Ironmen Film Bringing Legendary Hawkeye Nile Kinnick to Big Screen

Hawkfnntn said:
Guess all we can do is hold our breaths... But yeah if they try to 'Hollywood it up" it'll only flop worse amongst those that'd care the most.
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Agreed. This project would probably end up better if an independent filmmaker with a smaller budget handles things. Too many sports movies and true life stories with huge potential are destroyed by Hollywood. Lone Soldier was the last straw for me. Peter Berg has done some good things but that was a story that needed no drama added and had a great cast in place. Somehow it managed a 4 star book into a 2 & 1/2 star movie.
 
guffus said:
Hidden Figures? That is the classic example of ridiculously embellishing a story that was supposed to based on real people. Taking 3 historical black women that worked for NASA in different decades in different departments and making them best friends working at NASA all at the same time. Then throw in the old cliches of black and white bathrooms and racist co-workers only for the hero's to overcome it all to save the day with thier amazing superhuman math ability and earn the respect of everyone. You got to love happy endings.
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I wasn't speaking to that movie's historical accuracy, only refuting the absurd notion Joe Heath has advanced on several occasions that Hollywood only makes "based on a true story" movies on people who are already famous. The three Hidden Figures women were far less famous when their movie came out than Nile Kinnick currently is, and there are numerous other examples of people less well-known than Kinnick having big-budget movies made about them. The excuse Heath repeatedly gives that he heard in Hollywood, "Great story, but no one has ever heard of him," it just doesn't pass the smell test.

It's much more likely that these people were trying to politely decline working with a guy whose standout role was Football Player #58 on the TV show Cavemen (remember that one? Good times.) I'm picturing Kramer pitching his show idea to Fred Savage.

Really, there are two issues at play here. I think all of us would want a movie about Nile Kinnick to be both accurate and well-made. I have no confidence that Heath and Lidd's crew can deliver on either count. Hawk fans supporting a Kinnick movie are naturally dreaming of an accurate, well-made movie. But imagine a poorly-acted, poorly-scripted movie about Nile Kinnick - filled with "embellishments" that deviate from the real Kinnick story we all know and love - being shown at Kinnick Stadium. It'd be the biggest joke since the Chizik coin, except this one will be on us. Again, hopefully they pull in someone with some real clout to take things over. But they're running low on time for that.
 
Would be surprised Hollyweird would want this type of movie since they are busy making only super hero movies, sequels, Star Wars movies and prequels these days.
 
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DCRozehawk said:
I hate to say it, but this movie is almost certainly going to be a complete embarrassment to Hawkeye fans, the University of Iowa, and the legacy of Nile Kinnick. Look, we all love Nile Kinnick and he has a great story, no doubt. But that doesn’t mean this movie is going to be any good, and the people involved with it would certainly indicate it won’t be.

I had to laugh at the characterization of Lidd’s book Nile as “mostly true-to-history...with a few small embellishments for the sake of storytelling.” Okay, then. First off, why does Kinnick’s story need “embellishing” at all? Second, I’d take issue with the “few” and “small” in that statement, as Lidd takes liberties all over the place in his book, and I have no doubt that the movie will double down on these “embellishments”.

Joe Heath has said on numerous occasions that his pitch of a Kinnick movie was met “over and over” with the statement, “Great story, but nobody knows who he is.” Look, I don’t doubt that he’s been told that once or twice as a blow-off line, but it doesn’t pass the smell test.

Remember the movie Hidden Figures from just last year? Won a couple of Oscars about the true stories of three black female mathematicians at NASA in the 1960s. Who knew who Katherine Johnson, Dorothy Vaughan, and Mary Jackson were before that movie came out? Pretty much nobody. They were no more famous than Nile Kinnick is.

12 Years A Slave, Unbroken, Hacksaw Ridge...I can do this all day. Far from every “based on a true story” movie is about someone already famous. If you have a great story, the movie makes them famous. So the fact that anyone in Hollywood would flinch at a Kinnick movie due to a lack of name recognition when movies based on relative unknowns are taking home Oscars and doing very well at the box office every single year is garbage.

But this all goes back to Joe Heath, who – because he spent some time in Los Angeles, like about 10 million other people – is seen as somehow capable of delivering Kinnick’s story to the big screen. His resume is filled with B-horror movie shlock and groundbreaking roles like the voice of Prison Dog in the animated holiday classic Up on the Wooftop. So yeah, I’m not stunned that Tom Arnold and Ashton Kutcher haven’t jumped on board yet.

A lot of talk about a $15 million dollar budget and a big planned premiere at a football stadium, but little beyond that. Heath mentions a big studio that’s ready to support distribution, being in talks with a big name director, and of course, some really well-known actors to play Kinnick and Dr. Eddie Anderson. But naturally, he hasn’t named any of them, and that’s where the rubber hits the road.

