Sean McNamara, director, screenwriter, and filmmaker, chatted about his new film “Soul on Fire,” which comes out on October 10th in theaters.
The film stars Joel Courtney, John Corbett, Stephanie Szostak, Masey McLain, and William H. Macy, among others.
The movie is inspired by the true story and 2016 bestselling book On Fire by John O’Leary whose story begins with his miraculous recovery from a near death accident when he was nine years old.
Given no chance of survival, John endures an unbelievable road to recovery with the support of his family, faith, community and the kindness of his all-time idol, Baseball Hall of Fame Announcer Jack Buck.
Grateful for his miracle and shaped by life’s struggles, John’s mission to better the world inspires millions to do the extraordinary.
Filming ‘Soul on Fire’ in St. Louis, Missouri
On shooting a movie in St. Louis, McNamara said, “It was great to make a movie in St. Louis. It’s just an incredible city, and telling John O’Leary’s story is so uplifting. I have just enjoyed everything about making ‘Soul on Fire’ here in St. Louis, Missouri.”
Lessons learned from this screenplay
On the lessons learned from this screenplay, McNamara shared, “Well, when I read the screenplay, it made me laugh, made me cry, and made me mad. Then, how it turned out is that there’s always hope.”
“When you’re inspired by somebody like John O’Leary, all you have to do is go, ‘There are people who have far worse days.’ Take it, feel the emotion and just know that you can get past it and move on and be happy,” he explained.
“John O’Leary can overcome such an unimaginable loss and still go out and just make the world a better place, and that, to me, is what this movie is all about,” McNamara exclaimed.
The digital age
On being a filmmaker in the digital age, McNamara said, “Going to the theaters is a shared experience. That’s what I love. I mean, I literally love going to the movies. Sometimes I’ll sit alone if I go to a morning show, but the best are the ones at 7 p.m. at night when there’s all these people around you.”
McNamara continued, “We all react at the same time. We all cheer at the same time. We all clap at the same time, and there’s just nothing like that. Also, I love the fact that it’s digital.”
“I love the fact that we were talking about a movie that he did in the past, and it made such joy. I go, when I go back to my room tonight, I’m going to just pop it up on my phone and be able to watch it right there. I don’t have to figure out how to go see it,” he elaborated.
“I can just literally pull stuff up digitally,” he noted. “So, I love the world like that, the fact that we can draw on something, or somebody will bring up some cool new film, or an old movie that was from the ‘30s, and they’ll go, ‘oh, you should watch this’,” he expanded.
“Then, I’ll go, ‘wow,’ and I punch it in, and boom, it’s right there, and I get to watch what they were just talking about,” he said.
“So that part of the digital age, I truly love,” he admitted.
Advice for young and aspiring creatives and storytellers
For young and emerging actors, creatives, and storytellers, McNamara said, “Well, I get to talk to a lot of aspiring actors. I worked for a stint at Disney and did a lot of their first kind of things.”
“My big words are ‘just do it.’ If you’re a writer, you need to go write something. If you’re a director, go grab your phone and shoot a little movie on the weekend, and get your friends together,” he elaborated.
“When I did it, it was much more difficult,” he recalled. “You had film and all of this stuff. Now there is no excuse. Just do it and do another one on the next weekend.”
“First of all, the joy of that art, like a painter paints and a writer writes, or a songwriter can write a song,” he noted.
“Just go do what you want to do, because we can do it, and you can finish it, and you can put it on YouTube, and you can put it on Instagram, and you have the whole process of being a filmmaker. There is not a better time to put your voice out to the people,” he explained.
“Then, you get better. Every film I do, I get better. I can tell you that,” he acknowledged.
“So, you start with these little one-minute things. I love watching things now. I think the most creativity is about to explode on the world right now with what they can do now,” he added.
Working with Jesse Kove
McNamara had great words about working with actor Jesse Kove (“Cobra Kai”) on his latest film “The Last Firefighter,” which also stars Kelsey Grammer and Oscar winner Jon Voight.
“I just finished my new movie ‘The Last Firefighter’ with Jesse Kove, and my goodness gracious… Jesse is such an incredible actor. Working with Jesse was just wonderful,” McNamara said.
Success
Regarding his definition of the word success, McNamara said, “Success means doing what you love to do. I love making movies, and to me, it’s not about the money. Just love what you do.”
“I’ve met too many people who are in a job that they don’t enjoy doing,” he said.
“Look, my job is hard, especially to get movies to go and to raise money and all those things, but when you get to make the movie, and you get to watch it in a cinema with hundreds of other people, you just do it,” he elaborated.
“That’s success… getting to do what you love to do,” he exclaimed.
To learn more about director, writer, and filmmaker Sean McNamara, follow him on Instagram.
For more information on the film “Soul on Fire,” visit its official homepage.
