It's a surprise box office hit -- a film called "I Can Only Imagine," where Dennis Quaid plays one of the most nightmare-ish of fathers imaginable.

  • 'I Can Only Imagine,' based on true story
  • MercyMe frontman penned hit song, namesake of movie
  • Dennis Quaid plays 'nightmare-ish' father 

The thing is, it's based on a true story.

Bart Millard is the lead singer of the Christian band, MercyMe. He penned the mega-hit song, "I Can Only Imagine." But fans may not know just what Millard's journey had been leading up to his rise in fame.

We spoke one-on-one with Quaid just before the film came out. A portion of our chat is below, but video of the full, uncut interview is embedded:

ALLISON WALKER TORRES: In the film, it's easy for us to get really ticked off by your behavior. [Allison rolls a clip of Quaid' character throwing a young Bart to the ground]. I mean, Dennis, when we were editing this to make that clip part of this segment, man, it's just really hard to watch. What's the deal with this abusive relationship?

DENNIS QUAID: That, which you just showed there, was probably the hardest thing to watch, I would say, because Bart's father was an abuser -- verbally, physically, and emotionally throughout his childhood. He made Bart feel bad about himself, which is the greatest crime, if you ask me. Abusers were usually abused themselves. That's still no excuse ... I think it was divine intervention, really, that came for Bart and that came for Arthur. God shows you a path and that path sometimes is very, very difficult ... But it lead them to a place at the end of life where Bart did forgive him.

AWT: In one of the first scenes, your character was told that he had cancer. Your work shirt had Bart's dad's name on it and Bart himself, truly, just lost it. Do you recall that?

DQ: Bart was actually -- the real Bart -- was on the set while we were shooting. Wow, it was brave. The courage it took for Bart to tell his story to begin with made us want to get it right -- not to sensationalize it or give it a nice, little, clean Hollywood sparkle.

AWT: He didn't want it to be sugarcoated either, even though it was a faith-based film.

DQ: No, in the end, he was satisfied, and he's proud of it as well.

AWT: "I Can Only Imagine" is the kind of song people go to for comfort and inspiration. Is there a song, Dennis, that gives you "glory"-bumps when you need them the most?

DQ: Everybody's got those. I have several of those songs from different decades and different times in my life. When I hear them, it always takes me immediately right back there. It reminds me -- it brings back those feelings. "I Can Only Imagine" was written by Bart about his father, you know, about seeing him in heaven. It's very specific, but what makes it such a popular song is that when you're listening to it, you make it personal to your own life. It hits you in a place where you have no words. I think that's what made it such a great song.

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW: DENNIS QUAID