Actor Kristoffer Polaha, who stars in the upcoming sci-fi action movie “The Shift,” thinks it’s time for Hollywood to create content that will inspire people to do good in the world, not evil.
Through his years in the industry, the 46-year-old actor has seen a noticeable shift in the content being produced in TV and film. As a man of faith, he thinks it’s time for Hollywood to create more entertainment with messages of “faith” and “integrity.”
During a recent interview with The Christian Post, Polaha said, “I think it is inspiring and ennobling to see someone have integrity, and to see someone fight for love, and to see somebody who’s true and true-hearted, and what does that look like? We need more role models.”
He added, “‘I’m in Hollywood, and I love Hollywood, and I think that Hollywood is doing its best job to be as representative as it can, and sometimes it feels heavy-handed, and it misses the mark. It’s almost like we’re telling so many stories that we’re forgetting to tell the stories that are sort of a basic, fundamental.”
Set for a January 2024 release, “The Shift” follows a man named Kevin, played by Polaha, who lives in a dystopian world where a mysterious person confronts him called “The Benefactor,” played by Neal McDonough, challenges him as he travels the multiverse trying to return to the woman he loves. He explained, “‘The Shift’ deals with, very simply put, at its core, as we all are, we all have the potential to be sort of broken and rotten. If I gave you a hall pass to do anything that you wanted to do, would you do it? It’s a very simple question. There are no repercussions; legally, you’re fine, morally, you’re fine; here’s a hall pass, do whatever you want to do. So that’s what my character is given.”
Polaha’s character is tempted in every universe he shifts into by a character representing the devil. Polaha said that, for many years, entertainment has enticed people to “dance with the enemy” because it was such an opposite representation of reality. The author and actor shared, “I think that, as a Christian, when you read the Bible, you know there’s the devil. What was fascinating to me is that Jesus did two things: He healed the sick, and He cast out demons.”
Polaha acknowledged spiritual warfare in leading the infection of evil in the world, but he also maintained the lure of the flesh. He said Hollywood now has the responsibility to show what it would be like if the world was good, saying that he felt it was “Hollywood’s job to start showing the fantasy of what it looks like to have integrity, the fantasy of what it looks like to have faith, the fantasy of it looks like to be a good man and a good woman.”
He concluded, “You can tell all the stories still and you can still represent everybody. Everybody can be represented by that. Let’s start showing people what it looks like to be tested and still have faith, and still be true to your faith, and still have integrity, and still have honesty, what does that look like?”