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Movies

How a Christian Rock Song From Greenville Inspired a Dennis Quaid Movie

MercyMe lead singer Bart Millard based "I Can Only Imagine" on the redemption he found after enduring an abusive relationship with his father. Now it's a film.
By Todd Jorgenson |
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As the lead vocalist for the Christian rock band MercyMe, Bart Millard has sung about his volatile relationship with his father numerous times. After all, his 2001 single “I Can Only Imagine,” a ballad about forgiveness inspired by his own childhood, skyrocketed the group to mainstream fame.

However, Millard acknowledges the new film of the same name, which chronicles the domestic abuse, path to faith, and ultimate redemption in his family more than two decades ago, sometimes hit too close to home.

“Therapeutic is probably an understatement,” Millard said. “There were a few times where I was able to see things from a different perspective. It stirred something in me that I hadn’t felt for a long time.”

Millard’s late father, Arthur, who didn’t indulge in alcohol or drugs, was involved in a construction accident many years ago that put him in a coma for eight weeks. He was never the same afterward, displaying violent tendencies toward his family, especially his son, which led to a divorce.

“I didn’t want them to back off. I wanted people to know that this guy was not good,” Millard said. “There was a moment when I chose to forgive my dad. I wasn’t clear on everything I’d forgiven him for. Even now, I’m learning about things I forgave him for daily.”

The story examines Millard’s upbringing in Greenville, where he (J. Michael Finley) was forced to give up football because of an injury and instead turned to music. However, he also was subjected to physical and psychological abuse by the overbearing Arthur (Dennis Quaid). When Arthur later became terminally ill, the two found common ground through faith.

Quaid admits he had never heard the song prior to reading the screenplay, but responded to the emotional complexity in his character.

“It’s such a powerful story and a very difficult role. We were walking a line with this,” Quaid said during a recent stop in Dallas. “[Arthur] is a monster. It’s a story of redemption after walking through hellfire for both of them. I was so touched.”

Millard said he became close with Finley, a big-screen newcomer whose most notable Broadway credit is as an understudy for the lead role in Les Miserables. Not only does Finley resemble Millard physically, but his father is a Baptist preacher in Missouri.

A producer first approached Millard regarding the movie idea about eight years ago, after hearing him discuss the song’s back story during a show.

“I’ve gone through therapy to unpack who I am now and how it’s connected to my childhood,” he said. “If I hadn’t gone through that separate journey, I don’t think I’d be in a healthy place where this would have been a good idea.”

Millard admits he got emotional during his first day on set while watching Quaid during an especially intense scene.

“There’s no book that says how you prepare for something like this,” he said. “When he walked out with the work shirt on with my dad’s name on it, and they kept calling him Mr. Millard, it punched me in the gut. I was trying to keep it together.”

I Can Only Imagine is the latest faith-based film from sibling directors Andrew and Jon Erwin (Woodlawn), but Quaid hopes the message reaches moviegoers regardless of spiritual background.

“When you hear the song, you’re not listening to Bart’s story. It becomes your story,” Quaid said. “You don’t really have to be a Christian to make it personal to yourself. I hope that audiences feel the same way about the movie.”

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