{"id":46769,"date":"2025-10-01T17:55:20","date_gmt":"2025-10-01T21:55:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/?p=46769"},"modified":"2025-10-01T17:59:26","modified_gmt":"2025-10-01T21:59:26","slug":"john-olearys-incredible-inspirational-life-told-in-new-film-soul-on-fire","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/2025\/10\/john-olearys-incredible-inspirational-life-told-in-new-film-soul-on-fire.html","title":{"rendered":"John O’Leary’s Incredible Inspirational Life Told in New Film ‘Soul on Fire’"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Sony Pictures<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

“Soul on Fire,” the incredible true story of author and speaker John O’Leary, will be released on October 10 from Sony AFFIRM films. Directed by Sean McNamara (“Reagan,” “Soul Surfer”) and starring Joel Courtney (“Jesus Revolution”), John Corbett (“My Big Fat Greek Wedding”), William H. Macy (“Fargo”), and DeVon Franklin (“Jesus Revolution”), the film recounts O’Leary’s tragic near-death accident at 9 and his drive to succeed despite the adversity.<\/p>\n

McNamara, who helmed the early faith-based film “Soul Surfer” that helped kick open the door for many that followed, was drawn to O’Leary’s story immediately, first reading the “incredible script” that had him laughing and crying. While reading, he could see the story playing in his mind, thinking, “This will make a great movie.”<\/p>\n

“John chose, he made a conscious decision, to go with God, to live,” McNamara said. “When I see that and when I read that in the script, I go, ‘Okay, this is one of, this is one of the stories that will move people in their own lives.’ And we are constantly all broken in some way, something’s happened, something that people don’t even know, but you watch this and go ‘Alright, no matter what I’m going through, I’m going to do stuff that makes a better world,”<\/p>\n

Emmy Award-winning and Academy Award-nominated actor William H. Macy portrays Jack Buck, a legendary sports announcer in St. Louis, who hears of the tragic house fire and the boy’s prognosis of not making it through the night. He takes it upon himself to visit O’Leary and speak life into his young heart.<\/p>\n

“I’m a normal middle-class kid, and Jack had heard that not I was burned, that little John O’Leary was burned and was going to die, ‘keep him in your thoughts and prayers, ‘” O’Leary remembers. “Here’s this busy radio announcer who’s emceeing some event downtown in a tuxedo who leaves the party and goes to a burn center to visit a nobody. I’m tied down to the bed. Cannot move a muscle. My eyes are swollen shut, and because of smoke damage, I got burned so terribly, can’t breathe on my own. So they have a trach. But I could pray, I could dream, and I could listen, and man, like I’m a Cardinals fan, so I’m nine, I’m in darkness. I hear the door open up, and then I hear ‘the voice of baseball’ say to me, ‘Kid, wake up. You are going to live. Keep fighting.'”<\/p>\n

Since then, O’Leary has been a motivational speaker, sharing his story with millions through 100 dates a year and his bestselling books “On Fire” and “In Awe.” Although his appearances are well-received, O’Leary keeps the attention on what’s really important.<\/p>\n

“People, when I speak, laugh and cry and usually stand up and applaud at the end… but they don’t applaud John, they applaud life and God,” he said. “Secondly, at the end of speeches, they line up and they share their stories of brokenness being redeemed or struggles they’re currently facing. And they normally begin with a sentence, ‘John, it’s nothing like you, but… ‘and then it’s onward from there.”<\/p>\n

O’Leary believes his story can motivate others to do things to change others’ lives, even if it doesn’t look quite as dramatic as the steps that Jack Buck took, or when O’Leary’s younger sister was throwing water on him when he was engulfed in flames.<\/p>\n

“They may be asking, ‘In what way can God use broken people for good? Whether you’re looking at a big-time radio announcer, a minimum wage janitor, or a 17-year-old brother, or you, the seven-year-old little girl with the cups of water, or a pretty brunette, he used all those people, which means He’s using you. So, get out there and do the work. Pray, but move your feet.”<\/p>\n

O’Leary believes that one way to change the culture is to ” vote with your feet” to support and encourage this inspirational story.<\/p>\n

“Vote with your social media feeds, tell them about ‘Soul on ‘Fire,’ go to the theater, bring your friends, bring your church, bring your business, and show this world that is so stuck on broken and ugly and fake what it looks like to have heroic love faith on the front side of a true story,” he said.<\/p>\n

“Soul on Fire,” directed by Sean McNamara and starring Joel Courtney, John Corbett, William H. Macy, DeVon Franklin, Masey McClain and Stephanie Szosta, premieres exclusively in theaters on October 10!<\/p>\n

Visit SoulOnFireMovie.com<\/a> to learn more.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“Soul on Fire,” the incredible true story of author and speaker John O’Leary, will be released on October 10 from Sony AFFIRM films. Directed by Sean McNamara (“Reagan,” “Soul Surfer”) and starring Joel Courtney (“Jesus Revolution”), John Corbett (“My Big Fat Greek Wedding”), William H. Macy (“Fargo”), and DeVon Franklin (“Jesus Revolution”), the film recounts…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":516,"featured_media":46772,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fbia_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-46769","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-television"],"yoast_head":"\nJohn O'Leary's Incredible Inspirational Life Told in New Film 'Soul on Fire'<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"\u201cSoul on Fire,\u201d the true story of John O\u2019Leary\u2019s survival and faith, hits theaters Oct. 10 with an inspiring all-star cast.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" 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