Story of movie Cool Runnings :
Cool Runnings is a 1993 American comedy sports film directed by Jon Turteltaub and starring Leon, Doug E. Doug, Rawle D. Lewis, Malik Yoba, and John Candy. The film was released in the United States on October 1, 1993. It was Candy's last film to be released during his lifetime. It is loosely based on the true story of the Jamaica national bobsleigh team's debut in competition during the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. The film received positive reviews, and the film's soundtrack also became popular with Jimmy Cliff's cover of "I Can See Clearly Now" reaching the top 40 as a single in nations such as Canada, France, and the UK.
| Cool Runnings | |
|---|---|
Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Jon Turteltaub |
| Produced by |
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| Written by |
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| Story by | Lynn Siefert Michael Ritchie |
| Starring |
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| Music by | Hans Zimmer |
| Cinematography | Phedon Papamichael |
| Edited by | Bruce Green |
Production company | Walt Disney Pictures Chris Meledandri Productions |
| Distributed by | Buena Vista Pictures |
Release date |
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Running time | 98 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $17 million |
| Box office | $154.9 million |
Screenplay
Derice Bannock, a top 100m runner, fails to qualify at the Olympic Trial for the 1988 Summer Olympics when fellow runner Junior Bevil trips and falls, taking Derice and another runner, Yul Brenner, with him.
To compete in the Olympics, Derice and his best friend, Sanka Coffie, a champion push cart racer, seek out Irv Blitzer, an old friend of Derice's father Ben who tried to recruit sprinters to the bobsled team years ago. Irving is an American bobsled two time Gold Medalist at the 1968 Winter Olympics who finished first in two events again during the 1972 Winter Olympics but was disqualified from the latter for cheating and retired in disgrace to Jamaica, where he leads an impoverished life as a bookie. Derice's persistence eventually convinces Irving to be their coach and return to the life he left behind. They eventually recruit Junior and Yul, though Yul is still upset over Junior's mistake at the Olympic Trial.
The four try to find various ways to earn money to get in the Olympics but no sponsor takes the idea seriously and their various enterprises, from singing on the street to arm wrestling, and holding a kissing booth, all fail. Junior comes through for them when he sells his car, which gets the team the money that they need. Later on in a hotel room, Junior reprimands Sanka for hurting Yul's feelings over his ambitions. Junior tells the team about his own father's struggle and how he became rich with hard work. He encourages Yul not to give up on achieving all of his goals and the two begin to show a mutual respect for one another.
In Calgary, Irving manages to acquire an old practice sled, as the Jamaicans have never been in an actual bobsled. The Jamaicans are looked down upon by other countries, in particular the East German team whose arrogant leader, Josef, tells them to go home, resulting in a bar fight. At the hotel room, Derice and Irv reprimand Sanka, Yul, and Junior and remind them what is at stake for the team. The team resolves to view the contest more seriously, continuing to train and improve their technique. They qualify for the finals, but are subsequently disqualified due to a technicality which the Olympic committee trotted out as retribution for Irving's prior cheating scandal. A frustrated Irving storms the committee meeting and confronts his former coach from the 1972 Olympic Winter Games Kurt Hemphill, now a primary judge of the 1988 Olympic Winter Games. He takes responsibility for embarrassing his country with the scandal and implores the committee to punish him for his mistake, but not the Jamaican team. Irv reminds them that the Jamaicans deserve to represent their country by competing in the Winter Games as contenders. That night at their hotel, the team gets a phone call informing them that the committee has reversed its decision and allows the Jamaicans to compete once again.
The Jamaicans' first day on the track results in more embarrassment and a last place finish. Sanka identifies the problem as Derice trying to copy the Swiss team which he idolizes and convinces him that the best they can do is bobsled "Jamaican". Once the team develops their own style and tradition, the second day improves; the Jamaican team finishes with a fast time which puts them in eighth position. Derice asks Irving about why he decided to cheat despite his gold medals and prestige; Irving tells Derice, "A gold medal is a wonderful thing, but if you're not enough without it, you'll never be enough with it," and convinces him to think of himself as a champion even if he fails to win the gold.
