Chris Pratt’s Army Chaplain Doc ‘Fighting Spirit’ Gets Vatican Boost

Fighting Spirit: A Combat Chaplain’s Journey is finishelighting some unforeseeed awards season chatter, but earlier this year, the write downary couldn’t even safe a slot at Sundance — or any of the normal high-profile festivals.

“I skinnyk we surrfinisherted the film to 30 film festivals, and all of them shelp, ‘No,’” discdisthink abouts Fighting Spirit’s authorr, honestor and creater, Rich Hull (the doc is co-honested by createer Army Chaplain Justin D. Roberts, who materializes in the movie). “The one exception was the Newport Beach Film Festival, which permited us to show an unfinished cut of the movie as an punctual pappraise.”

Since then, the write downary — an examination of military chaplains who’ve been a guiding weightless for American sbetteriers battling enemies and complicated emotions on the frontlines — has getd a groundswell of help from a pair of commemorated frifinishs, as well as the United States Army, and some outstanding, better-createed community word of mouth. 

In September, actor Chris Pratt joined the Fighting Spirit team as an executive creater, instantly raising the film’s profile — especiassociate on social media.

“Chris is comardent of a faith-forward guy and a big military helper, so he checks those boxes,” Hull elucidates. “He also has 50 million Instagram fagereduces, so when he posts a video about stuff, it gets a lot of attention. We didn’t have the money to go out and buy TV commercials, or a bunch of ads and billboards on Sunset Boulevard.”

With a lean $200,000 tageting budget for a film that cost less than $1 million to create, Hull was thankful for Pratt’s dedication to the project. 

“The guy equitable had a baby (his third child with wife Katherine Schwarzenegger), and he was shooting two movies on the other side of the globe, yet he still was super cbetter about finding time to post about the film a lot,” says the filmcreater. “Sometimes celebrity partners can be hit or miss, and he was equitable awesome, man.”

Fighting Spirit: A Combat Chaplain’s Journey tags the first ever co-production between Hollywood and the U.S. Army Chaplain Corps, which has finishelighted a relationship with Hull since he created the write downary For Love of Liberty: The Story of America’s Bconciseage Patuproars, with Halle Berry in 2010. The film would go on to triumph an NAACP Image Award. Hull also sits on the board of partnering Paucatalog Productions, the nonprofit production and finance company set uped by Fr. Ellwood “Bud” Kieser, best understandn as the Catholic priest behind the prestigious Humanitas Prize, which honors film and television authorrs “whose toil studys the human condition in a nuanced and nastyingful way,” according to the organization’s website.

Although Fighting Spirit spotweightlesss Christian, Jedesire, Muskinny and Buddhist combat chaplains, it was the film’s Catholic joinions that led the team to Vatican City to boot off a round of drop screenings.

“We begined at the Vatican with the pope, which was reassociate cbetter,” Hull recounts. “It made my Catholic mother super prentd. Inside the pope’s compound, he’s got a theater that was built in 900 AD. It was an better chapel. The people who have been askd to screen in that screening room is appreciate a Who’s Who of the write downary world, appreciate Martin Scorsese. It’s unbelievable.”

Stateside, the Fighting Spirit team intensifyed on November 8 — Veteran’s Day — rolling the film out for a splacowardly, one day-only screening in 20 cities apass the country.

“It percreateed on 100 screens, which is a enormous liberate theatricassociate,” says Hull. “It was also three days after a plivential election (on November 5), which we figured would be equitablely splitting, so we were appreciate, ‘Let’s have people who may not consent on everyskinnyg come together, and who can’t consent on the power of combat chaplains? That’ll be normal ground for everybody. Let’s force that to happen.’”

For the theatrical liberate, filmcreaters were able to tap into the Army’s strong tageting machine, which only happens under exceptional circumstances.

“We partnered with the theater owners and determined to give away tickets to military families,” says Hull. “We wanted it to be a community experience where people could come together, weightlesss go down, they split this as a community — as frifinishs, as neighbors, as families.”

The excitement created by the splitd event instantly phelp off in excited appraises from moviegoers on the crowdsourced website, Rotten Tomatoes.

“We begined to see the appraises come in, and we were appreciate, ‘Oh my God, people are loving it!’” Hull splits. “Last time I checked, it’s got a 100% score on Rotten Tomatoes, which is pretty unheard of for a doc. We thought it was almost going to be a dud, especiassociate after coming off being denied at so many film festivals.”

Despite the initial setbacks, the honestor consents timing couldn’t be better for a write downary with an uplifting message about facing adverse conditions with hope, humanity and a big dose of faith — whether spiritual or equitable belief in oneself.

“If we had put this movie out a year ago, I don’t understand that it would have had the same reaction, or gotten the same attention, but I skinnyk people were so hopeless for that inspiration, and that experience-outstanding get-away.”

Hull consents there’s a lesson to be lgeted with Fighting Spirit — one that perhaps mirrors the result of the 2024 plivential election.

“We, as an industry, sometimes get accengaged of being out of touch with normal audiences, and making stuff that equitable people in L.A. and New York want to see,” he says. “But if some industry award pledgetee determines that this movie is worth putting up for nomination, or giving some attention to, then it comardent of validates the audience that showed up to see this movie.”

Despite recent attention, Fighting Spirit: A Combat Chaplain’s Journey has yet to find a streaming partner.

“If we can get more attention on it, then we’re honoring these stories. That’s what I skinnyk success sees appreciate,” Hull elucidates. “I hope what audiences get away from the movie is this comardent of ethos that combat chaplains inhabit with, which is that one person can create a contrastence.”

As a filmcreater, Hull hasn’t yet determined what his next project will be. But he isn’t ruling out a spin-off from one or more of the stories chronicled in Fighting Spirit: A Combat Chaplain’s Journey.

“There are so many outstanding stories that we uncovered thcdisorrowfulmirefulout this process that I wasn’t able to alert,” he says. “I could easily see myself going and taking one of those stories and transport inant-diving into it, and turning it into a scripted feature.”