This Empire correspondent just came back from a screening of Sam Rockwell’s new movie, the Chuck Palahniuk adaptation, Choke – and during the post-screening Q&A, Rockwell was asked if he had any upcoming projects. Nope, he replied.
Clearly, he’d forgotten about The Winning Season, a high school comedy from James Strouse, which has just been announced. (And, in fairness, he probably wasn’t allowed to say anything about it before the announcement.)
The always vibrant and charismatic Rockwell will play a washed-up basketball coach who is given one last chance at glory, when he’s asked to manage the girls’ team at his local high school. Rockwell was sporting a lovely ’tache at tonight’s screening (which, along with his NHS-style specs, made him a dead ringer for Commissioner Gordon) – we wonder if he was growing it for this role.
Emma Roberts – daughter of Eric, niece of Julia and no relation to Alf, sadly – will play one of the players, whom Rockwell’s character befriends, while Rob Corddry will play the school’s principal. The cast has been bolstered by the likes of Shareeka Epps, Emily Rios, Margo Martindale and Jessica Hecht.
If this all sounds a little generic and been there/done that, we say have faith in Strouse, an unassuming but talented director whose debut flick, the moving Grace Is Gone, was one of the best of the Iraq-themed movies. This is very different territory for him, but we have faith that he’ll be able to find the humour and humanity in amongst the clichés.
Gigi Prods. and Plum Pictures are stumping up the cash, with an October start date looming large. Let’s hope Rockwell remembers that he’s signed on.