When Atlanta-based writer Brian Egeston learned of a real-life incident involving a passenger safely landing a plane after its pilot died mid-flight, he was what he describes as “stunned.” When Egeston dug deeper into the story to learn more, he was intrigued and saw an incident that was bigger than the events that played out that Easter Sunday in 2009.
“It was more than a person landing a plane,” said Egeston, a screenwriter who would turn this true-to-life story of a pilot who had never flown a twin-engine plane into one to be told through film. The result: “On a Wing and a Prayer,” which debuted in April on Amazon Prime. It features Dennis Quaid in the role of Doug White, who safely landed the plane, and Heather Graham as his wife Terri.
White’s story, Egeston said, “was about someone going through their own personal crisis and wrestling with faith. To me, that’s a universal theme. We all wrestle with failure, crises and giving up at some point. The plane and the turbulence is symbolic of life’s roller coaster. Sometimes all we can do is keep going and believe. That’s why I knew this movie had to be made.”
The movie gained wings when Atlanta Producer Autumn Bailey-Ford got the script to “Touched by an Angel” star Roma Downey, who took to Egeston’s work, convincing MGM, which is now owned by Amazon, to greenlight the project. On an $18-million budget, the film was shot in a soundstage in Covington, Georgia, and at the Fulton County Airport.
Actor Jesse Metcalfe plays the pilot who helped White land the plane in Florida, with White’s wife and two children aboard and the deceased pilot still in the cockpit. Metcalfe has had roles in such productions as “Desperate Housewives” and “John Tucker Must Die.”
“I really gravitated to this project because I thought it was really well-written and that the character Kari Sorenson had a really nice emotional arc that I could sink myself into as an actor,” said Metcalfe, who describes the script as a “really compelling script, which ultimately made for a really compelling movie.”
Metcalfe says the movie is “really inspirational,” and largely about having faith in the people around you, the people closest to you. Doug White really leans on his wife and family in the movie.
“Ultimately, my character, Kari, opens up to his girlfriend, Ashley, and then their relationship seems to be able to go to the next level. It’s about having faith, having faith in the people around you.”
He summed up faith as “believing in something bigger than yourself, whether that’s believing in the people you’re closest to who love you the most or believing in a higher power, but believing that things are going to get better when you’re experiencing hard times.”
It’s White’s story of believing and holding on that appealed to Egeston when he learned of White during one of his first flying lessons where White’s actual flight recording served as an example of the importance of knowing how to communicate with air traffic control.
“There were so many miracles that transpired behind the scenes, and I knew the world had to witness this story,” said Egeston, who has written for Producer, Director and Writer Tyler Perry, including for Perry’s long-running “House of Payne” series.
For Egeston, the movie also sends a message that individuals aren’t “in control of our journeys. We just have to go through that turbulence and believe we’re going to make it.”
White’s story, Egeston said, “was about someone going through their own personal crisis and wrestling with faith. To me, that’s a universal theme. We all wrestle with failure, crises and giving up at some point. The plane and the turbulence is symbolic of life’s roller coaster. Sometimes all we can do is keep going and believe. That’s why I knew this movie had to be made.”