The problem I've generally found with the writing in most sports movies, and it's why I haven't done them, for the great and most part, they are written from the fan's point of view and not written from the player/coach point of view. This is what Ron Shelton and I talked about when we were talking about getting together to do a baseball movie, which he ended up doing called “Bull Durham.” The great thing about baseball, I said to him, is baseball is the only sport played by men for women. All other sports are played by men for men, that I know of. Because [with] baseball players, we'd just as soon have 50,000 women in the stands. We couldn't care less if there was a guy there. But football is a gladiator game, they want men [chanting in the stands]. Baseball players like to look good in their uniforms and run around the bases and say, “How's it going?” They want to be cool. That's what they're about. And Ron wrote it from, which in that regard was the point of view that you really need to understand baseball, the point of view of the woman who is with the ballplayer. That's the point of view to write a baseball story, which is why “Bull Durham,” I think, is one of the best made.
I don't read them often and I don't like doing them often because I know it's #1) written from a fan's point of view, #2) directed from a fan's point of view, and #3) and the most disgusting of all, played from the fan's point of view. What's good about this movie is that you've got a guy who's directing it, who's a really good football player and is not a fan of hockey. He has a player's understanding. You've got a coach who has a player’s understanding, [who] played baseball professionally, who's not going to look at it as a fan. And you have the guys playing the parts [who] are not actors that want to be hockey players. They're hockey players that were cast in a role that the director believed he could work with them as actors. So that's why the movie looks credible.
Is hockey an emotional sport for you?
Yes, it's on an emotional level for me. I have been involved deeply in sports for most of my life, either as a player or as a father with a son who's a player. Last year, it was so exciting when we were in the playoffs and we went into double overtime games. When you lose a double overtime game, it hurts. You know the effort they put in and you know how badly they want it. That's what I think is great about sports, it's an unknown outcome, and therefore you get excited. You don't know what the next moment is going to provide. I understand a lot of people don't care for sports that much in that way. But if you can tell a story, any story that shows just how hard somebody is going after something, the whole story can be about a kid building a kite that has to fly for 60 seconds at a certain altitude to win a little pin, but if you love that kid and you see how much…if you surround the story with his efforts, then we all do that thing which is the best in movies, we relate. I think the reason this movie does have that kind of emotion is that I think we've all tried for something so hard that we can relate to that feeling. That, a lot of screenplays don't have.
Congratulations on becoming a grandfather and having the baby named after you. How do you feel about that?
I was very surprised and by surprised I mean, I had never really thought about that. In never having thought about it, it made me say, "Well, that really does mean a lot to her, that really does mean a lot to me." And it meant a lot for me about Chris, as well. It's one of those things in my life I never said, "Gee, I hope some of my kids put my name with…" I never thought it about. It just was not a thought, so it was a complete surprise and I'm beyond being honored. It means the world to me. I'm just really happy about it.
ADDITIONAL “MIRACLE” CAST INTERVIEWS:
Nathan West / Eddie Cahill and Jim Craig / Billy and Buzz Schneider
Additional “Miracle” Resources:
“Miracle” Photo Gallery
“Miracle” Trailer, Credits, and Websites
