How Hollywood Stars Balance Faith and Film: ‘Healthy Boundaries’
By Movieguide® Contributor
Before actors Alexa and Carlos PenaVega started their relationship with Christ, they had to work out how to handle spicy scenes.
“So, years ago, Carlos would get a little jealous, but I think the more confident and comfortable, and honestly the closer we got to God, the more our roles started shifting with what we were taking,” Alexa told Fox News this month. “But, also, I think there’s just so much trust in our relationship that there was never a need to be, like, threatened by anybody else.”
Carlos added, “There are boundaries, though. There are healthy boundaries.”
The PenaVegas both started to film movies with Great American Family, and since then, Carlos has a peace of mind since he knows the scenes are all family-friendly.
“That’s what I love so much about Great American Family,” he said. “If she’s not doing a movie with me, I know that whatever she’s doing, whoever she’s with, it’s safe. And it’s all going to be good. So, for us, this is such a great home for us.”
In winter 2024, the couple will star in and help produce GAF’s LOVE AT THE KETTLE.
“I think this movie in particular is really special because, basically, we were given the opportunity to produce this one. Like, this is our, our production company. It’s the first one that we’ve been able to actually produce together, and from the ground up,” Carlos said. “So, for us, this is super special in getting to live out these characters on the screen. I mean, I’ve had so much fun.”
Movieguide® reported on the movie last month:
Marcus Johns (ROCK OF AGES), Natasha Bure (A CHRISTMAS FOR THE AGES) and Mario Lopez (SAVED BY THE BELL) are also set to appear.
“In LOVE AT THE KETTLE (wt), up-and-coming singer songwriter Bella Harlan (Alexa PenaVega) comes home for Christmas and enlists her high-school songwriting partner Jack Grayton (Carlos PenaVega) to craft a song to win back her rockstar boyfriend by Christmas,” a synopsis of the movie reads. “As the two reunite for the first time in a decade, they embark on a Christmas journey down memory lane, and soon realize true love may be closer than they thought.”
The movie just wrapped production on Aug. 6. They filmed their last scene in the Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas.
In an Instagram video on Aug. 6, Carlos said from inside the stadium, “This is surreal…Thank you, Cowboys and AT&T stadium for having us ‘cause this is such a treat. God is good.”
Though the PenaVega’s enjoy making faith-based movies, they’d like to make more secular movies with good messages.
“So, we’re in this half-and-half place. We think faith-based films are really important, but I think, more importantly, are movies that are for the world, but they’re made by kingdom-hearted people because we don’t want to just make Christian movies,” Alexa said.
“We want to make movies that just have so much, so much behind them, so much meaning, to where you walk away and feel really good and don’t even know why,” she continued. “It’s because everything in the movie is really coming from a kingdom heart, but we’re talking about real-world things. I think it’s really easy for Christian films to come across as cheesy, a cookie cutter, when, honestly, the Christian life is hard.”
“Life can be ugly, but there’s a way out, and let’s show the world that,” Carlos added.
