Their feature film about a real-life adoption story releases in theaters nationwide tomorrow.
Fourteen years after they teamed up for the faith-based hit Fireproof, Kirk Cameron and Alex Kendrick and Stephen Kendrick have joined forces again for Lifemark: they are all executive producers of the film and Cameron and Alex star in it as well.
And in a first for the Kendrick Brothers, the picture is based on a true story. It centers on boy named David Scotton who was given up for adoption at birth and raised by a loving Christian couple in Louisiana, only to meet his biological mother in Indiana nearly two decades later. Cameron, the adoptive father in the picture, got the idea for the film a few years ago after watching a documentary about the story.
Scotton's birth mother, Melissa Coles, was a teenager when she became pregnant with him in 1993. She planned to get an abortion and was actually on the operating table in the facility, only seconds away from the procedure, when she changed her mind, deciding instead that she would give birth to her baby and put him up for adoption.
The documentary, I Lived on Parker Avenue, brought Cameron to tears and prompted him to reach out to the Kendricks to see if they thought it would work as a feature film. In a social media post for Lifemark, Alex Kendrick relates how he watched it and thought it was "incredible." He told Cameron not only would the story work as a feature, but that he and Stephen wanted to team up with the actor to make it together.
"The fact that it's a true story, that just by telling the story screamed, 'Life is valuable. God gives life to us.' And we thought, 'Wow, if we just told this story, it would say so much.'"
The documentary that started it all features particularly poignant moments, like when David Scotton first meets his birth mother, Melissa Coles, and when she later takes him to see the abortion clinic where he came within minutes of losing his life. The production runs approximately 30 minutes and your eyes are likely to be moistened if you watch, which we recommend you do via this link to its website.
As for Lifemark, it will start its run in theaters tomorrow, Friday, September 9th, in a seven-day limited engagement put on by distributor Fathom Events. You can purchase tickets in your area from their website.