![]() Casting Īccording to Robinson, "The script has been following me around for 3 1⁄ 2 years." Robinson signed on when Gibson was then the director at the time. Turteltaub used the actual ABC sports footage from the 1988 Olympics and incorporated it into the film. Brian Gibson was also considered to direct, but he dropped out to do What's Love Got to Do with It (1993) instead. Chechik was slated to direct until he moved on to do Benny & Joon (1993) instead. Before Jon Turteltaub was officially hired, Jeremiah S. Doug and Malik Yoba have all confirmed in their interview with Empire that it was originally meant to have been a serious sports drama film. It was meant to happen when it happened." Leon, Doug E. It wasn't funny enough, the key elements were lacking, and it just wasn't working. Leon Robinson (credited as Leon) as Derice BannockĪccording to Leon Robinson, "there were script problems.An epilogue explains the team would return home as heroes, then return to the Winter Olympics four years later to participate as equals. Determined to finish the race, the team pick up their bobsled and carry it across the finish line, earning the applause of the other teams and the spectators, including Junior's father, despite their loss. During their final race, one of the bobsled’s blades detaches, causing it to flip over and crash. They drastically improve on the second day, finishing in eighth place. Sanka disapproves of how Derice is copying the Swiss team’s methods, and encourages the team to 'bobsled Jamaican'. The team’s first day on the track is a disaster, finishing in last place. On the night the Olympics formally open, Junior’s father arrives to retrieve his son, but Junior stands by his commitment to compete, earning Yul’s respect. That night, the team are informed that they have been reinstated. Blitzer confronts Kurt Hemphill, his former coach, now a judge in the committee, asking him not to punish the Jamaicans, as they had nothing to do with his cheating scandal. Sanka, Junior, and Yul get into a bar fight with the snobbish East German team, and are reprimanded by Derice.Īfter weeks of training, the team successfully qualifies for the finals, only to be disqualified by the Olympic committee, as retribution for Blitzer’s prior cheating scandal. Derice begins to copy the techniques of the Swiss team. The Jamaicans struggle to drive the bobsled and adapt to the cold, though exercise and hard work eventually pays off. In Calgary, Blitzer registers the team, receiving an old bobsled from his former teammate Roger. Junior, who avoids telling his father about the team, sells his car to finance the trip to Canada. The team find various ways to raise the money, ranging from singing on the street to arm wrestling. The team train with Blitzer, though Coolidge refuses to fund the $20,000 needed to participate in the Olympics, believing the team's inexperience will bring shame to Jamaica. A recruitment drive fails, but the arrival of Junior and Yul allows Derice to form the required four-man bobsled team. Derice realizes he could participate in the 1988 Winter Olympics by forming a bobsled team, recruiting his friend Sanka Coffie, a pushcart derby champion.īlitzer, working in Jamaica as a bookie, at first refuses to help Derice, until learning he is Ben Bannock’s son. Coolidge identifies the man as disgraced American bobsled medallist Irving Blitzer, who was disqualified for cheating in the 1972 Winter Olympics. He spots a photograph in Coolidge’s office, featuring his late father Ben, standing next to a fellow Olympic gold medal winner. ![]() He fails to qualify when fellow runner Junior Bevil accidentally stumbles, knocking himself, Derice, and Yul Brenner down.ĭerice vents his frustrations to Barrington Coolidge, the President of the Jamaica Olympic Association. In November 1987, Jamaican sprinter Derice Bannock trains to qualify for the 100 metres in the 1988 Summer Olympics. 6 Differences between real life and film.
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