Angelina Jolie is not a Christian, but she found a powerful answer to prayer recently while filming the movie Unbroken, thanks to her bond with WWII hero and devout Christian Louis Zamperini.
Zamperini, who passed to his reward on July 2, was the Olympic runner and POW survivor who inspired Jolie’s film based on the best-selling book Unbroken.
While directing one particular scene in New South Whales, Australia, Jolie found herself in desperate need of a miracle, according to a Christian Post story.
“She was not a person of faith and had never prayed before but she found herself at the very last scene of the movie … they needed sunlight to shoot this very important scene and there had been a storm that had been going for a while,” Zamperini’s daughter Cynthia Garris told a press conference in New York Friday.
Jolie reviewing scenes during filming; Photo Courtesy of NBC’s Universal.
“I don’t know what I’m going to do so I’ll do what Louie would do,” she declared to the great surprise of those around her on the set.
Then Jolie did something completely out of character. She got down on her knees and prayed for a miracle.
Then God answered in an amazing way! “Everybody saw it,” Garris recalled. “It stopped raining. The sun came out, a rainbow came out, she said, ‘let’s get this take’ [and] they shot the take. When she said ‘cut,’ it started to rain again.”
The same Jesus who calmed a stormy sea with a mere word, who has the wind and waves at his command – answered Jolie’s prayer!
The astonishing prayer was prompted by Zamperini’s own faith and the capacity of his gripping story to impact even nonreligious people, Garris maintained.
The poster for the film, releasing December 24th.
“She was moved by my father’s faith to try that and that’s what he wants for people to get from the movie,” Garris said. “I’ll tell you, when my father died we were all with him in the hospital. [Angelina] came about 45 minutes later and she was pointing above saying ‘I know he’s with us, I know he’s there with God.’ I think maybe in God’s plan for Angelina, she was supposed to find Louie and make this movie to find her way to a life that would encompass the Almighty.”
Sadly, Jolie’s will not include the story of Zamperini’s Christian faith in the film, which explains his miraculous recovery from PTSD, his saved marriage, his quest to forgive his former captors, and the courageous life of faith he lived.
“We made it universal, not specific to one faith, and that was something that was agreed upon with Louie,” Jolie maintained. “He said he wanted the message to reach everyone. He said to make faith and forgiveness universal … he said this is about reaching everyone and this should speak to everyone … If you were looking for symbolism and miracles in the film you will see them.”
Unbroken will be in theaters in the U.S. on Christmas Day.
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