Sarah's Oil, interview with Zachary Levi

How did you get involved in the project?

"Well, I mean, the how it came to be was Jon Shepherd, who's been a friend for many years, is one of our producers. He and Cyrus... you know, were working on this. Cyrus and Betsy obviously wrote a wonderful script. And then Jon sent me the script, and he said, 'Hey man, I really think this is something that you would want to be a part of. We believe in this, we would love for you to come along board and help to bring it to the world.' And I happened to be on a flight to Tulsa from Austin, I live in Austin, and I was flying to Tulsa, where the story takes place. So the timing and the coincidence of that... you know, was very fated, I think, and I couldn't put it down.

Did you know this story?

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.' And Bert was such a juicy role to play. And so, as soon as we landed, I emailed Jon back and I said, 'I'm in, let's do it, let's make this happen.'

Was it difficult to make?

For years, the three of us were pushing this boulder up a hill, trying to find someone with money who would believe in this and who would support it. And fortunately, the fine folks at Kingdom Story and Wonder Project and Amazon said, 'We believe in this and we want to make this movie a reality and bring this to the public.' And so here we are, on a red carpet celebrating it.

Can you tell us anything about the filming?

So many talented folks, in front of the camera, behind the camera. Just really grateful for the entire family that we were given and that everybody, you know, rolled up their sleeves. I mean, it was, like most movies, it's a miracle to get them made. The weather was not conducive all of the time. But, you know, miracle after miracle, we were able to make our days and and get it shot, and everybody brought all of their talents and all of their heart to it. And similar to Sarah's faith in, you know, what drives the story, it was a lot of collective faith believing in this from day one all the way to the end, all the way to here."