New Movie Letters to God with Robyn Lively, Jeff Johnson, Michael Bolten Inspired by True Events

The new movie Letters to God, starring Robyn Lively, Jeffrey S.S. Johnson, Maree Cheatham, Tanner Maguire, Michael Christopher Bolten, Bailee Madison and Ralph Waite starts April 9 in theaters all over the country. This touching film is inspired by the true story of Tyler Doughtie, a Nashville boy who lost his battle with cancer in March 2005. The movie screenplay and subsequent book were written by Tyler's father, Patrick Doughtie.

In a recent interview, Patrick Doughtie told me they have been careful not to say the movie is "based upon a true story," but are using the expression "inspired by a true story." The title of the movie, Letters to God, came to Doughtie while he was in the hospital with his son. At that time, he hoped Tyler would fully recover, and he intended to write a fictional story about a boy who died from cancer. However, after Tyler passed away, the story took on a new life and became a fictional story inspired heavily by Tyler. (Interview with author and screenwriter Patrick Doughtie)

The events in the movie have been altered to make the story more inspirational. Doughtie says he wanted to remove some of the negative things that happened. Chief among those would be when Julie Buchanan was convicted of stealing money from the Tyler's cancer fund, as well as the fact Doughtie lost both his job and his house and then his son.

Doughtie could have capitalized on those sensational aspects of his story. Instead he chose to write a movie about a boy who faces his battle with cancer courageously and with deep faith. The movie focuses on how the lives of people around him are altered by the boy's remarkable relationship with God, a relationship the boy pursues by writing letter to God, telling God about his dreams, hopes and fears. The boy in the movie is named Tyler, after Doughtie's son, and Doughtie said the conversations and incidents in the movie often came directly from real life.

When asked if Tyler really wrote letters to God, Doughtie shared that while Tyler did not actually write letters, one day after he died, Doughtie was cleaning out the boy's room and found a notebook where Tyler had written some notes about his daily life, and then he found some entries that began "Dear God." Doughtie had already written the screenplay at this time and it was well on its way to becoming a movie. Doughtie said, "There were only a few 'Dear God' entries, but it made the entire screenplay have new meaning for me."

Letters to God with Robyn Lively, Jeffrey S.S. Johnson, Maree Cheatham, Tanner Maguire, Michael Christopher Bolten, Bailee Madison and Ralph Waite opens nationwide on Friday, April 9, 2010. The Letters to God: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack was released March 30th and includes songs from Matthew West, Jeremy Camp, Sanctus Real, Between the Trees, Addison Road, Paul Colman, Everlife, Wintley Phipps and more. The Letters to God movie premiere and Letters to God after party event took place in Nashville on April 6.

Sources:
Letters to God movie review - Nashville Letters to God premiere event with Patrick Doughtie
Letters to God Nashville after party event: Warren Brothers, Michael Bolten, Jeff Johnson (photos)
Letters to God movie premiere in Nashville with Jeff Johnson, Michael Bolten (with slideshow)
Letters to God - interview with author and screenwriter Patrick Doughtie

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