Caviezel Responds To Critics Of ‘Sound of Freedom’
Actor Jim Caviezel is hitting back against growing media smears surrounding the surprise sleeper hit Sound of Freedom, saying that mainline journalists fear the movie’s success and message.
“They’re scared. Quaking in their boots. And it’s because the public are listening to their hearts, which is what this film tells you to do,” Caviezel said in a recent Q&A conducted by the movie’s distributor, Angel Studios. “When there is evil, real evil in the world, and when love is in your heart, boy, evil is just a coward to God.”
Fruitful box office results may be causing a stir among profiteering movie execs, but it's also igniting a firestorm in the mainstream media.
Sound of Freedom has earned $41.7 million since its release and is easily outgrossing Disney’s Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny on a per-screen basis, inspiring journalists to smear the movie as “QAnon,” the left’s divisive catch-all term for conservatives that believe in conspiracy theories.
On CNN, left-wing author Mike Rothschild recently commented on Caviezel and the movie, accusing them of catering to and supporting QAnon. The Guardian ran a hit piece on the movie, calling it “QAnon-adjacent” and “paranoid,” and Rolling Stone jeered at the movie, labeling it as a “triumph for QAnon believers.”
However, Sound of Freedom director Alejandro Monteverde said in the Q&A that the negative media coverage hasn’t deterred the public and the audience continues to enthusiastically embrace the work.
“One thing that’s amazing is, you know, we make movies for the audience,” Monteverde said. “And I understand, you know, the critics world, but I like to focus on the audience, and the audience are responding. They’re the most important for us as filmmakers, as storytellers, and the audience are giving us 100 percent and that’s where I want to stay.”
Despite the controversy, Sound of Freedom’s audience numbers continue to soar, and Caviezel is grateful for the support.
He said, “That’s really amazing to know that people are seeing it and being moved by it and benefiting from it. That’s really what it’s all about. It needs to have a positive impact in the lives of people's hearts and minds.”