Zachary Levi opens up about therapy, role in ‘The Unbreakable Boy’
Zachary Levi opens up to USA TODAY’s Ralphie Aversa about his mental health journey and how it informed his role in “The Unbreakable Boy.”
Producer Daryl LeFever isn’t from Oklahoma, but after making four inspirational fact-based films here in less than a decade, he, in fact, feels a strong connection to the Sooner State.
“Ever since the first film, we’ve ended up working with a lot of the same crew over and over again. So, it feels very much like coming home and feels like a family when we come (here),” he told The Oklahoman.
“(There’s) different crew members that that I love working with and consider friends. So, that’s why we keep coming back.”
LeFever, who in 2023 was appointed president of production for Kingdom Story Company, the faith-based filmmaking outfit behind the Oklahoma-made films “The Unbreakable Boy,” about a young family whose life is upended when their older son is is diagnosed with autism and brittle bone disease, and “American Underdog,” about Pro Football Hall of Famer Kurt Warner.
In 2019, brothers Jon and Andrew Erwin, Kevin Downes and Tony Young founded Kingdom Story after the success of their hit made-in-Oklahoma movie, “I Can Only Imagine.”
With his fourth Sooner State project, “Sarah’s Oil,” LeFever relished the chance to make a true yet largely overlooked Oklahoma story where it actually happened.
Set in 1914, “Sarah’s Oil” centers on an 11-year-old Black girl, Sarah Rector (Naya Desir-Johnson), who struck oil on her Oklahoma land, setting off a veritable firestorm of greed and corruption. Facing adversity with the help of family, friends and some Texas wildcatters, Sarah, a Muscogee freedman through her parents, prevailed through courage and faith to become the wealthiest Black girl in the world.
“It’s a really important piece of history, because there’s facts that came out even just (with) me spending time here and talking with Native Americans and talking with tribe members. It’s a part of history that I didn’t even know existed,” LeFever told The Oklahoman ahead of an invitation-only preview screening of “Sarah’s Oil” in Oklahoma City.
“Sarah’s Oil” debuts in movie theaters nationwide on Friday, Nov. 7 via Amazon MGM Studios.
Who stars in the Oklahoma movie ‘Sarah’s Oil?’
Starring Desir-Johnson in her lead acting role after she appeared in “A Thousand and One” and “The Equalizer,” “Sarah’s Oil” also stars Zachary Levi in his third Oklahoma-made movie. He previously portrayed Warner in 2021’s “American Underdog” and family patriarch and author Scott LeRette in the spring release “The Unbreakable Boy.”
Sonequa Martin-Green (“Star Trek: Discovery”), Garret Dillahunt (“Raising Hope”), Bridget Regan (“Jane the Virgin”), Kenric Green (“The Walking Dead”), Adyan Copes (“Who Is Christmas Eve?”) and Mel Rodriguez (“The Last Man on Earth”) round out the cast.
Adapted from Tonya Bolden’s book “Searching for Sarah Rector: The Richest Black Girl in America,” the screenplay was penned by Betsy Giffen Nowrasteh with her husband and frequent filmmaking collaborator, Cyrus Nowrasteh (“The Stoning of Soraya M.”), who directs.
Producers include Cyrus Nowrasteh, John Shepherd, Derrick Williams; Kingdom Story Company’s Downes, Andrew Erwin and Lefever; The Wonder Project’s Jon Erwin; and Levi for Wyldwood Productions.
NFL quarterback Russell Wilson and his Grammy-winning wife Ciara are executive producing through their Why Not You Productions, alongside Wyldwood’s Sherry Kang; Kingdom Story Company’s Tony Young and Katelyn Botsch; and Robert Scott Fort.
How did the makers of ‘Sarah’s Oil’ team up with the Cherokee Nation’s growing film programs?
“Sarah’s Oil” is Amazon MGM Studios’ first production to be based in Oklahoma, and it marked the start of an ongoing relationship between Amazon and the Cherokee Nation, which boasts a burgeoning film infrastructure.
The Cherokee Nation was the first tribe to offer its own film incentive, which launched in 2022, and can be combined with the state of Oklahoma’s film incentive, as well as additional support from the Tulsa Office of Film, Music, Arts and Culture.
“Sarah’s Oil” is the largest production to use the Cherokee Film incentive to date.
“The purpose of our film incentive is to help bring film and TV productions to our region, to utilize our resources and to hire our workforce,” said Cherokee Film Senior Director Jen Loren in a statement. “We have been very successful in that regard.”
Filming on the historical drama took place during June and July 2024 in the greater Tulsa area over 34 production days, with an Oklahoma budget of more than $18 million. The project employed 124 resident crew members.
Jeanette Stanton, director of the Oklahoma Film + Music Office, said “Sarah’s Oil” is a compelling Oklahoma story that gave the Sooner State film industry the chance to renew ongoing relationships and forge new ones.
“We appreciate Kingdom Story Company’s continued investment in Oklahoma’s film industry, and we were honored to set the scene for ‘Sarah’s Oil,’ one of their most ambitious projects to date,” Stanton said in statment to The Oklahoman.
“Not only did this film have a significant impact on workforce development and economic opportunity among our communities in Northeast Oklahoma, but it recounts the harrowing true story of Sarah Rector, who remains an important figure in our state’s history and whose legacy stands to further reach a global audience through the release of this film.”
(This story was updated to add new information, a new photo and new video.)
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.oklahoman.com ’
