The Boys of Summer - Second Base, sequel to the award-winning first documentary, began principal photography on March 13, 2014. We need your help. Please visit our kickstarter page and share it with your friends and family.
I watched "The Natural" once again this morning and was reminded why it's one of my favorite movies -- not just baseball movies, but all movies. It's a throwback. It's classic. It is beautifully metaphorical - and for fans of the book, no, I'm not arguing the movie is better. I think they're both brilliant. It takes a deft eye and ear to take a beloved book like Allan Malamud's and do it justice on the big screen. It means purposely leaving out things the medium of film doesn't do well (e.g. internal dialogue) and highlighting the things it does (e.g. visual metaphor).
Redford is at the top of his game. And for those who only see him now or haven't visited his work in a long time, it's worth remembering how great he was. He is simple, quiet and deeply powerful. He's athletic, but not in a way that calls attention to itself. Modern presentations of male athletes usually involve a man taking off his shirt and a cutaway to a woman's eyes growing large. The Natural is far more than skin deep. Good and evil are at play. So is the love of a father and a son through their vehicle: baseball. The onus of great natural talent, what it is to have it, be glorified then nearly killed for it.
Which brings me to one of my favorite exchanges between Redford and Glenn Close in a script littered with spectacularly sharp dialogue:
Iris Gaines: You know, I believe we have two lives.
Roy Hobbs: How... what do you mean?
Iris Gaines: The life we learn with and the life we live with after that.This can speak to anyone who has experienced adversity. In the scope of Boys of Summer, it certainly speaks to the number of people I've met with Parkinson's. For me, too, there's the life before my parents got sick and the life since. I've gone from assuming my health to putting it at the forefront of my consciousness and my work. Boys of Summer opened an avenue of advocacy with my talent, my gift for story telling through the visual medium, that I continue to work. I'm far from a Natural. But I do have great passion and persistence.
In The Natural's DVD extras, there is a documentary featuring Cal Ripken Jr.. He was clearly a man with a gift and a deep love for his father who coached both Cal and his brother Billy to MLB careers, along with many others. Cal speaks about the tragedy of the talent that is wasted by those who don't put in the work and the glass ceiling that blocks those without the great talent, but scores of passion and persistence. One of the reasons I'm pursuing the sequel to Boys of Summer is to shatter that ceiling that currently resides above me. That and return to graduate school for my MFA in filmmaking in the fall of 2014, expanding my network and squarely pushing me into the marketplace where I believe I need to be - not just for me, but for my family, too.
Another great moment in The Natural between Roy (Redford) and Iris (Close) speaks to another important theme of Boys of Summer. Roy has just seen Iris, his childhood love, for the first time in 15 years. He is at her apartment. He discovers a baseball glove - her son's baseball glove.
Iris Gaines: It's my son's. He means the world to me. He's a great kid.
Roy Hobbs: I'll bet he is. I'd like to meet him.
Iris Gaines: He's coming pretty soon.
Roy Hobbs: Is he with his father?
Iris Gaines: No. His father lives in New York. But, I'm thinking he needs his father; he's at that age. He needs him.
Roy Hobbs: Sure. A father makes all the difference.
That last line is true in more ways and words than I know how to put together. I know what my father has meant and continues to mean to me. He is strength, dignity and love. He is kind, compassionate and very thoughtful. He works hard but goes about it without anyone noticing. He does it because he believes it's the right thing to do. And yes, for those who remember the old Quaker Oats ads, Wilford Brimley is in the Natural, too. I do my best to be that kind of dad to my two kids every day.
I'll address this at length in another blog, but I want to make one thing clear: this proposed follow up to Boys of Summer isn't a call for someone else to foot the bill for a family vacation. Anyone who would propose that is simply ignorant of the film, the process of making a film, the potential impact of a film, my history and ability as a filmmaker and my personal commitment to make a difference in the lives of people who participate in and watch the film.
One final quote:
Roy Hobbs: My life didn't turn out the way I expected.
Another example of the universality of the themes in the film. I don't know anyone whose life has turned out the way they expected. That doesn't mean the people I know are particularly sad or happy. It does mean that for all we like to control or pretend we're in control of, we're really not. There are moments - far too few precious moments - where we can dramatically change the direction we are headed if we are brave enough to go up to the plate and swing the bat. Here's to hoping we knock the cover off with the sequel to Boys of Summer...and that you'll help us get to the plate.
The Boys of Summer - Second Base, sequel to the award-winning first documentary, began principal photography on March 13, 2014. We need your help. Please visit our kickstarter page and share it with your friends and family.
