Author: Sam Van Buren
Disney recently acquired the rights to produce a movie on the Caltech Men’s Basketball team’s triumph over its 26-year losing strike, the climax of which will be its victory over Occidental last February. The rights were issued as “remake rights” to a 2007 documentary, “Quantum Hoops,” which follows the Caltech’s team throughout its 2006 season.
Ben Stiller and his production company Red Hour, the same company that produced “Dodgeball,” have signed on to the film. The movie, if production goes as planned, is set for a 2013 release date, according to Deadline Hollywood.
The film is expected to be a fictionalized comedy, according to sports news source Rush the Court, contrasting it with “Quantum Hoops,” which is a documentary. “Quantum Hoops” interviewed former Caltech basketball players, many of whom had become successful software programmers or engineers, quizzing them on why the team was winless for so long. The documentary also spoke to the benefits of the athletic experience, even when a team loses all of its games.
While the New York Times called the movie “the cutest thing ever” and the majority of reviews were positive, the documentary did not end with a Caltech victory. This will be different in Stiller’s remake. The climax will certainly be based on Caltech’s historic victory over Occidental.
“The game felt like a movie,” basketball player Sam Stapleton (junior) said. “The last game of the season, on senior night and with free throws in the final seconds.”
The Feb. 22, 2011 victory was Caltech’s first league win since its defeat of La Verne in January 23, 1985.
How Occidental will be portrayed in the movie is unknown. The College could be either the perennial powerhouse or the bitter rival that Caltech can never quite catch.
“I hope we become a typical Disney villain,” Occidental basketball player Ty Cobb (sophomore) said.
While the movie will be based on Caltech and its success in breaking its losing streak, it certainly carries meaning for Occidental basketball players, as well. Stapleton says that if a movie is made on the loss, it will definitely be “motivational.”
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