It’s morning, and very promptly the junket begins.
First up is Jay Hernandez, who grew up in the town next to mineand went to the same private school as one of my friends. Standardwere the questions about his past. If he played any sports in highschool, if he got to know his character before filming and of coursehow he felt when he got his break (in the second season of MTV’sUndressed).
“I knew when I got my break I had to take it because it might notcome around again,” Hernandez said. “College I can always go backto.”
An offhand remark, however, would set the informal theme for therest of the junket.
“This isn’t just a movie about an old guy playing baseball,”Hernandez said.
After a quick anecdote about getting a ball to the face on thefirst day of filming, Jay’s time is up and there area few moments before the next talent comes in. The rest of the tablemakes small talk about who is going to interview whom at the ScreenActors Guild Awards after the junket. One reporter says shephotographed the cast of Six Feet Under and says that RachelGriffiths is really nice.
Dennis Quaid walks in before Jim Morris and quickly goes into thebathroom and throws a cigarette into the toilet. Jim joins him at thetable and the questions start. Dennis has had experience bringingpeople from real life to reel life, and when Jim is asked if he feltthat the movie was true to his life, Dennis answers for him: “If wewould have put everything that happened (to Jim) it would have been a10-hour movie.”
Dennis is asked why he chose to do a baseball movie. He says hedoesn’t think of it as a baseball movie.
“Sport movies aren’t just about sports,” Quaid said. “Field ofDreams wasn’t just about baseball.”
Jim talks about his new career as a motivational speaker, and Iwonder what baseball has to do with faceless corporate drones. Apublicist or somebody walks in and the two have to go, but not beforea ballsy reporter tries to get Dennis to talk about his family byasking him how important it is to him to make movies for families.Dennis weasels out of the question without it even fazing him andthey leave.
Rachel Griffiths starts off by letting us know that the button onher pants is broken and that it keeps popping open. She is Australianand talks about the similarities between Texas and her nativecountry/continent.
“Everybody from Texas that I’ve talked to who’s gone to Australiahas loved it because (the two places) are so similar,” Griffithssaid.
“I don’t know if any Aussies have ever gone to Texas, but they’dprobably love it.”
She is next asked about her character,
the strong Texan woman who doesn’t “need a man to run a house.”
“Idon’t like to meet the people I portray,” Griffiths said. “We’re notmaking a documentary we’re making a film.”
And, again, she talks about the reasons she chose to do a baseballmovie.
“I don’t think of this as a baseball movie,” Griffiths said. “Idon’t consider this a movie about baseball anymore than I thoughtHilary and Jackie was about music. This is a movie about drama, thedrama of life.”
Someone’s tape recorder runs out of batteries and she picks it upand hands it to the owner. Before she is rushed off, she talks about”making it as an actor” in Australia.
“If you’re lucky you get a commercial that’ll get shown inAustralia,” Griffiths said. “If you’re luckier you get to do someAussie TV and maybe an Australian movie. No one ever goes out andsays ‘I’m going to get discovered by Hollywood.'”
Before Angus T. Jones comes in, his chubby blond rep comes in andhe tells us what to ask him and what not ask and how to keep thelittle boy’s interest. The young thespian apparently enjoys talkingabout the fake poo that was used in the diaper scene and the new StarWars movie. The tiny cherubic actor sits surrounded by adults andlooks nervous. He plays with the tape recorders and shakes hisdangling legs. Disturbingly, when he is asked a safe question aboutthe movies he likes, he says he watches movies “for the blood.”
John Lee Hancock says he loves old baseball movies, which is whyhe wanted to make a good one.
“Like Pride of the Yankees and Field of Dreams and all thosemovies that go so much deeper than the sport they’re about,” Hancocksaid.
He said he wanted to make the movie realistic without it being abiopic. “Dennis being left-handed (like the real Jim Morris) was atotal coincidence,” Hancock said.
“I wouldn’t have deliberately looked for a left-handed actor ; orlike in Pride of the Yankees where they switched the negatives sothat Gary Cooper would throw with the correct arm.”
Another thing that made the movie a better experience for John wasconsent from Major League Baseball.
“[MLB] saw it as an opportunity to give themselvespublicity and we got to use the team names so it wouldn’t end up likethat baseball movie Keanu Reeves made,” Hancock said.
At about 10:45 p.m., the whole thing is over and after taking thethree bottles of Perrier that the junket people put out, I grab mythings and leave.
The Rookie is in theaters now.
