‘Spaceman’ to be Screened at Museum’s Baseball Film Festival

Spaceman, a biopic of the longtime southpaw pitcher Bill “Spaceman” Lee, the winner of 119 big league game with the Red Sox and Expos, tells the mostly-true story of one of the sport's all-time great eccentrics, portrayed by actor Josh Duhamel, who eventually finds himself blackballed from the majors in the early 1980s but refuses to quit the game.

The Film Festival gets under way at 7 p.m. Friday, Sept. 23, with a screening of Spaceman in the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum’s Bullpen Theater. The 90-minute film is Rated R and may not be suitable for younger audiences. For Spaceman, visitors must use the entrance to the Baseball Hall of Fame’s Library building located in Cooper Park.

Tickets for the Baseball Film Festival, which runs from Sept. 23-25, are free but must be reserved in advance by calling 607-547-0397 weekdays from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. ET. Check the Baseball Hall of Fame website (baseballhall.org) for a complete list of the films to be screened during the weekend.

During a recent telephone interview with Spaceman’s writer/director, Brett Rapkin, who is currently writing a screenplay on basketball legend Pete Maravich, the Hall of Fame talked to the filmmaker about a number of subjects pertaining to his latest effort.

HALL OF FAME:

Can you talk about what Spaceman is about?

BRETT RAPKIN:

The movie’s about the transition in Bill Lee’s life when he stood up for an Expos teammate, Rodney Scott, doing what he thought was the right thing to do. How much of it was ego is debatable, but he stood up. It was one in a long line of conflicts that he had with management. As opposed to in Boston when he stood up for Bernie Carbo and got a slap on the wrist, this one stuck. This was the straw that broke the camel’s back in terms of his employment in Major League Baseball. He had no intention of stopping playing ball and thought that there would be more opportunities out there. As a left-handed pitcher he probably could have had a few more years, but I think the establishment had had enough of him. So this story tells the tale of his figuring out how to play elsewhere, putting his ego aside, and embracing it. Which he still does today.

HOF:

Was your previous documentary with Bill Lee (2006’s Spaceman: A Baseball Odyssey) the impetus to make this movie?

BR:

When I did the documentary, this particular turning point in Bill’s life always felt especially inspiring, both sad and funny. I reread his books and thought it would lend itself to a fun, independent film. That’s what we set out to do.

HOF:

Can you talking about the casting of actor Josh Duhamel, an actor recognizable for his role in film and television?

BR:

Once we decided to go into production, which was largely thanks to Dodgers Cy Young winner Eric Gagne and some friends of his supporting the project, we hired a casting director and we just started making lists and looking at the work of different actors. Once we started looking at Josh’s work he just seemed perfect. He’s tall and good looking and athletic and has that California charm that we were looking for. We met with him and his only real concern was how we were going to do it on such a limited budget (less than $500,000, according to Rapkin). Once we walked through our plan, he dove in with both feet and did a tremendous, tremendous job.

HOF:

Is Josh Duhamel left-handed, since the player he’s portraying, Bill Lee, was a southpaw pitcher?

BR:

No, he’s right-handed so what we did in the scenes where he’s on the mound toeing the rubber or talking to the catcher, that’s all him just acting as a left-handed pitcher. But when it came to throwing, no adult is going to learn to throw with their left hand and do it convincingly, so we just had him throw right-handed with a jersey that was silkscreened with reversed logos and just flipped it in postproduction. We could have used a stunt double but I think this worked out really well. And Josh worked really hard to try and emulate Bill’s pitching motion. He wanted to get it right. And it meant a lot to him to honor Bill.

HOF:

What are your thoughts on having Spaceman play at the Baseball Film Festival in Cooperstown?

BR:

It’s obviously a great honor. Two of my documentaries, Spaceman: A Baseball Odyssey and Holy Land Hardball, screened there, too, so it’s great to have this ongoing relationship with the Hall of Fame.