Last month, I was invited to attend the press junket for Disney ” Million Dollar Arm”, starring “Jon Hamm” from “Mad Men”. The movies is based on a true story about, sports agent JB Bernstein (Jon Hamm). Who find his industry has changed and things aren’t going well in his career. In a last-ditch effort to save his livelihood, he concocts a scheme to find baseball’s next great pitching arm in india. 
I was able to view the film the night before and it was amazing to meet JB Bernstein and Rinku Singh in person at the press junket, which was held at the Four Seasons Hotel in Beverly Hills, CA. At the junket I discovered the “7 Fun Facts” listed below. I Hope you find them as interesting as I did.
A Movie in the Making – JB Bernstein told Producer Mark Ciardi about his plans to go to india in order to find next Yao Ming, except for baseball during a Super Bowl. At first Producer “Gray Gordon”, a mutual friend, thought the idea of finding a pitching prospect in india was crazy. However , when JB came back with both recruits {Rinku Singh and Dinesh Patel} and they were both signed by Pittsburgh Pirates. They all three thought, that JB journey to India had great potential as a feature film.
We have the Experience – Both producers have done many sports-oriented films in the past such as “The Rookie”, “Invincible”, “Miracle” and more recently “Secretariat”. However, the movie is not only about sport, it’s really about relationships, family, second chances and transformation.
Another Studio – The film was originally developed by another studio who ultimately decided not to make “The Million Dollar Arm. However, Producer Joe Roth felt them movie would be a perfect fit for Disney and he presented to story to them .
Is this True – When Leading Actor “Jon Hamm” from “Mad Men” read the script, he loved it. However, being a huge baseball fan he did not recall hearing about Rinku and Dinesh story. So he wondered if the story was true and spent several hours on Google to find out everything he could about them. Once he finished his research, he thought it was an incredibly and uplifting story.
Hits an Emotional Core – Although Actress “Lake Bell” from “Boston Legal” did not know anything about baseball and wasn’t really into sports. After reading the script she was moved by the storyline and could relate to it because it hit an emotional core.
A Different World – When Rinku and Dinesh came to the United States it was virtually the same as visiting another planet. They not only had to learn how to master pitching a baseball, they also needed to develop an understanding of American Culture as a whole. Simple things such as using an elevator to drinking water from a fountain was a new experience for them.
Teammates – Rinku Singh took 200 of his teammates to see the movie. After they viewed the film his teammates had a better understanding of the struggle Singh had went through and was inspired to work harder.
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MILLION DOLLAR ARM is rated PG and opens in theaters everywhere on May 16th!
P.S My Friend Erin over at Horsing Around In LA . . .
wrote another great piece you should check out click Here to read:
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