From Tragedy to Triumph: John O’Leary’s Story of Resilience

Come on, John, stay with me.

Wake up.

Coming through, coming through.

How bad is it?

He has burns to 100% of his body.

I want to send out a special hello tonight to a certain young man who's laid up in the hospital.

His name is John O'Leary.

He's a tough little guy.

Boy, you listen to me.

You will walk again.

When I first came to see you, they said you had no chance.

But here you are.

You're gonna face challenges when you get out of here, but you can still do almost anything.

Soul On Fire, a new movie from Sony Pictures and affirm film that's playing in theaters across the country.

The movie closely follows John O'Leary's childhood accident in 1987.

It depicts his treatments and physical rehab, as well as the support from his family, medical staff, and even legendary baseball announcer Jack Buck.

The story touches on resilience, faith, family, and the extraordinary will to live.

Joining me this morning is John O'Leary, the author of On Fire The Seven Choices to Ignite, a radically inspired Life, and the real life inspiration for the film.

John, good morning.

Thank you so much for joining us.

So Soul on Fire hit theaters on Friday and it's out now.

So tell me, what does the movie being made about your story mean?

Well, to me it's a shocking reality because the last thing I wanted in my life after getting burned was attention on the fire.

After experiencing burns to 100% of my body, my goal was not to have a film made, it was to be ordinary.

And so for 20 years around me after I got burned, my, my goal was not to shine light, it was to fade.

And I did that pretty successfully for a very long time, but eventually got called into speaking.

And then began writing books and now this film brought to life by Sony Affirm is shining a light that in the brokenness we can be redeemed, that there can be goodness that comes out of brokenness and that hero still exists.

They rarely wear capes and so this movie celebrates all three of those themes.

And John, in this day and age when there's so much happening across the world, it's so important to find leaders as well as inspiration.

I understand that you're also an author of On Fire The Seven Choices to ignite a radically inspired Life.

So John, tell us about this book and how involved were you in the actual production of this?

Yeah, so when they first invited me to create the film, my response was a passive yes.

If you guys want to do this, go for it.

But I never thought it would become a reality.

As it made its way farther down the aisle, we recognized this thing will happen and we want it to happen well and right.

So we shot it on location where it happens.

The scenes from when I'm a 9 year old boy are shot in my mom and dad's house.

Later on, the scenes where, where I meet my future wife at St.

Louis University are shot there.

The scenes where we eventually get married are shot in the church where we were married, and even the girl portraying my wife is actually wearing my wife's wedding dress.

So we wanted to make sure the details were right.

We think sometimes truth is stranger than fiction, and to have this miraculous story about a kid who's burned on 100% of his body surviving.

That's a remarkable story.

But what makes it even more remarkable is once he's able to embrace his scars and recognize what happens when you live for something bigger than yourself.

And so there's this incredible arc within the story that the real hero we celebrate is not John O'Leary.

It's not me, the speaker, or the husband, it's everybody else who shows up in my life.

And John, of course, for viewers out there who are watching right now, what do you actually hope they and also audiences who are watching this movie take away from your story?

Yeah, so last week the #5 movie in the country according to box office was Soul on Fire.

So that's a significant accomplishment.

More than that, the #1 audience rated film last weekend was not the big ones you may have heard of.

It was Soul on Fire.

The number one film in the country last weekend was Soul on Fire.

So the audiences are speaking that this movie is impacting their lives.

Your question is what do I hope they walk out with?

Hope.

Regardless of what happens with market conditions, regardless of trade winds, regardless of AI and everything else coming at us, all these uncertainties, all the complexities of life, I think we as human beings long for hope.

We long to be reminded that we have agency to impact our tomorrow more than we elevated yesterday.

Soul on Fire does a very good job of that, and I, I'll wrap up by saying, my father, one of the final conversations we had, he passed away earlier this summer.

It was actually in the movie theater.

And I asked my dad, what do you think about your new film, Dad?

You know, it's kind of a celebration of our family's journey.

What do you think about your film?

And my dad responded with Parkinson's disease, so I could barely hear him, but what he said was, What a gift.

What a gift.

And so my hope as people leave the theater is they walk out or they roll back out to their cars regardless of what happens in the markets today, recognizing that their life is a gift and the best is yet to come.

Yeah, and John, absolutely, and I'm sorry to hear about your passing of your father here, but as we delve into what's happening across film, entertainment, we all know that we're attached to these devices called smartphones.

Sometimes in this digital age, we might not be consuming the most inspirational or more most positive of content.

So tell me why you're excited for the film industry and that movies like this that are a source of inspiration are being made.

Yeah, you know, many of our viewers and listeners may not know this, but Hollywood is a democracy.

That they will pay attention to what we vote for.

And so when we keep voting for these films that are ultimately more destructive and negative, guess what they give us more of when we vote for films where the heroes are from outer space, guess what they give us more of.

And then along comes this movie where the heroes are parents and siblings and nurses and doctors and college roommates and ordinary folks who show up and do the right thing, speak the right words, and in doing so change the life of one person for good.

Uh, right now our country is voting like damn, we want more of this.

Number 5 movie in the country last weekend, Soul on Fire, #1 rated movie in the country, Soul on Fire.

So that's pretty cool right now.

What I'm so inspired by is I knew this movie would touch the hearts of 50-year old people, 60 year old people.

I knew, I knew that market.

I wasn't sure if it would touch the hearts of 25-year-olds, and it has.

I wasn't sure if it would touch the lives of children.

And it is whether you are old or young, what I'm hearing from the audiences is they laugh, they cry, and they walk out of that theater ready to make a difference in the life of someone else.

And in a market that is as divided and as negative and as cynical as ours is right now, we do need more life affirming messages like Soul on Fire.

Well, John, I really appreciate your time.

Thank you so much for joining us today and thank you so much for being such a source of hope with us.

I appreciate you, Remy.

Remy, thank you.