Abhiroop Das
Helmed by Alex Kendrick, ‘Overcomer’ follows the student-coach dynamic between Hannah Scott, a cross-country runner with Asthma, and John Harrison. But John doesn’t start the story this way, as he is actually a basketball coach who is pushed into this new field under the risk of losing his job altogether. With Hannah’s personal life directly shaping her performance on the field, John soon finds himself running out of answers. However, a chance encounter in the hospital with a former cross-country athlete, who is now blinded, turns out to be the push John needed all along. Every bit of their conversations about the sport, faith, and interpersonal relationships helps both of them improve their lives, and that has a positive impact on Hannah’s path towards victory. Franklin General Hospital serves as the backdrop, as well as the binding agent in this entire dynamic.
A Real Hospital in Columbus, Georgia, Doubles as the Fictional Franklin General
While Franklin General is a fictional hospital penned by Alex and Stephen Kendrick exclusively for ‘Overcome,’ it was taped in a real hospital in Columbus, Georgia. St. Francis-Emory Healthcare, situated at 2122 Manchester Expressway, was turned into the invented hospital by the crew, allowing for authentic on-site filming of several crucial sequences. As the movie is faith-driven by nature, the team decided to film on location as a way of involving the local population in its creative processes. As such, over time, it turned into more than just the backdrop to the movie and soon became an active part of its visual language and storytelling. Still, besides its lensing site, Franklin General does not have any real-life inspirations and is made from scratch to address the movie’s contemporary concerns.
Notably, the crew’s selection of St. Francis-Emory Healthcare as the filming location is itself tied to the movie’s thematic message. In a conversation with Ledger-Enquirer, Stephen Kendrick recalled scouting for hospitals in Columbus when he stumbled upon St. Francis. While checking out the fourth floor, he met his aunt, Carole Collins, who then introduced him to Thomas, the pastor of the most prayed church in The Fountain City, who happened to be in the middle of his hospital rounds. This chance meetup then turned into a game-changing collaboration, as not only was the pastor’s church turned into a filming location, but the crew also set up camp in St. Francis, with the pastor becoming a recurring presence during the production process. Stephen claimed that this entire exchange was a divine appointment of sorts, with faith guiding him and the crew to the perfect spot to film the hospital.
Franklin General Adds to the Worldbuilding of Overcomer
The movie references Stephen’s meeting with the real-life pastor within its narrative, which sets the tone for how the real-life location is repurposed for the story. With more than 75 years of service, St. Francis boasts approximately 376 beds and around 300 doctors, making it a fully equipped hospital well-known throughout the city. For the purposes of ‘Overcomer,’ however, it is likely that the creative team only relied on a small portion of the hospital to capture all the necessary sequences. The exterior shots of the institution were also filmed here, with the possibility that some of the interior scenes were shot not in the hospital, but in an artificial soundstage co-created by the W.C. Bradley Company and Columbus State University. Such a lensing approach likely helped the movie find a balance between authenticity and flexibility.
Although the name Franklin General is fictional in nature, it might have its roots in real life as well. The name is notably shared by a hospital in Hampton, Iowa, as well as on Franklin Avenue in New York. However, neither of these institutions is likely to have any direct connection to the hospital depicted on screen. Instead, the establishment may be a composite of the various health facilities that Stephen Kendrick and the rest of the team researched and potentially incorporated into the movie. That way, the crew was able to capture a very real take on hospital life and how it connects to the larger story of ‘Overcomer.’
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