Stroke of Genius Article with Malcolm McDowell 4/29/04

Film captures Jones' essence
By Alan Tays | 4/29/04

    The e-mails - rather, the lack of any - sent among the grandchildren of Bobby Jones were the first clue that a movie was finally going to be made about the legendary amateur golfer.
    "We've seen script after script as a family, and each one has been like, 'Nice effort, but it just hasn't quite gotten it,' " Dr. Bob Jones IV said of his grandfather, who is the subject of a movie being released Friday. About a year ago, the Jones family - "Basically, the children of Bob Jones' children," Jones IV said - received a script, co-written by Hollywood director Rowdy Herrington. It piqued their interest.
    "Generally the e-mail whenever we've had a script has been very quick. Everybody in the family has written, 'Nope, this isn't it. Nice try, not it,' " Jones IV said by phone from his home near Atlanta.
    But after they read Herrington's script, "there was no e-mail," Jones IV said. "There was absolutely no e-mail among any of us. We were all kind of nervous to say that we liked it, because we didn't want to say, 'We saw this one and it seems really, really good' and have everybody else in the family say, 'Oh, gosh, that's nuts.' We all liked it."
    Because they did, Stroke of Genius, is coming to theater screens nationwide. It is the first theatrical film about the amateur champion, whose 1930 feat of winning the British Amateur, British Open, U.S. Amateur and U.S. Open was christened the Grand Slam and never has been equaled. The movie documents Jones' early career and the physical and emotional trials he endured to win the Slam.
    Jones also is known for founding Augusta National Golf Club and the Masters. But the movie only hints at those accomplishments. It chronicles Jones' life from childhood to 1936, when he made an emotional return to his favorite golf course, Scotland's St. Andrews (where officials allowed scenes to be shot on the course, which had not previously been done).
    The adult Jones - "Bob," as he says he prefers to be called - is played by Jim Caviezel, who shot to stardom with his performance as Jesus in The Passion of the Christ.
    "Initially everybody thought you've got to get somebody who really knows golf," Jones IV said. "Rowdy was the one who understood you need to get somebody who's a really fine actor. The next thing you know we've got Jim Caviezel, not knowing that Jim Caviezel was on the verge of becoming the hottest property on the planet."
    Caviezel originally was solicited for the part of Walter Hagen, Jones' colorful rival. He lobbied for the lead instead, telling the filmmakers, "I can play Bobby Jones. I'll get the swing."
    "Assuming that he was an avid golfer, we had him come in and found out that he didn't play golf at all and knew very little about the game," said producer Kim Dawson. "But he was kind of like Rowdy -- he looked me straight in the eyes and said 'I can do this,' and I knew that he could." Caviezel knew the role would be intensely scrutinized by Jones' passionate fans.
    "Everybody in Georgia knows how Bobby Jones talked, walked, ate, spit and drank," Caviezel said. "I've had people come up to me and say, 'You know, you're too tall to be Bobby Jones. Why did they cast you? You're not from Georgia. Why did they cast you?' "I'd just politely answer, 'Well, it's because I'm an actor, sir.'"
    Caviezel's supporting cast includes Claire Forlani (Meet Joe Black) as Jones' wife, Mary, who struggles to compete with tournament golf for his time; Jeremy Northam (Gosford Park) as Hagen, the flamboyant pro who takes the amateur Jones under his wing; and Malcolm McDowell (A Clockwork Orange) as O.B. Keeler, the Atlanta newspaperman who became Jones' confidant. McDowell said he was drawn to the project for one reason.
    "And it wasn't the money. To be honest, it was the golf. I'm addicted to the game and they got me at a weak moment. I must say, I've had the best time on this film because the two things I love the most - besides my wife and family - are acting and playing golf, and I'm getting to do both in one project."
    Herrington, Dawson said, "sees (Stroke of Genius) as his Chariots of Fire" - another movie ostensibly about sports but with a deeper underlying theme. "I'm an avid golfer and I knew who Bobby Jones was," Herrington said, "so my initial reaction when I heard about the project was both elation and fear. Elation because it's an amazing opportunity to dramatize a man's life that is so rich in character and complexities. Fearful because it can only be told once and it must be done well."
    Early indications are that Herrington's fear is well-founded. Writing in Golf World magazine, Jaime Diaz metaphorically compared the movie to the on-screen sound of one of Caviezel's putts dropping: "Small and thin and tinny. Most of all, off-key." Daily Variety complained about "laborious pacing and an overload of detail in the poorly structured script." While giving the movie "points for comprehensiveness," The Hollywood Reporter said "the film never seems to find a unified focus."
    The Jones family, which had script approval rights and which was consulted during filming, is pleased with the movie, Jones IV said. "I think it's really super. I really do. I think the script captures a lot of the essence of who my grandfather was."
    Jones IV said some of his favorite parts of the movie concerned "my great-grandfather's relationship with his own dad, and how conflicted that was. This movie really captures it. Not to mention the fact that it's just beautifully shot."
    Jones IV said he was asked to play one of Bobby Jones' opponents, but "I was so emotionally touched by what they were doing and what I was seeing that I realized there was just no way I could keep my composure together enough to do what I was being asked to do. When the family attended advance screenings, Jones IV said, "everybody had scenes that moved them differently, and each time I've seen it different things have moved me."
    At the movie's conclusion, a trailer informs audiences that Jones was later diagnosed with syringomyelia, a rare nerve disorder that would confine him to a wheelchair and eventually take his life in 1971. The filmmakers have said they will donate some proceeds to charities, including The First Tee and the American Syringomyelia Alliance Project (ASAP).
    "One of the reasons my family got involved with this project," Jones IV said, "is because the producers of this film were very, very serious about making a meaningful commitment to charity."
    After he gave the keynote speech at a recent ASAP function, Jones IV said he was approached by people stricken with the disease who told him how much they admired his grandfather and "how much this film means to them personally. Institutions can become very faceless in some ways, but when you actually see the faces of the people of The First Tee, of the people of ASAP, it adds a whole new dimension to what this film is about." Jones never hid the disease, but neither did he publicize it. We've been very, very careful to observe his wishes in that he never wanted this to be known as Bobby Jones disease. My grandfather was an extraordinarily private man. Somebody asked me, if my grandfather were alive now, how would he feel about this film. I said the answer is, if my grandfather were alive, there would be no film. But secretly I think he would have been very pleased."