1 of 5 | Dennis Quaid stars in “I Can Only Imagine 2,” now on DVD and digital platforms. Photo courtesy of Lionsgate
NEW YORK, May 25 (UPI) — Reagan, The Substance and Happy Face actor Dennis Quaid hopes his brief appearance in I Can Only Imagine 2 reminds people to tell someone they love them or are proud of them.
“That is really the truth,” Quaid, 72, told UPI in a recent Zoom interview.
“That goes by and people aren’t around anymore and, so, there’s nothing to do about that. You’re left with the memories that you’re left with,” the actor said. “I think it’s something that we’ve all struggled with — a lot of things we take for granted in life and a lot of things we’ve talked ourselves into that we don’t need or maybe we just missed and it’s, ‘What if?'”
Now available on DVD and digital platforms, the fact-based film stars John Michael Finley, Milo Ventimiglia, Sophie Skelton, Arielle Kebbel, Sammy Dell and Trace Adkins.
It follows Bart Millard (Finley), lead singer of the successful Christian music band MercyMe, who is trying to tour while dealing with personal issues, including a tense relationship with his teen son, Sam (Sammy Dell), and the grief he still feels over the death of Arthur (Quaid), the abusive father from whom he had long been estranged.
The sequel to 2018’s I Can Only Imagine shows a flashback of Arthur and Bart enjoying an evening, playing music together by a campfire after they reunited shortly before Arthur died of cancer.
This was the last scene of the movie that the cast and crew filmed.
“I came in and I really didn’t think much about it, to tell you the truth. It’s really Bart’s memory, the point of view from what the scene is, and the way he remembers his father in a good way,” Quaid said.
“We didn’t really want to say a lot with words because it’s not about words or any epiphany or anything like that. It’s a memory that becomes very emotional because of the first movie, I Can Only Imagine. We just let it play out,” Quaid added. “We had a fire and a guitar and the two of us just sitting there and what that is. Most of it is about what is unsaid.”
Director Andrew Erwin said filming that scene was one of the most memorable parts of the production.
“It’d been eight years since we’d all been together and having both Dennis and John Michael, playing Bart, sitting at that campfire and playing out this beautiful, wonderful memory that Bart had kind of suppressed,” Erwin said.
“When I looked across fire, and I saw both John Michael and Dennis, I got emotional. It was a beautiful moment.”
I Can Only Imagine 2 also introduces the story of singer Tim Timmons (Ventimiglia), MercyMe’s optimistic, devoutly Christian opening act, who is secretly battling cancer.
“Tim’s story was the thing that really sold me on doing the movie because I wanted to go somewhere fresh with the material and I wanted to stay true to life,” Erwin said.
“Tim is a singer-songwriter that a lot of us have been friends with for years, but a lot of people don’t know his story. His story is powerful,” Erwin added. “He was kind of put on the MercyMe and Bart’s tour as the opening act. He is a struggling artist and he had life circumstances that should have just sunk him.”
Instead, Tim chose to live a life of gratitude.
“Every day he wakes up, he puts an X on his wrist with a Sharpie [reminding him of] the idea that God woke me up for one more day, today wasn’t a promise and I’m going to make the most of the day,” Erwin said.
“It ended up him being a guide to Bart finding this song, ‘Even If,’ that became an anthem for the second half of Bart’s career and this idea of, what if the ‘happily ever after’ breaks, where do you find hope? And where’s God in the fire?”
Quaid, who is also Christian, said the theme of gratitude being a choice really appealed to him.
“Where we direct our attention, we sometimes really need to be disciplined about that,” he emphasized.
“This movie is about redemption and I love movies about redemption because all of us seek it in life. It’s great drama and redemption is about getting something that you don’t feel like you deserve, but really desire. And it’s never too late.”
