The producers of "Billy: The Early Years" have also been hoping to generate some buzz in the coming weeks by holding more than 50 advanced screenings for the movie.
The latest buzz, however, is certainly one they would have preferred to do without. The eldest of Billy Graham's five children agrees.
"I don't want to say anything wrong about my brother, but I just don't see it the way he does," Gigi Graham told Christianity Today. "Franklin called me and said he thought the movie was dorky. But I think it's good and positive, and I think it honours the Lord and my mother and daddy.
"I don't know why Franklin felt like he had to make a public statement. I wish he'd just left it alone."
While Gigi does not dispute some of the inaccuracies in the film, she has praised the movie and also been hired as a consultant to help promote the film.
She also pointed out that while she believes the film does portray her father's passion for preaching, more important than the passion was the calling.
"I'm not sure Daddy ever had a passion for preaching. Daddy had a calling, and he accepted that calling and faithfully followed it," she told CT.
Furthermore, though DeMoss said Franklin felt the film "completely misrepresented" Bob Jones Sr in the scene where the then-president of fundamentalist Bob Jones College tells young Billy Graham that he will never amount to anything, The Charlotte Observer noted that the scene may not be so off the mark according to Billy Graham's autobiography, 'Just As I Am'.
"I asked for an interview with Dr Bob in his office and told him about my discontent and my thoughts of leaving," Billy Graham wrote in his 1997 autobiography. "His voice booming, he pronounced me a failure and predicted only more failure ahead."
And regarding the other "inaccuracies", Gigi and filmmaker Bill McKay told CT that they felt Franklin was just nitpicking.
"People need to remember that the movie is fiction based on fact," said Gigi, who has seen the movie about 10 times. "Daddy was not at my birth, but who cares?" She said filmmakers were simply injecting some humour into the scene.
"Look," added McKay, "it's a movie, not a documentary. We were just trying to humanise the experience in that scene. But every step of the way, we tried very hard to be faithful to Dr Graham's story."
In addition to Hammer, who will star as the upcoming Batman/Bruce Wayne in the new film 'Justice League: Mortal', 'Billy: The Early Years' features Oscar-winner Martin Landau (Mission: Impossible, Ed Wood) and Lindsay Wagner (The Bionic Woman); as well as Stefanie Butler (CSI: NY), daughter of ex-Atlanta Brave Brett Butler; Kristoffer Polaha (North Shore) and platinum selling country sensation Josh Turner ("Long Black Train") as singer George Beverly Shea. John Carter Cash, son of John and June Carter Cash, serves as music producer and the film's director is veteran actor/director and Golden Globe nominee Robby Benson, who many know as the voice of the Beast in Disney's "Beauty and the Beast".
'Billy: The Early Years' was filmed in and around Nashville with a 90 per cent Tennessee crew, according to the film's promoters.
It is set to release less than a month before Graham's 90th birthday.
