Actress Farr Produces HBO Cult Doc

Zap2it.com/April 26, 2004

Los Angeles -- HBO is developing a documentary about the Children of God cult, more recently known as the Family of Love and just The Family. Actress Diane Farr will produce the project with Noah Thomson, a former member of the cult.

Titled "No Longer Children," the doc will examine the lives of several children who escaped the cult and had to be reintroduced into mainstream society without money, education or family support.

The Family was founded in 1968 by David Berg, who was known within the organization as Father David or Moses David. Berg, the child of Christian evangelicals, preached of the dangers of a de-Christianized society and the coming rise of the Antichrist and The Rapture. Followers of The Family were required to cut ties to their actual families.

A polygamist, Berg encouraged the group's female believers to enter a practice known as "flirty fishing" -- attracting males to conversion with the promise of sex. The media dubbed these women "Hookers for Jesus." Berg also forced members of the group, including children, to engage in a variety of sexual acts, prompting a lengthy investigation by the New York Attorney General's Office in the 1970s.

Berg predicted that Jesus would return in 1993. He died in 1994.

Former child members of the cult include Joaquin and River Phoenix and Rose McGowan.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Thomson's parents held leadership roles in the cult and raised him around South America. Before fleeing at the age of 21, he worked as an editor for the group's video ministry. Thomson plans to direct the documentary and appear in it, along with several of his 11 siblings.

Farr is one of the stars of The WB's "Like Family." Her other credits include MTV's "Loveline" and ABC's "The Job."