DANIEL AND THE FIERY FURNACE star Mena Massoud shared the “incredibly important” message at the heart of this biblical epic.
“I grew up in the Coptic Church…doing church plays and everything like that,” Massoud told Movieguide®. “To get to finally do it professionally, on a professional level, is a dream come true.”
DANIEL AND THE FIERY FURNACE “follows the extraordinary journey of the prophet Daniel through the courts of Babylon, culminating in the iconic trial by fire in the fiery furnace,” per the movie’s website.
“We’re really getting an inside look into how Daniel comes into his role as the great prophet and the great dreamer that he is at a pretty young age…getting to see how [he and his friends] they muster up the courage to stay steadfast in their faith, that was something that really attracted me to the project,” Massoud, who plays Daniel, shared.
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The ALADDIN star also shared his hopes for what viewers get out of the movie, especially young viewers.
“I think [the movie] will really resonate with [young people], and we’ve got to do our job to get the young people out there, because at the end of the day, this film is about young people staying steadfast in their faith,” Massoud said. “I think it’s important for the younger generations to see this, especially nowadays, when temptation and distractions are all around us.”
The actor added, “For a movie like this to exist, that really follows the journey of young people staying true to who they are, staying true to where they come from, I think that’s incredibly important.”
DANIEL AND THE FIERY FURNACE was led by the Kooman Brothers, who crowdfunded $1.2 million to make the movie.
“We literally prayed before we made this movie: ‘God, if you’re not supposed to make this movie, don’t let us make this movie,’” Daniel Kooman told The Christian Post.
He added that the movie was vetted by pastors, theologians and biblical historians, saying, “It’s like a tightrope, and it’s also scary. You want to honor it, because it’s biblical Scripture, so there’s really literally nothing else like it.”
“There are quite a few scenes where they’re just literally verbatim, just quoting Scripture,” Daniel Kooman explained.
“We’re still telling their stories today because of those acts of faith,” he added of sharing Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego’s story. “So can we live with that kind of faith and see God deliver us in our own lives?”
DANIEL AND THE FIERY FURNACE premieres Sept. 18.
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