Remnant Fellowship 23: Elizabeth's Phoning It & Michael Did a Runner. Literally.

[shesinsane]

I don't know how to make video clips (I watch television on a television not connected to my computer), but there was a scene where Gwen was in the bathroom talking to David Shamblin through the door, and came out with teased hair and declared "the higher the hair, the closer to God!" That audio made the Lifetime trailer but not the video.

In my search I found this story, which is worth sharing for the headline alone:

 

Jamie Lee Curtis' 'Halloween Ends' wig solved Jennifer Grey's hair emergency for Lifetime role

Quote

Jamie Lee Curtis is the kind of friend willing to share the wig off her head. 

Specifically Curtis' wig from "Halloween Ends," which ended up on close friend Jennifer Grey's head in the Lifetime movie "Gwen Shamblin: Starving for Salvation" (airing Saturday).

Grey rang Curtis for hair help when she was about to sign for the role as the big-haired and controversial leader of the Remnant Fellowship Church. 

"I called (Curtis) and said, 'Oh, there's this job I'm thinking of doing, but I told them I need good wigs,'" Grey told Entertainment Weekly. "And she said, 'Okay, I'm sending you a number right now. His name is Rob Pickens, and he did my wigs for 'Halloween.' And he did Ana de Armas' wigs for 'Blonde.' He's got a wig-making atelier where they make them by hand, hair by hair, and you've got to call him as soon as you get off the phone with me.'"

Grey said it didn't even matter that she had not formally closed the deal for the role. Curtis told her: "I don't care. It takes a long time. You need to get a wig fitting today."

Grey called and Pickens told her that Curtis' wig from a flashback scene in "Halloween Ends" was perfect for the initial Shamblin wig. It was "repurposed."

"So the first wig that I'm wearing (at the beginning of the movie), when Gwen is kind of like the church lady, that's Jamie's old wig from 'Halloween Ends.'" said Grey.

Pickens explained:

"The shorter wig repurposed for Gwen was a 'flashback' wig we built for Jamie used in 'Halloween Ends.' We adjusted the color and re-fronted to fit Jennifer's measurements. They are dear friends, so it was very special they could wear the same wig."

Gwen Shamblin's controversial book "The Weigh Down Diet" (which encouraged worship as a replacement for mindless eating) was published in 1997. She and her church, founded in 1999, were the subjects of HBO Max's docuseries "The Way Down: God, Greed, and the Cult of Gwen Shamblin."

Before dying in a 2021 plane crash, Shamblin rose to megachurch fame and showed off more extreme hair, Pickens' team created a bigger second wig to represent that higher hair look.

"My hair had to be slicked and tightly bound to my head, and clipped and gelled," Grey said of the bigger wigs. "The wig was not uncomfortable, but the tightness under it (was). I have a lot of hair to wrap up inside a wig cap!"

When Grey showed off that Shamblin wig look in November on Instagram, she shook the internet.

"Ok….. you have my full attention," commented Michael J. Fox.

"Saved by the Bell" alum Elizabeth Berkley Lauren said she was "dying to see" the feature.

Contributing: Erin Jensen

 

[rabbitholejulie]

Well I watched the movie last night.  A little background- I met Gwen when Weigh Down was in a binder/not a book yet (I lived in Memphis at the time) and so for me the movie was worth watching.  I didn't know that Gwen had  moved to Nashville and started a church until the day of the plane crash.  Gwen has a very nice, proper and gracious mother- I can't even imagine what she thinks of all of this...  At the time I knew them Gwen's mother was very proud of her accomplishments.

Some observations- in the original scenes they made it look like Gwen lived in a typical suburban 80's home when in fact she lived in a cottage style house off of an affluent old money golf course.  There is no way Gwen would have ever had vertical blinds ha ha.  The hair progression was spot on but the Southern accent was not enough of a drawl.  The movie was choppy and left out a lot but the bedroom scene was epic.  They also captured the "wedding look", although not the over-the-top church venue.

The movie is breathing new life into a very sad/weird story.  

  

[throwaway9988]

Once I disabled my adblocker, the lifetime website started letting me watch the movie without even creating a profile or subscribing to a free trial! 

[Coconut Flan]

Thanks!  That was my problem even getting to the site.  I was looking from my very locked down browser.  I went to my very open one and it was easy.

[Coconut Flan]

5 hours ago, shesinsane said:

I don't know how to make video clips (I watch television on a television not connected to my computer), but there was a scene where Gwen was in the bathroom talking to David Shamblin through the door, and came out with teased hair and declared "the higher the hair, the closer to God!" That audio made the Lifetime trailer but not the video.

Yes, it made the movie.  I just heard it.  It's right around the 30 minute mark.

ETA:  The best part of the movie was at the end.  On the black screen:

"When there is greed, there is no faith in God at all."

-Gwen Shamblin

Priceless.  

