Prayers for Bobby (2009) on Netflix
NR20091h 30mBiographyDramaRomance
Mary Griffith raises her four children under the conservative teachings of her Presbyterian church in Walnut Creek, California. Her son Bobby is gay, and he wants a mother who accepts him.
- Netflix3.9/5
- IMDb8.0/1019,469 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes73%
Trailer
Plot summary
Bobby Griffith is one of four children raised in Walnut Creek, California, in the evangelical tradition of his mother's Presbyterian church. Bobby is gay and tells no one; he writes his anxiety and depression into a journal. After Ed finds him following an aspirin overdose, Bobby admits the truth to his brother and begs him not to tell their mother. Ed tells her anyway. Mary believes that faith and willpower can change her son, so she takes Bobby to a conversion therapist, urges him to pray harder, and steers him toward church activities and time with his father Robert. Bobby does everything she asks, hoping for her approval.
Cast
- Madge Levinsonas Ophelia
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Prayers for Bobby (2009)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- In 2015 producers Daniel Sladek and Chris Taaffe were invited by the European Union's Vice President to present the film to Members of the European Parliament in Brussels on International Homophobia Day.
- The Trevor Project gave Sigourney Weaver its Trevor Life Award for her role in the film, and the award was presented to her by Anne Hathaway.
- The film's two-night Lifetime premiere drew a combined 6.1 million viewers, with 3.8 million tuning in on the first night and 2.3 million on the second.
- Mary Griffith, the mother interviewed by journalist Leroy F. Aarons for the 1995 non-fiction book the teleplay is based on, and Aarons himself are both credited as co-producers on the film.
- Executive producers David Permut, Daniel Sladek, and Chris Taaffe spent thirteen years developing the project before it reached the screen.
