Taglines: Destiny has big plans for little Simon Birch.
Simon Birch movie storyline. From the day he was born, Simon Birch (Ian Smith) was different. He was no bigger than a baby bird, and the doctors predicted that he’d never last the night. But he did. Then they said he’d never last the week. But he did. Weeks turned into months and months into years, until Simon grew into a boy with an unwavering belief that God had a special plan for him — that He had made him that small for a reason. Simon’s only friend, Joe (Joe Mazello), is on a quest of his own.
His young and beautiful mother, Rebecca (Ashley Judd), has kept the identity of his father a secret. With dreams of finding his real father one day, Joe is less than thrilled with Ben (Oliver Platt), the new man in his mother’s life. But things take a sudden and tragic turn when Simon, in a Little League baseball game, hits a foul ball that strikes and kills Rebecca, sending her to her grave along with her secret. Simon’s destiny and Joe’s quest for his father become intertwined in the end, when Simon becomes the hero he was destined to be and in the process helps Joe solve the mystery of his father.
Simon Birch is a 1998 American comedy-drama film loosely based on A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving and was directed and written for the screen by Mark Steven Johnson. The film stars Ian Michael Smith, Joseph Mazzello, Jim Carrey, Ashley Judd and Oliver Platt. It omitted much of the latter half of the novel and altered the ending.
The film does not share the book’s title at Irving’s request; he did not believe that his novel could successfully be made into a film. The name “Simon Birch” was suggested by him to replace that of Owen Meany. The opening credits of the film state that it was “suggested by” Irving’s novel. The main plot centers on 12-year-old Joe Wenteworth and his best friend Simon Birch, who was born with dwarfism.
The bus crash scene was filmed near Ontario’s French River. The film’s quarry scenes were shot at Elora, Ontario. The church featured in many parts of the film is in Lunenburg, Nova Scotia. Its black borders were painted white for the film. At the end of the film when it switches to the future, the borders are black. The baseball scene as well as many indoor scenes were filmed in Glen Williams, Ontario.
Simon Birch (1998)
Directed by: Mark Steven Johnson
Starring: Ian Michael Smith, Joseph Mazzello, Ashley Judd, Oliver Platt, David Strathairn, Dana Ivey, Beatrice Winde, Sumela Kay, Jim Carrey, Holly Dennison
Screenplay by: Mark Steven Johnson
Production Design by: David Chapman
Cinematography by: Aaron Schneider
Film Editing by: David Finfer
Costume Design by: Betsy Heimann, Abram Waterhouse
Set Decoration by: Carolyn ‘Cal’ Loucks
Art Direction by: Dennis Davenport
Music by: Marc Shaiman
MPAA Rating: PG for language, emotional thematic elements, and an accident scene.
Distributed by: Buena Vista Pictures
Release Date: September 11, 1998
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