'Save Me' Doesn't Stereotype Ex-Gay Ministry

Cary, who, like Allen and Gant, is openly gay, told The Advocate in January 2007 that when the film played at the Sundance film festival he thought it was important "to create a place that wasn't horrific or extreme because I wanted to tell a story that had a sense of compassion for characters on both sides. I wanted to tell this story in a way that doesn't judge the characters before their actions speak for themselves."

Among those in attendance at the Sundance screening were a group of students from Fuller Theological Seminary, located in Pasadena, Calif., brought by Craig Detweiler, a professor of theology and culture.

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"The filmmakers made this brave and edgy film; they didn't expect anyone from the Christian community to show up, let alone be at the premiere," Detweiler told ABCNews.com. "I think it was important for both Chad [Allen] and the students -- for Chad to feel welcomed and received with warmth and appreciation by seminarians, for the students to be challenged by such a faith-affirming film. Chad's character in the film finds God and finds love.

"I think the film is doubly challenging," he added. "It tramples on the sacred-secular-political divide, and brings both sides of the culture war into the same film and tweaks both of their stereotypes. That's a rare and brave thing to do in these highly politicized times."

"It was extraordinary," Allen told Christianitytoday.com, "because we went into this thinking, Can we even have this conversation? Can we get people 'on the other side of the aisle' to even come see the film? But Craig and his students were there, and we had an amazing time getting to know them. I realized at that point that we were on to something. If this movie can in some small way encourage that conversation, then I've done my job."

Seymour Wishman, president of First Run Features, which is distributing the film, largely credits Judith Light's performance for the film's effectiveness. "She makes the character very sympathetic. I would not have taken a film if there were a stereotype of a religious zealot."

To prepare for her role, Light looked to the mother of Herb Hamsher, her manager and a fellow producer on "Save Me." "She is a very, very deeply Christian woman who, when he came out to her, they had a real process around it," she told ABCNews.com. "I watched her transform in relation to him. He asked that she love him and reexamine her beliefs. And [unlike Gayle] she did. I used her as my model."