DLee, if you ran into a blond guy with a skeezy 70’s 'stach and sideburns wearing a green suit that looks like it was skinned off a sofa, that is my friend Alex. I ran into him on Monday as we did the crowd scenes and I did NOT recognize him even when I was looking right at him :lol: He had a spot as one of the “trainers” but I’m not sure what horse.
More joining the cast … Hollywood Reporter Oct 4, 2009 - “‘Secretariat’ wins three for cast”
Former senator Fred Thompson is making his return to the chamber of feature acting, joining A.J. Michalka and Kevin Connolly in Disney’s “Secretariat,” the story of the horse that won the 1973 Triple Crown.
Margo Martindale, Eric Lange and Drew Roy also have joined the cast of the Randall Wallace-directed picture that stars Diane Lane as the horse’s owner, Penny Tweedy, the housewife who broke though a gender barrier to usher Secretariat to greatness.
Thompson will play a master horse breeder and one-time horse-racing league president Bull Hancock. Michalka will play Lane’s daughter; Connolly will play a sportswriter.
Martindale (“Mercy”) will play a veteran executive secretary who assists Lane through a dark time, Lange (“Lost”) will portray real-life sportswriter Andy Beyer, and Roy (“Hannah Montana”) will play Thompson’s son.
Nothing like being bumped from your home while a movie is shot - and I don’t mean the people, I mean the horses! DRF 10-8-09:
Byrne bumped by Secretariat crew
Filming of scenes for the upcoming Disney movie “Secretariat,” which is scheduled for release next October, has been taking place this week at Churchill Downs in Louisville. Most of the scenes will focus on the grandstand, paddock, and racetrack, but also on Barn 42 on the backstretch, where many Derby winners have been stabled, including Secretariat.
Pat Byrne is one of the trainers who has been temporarily evicted from Barn 42.
“They say Secretariat was stabled in Stall 10, but there’s been some debate about whether or not that’s actually true,” said Byrne.
Associated Press 10-80-09 “Secretariat’s story heading to big screen”
Oddly enough no one seems to have called attention four days ago that Secretariat’s death was 20-years ago (Oct 4, 1989) .
“Really, it’s Penny’s story,” producer Mark Ciardi said of Chenery, who left her life in Denver to take over ailing father Christopher Chenery’s faltering horse breeding farm 20 miles north of Richmond in Doswell.
“Her coming into a man’s world, learning and rekindling this love she had of horse racing,” Ciardi said, shorthanding elements of Chenery’s story. “She’s this woman in a man’s world, just doing what she has to do.”
Asked how much is budgeted for the film, Ciardi said, “It’s not as much as ‘Seabiscuit’ — not nearly as much.”
I wish it was more focused on Secretariat like the Seabiscuit movie. Though I wasn’t alive in 1973 (I’m a 77 model) Secretariat did win the Triple Crown on my B-day, June 9th…
Old footage would be really nice and I hope the remakes of the Triple Crown Races will be detailed and exciting. Like in the KY derby, how he was last and then raced to the front with blazing speed and the O-SO-EPIC Blemont stakes where he just kept going faster and faster, leaving the others in his dust. I want close ups and side views!:lol:
For those who got to see Secretariat run his races, what was it like? What was it like seeing him in the Belmont stakes?
[QUOTE=Nikki^;4427994]
For those who got to see Secretariat run his races, what was it like? What was it like seeing him in the Belmont stakes?[/QUOTE]
time seemed to just stand still… He opened up on the field and just kept going , There wasn’t a person who watched that day who didn’t realize they just saw a legend being born. The closest I’ve come to seeing it again , was watching Rachael Alexander come up through the rail and Calvin waving bye bye as he checked out…
It was incredible. I was just a kid and realized I would probably never see a race like that again.
I was in college. A bunch of us watched the Derby at a frat house on campus. Races like that are made in Hollywood, not in real life. The Belmont was, in that sense, less dramatic, but as Mikes MCS said, a legend was born that day. Secretariat just got faster, and faster and FASTER…
Thrilling. Chills up the spine, tears in the eyes beautful.
Many who’ll view this movie like to reminisce.
I would have scripted it backwards, starting with his death…and keeping it there as Penny Chenery, Lucien Lauren, Ron Turcotte, et al, get together to recall a racing legend…and how it started. Make participants icons early in the movie.
A few extended flashbacks would reenact key sequences.
Great storytelling.
Also, to the poster who suggested an early 70’s turbulence made a great backdrop…I agree.
Anyway, regardless…I’ll be watching.
