The famous story of Colton Burpo, son of Nebraska Rev. Todd Burpo, is hitting movie theaters across the United States on April 16.
Colton was just four years old when he had a near-death experience in 2003.
Waking from surgery after a burst appendix, Burpo told his parents that he visited heaven.
Several details were enough to convince the parents--such as Burpo describing meeting his miscarried sister, whom no one had told him about, and one of his great-grandfathers, who died three decades before Colton was born.
Colton’s father was inspired to write the book “Heaven Is for Real,” along with Lynn Vincent. Published in November 2010 it became a best-seller, selling more than 8 million copies around the world and being translated into 30 languages.
Now a movie made about the story, with the same title and starring George Kinnear as the reverend and Kelly Reilly as his wife, opens in theaters on Wednesday.
It also stars six-year-old Connor Chum as Colton.
The Burpo family approve the movie and said they actually held out for a long time to make sure the story stayed true and family members be depicted true to life.
The reverend told Omaha.com that he did research into Kinnear upon learning of the casting.
“Randall Wallace had worked with him before, in ‘We Were Soldiers,’ and he thought of him right away to play me,” he said. “He has a brother who worked for Billy Graham’s ministries some years ago, and he wanted the accuracy of the screenplay as much as we did.”
Kinnear and Burpo corresponded during the filming, with Kinnear asking questions about various points in the story.
“What was really nice was he introduced me to his daughter,” Burpo said. “ ‘Heaven Is for Real’ was one of her favorite books. She had already read it. The book was part of his family before the script came to him.”
Not all of the details are true, though. For instance, Burpo never took a leave of absence from ministry as depicted in the movie.
He is still pastor of Crossroads Wesleyan Church in Imperial, Nebraska but he also heads a non-profit called Heaven Is for Real Ministries, which uses money generated by Colton’s story for work such as speaking appearances.
Colton, now 14, often tells children about his trip, and also sings in a choir and plays trumpet in jazz band.
