‘Cabrini’ Producer Jonathan Sanger Says the Film Is More Than a Religious Story

variety.com:

Katcy Stephan When Oscar-winning producer Jonathan Sanger was first pitched “Cabrini,” the story of the first American saint, he wasn’t quite sure he was right for the project. “I said, ‘I think it’s a great idea.

I think you should make the movie. I don’t really think I’m the right guy to produce this,’” Sanger recalls of his early conversation with executive producer J.

Eustace Wolfington. “I tend to like to make stories about real people, that most people who watch these stories can relate to.

And I don’t know how to relate to a saint.” Wolfington wouldn’t take no for an answer, telling Sanger he was missing the point: Francesca Cabrini may have become a saint, but her powerful story of overcoming adversity as both a woman and an Italian immigrant takes place far before her posthumous canonization in 1946. “The more I learned about her, the more I realized that she was an extraordinarily unusual individual,” Sanger says. “Women didn’t get an opportunity to do these kinds of things.” While religious folks may connect with Francesca’s devotion to God, Sanger appreciated the film’s focus on her dogged tenacity, and not just her faith. “It was very important to me that the emphasis of the story wasn’t intended to be a religious, faith-based kind of story about the value of prayer — not that that isn’t valuable.