Edited February 5, 2023 by Coconut Flan

[throwaway9988]

I liked the major focus on the divorce hypocrisy. And how so many of the members were variously just so caught up in the church/wealth/control that they stayed despite their unhappiness. 
 

The part where Elizabeth lost her baby was crazy. I just wish they had shown Gwen and Remnant leadership calling people into the office and hunting for their sins in order to try to blame it all on the sins of others instead of the sins of Gwen and her family. 

 

Lifetime seems to have created this character “Josh” to be the bad guy in Remnant leadership instead of naming and shaming the actual people. “Josh” replaces Tedd Anger and David Martin in the Josef Smith arc. Instead of Michael, “Josh” gets seduced by Adrienne so that she has enough leverage to overcome all of Gwen’s threats and systems of control in order to escape Remnant. 

 

The Gwen-Joe dynamic was hilarious. And the reveal that Gwen’s engagement to Joe was being filmed made me laugh out loud. 

 

They did a great job with the wigs!

[Coconut Flan]

7 minutes ago, throwaway9988 said:

Lifetime seems to have created this character “Josh” to be the bad guy in Remnant leadership instead of naming and shaming the actual people. “Josh” replaces Tedd Anger and David Martin in the Josef Smith arc. Instead of Michael, “Josh” gets seduced by Adrienne so that she has enough leverage to overcome all of Gwen’s threats and systems of control in order to escape Remnant. 

I read that they do that to avoid being sued so they aren't defaming actual people who might be in a position to sue them.

I thought overall they did a pretty good job.  It was mostly entertaining and caught the big things likely to get people upset and recognizing the cultiness of it.  Not very many people could walk away from watching it with the opinion that Gwen was a good person.

Edited February 5, 2023 by Coconut Flan

[shesinsane]

After the movie last night, Lifetime aired a Beyond the Headlines about Gwen Shamblin, it's basically a 20 minute video mixing clips from the Lifetime movie with former Remnant members telling their stories. 

https://play.mylifetime.com/specials/beyond-the-headlines-gwen-shamblin/full-special

The makeup and hair department did a fantastic job making the actors look like Gwen and Joe Lara. And though I fast forward through commercials, I noticed how Lifetime ended many ad breaks with a PSA from Jennifer Grey providing info getting help for eating disorders. 

[throwaway9988]

10 minutes ago, shesinsane said:

And though I fast forward through commercials, I noticed how Lifetime ended many ad breaks with a PSA from Jennifer Grey providing info getting help for eating disorders. 

During the movie itself, I mostly got Oscar Meyer commercials with dancing bacon. I’m starving for more than just salvation now. 

[JermajestyDuggar]

I’m guessing Natasha isn’t part of this Lifetime movie because they never mention the custody battle at all. Not even that he has a daughter. The other movie will be the HBOmax Gwen Shamblin movie with Sarah Paulson as Gwen. Since Natasha worked with HBOmax for the documentary, I bet she is working with them on the movie. And I bet Natasha and the custody battle won’t be left out of that adaptation. 

[Baxsmom]

Just watched the Lifetime movie and I came straight here to see what you guys are saying.  I have not posted here in awhile so I went to the church website to check things out.  Where is Durville's wife?

[Concerned]

8 minutes ago, Baxsmom said:

Just watched the Lifetime movie and I came straight here to see what you guys are saying.  I have not posted here in awhile so I went to the church website to check things out.  Where is Durville's wife?

She completely disappeared from his Facebook page as well. All the Remnant comments on his Facebook posts are sickening - it's as if she never existed. Everything is made to look "happy, happy." He's lifted up as if he's some angel. 

On 2/4/2023 at 6:59 PM, JermajestyDuggar said:

Michael posted this:

What social media platform was this picture taken from?

[Concerned]

How many kids does Michael have? How old are they?

 

[JermajestyDuggar]

2 hours ago, Concerned said:

She completely disappeared from his Facebook page as well. All the Remnant comments on his Facebook posts are sickening - it's as if she never existed. Everything is made to look "happy, happy." He's lifted up as if he's some angel. 

What social media platform was this picture taken from?

He posted it on Instagram. 

2 hours ago, Concerned said:

How many kids does Michael have? How old are they?

 

4 like Elizabeth. 3 girls and then one boy is the youngest. The 3 girls have g names like Elizabeth’s. And then the youngest boy is Christian. 

[rabbitholejulie]

Check out the Youth Ball video on the website- all dancing exactly the same- it's really creepy.  And it looks like Elizabeth's oldest daughter is the center of attention.  I see what they're doing there...

I noticed Durville's wife missing too- either they're divorced or she gained weight.