Rob
Just to pump the breaks a bit it’s worth reciting that this movie is most likely not focused on Secretariat let alone other racing. Yes he’s an important element in her life but it would appear they could’ve easily named this “Just Call Me Penny” albeit with a highly successful pair of horses …
Oct 16, 2009 “Dr. Sean McNamara” on the movie
You’re currently shooting a movie about the famous horse Secretariat. What can you tell us about it?:
I play the husband of Secretariat’s owner [played by Diane Lane]. I have to play a guy that I myself wouldn’t like. He’s a little bit stuck in the 1950s and keeps telling his wife, “Never mind this little dream about a horse. You need to come home and take care of the kids and cook dinner.” The challenge is to pull that off without him seeming like a villain.
Can we start a horse movie feud by saying why this will trounce ‘Seabiscuit’ at the box office?:
[Laughs] Wow, that’s a good question because I think that’s out there as the model. I thought they made that movie really well. I’m not good with thinking in a competitive way. I do feel the pressure of it sometimes, though, like how did they pull some of that stuff off? I’m going to leave that whole competitor thing on [director] Randall Wallace.
From the UK’s Independent Oct 15 - a brief summary
Secretariat hopes to take biscuit
Making hit films about racehorses is as tricky as picking a winner in the national. But after the success of ‘Sea Biscuit’, Hollywood is keen to punt again. Dylan Walsh, John Malkovich and Scott Glenn are saddling up for ‘Secretariat’, the story of the horse that won the 1973 Triple Crown stateside. Diane Lane stars as the horse’s owner Penny Tweedy, the housewife who broke though a gender barrier to coax Secretariat to greatness. Walsh plays Lane’s husband, a successful lawyer who is accustomed to his wife being at his beck and call while Malkovich plays a charismatic trainer who underestimates the power of Secretariat. Glenn is a southern-bred aristocrat who loses the horse in a coin toss. Randall Wallace is directing from a script by Mike Rich.
The real deal with Eddie Sweat back in the day … here is an exceptionally rare film from 1972 of Riva Ridge, Eddie Sweat, Lucien Lauren and the exercise rider when RR was stabled at Keeneland. RR would win the 1972 Blue Grass Stakes there. Note the brief film is so very early 1970’s with the music and presentation.
That’s a lovely clip, Glimmerglass. Thanks for posting.
Filming continues in Lafayette, Louisiana on the film Nov 2, 2009 “Movie bringing a Triple Crown legend to life”
Excerpt
Much of the action Sunday was near the back of what is now the Evangeline Training Center, specifically a practice track that will double as at least six other race tracks that in 1973 were the domain of Triple Crown winner Secretariat. On this day, it’s Saratoga, and much of the morning’s work focuses on shooting the race horse crossing the finish line.
Additional names: real-life jockey Keith Austin, a Boston, Mass., native who plays Laffit Pincay, the jockey of Secretariat’s main rival, Sham. While he’s been a professional jockey for about 17 years, this will be Austin’s first time on the big screen.
Jockey Otto Thornarth plays the part of jockey Ron Turcotte.
Richmar Farms (Opelousas, LA) will serve as the stand-in for Chenery’s Meadow Farm as evidently no filming whatsoever will be done in the actual State of Virginia.
For now, work continues on the property, getting ready for the actors’ return.
A metal office building has been covered over with wood siding and its tin roof has been replaced by an older-looking one. The garage door has been changed. Many of the buildings are getting a more weathered, worn look.
But as with most Hollywood sets, it’s only temporary. The contract states that everything will returned to the way it was before once filming is completed. Façades will be removed and extra buildings will be torn down and the debris will be carted away.
Some additional background of who is playing whom in the movie. The racing sequences I’m presuming have in large part been fully done and right its mostly editing and only as needed re-shooting select scenes.
Jan 11, 2010 Maryland Daily Record
Maryland jockey Grant Whitacre will be portraying Paul Feliciano in the movie “Secretariat,” which is slated to be released in the fall. Feliciano rode the 1973 Triple Crown winner in his first two career starts as an apprentice, before the more experienced Ron Turcotte took over.
Another Maryland-based rider, Tom Foley, will play exercise rider Jim Gaffney in the movie.
Perhaps one of the worst bits of news I’ve seen: Hank Goldberg of ESPN who seemingly can never speak correctly or with even a hint of intelligence when he’s on air will have a bit part. Per the Sun-Sentinel Jan 10, 2010
In another fantasy scenario come to life, he also has a small role in the upcoming movie Secretariat — playing a sportswriter. The real thrill, he says, is he got to do a scene with Diane Lane.
