diff --git a/lib/ansible/config/manager.py b/lib/ansible/config/manager.py
index c31f3ab5084..c308c3810d4 100644
--- a/lib/ansible/config/manager.py
+++ b/lib/ansible/config/manager.py
@@ -99,7 +99,10 @@ def ensure_type(value, value_type, origin=None):
                 value = value.split(',')
             value = [resolve_path(x, basedir=basedir) for x in value]
 
-        # defaults to string types
+        elif value_type in ('str', 'string'):
+            value = unquote(to_text(value, errors='surrogate_or_strict'))
+
+        # defaults to string type
         elif isinstance(value, string_types):
             value = unquote(value)
 
diff --git a/lib/ansible/plugins/action/template.py b/lib/ansible/plugins/action/template.py
index c4e802a756b..5cdb2f5271e 100644
--- a/lib/ansible/plugins/action/template.py
+++ b/lib/ansible/plugins/action/template.py
@@ -89,7 +89,7 @@ class ActionModule(ActionBase):
 
             for b_type in ('force', 'follow', 'trim_blocks'):
                 value = locals()[b_type]
-                value = ensure_type(value, 'string')
+                value = ensure_type(value, 'boolean')
                 if value is not None and not isinstance(value, bool):
                     raise AnsibleActionFail("%s is expected to be a boolean, but got %s instead" % (b_type, type(value)))
                 locals()[b_type] = value