Interview with director, Gary Lundgren
Encore Online, by Shea Carver.
November 11, 2009
“Baseball provided me with my first heroes,” Gary Lundgren told me last week about his Cucalorus feature, Calvin Marshall—a film that takes the American Dream and highlights it amongst America’s favorite sport, baseball. “For some reason [my heroes] weren’t Superman or Batman,” Lundgren continued. “It was Rod Carew, Tony Gwynn, George Brett, Don Mattingly.” His obsession with the “great hitters” began early in life, fostering a love of baseball forever more.
e: What about the storyline do you think is important? How will it connect with audiences?
GL: It is special to me because the story is really a metaphor for anyone trying to do something ambitious with their life. I find it inspiring when people go for it. And when things don’t pan out exactly the way they want, the most resilient people find a way to keep dreaming and reinvent themselves. It’s been satisfying to see audiences connect with Calvin’s story. They’re finding it both funny and inspiring, even though it’s ultimately a film about disappointment.
