The Undershepherd
Director: Russ Parr
Screenwriter: Russ Parr
Cast: Isaiah Washington, Lamman Rucker, Louis Gossett Jr., Elise Neal, Clifton Powell, Malinda Williams, Vanessa Bell Calloway, Keith David and Robinne Lee
Running Time: 147 min
Currently on DVD is Russ Parr’s award-winning film The Undershepherd, starring Isaiah Washington (“Grey’s Anatomy”), Lamman Rucker (“Meet The Browns”), Malinda Williams (“Soul Food”), Elise Neal (“Belles,” “The Hughleys”), Vanessa Bell Calloway (“Shameless”), Clifton Powell (“Ray”), Bill Cobb (“Go On”), Robinne Lee (“Hitch”), Keith David (“Belles,” “Cloud Atlas”) and Academy Award winner Louis Gossett, Jr.
The Undershepherd — directed by Russ Parr. Best friends LC and Roland are two young, ambitious ministers, climbing the ranks at the First Baptist Church. Coming up under the leadership of Dr. Ezekial Canon, the church’s elderly pastor, Roland and LC have dreams of becoming the predecessors of the aging pastor. But, the feeble Dr. Canon stubbornly refuses to step-down, forcing the two young ministers to make pivotal decisions that ultimately fray the fabric of their deeply-woven friendship.
Russ Parr: It’s not a romantic comedy or a model that everyone loves and I’m taking a chance. This one is a very powerful drama that deals with two pastors and this is a campy film where one is leaving the church and comes back. This is someone leaving the church. One of the pastor turns into this huge tele-evangelist. This won’t be the stereotypical thing where he’s having sex with young men. I’m doing something that’s real, and that really does happen in the church. It just shows what power, money and greed does to people. To me, it’s one of my favorite scripts and I wrote that about three years ago.
Trailer
Malinda Williams talks about her role
