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WILLIAM HURT CIRCLING "MEN OF GRANITE", STORY ABOUT BASKETBALL TRUMPING BIGOTRY IN SMALL-TOWN AMERICA
Deadline.com
May 8 2014
By ANITA BUSCH | Thursday May 8, 2014 @ 9:56am PDT
William Hurt, who two weeks ago dropped out of the Gregg Allman biopic
Midnight Rider after the tragic on-set death of camera assistant Sarah
Jones, is circling the basketball drama Men Of Granite written by new
scribe Armand Kachigian. The project was adapted from the book of the
same name by Dan Manoyan (a Milwaukee Sentinel sportswriter) and is
based on a true story of how a group of poor, immigrant high school
boys from the wrong side of the tracks rose above bigotry in 1940s
small-town Illinois by proving themselves on the basketball court.
There is no deal and his involvement is contingent upon financing.
The role that has Hurt's interest is that of a a high school coach
suffering a string of losses and resigned to never winning a game.
It's not until this band of Armenian-speaking kids take the court
that his passion for the game reignites. The project is set in my
hometown of Granite City, a steel town in Southern Illinois across
the Mississippi River from St. Louis. These families -- Markarian,
Hagopian, Parsaghian, Eftimoff -- are well-known names in the city. I
attended the same school with these hometown heroes' sons, daughters
and grandchildren. The city was a true melting pot both in terms
of culture and economic social classes. (It's also known for its
soccer program, which had the highest number of wins in the state,
and was started by another local hero, Ruben Mendoza, who played
in three consecutive Olympics for the U.S. That, in itself, would
make one helluva movie as this young man, who grew up in Durango,
introduced the game of soccer to the entire region.)
One of the basketball boys -- a Hungarian kid born Andras Fulop --
ended up playing 11 years in the NBA as Andy Phillip (most notably for
the Boston Celtics). The other boys were Armenian, Yugoslavian and
Macedonian. Not only did they elevate the game of basketball in the
state, but they earned respect and changed the bigoted attitudes in
the city -- a town settled by Western Europeans (Germans). The story,
which takes place in 1940, is currently in being culled together by
casting agent-turned-producer Valerie McAffrey (she is also Armenian).
No director is yet attached.
Kachigian is also from Granite City. The story of the 1940s state
champion basketball team is well known in my hometown -- these are
kids who played in socks, some so poor they didn't own tennis shoes
-- all from hardworking immigrant families who moved to the U.S. in
hopes of a better life. These kids were natural athletes in a town
of haves and have-nots and in a city with a basic misunderstanding of
their history. In fact, these boys had had to suffer the indignity of
being called "dirty" because of the complexion of their skin and their
obvious poverty. They were even, unbelievably, dubbed "The Terrible
Turks" before Prather and others set the coach and the media straight.
(The Turks, as everyone knows but some fail to recognize, committed
genocide against the Armenian people). A public elementary school
now bears Prather's name.
At one point, Granite City had the largest concentration of Bulgarians
in the U.S. and still today has a strong Armenian, Hungarian and
Croatian presence. It would be nice, for once, to see a movie about
Slavic Americans and families from Eastern Europe. Feel free to
correct me but I can't think of one movie made about this segment of
the population.
Hurt wraps The Moon And The Sun opposite Pierce Brosnan in June; it's
currently shooting in Australia. Hurt, who was seen last year in A&E's
Bonnie aAnd Clyde, also gave a helluva performance in 2013â~@²s The
Challenger Disaster movie for the BBC/Science Channel. It marked the
first foray for the Science Channel into original programming. Quite
frankly, I was just very surprised he didn't receive an award for what
was some of the best acting of his career. If you haven't seen it,
you should rent it. He played Richard Feynman, a brilliant physicist
known for developing the atom bomb in WWII and had many scientific
awards including the Nobel Prize in physics. Feynman, a man of great
integrity and a true independent, was on the elite Rogers Commission
empaneled by President Reagan to investigate the Challenger disaster
-- a team that also included Neil Armstrong, Sally Ride, and Chuck
Yeager (among others) -- and found the O-ring failure that led to the
catastrophe that killed seven people. He spoke openly about it and
put human lives over public relations and politics to make sure future
crew members in the space program would be kept safe. He later wrote
a book appropriately called What Do You Care What Other People Think?
