Woody Harrelson’s CHAMPIONS Celebrates Actors With Disabilities
By Movieguide® Contributor
Woody Harrelson is starring alongside 10 actors with developmental disabilities in the upcoming comedy CHAMPIONS.
CHAMPIONS follows a former minor league basketball coach (Harrelson) who has to do court-ordered community service as the coach of a Special Olympics team.
All the players on the team are acted by disabled actors, something the CHAMPIONS movie makers said was always the plan.
“The world’s changing a lot, in a good way,” said Bobby Farrelly, one of the movie’s creators and one of the minds behind comedies like DUMB AND DUMBER and THERE’S SOMETHING ABOUT MARY.
Farrelly continued, “We’ve become aware of how hard it is for disabled actors to get parts in movies because they don’t read for parts that aren’t disabled, so when the character is disabled, it should go to a disabled actor.”
To find the cast, the CHAMPIONS crew looked all over the US and Canada, eventually casting Madison Tevlin, Joshua Felder, Kevin Iannucci, Ashton Gunning, Matthew Von Der Ahe, Tom Sinclair, James Day Keith, Alex Hintz, Casey Metcalfe and Bradley Edens.
Even though some of the cast had never acted before, Farrelly said they were “the easiest group of actors I’ve ever worked with.”
Harrelson echoed Farrelly’s comments, saying, “Every day that I was shooting with the Friends, I knew it was going to be a good day,” referring to the fictional basketball team of the movie.
“It’s been one of the most fun experiences I’ve ever had shooting a movie,” the actor continued. “I feel so grateful and I really hope I get to stay in touch with these guys and hang out with them in the future because they’re all extraordinary people.”
CHAMPIONS opens in theaters March 10.
Movieguide® has yet to review CHAMPIONS, and cannot yet advise on its content.