Just as Boston Celtics fans presumably didn’t relish seeing their rival New York Knicks defeat the Spurs in this year’s NBA Finals, they also might not want to be reminded that the Beantown-focused basketball comedy Celtic Pride had trouble scoring with audiences 30 years ago. The film starred Dan Aykroyd and Daniel Stern as devoted Celtics fans who inadvertently kidnap Utah Jazz standout Lewis Scott (Damon Wayans) in their efforts to help their team win Game 7 of the Finals.
Filmmaker Tom De Cerchio, who had exited the Jim Carrey-led Ace Ventura sequel midway through production, made his feature directorial debut with Celtic Pride. It marked an early screenwriting credit for Judd Apatow, who collaborated on the movie’s story with friend Colin Quinn. De Cerchio recalls working on script rewrites at Apatow’s home, which he had recently purchased from mentor Garry Shandling, and that after a week, Apatow needed to fly to the Vancouver set of Happy Gilmore to help former roommate Adam Sandler with punch-up. “Rather than shun me, Judd immediately invited me to hang out with Adam, [producer] Jack Giarraputo and the rest of their crew,” De Cerchio tells THR. “I’ve never laughed that hard in my life. Judd is a mensch, through and through.”
Wayans trained with college players Kevin Bennett and Burt Harris Jr. to improve his on-court skills before the movie shot for a month at the Boston Garden, the former home of the Celtics that was soon to be demolished. “All I remember is the pain,” Wayans said back then about the grueling shoot that included cameos from Celtic legends Larry Bird, Bob Cousy and Red Auerbach. “Even guys in the NBA don’t play basketball for 12 hours a day.”
Disney released Celtic Pride on April 19, 1996, and it made just $9 million at the box office ($19 million today), with THR‘s review noting that it suffered from “uneven” tonal shifts. For his part, De Cerchio fondly remembers bonding with the Boston extras who filled the arena: “I’m still bummed for them that the film didn’t come out better.”
This story appeared in the June 16 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. Click here to subscribe.
