Faith and Family Inspire in DREAMIN’ WILD, the Story of Donnie Emerson
By Cooper Dowd, Movieguide Staff
For Donnie Emerson, his dream to make music started on a rural farm in Washington State in the 1970s.
With the help of his older brother Joe, the unconditional support of his father, and the love of his family, Donnie wrote, produced and performed on his debut album, “Dreamin’ Wild.”
To Donnie and Joe’s disappointment, their album saw little success, even among their friends in Washington. However, in 2011, Donnie was given another shot as his dream.
Nearly four decades after their album release, Donnie and Joe Emerson are the inspiration behind the new movie, DREAMIN’ WILD.
A portion of Movieguide®’s review reads:
DREAMIN’ WILD is based on the inspiring true story of Donnie and Joe Emerson. While working on their father’s farm in Washington state, the two teenage brothers write, produce and release their debut album, “Dreamin’ Wild,” in 1979. Despite faithful support from their father and family, the album fails. Thirty-two years later, Donnie continues to pursue a life of music but struggles to make ends meet. While playing small gigs and barely keeping his recording studio’s lights on, he receives a call from Joe. A man tells them he believes their album is the next big hit. Donnie has a chance to fulfill his dreams, but will his obsession with music blind him to what’s most important?
DREAMIN’ WILD is a heartfelt, superbly acted, well-directed drama. It has a strong Christian, moral worldview. It tells a powerful true story about family, faith and forgiveness. The movie has several Christian references and symbols, including a moment of prayer. DREAMIN’ WILD also tells an uplifting story about music, pursuing a dream and brotherly love. MOVIEGUIDE® advises caution for older children for brief foul language and some drunkenness.
Movieguide® recently sat down with Donnie and his wife Nancy, as well as the movie’s producer, Bill Pohlad, to discuss the Emerson brother’s dream, their faith, and their family.
“I’m gonna have this my whole life, to watch this and see my dad on the screen. And my mom. Who could say they’re gonna be able to have that, right?” Donnie said about the adaptation of his life. “My kids and my grandkids, hopefully, are going to be able to see that, and on and on it goes. That’s why I’m so passionate about this film, I’m eager for other people to see it because it has so much good stuff in it, and it’s real.”
Both in the movie and in Donnie’s life, his father—played by actor Beau Bridges in the movie—was a cornerstone of support and love.
Donnie said that while he only was on set for a brief time, Bridges reminded him of his father.
“Beau Bridges, and I’ve talked about this a couple different times, he would have the word of the day on his phone. Just the other day it was Corinthians. It’s ironic that he would do that…” Donnie said.
Despite his brief time on set, Donnie said that he wanted to experience the movie from the perspective of any other viewer.
“It’s so surreal. I’m so glad I wasn’t there,” he said. “[Bridges] was just grounded in that film, in his subdued way, in his gentle way, kind of like my dad, it was so believable.”
Bill Pohlad added that the movie reflects Donnie and Joe Emerson, their family, and even their farm in an honest and truthful way.
“Obviously, with budgets and all that and production issues, you don’t often get to be in the actual place that the story happened. So it was a dream come true,” he said of filming on the Emerson’s family farm and in the barn/studio that was home to the original recordings of the now famous tracks on ‘Dreamin’ Wild.’ “I wrote the script with the real family, and farm in mind.”
“Despite the fact that we were shooting on location with the real family in a lot of ways, you know, they still live there. So it’s a little odd or, strange and unique for us to be able to bring the crew in and shoot right alongside the family,” he added. “In a situation like that, you’d be worried about the family, or the real people would start looking over your shoulder and going, ‘that’s not the way it was, or we didn’t do that or don’t portray me like this.’ The Emerson’s all were so gracious and unaffected by it. They didn’t—they were the same authentic people before we shot, right through the shooting, and they are still that way now.”
Despite large Hollywood names such as Casey Affleck as Donnie, Walton Goggins as Joe, and Zooey Deschanel as Nancy, the movie celebrates the Emerson’s inspiring story with their heart at the forefront: faith and family.
“That is the reason that I wanted to make the movie. You see this family and I met them before I wrote the script or anything like that, and you see them as they really are,” Pohlad said. “I wanted to portray that in the movie. I didn’t want to gin it up, or whatever they call it.”
“I want this to be the real thing and that was the challenge,” he added.
“It is. It really is true to be in reality to how we are,” Donnie said. “I don’t confront people, I just literally walk away from them. A lot of times, I’ll just walk away. I’m just that way. I don’t go too wacky. My emotions are like that. I’m an intense character type, a passionate person. I’m an artist and that’s how I am. I’m so happy with how it’s been done.”
DREAMIN’ WILD will hit theaters on August 4, 2023.
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