Apparently director Kevin Smith (Mallrats/Clerks/etc) is a hockey nut and is developing a moving based on his passion:
Anyone who has been following Kevin Smith on Twitter, or listening to his Smodcast podcast (highly recommended), then you know that the New Jersey-born writer/director has recently become obsessed with the sport of Hockey and Wayne Gretzky (edit: Smith has always been a casual fan of the sport, but it has recently been taken to an extreme). But it isn’t just a pastime for Smith, he’s also developing a movie which he hopes to have in production in the next two years.
The project is based on the Warren Zevon song, Hit Somebody (The Hockey Song), which was co-written by sportswriter and Tuesdays with Morrie author Mitch Albom, and featured the backing by The Late Show’s CBS Orchestra, anchored by Paul Shaffer.
The song, Smith explained to MTV, is a “very wonderful, soaring, moving story that’s also bittersweet and very, very funny, about a hockey player who just wants to play hockey, who loves hockey so much, but just sucks at it. The only thing he can do to be on a team is just be the enforcer, just be the guy who goes out there and beats the shit out of people.” The film adaptation will be set in the late 1970s right before the World Hockey Association was absorbed into the NHL, “during the last gasp of the goon era of hockey when it was all about fighting.”
The song has been one of Smith’s favorites for years, and he’s always wanted to make a movie based on it. He calls the film his “passion project” and says that while he never thinks about winning awards, “that project I think could do it.” It sounds like Smith thinks he’s onto something. It’s the most excited I’ve heard him be about a project in a few years.
The more hockey movies the better!
Fire away - this got me thinkin... what is your favorite hockey movie? For me it comes down between Slapshot and Miracle.
-LTL
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4 comments:
I like Slap Shot and Miracle for different reasons. Slap Shot is hilarious and zany. Miracle is a heart-warming story of teamwork and passion. This sounds like it has the possibility to be very enjoyable. Thanks for keeping us aware, LTL!!
Slap Shot is, of course, an American icon of zaniness now. Having recently read Dave Hanson's book, it endears the movie to me even more.
Miracle is really well done, and is probably a better technical movie in the sense of cinematography, etc. Also recently read a great book on the 1980 Olympic team, The Boys of Winter, which gives a really nice 360 degree view of the guys on the team, within the context of a literary slow motion review of the USSR game.
So, I am inclined to agree with Max, that they are both wonderful movies, just in vastly different ways.
A third movie you should try and get your hands on sometime is The Rocket, about Maurice "Rocket" Richard. Canadian made, done in French, but available on DVD with English dubbing, it is a great look at hockey of that era, and the discrimination French-Canadian players had to endure in the NHL.
Movie Trivia -- What do Slap Shot, Close Encounters of the Third Kind and A Christmas Story all have in common?
A: Melinda Dillon (In Slap Shot,bi-sexual wife of the goalie, who Newman sleeps with before the game; In CETK, the woman who goes with Richard Dreyfus to Devil's Tower; and Ralphie's mom in Christmas Story.
--JAL
A Shot From The Point
OK... so if we automatically discount movies with animals, then how many hockey movies are left? There's Mystery Alaska and, um... IMDb lists 67 more but most don't look like prime-time stuff (Don Cherry's Rock Em, Sock Em Hockey 10). Any great story lines that we're missing?
BTW, if you are a hockey parent and haven't seen the Candian series titled "The Tournament" then put that on your list for this summer. There's two seasons, the first is more kid friendly. Both are edgy. I dare any hockey parent to watch this and not assign at least half the characters to people they know. Too funny.
My favorite and its cheesy is Youngblood. In fact I have it on my DVR in HD when it was on MGM HD on new years eve. I'm not erasing it ever.
Mystery Alaska is another quirky movie with hockey. Slap Shot is in my dvd collection of course. An awful film with a hockey backdrop is Touch and Go with Michael Keaton. Its been playing the last month on Showtime. I watch and laugh.
Dean Youngblood #10
Hamilton Mustangs
P.S. My sweater is available online now at icejerseys.com/youngblood
Sorry no French-Canadian Keanu Reeves sweaters available
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