#A JOURNAL FOR JORDAN REAL SON MOVIE#

'I've heard from so many military families across the country who've said, 'Thank you for helping folks to understand what it's like to live this life and to have this kind of commitment to our country,'' she said.

What she really hopes, though, is that by sharing her story, she's helping to tell the tale of all military families and the sacrifices they make every day.

#A JOURNAL FOR JORDAN REAL SON MOVIE#

'I hope the movie might offer some hope for anybody who may be struggling with something in their own lives that you can get through it in time.'Ĭanedy said that, over the years, soldiers and civilians have told her how the journal and her memoir inspired them to start writing, too. 'The day he died, I collapsed on the hardwood floor screaming, and I didn't know how I was ever going to get up,' Canedy said. Summary: A Journal for Jordan is based on the true story of First Sergeant Charles Monroe King (Jordan), a soldier deployed to Iraq who begins to keep a journal of love and advice for his infant son. 'For everybody there, it touched them deeply.'Ĭanedy said she hopes the film will help anyone who's fighting to get through tragedy. It had his dog tags, and it had the actual physical journal and some other items to give a sense of us – of who he was – to remind them that there was a real soldier behind the story,' Canedy said. 'The first day we went to the set, I took a small duffel bag that had Charles' Purple Heart in it. She spent time on set and worked with Washington to get the smallest of details right, including the kind of car King drove and the moment she realized she was in love with him. Bringing Their Love to LifeĬanedy was a producer on the film and was involved in nearly every aspect of it, including screenwriting and editing. Jordan as King and Chante Adams as Canedy. Directed by Denzel Washington, the Sony Pictures film 'A Journal for Jordan' features Michael B. Thirteen years later, that tragic story of love, loss and legacy has blossomed onto the big screen. Within a year, Canedy released 'A Journal for Jordan: A Story of Love and Honor.' It quickly became a bestseller.

Then one of my colleagues sent me a note saying, 'Our readers will demand a book.' And that's what happened.' I want them to know about the journal, but I also want them to know what it's like when you get that knock at the door.' So, I wrote about it first in The New York Times as a story. 'I thought, 'I want people to know about him. 'After Charles' funeral, I went back to work, and I was like, 'I just can't sit here as though this didn't happen. To get through the grief, Canedy, who had been a journalist at The New York Times for a decade at that point, took to doing what she knows best – writing. Just like that, King's journal was one of the few items left that Canedy's son had of his father. King was in a convoy near Baghdad when a roadside bomb exploded, killing him. 14, 2006, their worst nightmare came true. 'And on the last page,' Canedy said, 'he essentially wrote a letter that said, 'This is everything I could think of to teach you to be a man if I don't make it home.'' There were anecdotes about the beauty of rainbows after rainstorms, as well as themes he touched on repeatedly: his pride in military service and how he expects Jordan to respect women.

A journal for jordan real son