Blog Entries for Sweetwater

Okay gang, hang on tight- ready to take 100 cast and crew members and make a big left turn...we're moving the production to CANADA! That's right. The "Sweetwater" production is moving it's movie set production to Winnipeg! (the capital and largest city of Manitoba Canada).

The city is a cultural centre where films like "Capote" and "Journey To The Center Of The Earth" were shot. The reasons for the move are both creative and business. We will be making use of a whopping 65% Tax credit which will allow us to increase the number of days of shooting (great for the basketball sequences). Stay tuned for final casting announcements and a new start date.

The true test of a filmmaker is faith- in the story you are telling, those you have chosen to work with and most of all, yourself.

-Writer/Director Martin Guigui

And so it goes and so it goes...the mountain to climb has it's challenges as we anxiously await the bond to be issued which hinges on the NBA agreement being signed off on. Slowly but surely we are arriving. The casting process continues. Kevin Costner has indicated he is excited about the project to play Knick team owner Ned Irish! The Saperstein role being looked at by several actors, none who I can mention yet. Although I will say there are a couple of pretty cool iconic names in there...

Stay tuned for a peak at underground video shot of the auditions that were held in NYC. Check out the bball - it's pretty rad.

Production has been pushed to Sept 2 to accommodate the casting and business stuff going on. Chompin' at the bit is what we all are. It's the hurry up and wait part of the film making process which is a true test to our commitment to the process. I love it.

-Writer/Director Martin Guigui

The auditions in New York CITY were fun and entertaining. And the winner is....WOOD HARRIS will be playing the lead starring role of Sweetwater Clifton!

And the search for Ned Irish and Abe Saperstein continues...Kevin Costner is reading the script this weekend thanks in part to Elie Samaha, who is good friends with Kevin, but primarily thanks to David Harbour, our Producer/financier who is willing to stretch the budgetery constraint to accomodate Costner's talent. I call that good buisness.

In other casting news we are awaiting word from Brittany Murphy for the role of Jeanne. Also awaiting to hear from Paul Giamatti as a potential Abe Saperstein. Rumors abound that Cuba Gooding Jr may honor us with a cameo playing the legendary Louis Jordan.

While in NYC, we also auditioned many players to pick from and create the Harlem Magic team for the film. Although there were many great players, my favorite's was legendary street ball player James "Speedy" Williams. Final result is that the basketball in this film will be spectacular. Rudy Johnson, Jay and Jack Bryant of the Harlem MagicMasters, aside from being ourstanding individuals, were incredibly helpful.

And now we enter the home stretch. 4 to 5 weeks before the first day of principle photography. Casting is getting intense. We had West coast auditions for the role of Sweetwater and I love Wood Harris. Since we had already set up East coast casting sessions we're going to slam through those and make a final decision on Thursday May 29th. Announcement to follow. Very exciting times!

Danny DeVito will not be available to play Abe as he is going to put his energy into directing one of his own things summer...gotta respect that. We have an offer out to Robin Williams now to play Abe and Michael Keaton is reading to play Ned Irish. The casting will heat up even omre the closer we approach our start date.

Bill Groom is on board to be our production designer and I am thrilled to be working with him. He just completed work on MILK with Sean Penn. Check Bill out on IMDB - he's got quite an impressive background. Funny, we realized during our first meeting that we had bumped into each other years ago at 8H (NBC studios) when he used to work on SNL and I was roaming the halls and stairwells in attempts to become a part of the show. A story for another time, or book...

Our production is fully camped down in New York City! No better back drop, especially for this story. The uniforms are being designed and locations being scouted. Looks like the 69th armory could easily become our main stay as the court and other locales. Looking all over the city right now. The location and production team are bustin' ass. Johnathan Shoemaker is our back bone right now and doing a great job building our foundation team.

The production is officially moving to New York City! Just got back from a location scouting session there and the romance that NYC and the Lens have is undeniable. Everywhere you point the camera in Manhattan divulges history and invariably a story…besides, I can enjoy my New York based family and friends during shooting not to mention their thespian abilities as extras…We are still negotiating with Danny DeVito to play Saperstein and Chazz Palminteri to play Ned Irish.

We will be holding a massive open casting call in NYC the weekend of May 24th in search of “Sweetwater”. That will be wild.

I am especially excited about the addition of the legendary and prestigious composer Lalo Schifrin. Just look him up on IMDB or anywhere online. His history in the film biz is massive. Beyond that though, I have always dreamt of working with him, especially on this film. My Dad and Lalo grew up in Argentina and both came to the U.S. invited by Aaron Copeland back in the late 50’s. Lalo began his career playing piano for Dizzy Gillespie's band. He understands and has lived the era that “Sweetwater” is being told in.

June 30 is our new locked start date.

-Writer/Director Martin Guigui

In fast forward since last blog…We never heard back from Mr. De Niro. I’m taking that means the $$ or lack thereof we had offered was not attractive and/or the script did not talk to him (“you talkin’ to me?...”). Probably a combo platter... Richard Dreyfuss ended up walking on the project because the Producers would not agree to the hefty deposit he was seeking. Along the way Richard and I became friends and I would be honored to work with him anywhere, anytime. Henry Simmons also took off, to another basketball film! We miss him. He and I keep in touch as well, so no hard feelings. We quickly learned that the no start date approach and allowing for the actors availability to dictate a start date is a no-no. As a rule of thumb, the closer you get to production the easier it is to get and actor to commit. It’s called a gig…We have been reading Brian McKnight for the role of “Sweetwater” and so far so good. There are other candidates still in the mix. One being Jalen Rose (the ex-NBA star and Michigan State Fab-Five member).

Danny Devito is in talks to play Saperstein and we have an offer out to Chazz Palminteri for the role of Ned Irish. The production also rose in price and we found that the bay area no longer could support our limited funds. So, we’re off to Connecticut because of their Tax incentive and New Yorky architecture (Stamford, New Haven, etc…). Having extras coming in from NYC will add to the authenticity of this New York story. The five boroughs actors are a sure bet for great faces in the crowd…We are banking the tax credit thanks to the extended efforts of two additional producers: Donald Kushner (“Monster”) and Elie Samaha (“Driven”, “The Pledge”, “3000 Miles To Graceland”). They have been very helpful in getting the production moving along and bringing in distribution partners. They also have a strong relationship with the bond company. This is the first time I have ever made a film with a bond. It’s pretty nutty futty…The bond company is brought to insure you’re not going to fuck up. They look at every minute aspect of the production and give you notes until you satisfy there criteria that you will indeed deliver the film you claim you are going to make at the budget you have chosen to make the film for…we have found ourselves tweaking and tweaking and tweaking the budget and the script every day. It’s tricky because creatively we don’t want to compromise the story yet sometimes there are instances in which consolidating one or two locations and cutting a few actors that just have one line can tighten up the shoot and bring the bond company to a comfort zone. The bond company essentially has to guarantee that they will finish the film, provide funds and expertise in the event we do not comply with the provisions set forth in our production and financing agreements that says we will deliver the picture, blah blah blah…

Seconds away from signing our loan docs with our principle financiers and getting ready to head into CT for location scouting. We are still looking for the perfect arena to double for Madison square garden. It might be the Yale arena if we are able to work out the schedule, which is now June 1 through July 3. That’s right, all actors have to adhere to that start date. I always say that who ever is on the set the first day of shooting, gets to be in the film…