Vannessa Hudgens plays the lead role of a new movie called "Gimme Shelter." The redemptive film shares a prolife message of how a young girl's life goes from a massive disappointment to leading her to shelter that changes the distraught teen's life forever.

The actress has been making the rounds lately promoting the film. This independent film opens nationwide Jan. 24, and also stars Rosario Dawson, Brendan Fraser, and James Earl Jones.

Hudgens plays a bruised and beaten-down teen named Apple. The character is frightened by her drug addict mother. She then runs away to find her birth father. She soon realizes she can not fit into his wealthy life, and to make matters worse he wants her to abort her unborn baby. Apple leaves feeling abandon and rejected. A near death experience lands her in a warm home for unwed teenage moms, in the midst of strangers who take her in and provide her with support and resources to help her better her future.

Abandoning their trademark good looks and normal body figure, both Hudgens and Dawson transformed themselves to more effectively play their roles. Hudgens chopped off her long locks into an overgrown mullet with heavy bangs; she was pierced, tattooed, and gained quite a bit of weight.

"When Vanessa was cast for Gimme Shelter, she ended up living there [at the shelter] for three weeks," the film's director, Ronald Krauss, said to Crosswalk.com. "Vanessa was incredible because it wasn't just the hair, the weight gain, she became one of these girls. She really transformed."

The entire film is based on true stories that director, writer, and producer Krauss found while he himself lived at one of Kathy DiFiore's five women's shelters in New Jersey to do his research.

The film does not only showcase the restored life of a struggling young girl, but CBN said the film portrays a pro-life message by showing, not preaching it.

Although the feature is not labeled a faith-based film, Gimme Shelter leans towards a Christian redemption story more than a secular film typically does.

Jones' character as a hospital priest, is who delivers the sermon to the troubled teen pointing her towards a saving grace.