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You might know Siobhan Fallon Hogan best from just about everything.
Whether it’s "Saturday Night Live," "Seinfeld," "Forrest Gump," "Men in Black," "Daddy Day Care," "Going In Style," "The House That Jack Built," "New in Town," "Fever Pitch," or "Baby Mama," the actress is no stranger to the silver - nor the small - screens.
Pacing around her New Jersey backyard in her pajamas, Fallon Hogan told Fox News Digital film buffs would have seen her in even more roles, had they only been more reflective of her strong Catholic faith.
"It’s cost me a fortune," she jested. "But, that being said, I wouldn’t be able to sit with myself."
"You have to be able to look in the mirror at yourself, and you have to be able to sleep. And like, who cares? It’s all so temporary. It doesn’t matter," Fallon Hogan said of being in Hollywood, telling Fox News Digital she’s spent the entirety of her career turning down jobs that don’t jibe with her faith.
But while the funny woman may not exactly be laughing all the way to the bank, she’s smiling all the way to the theater.
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For the first time in her decades-spanning career, Fallon Hogan will have written, produced, starred in, and distributed her own feature-length film. And, because she knows God helped her make it, there’s no doubt it’s one that sits especially well with her.
The sleep? Well, as a writer/producer/lead/distributor hybrid role, that’s probably lost.
Actress Siobhan Fallon Hogan plays a washed-up country singer turned prison guard in her film, "Shelter in Solitude." (Emerald Caz Productions)
"I’m lying in bed and this idea comes to me," Fallon Hogan said of first conceiving "Shelter in Solitude." "It’s like having a dream, you’re like, ‘I better write this down.’ And I literally wrote it all in three weeks. I’m telling you, it flowed out of me. There’s people that say, ‘this had nothing to do with me,’ and I really feel that. Because I feel… it has a message for this time, where God must be so sad because we’ve gotten so off the mark…"
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Produced by Emerald Caz, the independent company Fallon Hogan started alongside her husband and children, "Shelter in Solitude" is an American, faith-filled, country western, prison love story told during COVID times. The story centers around a wannabe country singer, Val, (played by Siobhan Fallon Hogan) and her unconventional relationship with death row prisoner Jackson Marcus (played by Peter Macon). Having been picked up by AMC, Regal, and more, the film will see a wide theatrical release on October 6.
The film also stars award-winning actor Robert Patrick, who Fallon Hogan said always wanted to do a faith-filled film. "But they’re always… the people, you can’t relate to."
That’s what called Fallon Hogan to make one that’s relatable for audiences everywhere, her second co-starring with the actor [after her 2021 film, "Rushed"]. And while Patrick happens to be a fellow devout Christian, the actress said she doesn’t exclusively look to work with those who share in her faith.
"My crew… they’re from all walks of life. Your actions should prove who you are."
For Fallon Hogan, her faith is even louder than her actions.
"My cinematographer and my editor, who are atheists… I say to them, ‘what are the chances we’d be picked up by AMC and Regal? There’s only one reason, and that’s God. And I’m telling you that’s the truth.’ And they’re like, ‘OK, if that’s what you think!’ And I’m like, ‘No, that’s what I know.’"
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Fallon Hogan hasn't been the only Hollywood celebrity called to vocalize their faith — or address the industry's response to it.
A-lister Mark Wahlberg recently told Fox News Digital he attributes all of his success to God. Wahlberg has been a long-time outspoken Catholic, referring to his 2022 role as Father Stu, a boxer-turned-priest, as his "calling."
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Earlier this year, actor Shia LaBeouf - who recently played Padre Pio in the film of the same name - opened up about the story's impact on his personal faith journey, ultimately leading him to convert to Catholicism. He is currently in the midst of RCIA [Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults] and is scheduled to be confirmed as a Catholic this year.
Last month, actor Rainn Wilson - perhaps best known for his role as Dwight Schrute in "The Office," - spoke about the need for a spiritual revolution in the modern world and his struggles navigating a Hollywood culture that's critical of people of faith.
