In the contemporary United States, Orrantia said, “I feel like people are trying to tiptoe around certain subjects to not offend people, and I think that this movie takes one of these subjects that we have to tiptoe around – being religion and how much you can say about it in school - and tries to bring it to the forefront of everybody’s mind.”
Rather, she said, her character is simply making the comparison to help herself understand the lesson. Orrantia said that, in the film, neither the teacher nor the student is attempting to indoctrinate the class. The sequel to a 2014 film in which a Christian college student and his atheist professor debate the existence of God, “God’s Not Dead 2” is the story of a Christian high school teacher (Melissa Joan Hart) who finds herself on trial for answering a student’s (Orrantia) question about similarities between a quote from the Rev. In a recent telephone interview with The Southern Cross, San Diego’s diocesan newspaper, she admitted that the Christian film represents a change of pace from her current work on the ABC sitcom “The Goldbergs,” where she plays the family’s rebellious oldest child, Erica.Īnd she relished the challenge inherent in her first dramatic role in a feature film.īut in addition to offering a chance to stretch herself as an actress, Orrantia said, “God’s Not Dead 2” also provided her with “a cool opportunity … as a Christian” to share that aspect of her life with audiences, as well as to participate in a film that addresses the controversial issue of religion in the public square.
Actress Hayley Orrantia had reasons both professional and personal for joining the cast of “God’s Not Dead 2.”