On April 15, 2013, two homemade bombs exploded in Boston, near the finish line of the city’s famed marathon. Three people died. Hundreds were injured. Sixteen people lost limbs. In the movie Stronger, which premieres this month, Jake Gyllenhaal portrays survivor and double amputee Jeff Bauman, who came to embody the motto that emerged after the tragedy, “Boston Strong.”
The movie, based on his book of the same name, dramatizes Bauman’s recovery and his path back to walking.
“It’s a story of what it takes to move beyond a dark place into light, into hope, into life,” says Gyllenhaal, who spent months with Bauman to prepare for the role. The two are now close friends. Bauman, 31, considers Gyllenhaal an older brother.
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