‘Lucy Shimmers and the Prince of Peace’ is a drama film that centers around Lucy Shimmers, a five-year-old girl who dreams of meeting a sad man. With all her focus on the dream, Lucy begins writing a book on the same. But her work comes to a halt when she goes down with a sudden bout of pneumonia around Christmas time. Once at the hospital, Lucy runs into Edgar Ruiz, a convict who is undergoing treatment for kidney failure.
Believing Edgar to be the sad man from her dreams, Lucy sets about to befriend him. Directed by Rob Diamond, the 2020 film stars Scarlett Diamond and Vincent Vargas in the lead roles. The film finished production just before the COVID-19 lockdown and is all about the importance of hope. But is the heartwarming film based on true events? Read on and find out!
Lucy Shimmers and the Prince of Peace is an Original Story
No, ‘Lucy Shimmers and the Prince of Peace’ is not a true story. Written by Rob Diamond, the story is based on an idea the director had about a little girl with an illness and a sad man in December 2019. “This one [the screenplay] poured out of me in about three weeks, I was in pre-production in no time and we filmed in March [of 2020]. The whole process was magical from the beginning; a little bit different from most of my films,” Diamond told Fox 13 News Utah.
A Christmas film about faith, ‘Lucy Shimmers and the Prince of Peace’ leans heavily into the motifs of forgiveness and mercy through belief in God and the teachings of the Bible. But the theological aspects aren’t so heavy or in-your-face that they take away from the actual story — that of an unlikely but beautiful friendship that forms between a convict and a little girl. In the role of the little girl is director Rob Diamond’s own granddaughter, Scarlett Diamond.
In a conversation with ABC 4, Rob Diamond revealed how he believes that Scarlett “carries 80 or 90 percent of the movie.” “She had been interested in film–movies ever since she was little. She had expressed that she wanted to be in my movies, so I would teach her and it was just the natural process when I wrote the script for her to play the lead,” the director said. He also said that how Lucy Shimmer’s character is in the film is exactly how his granddaughter is in real-life — curious and loving.
Another important character that drives the story forward alongside Lucy is Edgar Ruiz (Vincent Vargas), who becomes the catalyst through which ‘Lucy Shimmers and the Prince of Peace’ sends out its message of love and forgiveness. Vargas, an army veteran turned actor, told Pure Flix how he is typecast as usually the bad guy because of his imposing physique and tattoos, and so was pleasantly surprised when Rob Diamond approached him with the role. “I think it is more powerful for a guy like me [someone with his large build] be able to reach some of those emotions that are honest…” the actor said.
Vargas continued, “…and I think for the viewer, I think it hits different, you know. That’s why I appreciate the opportunities like that [playing Edgar in the film]. “Despite being a fictional story, ‘Lucy Shimmers and the Prince of Peace’ resonates with audiences everywhere. Its message — of hope, faith, forgiveness, love, and the belief that people, no matter how bad they are or have been, can always change for the better — is one that everybody who watches the film will take it with them in their hearts.
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