The Fan celebrates 20 years of Bull Durham

It has been our pleasure here at The New 99.9 FM The Fan to bring to you our week long tribute to Bull Durham in celebration of the movies 20th year anniversary. During the course of the week we have talked with numerous people who were involved with the film anywhere from PA announcers to the director of the film.

The Insiders were joined this week by the producer of the movie Thom Mount. Believe it or not but he eluded to the fact that a sequel to Bull Durham has been thought of, even for a 20 year-old movie.

"We always said to each other that we would do a sequel when we understood what happened to the characters in a way that gave a new story with the same depth that the first story had," Mount said. "So I will say that we are close to that, although maybe not quite ready to announce it."

The Fanatics were joined by director Ron Shelton this week. He told the story about how Kevin Costner wound up grabbing the lead role by taking Shelton to the batting cages.

"We got a bunch of quarters, had a couple of vodkas in the middle of the day when it was 100 degrees and we went out there and nobody even recognized him," Shelton said. "He wasn't a star yet, and we put a bunch of quarters in and he took cuts from both sides of the plate. He had a beautiful swing and we played catch in the parking lot, and that was his audition, so he got the job."

The Insiders were joined this week by actor Robert Wuhl who played pitching coach Larry Hockett in the movie. He told Scott Jackson and Dave Rothenberg a story about the famous scene when he approaches the mound to adhear to his players personal problems.

It was actually Wuhl who add libbed the entire scene of suggesting candlesticks and silverware patterns for a wedding gift and then giving the classic release line "ok lets get two". The only thing he was supposed to say according to the script was, "Oh I thought there was a problem, ok lets go."

But since that scene was the last shot of the day and was finished at about 5 a.m. Shelton wanted Wuhl to have fun with the scene. The reason he mentioned the candlesticks and silverware patterns was because of a call home to his wife. He had a friend who was getting married and didn't know what to get them. His wife told him "candlesticks always make a nice gift, or find out where she is registered, or maybe a silverware pattern."

While that ended up being almost the exact line in the movie, the scene was almost cut out.

"The studio wanted that scene out of the movie because they kept saying 'why do we have this scene on the mound it doesn't push the story' and Ron (Shelton) kept saying 'no, that is the story'," Wuhl said. "The only reason it stayed in was because at every preview when they asked on the card what your favorite scence is, it was always the scene on the mound."

All week long The Fanatics and Insiders spoke to different people who had parts or roles in the movie. Bill Miller was the groundskeeper for the Bulls in the movie. Pete Bock was the baseball technical director and the minister in the movie. Toni Forsyth is the voice you hear in the movie over the stadium PA. Bill Law was the PA announcer for the real team and was an extra in the film. Carloton White played the mascot in the movie, you know the one that Nuke drills in the head. And Miles Wolf was the actual owner of the real team when they filmed the movie.