Movies: America's Secular Religion

October 28, 2003 (Tuesday) / 5:00 pm6:30 pm

200 College Hall

Movies: America's Secular Religion

Robert Cort

Film Producer, Executive Producer, and Author

For the past century Americans have zealously congregated at the movies, deriving many moral and ethical beliefs about themselves and their community from the big screen. In a real sense, movies are America’s secular religion and Hollywood its secular Vatican. Join Robert Cort as he candidly discusses the “state of the church.”

Robert Cort has produced fifty-two films, including Outrageous Fortune, Three Men and a Baby, The Hand That Rocks the Cradle, Cocktail, Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure, Jumanji, Runaway Bride, and the award-winning Mr. Holland's Opus. In 2001, Save the Last Dance became the tenth of his productions to gross more than $100 million in worldwide box office. His most recent movie, Against the Ropes, starring Meg Ryan will be released later this year. In addition to producing films, Cort is author of the novel Action! (Random House, 2003), which follows the fortunes of one moviemaking family through most of the 20th century, across three generations.