Stay Classy, San Diego
Tuesday, March 31, 2009 at 09:24PM Hey Friends and Good Folks,
The great city of San Diego just continues to show us love...here we are after a year on the road, and we're still getting interest and love, now the movie is in the hands of the people who are working out deals to get it to you, we can still relax and do some press for it. It's an honor that people ever cared, especially after a year on the road and enough press, I'm just glad people still care.
S M A G A Z I N E Interview with Tim Carr Creator of the Film "Leaf" By Paul David
So here's this month's issue of SAN DIEGO SPORTS MAGAZINE. Gave props to San Diego, the fans, Philly and lots more. Enjoy the heck out of it.
TIM
Though actor Tim Carr has been in the business for over ten years, it is his latest creation that has caught the most attention in this town. Yes he has been in big productions such as Rocky Balboa with Sylvester Stallone, but it is an independent film, his independent film that has put him in the spot light recently. You see, Tim Carr has chosen San Diego’s iconic black eye of sporting history to feature as his subject of study whom is none other than…..you got it, Ryan Leaf. Tim Carr wrote, produced, directed and played the man himself in this independent gem of a sports movie. "Leaf" is not your typical feel good or traditional sporting production. It is part documentary, part commentary, part cinematic and part dramatization. It comes at you from the perspective of the fan, the beat writers, his teammates, his opponents and even his wife. It is a movie that will leave you knowing that there was certainly more to the story than the immature jerk we remember a decade ago which is actually good for Ryan Leaf.
I took a few minutes (actually, about an hour) with Tim Carr to get behind the scenes on who he is, and where the concept of "Leaf" came from. Tim is an extremely easy guy to talk to so the following are some excerpts from our lengthy discussion.
SDS: Which came first, wanting to do a movie about Ryan Leaf, or wanting to do a movie and deciding on Ryan Leaf?
TC: It kind of ended up that way, with Ryan Leaf. I had finished a couple of films in a row where I was getting the snow ball effect where people start looking a little more at what you’re doing because they think "I’ve seen him in this, and I have seen him in that" so you have a little more credibility and you start to think what am I going to do next? What would I like to do? So I was thinking that I wanted to do something with sports but I wanted to do something original, something that hadn’t been done. So I went down a list of stories I liked and being an east coast guy, we knew the Ryan Leaf story, you guys lived it, but we knew it. I started to think man, being a fan what would that be like? Being a reporter what would that be like? Being a teammate what would that be like? Being Ryan Leaf himself what would that be like? Let’s tell the story from all of those points of view.
SDS: When doing your research for "Leaf", did you ever speak to him personally?
TC: Yes sir, I did. After I finished the script and I researched everything, video, newspaper articles, magazine articles. I really wanted to get a feel for it from every angle. I absolutely read everything. I then reached out to him; you know I grew up outside of Philadelphia and one thing we try to do is come clean about what we’re up to, you know nobody likes to be the last one to know. So I reached out to him. I wanted him to give us his input for the film and do a cameo. So I called him up and I wanted his blessing and it was a little awkward at first but I told him who we were and what we were doing and I said "hey, let’s do a movie together". It gets real quiet for a minute then he says "I’m not in the movie business man". After that we talked for about 15, 20 minutes.
SDS: There was a lot of press about Leaf v Manning in the 1998 draft in regards to which quarterback should go first and which had the greatest upside. Was the Leaf v Manning debate as played out on the east coast as it was here?
We wanted to see how it panned out too. Peyton Manning had the awareness and Ryan Leaf had that cannon man, he had the cannon and if you give him the people he needed….you know when you have two marquee quarterbacks like that, it doesn’t happen that often. It’s nice to see its like "man, who’s gonna go (sic) first? You’re looking at two guys who are going to make a difference.
SDS: Through your research, do you think you gained some insights to who Ryan Leaf is and why he self destructed the way he did?
You know for me, and I don’t want this to sound like a cop-out, I think it was a case of a little too much too soon. If you are a 20 – 21 year old kid and you are given all of this money and you are given the keys to everything that you want; women, money, fame, fortune, you know you’re on top of the world being covered everywhere. When you have god given abilities I think you kind of get away with a lot of stuff. In high school, or college you get away with a lot of stuff because you are the star quarterback.
SDS: Were there any positives to Ryan Leaf that you uncovered while working on the film?
Oh, absolutely and I hope in any way when people read this article, who haven’t seen the movie, they don’t think it’s a slam piece on Ryan Leaf. Unfortunately when people hear about this movie coming out they think it is 90 minutes, or 2 hours of film makers just ganging up on Ryan Leaf and that is far from the case. I don’t even think I could keep everyone’s attention just beating up on the guy. There was a lot; he was involved with charities, his students he coached had nothing but the greatest things to say about him. Another thing I found interesting is that he was always good to the women in his life. He was good to his wife when he was married, always good to his mother. There are good things about him.
SDS: Locally, your film has created quite the buzz, how has it been received nationally?
It’s been great. All of the good folks in San Diego have actually managed to get it broadcast nationally with all of the buzz coming from California, ESPN picked it up, Fox Sports picked it up and we were everywhere, all over the place, even our troops in Iraq reached out to us. We’ve been really lucky, we played New York and we played New Jersey and just packed the house. I think people are just interested in the story; it’s almost become like an urban legend. What also helps with the story is that it is a combination of gifted actors as well as people who know the guy. It is that whole mix that struck a nerve and we are so, so thankful and grateful to everyone. It is really the fans that are keeping this going and if I could, I’d come to everyone’s house and shake their hand like a politician.
SDS: What is next for the film "Leaf" and for Tim Carr?
Great question. We’re actually really pounding a years worth of screenings for "Leaf". I really want to get to some of those cities we haven’t hit yet. I’m definitely going to hit Seattle, we are actually in talks now. There’s been some interest from Europe which surprised me and at that point we need to take a look at the big picture, we’ve been talking to a couple of distributors and some networks and then we have to talk about the future. I want to get this out to anybody who wants to watch it. Me personally, actually a lot is going on. I’m in a feature film called "Down with the Boogie" and I’m working on a TV pilot right now and hopefully work on a couple more films and projects. We’re getting a lot of offers right now and hopefully I’ll get another project out in front of the cameras because this was a personal project I really wanted to do and hope I can get something else like that out there.
SDS: Any final remarks that you would like to make about the film or your other endeavors that people should know about?
I know that when a lot of people hear about this movie in San Diego they might roll their eyes, I would too, but I want them to know that I lived out there while doing this and I wanted to see what they saw and feel what they felt because this is really their story, this is for them. It is not a slam piece. It is a film where maybe people could take a look at it and maybe put some new thoughts in your head and maybe look at it a little differently. If you walk away with different thoughts about it, good or bad, then we did our job and if you like it, please tell other people because that’s how small, low budget films get on a bigger stage because of the great word of mouth.
For more about Tim Carr and "Leaf" please visit his myspace page at www.myspace.com/parkinglotfilms.