CATCHING HELL
ESPN Films
Presents
CATCHING HELL
A Film Directed and Written By
Alex Gibney
Oscar-winning director Alex Gibney explores the psychology of die-hard sports fans, the frightening phenomenon of scapegoating, and the hysteria that turned mild-mannered Bartman into the most hated man in Chicago.
Press Contacts:
Jay Jay Nesheim, 212-448-4841
Jennifer Cingari, 212-515-1084
SYNOPSIS
SHORT
It’s the pop fly that will live in infamy. When Chicagoan Steve Bartman fatefully deflected a foul ball in Game 6 of the 2003 NLCS, the city’s long-suffering Cubs fans found someone new to blame for their cursed century without a World Series title. Oscar-winning director Alex Gibney explores the psychology of diehard sports fans, the frightening phenomenon of scapegoating, and the hysteria that turned mild-mannered Bartman into the most hated.
LONG
With five outs remaining in Game 6 of the 2003 NLCS, a foul ball descended from the cold Chicago sky, seemingly destined for the glove of Cubs left fielder Moises Alou. But a flurry of hands reached up from the left field stands, and one fatefully tipped the ball away from a frustrated Alou. It belonged to Cubs fan.
Steve Bartman, and as the cameras subsequently isolated on him trying to stay composed in the stands, most long suffering Cubs fans, including a chorus of hostile ones in Wrigley Field, quickly became convinced that he had swatted away Chicago’s chance of advancing to the World Series for the first time in 58 years. Even though he was one of many who reached for a ball that appeared to them clearly out of play, and even though Cubs shortstop Alex Gonzalez let a sure inning-ending double play ball go through his legs, and even though the Cubs still had a game 7 left to try to win it, Steve Bartman became the most reviled man in Chicago. The mild mannered Bartman made a sincere public apology, but his fate was already sealed by the Cub fans’ need for a scapegoat to explain a near-century of losing.
Although Cubs Nation has since moved on to other seasons and other losses, Bartman remains ostracized from a community he lives in and a team he once loved. Oscar-winning documentarian Alex Gibney relates the scapegoat compulsion to his own frustration as a Red Sox fan when Bill Buckner was similarly singled out for letting a fateful ground ball go through his legs in Game Six of the 1986 World Series. Gibney engages Buckner and his story as a means of exploring what has kept Bartman so silent despite highly lucrative offers to tell his side of the story, and what has led many fans and media people in Chicago to now act as if the whole notorious incident never even took place.
DIRECTORS STATEMENT
A longtime sports fanatic and hopeless tennis flailer, I have always wanted to do films on sports which capture the thrill of the contest and the human drama of the players. I zeroed in on the story of Steve Bartman because I am interested in the collective mania of a city and the need to find a scapegoat for disappointment. As a lifelong Red Sox fan who has been recently released from the Curse of the
Bambino, I can show the best and the worst of Cub mania through the lens of one who has been there.
Also, having done “Taxi to the Dark Side,” and the upcoming “Casino Jack,” about Jack Abramoff, I am also very interested in the need for scapegoats. I want to hear from the goats and the scapes. Seeing the tears of Bill Buckner at Fenway as he was released from his torment, makes me curious to know what might happen this year to Bartman if the Cubs manage to win. Will they forgive him? Will he forgive them?
I don’t want to get too pointy-headed about all of this however. One of the reasons I’m doing 30/30 is for the fun of it and because, even in my story, there is a lot to say about the game of baseball and how it plays out in mysterious ways that encourage and defy expectation. Was Buckner’s boot the real story, or just the nail in the coffin of the Sox untimely demise. Do players really “choke” once they feel things start to unravel, or is it just that, in the words of Don Rumsfeld, “stuff happens?”
It’s also good to be back working with ESPN. I did a number of interviews for “Sports Century,” including Ted Williams, Magic Johnson, Bobby Orr, Martina Navritilova, and Pete Sampras. I was the one who was interviewing Rod Laver when he had his life-threatening stroke. After we rushed him to the hospital, I watched as the doctor – who luckily happened to be a rabid tennis fan – asked Laver his occupation to test his mental acuity. The “rocket” couldn’t speak very well. “Tennis purayer,” gurgled the man who had won 12 [check] grand slams. Then he pulled on the doctor’s white coat. “I used to be a fairly good tennis player.”
Yes he was.
Back in the saddle.
