By Chris Goldberg
Phillylacrosse.com, Posted 1/16/12
With the opening face-off (release) of Crooked Arrows only three months away, the key officials of the much-anticipated movie held a press conference Saturday at the US Lacrosse National Convention in Philadelphia.
The night before during the keynote speech, the official trailer for the first full-length lacrosse movie was shown to the packed ballroom crowd of several thousand people.
The trailer can be found by clicking here.
The Crooked Arrows facebook page can be found by clicking here.
The Crooked Arrows “team” can be seen here.
The press conference featured producers J. Todd Harris and Mitchell Peck and Onondaga Nation lacrosse legend Neal Powless, who helped connect with the Iroquois lacrosse community in getting the support of the Onondaga Nation. Also taking questions was the movie’s lead actor, Brandon Routh, who plays the coach of a down-and-out team that rebuilds itself and stunningly challenges for the New York state championship.
Harris and Peck noted that the lacrosse community has adopted the movie with much support.
“It’s great to know we have a built-in audience,” said Harris, who has produced 37 films.
“Everybody wants to see us succeed,” added peck. “You look at our Facebook page and you see an unbelievable amount of support.”
Routh has played the role of Clark Kent/Superman in Superman Returns, received a crash course on lacrosse. He said the movie will appeal to lacrosse fans/players as well as those who are not familiar with the sport.
“I think it’s a heartwarming story about Native Americans and shows you about culture and history,” Routh said. “That’s the heart of the story; how that meshes with lacrosse.
“You can go to the movie for lacrosse, but you’ll stay for the story. Everybody else that goes to the movie for the story will like the story and see there is a beauty and passion to the sport of lacrosse in the way the players play it.”
Added Harris: “It’s a father-son story. The best movies are never really about the sport, they are about the journey – the team and the coach …This is familiar enough to people, but it’s unique enough that people haven’t seen it before.
“It’s the misfits vs. the establishment, as in Mighty Ducks, Hoosiers and the Bad News Bears. The movie satisfies that storyline, it’s very relatable.
“It also beings home truths about the Native American world.”
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