How God Brought New Faith-Based Movie ON A WING AND A PRAYER to Life
By Movieguide® Contributor
From the start, God’s hand was evident in the process that led to the creation of the movie about a real-life Easter miracle, ON A WING AND A PRAYER.
ON A WING AND A PRAYER tells the incredible true story of a small-town family that has to land their plane after the pilot dies in midair. The movie stars Denis Quaid, Heather Graham and Jesse Metcalfe.
Roma Downey produced the movie and it was directed by Sean McNamara.
“It’s been ours for a long time. Now we get to share it and have it seen and have it be felt,” Downey said. “I think it’s very much a movie to feel in your heart. As a Christian, it speaks to the power of prayer and the mercy of God.”
The movie was written by Brian Egeston after he came across the story while taking flying lessons.
“The instructor had told him that a useful thing to do is to listen to some of the audio on YouTube and other places of pilots talking to air traffic control to learn background about flying,” Downey explained. “One of the audio tapes that he stumbled across was this real-life tape of Doug White in the middle of this emergency speaking with air traffic control. He couldn’t believe what he was listening to.”
After further research, Egeston contacted the White family to turn their experience into a film.
“It happened on Easter Sunday, and this family experienced this redemption. Their prayers were answered, and miraculously they brought this plane to land but not without a lot of drama and a lot of nervousness, a lot of fear,” Downey said.
While she is thankful to have been a part of bringing this film to life, Downey only came across the script by chance. She frequently receives scripts to read but usually has her assistants handle them first, filtering the ones that reach her.
“For whatever reason, for this particular script, I picked it up and read it by myself,” Downey said. “I was hooked from the get-go.”
A little while later she met with Quaid to talk about a podcast he was interested in making.
“I don’t really know anything about podcasts, except occasionally, I listen to them in the car, But I was happy to take the meeting, I’ve always been a fan of [Quaid’s] work. I’ve only ever heard wonderful things from people who’ve had the pleasure of working with him. So I happily took the meeting,” Downey said.
“During the meeting, he shared with me that one of his hobbies was the he flew planes. So, of course, the minute he said that, the light bulb went off in my head, and I said, ‘I have this amazing script. Would you take a look at it?’” she continued. “I’m sure everybody and their grandmother has an amazing script for Dennis Quaid to look at, I could feel his hesitation even to take it, and I said, ‘Please trust me, you’re going to love this story. And it’s a true story. Call me when you read it.”
Quaid loved the script just as much as Downey had and they made a deal for him to star in the movie.
ON A WING AND A PRAYER will stream to Amazon Prime starting on April 7th.
Movieguide previously reported about ON A WING AND A PRAYER:
Actor Dennis Quaid will star in an upcoming faith-based movie called ON A WING AND A PRAYER!
Mark Burnett, known for his work as executive producer on television shows THE APPRENTICE and THE VOICE, will executive produce ON A WING AND A PRAYER with Brian Egeston writing.
Quaid will star in the MGM and Lightworker’s movie about a pilot who dies unexpectedly, forcing passenger Doug White (Quaid) to land the plane and bring his family and those on board to safety. Sean McNamara, who worked with Quaid on SOUL SURFER, will direct the movie. Roma Downey and Autumn Bailey-Ford will produce alongside executive producer Mark Burnett.
“On a Wing And a Prayer is a gripping take on a very real survivor story and illuminates the remarkable power of the human spirit. Doug White is the definition of a hero. We are thrilled to partner with Mark, Roma and Autumn, and couldn’t have asked for a better star in Dennis to bring this unbelievable true story to life,” MGM Motion Picture Group chairman Michael De Luca and president Pamela Abdy said in a statement.
Quaid is known for his roles in SOUL SURFER, THE RIGHT STUFF, and I CAN ONLY IMAGINE.
Quaid was nominated at the 2012 Movieguide® Awards Gala and Report to the Entertainment Industry for the Grace Award for Most Inspiring Performance of 2011 for SOUL SURFER.
Quaid is set to portray former President Ronald Reagan in an upcoming biopic, REAGAN, and will star in Erwin Brother’s movie AMERICAN UNDERDOG: THE KURT WARNER STORY.
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