INTERVIEW: He Chased a Miracle for Nearly 30 Years. Now Producer Jeff Thomas Brings Little Audrey to the Big Screen.
07/25-08/01 @ Woods Hole Film Festival, Woods Hole MA
Photo provided by Jeff Thomas
“Every time I thought it was over, another door opened.”
There are passion projects, and then there are life's callings.
For Capital Region filmmaker Jeff Thomas, Little Audrey never felt like a movie he wanted to make. It became the movie he was supposed to make.
Nearly three decades after first learning about the extraordinary life of Audrey Santo, the Massachusetts girl whose reported miracles drew thousands of believers throughout the 1990s, Thomas is finally watching that journey arrive on one of independent film's most respected stages in New England. Little Audrey makes its world premiere July 25 at the acclaimed Woods Hole Film Festival, an event known for championing ambitious independent cinema in the Northeast.
For Thomas, the premiere represents far more than another festival selection. "It isn't just a film to me," he says. "It's deeply personal."
That sincerity fills every conversation with Thomas. While many producers talk about financing or casting first, he begins somewhere entirely different.
He begins with a smell.
Back in 1998, Thomas attended a gathering commemorating the anniversary of Audrey's near drowning. Thousands packed Holy Cross Field outside Worcester. Sitting high in the bleachers, Thomas suddenly noticed what he assumed was someone's overpowering perfume. Then everyone around him began reacting the same way.
"It was this heavenly smell," he recalls. "I've been searching for it ever since." That moment became the first of many experiences Thomas says convinced him Audrey's story deserved to reach a much larger audience. "I was skeptical," he admits. "I think anybody would be. But then I started seeing things that were unexplainable."
Those experiences stayed with him for years, quietly waiting until life unexpectedly nudged him toward filmmaking. Ironically, Thomas never planned on becoming a producer. He laughs while telling the story of movie scouts touring his home for an unrelated production before one producer casually asked a question that changed everything.
"Do you ever think about making a movie?" Thomas joked that Hollywood would never be interested in anything he wanted to make because "there wouldn't be any nudity, no violence, no drugs."
Half an hour later, his phone rang.
Within months, Thomas had stumbled into independent filmmaking. When that first project collapsed, another idea immediately surfaced. "I said, ‘I'm going to make a movie about Audrey Santo.’" The next several years tested that conviction.
Producing teams dissolved. Screenwriters came and went. Financing disappeared. Entire productions collapsed before cameras rolled. "I actually said, 'Lord, maybe I'm misreading this. Maybe I shouldn’t be making movies.'" Then another opportunity appeared.
"Every time I thought it was over, another door opened."
That persistence eventually connected Thomas with director Michael Mailer, son of legendary author Norman Mailer, whose previous film Heart of Champions became one of Netflix's biggest independent dramas. Together they assembled an impressive cast featuring Emily VanCamp, Jennifer Esposito, Aidan Quinn, Josh Bowman, Robert Wahlberg, and Ciarán Byrne. Like that, Little Audrey came to light.
The production itself became another memorable chapter.
Despite operating with a modest independent budget of roughly $3 million, Thomas says the atmosphere on set surprised even veteran actors. "They told me they'd never been on a movie set this peaceful." By the final evening of production, crew members weren't ready to leave. "They kept thanking me," Thomas says. "They said, 'We don't want this movie to end.'"
That sense of purpose extends beyond filmmaking itself.
Thomas never presents Little Audrey as an attempt to convince audiences what to believe. Instead, he hopes viewers become curious enough to ask questions about faith, compassion, suffering, and hope.
"I think the world needs Audrey's story more now than ever."
Whether audiences ultimately interpret the reported miracles through faith, science, or skepticism, those feelings are almost secondary. The emotional center remains remarkably human. A family searching for answers. A young girl whose life inspired thousands. And one producer who spent almost 30 years refusing to let her story disappear.
The Woods Hole Film Festival feels like an ideal launching point for Little Audrey’s premiere. Set against the artistic backdrop of Cape Cod, the festival has built a national reputation for discovering thoughtful independent films while celebrating filmmakers willing to take creative risks. For Thomas, premiering just a short drive from Worcester carries symbolic weight.
"It's close to Audrey's home," he says. "That makes it even more special."
Distributors have already begun taking notice, and Thomas has screened the film for major studios, including executives from Angel Studios. Still, awards and distribution deals feel almost incidental compared to finally sharing a story he has carried since the late 1990s.
Listening to Thomas speak, it's impossible not to notice how often he returns to gratitude instead of accomplishment. "I've learned when you invite faith into what you're doing," he says quietly, "things work out better than you ever imagined."
Nearly 30 years after one unforgettable afternoon in Massachusetts that changed his life, Jeff Thomas is finally keeping a promise he made to himself all those years ago. Whether audiences leave Little Audrey believing in miracles or simply believing more deeply in people, for Thomas it’ll be a win either way.
For more information about Little Audrey, including the trailer and tickets at its Woods Hole Film Festival premiere, visit www.littleaudrey.org.