{"id":37804,"date":"2024-09-03T02:58:29","date_gmt":"2024-09-03T09:58:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/behindthelensonline.net\/site\/?p=37804"},"modified":"2024-09-03T02:58:29","modified_gmt":"2024-09-03T09:58:29","slug":"ty-roberts-you-gotta-believe-exclusive-interview","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/behindthelensonline.net\/site\/interviews\/interview-exclusives\/ty-roberts-you-gotta-believe-exclusive-interview\/","title":{"rendered":"Director TY ROBERTS knocks it out of the park talking YOU GOTTA BELIEVE – Exclusive Interview"},"content":{"rendered":"

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An in-depth exclusive interview with director TY ROBERTS discussing the emotionally resonant and inspirational YOU GOTTA BELIEVE, based on the remarkable true story of the 2002 Little League World Series contenders, the Westside All-Stars.\u00a0 A word to all of you who will be watching this film: bring tissues, lots and lots of tissues.\u00a0 YOU GOTTA BELIEVE tugs at the heartstrings while filling you with bittersweet ebullience.<\/p>\n

SYNOPSIS:\u00a0 YOU\u00a0GOTTA\u00a0BELIEVE\u00a0is based on the inspiring true story of one team\u2019s transformational journey from district underdog to taking its place in the Little League record books. After dedicating the season to a teammate\u2019s ailing father, a group of underestimated\u00a0youth baseball players from Fort Worth, Texas, takes its Cinderella run all the way to the 2002 Little League World Series\u2014culminating in a record-breaking showdown that became an instant ESPN classic.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

Directed by TY ROBERTS with script by Lane Garrison, YOU GOTTA BELIEVE stars Luke Wilson, Greg Kinnear, Sarah Gadon, Lew Temple, not to mention newcomers Michael Cash, Nicholas Fry, Etienne Kellici, Christopher Seivright, and more new discoveries as the Westside All-Stars.<\/p>\n

As writer\/director TY ROBERTS himself has said, “It\u2019s hard to beat a good baseball movie, especially when it centers around inspirational youth athletes.”\u00a0 And with YOU GOTTA BELIEVE, you’ve got one of the most inspirational true stories in sports history.\u00a0 \u00a0Longtime baseball fans, and especially those of Little League, may already know the story of the Westside All-Stars, and if you’re rounding second or third base or heading for home yourself, you probably saw or remember the 2002 Little League World Series.\u00a0 Fighting their way through some 23 or so games during the season and post-season, the All-Stars made it to Williamsport, Pennsylvania where they ended up playing –\u00a0 for 11 innings – the longest game in Little League World Series history!\u00a0 And while that final championship game itself is the stuff that fills the record books, what makes the All-Stars story even more important and moving is that Bobby Ratliff, father of All-Star first baseman Robert, had been diagnosed with terminal melanoma but spent the summer watching and supporting the team, even when it sometimes meant delaying his treatments.\u00a0 It was Bobby Ratliff who inspired the team to greatness with grit, heart, and determination.\u00a0 His friend, attorney Joe Kelly, coached the team.<\/p>\n

For anyone familiar with TY ROBERTS and his films, you know his love for Texas and Texas stories is as huge as the Lone Star state itself, starting with the beautiful and powerful period piece The Iron Orchard, <\/em>followed by the underdog story about 12 Mighty Orphans\u00a0<\/em>and a football championship, also based on true events and individuals.\u00a0 And now, he turns to Little League baseball. But it’s not just Ty’s love of Texas stories and stories filled with heart, the same is true of his producing\/filmmaking partner in crime, screenwriter Lane Garrison who Ty describes as being “like a dog on a bone” when it came to telling this story.\u00a0 “He went and followed up with everybody, and went and did his research, and spent six or eight months working on it, and sent us a draft…It was definitely one of those ones that we felt blessed to get our hands on.”<\/p>\n

But after getting a working script came the hard part, starting with the cast.\u00a0 Reteaming with Luke Wilson who starred in 12 Mighty Orphans<\/em>, Wilson easily stepped in as Bobby Ratliff while Greg Kinnear, who worked with Luke Wilson in Kinnear’s directorial debut Phil,\u00a0<\/em>came onboard as Coach Jon Kelly.\u00a0 Joining them were veterans Lew Temple and Sarah Gadon.\u00a0 But the hard part was casting not only the Westside All-Stars, but all of the other Little League players on various teams.\u00a0 Ty lucked out with his casting search in Canada where he shot the film thanks to much-needed tax credits, but quickly realized the kids would need work on their accents (especially those Texas accents), on their acting as most had never acted before, but perhaps most importantly, they had to learn how to play baseball.<\/p>\n

As Ty and I dug into the “making of” YOU GOTTA BELIEVE, we discussed not only the story and the casting but:<\/p>\n