– Alex Gibney
BIOS
Alex Gibney
Alex Gibney directed the 2008 Oscar-winning film “Taxi to the Dark Side” and the 2006 Oscar-nominated film “Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room.” Other credits as director include Magnolia Pictures’ releases “Casino Jack and the United States of Money” and “Gonzo: The Life and Work of Dr. Hunter S.
Thompson.” His credits as producer include “No End in Sight” (Executive Producer), “Herbie Hancock: Possibilities” (Producer) and “Who Killed the Electric Car?” (Consulting Producer).
In 2010 Gibney’s “My Trip to Al-Qaeda” premiered on HBO, his Magnolia Release, “Client 9: The Rise and Fall of Eliot Spitzer” premiered at Toronto, and “Pure Corruption,” his segment in “Freakonomics” was part of the omnibus feature documentary’s nationwide theatrical release. “Magic Trip”, a time travel immersion experience about Ken Kesey and the Merry Pranksters, premiered at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival.
CHICAGO SUN-TIMES – October 16, 2003
CREDITS
Writer and Director
Alex Gibney
Executive Producer
Gary Cohen
Alex Gibney
Editor
Alison Ellwood
Composer
David Kahne
Co-Producer
Matt Liston
Chris Karnak
Director of Photography
Keith Walker
Line Producer
Niki Usbay
Post Production Supervisor
Andrew Armstrong
Associate Producer
Peter Genesi
Chris Spaide
Matt Sheldon
Camera
Darren Lew
Nicholas Richter
Sander Kean
Mike Swanson
Mark James
Ethan Mills
Ethan Pisz
Aaron Frutman
Todd Skipski
Ken Preston
Location Sound
Rich Pooler
Assistant to Mr. Gibney
Erin Barnett
Kate Elson
Jacqui Lewis
Intern
Tim Gibbons
Anthony Tamborino
Allison Boiano
Max Gantz
Brittany Larson
Paul O’Hanlon
Kristen Shaw
Teresa Cadena
Leah Dolby
Russell Carlsen
Amanda Kammler
Ballpark Re-creation Shoot
Director of Photography
Andy Young
Weiss Camera Technician
Ben Cain
Lighting Director
John McCabe
Production Assistant
Ryan Kleier
Matt Stanton
Kira Crimi
Emily Sowa
Special Thanks
Bridgeport Bluefish
Paul Hermann
Don Lemieux
Jim Foltz
German Claudio
Jason Settles
Jake Wechsler
Pitching machine brothers
Carrie Benton (Buckner Glove)
The Abbey Pub
WGN Radio
Detective Paul Villareal
Stamford Uniform
Brandon at Pastime Baseballs
Marc Rowley (ESPN Graphics)
Kyle Drew (Axis)
Anthony Cinesi
Available Light
Jake Geiger
Barn Door Lighting
Dylan Press
Tamberelli Digital
Richard Carlsen
Russell Carlsen
Emily Temple
Ben Temple
Mike Sedalmaeir
Ethan Mills
Willie Weinbaum
Mike Swanson
Mark James
Joel Feld
John Longo
Bill Brown
Kris Schwartz
Robert Abbott
Paul Rathje
Dan Shulman
The Roundtable folks and Sean Berkowitz
Footage Photos and Music
ABC News VideoSource
APM Music Library
BBC Worldwide
Pump Audio
Streamline Films, Inc
Thought Equity Motion
MLB
Something for Chicago Sun-Times
Matt Efron (Bartman Halloween)
Mocking Bartman videos
theTrumpet.com (Scapegoat photo)
Rina – BibleWalks.com (Scapegoat photo)
Some of the Bartman seat photos
Matt Maldre (Bartman seat video)
CREDITS FOR ESPN FILMS
Executive Producers
Keith Clinkscales
John Dahl
Joan Lynch
Connor Schell
Bill Simmons
John Skipper
John Walsh
Senior Producer
Mark Durand
Consulting Producer
Ed McGregor
Producer
Libby Geist
Associate Producer
Andy Billman
Production Assistant
Jenna Anthony
Baron Damm
Additional Production Support
Benjamin Fertig
Lee Goldberg
Tom Picard
Special Thanks
Chris Connelly
Maria Delgado
Marie Donoghue
Diane Morse
Callie Riotte
Erik Rydholm
Daniel Sassoon
Heather Scheer
Mike Tollin
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