Ryan Kelley and Scott Bailey in Prayers for Bobby

(Photo: Ben Mark Holzberg/Lifetime)

We've been anticipating the upcoming Lifetime movie Prayers for Bobby with cautious optimism ... on the one hand, the format is a frequent punchline to jokes that usually have "has-been" or "Meredith Baxter Birney" somewhere in the setup. But on the other, the material and the talent involved are far above par.

Sigourney Weaver stars in and also produced the film, which is based on the true story of Mary Griffith, a woman whose son Bobby killed himself after his parents would not accept him as gay, and who went on to become a crusader for gay rights herself.

After the jump we've got a slew of production stills from the movie as well as the first preview, and from all accounts it looks like our optimism will pay off when the movie airs on January 24th.

Ryan Kelley as Bobby

Out actor Dan Butler (Frasier)

Weaver and Kelley

Weaver and Kelley

Kelley, Henry Czerny, Weaver

Sigourney Weaver

Austin Nichols, Ryan Kelley

Kelley and Weaver

Ryan Kelley

Sigourney Weaver

Sigourney Weaver and Susan Ruttan

Ryan Kelley