UW’s iconic ‘Boys in the Boat’ rowing team subject of new George Clooney film
Oct 19, 2023, 7:00 AM
George Clooney on the set of 'The Boys in the Boat.' (Photo: Laurie Sparham/Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures Inc. promotional materials)
(Photo: Laurie Sparham/Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures Inc. promotional materials)
Daniel James Brown’s No. 1 New York Times non-fiction bestseller “The Boys in the Boat” — based on the 1936 University of Washington (UW) rowing team that competed for gold at the Summer Olympics in Berlin — has been adapted into a film by producers George Clooney and Grant Heslov, with Clooney directing.
MGM Studios released a trailer for the film Wednesday.
This Christmas, the race is on. Watch the official trailer for #TheBoysInTheBoat, from director George Clooney, starring Joel Edgerton and Callum Turner. Based on the best-selling book on the inspirational true story of the 1936 @UW rowing team. Only in theaters this Christmas. pic.twitter.com/Q76B6dfvUw
— MGM Studios (@mgmstudios) October 18, 2023
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The cast includes Joel Edgerton, Chris Diamantopoulos, Callum Turner and Jack Mulhern, with Mark L. Smith adapting Brown’s book for the screen. This is the ninth feature film Clooney has directed and his first since 2021’s “The Tender Bar.”
“These guys at the University of Washington take on the seniors, and then taking on the fraternity kids, and then taking on the Nazis,” Clooney told People. “Every film we’ve ever seen that has an underdog in it, you’re always rooting for them, that you can pull yourself up from nothing and succeed.”
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A mural of the 1936 rowing team recently went up in Seattle to commemorate the group’s athletic heroics. The mural currently adorns an outside wall of a soon-to-open Aegis Living center for senior citizens off Eastlake Avenue. As KING 5 explained, the company was even able to secure a special address for the retirement community as an homage to the team, 1936 Eastlake Ave.
“The 1936 Olympic team is a core feature and where we took our inspiration from,” Brian Palmore, vice president of development with Aegis Living, told KING 5.
The film will be released in theaters on Christmas Day.
