"From The Rough" Trailer

Screenwriter and executive producer Michael Critelli pens an interesting guest item for Huffington Post about his golf film, From The Rough, featuring a pretty decent cast. It's due this fall.

Let's take the best of what golf offers, figure out how to break it into bite-sized pieces, and deliver it to a broader population. As our film project progressed, we realized that it had to focus on the aspirations of people who had not been given an opportunity to succeed to take full advantage of the chance that participating in a college golf and academic program would give them. It is not about golf excellence, but about being given access to what matters for life success.



Comments

[Tommy Naccarato]

I would give anything for the Coen Brothers to do a Golf/Country Club related movie. It would outcaddy, CaddyShack.

[GeoffC]

No way. That is like saying a film could out marx the Marx brothers. It just is not going to happen.

[Kelly Blake Moran]

Wow.....Golf and Radiohead. This could be great!!!!!!!

[Claude]

A fall release? What about summertime date night?

[JRP]

I give it a 9 on the Doak cheese-factor scale.

[Bob]

That looks horrific.

[Average Golfer]

Sleep aid.

[Tommy Naccarato]

GeoffreyC,
But when you think about it, a Coen Brothers Country Club/Golf movie would have it all, murder, strange characters, film noire, golf noire--it could even be captured during a time frame of the 1940's, giving it that typical Coen Brothers feel.

I'd green light it!

[RickABQ]

Does this movie cover the Sean Foley years at Tennessee State? If so, I hope they show the neuroplasticity course classroom scenes - that would be great.

The problem with this trailer is that it is supposed to make you want to see the film - this one doesn't. If I owned the distribution rights I'd insist on a new one.....

[Used to be Former S&T Convert]

Based on a true story is always BS. Hollywood takes a good story and ruins it trying to appeal to a broader market demographic, happens over and over again.

[Andy]

As someone who has done trailers, this is horrible. Mind you, it could be the movie they have to work with, but it should be at least one minute shorter. Movie theatres (with rare exceptions) do not accept anything over 2:30 and the fact that someone thinks that this trailer works at this length is jaw-dropping.

[LiquidKaos]

@Andy -

Agree. Also...a lot of the location "single-person" shots seem....weak. Lighting, I guess...they just looked like they were shot on the fly.

Golf shots look good though...they used my idea of a steadicam/glidecam rig for golf! YAY - that guarantees I won't get a camera gig for one of the broadcasters, lol...they should use it during telecasts...with a proper zoom lens and a decent operator, there could be some AMAZING visuals.

Sigh....well, at least someone will get the opportunity to make it, and I'll get the opportunity to watch, lol.



-LK

[Andy]

Liquid Kaos:

The cameras today are amazing, but if you can't augment that with the proper lights and grip equipment, it all for naught. Shooting black people outside in full sun, you need a lot of light pumped in there so that things don't get too contrasty and the trailer had a number of those shots.

[LiquidKaos]

@Andy -

The extra light would be frontal on the subject? To make more of an even mix with the sun-drenched background/surrounding?



-LK

[Andy]

right. it seems counter intuitive, but you have to blast the light in with full sun. it gets more delicate when you have a dark skinned and a light skinned person in the same frame. the darker person has to be slightly ahead of and closer to the key light.

[Ky Laffoon's Ghost]

Finally clicked on the link at the end of a long day...Oh, my. This one will give "Atlas Shrugged, Part I" a run for its money.

RickABQ: LOL. But I'm gonna have to be neuroplastered to watch this thing.

[LiquidKaos]

@Andy - makes sense....last thing I made was too many years back (unfortunately)...but it was a rap music video for film school, and there were a few interior shots that we ran into the same thing. It's funny, the outside night-time shots where we blasted a light into the subjects face (thus making it look like dogshit on the live monitor) looks like gold in post.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AwIIJnQeTiQ

Be kind...it's a horrible rip of the DV footage, and it was our first real project. Won an award for Best Music Video (Student) in Canada though, lol...


Cheers,


LK

[Troglodyte]

From Follow the Sun to Dead Solid Perfect to Caddyshack to Tin Cup to Happy Gilmore to Bagger Vance to The Greatest Game Ever Played to this, another piece of treacle, I have consistently been disappointed with golf-themed movies. Based on this trailer the string continues. I know, I know... everybody loves Caddyshack. There were funny moments. But, really, ugh. When will it be there's a movie with real-looking golf swings? I keep waiting for Golf in the Kingdom, but Sean Connery's getting too old and I'm sure the swings will look like the county driving range. Bah humbug.

[Ky Laffoon's Ghost]

Indeed, Troglodyte.

When I first read Golf in the Kingdom it was clear that only one actor could play Shivas Irons. For whatever reason Murphy and the movies waited too long. But there is supposed to be a Golf in the Kingdom movie, and David O'Hara is a fine actor. Malcolm McDowell (O.B. Keeler in the Jones movie) and Frances Fisher, too.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1448497/

[LiquidKaos]

@KYG -

As a member of SIS (Shivas Irons Society), I was invited to a screening of the movie...unfortunately, I couldn't afford a flight to California from here in Canada, so I missed out, lol.

@Trog -

You forced me to look up "treacle". Much obliged.

