The Church of Baseball: The Making of Bull Durham: Home Runs, Bad Calls, Crazy Fights, Big Swings, and...

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Ron Shelton

The Church of Baseball

The Making of Bull Durham: Home Runs, Bad Calls, Crazy Fights, Big Swings, and a Hit

Ron Shelton

$59.95

Hardback

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English

Alfred A. Knopf
05 July 2022

Film, TV & Radio; Film movie scripts & screenplays; Biography: arts & entertainment; Screenwriting techniques; Baseball

"LA TIMES BESTSELLER • From the award-winning screenwriter and director of cult classic Bull Durham, the extremely entertaining behind-the-scenes story of the making of the film, and an insightful primer on the art and business of moviemaking.

""This book tells you how to make a movie—the whole nine innings of it—out of nothing but sheer will.” —Tony Gilroy, writer/director of Michael Clayton and The Bourne Legacy

""The only church that truly feeds the soul, day in, day out, is the church of baseball.""—Annie in Bull Durham

Bull Durham, the breakthrough 1988 film about a minor league baseball team, is widely revered as the best sports movie of all time. But back in 1987, Ron Shelton was a first-time director and no one was willing to finance a movie about baseball—especially a story set in the minors. The jury was still out on Kevin Costner’s leading-man potential, while Susan Sarandon was already a has-been. There were doubts. But something miraculous happened, and The Church of Baseball attempts to capture why.

From organizing a baseball camp for the actors and rewriting key scenes while on set, to dealing with a short production schedule and overcoming the challenge of filming the sport, Shelton brings to life the making of this beloved American movie. Shelton explains the rarely revealed ins and outs of moviemaking, from a film’s inception and financing, screenwriting, casting, the nuts and bolts of directing, the postproduction process, and even through its release. But this is also a book about baseball and its singular romance in the world of sports. Shelton spent six years in the minor leagues before making this film, and his experiences resonate throughout this book.

Full of wry humor and insight, The Church of Baseball tells the remarkable story behind an iconic film."

By: Ron Shelton
Imprint: Alfred A. Knopf
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions: Height: 242mm, Width: 167mm, Spine: 23mm
Weight: 527g
ISBN: 9780593319772
ISBN 10: 059331977X
Pages: 256
Publication Date: 05 July 2022
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active

RON SHELTON's Bull Durham launched a writing-directing career that includes White Men Can't Jump, Blaze (1989), Cobb, and Tin Cup, among other films. He also directed Jordan Rides the Bus, a documentary about Michael Jordan's year in the minor leagues. A former professional baseball player, he holds degrees from Westmont College and the University of Arizona. He currently lives in Los Angeles with his family.

Reviews for The Church of Baseball: The Making of Bull Durham: Home Runs, Bad Calls, Crazy Fights, Big Swings, and a Hit

THE CHURCH OF BASEBALL is one of the best books ever written about the making of a movie. But it's much more than a first-rate insider's take on the business. It's a book about the human comedy. Ron Shelton's perceptions about people and predicaments have a novelistic richness. You don't need to know a thing about movies or the infield fly rule to savor THE CHURCH OF BASEBALL. --Peter Rainer, Author of Rainer on Film: Thirty Years of Film Writing in a Turbulent and Transformative Era; Finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in Criticism This book tells you how to make a movie - the whole nine innings of it - out of nothing but sheer will. And it's Ron Shelton so you can't stop smiling even when it all goes sideways. It's always fascinating to hear how great films fall together, this time you've got the guy who called the game spinning the yarn. Major League stuff. --Tony Gilroy, writer/director of Michael Clayton and The Bourne Legacy