Wilson admitted that while he doesn't have any "smoking guns" or emails confirming the shunning of religion in Hollywood, he can "sense a collective eye roll about it."
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Academy Award winner Matthew McConaughey has also expressed his faith in the past, telling podcaster Joe Rogan that while being a Christian in Hollywood hasn't caused him problems, he has watched others in entertainment limit expressions of their faith.
"I have had moments where I was on stage receiving an award in front of my peers in Hollywood and there were people in the crowd that I have prayed with before dinners, many times," McConaughey explained. "And when I thank God, I saw some of those people go to clap, but then notice that, 'This could be a bad thing on my resume,' and then sit back on their hands."
Fallon Hogan has never been one of those peers.
"The way it should be…no matter what walk of life we are, or our beliefs… we should all be able to be in the business together. Shouldn’t we? Isn’t that what America’s supposed to be?" Fallon Hogan said, noting the current cultural rift in Hollywood. Though the actress said some industry insiders have been graciously willing to amend scripts for roles in which she's been cast, she's felt forced to decline others that have been antithetical to her moral code.
"So it’s been extremely freeing to do my own films, because it’s a pure vision," she added.
Fallon Hogan later pointed the finger at the media for, well, the media's own self-created problems.
"I think people are more reasonable than it’s all being made out to be. I think Hollywood is sometimes portrayed to be so evil. But I know people with completely different thoughts about life, politics, religion, than I do… but if you talk to them, it becomes about the project," she told Fox News Digital.
"The problem is… people have become more about things that are not about the project. If you all have the common goal of the story, then why should any of your personal beliefs tie into it anyway? But they have to tie it into it if it even begins to cross your moral and ethical philosophies."
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In response to cancel culture continuing to pervade Hollywood and other industries, Fallon Hogan implores people to have more compassion – in every crevice of our society.
"Rules were made to be broken," the actress said. "People have to be compassionate. Whatever happened to community service? Teach them how to be a person instead of ruining people."
The Northeastern spitfire added that grace should be given to those trying to learn "the new language" of a new generation.
Growing up in upstate New York – about as north as you can get in the United States - Fallon Hogan’s father, an Irish Catholic attorney, told his daughter she should be a country singer.
In honoring her late father, she wrote herself into becoming exactly that - the character of Southerner Val in "Shelter in Solitude" is, at first, a determined wannabe singer, personifying the close, symbiotic relationship between God and music.
The character is called in a different direction entirely when her brother, the Warden (played by Robert Patrick) needs a substitute prison guard. Val will fill those shoes and be assigned a death row inmate with only ten days to live before his scheduled execution, wherein the two will form an unconventional bond built within the three pillars of Christianity: faith, hope, and love.
Fallon Hogan told Fox News Digital that she wanted to focus her film on the death penalty because of her faith in God - and, more to the point, her belief that if there’s one role we can’t play, it’s Him.
"I believe strongly in the Ten Commandments, and I believe in ‘thou shalt not kill,’" asserting her stance that people shouldn’t be involved in the extreme judgment of another person.
"Catholics have to stick together."
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At the end of the [long, overworked] day, spent living in a nation that's becoming increasingly devoid of religious loyalty – in 2023, approximately two-thirds of Americans seldom or never attend church – Fallon Hogan feels it's important for Catholics and Christians alike to collaborate.
"It hasn’t been easy. At my age, I can say it all. I don’t care. I always thought I had to keep it hidden, but people always know," she said. "So going to Mass in the morning, I’d be like, ‘alright, listen Jesus, I’m telling you right now: you better help me out!’ Because it’s all guns blazing, it’s like having a child. And you’re just like, ‘please help this work.’ Because there are so many balls in the air."
"Catholics have to stick together," the actress concluded.
"Shelter in Solitude" was written and produced by Fallon Hogan and directed by Vibeke Muasya. The film will be available in theaters Friday, October 6. To watch the trailer, click here.
For more Culture, Media, Education, Opinion, and channel coverage, visit foxnews.com/media.
FOX News' Nikolas Lanum contributed to this report.
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