When it comes to making quality sports films, Kevin Costner is a lot like a superstar athlete. In his prime, he gave us the stuff of legends, but lately he’s been coming off the bench and going through the motions. Take Draft Day, for example. Goodness gracious, that story adapted from an NFL press release still haunts me, as I will never forget the funniest moment in sports movie history: Roger Goodell getting a standing ovation at the NFL Draft in New York City. Because, obviously.
But like a star athlete, we’ll never forget Costner’s great stuff, like Tin Cup, American Flyers, Field of Dreams, and especially Bull Durham. (Also, Sizzle Beach U.S.A. is kind of sports-related.) And if we can praise Costner for anything, it’s that he has never felt the urge to collect a paycheck and go back to the well to ruin his sports classics with very unnecessary sequels. But, as he recently told Dan Patrick, that doesn’t mean he hasn’t thought about making Bull Durham 2.
Patrick: You couldn’t do a sequel where Crash is a manager and you and Susan…
Costner: I could if [writer/director] Ron [Shelton] wrapped his arms around it and got it to that point where he thought it was good and I thought it was good. I’ll do a sequel. It hasn’t been a part of my career make-up, but if you can get to that second movie and not… A lot of times now in movies, you see these sequels, or maybe a sequel comes after a movie you liked, and it’s not very good. And then they go, “You know, we really apologize for that second one. We’re gonna make a third one. And you just realize they’re backing that truck in, seeing how big a shovel they can get and throwing money in… It’s a pretty good business, the apology business.
After a long break from writing and directing feature films, Shelton is back in 2017 with Villa Capri, an action comedy that still sort of involves sports. Would the guy who has written and/or directed some of the all-time greatest sports movies (The Great White Hype, Cobb, and White Men Can’t Jump, among others) also be willing to return to the minors, possibly Visalia, to catch us up on Crash Davis? We could do worse.
But, if we do get Bull Durham 2, who would play Crash’s latest project player? I have a hunch…
