‘McFarland, USA’ follows the true-story of coach John White and his all-Latino track team, who despite being newcomers to the sport overcome obstacles to become champions. But director Niki Caro said she was very “conscious” of avoiding a white savior plot.
During an interview with the Motion Picture Association of America’s online magazine, The Credits, the film’s director said the story may be centered around White (Kevin Costner) but its real stars are the the individuals that make up the community.
“We were very conscious of not making a white savior movie, and you could have with the material, but it was really important for us that he be a flawed guy who was ultimately redeemed by the community,” Caro told The Credits. “You see him become a better coach, a better father and a better man through his interaction with this place and these people.”
The sports drama, released last Friday, seems to have struck a chord with critics and currently has a “Certified Fresh” rating from Rotten Tomatoes. In its opening weekend the film brought in $11 million at the box office, according to Deadline.
Not to mention the film is in a league of its own as one of the few movies centered around the U.S. Latino experience. Smaller studios like the Latino-centric Pantelion Films have recently released films like “Spare Parts,” also based on a true story, but Disney’s “McFarland” is the only movie focused on the Latino condition in the United States to come from a major studio in the last few years.
The inspirational tale may have a formulaic underdog story, but the director said she veered away from the formula when she opted to focus more on the human aspect of the story and less on the sports angle.
Many have even noted the movie’s ability to touch upon controversial topics like immigration without getting political. The New Zealand-born Caro says being a foreigner gives her an advantage when telling these types of stories.
“Being an outsider gives you a very privileged point of view to speak about stuff that doesn’t get spoken about a lot, and to do so without an agenda,” Caro said. “Paradoxically, the way I work when it’s not my own culture is I try to be very accurate and faithful to the way lives are lived and not impose my will. I was very keen to portray the Mexican American culture, but I realized that we made a very American movie, a profoundly American movie that happens to have a lot of Mexicans in it.”
“There’s nothing more American than wanting a better life for your children, and working hard to give them that,” the director added. “And that’s all you see there, and I hope that comes through in the movie.”
Before You Go
Starring Anya Taylor Joy, Ralph Ineson, Kate Dickie, Harvey Scrimshaw, Ellie Grainger, Lucas Dawson
This eerie supernatural film, which chronicles a paranoid Puritan family in 1630s New England, gives the horror genre more hope than any film released in the past decade. First-time filmmaker Robert Eggers won the festival's directing prize for the bone-chilling take on terrors both real and imagined. A24 and DirecTV acquired the breakout movie in a seven-figure deal. (Read our review.)
Written by Nick Hornby
Starring Saoirse Ronan, Domhnall Gleeson, Emory Cohen, Jim Broadbent and Julie Walters
After reports of "Me and Earl and the Dying Girl" selling for a record-breaking $12 million proved to be overblown, it looks like "Brooklyn" is the most lucrative distribution deal of this year's festival. Fox Searchlight snatched up the movie for about $9 million, and Saoirse Ronan became one of several names bandied about as contenders for the 2016 Oscar race. Based on Colm Toibin's novel of the same name, Ronan plays an Irish immigrant who must choose between her homeland and the romance she's found in the United States. (Read our interview with Ronan.)
Starring Shameik Moore, Tony Revolori, Kiersey Clemons, Blake Anderson, Zoë Kravitz, A$AP Rocky, Kimberly Elise, Chanel Iman and Keith Stanfield
Thought by some to be the definitive breakout movie of Sundance, "Dope" is a clever look at three high school nerds who get caught up in a drug dealer's vicious ring. Come for the infectious central trio (Shameik Moore, Tony Revolori, Kiersey Clemons) and "Yo! MTV Raps" nostalgia, stay for the Bitcoin high jinks and Macklemore jab. "Dope" snagged an impressive $7 million deal with Open Road Films and Sony Pictures, which outbid The Weinstein Co. and Fox Searchlight. (Read our review.)
In spite of all the attention being paid to universities' systemic cover-ups of sexual assault, the most shocking thing about "The Hunting Ground" is just how shocking it is. Specifically, it's a rage-inducing sobfest that raises too many troubling questions about the priorities of those steering the schools that purportedly nurture students' interests. Radius-TWC will release the film on March 20.
Written by Tim Talbott
Starring Billy Crudup, Ezra Miller, Michael Angarano, Tye Sheridan, Johnny Simmons, Olivia Thirlby, James Wolk and Nelsan Ellis
The slow-burn chiller about the infamous 1971 social experiment in which Dr. Philip Zimbardo (Billy Crudup) split male undergraduate volunteers into prisoner and guard roles morphs into one of the festival's most intense films. Despite an excellent supporting cast and the Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award, "The Stanford Prison Experiment" is still awaiting a distribution deal. (Read our interview with Crudup.)
