Veteran Actor Ted McGinley on Faith, Family, & Trusting God in 'The Engagement Plan'

Veteran actor Ted McGinley has had a long and substantial career in Hollywood. Best known for his seven-year stint as Jefferson D’Arcy on popular 1990s television sitcom, Married with Children, McGinley has also had starring roles on The Love Boat, Happy Days, and the Revenge of the Nerds movies.

In later years, McGinley has made a conscious decision to move into movies that matter, making such faith-based favorites as Do You Believe and God’s Not Dead: A Light in the Darkness. More recently, the California native stars as family patriarch John Baxter in The Baxters, a 34-episode Amazon Prime streaming series based on Karen Kingsbury’s bestselling novels.

In his latest movie, The Engagement Plan, premiering via Great American Pure Flix on August 29th, McGinley plays Ed Jones, a midwestern farmer who isn’t exactly sure what to make of his daughter’s soon to be fiance, a slickster from more metropolitan climes.

I recently sat down with McGinley to discuss what still motivates him after appearing in movies for more than 40 years, why it is so hard to trust God in our daily circumstances, and what needs to happen to keep releasing movies that feature positive, faith-based themes.

If you were trying to convince a friend or family member to take the time to see The Engagement Plan, what would you say to encourage them? What would your sales pitch be?

It's a movie about a family, a strong family of faith, and a real slice of America in the middle of our country. You’ve got a young guy who from afar looks like he's got literally everything in order. His life is going exactly the way it should be going. He's very successful and falls in love. And enroute, you find out that, no matter what your plans are, sometimes God has different plans. You think you're the one who's in control and actually probably you're not. If you have kids, it's a fun, adorable family movie.

It's one of those movies, as a parent, if you went out for the evening and you had a babysitter, you could say anything on this channel, you can watch, because it’s Great American Family or Great American Pure Flix. If it's on this channel, it's good to watch. And  just have them keep it here. It's fun for parents because it's nostalgic. You’ve got Judd Nelson, and you’ve got Faith Ford. These are people who've been around a while. And then you have these young kids, who are amazing.

You have had so many memorable roles over the years … Jefferson D’Arcy on Married with Children comes to mind. I’m old enough to remember you as Stan Gable in the Revenge of the Nerds movies. But this begs the question, what are you looking for in a project to be willing to devote large chunks of your life to it? What moves the needle for you?

That's a great question. It's funny, it's changed so much. When my kids were in school, I literally would do almost anything because I needed to feed my kids, educate them, and do all the things that a parent needs to provide. And I sort of took my own interest out of it. They just weren't important. I just had to. It's hard to be an actor and make a living. It's very difficult. 

People come from all over the world and they're nine deep to get your jobs. And so, it's tricky. It's very difficult. So when you get an opportunity, most of us just jump at it. Very few of us are in the position where we can say, well, I don't like this one. I'll wait for the next one. For a lot of us, there isn't a next one. And when you have the pressure literally of I've got to make sure I get these kids fed, it helps you make a lot of choices. But now, at this point in my career, I am more discerning about what I take and what I want to do. And there are certain roles I won't do.

I love challenges. I like things that seem like they're a little bit frightening. But also at this point, if I can do something that I believe in, I'm in.

Let’s dig into the film a little bit. In essence, the moral of the movie is that not everything in life can be planned and the main character must be humble in trusting God to provide what is ahead for him. This begs the question, why is it so hard to trust God sometimes when we know He ultimately has our back?

It's so funny. I've often found in my own life that when I put God first, things seem to work out. You always have this character who has everything lined up. And from afar, he looks like he is completely together. And then he comes and his family, they're from the city, they're successful, they're very involved in their lives, daily phone calls, etc.... And you come out to the farm and you realize you're dealing with nature and you're dealing with things that you're not in control of. And so, I think it's interesting side by side to see these two groups. One has learned just like their faith, that you have to allow it. You can't force nature. You can't force plants to grow, and the harvest, you can't hurry it. I don't care how much I plan ahead of time, it's not going to change anything.

And this young man comes in, wants to marry my character’s daughter, and his family shows up. And you can see they're diametrically opposed. They're completely different, but what he sees on a day-to-day basis, that's the greatest thing. Christians are supposed to be kind and not to beat people over the head with it, but to show how you live, how you treat people, and how you exist. I think that that's one of the other lessons of this movie. He comes in and we're not telling him anything. He's witnessing it. He's seeing who these people are, how they live, how they love, and how faithful they are. I just think that that's sort of the story. And the other side of that is you can make all the plans you want.

God makes plans, and those are the ones you're going to end up being a part of, whether you like it or not. I've always found in my life that sometimes I don't want to change. I don't want to have to change. And that's why I don't listen, because I've kind of got things going where I think I want to go. And then all of a sudden, boom. And I think that for me, that's how it works. Human nature says that we'll take the easier road or what appears to be the more clear path with less obstacles. And sometimes God says, ‘No, that's not your path.’ And those are hard things for us to accept because we’ve got everything planned. We’ve got everything lined up. We're going exactly the way we want. And sometimes it just doesn't happen that way.

The Engagement Plan has a great cast. Yourself, Judd Nelson, Faith Ford, as well as a wealth of young and up and coming actors. Does it make your job easier or more challenging working with such great talent?

Definitely easier. Look, if you're playing tennis, the analogy is if I'm smashing the ball and somebody can smash it back at me, and we go back and forth, and we have an amazing rally, that is what you want. And when you're working, if you throw something up and somebody smacks it back, it's like, yes, okay, here we go. Due to the talent level, you’ve got to be on your game to compete. This (movie) was amazing because you had all these young kids … Emily Topper,  Eric Lutz, and Mia Pollini. And Jack Schumacher. They were relatively new to the game.   But it was fun just to see them on a day to day basis and seeing their joy of being there, how they show up on the set, and how they go through a day. I love that. It was fun from the first day to the last day. And Judd Nelson is just fun. He's very unique, one of the most unique people I've ever met.

After people have had a chance to watch The Engagement Plan what would you like to see audiences take away from it? What is your greatest hope for the film?

My hope is that the audience supports this film. If people aren't going to watch The Engagement Plan, they're going to quit making movies like this. And for some people maybe that's good. But for the audience that likes it, if you don't tell somebody about it, if they don't support the movie, everything gets downgraded and the quality of everything becomes less and less. But if people support it and Hollywood thinks, oh, they could make some money out of doing these better movies, then we’ve got a shot. If you don't support it, they'll stop making them. If people will support it, then we’ve got a shot at having better quality content for a more pure audience.

This (movie) is cute. If I had a 13 or 14-year-old daughter, I would say, watch this. And if I had a young teenage boy, I would say watch this. I think that that's a good age group for this. And it has a subtle but really thorough message.

WATCH A TRAILER FOR THE ENGAGEMENT PLAN: