By Michaela Gordoni
Actor Mark Feuerstein shared all about the exciting Jewish thriller, GUNS & MOSES, where he discovered the beauty of surrendering to God’s control.
The movie follows Rabbi Mo, played by Feuerstein, who investigates a tragic murder. The community fears who may be the next victim as a white supremacist falls suspect.
“For the character, it was really about a guy who was very timid and unsure of himself who learns how to be a leader,” Feuerstein told Movieguide® last week. “And the moment that inspired…this movie was when a rabbi in Poway, California, stood up to a shooter who came into their synagogue. The shooter had shot one woman, and this rabbi leapt at him, losing a finger because the guy shot it off, but saving 15 or 20 members of the congregation.”
“When he was interviewed by the press, ‘They he said you know what do you need? What do you want?’ And he didn’t ask for anything for his congregation,” Feuerstein explained.
He just instructed whoever was listening to go and “do a good deed,” and that’s what Rabbi Mo does in the movie.
Director Salvador Litvak told TV and City, “It was very important to me and my wife, who co-wrote the movie, to keep it authentic. There are so many movies out there with certain types of Jews — the funny Jew, like Adam Sandler or Larry David, who I love, they crack me up — or the dead Jew, there are a lot of Holocaust movies out there. But no movies about Jews who won’t back down.”
Feuerstein says he felt connected to God as he filmed.
“There are these moments when I’m singing these beautiful songs with my family in the movie and I just felt connected to this sort of higher power as we made it,” the CAROLINE IN THE CITY star said. “This feeling that, you know, we’re not in control of everything.”
“And there’s something relaxing about that. And it felt like the journey that my character was on was the same as the journey the movie was on, because the movie had its own travails. There was some stuff that went down in the financial coffers of our movie production,” weather issues and lots of challenges.
The production team and cast had to realize that there was much they couldn’t control.
“We’re going to get what we can get and we ended up getting it, and there’s a beauty to that,” Feuerstein said.
“There were so many challenging and wonderful parts about doing this movie…I learned how to shoot a gun from a guy named Yosi who runs Maganam, this volunteer security force in the Jewish community,” he said. “I learned how to sing all these beautiful spiritual songs. And so those were all like incredible fun lessons.”
Feuerstein acts along with Christopher Lloyd and Neal McDonough in the movie.
Part of Movieguide®’s review of the movie reads, “The movie stresses strong biblical, moral values…[Mo] also represents a strong father and husband and stands for integrity. Finally, the movie shows him praying and declaring the greatness of the Lord, but from a Jewish perspective.”
According to the movie’s website, GUNS & MOSES will be available to stream soon.
Read Next: From Comedy to Drama: Mark Feuerstein on His Bold New Role in ‘Guns & Moses
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