Written by Donald Margulies
Starring Jesse Eisenberg, Jason Segel, Anna Chlumsky, Joan Cusack, Mamie Gummer and Mickey Sumner
Add Jason Segel to next year's Oscar odds, too. As David Foster Wallace, his quiet mannerisms speak volumes about the author's simultaneous resistance to fame and longing to be liked. By chronicling Foster's intimate road trip with a Rolling Stone journalist, James Ponsoldt ("The Spectacular Now") teaches us more about the Gen X sensation than any cradle-to-grave biopic could hope to. A24 secured rights to the film before its premiere. (Read our review.)
Starring Bel Powley, Alexander Skarsgård, Kristen Wiig and Christopher Meloni
One of Sundance's surprises, this adaptation of Phoebe Gloeckner's inventive novel, which features hand-drawn illustrations that factor prominently into the film, is like a mea culpa for all the coming-of-age tales that fail to capture the messiness of adolescence. Bel Powley, playing a 15-year-old who begins an affair with her mother's boyfriend (Alexander Skarsgård), is one of our next great young stars, imbuing a fussy energy into her emotionally immature character in a way that reminds anyone of their own teen years, regardless of gender or generation. "Diary" also gives us one of two excellent Kristen Wiig performances (the other being "Nasty Baby"). Sony Pictures fetched the film for $2 million. (Read our review.)
Written by Jesse Andrews
Starring Thomas Mann, RJ Cyler, Olivia Cooke, Connie Britton, Molly Shannon and Nick Offerman
The runaway hit of the festival, "Me and Earl and the Dying Girl" garnered the Grand Jury Prize and Audience Award for U.S. dramatic film. A high school wallflower (Thomas Mann) befriends a classmate diagnosed with leukemia (Olivia Cooke) in the quirky, "Fault in Our Stars"-esque weeper. Initial reports put "Me and Earl" on track to yield a record-setting $12 million distribution deal, but Fox Searchlight teamed up with Indian Paintbrush for what resulted in a still-impressive mid-seven figures.
Starring Christopher Abbott, Cynthia Nixon, Scott Mescudi, Makenzie Leigh and Ron Livingston
Josh Mond, who produced "Martha Marcy May Marlene," crafts a surreal portrait of a restless New Yorker (Christopher Abbott) whose aimlessness is compounded by his cancer-stricken mother's (Cynthia Nixon) final days. Winner of Sundance’s NEXT Audience Award, the movie is still seeking distribution. When it does, it'll spotlight career-best work from its two stars. (Read our interview with Nixon and Abbott.)
Written by Sean Baker and Chris Bergoch
Starring Kitana Kiki Rodriguez, Mya Taylor, Karren Karagulian, Mickey O’Hagan, Alla Tumanian and James Ransone
Shot primarily on an iPhone 5s, "Tangerine" is the energetic story of a transgender sex worker who treks around Los Angeles with a friend in search of her unfaithful pimp boyfriend. Hailed for its uproarious but grounded take on an under-represented group, "Tangerine" went to Magnolia Pictures for a deal in the upper six figures. (Read our review.)
Starring Adam Scott, Taylor Schilling, Jason Schwartzman and Judith Godrèche
Anyone who's moved to a new city knows what it's like to make friends. In "The Overnight," Adam Scott and Taylor Schilling learn it the interesting way when they're invited to have dinner at another couple's (Jason Schwartzman and Judith Godrèche) Los Angeles home. It's billed as a playdate for their children, but we soon learn there is much more on the itinerary once the kids' bedtime has arrived. The explosive comedy, which involves Scott and Schwartzman prancing around wearing prosthetic penises, was one of Sundance's funniest, earning a reported $4 million bid. (Read our review.)
If your Scientology obsession is on point, you've already marked your calendar for March 16. That's when HBO will broadcast Alex Gibney's juicy exposé based on Lawrence Wright's buzzy book of the same name. There isn't a ton in the film that can't be found in print, but hearing former high-ranking members of the church discuss the abuse and manipulation that goes on inside was worth the wait to get into one of Sundance's hottest titles. (Read our review.)
Written by Nissar Modi
Starring Margot Robbie, Chiwetel Ejiofor and Chris Pine
Based on Robert C. O'Brien's 1974 post-apocalyptic novel, "Z for Zachariah" could be one of 2015's blockbusters. Not everyone at Sundance adored it, but those who did agree Craig Zobel's sleek direction makes Margot Robbie a movie star and reminds us why Chiwetel Ejiofor is becoming one of Hollywood's best leading men. Lionsgate and Roadside Attractions bought the film before the festival, with no release date established. (Read our review.)
Written by Amy Koppelman and Paige Dylan
Starring Sarah Silverman, Josh Charles, Thomas Sadoski, Mia Barron, Terry Kinney and Chris Sarandon
We see a new side of Sarah Silverman in "I Smile Back," which finds the comedian going dark with the tale of a suburban mother battling a depression that threatens to send her down a spiraling recklessness. The movie hasn't found a distribution deal yet, but pay attention when it does. (Read our review.)