EXCLUSIVE: The Lord of the Rings actor and SAG-AFTRA President Sean Astin is starring with Jeremy Piven (Entourage), Lorraine Bracco (The Sopranos) and Isabel DeRoy-Olson (Three Pines) in Will Rogers-inspired high school sports drama Will To Win.
The project is the the first movie to be endorsed by the family of early Hollywood icon Rogers, the celebrated vaudeville performer who was born as a citizen of the Cherokee Nation and became known as “Oklahoma’s Favorite Son.” By the mid-1930s, Rogers was one of the highest-paid stars in Hollywood, but he died in a plane crash that same decade.
Will To Win centers on a young Chickasaw softball player (DeRoy-Olson) who, after losing her parents, moves to a new school with no softball team. She instead joins the boy’s baseball team under the tutelage of a compassionate coach (Astin), only to become the target of a school board president (Piven) who wants to see her removed. Soon, through her vivid imagination, she begins having conversations with Will Rogers, who offers her guidance on how to overcome life’s challenges. Indigenous actress Stefany Mathias (Prey) will play the girl’s grandmother, while Bracco will play the grandmother’s friend who questions how the girl is being raised.
Sean McNamara (Reagan) will direct from Aaron Fulkerson’s script, which was adapted from a book of the same name by author Jim Stovall (The Ultimate Gift).
The project heralds from Kirkpatrick & Kinslow Productions, in association with Brookwell McNamara Entertainment. Filming is underway in Vancouver, British Columbia and Oklahoma.
Producers are Russ Kirkpatrick, Andy Kinslow, Mark Heidelberger, Sean McNamara and David Brookwell. Jhane Myers (a producer on Prey and Native advisor on 1883) is executive-producing. Chickasaw Nation Productions (Montford: The Chickasaw Rancher) is collaborating with producers on the project.
“We have this fantastic script combining the persistence of the human spirit with the wit and wisdom of Will Rogers,” said McNamara, “and with this cast, the film is really going to shine.”
Will Rogers’ family representative and great-granddaughter, Jennifer Rogers Etcheverry, previously said of the project: “While we have been approached many times in the past about producing movies, this is the first time the family has endorsed a movie project. We are thrilled to see that audiences in the 21st century will learn about the impact of Will Rogers on the world.”
Astin is repped by Stewart Talent, Luber Roklin Entertainment and Brecheen Feldman. Piven is repped by CESD. Bracco is repped CESD and Circle M+P. DeRoy-Olson is repped by Red Management, Authentic Talent & Literary Management and McKuen Frankel Whitehead. Mathias is repped by Integral Artists and Open Entertainment.
