Co-Stars Explain 'Love Of The Game'
-- By Timothy J. Lammers
Note: Tim's column appears every Thursday in our Entertainment section. Have suggestions for topics? Questions you'd like to ask movie makers? E-mail away!
Baseball, like any other sporting event, is a game of chance. And while the odds of creating a movie that will be a winner with audiences doesn't carry any greater guarantees, something magical does seem to happen when you combine the two mediums.
Baseball movies create the power to turn even the most stoic of men into life-sized globs of putty. And "For Love of the Game" to shape those emotions. It's not like it's unacceptable for men to cry at movies, but there is something in particular that causes a big stir when there's a fastball involved.
So what is it about baseball movies that make grown men cry? I recently had an opportunity to ask the men of "For Love of the Game" -- director Sam Raimi and stars Kevin Costner and John C. Reilly -- what they think causes the potential "rainout" in their movie.
Raimi: It's hard for men to be friends with other men and not fall under some strange scrutiny. And baseball teams allow for a context for men to be men with other friends in a very intense, close way," he says. "This movie is the story of Billy Chapel (Costner) and Gus Sinski (Reilly), and their friendship and how they've supported each other through the years, and finally their admission that they are as close as they are. I don't know if that's why men are always patting each other's butts in baseball games. I'm not sure what that's all about. But I do know that men crave these friendships, and they exist on a team. That's what's great about baseball -- each guy has to give so much so that they can be successful."
For Costner and Reilly, it's not exclusively the baseball plotline that causes the emotion, but rather the ability of the viewer to connect with the material. In addition to the friendships between their characters that Raimi describes, it's about the love of a pastime like baseball, and how it interferes with the love of Costner's character's life.
Costner: "If we've painted a correct picture we've seen a man's life," says Costner. "And if we've seen a life, maybe we've seen our own. And out of those moments one can become emotional. When a movie is working at its best, it touches on those things. It reminds us what's good and what's bad. We see ourselves acting bravely, and we see ourselves acting immaturely."
Reilly: "It's about life's choices and what people do when they are at the important crossroads of their lives," he says. "Baseball is a very compelling backdrop for that. It's very dramatic."
Speaking of dramatic, which baseballmovie made you cry the most? Take our survey.
"For the Love of the Game" is the latest baseball movie to take a swing at being a hit with movie goers. If it scores, it won't be the first to reach base. Click here to test your knowledge of these hit baseball movies. "And in a movie like 'For Love of the Game,' the question is simply, 'Where is the proper place to put the camera?' Because you don't want the audience to be aware of the camera in these kinds of pictures. You want them to be drawn into the frame, not pushed back and be aware of the fact that that was an interesting shot," he says.
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Sam Raimi: A Whole New Ball Game
Although he's earned a cult icon status as the filmmaker behind "The Evil Dead" trilogy, "For Love of the Game" director Sam Raimi is quietly developing a solid reputation in the mainstream. And "quiet" is the operative word. He's gone from the master of the hyperkinetic point-of-view shot, to the master of subtlety. 
"It's just a different challenge -- in the horror movies you try to thrill the audience from the point of view of some supernatural beast, with the camera can be swooping around for dramatic effect," says Raimi. "You think to yourself, 'What is the most dramatic way I can present this scene? What is the most exciting?'" Arnold Vosloo: "Mummy" Is Still The Word
Although the deal has been signed for writer/director Stephen Sommers to create a sequel to this summer's first blockbuster, "The Mummy," any further word about it is being kept, shall we say, under wraps?
And you know those wraps are being kept tight, when the guy who played the title character, Arnold Vosloo, is being kept in the dark. The murkiest of details let out thus far is that London may possibly be the setting for the next chapter, but that's news to Vosloo.
"We shot the first one in Morocco and England, but at this point I have know idea where it will be set," says Vosloo. "The only word I have is that based on the worldwide success of the first one ($370 million box office and counting), there will definitely be a sequel. I'd imagine it will be shot next year, when Brendan (Fraser), Rachel (Weisz), John Hannah, Stephen and I can all get together and have some fun. Hopefully we can come up with some bigger and better scares."
Of course, one of the other key players that needs to return is the special effects giant Industrial Light and Magic, who get top billing in a bonus documentary on the DVD release of the film (due Sept. 28). Their work with sand, for the lack of better words, blew Vosloo away. While he admits it was hard at times for him to visualize what these gurus were aiming to come up with, he was completely confident in their capabilities.
"There's a point where you just have to suspend your disbelief and just go for it and put yourself in the hands of these complete geniuses," Vosloo says. "They're the best in the world at what they do. If they're not going to make it work, no one is. And you're not going to make it work any better by worrying if it's going to work."
In truth, perhaps the biggest struggle Vosloo had in making the film, was the daunting thought of matching up with the original "Mummy," Boris Karloff.
"It was in the back of mind throughout filming," recalls Vosloo with a laugh. "I kept thinking, 'Oh man, I hope this man is not rolling over in his grave.'"
-- Additional reporting by Bill Carlson
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