This October, Hilary Swank and Alan Ritchson star in the faith-based film, Ordinary Angels, which on paper doesn’t sound like your typical faith-based tale. Based on a true story, Swank plays an unlikely hero of sorts. She’s an alcoholic hairdresser who will stop at nothing to help a man that she doesn’t know, provide the medical care his daughter needs in order to stay alive. One of the producers of the movie, Kevin Downes is sort of a hero himself helping to change how the world views faith-based movies.

Downes has served as an actor, producer and director. Each year, the quality of the films he chooses to get involved with get better and better. Kevin has won two GMA Dove Awards for 2018’s I Can Only Imagine and 2020’s I Still Believe which he shares with Andrew Erwin and Jon Erwin. Last year’s big hit, Jesus Revolution is nominated this year as well.

“How long have you been making movies?” I ask him during a recent interview. His answer surprised himself.

“I’ve been making movies since I was 27, so that’s almost half my life. Wow. I’ve been producing films and haven’t counted how many, but it’s certainly a lot.”

I checked IMDB. It’s been at least 28. The last five years he’s had a working relationship with Lionsgate whom he says have been a great partner. Together, they have had much success retelling true stories that, as he says, “showcases the power of the gospel of Jesus.”

His most recent films have focused on stories about famous musicians, pastors and football players, but Ordinary Angels is a totally different type of story. It’s a little-known tale about fairly unknown people who up doing extraordinary things.

Usually, Downes and the other people at Kingdom Story Company pitch their stories to Lionsgate. However, for this film, it went the other way around. As he tells it, the musician Dave Matthews pitched the story to Jon Berg (another producer). Berg then brought the story to Lionsgate and then Lionsgate brought it to Downes. But here is where it gets crazy.   

“When we looked at it, we realized that we knew some of the people that were a part of the story outside of the pitch. Dave Stone, a pastor from a church in Louisville, Kentucky (who is featured in the film) is a friend of ours. We’re like, ‘Wait a minute. We know the players in this story!’ I love how stories find their way.”

In a nutshell, Ordinary Angels is about a friendship between two very different people. Ed, a widower and loner trying to make enough money to pay for his ailing daughter’s medical bills and Sharon, a spitfire wanting to take on a cause that is bigger than herself. Despite the story’s heavy themes, Hilary Swank and Alan Ritchson bring out a lot of humor. Downes has nothing but great things to say about Swank and Ritchson too.

“The film turned out incredible. Hillary Swank and Alan Ritchson are just incredible as the two leads. They were such a treat to work with. It was really wonderful to work with them,” he tells me. “It is such a gift to be able to have Hilary in this project ’cause she’s really good. The two Oscars aren’t by accident, that’s for sure.

“And Alan does such a beautiful job as Ed. He really brings the humanity of Ed out in a way that people can really relate to, hence the title of the film because people are going to relate to these two main characters.”

But how was Kevin able to secure these two for the movie? Believe it not, they just asked.

“Hillary was an idea. I talked with the director, Jon Gunn, and we kind of came together and looked at some of her backstory. She’s gone public about when her father went through an organ transplant, which is one of the themes of this film. And we’re like, you know what? Maybe there might be something there. And so we wrote her a letter and submitted it through her representatives. And she was really moved by it. And she read the script, fell in love with it, and we were able to work it out.

“And then Alan was an idea too. Jon Berg came up with him. He was like, ‘Hey, man, you guys have gotta meet this guy. He’s literally like, right up your alley.’

“He is such a big guy. He plays the lead guy on the Amazon show, Reacher. And then when we met him, we’re like, ‘oh my goodness, you’re completely the heart of the stories that we tell.’ [Audiences] are going to see themselves in [these two] in ways that they’ve never seen as far as with movie stars playing ordinary people.”

I told Kevin that I thought Hillary’s portrayal of Sharon reminded me of Erin Brockovich and he agreed.

“Yeah. It’s sort of that, go-getter, I’m-not-gonna-take-no-for-an-answer [type of attitude]. Even though the circumstances look insurmountable, if people come together, we can actually move mountains together. That kind of persistence and that never-give-up attitude that Sharon [still] has was something that was really touching. It’s really moving as an individual.”

Unlike some Christian movies that only preach to the choir, Kevin and company aim to make films that will speak to everybody.

“We want people you know, especially if they’re going to church, invite your neighbors to these [movies] because they are not going to make people uncomfortable. They’re just ordinary movies (no pun intended) where you can actually have a conversation that’s natural because they’re about things that happen in everyday lives. The circumstances might be different, but the action behind it is something that we can all relate to.”

One thing that I think will really surprise audiences is that Ordinary Angels is not a love story. It’s a story about family and friendship.

“We really had to walk a delicate tightrope with that,” says Kevin. “But the true story was that there was no romance involved in this relationship at all. It was just her good natured, selfless actions and humanity that motivated Sharon to want to make a difference in this family’s life. And so we love that.”

In case you’re wondering, the real Sharon and Ed have watched the finished film and they love it.

“They’re very proud of it. And that’s the biggest thing,” says Downes.  “Like whenever we make true life stories, we want to make sure that the people we’re telling about love the film. It’s very important. So they actually can see themselves rather than think, ‘I don’t recognize those people.’”

Then again, it’s a delicate balance he tells me.

“I mean, because they’re certain things you might have to change just to make [the story] more compelling. And so in our approach, we make sure those things are communicated upfront and actually get signed off. It’s very important that we’re able to do that because we’re an independent production company. Sure, we have a distribution deal with Lionsgate, but you know, we’re just John and Andy Irwin and myself. We’re just a bunch of guys that live out in Tennessee who make movies.”

I asked Kevin if he has any real stories from people who have seen his films.

“Oh my goodness. All the time. I mean, especially Jesus Revolution.”

I’m a fan of Jesus Revolution which starred Kelsey Grammer as Pastor Chuck Smith and Joel Courtney as Greg Laurie, so I was anxious to hear about what other people thought of the film. Maybe it shouldn’t have surprised me, but its impact has been huge.

Hopefully, Ordinary Angels will also have that can of effect as well. I can’t wait to hear about the letters that come after the movie’s release in theaters.

“We get a lot of letters when the movies come out about how the films have changed people’s lives and that’s the hope for us, when we’re making a movie,” says Kevin. “We want to value people’s time and our hope is that the movie moves them where they can go back into their communities and their families even, and then make a difference. Like, ‘What’s something, what’s one little tweak that I can make to be able to make a difference in my own atmosphere, my own neighborhood, my own family for the people that I regularly interact with?’ And when we see those letters, it makes the whole process worth it.”

Ordinary Angels comes to theaters on February 23, 2024.

Main Images: Kevin Downes, Hilary Swank and Alan Ritchson (Lionsgate)