The Good, the Bad and the Rugby
Roar Guru By marc miller, 17 Aug 2009 The Crowd is a Roar Guru
- Tagged:
- All Blacks, clint eastwood rugby, International Rugby, Nelson Mandela, Playing the Enemy: Nelson Mandela & the Game That Changed a Nation, Rugby Union, world cup rugby
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- Rugby Union news
- International Rugby Union - Six Nations, Heineken Cup, Rugby Championship news
- New Zealand All Blacks news
December 11, 2009 is slated as the US release of Invictus, the Clint Eastwood movie focusing on the 1995 World Cup Rugby and based on the novel Playing the Enemy: Nelson Mandela & the Game That Changed a Nation.
Morgan Freeman stars as Mandela while whispers are emerging that Matt Damon may be in Oscar contention for his portrayal of Springbok captain Francois Pienarr.
Eastwood, a self confessed diehard rugby fan, whose directing efforts have bought in more than 1 billion dollars at the box office and resulted in 2 of his 5 Oscars has proven to be a master behind the camera during his long and impactful film career.
Eastwood is a no nonsense director who is renowned for his strong story-lines and the ability to capture and emote action scenes – so can we expect rugby to be filmed and portrayed on big screen, unlike anything we have ever seen before?
Cinematographer Tom Stern is DOP and has worked alongside Eastwood in Gran Torino, Changeling, Flags of our Fathers, Letters from Iwo Jima and Million Dollar Baby, so we have some idea of the richness of quality to expect.
The story revolves around rugby and the climatic scenes centre on the final between the Boks and the All Blacks.
Eastwood knows his US audience has no idea about the rules of rugby – and in most cases no knowledge about the sport at all.
So we should expect that Eastwood is going to have to present rugby in such a manner that the US audiences are able to comprehend and understand what is going on.
Many cite the reason that rugby has been unable to gain traction in the US is simply because the viewing public have no idea what is going on. Eastwood’s film is going to gain a large audience, most likely all the way through to the Oscars, and is going to make rugby a topic throughout the US.
Who would have thought the tipping point of taking rugby into the American market – and perhaps bringing big funding into the sport – may just have come down to Clint Eastwood.
Now that Makes My Day.
Recommend this story.
August 17th 2009 @ 8:56pm
Working Class Rugger said | August 17th 2009 @ 8:56pm | Report comment
As they say any publicity is good publicity. And Invictus will create very good publicity. I’d imagine it would have alot of inspirational moments. Would be interesting to see if this movie wins any awards.
August 17th 2009 @ 9:07pm
Working Class Rugger said | August 17th 2009 @ 9:07pm | Report comment
Ben J
It would be interesting to see if there is a flow on effect from the movie. Clint Eastwood, Matt Damon and Morgan Freeman should get a lot of attention from the media and public. Supposedly their are some social stigma’s Rugby has in the States. Hopefully this movie will help break those down, bringing the game into the mainstream.
August 17th 2009 @ 10:01pm
mcxd said | August 17th 2009 @ 10:01pm | Report comment
and Mike Catt stars as the speedbump.
August 17th 2009 @ 10:41pm
allblackfan said | August 17th 2009 @ 10:41pm | Report comment
Stash, where did u get Dallas from? I heard it was Denver — members from the Denver Sports Commission have already held talks with the NZRFU in Wellington earlier this year
August 17th 2009 @ 11:16pm
Steffy said | August 17th 2009 @ 11:16pm | Report comment
Should be an amazing film. The world needs to know how the union authorities in South Africa worked to fight against Apartheid since its start and how noble amateurs from other countries such as New Zealand fought side by side with South African union in order to dismantle the apartheid government.
August 18th 2009 @ 1:13am
Spencer said | August 18th 2009 @ 1:13am | Report comment
Oh Steff, you poor miserable sod.
August 18th 2009 @ 4:54am
Kristjan Sigurjonsson said | August 18th 2009 @ 4:54am | Report comment
woow!!! I´m looking forward to December 11, 2009. I have my own fan site about Clint Eastwood. You ca check it out if you like.
Clint Eastwood
August 18th 2009 @ 7:54am
Ziggy said | August 18th 2009 @ 7:54am | Report comment
Just finished looking at some stats – surprised to see that Kobus Wiese was actually bigger than Jonah! I’m sure that Clint will overcome all those technical problems. Could give a hell of a boost to Rugby in the US for sure.
August 19th 2009 @ 10:23am
Lorry said | August 19th 2009 @ 10:23am | Report comment
Spencer – why would you call Jeff a ´poor miserable sod´? Are you Russel Fairfax in drag? (see below)
He´s utterley correct in recognising the achievements of Union players in bringing down apartheid..
A few years ago I saw a great documentary about some Sydney Uni (I think) Wallabies who refused to play in the Bok tests of ´72 (?) in Sydney – actually my Dad remembered some of them!
Anyway, after those guys gave up their Wallabies jerseys (they were never selected for Australia again and, I believe, are owed an apology for this), the Whitlam government announced a ban on all sport with South Africa (making us the first country to really make a stand against racist Sth African apartheid).
Im really excited about this movie – I remember that great moment between Mandela and Piennar. Even though I was young I sensed how important it was when Piennar said: ´ didnt have 43,000 South Africans, we had 43 million South Africans….´.
Going back to that ABC doco about the wallabies who refused to play the racially-selected Springbok side of 72: former Wallabies who still (in 2006) defended their decision to play against South Africa while others withdrew seemed a little pathetic, and just an inability to admit that the ones who withdrew made the right and righteous decision.
Russel Fairfax´s comment that: ´It was just a game of rugby, I couldnt see what all the fuss was about´, was just head-in-the-sand, conservative, GPS-old-boy crap. Sorry, but when you´re dealing with one of the most hideous regimes the world has seen, the old ´just-a-game´ line doesnt wash.
Well done to those brave, un-sung Wallabies, and Im looking forward to the film portrayal of the historic 1995 world cup.
By the way, Im not most worried about the height of Damon and the other actors – but rather the accents: who in the world can copy that old High-Veldt geezer who does the commentary on Super and Trinations sometimes: you know, the guy who speaks reaaaaaalllllly slllooooooowlllly and says ´SpringBUKS´!!!!!!
August 19th 2009 @ 6:05pm
Spencer said | August 19th 2009 @ 6:05pm | Report comment
Lorry – you probably didn’t realize that Steffy was being (VERY) sarcastic. He was inferring that Rugby did nothing to end apartheid. Actually in South Africa this was true until 1995. If you read a bit more of the Roar you will know what Steffy is about. ( a Mungo with a hate for Rugby)
Stash – you’re right, it is Hugh Bladen. Poor old Hugh is pickled in Gin, and recently toppled off the balcony of a hotel in Durban. Fortunately he was so inebriated that no damage was done.
August 19th 2009 @ 11:01am
Stash said | August 19th 2009 @ 11:01am | Report comment
I think your talking about Hugh Bladen – he’s been commentating since 1976. He probably did call the World Cup (at least for the SA audience). I reckon Hugh is one of the better callers in rugby.
If so, then I’m pretty sure old Hugh would turn out for Clint Eastwood!