The 2024 Thriller, Amber Alert: A True Story Behind the Film
The 2024 thriller, Amber Alert, has a fascinating backstory that made it more than just another typical thriller. The film, starring Tyler James Williams and Hayden Panettiere, tells the story of two characters, Shane and Jaq, who get an AMBER Alert during a rideshare and try to find the kidnapped little girl. The film had the potential to be a great thriller, but some elements made it fall short.
The story is rooted in truth, with a background that makes it unique. Amber Alert was inspired by a true story – the director’s own experience. Kerry Bellessa, the director, got an AMBER Alert on his phone while driving from Los Angeles to Phoenix with his wife. He was so affected by the message that he wanted to find the person being looked for and looked for the car, but unfortunately, they didn’t find it.
That experience inspired the idea for Amber Alert, and Bellessa knew that it wasn’t the safest idea to look for the alleged abductor’s car, but to him, it was a question of what the right thing to do. The film and Bellessa’s real-life experience differ because the protagonists in Amber Alert actually found the car and the person behind the kidnapping, at great risk to themselves.
Bellessa’s experience made him want to tell a story about what he had gone through, but bringing his vision to life wasn’t as easy as he thought it would be. Initially, he had grand ideas for how his movie would take shape, even wanting the Award-winning Cinematographer, Emmanuel Lubezki, to be part of his project. However, the director didn’t have the money to make the movie at the time.
What resulted was a found footage version of the film in 2012, which received very little recognition, before he remade his own movie as the one he always wanted to make. After 10 years of trying, Bellessa and the film’s writer, Joshua Oram, finally succeeded in bringing Amber Alert to life.
