"Bull Durham" sequel to be filled in new ballpark?
October 08, 2008
The H-S today picked up on a story that's been hitting a number of showbiz publications of late: Durham-born Thom Mount is reportedly working on a sequel to the classic "Bull Durham," to possibly return original stars Kevin Costner, Tim Robbins and Susan Sarandon to the Bull City for a years-later look at their relationships.
According to some reports, the film would feature real-life couple Robbins (Nuke LaLoosh) and Sarandon (Annie Savoy) as the married owners of a baseball team managed by Costner's Crash Davis character. (Which, as Barry notes, turns the romantic outcome of the 1988 film on its head, but anyway.)
"We intend to shoot in the new Durham Bulls Athletic Park," Mount said, who added that he had spoken to Jim Goodmon, president of Capitol Broadcasting Co., owner of the Bulls, who had agreed to help him film in the park. Mount was not sure if he would use the historic Durham Athletic Park, which figured so prominently in "Bull Durham."
Ron Shelton, who directed "Bull Durham," will write the script and direct the sequel, Mount said. The New York Post reported Tuesday in its Page Six online column that a "Bull Durham" sequel was in the works.
On the one hand, it's an interesting idea, revisiting the chemistry and storyline that's proven enduring through two decades and thousands of cable TV replays. On the other hand, well, we all know how sequels end up.
Somehow I'd almost prefer Mount's earlier idea of a film to be titled "Main Street U.S.A.," that would have depicted a few eccentric characters' fight against a corporate-backed nuclear waste dump being opened in Durham.
Still, we here at BCR would be remiss if we didn't put our best foot forward to try to help Mount with some plot ideas, especially if he wants to focus on a more modern Durham:
"Bullish Durham" -- After a rare spate of success on the diamond, a corporate backer from the big city decides to buy up the team and house it in a new stadium on the other side of downtown. LaLoosh and Savoy, deposed from their minority team ownership stake by the sale, watch helplessly as their team become part of a corporate-media machine, even as real estate speculators start to buy up and redevelop properties around them. In the movie's emotional apex, Savoy walks back up to her old neighborhood, barefeet in a sundress amidst the pouring rain -- only to find herself picked up by Durham's finest after neighborhood listservs catch fire asking about the strange woman seen walking down the street.
"Wool E. Bull Durham" -- Knocked over on the field by the Time Warner Cable, Inc. RoadRunner(TM) race car spinning out of control as usual, Annie Savoy is helped to her feet by the lovable Bull mascot, with whom a fast romance develops, enraging the jealous LaLoosh. In a twist, Bulls alternate mascot the Blue Monster flies into a deep, brooding depression, as its one true love in life, the goofy, hijinks-loving Wool E., is stolen from its fuzzy, indecipherable form. In the movie's climax, a car chase ends suddenly when the Blue Monster gets stuck on the downtown loop and becomes hopelessly lost, ending up in Siler City.
"Welcome to Bull Durham, U.S.A." -- After gangland mayhem interrupts the Bulls' Governor's Cup finals against the Lehigh Valley (Pa.) IronPigs -- in a sad and vicious fight over the last squeeze of mustard at the DBAP's concession stand -- LaLoosh, Davis and Savoy vow to turn gang-bangers from their violent ways. Teaming up with the Durham Performing Arts Center (imagine the corporate tie-ins), they work to stage a Broadway-style production of "West Side Story," with Crips and Bloods playing the Jets and Sharks, respectively. In a real dramatic stretch, Herald-Sun columnist John McCann co-stars as a gay-bashing inner-city preacher urging the gang members to avoid the wicked evils of dancing to which Savoy and her buddies are introducing the young men.
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