, Jakob Salvati and arrives in theaters on April 24.