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IDAHO FALLS — A Utah story that made national headlines 35 years ago is the subject of a new movie premiering across the country this month.
"Faith of Angels" tells the story of 10-year-old Josh Dennis, a boy who was lost in an abandoned mine in Utah's Oquirrh Mountains in 1989. He was found after a five-day search.
"By the end of it, it was national news to the point that Josh received a letter from President (George) H.W. Bush. He wished (Josh) well on his recovery and expressed that his story is evidence that miracles still happen," Garrett Batty, the film's director, tells EastIdahoNews.com.
The film premieres in Utah this Thursday and will be released nationwide, including eastern Idaho, on Sept. 26.
Though the outcome of Josh's story is common knowledge, Batty says it's the miracles that happened along the way that make the movie worth seeing.
Batty spent two years working on the project and collaborated with those involved in the real-life incident, including Josh, who is now 45 years old. He and his wife have a cameo appearance in the film.
Cast members include Michael Bradford as Josh and Kirby Heyborne as Josh's dad. John Michael Finley, who starred in the 2018 film "I Can Only Imagine," portrays the lead character, John Skinner.
"John Skinner is a man several states away … who wakes up in the middle of the night and says, 'I've got to go to Utah.' He has no idea why," Batty explains.
Although Skinner didn't know Josh or the Dennis family at the time, Batty says he ended up playing a critical role in the search effort.
Connecting the dots and showing how people's lives intersected in miraculous ways during the five-day ordeal is what compelled Batty to bring this story to the screen.
It was Josh's family who initially brought this story to Batty's attention.
The movie was filmed in and around the mine where the incident took place, Batty says, and the Dennis family was helpful in making sure every detail was as authentic as possible. The coat Josh wore at the time is the same coat worn by Michael Bradford in the film. A jumpsuit and helmets worn by some of the searchers are also original.
Despite the relentless effort to be accurate, Batty says Josh requested a change after getting a copy of the script. It made Batty nervous.
"He said, 'There's a scene in the movie where I'm driving up to the mine (with my dad) and eating Twizzlers. I was actually eating Nibs,'" Josh said, according to Batty. "'If you can change it to Nibs, then we'll be OK.'"
Batty laughs about it now because he says it drives home their willingness to be accurate, right down to the package of Nibs.
"Every detail that we could, we put into the movie, and I think it's stronger for it," he says.
Wayne Ball, of Idaho Falls, the film's executive producer, agrees.
He wanted to be part of a faith-based film project, and when he learned Batty was making a movie about Josh's experience, he agreed to finance it.
After watching the crew at work on location and seeing the finished product, Ball says it delivers and he encourages everyone to see it.
"This is the real deal," Ball says. "It promotes faith and hope and it's just a feel-good movie."
"Faith of Angels" is rated PG. To learn more or buy tickets, click here.