If Hurt plays the role of Coach Bozarth in the Men Of Granite movie,
he would be portraying yet another man -- no where near as brilliant
-- but one with a heart who also helped change people's lives for
the better. He is repped by ICM Partners.
http://www.deadline.com/2014/05/william-hurt-next-role-men-of-granite-basketball-movie/
Deadline.com
May 8 2014
By ANITA BUSCH | Thursday May 8, 2014 @ 9:56am PDT
William Hurt, who two weeks ago dropped out of the Gregg Allman biopic
Midnight Rider after the tragic on-set death of camera assistant Sarah
Jones, is circling the basketball drama Men Of Granite written by new
scribe Armand Kachigian. The project was adapted from the book of the
same name by Dan Manoyan (a Milwaukee Sentinel sportswriter) and is
based on a true story of how a group of poor, immigrant high school
boys from the wrong side of the tracks rose above bigotry in 1940s
small-town Illinois by proving themselves on the basketball court.
There is no deal and his involvement is contingent upon financing.
The role that has Hurt's interest is that of a a high school coach
suffering a string of losses and resigned to never winning a game.
It's not until this band of Armenian-speaking kids take the court
that his passion for the game reignites. The project is set in my
hometown of Granite City, a steel town in Southern Illinois across
the Mississippi River from St. Louis. These families -- Markarian,
Hagopian, Parsaghian, Eftimoff -- are well-known names in the city. I
attended the same school with these hometown heroes' sons, daughters
and grandchildren. The city was a true melting pot both in terms
of culture and economic social classes. (It's also known for its
soccer program, which had the highest number of wins in the state,
and was started by another local hero, Ruben Mendoza, who played
in three consecutive Olympics for the U.S. That, in itself, would
make one helluva movie as this young man, who grew up in Durango,
introduced the game of soccer to the entire region.)
One of the basketball boys -- a Hungarian kid born Andras Fulop --
ended up playing 11 years in the NBA as Andy Phillip (most notably for
the Boston Celtics). The other boys were Armenian, Yugoslavian and
Macedonian. Not only did they elevate the game of basketball in the
state, but they earned respect and changed the bigoted attitudes in
the city -- a town settled by Western Europeans (Germans). The story,
which takes place in 1940, is currently in being culled together by
casting agent-turned-producer Valerie McAffrey (she is also Armenian).
No director is yet attached.
Kachigian is also from Granite City. The story of the 1940s state
champion basketball team is well known in my hometown -- these are
kids who played in socks, some so poor they didn't own tennis shoes
-- all from hardworking immigrant families who moved to the U.S. in
hopes of a better life. These kids were natural athletes in a town
of haves and have-nots and in a city with a basic misunderstanding of
their history. In fact, these boys had had to suffer the indignity of
being called "dirty" because of the complexion of their skin and their
obvious poverty. They were even, unbelievably, dubbed "The Terrible
Turks" before Prather and others set the coach and the media straight.
(The Turks, as everyone knows but some fail to recognize, committed
genocide against the Armenian people). A public elementary school
now bears Prather's name.
At one point, Granite City had the largest concentration of Bulgarians
in the U.S. and still today has a strong Armenian, Hungarian and
Croatian presence. It would be nice, for once, to see a movie about
Slavic Americans and families from Eastern Europe. Feel free to
correct me but I can't think of one movie made about this segment of
the population.
Hurt wraps The Moon And The Sun opposite Pierce Brosnan in June; it's
currently shooting in Australia. Hurt, who was seen last year in A&E's
Bonnie aAnd Clyde, also gave a helluva performance in 2013â~@²s The
Challenger Disaster movie for the BBC/Science Channel. It marked the
first foray for the Science Channel into original programming. Quite
frankly, I was just very surprised he didn't receive an award for what
was some of the best acting of his career. If you haven't seen it,
you should rent it. He played Richard Feynman, a brilliant physicist
known for developing the atom bomb in WWII and had many scientific
awards including the Nobel Prize in physics. Feynman, a man of great
integrity and a true independent, was on the elite Rogers Commission
empaneled by President Reagan to investigate the Challenger disaster
-- a team that also included Neil Armstrong, Sally Ride, and Chuck
Yeager (among others) -- and found the O-ring failure that led to the
catastrophe that killed seven people. He spoke openly about it and
put human lives over public relations and politics to make sure future
crew members in the space program would be kept safe. He later wrote
a book appropriately called What Do You Care What Other People Think?
If Hurt plays the role of Coach Bozarth in the Men Of Granite movie,
he would be portraying yet another man -- no where near as brilliant
-- but one with a heart who also helped change people's lives for
the better. He is repped by ICM Partners.
http://www.deadline.com/2014/05/william-hurt-next-role-men-of-granite-basketball-movie/