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Interesting read and several tour players to be in the movie
http://www.sevendaysinutopia.com/team.htm
Lehman and Utley are two of the golf experts for this movie
PGATour article about a day of shooting
FREDERICKSBURG, Texas -- Rich Beem was on the road back to Austin when he got the call.
They needed him back on the set. One last thing. So he turned around and headed back to Boot Ranch, better known this week as Utopia.
Less than an hour later, he was on the 18th fairway shooting one final scene. Again.
Welcome to the world of movies, where a golf swing, a walk off the green or tee, even a look to the crowd can take, oh, a minimum of a half dozen takes. And that's not counting blocking out the scene or rehearsal. Or end-of-the-day retakes.
Take Monday morning. Rickie Fowler, Stewart Cink, Cameron Beckman and Mark Brooks all stood around waiting their turn to tee up a ball, "hit" a tee shot, then walk off the tee. All part of the job, right?
Simple? Not so much.
The director needs a tight shot of them teeing up their golf balls. Then he needs them to swing and miss the ball. That done, they walk toward the fairway and wave -- to the trees, er, crowd.
Now they're shooting on the green, complete with cameras and screens to bounce the light. And just when they get halfway through a take, a truck rumbles across an adjacent bridge. Or the director switches angles and a line of golf carts have to be moved.
But no complaints. Fowler, Cink, Beckman, Brooks and Bill Rogers all spent the day shooting cameos for "Seven Days in Utopia," a movie --based on the best-selling book by David Cook -- that asks the question, how can a game have such an effect on a man's soul?
A few fairways away, Beem and K.J. Choi -- both of whom have larger roles and spent four days on the set -- were shooting scenes at the 18th green and scoring hut. Same drill. Not just signing a scorecard or hitting a shot. Multiple takes. Multiple angles.
For Fowler, Cink and Choi, the movie was a little detour on their way to this week's World Golf Championships-Bridgestone Invitational. A chance to get in a little practice on the range -- or in Beckman's case a putting lesson from Stan Utley -- then a little face time on the big screen.
''It's the fun part of what I do to expand outside of playing and practicing and trying to finish high in tournaments or win,'' Cink said. "That's great but this is a little more of an expansion role.''
All the players know some of these drills. They've shot tournament promos and commercials. But movies are more labor intensive and, honestly, everyone wants to make sure they get the "golf" part of the movie right. That's why the production team, led by Oscar-winning executive producer Mark Mathis, chose actor Lucas Black, a scratch golfer, to play the golf lead in the movie, and why they wanted to use PGA TOUR players for authenticity.
'It's real easy when you're filming golfers for things to get a little out whack where you notice,'' Cink said. "So it's important to make it look real. It's important to them and important to us. Because you lose credibility when it looks staged.''
The most glaring issue in most golf movies are the swings. But not here.
Fowler in "costume""Even people who aren't good golfers can recognize when its not a good swing,'' Cink said. "Costner didn't look like he was winning the U.S. Open in Tin Cup. So I think it's important for them to have some recognizable players. When golf fans see the movie it will be 'Oh, look that's Cameron Beckman. That's Rickie Fowler. That's K.J. Choi. That's their real swing.''
And, as the players found out, the shoots aren't a one-way street. The directors want input.
"They take the time to listen,'' said Beem, who finishes third in the movie tournament. "It's a pretty cool feeling. This is how we'd be doing this and they figure out how to shoot the scene.''
In fact, Fowler made a few suggestions to make the tee shoot a bit less complicated. Instead of players having to hit several marks, he suggested they waggle the ball off the tee, then they can simply "hit" their shot. Done.
Fowler got involved with the project after playing in the same group with Black at the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am -- Black played with Ryo Ishikawa; Fowler with Chris O'Donnell -- and the two became friends. Fowler had already read the book and was friends with Tom Pernice, who is close to Cook.
"I really wanted to have a chance to do this,'' Fowler said. "I found out from Lucas that he was possibly going to have a role a few months back and I told him, it would be pretty cool to get into a movie, especially a golf movie.
"I wish I could have done more, but I just came off of five weeks on the road so it came down to just being able to do just the one day.''
Cink signed on two weeks ago when Tom Lehman, who is involved in the film, called and asked.