I have no doubt that with the well-intentioned help of Mark Jennings, they’ve been able to sucker some big Hawkeye donors into throwing some real money at this project. But my confidence in Heath, Lidd, and their crew to be able to produce a quality Nile Kinnick movie is virtually nil. I hope I’m wrong, because Nile Kinnick deserves better. But I’ve seen nothing thus far to fan those hopes.
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What has always galled me is that BTN has done exactly one "feature" on Kinnick, as part of Big Ten Icons. They have done a totla of about 20 minutes on CMS40. Meanwhile, Nebraska and Penn State guys--guys who NEVER played a down of Big Ten football--get hours-long shows. Brook Berringer got a whole "television event", and BTN spent a summer showing "Something for Joey", the movie (I admit, I cried) about Jon Cappelletti's bond with his younger, leukemia-stricken brother, Joey.

Great stuff, great features, etc., but good God, Nile Kinnick gave up pro sports (he was also drafted in baseball) and law school to serve his country. CMS40 was, by all accounts, one of the most well-liked and well-respected players at the time, as evidenced by attendance of so many Big Ten players and coaches at his memorial service.

And yes, I cringe when I see the term, "Mostly true-to-history...with a few small embellishments...". WTF? The very last thing we will ever need about Nile Kinnick's life is "embellishment".
 
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DCRozehawk said:
Completely agree...I can’t see why any embellishing needs to take place, either. That didn’t stop Lidd from publishing a book with numerous inaccuracies about the Ironmen and Kinnick’s life. (No, Kinnick never met Ronald Reagan or played a football game with JFK as his coach.) But the book was a big seller because it has a great cover and people love them some Nile Kinnick, for good reason. So I’m sure Lidd probably figures they can get away with embellishing Kinnick’s legacy once again.

Just in case you think I’m pulling these criticisms out of thin air...I actually read an early version of the movie’s screenplay. This was several years back, so maybe they have changed it since then. But if the screenplay I read is what they use to make this Nile Kinnick movie – and it may very well be – then tens of thousands of Hawkeye fans are going to leave the stadium the fall after next with chills, too. And not the good kind.
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To add to that, many claimed part of the reason "Selma" got snubbed at Oscar time was the very fact of "historical inaccuracy" being so prominent within the film.

On the other hand, maybe they could get Oliver Stone to give it some "JFK"-type treatment. We could get Hawknick...er...ClintonIAfan to write the "the ref's screwed us!" scenes?
 
DCRozehawk said:
I wasn't speaking to that movie's historical accuracy, only refuting the absurd notion Joe Heath has advanced on several occasions that Hollywood only makes "based on a true story" movies on people who are already famous. The three Hidden Figures women were far less famous when their movie came out than Nile Kinnick currently is, and there are numerous other examples of people less well-known than Kinnick having big-budget movies made about them. The excuse Heath repeatedly gives that he heard in Hollywood, "Great story, but no one has ever heard of him," it just doesn't pass the smell test.

It's much more likely that these people were trying to politely decline working with a guy whose standout role was Football Player #58 on the TV show Cavemen (remember that one? Good times.) I'm picturing Kramer pitching his show idea to Fred Savage.

Really, there are two issues at play here. I think all of us would want a movie about Nile Kinnick to be both accurate and well-made. I have no confidence that Heath and Lidd's crew can deliver on either count. Hawk fans supporting a Kinnick movie are naturally dreaming of an accurate, well-made movie. But imagine a poorly-acted, poorly-scripted movie about Nile Kinnick - filled with "embellishments" that deviate from the real Kinnick story we all know and love - being shown at Kinnick Stadium. It'd be the biggest joke since the Chizik coin, except this one will be on us. Again, hopefully they pull in someone with some real clout to take things over. But they're running low on time for that.
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Thanks for reminding us that "Cavemen" was made into a series. Just when I was garnering a little hope for this planet of ours :)
 
guffus said:
Hidden Figures? That is the classic example of ridiculously embellishing a story that was supposed to based on real people. Taking 3 historical black women that worked for NASA in different decades in different departments and making them best friends working at NASA all at the same time. Then throw in the old cliches of black and white bathrooms and racist co-workers only for the hero's to overcome it all to save the day with thier amazing superhuman math ability and earn the respect of everyone. You got to love happy endings.
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It was a good movie but you would have thought the whole space program would have collapsed without those three ladies.
 
