When Jeff Elliott and his wife, Ruth, speak to audiences about “Hoovey” – the film based on their son’s recovery from a life-threatening brain tumor – there is one question they are often asked: Were the angels real?
Elliott and his then 13-year-old son, Eric “Hoovey” Elliott, were shoveling snow at their Illinois farmhouse in 1999 when Eric suddenly went cross-eyed and collapsed in pain. When the family’s doctor advised the couple to bring him in immediately, “it blindsided us,” said Elliott. But the real shock came when he was suddenly faced with getting his son to a hospital in a pickup buried up to its axle in snow.
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“He was in a tremendous amount of pain, going in and out of consciousness,” Elliott recalled. “I tried digging us out but it was impossible. The truck wasn’t even budging.”
So he called his wife and both did the only thing they knew to do – pray for a miracle. Elliott said he saw a vision of three angels.
When he tried the ignition again, “we came bursting out of the ditch like we were being pushed by a Mack truck,” he said. “The next mile was a sea of 4-foot drifts and each drift we hit would fly over the top of the truck.”
At the hospital, a CT scan showed a tumor the size of an orange at the base of the high-school basketball player’s skull. He was immediately taken into surgery. Doctors told the Elliotts that Hoovey, who picked up his nickname at the age of 2 when he got his arm stuck in a Hoover vacuum, would have died if he hadn’t made it in that night.
When Ruth asked her husband if he had seen the same angels she’d seen, he said: “I didn’t see them, but I felt them.”
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The film’s illustration of that divine intervention is subtle, said Elliott, and harkens to a biblical teaching: Do not forget to entertain strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unaware. Elliott said the film is faith-based.
“But it’s a movie about our family, and you can’t take faith out of our family,” he said. “That’s who we are.”
“Hoovey” follows the family’s journey to help their son relearn to read, walk and eventually return to the basketball court. Screenings of the movie are scheduled throughout the region next week. They will be followed by a question-and-answer session with Jeff and Ruth Elliott, who will be in town for its Fayetteville premiere.
The film is from “Soul Surfer” producer Sean McNamara and is based on Elliott’s 2004 book, “Rebounding From Death’s Door.” It was named Best Narrative Feature Film at the 2014 Sunscreen Film Festival in Los Angeles. Elliott said McNamara, along with “Space Cowboys” screenwriter Howard Klausner, is responsible for the story making it to the screen.
“And for attracting the stars that we had,” he said.
The real-life Elliotts spent plenty of time with their Hollywood counterparts: Patrick Warburton of “Seinfeld” and “Rules of Engagement” portrayed Jeff Elliott. Lauren Holly of “Dumb and Dumber” and “NCIS” portrayed Ruth. Disney’s Alyson Stoner played older sister Jen, and Cody Linley of “Hannah Montana” had the title role.
Warburton, who Elliott said was his suggestion to cast, “has a very serious side, but he throws in those one-liners, and that’s what I do.”
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Holly had a strong role in playing Ruth, who remains close friends with the actress, he said. “It’s funny how down to earth everyone is.”
Although the cast had no lack of trials and tribulations to act out onscreen, the family faced many more that couldn’t be squeezed into a 90-minute script.
“We had to dial back from real life,” said Elliott, which included writing out Jen’s diagnosis with bacterial spinal meningitis one month after her brother’s brush with death. “Real life can be too much sometimes, but the message we want people to take away is that it’s not what happens to you, it’s what you do with it.”
Staff writer Brooke Carbo can be reached at [email protected] or 486-3523.
‘HOOVEY’ APPEARANCES
Northwood Temple Church, 4250 Ramsey St., screenings Sunday at 6 p.m. and Monday at 10 a.m. Q&A with Jeff and Ruth Elliott follows both. Tickets are $5 and can be purchased at echolightcinemas.com or at the door. Call 488-7474.
Cedar Falls Baptist Church, 6181 Ramsey St. Jeff and Ruth Elliott will speak Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. The event is free and open to the public. The film will be screened at a later date. Call 822-0816 or 488-5810.
Mount Zion Missionary Baptist Church, 9030 Harnett-Dunn Highway in Dunn, screening Feb. 27 at 6p.m. Q&A with Jeff and Ruth Elliott follows. Tickets are $5 and can be purchased at echolightcinemas.com or at the door. Call 890-1138.
Source: https://t-tees.com
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