Director Randall Wallace discusses ‘Heaven Is For Real’ and his personal loss during filming
Award-winning producer Randall Wallace, famous for movies like Braveheart and Secretariat, saw his mother pass away in January 2013 – a time when the film was being developed.
“When I saw her die, I knew she was not dying,” he told the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association. “I found myself surprisingly comforted that my mother had not died at all, just her body had.”
Wallace was making a movie based on the book Heaven Is for Real, which opens in theaters today.
Growing up, it was Wallace’s mother who kept her son in church. Billy Graham books were scattered throughout their home, and Wallace remembers watching Graham preach on TV. He attended the greater Los Angeles Billy Graham crusade in 2004.
“I’ve probably heard Billy Graham speak more than any other pastor,” he says.
Wallace credits the film project for giving him peace. “Who you are comes out in everything you do,” Wallace says of those days.
The film centers on the near-death experience of young boy, Colton (Connor Corum), and how his description of his visit to heaven rock the family, especially his father (Greg Kinnear) who is the local pastor.
“I’ve always wanted a movie to be something that would give the audience the chance to have that same kind of experience,” he says.
The film also stars Margo Martindale, Thomas Haden Church and Kelly Reilly.
Heaven Is For Real opens in theaters April 16, 2014.
