🔥 Joel Courtney stars as John O'Leary in Soul On Fire Movie , hitting theaters exclusively October 10!
See what audiences are saying about SOUL ON FIRE. This emotional and faith-filled portrait of resilience is the fall movie for everyone!
From
"Ladue News"
:
"St. Louisan John O'Leary's story is coming to the big screen in 'Soul on Fire'"
Usually, your “life flashing before your eyes” is just a euphemism. For John O’Leary, it’s a strange and exciting reality.
O’Leary, a well-known St. Louis-based motivational speaker and author, is the subject of “Soul on Fire,” a new film opening nationwide Oct. 10. The movie, by Sony Pictures Entertainment’s AFFIRM Films, is based on O’Leary’s 2016 book “On Fire: The 7 Choices to Ignite a Radically Inspired Life” and was filmed in St. Louis.
After suffering severe burns in an explosion at his home when he was 9, O’Leary beat the odds to survive. His story of overcoming adversity, with the encouragement of family and legendary St. Louis Cardinals broadcaster Jack Buck, was directed by Sean McNamara and features an all-star cast including William H. Macy and John Corbett.
O’Leary says the attention to detail in recreating his life story is bizarre. “From filming at my parents’ actual house where I was burned to seeing my wedding at the Shrine of St. Joseph with the actress wearing my wife’s actual wedding dress, the whole thing is unbelievably surreal,” O’Leary says. “I mean, the people in the wedding scene weren’t paid Hollywood extras – they’re people who were actually at my wedding!”
O’Leary is characteristically humble and sensitive when speaking about the film. “For me, the most beautiful part is that my mom and dad are featured in the film. You have to look, but they’re in the [wedding] scene, standing behind the actors John Corbett and Stephanie Szostak, who play my mom and dad. To see my father in that scene, just a couple months before he passed away, and to see the joy in their eyes, which wasn’t acting but was real, was like a gift.”
O’Leary hopes audiences recognize that his story is about how people come together to create “someone else’s miracle.” He refers to it as a family story, a health care story, a community story, a love story and a celebration of heroes. Many of O’Leary’s personal heroes have cameos in the film, and he has a moment on camera himself – standing behind the podium as his character, played by Joel Courtney, receives his degree. His wife and four children also have places in the crowd.
“For me, the most beautiful part is that my mom and dad are featured in the film. You have to look, but they’re in the [wedding] scene, standing behind the actors John Corbett and Stephanie Szostak, who play my mom and dad. To see my father in that scene, just a couple months before he passed away, and to see the joy in their eyes, which wasn’t acting but was real, was like a gift.”
“I watched it for the first time on the Sony set with the producers,” O’Leary says. “So all these folks were gathered in the room, and the movie ends, and there was just no noise. I jokingly said, ‘Am I the only one who fell asleep?’ No one was sure how to respond because it was just so emotional.”
O’Leary wants the film to succeed, not just because of the financial and professional investment it represents, but because it allows him to share his message with more people who need hope. “We positively change the world one life at a time, starting with our own. That's what we do here,” he says of his work in leadership coaching and motivational speaking. “The movie gives us an opportunity to do that at scale.”
"Soul on Fire": In Theaters Starting 10 Oct 2025.
