Ahead of the release of his latest project, “The Unbreakable Boy,” actor Zachary Levi spoke with The Deseret News on the importance of sharing faith-based stories.
“I love telling true stories, but particularly true stories that involve real human journey, journey into the depths, journey into the darkness, journey into the pain, but as a vehicle to show redemption, to show evolution of our souls, and I think that (‘The Unbreakable Boy’) is just chock full of that,” Levi said.
“The Unbreakable Boy” tells a true story based on an autobiography from Scott LeRette with the same title. Levi portrays LeRette, a first-time father struggling to parent his son, Austin (Jacob Laval), who is diagnosed with autism and a rare brittle bone disease.
When a personal crisis hinders LeRette’s capacity to parent Austin, LeRette surrenders to his lack of control and relies on newfound faith for guidance.
“I think we all need more hope, we all need more redemption, we all need more unity,” Levi said on the importance of telling faith-based stories. “I think that on a spiritual level, a lot of films, though they may be very entertaining, if they’re not coming with a message that is ultimately helping us to grow, helping us to become better versions of ourselves — I think we’re missing an opportunity."
Levi continued, “And a film like (‘The Unbreakable Boy’), it doesn’t require big action sequences. It doesn’t require lots of CG and stuff — although we do have some of that fun stuff in the film — this is a real, grounded, slice of life, true story about a family navigating the waters of autism. That, in and of itself, is something that is touching everybody’s life at this point. And I have never seen a film like this that handles it so authentically and so beautifully.”
Levi — known for his roles in the TV show “Chuck,” the “Shazam” movies and “Tangled” — previously ventured into faith-based roles in “American Underdog” and “The Star.”
Director Jon Gunn (“Ordinary Angels” and “Jesus Revolution”), teamed up with producers Kevin Downes and Peter Facinelli to adapt “The Unbreakable Boy” into film. It’s the latest in a string of faith-based movies from Gunn and Downes.
“Our films that we tend to put out there are all about a rush of hope and really providing audiences with this rush of hope,” Downes said.
Downes also produced “American Underdog,” “I Still Believe” and “The Best Christmas Pageant Ever.”
Downes continued, “We could have easily left the faith elements out (of ‘The Unbreakable Boy’) because there was so much richness and so much goodness that we wanted to get across. And then we found that (without the faith elements), it’s just a little bit hollow, and so we’ve really got to stick some of those elements, because they were significant in Scott’s journey in his life.”