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This story is well loved by Christians and Jews, but do you think it will appeal to others as well?

Dupont: Absolutely. I don't see how it couldn't. Even just watching the trailer, I'm like, Wow, I would go see that movie. It's a beautiful film. It's adventurous. The love story part of it is just perfect. And there's that poster with the flowers falling down—they're calling it the chick poster, and I mean, it is! It makes you want to go see these two people fall in love. It's fun to watch celebrities do it in the movies, and it's also fun to see some new people that you don't know anything about—like us!

The religious part of the story is of course very important—the faith that she had in God to be able to do all these things. That's absolutely the backbone of the film. But it's not one of those movies that people will be "against," because it's not forcing any beliefs down your throat. It's just this incredible story that I don't see how people could not feel some sort of inspiration after seeing it.

It's made out to be a little bit more of a love story than in the Bible.

Dupont: Definitely. That's the Hollywood side, or just the entertainment side, to bring people in. I'm not a scholar on this, but I believe that in the Bible, Esther would have been about 14 and the king would have been in his 60s or 70s. So there certainly would not have been a romance, not at all.

Esther and Xerxes share a kiss in the palace

And Luke Goss is a bit more of a hunk than some 70-year-old guy, isn't he?

Dupont: (laughing) I think so. We're going to go ahead and say yes to that!

What do you hope people take away from seeing this movie?

Dupont: I think this movie is a welcome relief to so many things out there—especially in filmmaking, where everyone wants to be so real and so dark, where you leave the movie and you're like, Oh my, I can't believe that happened. It's a relief to have a movie that's just a nice sweet story about what you can do through faith and hope and hard work.

It's just a feel-good, easy, beautiful movie to simply be entertained by, and to walk away knowing that whatever is going on in your life, it's going to be okay. You can get through it. I think that'll happen for everyone who sees the movie—men and women, everyone. It's not a "girl movie." It's for everybody.

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From Boy (Band) to King	Printer view
Luke Goss was once part of a hugely popular boy band, but gave it all up and turned to acting instead. Now, he's playing King Xerxes in One Night with the King, a new film about the biblical story of Esther.