Based on the real life story of amateur golfer Francis Ouimet, The Greatest Game Ever Played is a tried and true sports story of an underdog overcoming the greatest odds to win 1913 U.S. open. You know how the movie will wind up, but the charm of Greatest Game is in the telling.
Director Bill Paxton – who surprised audiences with his intensely horrifying directorial debut Frailty in 2002 – first heard about the story of Francis Ouimet when he was given the script by Disney. He was impressed by the story, but noting the Disney connection to the project, didn’t believe it could be for real. He went on to read the book, written by Mark Frost, and was convinced. This wasn’t just the story of a golfer, this was a classical story of triumph that could appeal to anyone – if it was done right.
Paxton found his perfect Francis in Shia LaBeouf, insisting that the young actor undergo intensive training to emulate a golfer and recreate the exact motions of Ouimet. Stephen Dillane plays Harry Vardon, the villain, if you will, who is actually not so much a villain at all, but rather a rival in sportsmanship that shares a very similar past to Quimet. Rounding out the cast is a possible star turn from 11-year-old Josh Flitter, who plays the young caddy, Eddie Lowery, who was with Francis every step of the way.
Paxton also took the focus away from the quiet game on the grass and moved into the psyche of the players. He adds some camera trickery and CG-enhanced effects to spruce things up. The result is a very compelling flick, even if golf normally bores you to tears.
IGN FilmForce was on hand in Toronto recently to speak with Paxton and LaBeouf about pulling the film together and the fantastic true story of Francis Ouimet.
“When I read this [script] the first time, I didn’t even know there was a book,” Paxton says with a broad smile. “I didn’t even know if Eddie was real – I was like, ‘Disney? He’s right out of Central Casting. He’s one of the Seven Dwarfs, that’s not even a real character.’ And when I finished reading the script, I wrote ‘suspenseful, inspiring, charming, could be a classic’ on there; I still have the script. I then I found out there was a book, and when a filmmaker can get a hold of a book that backs up a story with all the kind of research that this guy did, and what a great guy. I think Francis Ouimet is somewhere looking down at this undertaking from the moment Mark realized this could be a book about this watershed moment that could have been forgotten.”
“The first challenge was taking a book that’s a dual biography, the story of Harry Vardon looms large, it’s amazing. He came from real adverse circumstances, he was sold into servitude at age 11; he had to live under stairs in a room without a window for three years in some doctor’s house. These were people who had to fight hard to realize their dreams, persevere and have incredible determination. But how do you tell that story; Stephen Dillane, who I had worked with on Haven, I knew he was the guy to play Vardon, he plays golf. But I didn’t make this movie for golfers, I made it as a movie-lovers movie.”
LaBeouf adds that this was the approach Paxton first presented to him: “Bill said, ‘Okay, go watch Bagger Vance. We’re not making that movie, at all. That slow progression; the only thing they did in Bagger Vance was film golf. ‘We’re not going to be filming golf, we’re going to be filming the mind of a golfer.’ So it was more intense, every day we were there, it was more intense. One day, he said to me, ‘We’re going to make the quintessential golf movie and maybe one of the best sports movies of all time.’ I would go, ‘Come on Bill, come on, don’t jinx us.’ And now here we are… Strange. Here’s the thing – Matt Damon for Bagger Vance trained for two weeks and golfers knew it, Jim Caviezel for Bobby Jones trained for three weeks and golfers knew it; I trained for six months and golfers came in and thought I’d been playing since I was a child.”
“I was doing virtual reality training,” LaBeouf continues. “We only had one video, the speed was off, but it was Francis’ swing… It was a motion capture of his swing and we would put it in the virtual reality machine and I would swing and try to match his swing and I would do that for hours… Because with hickory clubs that bend, there’s more movement in your shoulders in how you dip; and with the balls, there’s a completely different swing. We had mashes and nibblers; now they have drivers and it’s a completely different game… But even more than golf, that was one aspect of the film we wanted to perfect. How often do you see a sports film where the villain isn’t vilified? Harry Vardon was Francis, they were very similar; you don’t see that in sports films; it’s almost more interesting. I remember thinking about Francis, who fell in love with this man, Harry Vardon and his words, and how he held himself… Francis just needed something to love, it could have been Frisbee across the street, he would have [fallen] in love with it; he wasn’t getting love from his father. He needed that, he needed golf; it could have been any sport, he would have been the best at it, he was that driven.
“And then I had to go into research of Francis; he really is one of the greatest athletes of all time and what they contributed to their sport. Francis contributed to his sport more than any other athlete contributed in their sport, ever.”
“It’s so visually cinematic,” says Paxton. “When you create that, you create it for your audience; you let them have the feeling of what it must be like to be there. And in a movie, you can’t forget the audience; I don’t want to go to an objective movie. I took so many crazy chances, I could lose my audience, but I had to take that gamble. Cause I’ve seen guys take it the other way and it just looks like paint drying. But I’m getting some criticism for that, by the way, and you know what I say to that: ‘Bring it on!’ I’m also getting comments like, ‘I don’t even like golf, but this movie was fun to watch.’ But it’s such a tough sell. I come from a long line of drummers and I’m still selling. But I’m proud as a peacock of this thing, I really, really am; and I’m proud of a guy like Shia LaBeouf, who’s done some good work, but in my movie you see an actor coming of age. You almost see an actor maturing in front of your face. That’s a great performance. I saw some early comments where it said people didn’t even think this existed. I said, ‘Get the picture, guys [of the real Francis and Eddie], get it in front of people so they can say this is totally for real, this is totally for real. My father had lunch with Eddie Lowery in 1965.”
LaBeouf adds, “I remember when Bill said we’re going to shoot the mind of a golfer, and the mind of a golfer makes the ball a character; there’s scenes when Vardon’s ball is here and the fairway is there, and the trees, and it goes through the trees. There are no words said, but you know the thought process. That’s good filmmaking; it’s good filmmaking when you don’t have to say anything and you can still tell the story. 95% of communication is non-verbal, 95% of the communication in this movie is non-verbal. Francis doesn’t talk that much, Harry Vardon and Francis really don’t talk that much, but you can sense love, respect, and admiration, that’s great directing, cause you only talk when you need to narrate something, you only talk when you need to direct your audience. What’s cool is when you’re able to give your audience imagination and you don’t have to cage them in like animals.”
