Day 17

Winnipeg, Manitoba - It was with a touch of the bittersweet that we bid adieu to Assembly Hall yesterday and finished all of our work at Indiana's legendary home court. Overnight, the art department gremlins took up all the Indiana markings on the court, all the red bunting, the red championship banners, the emblematic curved wall behind the benches and the red scoreboard. When we arrived today at the Winnipeg Arena, which had been the noble stand-in for the IU field house, it became the University of Iowa Gymnasium. This is the home of the Hawkeyes. As most of you probably know, Iowa is now the team that 1985-86 Hoosier Steve Alford coaches.

Since we are now four days away from the completion of principal photography, now would be as good a time as any to give a major acknowledgment to the Winnipeg production design team. To say that this was an ambitious film for the art department would be like saying Bobby Knight likes to win. An understatement the size of Texas.

When I am frequently asked the biggest difference between television movies and feature films (for the big screen), I answer with one word: TIME. If we were doing A SEASON ON THE BRINK as a theatrical release, we would have had three or four months to prepare for the shooting and, at a minimum, eight to 10 weeks in which to shoot. As it was, the production team for this film had barely four weeks to get ready for the first day of principal photography. From there, it was 20 days of shooting. (We are now on day 17.)

There are numerous key departments in the production of a film. Arguably, the most important to the "look" of the film is the Art Department. This local group of talented artisans is headed by the "Production Designer," Gord Wilding. He is assisted by his incredibly gifted "Graphics Designer," Gord Peterson. They came to be known, quite simply, as "the two Gords."

From the recreation of each basketball floor at Assembly Hall, Michigan, Northwestern, Iowa, Wisconsin and Kentucky to the logos on the jerseys to the banners to the signs on the locker room walls to the pictures on Bobby Knight's desk - this was all done by the Gords. You can't imagine how much research and work went in to recreating the Big Ten and Bloomington world of 1985 and 1986. Down to the smallest item - for a scene we played in Normandy, Gord W. found (on the internet) a piece of actual barbed wire from D-day in France - they had an incredible eye for detail. Actually, four incredible eyes.

The day after tomorrow, I get to play a number of scenes in Coach Knight's office on the Indiana University campus. If the two Gords have anything to do with it, I'm sure it will look exactly like The General's office. Even the paperweight will be right...

Past Diaries

Day 1
Day 2
Day 3
Day 4
Day 5
Day 6
Day 7
Day 8
Day 9
Day 10
Day 11
Day 12
Day 13
Day 14
Day 15
Day 16