Filmmaker Mitch Davis had it all. He had accomplished his dream of working in Hollywood on such classics as “The Dead Poets Society”, “White Fang”, and “Newsies” but something was missing. Working in a film studio required long hours that often kept him away from his family – a wife and three children. And even when he was home, he often wasn’t really home. “I realized that my family was suffering,” Davis said as he recalled those years. And he knew that something had to be done. And he created movie The Stray.
He thought that perhaps a dog would help but his wife wouldn’t have it. Instead, she told him that the only way she’d accept one into the family is if it just showed up as a stray. And so a few weeks later, a dog followed their son home and they took him into their home, naming him Pluto.
“[Pluto] set about kind of healing our family in odd wars,” according to Davis, “When you get a dog, you start taking walks…together.”
Eventually, the Davis family moved away from Hollywood and settled in Colorado with Mitch taking a job in sales. But that didn’t satisfy him long. He continued writing scripts on the side, occasionally selling one such as the 1993 Disney Channel movie, Windrunner.
While in Colorado, Davis took his two sons and their dog Pluto on a camping trip. While in the wilderness, a storm overtook them and lightning struck the tent where they were sleeping, leaving Davis unconscious.
This experience plays a prominent role in the recently released movie The Stray. It’s a faith-based movie that Mitch Davis wrote and directed based on his family’s experience with Pluto.
Movie The Stray follows the Davis family through their trials and shows how God can even use animals to speak to and heal us. Davis described this aspect of the film in a recent interview. He said, “Dogs perform that function of unconditionally loving us, which is really what the Lord does. He unconditionally loves us and is there for us and forgives us, and I think dogs do much the same thing. There’s something very Christ-like about that story.”
Speaking specifically about Pluto, Davis said, “The Scriptures teach that we have all entertained angels unawares, and whether or not God specifically sent Pluto, there’s no question that he performed an angelic function in our family. He healed us and saved us emotionally and physically.”
You can see movie The Stray for yourself at a theater near you, it was released on October 6, 2017.
Also read: The Star, New Holiday Christian Animated Movie Features Celebrities
