The Boys in the Boat movie will be released in theaters on December 25 featuring the University of Washington rowing team. The movie will be based on Daniel James Brown’s #1 New York Times bestseller, The Boys in the Boat. The novel takes place in the 1930’s where l Brown tells the thrilling (true) story of how the University of Washington rowing team shocked the world with their success. The book follows Joe Ranz, a young student at the UW in the heart of the Great Depression. He joins the rowing crew and, despite his initial reluctance, is forced to learn how to become part of a team. Brown illustrates Rantz’s journey of discovery, struggle, and finally victory as he finds himself and his place in his community along the way. Meanwhile, Hitler had risen to power in Germany and hosted the 1936 Olympics in Berlin. Brown weaves a captivating tale and a true underdog story as the team goes farther than anyone could have expected. He also manages to tie in the harsh realities of the Great Depression as Joe struggles to fund his education, making a multidimensional story.
The film adaptation will be directed by George Clooney. As both an actor and a Director, George Clooney has had nothing short of an incredible career. “I was really impressed by how well [Clooney] knew the book — he had not only read it but he really seemed to sort of get it,” Brown said in an interview with Seattle Times. George Clooney expressed his excitement for the film in another Seattle Times interview, “My hope when people see the film is that we do have this reminder that we are all in this together and that we all care about each other,” Clooney said, “the lesson, of course, is the minute you root for one another, amazing things happen,” he continued. Clooney disclosed that the cast trained upwards of three months preceding the filming, going through a rigorous training regiment. Actor Luke Slattery, playing one of the rowers in the film, described the conditioning as “wake up, row, eat, sleep, repeat,” in an interview with Rotten Tomatoes. At one point, Clooney’s co-producer, Grant Heslov, even described how they were worried in the beginning that the cast couldn’t figure it out, “These kids are never going to get this right.’ I mean, we were worried,” Heslov said in a panel at Deadline’s Contenders Film: Los Angeles event. Luckily, the cast pulled together and anticipation is rising to see the final product. “About halfway through, I heard my wife sniffling next to me, and three-quarters of the way through I was sniffling,” author Daniel Brown said, describing his reaction to seeing the movie on the big screen. The film has generated a lot of excitement, now the only question is, can they row their way into your holiday watchlist?