[RFfamANON]

I watched the lifetime movie and since I’m not a fan of most of their movies I was not surprised by how shallow they were in telling this story. I was most disappointed in their portrayal of Gwen as a zealot when in fact I think she was much more of a con artist. I think she may have been genuine at first but the Gwen that I met was a liar (and maybe a bit of a lunatic) I think I most appreciated the scene where everyone is supposed to be eating cake and they all look around at each other like “uuuuum?”  This for me was always a disconnect. They have mounds and mounds and mounds of food at events but none of it is healthy and you are supposed to not be fat.  It’s almost like a torture or brainwash technique. “You must be strong enough to resist!!!”  Very disturbing for me. anyway I also thought the PSAs that Jennifer gray did were really well done. 

bottom line for me is anything that discredits Gwen’s teachings is a positive for humanity so the more that is produced the happier I will be  

[JermajestyDuggar]

3 hours ago, rabbitholejulie said:

Check out the Youth Ball video on the website- all dancing exactly the same- it's really creepy.  And it looks like Elizabeth's oldest daughter is the center of attention.  I see what they're doing there...

I noticed Durville's wife missing too- either they're divorced or she gained weight.

I think Durville and his wife are divorcing. I also think they are setting up Grace for a power position once she’s 18. She will marry young and they will be a RF power couple at age 19/20.

[Red Hair, Black Dress]

Durville's wife's FB page shows photos for the 2 of them at Christmas 2022. Then some very cryptic but interesting meme/ quotes that suggest some changes in her(?) life.

[cookingbutterchicken]

Is the character of Emily in the Lifetime movie supposed to be someone in real life?

[7Freedom]

I've been following this thread for years (thank you!). For nearly 2 decades I've wondered why Gwen became a Trinity denier. How can you call yourself a Christian and ignore the Gospel????? Ignore the New Testiment??? Does anyone know if the explanation portrayed is true or is it a Hollywood exaggeration? With the exception of Josh's character substitution and time line issues, I found everything to be truthful in nature. If this is true, all of her followers should be shaken to their core! Her denial was for financial and power gain only!!!! I'm not surprised, I've alway thought most/all of what she did was for money and power but to see this...it should be huge for Christians!

[rabbitholejulie]

2 hours ago, cookingbutterchicken said:

Is the character of Emily in the Lifetime movie supposed to be someone in real life?

I think Gwen had the same assistant for years but her name was Erin- the same name as Michael's wife...so they changed Michael's wife's name to Elle to prevent confusion.  Also when I knew Gwen, Elizabeth's name was actually Michelle.  Gwen named Michelle Elizabeth after her mother who goes by "Betty".  I'm not sure why Remnant/Gwen started calling her daughter Elizabeth...

[throwaway9988]

8 hours ago, cookingbutterchicken said:

Is the character of Emily in the Lifetime movie supposed to be someone in real life?

I was wondering about this too. I think “Emily” could be based on a few people. Maybe, like “Josh,” the Emily character is a combination of multiple real women in order to simplify the narrative. At a minimum, I think the Emily character bears some resemblance to Gina Wilson from the HBO documentary: a very early Weigh Down employee and very early Remnant member whom Gwen forced to stay married to an unfaithful husband for many years (until Joe Lara entered the picture and Gwen’s stance on divorce mysteriously changed). But one thing about Emily that doesn’t fit Gina and probably represents various other women instead is how Emily was in the early stages of dating when she joined Remnant, and then was pressured by Gwen into getting married before she was sure about things. 
 

And on the topic of divorce…while I generally didn’t mind the timeline mistakes in the Lifetime movie since they tended to simplify the narrative and let the audience focus on one thing at a time, the one timeline mistake in the movie that I didn’t like was how in the movie, 1) David Shamblin initiates a fight with Gwen which 2) leads to their divorce, and then 3) Gwen meets Joe Lara for the first time soonafter. Reality was so much more juicy and dramatic than the movie in this case, since what really happened was that 1) Gwen met Joe Lara, then 2) Gwen suddenly reversed her stance on divorce and she was the one who filed for divorce from David Shamblin, and then 3) Gwen and Joe got engaged soonafter. 

[JermajestyDuggar]

I do think David would have stayed practically forever. He never had to go to church or do the church events like her kids. She knew she couldn’t make David be the perfect RF husband. If she had never met Joe, they would probably still be married. 

[Hane]

@7Freedom, I read that when Gwen’s anti-trinitarian stance became public, many churches that had endorsed and hosted Weigh Down broke ties with her. 

[Mothergoose1961]

12 minutes ago, Hane said:

@7Freedom, I read that when Gwen’s anti-trinitarian stance became public, many churches that had endorsed and hosted Weigh Down broke ties with her. 

The great majority of the churches that had endorsed Weigh Down broke ties with her.  I was actually a Weigh Down leader for several years in my church and once her anti-trinitarian stance were known, we dropped her immediately.  They touched on this a bit in the Lifetime movie with all the returns and calls coming into her office.  I was so in on her original teachings that I feel like I really dodged a bullet with not joining Remnant Fellowship.  I do see how easy it was for people to get sucked in though and I HATE all the damage that she has done and continues to do.  Thank you for everyone speaking out!!!!!