"It's something I wanted to do,'' he said. "Faith is one of the huge parts of my life and this movie is really centered on that. And it's got golf involved. So I fit both of those profiles.''
Choi and Beem had some seriously long days on the set shooting the tournament at the end of the movie, but it was worth it.
The movie is the story of talented Luke Chisholm, played by Black, whose first big shot is a disaster. He escapes the pressure and winds up stranded in Utopia, Texas, where he is befriended by eccentric rancher Johnny Crawford, played by Robert Duvall. He slowly learns about life and finds his way back to tournament golf where he faces Choi and Beem.
Beem plays himself, while Choi plays intimidating Tae Kwon Oh -- TK Oh -- who faces off against Black's character in a playoff. And, yes, he had to do multiple takes of those icy stares.
"He's got that intimidating look,'' Cink said. "You can say he's a mean looking guy, but he's really a teddy bear.''
As for authenticity, it even trickled down to wardrobe. Since Fowler is in a Sunday scene, he's in his Sunday head-to-toe orange. "They wanted authentic,'' he grinned.
But he also shot a scene from another day in a lime green shirt, belt and shoes and white pants. So as he and Choi were called to the Sunday driving range scene at the last minute, directors were held up while they changed. Choi bolted to the locker room to get in his Sunday black, while Fowler slipped to the side of the set and did a quick change -- all the way down to his shoes.
That done, they were lined up on the range hitting balls -- from all different angles. Directors needed shots of the swings and the players' faces. Different lineups, different shots. Or faked shots. Or poses.
"The hard part is to fake the intensity, so you have to overdo it," Cink said. "So when we have lines, you have to overdo the enunciation. We think it sounds silly, but when you go back and hear it, you realized you have to overdo it.''
Same with shots and poses.
It's all in good fun. But it does wear a guy out.
After a long morning and about six takes of one faked driving range pose, the director said, "One more, K.J." He rolled his eyes, patted his stomach and said "Hungry." The set cracked up.
A couple of shots later, it was a wrap.
After lunch, Choi, Fowler and Cink headed to the airport to fly to Akron. Beckman and Brooks hit the road for home.
So did Beem. Until, of course, he got the call and made that U-turn back to Utopia for one last take. Well, make that takes.
http://www.sevendaysinutopia.com/team.htm
Lehman and Utley are two of the golf experts for this movie
PGATour article about a day of shooting
FREDERICKSBURG, Texas -- Rich Beem was on the road back to Austin when he got the call.
They needed him back on the set. One last thing. So he turned around and headed back to Boot Ranch, better known this week as Utopia.
Less than an hour later, he was on the 18th fairway shooting one final scene. Again.
Welcome to the world of movies, where a golf swing, a walk off the green or tee, even a look to the crowd can take, oh, a minimum of a half dozen takes. And that's not counting blocking out the scene or rehearsal. Or end-of-the-day retakes.
Take Monday morning. Rickie Fowler, Stewart Cink, Cameron Beckman and Mark Brooks all stood around waiting their turn to tee up a ball, "hit" a tee shot, then walk off the tee. All part of the job, right?
Simple? Not so much.
The director needs a tight shot of them teeing up their golf balls. Then he needs them to swing and miss the ball. That done, they walk toward the fairway and wave -- to the trees, er, crowd.
Now they're shooting on the green, complete with cameras and screens to bounce the light. And just when they get halfway through a take, a truck rumbles across an adjacent bridge. Or the director switches angles and a line of golf carts have to be moved.
But no complaints. Fowler, Cink, Beckman, Brooks and Bill Rogers all spent the day shooting cameos for "Seven Days in Utopia," a movie --based on the best-selling book by David Cook -- that asks the question, how can a game have such an effect on a man's soul?
A few fairways away, Beem and K.J. Choi -- both of whom have larger roles and spent four days on the set -- were shooting scenes at the 18th green and scoring hut. Same drill. Not just signing a scorecard or hitting a shot. Multiple takes. Multiple angles.
For Fowler, Cink and Choi, the movie was a little detour on their way to this week's World Golf Championships-Bridgestone Invitational. A chance to get in a little practice on the range -- or in Beckman's case a putting lesson from Stan Utley -- then a little face time on the big screen.
''It's the fun part of what I do to expand outside of playing and practicing and trying to finish high in tournaments or win,'' Cink said. "That's great but this is a little more of an expansion role.''
