Soul on Fire is the story of John O’Leary’s life. But while he might be the film’s central character, O’Leary insists he’s not the hero.
“I reached out to Joel [Courtney, who plays O’Leary], and I said, ‘I have good news and bad news,’” O’Leary said during our interview. “’Good news is the film is filled with tons and tons of real heroes. The bad news is you’re not one of them, buddy.’”
That may be selling him a bit short. O’Leary may not start out as a hero. But he becomes one—one who, when he speaks, encourages people to “say yes to being used for good.”
O’Leary knows all about saying yes. He said yes to life when he was 9 years old after suffering horrific burns over his entire body—when he could’ve just given up. He said yes to a public speaking career, even though he was absolutely petrified of public speaking. And though it dealt with his own shortcomings and bad decisions with sometimes painful transparency, he said yes to this movie.
I loved this conversation with O’Leary. I think you will, too.
The post John O’Leary Talks About ‘Soul on Fire’ and Saying Yes to Good appeared first on Plugged In.
