The Spirit of the Game will tell the real-life story of 20-year-old DeLyle Condie (Aaron Jakubenko), a basketball player at the University of Utah in the 1950s who embarks on a two-year mission to Melbourne for the Church of Latter Day Saints.
Amid the hype of Australia's first Olympic games, the American missionaries form a basketball team called the Mormon Yankees who work with coach Ken Watson to help train the Australian basketball team. They also face-off against other international teams in town for the Olympics.
The film is the second feature - and second basketball drama - for Australian director Darran Scott, who also wrote the screenplay.
Scott spoke to SBS Movies on day three of the shoot, during filming at an Essendon Airport hangar:
“The Mormons were actually asked to help prepare and coach the Australians. Basketball was very fledgling, it was very new to Australia at the time and they worked with them.
"You could say the Mormons helped the Australians prepare and win their first ever Olympic basketball game in '56.”
The Spirit of the Game will also star Kevin Sorbo ('Hercules') and Australians Anna McGahan, Emilie Cocquerel, Heidi Arena, Marina Prior, Grant Piro and Mark Mitchell.
The film is being produced by Kate Whitbread (director of Surviving Georgia), Spencer McLaren and Steve Jaggi.
Brian Breheny, cinematographer of The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, is shooting the film.
“Brian actually shot a big Mormon film called The Other Side of Heaven which starred Anne Hathaway and Christopher Gorham in 2001 and he did amazing work on that. And as soon as I found out he was Australian and had that Mormon connection, even though he’s not Mormon, I actually said I want to work with this guy,” Scott said.
Scott's first feature film The Playbook was a low-budget family drama revolving around a youth basketball team. Scott describes it as a non-denominational, spiritual sports drama.
“The first one wasn’t Mormon themed at all. It was just a generic or family friendly film, with a little bit of faith-based in there."
Scott, who is a member of the Church of Latter Day Saints, came across the idea for The Spirit of the Game while making the earlier film. He combined forces with Fred Woods who wrote a book about the team - 'Mormon Yankees: Giants on and off the Court' - to secure funding for his second sports drama.
“Well the producers want to turn this into a bit of a franchise and I’m down for it but I don’t want to do three basketball films in a row."
You could say the Mormons helped the Australians prepare and win their first ever Olympic basketball game in '56.
Scott is hoping the Christian drama will appeal to a wider Australian audience.
“While the audience is going to be bigger in the States we’re certainly trying to target the Australian audience which is from the history of Australian basketball sort of angle.
"Obviously, Australia being quite a secular nation the religious element won’t kind of fly, but we’re not pushing any religious theology or ideology on anyone.”
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