A feature movie by the same production team responsible for the surprise hit God Is Not Dead is based on the life of a Rock-dale native.
Unplanned will tell the story of Abby Brannam Johnson, who has become one of the leaders of the Pro-Life movement.
The movie, which will hit theater screens later this month, is based on Johnson’s 2009 best-selling book of the same name.
It’s not a “no-name” film. It stars Ashley Bratcher (War Room) as Johnson. Cast members include Robin Scott (CSI) and Emma Elle Roberts (The Hunger Games: Mockingjay).
The production team of Cary Solomon and Chuck Konzleman have sought for the past decade to bring Unplanned to the screen and they’ve done it with I Can Only Imagine producers Daryl Lefever and Joe Knopp.
JOURNEY—Johnson is a 1997 graduate of Rockdale High School and has frequently returned to her home town. Johnson will be featured speaker at the Eighth Annual Place of Hope Night Saturday, April 13, at the KC Hall.
Her self-described journey of going from “a naive college student to director of a Planned Parenthood clinic to an advocate for families in crisis, including unborn members of the family” is the subject for Unplanned.
In the book, Johnson relates how she was director of Planned Parenthood clinic in Bryan—at the time one of the youngest such directors in the country—when she was asked to assist in an ultrasound-guided abortion.
LIFE-CHANGING— Although she had been involved with thousands of abortions, Johnson had never witnessed one guided by an ultrasound, the same procedure familiar to many expectant mothers.
When she saw the 13-week-old fetus, Johnson said it reminded her of her own ultrasound, at 12 weeks, with daughter Grace.
She quit, then became a Pro-Life activist.
Two books and national television exposure followed.
SCRIPT—Now that exposure is about to rocket to another level.
Solomon and Konzleman waited until they felt the time was right to construct a script for Unplanned. They sent it to Johnson.
“I read the script,” she said. “For the first 15 pages I hated me. Then I got to the end of the script and I loved it. It was me.”
Johnson doesn’t shy away from talking about her own two previous abortions.
Nor does she shy away from the message of redemption she projects in Unplanned.
“No one is too far gone for redemption,” she said. “That’s really the message and I hope this movie will convey that to the public.”
Commentator Kathryn Jean Lopez of National Review, who attended a screening with Johnson, termed Unplanned: “A love letter across the fence of our miserable politics that in recent years has strained family relationships and broken friendships.”
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