The Color of Rain(2014) Based on the lives of Michael and Gina Spehn

The movie is so beautiful.  I hope people get to watch it.


While consoling each other over the recent loss of their spouses, a man (Warren Christie) and a woman (Lacey Chabert) grow close and fall in love.

Matt Kell's homecoming was Christmas Day 2005.  In February 2006, six weeks after Matt passed on, Cathy Spehn joined her Maker. Matt was prepared and even made a digital video diary for their boys, to guide them while growing up.  Cathy's passing was not expected.  She was hospitalised due to a headache, but before she expired she told her husband, Michael, to call Gina Kell. He didn't call Gina Kell, but told her after Cathy's memorial service. 

The movie is based on their blended family's story.  Michael and Gina had many hurdles to jump before they could be a family.  Of course, those non-judgmental people had a lot to say 
like it was too early for them to be connected.  The in-laws and their dearly departed spouses' friends had some comments too. The long and short of it, they were able jump those hurdles and now they are one happy family.  

Yes, yes, yes.  Those may be spoilers for you, but this is about real life...their journey.

The book this movie is based on
Photo from Google images

Michael and Gina Spehn with their children
Source



From imdb:
When Matt Kell, husband and father to two young boys, succumbs to terminal cancer on Christmas day 2005, his widow, Gina (Lacey Chabert) is left to cope with the pain of his loss. Wanting to be close to her kids, Gina starts to volunteer at their elementary school and meets the Spehn children, Jack, Danny and Charlotte. In a tragic coincidence, just weeks after Matt’s death, the Spehns' mom, Cathy, was also suddenly taken by cancer, leaving her distraught husband, Michael (Warren Christie), to care for their three kids on his own. Sensing the hopelessness in Michael that she so recently saw in herself, Gina reaches out to him and his kids and the two families begin to forge an unlikely friendship.

During the year that follows, the lives of the two families become intertwined as they learn to lean on each other, beginning to heal with laughter, compassion and faith.
As Gina and Michael realize their newfound friendship is so much more, they struggle against some surprising resistance from their families and community to unite their two grieving families as one and eventually learn to open their hearts to love again.


The Real Spehn-Kell kids and the Reel Spehn-Kell children

Directed by 


Anne Wheeler

Writing Credits (in alphabetical order)  


Gina Kell...(book)
Nancey Silvers...(screenplay)
Nancey Silvers
Michael  Spehn...(book)

Cast (in credits order)  


Warren Christie...Michael Spehn
Lacey Chabert...Gina Kell
Callum Seagram Airlie...Danny Spehn
Seth Isaac Johnson...Drew Kell
Matthew Kevin Anderson...Matt Kell
Alex Zahara...Pastor Karl Galick
Jim Thorburn...Marty
Sean Michael Kyer...Sam
Patrick Gilmore...Red
Logan Williams...Jack
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Wendy Abbott...The Soloist
Kwesi Ameyaw...Mike
Lisa Durupt...Colleen
Allyson Grant...Cathy Spehn
Susan Hogan...Michael's Mother
Maggie Ma...Waitress
Alison Thornton...Charlotte Spehn
Gwynyth Walsh...Gina's Mother

THE SOUNDTRACK:
Rainbows In The Sun
 by Peter AllenAnne Wheeler and David Hudgins
Working Together
by Peter Allen and Anne Wheeler 
Rainbows In The Sun
Written by Peter AllenAnne Wheeler and David Hudgins 
Working Together
Written by Peter AllenAnne Wheeler and Sean Hosein 
No Mail
Written by William Boston 

An Evening In Venice 
Written by Peter Allen 

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