Behind the scenes on ‘The Express’: Part 2

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When I was writing the other day about Gary Fleder’s ‘The Express,’ which tells the soulful story of Syracuse running back Ernie Davis, I mentioned that Fleder had spent a lot of time in recent years directing TV pilots. It’s not exactly glamorous work, but I know several directors who say it’s been an invaluable educational tool in terms of communicating with actors, experimenting with new technology and being more economical in their work. ‘If filmmakers would do more TV pilots, they’d probably make movies a lot faster,’ says Fleder. ‘It really helps you sharpen your craft.’

It’s also a great way to meet good screenwriters, which turned out to have a big impact on Fleder’s work on ‘The Express.’ Although he heaps praise on Chuck Leavitt, who wrote the film’s script, after Fleder cast Dennis Quaid as Syracuse football coach Ben Schwartzwalder, he felt he needed a fresh eye to do some rewrites, especially on the film’s football scenes. So he turned to John Lee Hancock, the director of ‘The Rookie’ and writer-director of ‘The Alamo.’ Hancock and Fleder were pals, having met -- natch -- working on the pilot of a short-lived 1998 TV show called ‘L.A. Doctors.’ (Hancock wrote the pilot episode, Fleder directed it.) Fleder turned to the Texas-born Hancock since he was not only a gifted writer but the son of a high-school football coach whose two brothers had played college football.

‘John brought a lot of verisimilitude to the story,’ Fleder says. ‘He read the script and said, ‘Everyone says Schwartzwalder is a great coach, but shouldn’t we show it?’ And he wrote a great sequence where you see why he’s a good coach, drawing up a really innovative offense, as well as see how he worked with Ernie Davis and how Syracuse won football games. It was really good work. I shot the sequence exactly as he wrote it.’

Fleder says Hancock also ‘vetted’ all of the sports cliches in the original script. What exactly does that mean, you might wonder? I asked Hancock to explain:

‘Sports movies all have certain genre requirements,’ Hancock says. ‘But you want it to feel like real sports, not like a movie’s version of sports reality. Growing up around my dad, I know what coaches sound like in the locker room, so I know what a coach sounds like and what’s movie fantasy.’ (Actually, Hancock didn’t say ‘fantasy’ -- he used an expletive that I expect his father often used in the locker room.)

Hancock insists he did very minor work on the script -- it’s Fleder who gives him credit for crafting some important changes -- but he acknowledges he was eager to work on the football sequences, since he was eager to write scenes for Quaid, whom he’d directed in ‘The Rookie.’ ‘Dennis was already attached to the movie when I came in and I knew that he was such a good actor, why not give him something special to do,’ Hancock recalls. ‘I wanted people to see Schwartzwalder at the chalkboard and on the field, so we could see his mind working, his mouth working and how he executed his ideas. That way people might say, ‘Hey, this guy is really good at this!’ ‘

It was also useful for Fleder to have someone who had a history with Quaid, an intense actor who demands a lot of his directors. ‘I told Gary that the only thing Dennis wanted was a director who’d look him in the eye and be straight with him,’ Hancock recalls. ‘He’s not a guy that you have to spend a lot of time coddling. You don’t have to put your arm around him and always tell him how great he’s doing. He’s a pro. If he disagrees with you, he’ll let you know it, but he understands what you’re doing as a filmmaker. He just wants people to shoot him straight -- kinda like Ben Schwartzwalder.’

Hancock went with Fleder to meet Jim Brown, to hear firsthand what Ernie Davis and Schwartzwalder were like. He says he was impressed by how much respect Brown had for Schwartzwalder, even though they’d clashed over issues off the football field when Brown played at Syracuse. Like almost everyone else who meets him, Hancock came away a bit in awe of Brown, who many believe was the greatest running back to ever play the game.

When Hancock was trying to close his deal to do a rewrite on the film, negotiations reached a bit of an impasse, as they often do. ‘There’s always a hitch here or a hitch there and you get to a point where you wonder -- should I walk away from the whole thing?’ Hancock recalls. ‘But I really wanted to work with Gary, so I called him up one day and said, ‘Look, we’re so close on the deal. I’ll give in on all the other points if you’ll get my son a signed football from Jim Brown.’ ‘

Hancock laughs. ‘Gary said, ‘Done deal.’ And my son has a football that’s signed: ‘To John Henry, from Jim Brown.’ ‘