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The film is based on the best-selling book Seabiscuit:
An American Legend by Laura Hillenbrand, which was voted as the
William Hill Sports Book of the Year in the UK in 2001 and No.1 best-seller
by the New York Times.
Click here for more...
On New Year’s Eve, 1938, columnist Walter
Winchell published his annual list of the year’s top ten newsmakers.
Franklin Delano Roosevelt was among those mentioned. So was British
Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain and Nazi leader Adolph Hitler.
The tenth spot, however, went to a horse.
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Motion
Picture Artwork, Title & Photos © 2003 Universal Studios.
The film is based on the best-selling book Seabiscuit:
An American Legend by Laura Hillenbrand, which was voted as the
William Hill Sports Book of the Year in the UK in 2001 and No.1 best-seller
by the New York Times.
It is written and directed by Gary Ross who wrote the screenplay for
Big, Dave and Pleasantville, with a soundtrack
by Academy Award ® winner Randy Newman (Monsters Inc.).
In telling the story of Seabiscuit’s unlikely career, producer
Stephen Ives (The West, Lindbergh) illuminates the precarious
economic conditions that defined America in the 1930s, explores the
fascinating behind-the-scenes world of thoroughbred racing and tells
how an over-worked horse and a broken-down jockey captured the imagination
of the nation. “There is something quintessentially American
about everyone in this story,” says Laura Hillenbrand. “(It's
about) the triumph over hardship -- that's the journey toward the
American dream.”
www.seabiscuitmovie.com
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On New Year’s Eve, 1938, columnist Walter
Winchell published his annual list of the year’s top ten newsmakers.
Franklin Delano Roosevelt was among those mentioned. So was British
Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain and Nazi leader Adolph Hitler.
The tenth spot, however, went to a horse. Seabiscuit was dung-coloured
and boxy, with stumpy legs that wouldn’t completely straighten,
a straggly tail and an ungainly gait, but though he didn’t look
the part, he was one of the most remarkable thoroughbred race horses
in history.
Seabiscuit is the true story of a former bicycle repairman, Charles
Howard (Bridges), who made his fortune introducing the automobile
to the American West, and who owned a small, knobbly-kneed horse called
Seabiscuit. Howard teamed up with a half-blind ex-boxing prize fighter,
Red Pollard (Maguire), who became the horse’s jockey and a former
Wild West performer called “The Lone Plainsman”, Tom Smith
(Cooper), who became the horse’s trainer.
Seabiscuit’s fame was unexpected. Overworked and underachieving,
Seabiscuit had been struggling in horse racing’s minor leagues
for the first three years of his life. But then Tom Smith, a taciturn,
West Coast trainer and Red Pollard a beat-up, failing jockey, turned
the horse’s career around. Smith spotted him first and recognised
his raw, untapped power. Pollard, whose undistinguished riding history
had given him plenty of experience with mistreated and troubled mounts,
knew how to ride him. Together, Polaroid and Smith startled the racing
establishment, turning out a tremendous athlete who became an overnight
winner in race after race.
In the 1930s, when Americans longed to escape the grim realities of
Depression-era life, Seabiscuit became a working man’s hero.
“For a brief moment in America,” says Laura Hillenbrand,
author of the best-selling Seabiscuit, “a little brown race horse
wasn't just a little brown race horse. He was the proxy for a nation.”
At the height of his career, Seabiscuit become a national obsession.
His name was used to sell everything from oranges to hotels, from
ladies’ hats to dry-cleaning services. Tens of thousands of fans
swarmed to the racetracks just to see him work out. One writer called
the phenomenon Seabiscuit-itus.
Although, the public loved Seabiscuit, the snooty East Coast racing
establishment refused to accept that a Western-based horse could beat
their champion, an elegant, haughty, Triple Crown-winner called War
Admiral. An on-again-off-again match between the two horses resulted
in what many still consider the best horse race in history. The whole
country was swept up in the pre-race publicity. Rumour even had it
that President Roosevelt would declare which horse he was supporting
in his weekly Fireside Chat. When Seabiscuit flew across the finishing
line four lengths ahead, pandemonium broke out. “He did just
what I thought he’d do,” said an elated Polaroid. “He
made a rear admiral out of War Admiral.”
www.seabiscuitmovie.com
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1 Main Title
2 Idea
3 The Crash
4 Seabiscuit — performed by Randy Newman
5 Call Me Red
6 Frankie
7 La Tequilera — performed by Mariachi Reynas de Los Angeles
8 Marcela / Agua Caliente
9 Pumpkin
10 Red's First Win
11 Infield Folks
12 Tanforan
13 Campfire
14 The Derby
15 Wedding
16 Night Ride / Accident
17 To The Line
18 The Unkindest Cut
19 Ready?
20 A Nice Ride
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Red Pollard Tobey Maguire
Charles Howard Jeff Bridges
Tom Smith Chris Cooper
George Woolfe Gary Stevens
Marcela Howard Elizabeth Banks
Tick-Tock McLaughlin William H.Macy
Gary Ross Director and Screenplay
Laura Hillebrand Story
Stephen Ives Producer
www.seabiscuitmovie.com
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