Set to be released in theaters across the nation on Feb. 23, “Ordinary Angels” tells the true story of how Sharon Stevens, played by Hilary Swank (“Million Dollar Baby”), rallies an entire community to help a widower named Ed Schmitt, played by Alan Ritchson (“Jack Reacher,” “Fast X”), raise money for his youngest daughter’s liver transplant.
“Ordinary Angels” comes from the producers who brought moviegoers the well-known Christian films “Jesus Revolution” and “I Can Only Imagine.”
Producer Andrew Erwin told ChurchLeaders that “Ordinary Angels” fell into his lap after a pitch from Grammy Award-winning singer Dave Matthews of the Dave Matthews Band.
“Dave Matthews is not particularly known as person of faith, instead just a really good musician,” Erwin said. “But he came in to pitch and he brought this story, saying, ‘I don’t know what it is about this story, but I saw it in the news, I optioned it, and I want to see this movie made.’”
Erwin said that he not only wanted to do the story but that he also knew the pastor of the church the story was about. “It just was a movie that felt like a big movie, but it definitely let the church be the hero,” he said.
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Erwin hopes moviegoers will be inspired to love their neighbors after seeing the film.
“We are super passionate about kind of buying back our image in the community as the church,” Erwin said. “I think that the church has been polarizing to a lot of people. And I think we’ve missed the purity sometimes of what we stand for and the idea of being the hands and feet of Jesus.”
Hilary Swank’s character in the film, like many of us, has a lot of “mess” in her life, Erwin explained. “But she gets passionate about helping this family that desperately needed it because of their daughter needing a liver transplant, and she’s an ordinary angel.”
“She’s not anything special other than she’s a hairdresser that’s passionate and won’t take no for an answer,” he added. Her passion results in her rallying a community to help a family in need, which then leads the church to step up during one of the worst blizzards in Kentucky’s history so that a little girl can be airlifted to a hospital and saved.
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This film “gives a practical way to love your neighbor as the church,” Erwin said. “I think it’s something we need to be reminded of, and it gives a church a jumping off point to say, like, this is what we’re called to be.”
