Summer Coda director to helm Aussie Rules film
Richard Gray, writer director of Summer Coda and the American Thriller Mine Games will direct Blinder, a film about AFL, romance and scandal.
Written by Gray, Scott Didier and Michele Davis-Gray the film is in the vein of Friday Night Lights and Bend it Like Beckham, but with a Sherrin, about an ex-footballer plagued by scandal who returns home after a long absence to clear his name and falls in love.
Casting is currently underway for the feature which will begin production in Torquay, Victoria on February 20, 2012 before moving to Boston Massachusetts to finish filming.
Gray, and Didier will produce with Virginia Kay and Bryce Menzies (Malcolm, Death in Brunswick, Two Hands) alongside AFL greats Glenn Archer, Adrian Gleeson and Sam Kekovich.
As a genre sport rules the small screen – Q is – how do you successfully transfer this domination in features? Guess we’ll soon find out?
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I’ve been hoping for a solid AFL feature for years. It seems like a sure thing, yet a good footy movie has yet to be made as far as I’m aware.
I worry about ” a film about AFL, romance and scandal.” Will the romance pull the women in to make this film a blockbuster, or do the opposite and scare off the male audience? And EVERY time I’ve ever seen ‘scandal’ as a movie theme in the log line I’ve been disappointed by the resulting film. Scandal is an emotion, it’s not a good character journey. I’m not sure what place it has in this film; but of course we’ll give Mr. Gray the benefit of the doubt and see what he is able to create.
Hoping for the best here, but this could be another failed footy feature. If producers want to get it right, keep the theme simple. Look at how derivative the American football film ‘The Replacements’ was – nearly every trope in the book (eclectic cast of characters, underdog wins it all story). Yet it made solid returns at the box office. Make a footy feature, keep it simple, the crowds will come. In my opinion a romance and, yuck, scandal heavy plot could ostracise your target market.
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if The Cup has shown us one thing, it’s Aussie’s don’t want to see sports films in cinemas. Why pay $20 to watch a movie about the Melbourne Cup when I can watch the REAL Melbourne Cup for free?? Why go out and watch an AFL movie when I’ve just watched 3 games over the weekend??
I hope the filmmakers prove me wrong. Then again, did anyone else find Summer Coda to be the slowest, most pointless movie in the recent crop of slow, pointless Aussie movies? I mean, come on, it felt like it was directed by a 90-year-old grandma!
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Telling the wrong sports stories…
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You’re an idiot Nolan
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Australian’s want to watch sport stories. And any good story has a bit of drama, no doubt. But when you make a sport story and focus on the drama, romance and “scandal” you are most likely missing the mark.
Put sport first, and your story telling devices second. That’s the #1 lesson I wish Aussie film makers would learn. High concept sells tickets. A mish-mash of sport/drama/romance/”scandal” is almost guaranteed to fail.
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@ Brian.
What constitutes a good “sports” story? Check out Jerry Maguire – “show me the money”. What you suggest “is possible” – above was based upon ” local “(US gridiron) football – story first – charactors second. Don’t look solely at present – this code (AFL) enjoys a rich & colourful history full of charactors & stories streaching back over many generations (rich pickings). Take living national treasure RB story -take his old man even better – take em in tandem? (war & football).
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PS Brian.
Engage with “Slammin Samy” & write a comedy ?
Guys an under rated satirical genious – could play a bit too.
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Any given sunday..Al Pacino and Oliver Stone..one of the best sports films ever made, or at least shot, Mister Gray would do well to stay away from the slow burn of drama used in Summer Coda, he could learn a lot by watching that film or This Sporting Life with Richard Harris.
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Apparently there’s another good one waiting in the wings – Moneyball – blends (connects) technology with sport.
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