For the first half of the final day's race it looks as though the team will push into medal contention, until tragedy strikes: due to the sled being old, it cannot handle the high speed and eventually one of the sled's blades comes loose, causing it to flip onto its side as it comes out of a turn, leaving the team meters short of the finish line. Determined to finish the race, the team lift the sled over their shoulders and walk across the finish line to rousing applause from spectators, including Josef, Hemphill, and Junior's father. The team, at the end, feel accomplished enough to return in four years to the next winter Olympics. A brief epilogue states the team returned to Jamaica as heroes and upon their return to the Winter Olympics four years later, they were treated as equals.
- Leon Robinson as Derice Bannock
- Doug E. Doug as Sanka Coffie
- Rawle D. Lewis as Junior Bevil
- Malik Yoba as Yul Brenner
- John Candy as Irving "Irv" Blitzer
- Raymond J. Barry as Kurt Hemphill
- Peter Outerbridge as Josef Grull
- Paul Coeur as Roger
- Larry Gilman as Larry
- Charles Hyatt as Whitby Bevil
- Winston Stona as Coolidge
- Bertina Macauley as Joy Bannock
- Kristoffer Cooper as Winston
According to Leon Robinson, "...there were script problems. It wasn't funny enough, the key elements were lacking, and it just wasn't working. It was meant to happen when it happened." Leon, Doug E. 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. The film's working title was Blue Maaga. Before Jon Turteltaub was officially hired, Jeremiah S. Chechik was slated to direct until he moved on to do Benny & Joon (1993) instead. Brian Gibson was also considered to direct, but he dropped out to do What's Love Got to Do with It (1993) instead. Turteltaub used actual ABC sports footage from the 1988 Olympics and incorporated it into the film.
Casting
According to Leon, "The script has been following me around for 3½ years." Leon signed on when Gibson was then the director at the time. Leon told The Seattle Times, "I was signed more than a year before we actually started." Doug got involved with the film in 1990: "I found Cool Runnings three years ago, when my agent had it on his desk. I knew about the actual event it's based on, the Jamaican bobsled team that went to the '88 Olympics, and even though it's based pretty loosely I thought it made a great yarn." At the time of Doug's audition, Chechik was attached as the director. Doug told The Baltimore Sun "...I got the offer to play Sanka, the guy I'd wanted to play from the very beginning." Lewis had very little experience and was not even allowed to audition at first. He told The Seattle Times, "I was hired to read lines to auditioning actors for just one day. That turned into three weeks. At first they told me they were looking for names, big stars, so I wouldn't be considered, but then they asked me to do a screen test." He also told The Baltimore Sun, "I came in to this film at first to coach the players in the authentic accents." Lewis was officially hired in November 1992. When asked by Empire how he got involved with the film, Yoba was introduced to the casting director, Jackie Brown, by "a gentleman by the name of Jamal Joseph." At the time of Yoba's official casting, Gibson was still slated to direct. Yoba later told Entertainment Weekly that he wrote the Jamaican bobsled song for his audition. Lewis claimed that the executives at Disney wanted Kurt Russell for the role of Coach Blitzer. However, John Candy personally insisted on portraying the coach and agreed to take a pay cut to do the movie. According to Yoba, Scott Glenn was also considered for the role. Cuba Gooding, Jr., Jeffrey Wright, and Eriq La Salle were each considered for a role as one of the four Jamaican bobsledders.
Filming locations
The film was shot in Calgary and Jamaica in February and March 1993. The cast and crew filmed in Calgary first, to take advantage of the snow. Then they filmed at the Jamaican resorts of St Ann (Discovery Bay) and Kingston. Dawn Steel was on the set every day in Calgary and Jamaica. According to Leon, "(Steel) worked on the second unit for a while, and she said 'Never again. I never want to direct.'"
A soundtrack album with 11 tracks was released by Sony in 1993 on compact disc (Columbia Chaos OK 57553).
In some European countries the soundtrack album was released by Sony with a 12th (bonus) track being "Rise Above It" performed by Lock Stock and Barrel (Columbia 474840 2). Songs from the soundtrack also featured in a little known musical "Rasta in the Snow", which was based on events of the real Jamaican sled team.
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