Walking into a New York City pharmacy, Scott LeRette had no idea how life was about to change for him and his family.

LeRette, author of "The Unbreakable Boy," mentioned to the pharmacist he was an author. Later, that pharmacist mentioned it to actor Peter Facinelli.

"My brother-in-law told me about this guy who wrote a book and that I needed to turn it into a movie," said Facinelli, known for his roles in the "Twilight" movie series and TV's "Nurse Jackie."

"A guy will tell him a joke, and he'll say, 'You need to make a movie,'" said Facinelli, adding a smile.

But, this time the idea resonated with him. Facinelli, who is also a producer, bought a copy of the book and quickly read it. Wanting to develop the book into a movie, Facinelli reached out to LeRette. The two men quickly developed a friendship.

"What a wonderful story," Facinelli said. "I'm a dad, and I really connected to it. Such a beautiful, inspirational story, very vulnerable story to tell from Scott's perspective of his life."

While the movie "The Unbreakable Boy" was released to theaters nationally on Feb. 21, cast members and the LeRettes have attended red carpet premieres in Oklahoma City and New York. Marcus Theaters hosted a red carpet event at Bellevue's Twin Creek Cinema Feb. 12.

Austin LeRette - "The Unbreakable Boy" - works at Twin Creek Cinema. It's the perfect job for the movie fanatic. Among his favorite movies are “The Big Lebowski” and “Justice League.” Marcus Theaters will show the movie.

Prior to filming, Facinelli and Scott LeRette discussed ideas about turning the book into a movie. Another suggestion was to create a television series based on the LeRettes' story.

"The writer attached to it got a job writing for another series, so we decided to hold off for six months until he was done," Facinelli said. "Then season two was announced."

The duo considered delaying production for another six months or asking for the rights to be returned to them so they could pursue other options, Facinelli said.

"I liked the idea of waiting another six months since we had the deal in hand, but Scott wanted it returned," he said.

It turned out to be a good move, as Lionsgate and Kingdom Story production companies picked up the option and agreed to make the movie.

The story of "The Unbreakable Boy" dates back to 2014, when the book was named as a New York Times best seller.

The book has been adapted into a movie of the same name. The story follows the LeRettes’ family journey in its struggles handling son Austin’s brittle bone disease and autism.

Scott LeRette, a recovering alcoholic for about two decades, started jotting down notes and anecdotes of the family's experiences in handling Austin's medical challenges.

"It was purely for selfish purposes," LeRette said. "That's the best way to describe it. I had hit that low, that rock bottom. I thank God every day, though, that my rock bottom wasn't more bottomy. Because I could have died. I cheated and had God on my shoulder that last night, the last night that I was the way I was at that time. I started going to meetings, and that's when my faith started kind of trickling back. The embers started."

As part of his self-therapy, LeRette began keeping journals, penning his thoughts to paper.

"It helped me to get these thoughts out of my brain," he said. "It was just bullet points in little 3x5 spirals, and it turned into more than that. I graduated to bigger spiral notebooks. They were my feelings. They were my ideas. Some were extremely difficult to write down. Some were hilarious. And, you know, I amused myself with my own wreck of a life."

The more he shared his thoughts in his journals, LeRette said he realized there was more to the situation than just his story.

"What would come to be was realizing that our family was as broken and flawed and messed up as could be," he said. "And only later on would I realize how everybody's got that certain amount of dysfunction in their own family. I have yet to meet a person who is not broken, and it just evolved."

The LeRettes have faced several challenges over the years, including Osteogenesis Imperfecta, which is a genetic brittle bone disease that wife Teresa and some of her siblings, as well as Austin, had been diagnosed, and also Austin's autism.

"Austin got a cast off, and we got home and he tripped and he broke an ankle, and we were back in the same hospital," LeRette said.

The family has a three-pronged method to handle the stress arising from the situation, LeRette said.

"If I could boil it down the essence of the strength and the ability to kind of move forward and continue as three things," he said. "It would be God. It would be love. And the one that people might not expect, though, and I think it's as big as the love aspect, is humor. Because if we didn't laugh at things so much; it's sustained us, as well as having God in our life.

"But there were times where Austin would break a bone, or something would happen that I think the average person would look and go, 'Oh my God,’ and scream, but Teresa would be like, 'You take care of it. I'm eating a sandwich.' It just become so commonplace with his bone disease and his heart problems, with the surgeries and things like that."

The book soon came together, and LeRette found himself becoming a best-selling author. It would lead to a life-changing meeting with Facinelli.

Once the movie was approved, Jon Gunn agreed to write the script and direct "The Unbreakable Boy."

Zachary Levi, who starred in the television series "Chuck" and later movies such as "Shazam!" and "American Underdog," said the script intrigued him. Levi portrays Scott LeRette in the film.

Looking for a new project, Levi said he was given synopses of several movies, but it was "The Unbreakable Boy" that spoke to him, he said.

"Honestly a lot of jobs find me," Levi said. "God blesses me with these things. And this was a little movie that could."

The movie was greenlit to begin filming in 2020, but the movie industry - just like others around the world - shut down because of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Levi was itching to work, though.

"It broke my heart, because I thought we were about to go and I needed the work," Levi said. "Me and everybody else. We're not working, and it wasn't even just financially. I mean, it was like, mentally and emotionally. When you're just sitting around like we all were, and not being able to be productive and create and do what you do."

Taking a chance, Lionsgate agreed to film during the pandemic, Facinelli said.

"At one time, we were the only film being made in 2020," he said.

Scheduled for national release in early 2022, Lionsgate decided to delay its release, Facinelli said. "To their credit, they realized the public wasn't yet comfortable returning to theaters and they didn't want to see the movie fail," he said. "But, the longer it was delayed, you get to wondering if it's ever going to be released or just become a lost movie."

With its release in February, Facinelli said he believes moviegoers will embrace "The Unbreakable Boy."

For Austin LeRette, he's excited to share his story on the big screen. He celebrates movie characters with tattoos, including one of Superman on his back and Batman on his left arm.

Known for wearing a colorful court jester hat, LeRette said its message is simple - be yourself.

"I feel like the jester hat stands for hope," LeRette said. "It stands for anyone to wear a hat and wear it so that the people think you get made fun of. Don't listen to that person. You focus on yourself and always wear it so you can maybe inspire others if they want to wear a hat that's goofy."

Tim Trudell is a freelance writer and online content creator. His work has appeared in Flatwater Free Press, Next Avenue, Indian Country Today, Nebraska Life, Nebraska Magazine, Council Bluffs Daily Non-Pareil and Douglas County Post Gazette, among others. He is a citizen of the Santee Dakota Nation.