Christian Couple’s Miraculous Story of Hope Lands Movie Director
By Tess Farrand, Associate Content Editor
Katherine and Jay Wolf never thought they would suffer through a threatening Stroke, much less find a movie director to take their inspiring story of hope to the big screen.
“A guy named Sean McNamara who did the Bethany Hamilton story SOUL SURFER, he’s attached to direct Hope Heals now,” Jay Wolf told Movieguide®.
In 2008, then 26 year-old Katherine suffered a Stroke that required brain surgery. Through sickness and in health, God taught the Wolfs the value of hope.
“Dear friends of ours who had really known us the whole time, pre and after Stroke, ended up being the ones who wrote the script in the screenplay,” said Jay.
The movie’s title will mirror the Wolf’s memoir title, Hope Heals. Hope Heals was acquired by Sony Pictures and McNamara signed on as director in early 2020 according to the Wolfs.
“We hold it really loosely but we do love and believe in the medium of film,” Jay added, “telling true stories and faith stories that are approachable to a broader audience, that would certainly be our hope.”
Hollywood productions are at a halt due to COVID-19 health measures, but the Wolfs are optimistic that in the future things will get rolling on the project.
Right now though, the Wolfs are dealing with virtual schooling for their two boys, James and John, and doing press for their second book, Suffer Strong.
Katherine pointed out that this time is just a season, something she and Jay know all too well.
“We feel like that there are good and hard seasons in our life,” said Katherine.
“I think we’ve also seen from the beginning that our story was always this almost allegory, if we were able to tell it correctly,” Jay said.
Jay added, “[We didn’t want the movie to] just be about this crazy thing that happened to this couple and was kind of unrelatable but rather, was an embodiment of everybody’s story of, you know, life not turning out how we thought it would.”
Post COVID-19, the Wolf’s are confident that their story might inspire hope for audiences.
For the family of four, scripture guides their daily lives. In the past, Katherine cited Romans 8;28 as a source of comfort and added to Movieguide® that 2 Corinthians 4 is a passage her family loves.
Verses 8 and 9 read, “We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed.”
Amen and amen!
For more updates as the movie gets underway, keep checking movieguide.org.
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