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Actor and Director Attend Advance Screening of Faith-filled Film

Hollywood comes to Pepperdine on Tuesday, Mar. 10, with an advanced screening of new faith-based film The Secrets of Jonathan Sperry at Stauffer Chapel on the Malibu campus. The film begins at 6 p.m., followed by a discussion with lead actor Gavin McLeod and the film's producer and director Rich Christiano, held in Fouch Ampitheater.

McLeod plays Jonathan Sperry in the film, a man in his 70s who develops a unique friendship with 12-year-old Dustin who mows Sperry's lawn for extra pocket money. Set during the hazy summer of 1970, Dustin (Jansen Panettiere) and his friends Albert (Frankie Ryan Manriquez) and Mark (Allen Isaacson) learn life lessons from this man of faith while traversing a sun-soaked season of bullies, girls, and growing up.

Christiano previously worked with McLeod in the 2002 film Time Changer, which, like their most recent collaboration, is a story of faith. Christiano produced and directed Jonathan Sperry, as well as writing the screenplay with his twin brother, Dave Christiano.

"My goal is distribute Christian movies so they can be used to influence people for the Lord," says Christiano on his film distribution Web site, ChristianMovies.com. He founded the site in 1997, though he's been making Christian-themed films since 1986.

Christiano moved to Hollywood from Arkansas in 1977 with dreams of making it big in the movie industry, but it wasn't until his conversion to Christianity in 1980 that Christiano found his movie-making niche. He owns and runs the Christiano Film Group, and has produced nine films since his 1986 debut with a Christian version of The Twilight Zone - called The Daylight Zone.

Gavin McLeod is a Golden Globe-nominated actor best known for his roles on two long-running television classics in the 1970s and 80s. He starred as balding news writer Murray Slaughter on the Mary Tyler Moore Show and, later, as Captain Stubing on Love Boat. In recent years he has appeared in the sitcoms King of Queens and That '70s Show, and detailed a battle with alcoholism in his autobiography titled, Back on Course, the Remarkable Story of a Divorce That Ended in Remarriage.

For more information about this event, visit the Office of the University Chaplain Web site or contact Stephanie Cupp at (310) 506-4141.