“A Bird of the Air’” starring Jackson Hurst and Rachel Nichols is movie based of Loop 820 in Dallas. (Photo courtesy of Richard Foreman, Jr. )

As we sit down, Joe Coomer, author of the novel “The Loop,” on which new release “A Bird of the Air” is based, jestingly asks me if I know what his connection to The Daily Campus is.

I was aware that he graduated from SMU with an English and creative writing degree, but worried that I might have neglected to research some integral background information on Coomer – did he run the paper when he was here?

Was he involved in some epic The Daily Campus scandal once upon a time?

I reply with a genuine air of surprise and interest, inquiring as to his connection.

“I wrote articles for the paper,” he says with a devious smirk, “but only because my college girlfriend was the editor.”

Jackson Hurst, who plays the lead in “A Bird of the Air” and is known for his role as Grayson Kent on “Drop Dead Diva,” also got his career start at SMU.

A business graduate from Baylor, Hurst received a call from a high school friend who was in need actors for his senior thesis project.

Completely unaware of what the auditioning process entailed, Hurst showed up “in a wife beater. With [his] dog. To audition for the role of an accountant.”

This is the first novel of Coomer’s that has made it through production and into theaters and this is Hurst’s silver screen debut.

Hitting such a marker makes Coomer “feel undeniably cool,” while Hurst mostly feels as if he is in “a constant state of stress” with the onslaught of press days and talk backs, and the frightening possibility of forgetting the name of someone

important.

A long-time Fort Worth resident, Coomer got the inspiration for “The Loop” one night when driving home on Loop 820.

As he passed a grassy median, his headlights landed on a courtesy highway patrol man. The patrol man was burying a dead dog.

This episode sparked an interest with Coomer, who couldn’t help but wondering what sort of person would take on such a job.

Weeks after, a woman came into one of Coomer’s antique stores and began buying up any and all of his parrot figurines. When asked if she had a bird of her own, she replied in the affirmative and told Coomer that her bird “looks people in the eye and says ‘I’m an eagle.'”

Years later, those two simple stories inspired a powerful message of hope that became what Hurst calls “a serious film about human beings.”

While Hurst points to the importance of the deep themes explored in the film, he also laughs about what it was like to work with the animals on set.

“Everyone warns you about working with kids and animals,” Hurst said slyly. “I have a cosmic connection with animals…but you still get bit a lot.”

As for wearing that obnoxious orange jumpsuit day in and day out? “I never want to see the color orange again,” Hurst said.

“A Bird of the Air” is now playing at The Angelika Theater.