"Praise This" marks Ilario Grant's breakout role. Although not much is known about his acting and music background, director Tina Gordon said the entire cast gave it their all with their musical performances in the film, so there's no doubt Grant did his own singing. "There are so many phenomenal singers in this movie," she told NBC Insider.
In fact, because the cast are so talented, Gordon said she actually had to tell the actors to hold back during certain scenes depending on the context of the film. "It's hard to convince a singer to not be amazing in every instance," she said. "So we were constantly going back to the story and remembering where we are in the story and how the song has to function as a character, basically."
Gordon explained she had to figure out when it was appropriate for the characters to go all out with their performances. "Every song would come out sounding amazing and sometimes you don't need that," she said. "Sometimes you need it to be a moment that serves the story."
