You may have read about Alma Richard’s historic Olympic journey in stories from Saints, Vol. 3. And now, you can watch the inspiring story come to life on the big screen.
Alma is the first person from Utah to win an Olympic medal. He took home the gold for the high jump in the 1912 Stockholm Olympics. Alma’s home was in Southern Utah in Parowan, a town of just 1,100 people at the time. Alma’s faith plays a central role in his story: a silent prayer right before his winning jump helped him clear the bar and take the victory.
When one of Alma’s friends later teased him about praying before the jump, Alma quietly said, “I wish you wouldn’t laugh. I prayed to the Lord to give me strength to go over that bar, and I went over.”
The new movie about Alma’s epic journey is called Raising the Bar. Director T.C. Christensen—beloved for his Latter-day Saint films like Escape from Germany and 17 Miracles—gave LDS Living a behind-the-scenes look at the new film.
A Personal, Heartfelt Story
One reason T.C. is excited about this movie is that Alma is his grand-uncle.
“I had heard about him my whole life,” T.C. says. “I met him when I was nine years old … and he had a real effect on me. … For me to make a film, it has to move from your head to your heart. And that’s what happened with this film: I began to love it and love the characters and have a real desire to make it. I could see it before it was.”
But that doesn’t mean that T.C. and his crew didn’t face some challenges. Casting, in particular, presented obstacles that T.C. believes heaven helped them jump over. Here is a behind-the-scenes look at a casting miracle that made all the difference in making T.C.’s vision a reality.
This Is Not the Right Alma
T.C. knew that finding the person to play Alma would be crucial for the movie’s success.
“He had to be an athlete and an actor and the right age, and the audience would have to love him. I knew it was going to be tough,” T.C. says, adding that the movie’s relatively small budget also limited casting options.
After some searching, T.C. did find an actor he was satisfied with and cast him for the part. Then, just a few weeks before filming was set to begin, T.C. went with the actor to get some high jump training from a Brigham Young University track coach. And that’s when T.C. knew this actor wasn’t right after all.
“Within five minutes, I could tell that this guy wasn’t an athlete. He was a nice guy, but he wasn’t going to be able to pull off the athletic elements we needed,” T.C. says. He knew he’d have to let the actor go. He cried in his car, not knowing if they could find another actor in the three weeks before filming started.
T.C. did some searching for a few days before the name Paul Wuthrich came to mind. He had worked with Paul on previous movies but didn’t know if he’d be interested or available.
“This was miraculous,” T.C. says of what happened next. “Not only was Paul interested and willing, he took the job with less than three weeks and hit the gym and made a huge difference [in looking like an athlete].”
Raising the Bar: The Story of Alma Richards will be in theaters through the Intermountain West in April 2025. Learn more about the movie and showtimes at raisingthebarmovie.com.
Watch the trailer now below.
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