I’m from MD, so I already knew Grant and Tom were in it. Thought that was old news. 
Interesting - this guy is the foremost collector of all that is Secretariat and he’ll get a moment in the movie …
BloodHorse 1-28-10 “Big Red’s Biggest Fan”
Dwight New has been stockpiling Secretariat items for more than 35 years and according to the legendary horse’s owner, Penny Chenery, it is the largest collection of Secretariat memorabilia she has ever seen.
“It is nothing big; I’m just an extra, but it was still exciting,” said New, who wore the 1977 leisure suit he was married in for his small role in a New York City restaurant scene. “The scene was actually filmed in Lafayette, La. I was on vacation in Houston at the time and drove three hours to get down there. I got to go in the casting studio, and it was an honor just to be part of the film.”
It would be difficult to find a bigger Secretariat fan than New, 62, a retired draftsman who was at Churchill Downs in 1973 when the colt won the Kentucky Derby (gr. I) en route to his historic Triple Crown triumph. A resident of Indianapolis, New has amassed more than 1,000 pieces of Secretariat memorabilia, including a horseshoe, grooming brush, and a lock of his mane given to him during a tour at Claiborne Farm near Paris, Ky., the horse’s burial site.
So just how big is New’s entire memorabilia collection?
“As of today, I have 6,511 pieces. I have it all recorded,” said New, who also is an avid collector of American Indian artifacts and NASA space items. “Each item I have is numbered with a description, where I got it, who I bought it from, and how much I paid for it. Luckily, we have a basement in our house where I can keep it all. We find room for it. My wife is pretty good about it; she puts up with it.”
So just how big is New’s entire memorabilia collection?
“As of today, I have 6,511 pieces…”
Make that 6,512.
Now he has a shirt signed by Penny Chenery.
At least, I think that’s what’s going on in that photo.
A couple of bits from an article on Penny being honored Feb 27th by the American Heart Association Central Kentucky Heart & Stroke Ball. From the Lexington Herald-Leader 2-14-09:
Chenery (88) figures she will need her strength when “Secretariat” opens in October and media attention is once again focused on her. She said having a movie made about her story has been “weird” but fun. “The script writer was a very nice, intelligent man,” she said. "He spent a week out here. When he (later) sent me the script, he said, ‘Penny, this is not a documentary. It’s a Disney movie.’ So it’s a little sappy."
Chenery said she visited the set several times during filming and became good friends with Lane. “She’s warm, intuitive, intelligent and has great respect for the character she plays, which happens to be me,” she said. “John Malkovich is an interesting man. He’s nothing like my trainer, Lucien Laurin, but he’s a very strong character.”
Chenery said the movie “is very kind to me and my family. The best possible outcome is that … the movie will get more people aware of Thoroughbred racing and to see it as a glamorous and exciting sport and not just gambling.”
So I saw the trailer for the Secretariat movie this weekend… I know a thread started in April when the trailer hit the internet…
Of course I’ve got to go see it. It looks like they have a good cast, but of course it looks romantic and smaltzy. Heck, what horse story wouldn’t if you had to write it into a screenplay? Because I want to enjoy the movie, I’m going to put off reading any Secretariat books until after ;). That way I’ll only have to pick on the obvious mistakes while I watch it. Like the fact that the foal they showed standing up was bay. Not chestnut. But to be fair, sometimes I can’t tell the difference between bay and chestnut for a few hours anyway. :sadsmile:
Interesting - B’more Sun 09/10/2010: Rather than re-create Pimlico, director Randall Wallace uses footage from the 1973 race
[Director Randy] Wallace says he wants to make sure Baltimore readers would know that “in the movie they’re seeing the footage of the real Secretariat winning the Preakness. That’s the only time in the film where Secretariat plays himself.”
Some early viewer comments have cast some doubt on the film with the liberties taken in the movie although interestingly writer Bill Nack is giving it positives:
William Nack, who wrote the movie’s source book, “Secretariat: the Making of a Champion” (aka “Big Red of Meadow Stable”), couldn’t be more pleased with the picture.
Last month, over the phone from his home in Chevy Chase, he said that “the arc of the movie is accurate. Penny took over the horse farm when her father was dying, and left her family and went East to run the career of this racehorse. It made her and her husband estranged; she had a very difficult time. But she managed to start another life. She ended up blending in well with the Establishment, and she was much admired. That is the guts of the movie — and it’s all true.”
Beyond that, Nack said, Wallace got the pastoral and the prickly textures right.
