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EXCLUSIVE – Some may call John O’Leary a miracle, but “Soul on Fire” actor William H. Macy said the word downplays the young man’s unimaginable survival story.
When O’Leary was 9 years old, his entire body was burned in an accidental house fire that started while he was in his garage playing with matches and gasoline. He was not supposed to survive, but after months of grueling recovery — and with the help of family, compassionate medical staff and a famous friend — he not only lived, but went on to thrive.
The local celebrity who befriended him was the late Jack Buck, the legendary St. Louis Cardinals broadcaster who called games for 47 years. Buck heard about O’Leary’s story one night at a dinner party and decided to visit him in the hospital — a meeting that sparked a life-changing friendship.
Macy portrays Buck in the new movie about O’Leary’s story, “Soul on Fire,” from AFFIRM Films and director Sean McNamara. He was candid when asked whether he believes O’Leary’s survival was a miracle.
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“No, I don’t need miracles,” Macy told Fox News Digital after some moments of contemplation. “I’m threading a needle here. I find the world to be miraculous on its own. I don’t need any supernatural thing. I find the world miraculous, the way it works. And I find human beings to be sometimes miraculous. I mean … That kid wasn’t supposed to live. He was burned over 95% of his body. He shouldn’t have survived the night.”
“When Jack Buck heard about this kid at that dinner party and went there and whispered in his ear, he was in an induced coma. And whispered in his ear with his familiar voice that that kid knew somewhere in his brain, ‘You’re going to live. You’re going to make it. I think, I don’t think of it as a miracle as much as that he instilled him with faith,” Macy said.
“There’s a quote, and I thought it was in Ecclesiastes, and I can’t find it. But the definition of faith that I really liked is that that which is coming, all the adversities that are coming your way, you already have what you need to maneuver them, to get through them. You already have it. It’s in you,” he added.
Macy suggested the word “miracle” is used somewhat “cheaply” these days because it downplays the efforts of O’Leary’s caretakers. In one particular scene in “Soul on Fire,” one of the hospital workers is credited with saving O’Leary’s life by keeping his hospital room clean and preventing the risk of infections to O’Leary’s vulnerable skin.
“And… So I think what the movie says is really wondrous, if I may,” Macy said. “That this kid had the will to survive this thing. I think it was a genius stroke that they included, and it’s a true story, that the hero of this thing was the guy, the orderly, who kept the room clean, who kept it spotless. Because, as they say in the movie, ‘That’s what’ll kill ya.’ When you’re burned over 90% of your body, you are just a horrible life-ending infection waiting to happen. So he’s the hero and I, I don’t want to use that word — a miracle — because I think we use it a little cheaply these days.”
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O’Leary now gives motivational speeches across the country, hoping to uplift and inspire with his incredible story. Macy called him one of the most “extraordinary” people he’s ever met.
“Well he’s certainly, if not the most extraordinary guy I’ve ever met, he’s one of them,” Macy said. “What you see is what you get. He is genuine. He came out of that whole experience with this lust for life, and he loves life, and he loves his life. And he enjoys every single day … The guy seems to be having a great time always, and he lives with such gratitude. And he’s always finding the good thing in his day, and he’s as generous with everybody as I’ve ever seen.”
“I mean, what summed it up for me was we were talking about the publicity,” the actor continued. “‘How are we gonna sell this thing?’ And John very early spoke up, and he said, ‘Whoa, whoa, this movie’s not about me. This movie is about the community that stepped up and, with the accumulation of their will and their love and their expertise, they made this kid pull through that. And that’s what the movie is all about.'”
Macy also recalled meeting Joe Buck, who followed his father into sports broadcasting. Joe told Macy that while Jack Buck was often distant at home, he quietly helped countless people behind the scenes.
“He told me, the long and the short of it, was that his father was not warm and fuzzy in the house,” Macy said. “He was a bit of a distant father. And he knew that he was loved by his father and he knew his father was really proud of him. But he worked a lot. He was out of the house a lot, he was absent a lot and when he was there, there was … I didn’t ask him if he hugged, if he got hugged as a kid, but I sort of filled in that blank myself — that he wasn’t demonstrative. And since this movie went into production, people are coming out of the woodwork to tell Jack Buck stories.”
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“And he used his bully pulpit,” Macy continued. “He used his resources to very quietly show up at a lot of different places and anonymously help people out. The stories are legion. And I find that endlessly fascinating. And I had that in my mind when I was putting this whole thing together, that it was easier for Jack to show love to almost total strangers than it was to his good friends. And I’ve known people like that. And perhaps there’s a good bit of that in me.”
Asked why audiences seem to be flocking to faith-based films these days, Macy said it’s because it’s what the people want, before reflecting on how Hollywood culture has changed over the years.
“I think the faith-based movies tell the stories that they want to hear,” he said. “You know, there’s been a whole shift in Hollywood, and I’m very proud of being part of the Hollywood scene, of being an actor and being in showbiz. It was about 10 or 15 years ago that Hollywood woke up one day and said, ‘Our movies don’t look like America and the people who make the movies don’t look like America. And if we want this industry to continue to grow, we got to fix that, and they did. It happened laser fast. I’ve never seen an industry change so quickly.”
“Soul on Fire” is now in theaters.
Fox News’ Kristine Parks contributed to this report.
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