ANAHEIM, Calif. - They took their name from a movie about a no-chance hockey team.
Now the Anaheim Mighty Ducks are following the script - a likable team with a standup coach making an unlikely run at a hockey championship.
"The team is the reality show version of the Ducks' movie, said actor Shaun Weiss, who portrayed the affable goalie in the 1992 Disney film "The Mighty Ducks."
The movie starred Emilio Estevez as a coach who leads a bottom-of-the-barrel youth hockey team to victory. It grossed more than $100 million at the box office and led to two sequels - "D2: The Mighty Ducks" (1994) and "D3: The Mighty Ducks" (1996) - as well as a cartoon series.
"This is life imitating art," said Jordan Kerner, producer of the movies.
Among the then-unknowns on the movie version of the team was actor Joshua Jackson, who went on to become a TV star on "Dawson's Creek."
"You know how in the States they play "It's a Wonderful Life' every Christmas?" said Jackson, a Canadian and fan of the Vancouver Canucks. "It's like that in Canada with the Ducks movies."
In 1993, Disney formed the Anaheim team, which begins its quest Tuesday for the Stanley Cup against the New Jersey Devils. The Ducks' march toward the NHL title comes after Disney's Anaheim Angels completed an equally improbable run, winning the baseball team's first World Series last fall. Disney sold the Angels earlier this month and is looking to unload the Ducks.
Screenwriter Steven Brill said he never imagined when he came up with the story idea that it would generate an NHL team, much less one that would contend for the Stanley Cup.
"I was just hoping someone would buy the script," he said. "Then I was hoping someone would make it. Then I hoped someone would release it. It's surreal now."
Brill wrote all three movies and said the parallels between the movie and the real team go beyond the unexpected victories.
"They believe in themselves. That's the key. That's a very Disney notion," he said.
Kerner, Brill and the cast were among the first people to step on the ice at the Ducks' Arrowhead Pond. They filmed several of the hockey scenes for the second movie at the arena.
Kerner uses his Ducks' season tickets to take members of the various casts to the games.
"People in the stadium all recognize them. They are all yelling at them," he said.
Actor Matt Doherty, who was in the movies, said the two teams mirrored each other in "heart and perseverance."
"Things always come out of nowhere, the great things anyway," he said.
Even the real-life Mighty Ducks admit to seeing similarities between the movie and their season.
"In spirit, there are a lot of parallels," said forward Steve Thomas, who bought the movies for his children. "There were a lot of people who dismissed us."
But goalie Jean-Sebastien Giguere was quick to distance himself from the goaltending abilities of Weiss' character, Goldberg, who was afraid of getting hit with the puck.
"He needed some technique, and you can't be scared of the puck if you want to be a goalie," he said.
Paul Kariya, who had a cameo in the third movie, said he planned to stick to hockey over Hollywood.
"Did you see my acting? I haven't been asked to do anything else," he said with a laugh.
If the team wins the Stanley Cup, it would surpass anything a Ducks movie could offer, Jackson said.
"It's not Hollywood because these guys work for it," he said.
But Mighty Ducks coach Mike Babcock cautioned against writing an ending too soon.
"We're still in the process of making the movie," he said.
http://www.buffalonews.com/editorial/20030526/1016692.asp
Now the Anaheim Mighty Ducks are following the script - a likable team with a standup coach making an unlikely run at a hockey championship.
"The team is the reality show version of the Ducks' movie, said actor Shaun Weiss, who portrayed the affable goalie in the 1992 Disney film "The Mighty Ducks."
The movie starred Emilio Estevez as a coach who leads a bottom-of-the-barrel youth hockey team to victory. It grossed more than $100 million at the box office and led to two sequels - "D2: The Mighty Ducks" (1994) and "D3: The Mighty Ducks" (1996) - as well as a cartoon series.
"This is life imitating art," said Jordan Kerner, producer of the movies.
Among the then-unknowns on the movie version of the team was actor Joshua Jackson, who went on to become a TV star on "Dawson's Creek."
"You know how in the States they play "It's a Wonderful Life' every Christmas?" said Jackson, a Canadian and fan of the Vancouver Canucks. "It's like that in Canada with the Ducks movies."
In 1993, Disney formed the Anaheim team, which begins its quest Tuesday for the Stanley Cup against the New Jersey Devils. The Ducks' march toward the NHL title comes after Disney's Anaheim Angels completed an equally improbable run, winning the baseball team's first World Series last fall. Disney sold the Angels earlier this month and is looking to unload the Ducks.
Screenwriter Steven Brill said he never imagined when he came up with the story idea that it would generate an NHL team, much less one that would contend for the Stanley Cup.
"I was just hoping someone would buy the script," he said. "Then I was hoping someone would make it. Then I hoped someone would release it. It's surreal now."
Brill wrote all three movies and said the parallels between the movie and the real team go beyond the unexpected victories.
"They believe in themselves. That's the key. That's a very Disney notion," he said.
Kerner, Brill and the cast were among the first people to step on the ice at the Ducks' Arrowhead Pond. They filmed several of the hockey scenes for the second movie at the arena.
Kerner uses his Ducks' season tickets to take members of the various casts to the games.
"People in the stadium all recognize them. They are all yelling at them," he said.
Actor Matt Doherty, who was in the movies, said the two teams mirrored each other in "heart and perseverance."
"Things always come out of nowhere, the great things anyway," he said.
Even the real-life Mighty Ducks admit to seeing similarities between the movie and their season.
"In spirit, there are a lot of parallels," said forward Steve Thomas, who bought the movies for his children. "There were a lot of people who dismissed us."
But goalie Jean-Sebastien Giguere was quick to distance himself from the goaltending abilities of Weiss' character, Goldberg, who was afraid of getting hit with the puck.
"He needed some technique, and you can't be scared of the puck if you want to be a goalie," he said.
Paul Kariya, who had a cameo in the third movie, said he planned to stick to hockey over Hollywood.
"Did you see my acting? I haven't been asked to do anything else," he said with a laugh.
If the team wins the Stanley Cup, it would surpass anything a Ducks movie could offer, Jackson said.
"It's not Hollywood because these guys work for it," he said.
But Mighty Ducks coach Mike Babcock cautioned against writing an ending too soon.
"We're still in the process of making the movie," he said.
http://www.buffalonews.com/editorial/20030526/1016692.asp