EstronHawkKing said:
Would be surprised Hollyweird would want this type of movies since they are busy making only super hero movies, sequels, Star Wars movies and prequels these days.
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Maybe they could put a cape on him and a rocket boosters in his shoes, explaining why he was so good at punting and drop kicking (while killing Nazis on the side).
 
homes said:
Maybe they could put a cape on him and a rocket boosters in his shoes, explaining why he was so good at punting and drop kicking (while killing Nazis on the side).
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I watched bits and pieces of the Oscars the other night. I would say it was the worst one ever. I find it funny that they are so pro "Me Too" movement after that Weinstein disaster, but they give an Oscar to Kobe Bryant who has a dark past with women. The Oscars isn't even about entertaining us anymore, it's about them using a podium to spew their personal opinions. They don't want to entertain us, they want to lecture Americans because they are so high and mighty. Someone on this thread said they would rather have an independent film company make a movie about Kinnick, which I couldn't agree more. Let Redford at Sundance Film make it. I would not want those Hollyweirdos touching this movie, they'd probably make stuff up about Kinnick that weren't true just to make more drama out of it. By the way, this years Oscars was the lowest viewed. Goes to show that the rest of us are sick of their BS.
 
hawkeyebob62 said:
To add to that, many claimed part of the reason "Selma" got snubbed at Oscar time was the very fact of "historical inaccuracy" being so prominent within the film.

On the other hand, maybe they could get Oliver Stone to give it some "JFK"-type treatment. We could get Hawknick...er...ClintonIAfan to write the "the ref's screwed us!" scenes?
Click to expand...
The people who made the movie "Remember the Titans" changed the actual facts of the film to make it more dramatic. In the film the All American defensive end for them gets paralyzed in a car accident and misses the state title game. This was false, he played in the game and wasn't injured until after their football season ended. In the film the game was played at night and the Titans won on the last play of the game. This was also false, they played the state title game back then during the day time and the Titans blew out the team they faced in the title game.
 
EstronHawkKing said:
I watched bits and pieces of the Oscars the other night. I would say it was the worst one ever. I find it funny that they are so pro "Me Too" movement after that Weinstein disaster, but they give an Oscar to Kobe Bryant who has a dark past with women. The Oscars isn't even about entertaining us anymore, it's about them using a podium to spew their personal opinions. They don't want to entertain us, they want to lecture Americans because they are so high and mighty. Someone on this thread said they would rather have an independent film company make a movie about Kinnick, which I couldn't agree more. Let Redford at Sundance Film make it. I would not want those Hollyweirdos touching this movie, they'd probably make stuff up about Kinnick that weren't true just to make more drama out of it. By the way, this years Oscars was the lowest viewed. Goes to show that the rest of us are sick of their BS.
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It's unreal almost. The hypocrisy blows my mind. In one breath it's "we are going to keep this positive" in the next their bashing someone. The same folks that walked past Ryan Seacrest and wouldn't let him interview them stood up and cheered for Kobe... I'm pretty sure some of the things Kevin Spacey did were longer ago then when Kobe did what he did in Colorado. So it's not even a time thing it's just a selective thing. Your absolutely right they are just lecturing us and only trying to entertain themselves.
 
Hawkfnntn said:
It's unreal almost. The hypocrisy blows my mind. In one breath it's "we are going to keep this positive" in the next their bashing someone. The same folks that walked past Ryan Seacrest and wouldn't let him interview them stood up and cheered for Kobe... I'm pretty sure some of the things Kevin Spacey did were longer ago then when Kobe did what he did in Colorado. So it's not even a time thing it's just a selective thing. Your absolutely right they are just lecturing us and only trying to entertain themselves.
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Stupidity and arrogance is a toxic combination, particularly when it exists within a bubble like Hollywood.
 
EstronHawkKing said:
The people who made the movie "Remember the Titans" changed the actual facts of the film to make it more dramatic. In the film the All American defensive end for them gets paralyzed in a car accident and misses the state title game. This was false, he played in the game and wasn't injured until after their football season ended. In the film the game was played at night and the Titans won on the last play of the game. This was also false, they played the state title game back then during the day time and the Titans blew out the team they faced in the title game.
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SPOILER ALERT
 
In the movie Invincible, they took some liberties with Vince Papale as well. Imagine that!

http://www.bostonherald.com/enterta...d_mine/2006/08/real_vs_hollywood_“invincible”

Papale is presented as a natural athlete, a speedy titan who plays touch football on empty lots with his buddies. When the new Philly coach Dick Vermeil (Greg Kinnear) announces an open tryout, Papale wrestles with showing up; when he does and his talent is obvious, he’s asked what college team he’s played on previously. As the TV spots emphasize, Wahlberg’s Papale answers, “I never played college ball.”

True but -- it skips the reality that Papale was already a pro football veteran. “I had come off the World Football League. They take some liberties being Hollywood as I’m finding out,” said Papale whose autobiography, “Invincible, My Journey from Fan to NFL Team Captain” is out in paperback as a movie tie-in. “The WFL had folded and I had an opportunity at 30 years old to be trying out for the Eagles at an All Comers call.”

He wasn’t a face in the crowd though; he was a pro with an agent. “I was one of the invitees,” he said. “The first thing they did was clock the 40 yard dash and I clocked that in 4.5.”
 
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