Unplanned, the movie telling the story of how a former Planned Parenthood director came to realize the horrors of abortion and commit her life to the Pro-Life movement, broke box office expectations when it debuted on March 29 and has received glowing reviews for its message as well as its quality.
But, the film’s success wasn’t guaranteed. At one time, the project was short on funds.
It was multi-millionare MyPillow founder (and proud Trump supporter) Mike Lindell that stepped in and generously invested $1 million to make sure the movie had all the resources it needed to become the success it is today.
Check out what people have to say about Lindell’s siginificant financial contribution towards the movie:
Lindell is proud of the part he played in the film's creation and shared news of it on his Twitter page:
The Hollywood Reporter had the following to say about Lindell's role in Hollywood and mission to spread conservative values:
There's a new film financier around town: the unapologetic Trump-loving, born-again Christian conservative founder of My Pillow, who is sure to stand out in Hollywood.
Michael Lindell, worth an estimated $300 million, tells The Hollywood Reporter he has plowed $1 million into Unplanned, an upcoming feature that was shot in secret due to its critical take on Planned Parenthood.
His investment amounts to one-sixth the entire production budget of Unplanned, which comes from some of the same filmmakers who were behind God's Not Dead and I Can Only Imagine, a couple of Christian films that did well at the box office, earning $61 million and $84 million, respectively.
Lindell also has a cameo in Unplanned that's sure to raise eyebrows in certain circles, as he is seen bulldozing a Planned Parenthood site to make way for the headquarters of an anti-abortion group called 40 Days for Life. "I'm pro-life and I'm happy to do it," Lindell says.
Unplanned is the second movie Lindell helped fund, the first being Church People, a Christian comedy starring Stephen Baldwin that is in postproduction. Lindell has a cameo in that film as well. "It was difficult. I have a spirit of unworthiness so I had to get over my shyness," he says.
"I don't get into things for the money; I get into them if the message is right," Lindell says.
Lindell has become a controversial figure among the political left, immune to calls from activist groups to yank his advertising from conservative talk-radio shows and The Ingraham Angle on Fox News after host Laura Ingraham insulted a survivor of a shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida.
"When they tell me to back down, I double down, and my sales go up," says Lindell, who handed out 10,000 My Pillows to hurricane victims in Florida earlier this month.
Lindell, 57, is a former cocaine and alcohol addict who founded My Pillow in 2004. Today, he employs 1,600 people in Minnesota and he has sold 43 million of his open-cell, poly foam products, one of which President Donald Trump says he sleeps on at the White House. Lindell stood near Trump last month at the signing of a bill targeting opioid addiction.
Breitbart commented on Lindell's reasoning behind funding the film:
Lindell recalled his decision to provide the film’s producers with $1 million of additional funding.
“This is a true story,” said Lindell. “It’s going to help so many people change their hearts. It’s going to save so many lives. I talked to my dad. We prayed about it, and I said, ‘Let’s do this.’ I called them back and said, ‘I’ll do a cameo. I’ll do a part in it, but I want it to be a really good movie. A quality movie, because it’s got one of the best messages ever.’ I asked, ‘Are you short any money?’ and they said they were short a million dollars, and I said, ‘Well, you’re covered.'”
“I just felt led to do that,” continued Lindell. “To see God’s timing, nine months later, everything that’s happening right now, it’s just amazing. And you know it’s going to make an impact when stations aren’t advertising it. They’re afraid of it. A theater in my home state — just last week — wasn’t going to show it, and hundreds of people called there, and now they’re on-board. It’s like they’re living in fear.”
Unplanned''s success was made possible by Lindell and it scares the you-know-what out of liberals, who have attempted to censor the film from reaching its intended audience by giving it an "R" rating and "accidentally" (wink, wink) suspending Unplanned's Twitter account.
Check out this video of Mike Lindell talking about the movie (and the liberal attempts to censor it), the impact he hopes the movie and other projects of his will have, his Christian faith, and his support of President Trump:
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