Where Hope Grows
is a wonderful story with a difference. One of the major characters is a Down
syndrome person and his authentic and generous affection. But before I tell you
more about the movie, let me introduce you to Chris Dowling, the
writer/director. In my interview with him, I was moved by Chris’ approach to
sharing what is important to him—in particular His passion for Jesus.
J—I absolutely love this story. It was wonderful. But what
made it especially inspiring is the character played by David DeSantis. What
inspired you to make one of the key characters a Down syndrome person?
CD—Where Hope Grows
is the story about a man who was introduced to child-like faith as an adult
during a time when he was broken. I needed someone to show that child-like
faith. So, it made sense to use David DeSantis. The world often thinks that
special needs people don’t have it together, but maybe they have it together a
lot more than many of us.
J—Am I correct in saying that this was David’s first time
acting right?
CD—Yes. This was David’s first time acting—and he did a
great job.
J—How did you hear about him?
CD—I put out a worldwide search but it was actually there in
Louisville that a lot of people said I needed to check out David DeSantis. I
had him send in a tape but the tape wasn’t that great. But his personality is
so great, I thought he’d be a good fit. In real life, he is just adorable!
J—Where Hope Grows is
packed with strong lessons, but what is the message you most want people to
take away from it?
CD—It’s really two-fold. First there’s the conversation
about faith. We all long to believe in something, to have faith/believe in God
so we wanted to address that. At the same time, society is stuck with what they
think special needs people are, and we wanted to shatter the stereotype image.
We wanted Produce to be that person.
J—Is there anything else you want the readers to know about
you or the film?
CD—I would say for people to see more films with special
needs people, to support those films. If
we can reach across to the secular crowd and faith believers too, Hollywood
will take notice.
J—Thank you Chris. Wonderful movie.
So, what is Where Hope
Grows?
It is a film of ex-baseball player, Calvin Campbell
(Kristoffer Polaha—TV’s Ringer, TV’s Life Unexpected) and a losing
relationship with his teenage daughter, Katie (McKaley Miller—TV’s The Gates, TV’s Hart of Dixie).
Juggling the demands of a pushy boyfriend and teen life
overall, Katie is sick of being the only responsible person in the household. Her
dad fails to keep his promises and she cannot rely on him for anything. Worse:
the roles are reversed and Katie ends up bailing him out of an embarrassing
situation.
If the story sounds cliché so far, a surprise element makes
it not so. Calvin’s turnaround begins in the local grocery story where he meets
an unlikely friend—Produce (David DeSanctis).
Produce is an authentic Down syndrome man who possesses a
heart of gold and a brilliant memory for numbers. In his child-like innocence
and pure faith, he is catalyst to Calvin’s redemption.
With compelling integrity and affection, Produce is enough
to melt the hearts of anyone, even Calvin Campbell and his daughter, Katie.
Produced by Lionsgate, this inspiring film will be out in
Blu-ray, and DVD on August 25th. Digital and HD Special features
include:
·
Entertaining deleted scenes
·
Casting David DeSantis featurette
·
Stop the R-Word featurette
·
Audio commentary with writer/director Chris
Dowling and actor David DeSantis
This is a fabulous movie that you’ll want to visit more than
once.
This story will also appear in Assist News Service.
Janey DeMeo M.A.
Copyright © August 2015
JaneyDeMeo.com