All the players know some of these drills. They've shot tournament promos and commercials. But movies are more labor intensive and, honestly, everyone wants to make sure they get the "golf" part of the movie right. That's why the production team, led by Oscar-winning executive producer Mark Mathis, chose actor Lucas Black, a scratch golfer, to play the golf lead in the movie, and why they wanted to use PGA TOUR players for authenticity.
'It's real easy when you're filming golfers for things to get a little out whack where you notice,'' Cink said. "So it's important to make it look real. It's important to them and important to us. Because you lose credibility when it looks staged.''
The most glaring issue in most golf movies are the swings. But not here.
Fowler in "costume""Even people who aren't good golfers can recognize when its not a good swing,'' Cink said. "Costner didn't look like he was winning the U.S. Open in Tin Cup. So I think it's important for them to have some recognizable players. When golf fans see the movie it will be 'Oh, look that's Cameron Beckman. That's Rickie Fowler. That's K.J. Choi. That's their real swing.''
And, as the players found out, the shoots aren't a one-way street. The directors want input.
"They take the time to listen,'' said Beem, who finishes third in the movie tournament. "It's a pretty cool feeling. This is how we'd be doing this and they figure out how to shoot the scene.''
In fact, Fowler made a few suggestions to make the tee shoot a bit less complicated. Instead of players having to hit several marks, he suggested they waggle the ball off the tee, then they can simply "hit" their shot. Done.
Fowler got involved with the project after playing in the same group with Black at the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am -- Black played with Ryo Ishikawa; Fowler with Chris O'Donnell -- and the two became friends. Fowler had already read the book and was friends with Tom Pernice, who is close to Cook.
"I really wanted to have a chance to do this,'' Fowler said. "I found out from Lucas that he was possibly going to have a role a few months back and I told him, it would be pretty cool to get into a movie, especially a golf movie.
"I wish I could have done more, but I just came off of five weeks on the road so it came down to just being able to do just the one day.''
Cink signed on two weeks ago when Tom Lehman, who is involved in the film, called and asked.
"It's something I wanted to do,'' he said. "Faith is one of the huge parts of my life and this movie is really centered on that. And it's got golf involved. So I fit both of those profiles.''
Choi and Beem had some seriously long days on the set shooting the tournament at the end of the movie, but it was worth it.
The movie is the story of talented Luke Chisholm, played by Black, whose first big shot is a disaster. He escapes the pressure and winds up stranded in Utopia, Texas, where he is befriended by eccentric rancher Johnny Crawford, played by Robert Duvall. He slowly learns about life and finds his way back to tournament golf where he faces Choi and Beem.
Beem plays himself, while Choi plays intimidating Tae Kwon Oh -- TK Oh -- who faces off against Black's character in a playoff. And, yes, he had to do multiple takes of those icy stares.
"He's got that intimidating look,'' Cink said. "You can say he's a mean looking guy, but he's really a teddy bear.''
As for authenticity, it even trickled down to wardrobe. Since Fowler is in a Sunday scene, he's in his Sunday head-to-toe orange. "They wanted authentic,'' he grinned.
But he also shot a scene from another day in a lime green shirt, belt and shoes and white pants. So as he and Choi were called to the Sunday driving range scene at the last minute, directors were held up while they changed. Choi bolted to the locker room to get in his Sunday black, while Fowler slipped to the side of the set and did a quick change -- all the way down to his shoes.
That done, they were lined up on the range hitting balls -- from all different angles. Directors needed shots of the swings and the players' faces. Different lineups, different shots. Or faked shots. Or poses.
"The hard part is to fake the intensity, so you have to overdo it," Cink said. "So when we have lines, you have to overdo the enunciation. We think it sounds silly, but when you go back and hear it, you realized you have to overdo it.''
Same with shots and poses.
It's all in good fun. But it does wear a guy out.
After a long morning and about six takes of one faked driving range pose, the director said, "One more, K.J." He rolled his eyes, patted his stomach and said "Hungry." The set cracked up.
A couple of shots later, it was a wrap.
After lunch, Choi, Fowler and Cink headed to the airport to fly to Akron. Beckman and Brooks hit the road for home.
So did Beem. Until, of course, he got the call and made that U-turn back to Utopia for one last take. Well, make that takes.
