Hollywood is ‘investing in faith like never before,’ movie producer says
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The upcoming film “Ordinary Angels” starring Hilary Swank and Alan Ritchson all started with an unlikely source: Dave Matthews of the Dave Matthews Band.
The film’s producer, Andy Erwin, said Matthews came across the story of a church community in Kentucky coming together to help a widowed father save the life of his daughter, who desperately needed a liver transplant to survive.
Matthews “championed it for years until it found its way to Lionsgate, our parent company,” Erwin said on a video call.
“They brought it to us. Turns out we have a bunch of friends that go to the church that this was about and we just were like, ‘We know it well,’” Erwin said. And then the movie came together.
“I think it’s the perfect time for this movie and one of the reasons we really wanted to tell this story was because it’s a story about community coming together,” Jon Gunn, the movie’s director, said in an interview. “It’s about people helping others, whether they know them or not.”
Ed (played by Ritchson) is a construction worker. His wife had a rare liver disease and died because of it. He found himself in severe medical debt while trying to keep his family afloat. His daughter Michelle was diagnosed with the same condition as her mother when she was under 5 years old.
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Enter Sharon, the unlikely hero. “She was a force of nature that wouldn’t quit until they raised enough money to pay for what she needed and then ended up getting her airlifted in the biggest snowstorm in the history of Kentucky,” Erwin said.
“Pastor Dave Stone, who is somebody that we know, actually was there that day,” Gunn said. “It was his church and his community that came out to save this girl’s life.” After receiving the script from Lionsgate, Gunn said he called Stone to verify that it was a true story. The movie concludes by showing footage proving it is.
“Ordinary Angels” is the film about that true story. It’s set to release on Feb. 23. “My hope is that people will leave the theater going, ‘OK, that was a great story. Actually, you know what? I know somebody in my life that could maybe use a helping hand or maybe use some encouragement,’” Kevin Downes, the film’s producer, said in an interview. “Maybe this becomes sort of a movement and just people coming together as a community to help other people out and being selfless in a moment when our society really needs it.”
Ahead of the movie’s theatrical release, the movie was shown in the place where the story actually happened. “We showed it at the Southeast Church (where) the story takes place,” Erwin said. “We showed it to about 2,100 people there the other night and Ed and his family were in the audience and it was just an amazing experience. Sharon was there and the whole community just stood and cheered.”
Not unlike Gunn’s previous film, “Jesus Revolution,” “Ordinary Angels” has already sparked a movement.
After “Jesus Revolution” came out, not only did it do better at the box office than expected, Erwin said there was an uptick in baptisms at Pirate’s Cove where the movie took place. Instead of creating more divisions in society, Erwin said it’s amazing to see movies that do something different. “Let’s talk about how we can love each other well and how we can be an ordinary angel to each other and outdo each other, trying to take care of one another,” Erwin said.
This latest film is an opportunity to focus in on how organ donation can save lives, but also on groups that are helping families pay off medical debt.
The moviemakers partnered with the RIP Medical Debt group. The organization helps pay off medical debt of people who have died by matching dollars contributed. “We partnered with them to bring awareness to what they’re doing and to help people pay off the medical debt the same way that Ed in the story and his family was saved,” Erwin said.
While the movie’s story has elements of faith, it’s a story for everyone.
“The thing that is universally relatable with all of our stories is it’s a rush of hope. So, regardless of what you believe, it’s an invitation in the door to say, ‘We want to leave you feeling better than when you came in. We want you to stand up and to want to make a difference walking out of the building,’” Erwin said.
That hope, Erwin said, is “very countercultural.”
“I think this story speaks loud and proud for that. And the desire is for people to catch that vision of utilizing kindness as something really against the grain,” Erwin said.
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Then, of course, there’s the broader picture of faith entertainment. Erwin said at this current moment, the nation is in something of a faith-inspired entertainment renaissance.
DeVon Franklin, Dallas Jenkins, Alejandro Monteverde, Gunn and Brent McCorkle all started in filmmaking around the same time that Erwin did. “There was a group of us that all got in the game around the same time,” Erwin said, adding that “we struggled a lot, falling forward, trying to figure out and finding our voice and how do you tell stories of faith that feel earned and authentic and don’t feel cheesy.”
In addition to this group of filmmakers, Erwin thinks there’s another dynamic going on.
“The audience (is) realizing the power of their ticket and their voice,” Erwin said. “When they support it, it opens up the door for multiple things to start, in the studio to invest money into it for us to get better and better talent. We’ve got a lot of actors that now are not afraid of doing faith movies, whether a person of faith or not. They’re not afraid of the genre.”
Legitimate movie stars are doing faith movies “and not apologizing for it.”
“I think there’s a moment in time where Hollywood is banked on superhero films for so long that all of a sudden superhero films aren’t really working right now. And as a result, they’re gravitating toward what new audiences there are to invest in,” Erwin said. “They’re investing in faith like never before.”
“Ordinary Angels” isn’t a faith-inspired movie for people of faith, it’s a movie for everyone.
“It’s accessible for everybody, it doesn’t matter what your faith is,” Downes said. “The themes in the this film are universal. To be able to come together, that’s why I love the title ‘Ordinary Angels.’”
Sharon’s a hairdresser. Ed works on roofs. “These are just jobs that we can relate to and people that we can relate to and how they find themselves in an extraordinary set of circumstances and not really knowing each other, but then come together to be able to help this one family, which then helps an entire community,” Downes said.
Gunn remarked how incredible it was that this story unfolded 30 years ago and now millions of people around the world will see the movie.
“It just goes to show how planting these seeds can really bear such incredible fruit, even years later when you don’t even know how much you’re impacting somebody.”
