SARAH’S OIL writers Cyrus and Betsy Nowrasteh say faith, family and America was at the heart of their hit movie.
“Cyrus came up with the idea,” Betsy recently told Movieguide®, with Cyrus adding, “It’s just a little different than some of the other stuff we’ve done, but it’s a great story, it’s an amazing story, and was one of those things that when we came across it, it was, to me, a natural. It was just a real David and Goliath story, only in this case, David is a little 11-year-old girl.”
SARAH’S OIL tells the true story of Sarah Rector, “an African American girl born in Oklahoma Indian Territory in the early 1900s, who believes there is oil beneath the barren land she’s allotted and whose faith is proven right,” per an IMDb synopsis.
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“I can’t say how many people have said to us they can’t believe they’ve never heard of this story. That’s something very gratifying to have,” Betsy shared. “I just think it’s nice for people to know…some dreams, with effort, can be achieved.”
Star Zachary Levi agreed, telling DailyBloid, “It was an incredible script and an amazing story. And I couldn’t believe that I’d never heard of it and that nobody I knew had ever heard of it. And, you know, it’s a story of perseverance and faith and strength and grit, and I just thought, ‘This story must be told, it needs to be told.’”
Both filmmakers agreed that family was one of the key components of the story, with Cyrus explaining, “We both felt that, ‘Oh, it’s a triumph. Let’s a do a story that’s a triumphant story about a family of believers, a family that is so close and tightly-knit that they’re not going to break.’”
“It’s an American story,” Betsy added. “I think [faith] was natural to the story…we didn’t make this to preach. It had nothing to do [with that]. We wanted to tell an honest story, and that was part of telling an honest story.”
Cyrus called faith-driven movies “timeless,” saying, “Look, good stories are good stories, and the values and beliefs that are inherent within those stories and those characters.”
“Tell the story, tell it honestly, and just make it so deeply ingrained within the story that you can’t separate it out thematically,” he advised other faith-based filmmakers.
SARAH’S OIL blends timeless elements like faith and family to create a movie that resonated with viewers around the world.
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