“These kids, their dream wasn’t to become a little league team and win the world series; their dream was for just one moment to feel like a real baseball team, feel like they had a sense of accomplishment. Once they got their franchise and got their uniforms a good portion of the dream had already been realized. Then to go to McCallum, Texas, and to play one game–win or lose–they knew for that moment, for those six innings, they would be standing on that field feeling like real baseball players.”“Fate had it that it went way beyond that. Here’s one of the greatest underdog stories I had ever read. It was true and it was fifty years old and no one had ever told it. So there was something very fresh about something very old. In one of the meetings we had with the actual players, all but four who are still alive, down in Mexico we were at lunch with them and some woman came up behind Angel Macias and she just sort of stood there; he noticed her and they spoke in Spanish a bit and he signed some autographs, and you realize these are just total unsung–they’re like celebrities but in fifty years it never went to their heads. They’re genuine and it only reinforced how much I wanted to tell this story.”

We asked Mr. Dear about his interesting choice of Cheech Marin who dynamically portrays Padre Estaban. He gives a vivid portrayal of the character of the padre who becomes an inspiration and mentor to the team.

“That was actually my first suggestion in casting. I know that Bill Winokur looked at me like, ‘Are you crazy?!’ I said, ‘No’ because we all think of Cheech and Chong from those early days but I knew Cheech had spent time on TV series and fancied himself quite a serious actor and is good at it. He takes his craft very serious as an actor and so I suggested Cheech and he said, ‘Why Cheech?’ And I said, ‘Because it’s against type’.”

Dear went on to say that he wanted to make this film as contemporary as possible and didn’t want the public to just perceive the film as a Mexican kid’s baseball movie and dismissing it for that reason.

“I thought one of our biggest challenges was to get this story out in front of people. We had to make it contemporary, not by changing the setting or the elements of the story but make it contemporary with some action and pizzazz that a film of today has, give it some casting that will say, ‘Hey, this isn’t what you think it is.’

“I remember in the film when Cesar (Clifton Collins Jr.) comes to the door of the church and he tells Cheech (Padre Estaban) that they’ve just been awarded the little league franchise, and I thought to myself, ‘Well, I could do something humorous with this.’ I was trying to do it in a way that would still be respectful to the church. I thought, ‘I’ll incorporate baseball signals for Clifton to relate to Cheech at the pulpit that the franchise deal had gone through.’ And it turns out to be a very humorous moment. As a filmmaker I thought that I could do this with the language of film as opposed to just saying, ‘Hey, we’ve got our franchise.’” Clifton makes the sign of the cross and then soon turns it into a baseball signal, letting the padre in on the fact that the franchise has been secured.

This scene and so many others work well in this film. In fact, we awarded this movie five Doves, our highest rating, for its excellent story telling and family friendly environment. As an example of the grit this team’s players displayed, one player cuts his foot on glass and his coach tells him he will not be able to play on that foot. “Then I will play on the other one,” the player replies. Dear and his crew were just as resilient as they had to make the film in thirty days.

On a personal level Mr. Dear said making the film “gave me a chance to do something I really believe in.” He wanted to make a good film and we at Dove know that he accomplished that goal. He also enjoyed working with his son on the film, Oliver Dear, the second unit director who headed up all the special effects of the movie. “When you see Monterey, the town with the smoking factories and the mountain, that’s all a painting he did and brought to life. He did the slowing of the baseballs in the air and all this stuff and again that ties into the father–son theme. There I am working with my son on a movie that I really believe in and he really believes in, so there were a lot of rewards.” He and his son appear in the film in a couple of cameos.

Dear concluded the interview by saying, “I like entertaining the audience. With the price of film and the inconvenience of going to a theater and all that, I want people to regard the experience as a good choice.”

Dear hopes as does The Dove Foundation that word of mouth will get people into the theaters to see this incredible family film. The movie is starting out as a small release and Dear said fighting to get screens against some of the large studios is a real difficult thing to achieve.

Dear is currently working feverishly, editing a film titled Politics of Love which is a romantic comedy “about a Barak Obama campaign organizer who falls in love with a McCain–Palin campaign organizer! It takes place during the last forty days of the election.” He is also working on a project called Crashing Vegas in which four kids assume the roles of their parents.

In the meantime, Mr. William Dear is pleased that The Perfect Game is finally in release, after a delay of a year and a half. We encourage our Dove film viewers to see this movie. You just might have a perfect moment at The Perfect Game, and Mr. Dear had you in mind when he made the film.

Here’s a link to Dove’s review of The Perfect Game