IMHO (and I'm a new golfer....but a student of the game)...Costners' swing in Tin Cup looked pretty good. However, calling Cheech the "Mexican Mac O'Grady" was just a solid kick in Mexico's sack. :)

Off the top of my head, I think some of the issues may lie with not wanting to create a movie that "just golfers" will want to go see. That's a tough one.

-LK


PS - Someone should make a new Hogan movie.

[RickABQ]

Ky -

Looks like we won't have to sit through "Atlas Shrugged: Parts 2 or 3", so that is a bonus!!!...

http://www.balloon-juice.com/2011/04/27/the-free-market-is-a-cruel-mistress/

[Ky Laffoon's Ghost]

@Rick: Shucks! I was going to watch it when it appeared in my free list of movies on Amazon, too. I honestly can't remember how Atlas Shrugged ends. I'm down with the Fountainhead (blowing things up and all that) but I can't remember what happened to Dagny and Rearden. Not that I care to be reminded, but without the two sequels I'll never know. Darn.

[Troglodyte]

@LiquidKaos:

You know, you are right. The best golf movie ever would be about Hogan. Consider the pathos; His father commits suicide. He comes from absolutely no money, He's good at golf, He caddies, He enters what was then the equivalent of the poker shows on ESPN, He does OK, then he's wiped out when he does a head=on with a bus that cripples his legs because he falls across his wife to protect her. Then he goes on to become a legend. Follow the Sun just didn't do it justice. Backtracking a bit, maybe no movie can. Yeah, he turned into a mean, nasty, semi-recluse in the end. But not as bad as most portray it.

These days, most of us alive forget or don't know what Hogan was about and the crippling affect it had on his legs and the immense fortitude it took for him to win those Opens in the early 50's. Wood's performance at Torrey Pines certainly approached those heroics. It remains to be seen whether Eldrick has the same guts to finish out like Ben did. Goodness knows he has the money and resources.

[Ky Laffoon's Ghost]

At least one person had a good experience with Ben Hogan later in his life. Kris Tschetter has written a nice story about her relationship with "Mr. Hogan" while she was a junior member of Shady Oaks, and later during her early days as a professional. Recommended: "Mr. Hogan: The Man I Knew." I just checked. On Amazon the book is 26/26 for 5-star ratings. Somebody else likes it, too. There's your movie.

[RickABQ]

@Trog -

I read your post regarding golf movies just before coming home from work, and I walk in the house and what's on the TV at home? Happy Gilmore. Of course it is totally implausible and stupid, but you gotta love the scene where Adam Sandler and Bob Barker throw down. Plus, Furry Creek GC also looked amazingly good and well-photographed there.

[RickABQ]

Has anyone actually seen the Golf in the Kingdom movie? I know there have been screenings at a few places.....

[LiquidKaos]

@KYG -

Hey! I recommended that to you, I think! :) Did you get a chance to read it?


@RickABQ -

Happy Gilmore was good - way over the top, but funny as hell. As for GITK - I know a few people that have seen it...I'll check for some opinion.



-LK

[AL P]

RICK, looks like we missed the private screening. Anyone from CA go?

Mindy Affrime, producer of Golf In The Kingdom and The First Tee of Los Angeles invite you to a private advance screening of Golf In The Kingdom on Valentine’s Day, February 14th. The film will begin at 5:00 at the Landmark Theatre at 10850 West Pico Blvd. Los Angeles, CA 90064.

After the film, VIP guests are invited to join us at the Landmark’s Wine Bar to meet Mindy Affrime the producer, Susan Streitfeld, the director, and members of the cast including David O’Hara, Mason Gamble and Tony Curran, Frances Fisher, Julian Sands, Jim Turner, JoAnne Whalley, and Malcolm McDowell, as well as friends from the PGA & LPGA Tours. The Golf Channel analyst and UCLA Golf Hall of Fame member Kay Cockerill will be your host for the evening.

TICKETS
Golf In The Kingdom Exclusive Screening only…………………..$25
Golf In The Kingdom Shivas Irons VIP Package…………………..$75
Includes: Exclusive screening with preferred seating VIP after-party (cast/crew Q&A, silent auction) One daily ticket to the 2011 Northern Trust Open

All ticket sales benefit The First Tee of Los Angeles. A non-profit junior golf program committed to bringing golf and life skills to youth of all back grounds.
To purchase tickets go to www.thefirstteela.org or call 213-680-8002.

Please join us for what the San Francisco Chronicle calls, “A masterpiece on the mysticism of golf.”

[RickABQ]

Al P -

Ahh, the problems of me not living on either coast and being so far away from cultural centers! I wonder if/when the film will ever go into "wide" release, and by wide release I'd be happy with a one-day showing at our local "arty" movie house down by the UNM campus. I assume at least at some point it will go to Netflix and I can get it there.

LK -

If you hear anything I would be interested in getting the reviews.... I loved the book.

[Ky Laffoon's Ghost]

@LK: Yes, I have read the Tschetter book. It is good. Don't know how much Steve Eubanks had to do with that. His recent book on J. Douglas Edgar was a fairly good period piece. Seems that Mr. Edgar probably had TW Disease and it got him killed. In the South in 1921 that would have been justifiable homicide among certain folks.

So, if GITK is "A masterpiece on the mysticism of golf" but is still in the can with no public release date available, then it must be a total stinker?