Radio personality Russ Parr has a lucrative side hustle – making movies. His latest Hear No Evil is heading to TV One on Saturday, March 14 at 8 p.m. Parr says he’s done about 13, 14, movies. His last The Undershepherd about a pastor, played by Isaiah Washington, with serious issues garnered some controversy from the religious community.
“I caught a lot of hell from a lot of pastors,” Parr says. “They were like ‘Oh, you must be a heathen. But this one is different. This one is about a young lady who is struck by lightning and can then hear the voice of God. This is not a religious movie, I just want to let everybody know. This is a thriller you can watch with the whole family. I wanted to do something different for me.”
Richard T. Jones, Jill Marie Jones and Jackie Long star in the movie, which he says is a departure for him, since it’s neither a typical drama or a comedy.
That might be a good look for Parr, after he says he was “cussed out” by pastors in the D.C./Maryland/Virginia area after screening The Undershepherd for them. In the film, Washington plays a conniving, cheating pastor who ultimately undermines the church he’s supposed to be serving.
“They cussed me out. They told me it was bad timing, and so on and so forth and there’s no redemption in this, well, there’s not always redemption at the end of every story. That’s life. There’s redemption in Hear No Evil. In this particular one, I wanted to touch on something that the hearing community and the faith-based community could come together on,” Parr said.
Parr has largely financed, written, produced and directed his films. He says that while he’s lost money, he’s proud of his accomplishments outside the Hollywood studio system.
“I’ll call Tom and say ‘Hey, Tom would you invest?,’ and then it’s like ‘Hello, Hello? Are you there?’ Let’s not talk about that time I came to Tom’s house and he gave me one beer. One Michelob. I’m not saying he’s cheap, but…”
