INDIANAPOLIS — A miraculous true story of faith and survival is coming to Amazon Prime Video for Easter weekend.
"On a Wing and a Prayer" follows Doug White (Dennis Quaid) who is returning home on a private plane with his family after attending his brother's funeral. Shortly after takeoff, their pilot dies of a heart attack, so White is tasked with landing the plane safely and saving his family.
Jesse Metcalfe ("John Tucker Must Die," "Desperate Housewives") plays Kari Sorenson, who is an expert in this particular plane and is called to help White from more than 1,000 miles away.
"I really liked the picture that was painted of the man within our script," Metcalfe said. "He did lose his father and his stepfather both to plane crashes, so I sort of crafted the character on that, that he had a lot of unresolved trauma that he had to deal with. Through helping the White family to safety, he was able to go on somewhat of a healing journey and exercise those demons he was living with."
And despite costarring with Quaid and Heather Graham ("Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me," "Boogie Nights") in the film, Metcalfe confirmed he never met either of them while filming.
"I wanted to meet them, obviously, because I'm a huge fan of both of them, but from an acting perspective, it definitely presents some challenges, specifically being on the phone every scene and acting with the assistant director who was reading lines with you off-camera," Metcalfe said.
As a high-schooler when "John Tucker Must Die" was released in theaters, I had to ask Metcalfe about a potential sequel as the romantic comedy approaches its 20th anniversary.
"Not that I have heard," Metcalfe said. "I always thought a good way into a sequel to 'John Tucker Must Die' would be maybe if I was like the uncle that the younger John Tucker, my nephew, looked up to, but really I was this aging bachelor, who never really grew up, so he could learn not to be like me."
"On a Wing and Prayer" begins streaming Friday, April 7 on Amazon Prime Video.