Ben Affleck stars as a high school basketball coach battling his demons in the new sports drama "The Way Back." Jack Cunningham was a star high school player who turned down a scholarship to play basketball at a prestigious college and followed a different path - a drinking problem that eventually led to divorce. But at the beginning of the film, he gets a chance at redemption when he becomes the basketball coach at his old high school. This story of redemption and inspiration sounds like a perfect fit for a sports drama, but is The Way Back a true story?
While many sports dramas are based on inspirational true stories - think Miracle , Remember the Titans and Glory Road - The Way Back isn't one of them. This film is fictional and all characters and events have no real-life equivalents.
However, the film still feels real to many viewers and is a clear example of art imitating life. That's because Affleck himself has gone through a well-publicized battle with alcoholism in recent years, and it's almost impossible not to see the parallels between his real-life struggles and his character in The Way Back at. There's a good reason why Affleck's portrayal of a recovering alcoholic is so real: the actor brought his own inner demons to the role.
The film's director, Gavin O'Connor (who also directed "Wonder" ), convinced Affleck to personalize his character to mimic the actor's own struggles. "Honestly, I had no idea about Ben's drinking problem," O'Connor told The Philadelphia Inquirer . "When he called me about making the film and we had dinner together and he started talking openly about his drinking, that was really the first time I started thinking about the implications." The director later realized, The show had to capitalize on Affleck's own battle with alcoholism. "I said, 'Ben, the only way we can do this is if you're willing to not only face the disease, but open the box and let the demons out. They're your demons, because those are the character's demons, and if you don't To be willing to do that in a real way, then we're wasting our time," O'Connor said.
Affleck returned to rehab before filming, completing his schedule in time to begin filming. “Ben was already out of rehab the day we started shooting the movie,” O’Connor added. "I had a very raw, very vulnerable actor who was really open and easygoing."
Affleck even stated that he felt his role in the film helped improve his own life because he went through a similar journey to his on-screen character. "There's a weird parallel thing happening in this movie," Affleck told Variety . "This is a story where the coach ends up getting more out of the players than the players get out of him. I feel the same way about the young guys who play with these guys."
"The Way Back" isn't a true story, but thanks to Gavin O'Connor's hiring of Ben Affleck to play a recovering alcoholic, brooding director, it sounds like it It is indeed true.
