Film remembers bus crash, celebrates community
Plans for a new feature film about the Notre Dame community are currently underway. It is the third movie ever to be granted permission by the university to be shot on campus.
Entitled TWO MILES FROM HOME, the film recounts the tragic bus crash of the Notre Dame women’s swim team on January 24, 1992. That night, the team’s bus slid on a patch of ice on the Indiana Toll Road two miles away from the Notre Dame exit.
Two freshmen lost their lives in the accident: Meghan Beeler and Colleen Hipp. Another freshman, Haley Scott DeMaria (’95), was paralyzed in her lower body. She overcame her paralysis to swim competitively again in 1993.
The movie is based on DeMaria’s book about the crash and her subsequent comeback, WHAT THOUGH THE ODDS: HALEY SCOTT’S JOURNEY OF FAITH AND TRIUMPH.
DeMaria said that the book and the movie both honor Beeler and Hipp.
“My teammates live on through my story – and the more people who read the book and see the movie, the more people will know how inspiring Colleen and Meghan have been to me, all my teammates, and many others,” she said.
“When I competed again for the first time, I swam two events: the 50 freestyle (a Meghan specialty) and the 100 butterfly (Colleen’s stroke),” she added. “I knew they were right with me the entire race.”
DeMaria turned down a number of movie offers while she was in college.
“I was still dealing with and healing (emotionally and physically) from the accident. I did not have enough time or perspective to be able to turn my life story over to the movie industry,” she said.
After publishing a story true to her teammates in her book, DeMaria said that she now hopes to inspire as many people as possible through a movie. She has collaborated with screenwriter Dan Waterhouse for a number of years and is currently partnered with a company in California to work with a film studio on a major theatrical release.
“Any person [or] company I work with needs to have a belief in the story and the integrity to tell it the right way,” she said.
The movie will also celebrate the Notre Dame and South Bend communities, both of which gathered together to support DeMaria and the rest of the women’s swim team after the accident.
“From the thousands of prayers, to the thousands of letters and cards I received from alumni and friends of ND; to professors, staff and administrators visiting me in the hospital, I was never without the love of the ND family surrounding me,” DeMaria said. “Not to mention my teammates…the coaches…academic services…I could go on and on.”
“The ND family still cares about how I am feeling and how I am doing – and how much that means to me cannot be measured or defined,” she added.
DeMaria also described the South Bend community’s support for her. The staff at Memorial Hospital of South Bend who cared for her continues to reach out to her. She also remains close friends with the Indiana state trooper who was first on the scene of the accident.
DeMaria noted that when her mother was staying at the Morris Inn after the accident, strangers in Notre Dame and South Bend let her know that they were praying for her family.
“Everyone – at ND and around South Bend – has always been so caring towards me, and I am so grateful for that,” DeMaria stated.
One of the lessons that DeMaria hopes audiences will take away from the movie is the importance of community.
“Tragedy will touch your life and change it forever…and you can still be happy and have a meaningful life when it occurs,” she said. “None of this is easy or comes quickly, but it does happen when you have a supportive and (I believe) faith-filled community supporting you.”
She also hopes the movie will teach the value of positivity in the midst of adversity.
“[E]ach of us can wake up every day and find something to be upset about – and something to be happy about….Focusing on the blessings gives me the strength and perspective to face my challenges with a positive attitude – which is the only way to work through them,” she said.
Details on the cast and release date for the film remain uncertain as DeMaria and her partners put together a package to present to various film studios.
The University of Notre Dame celebrated a memorial mass on the twentieth anniversary of the bus crash on January 24. University President Rev. John I. Jenkins, CSC, presided. Rev. Edward A Malloy, CSC, president emeritus of the university, delivered the homily.
Michael Mercurio is a junior classics major currently studying in Rome, where he feebly attempts to become an Italian gentleman. Send him an e-postcard (or inquiries/comments about the article) at mmercuri@nd.edu.
