Hey, Coach! An interview with Carla Gugino of the new film, 'Mighty Macs'

Actress has heard players saying, 'I'd play for you, Coach!'

"Mighty Macs" tells the amazing story of a rookie coach for a lackluster girls basketball team at Immaculata College near Philadelphia.  "Macs" adds its G rating and the excitement of a sports Cinderella story to the mix, making it a perfect film for movie and sports fans of all ages.

WASHINGTON, DC (Catholic Online) - Carla Gugino's new movie, "Mighty Macs" opened Friday in theatres across the country. She plays the women's basketball coach at a small Catholic College near Philadelphia in a Cinderella tale based on a true story. The film was initially to open in only 250 theaters but that number swelled to 1,000 due to the pre-release excitement.

Gugino is one of those fine actresses whose name doesn't always elicit an immediate "I know her" from people. However, there is an instantaneous "Oh, her! I love her work!" when you begin to list some of her films.

She may be remembered as the mom in the "Spy Kids" movie with Antonio Banderas, Rebecca in "Night at the Museum" with Ben Stiller or as Sally Jupiter/Silk Spectre in "Watchmen." One of her more recent films is the family comedy "Mr. Popper's Penguins," where she plays Jim Carrey's ex-wife, Amanda.

In our home, she is also an annual Christmas guest, as Emilie Thompson, when we watch "A Season for Miracles" as a family.

On Friday, the opening day for "Mighty Macs," I had a chance to speak with Carla about the movie and her role as coach Cathy Rush.

I had been able to screen the film a couple of times before talking with her and she seemed so natural in the role as a basketball coach. I was eager to ask if she came from a strong athletic background..
    
"You know, it's interesting." she replied. "The answer to that really is 'no' on the surface level. I'm a physical person, I hike a lot, I swim, I kayak, I'm active. But I was never really a part of team sports because I moved a lot as a child so I wasn't in a place long enough to really do that.

"One of the things I love about acting is to be able to shed your own skin and see the world through a completely different perspective. This is the reason that acting is the love of my life.

"The thing that felt it was really important to me to embody. Of course, I needed to learn about basketball. I wanted to be sure that I knew and understood every play I was drawing; why I was doing it. I learned a lot. I came out with a lot more knowledge of the sport, for sure.

"But I also felt that the most important thing I had to convey, that was so clear with Cathy, was a sense of leadership - and a sense of being able to see in others what they can't even see in themselves.

"People do say to me that I have done that for them on occasion, so maybe that is something I bring. I do believe everyone is capable of realizing their dreams, if they commit themselves to it. And your dream may be something different than what you thought your dream was. In that way I can identify with this character.

"A lot of coaches have come up to me and said, 'Wow, you really represented us," and players have said, 'I'd play for you.' That was a real testimony, because if that part wasn't believable, the movie doesn't work."

Having a believable coach and team was important to Tim Chambers, who wrote and directed the film. In order to be sure the basketball scenes looked authentic, he auditioned over 500 girls and every one of them had to be able to play basketball. If they weren't good players, they were not able to move on to the next level of the audition.

One advantage to portraying a person in the adaptation of a real and relatively recent story, Carla also had the opportunity to spend time with the real Cathy Rush.

"You know what I really loved," she shared as we were talking about the real Cathy Rush. "What I was taken immediately with her, was how 'no nonsense' she was. The fact that she was very much a woman and a woman who felt strongly that she wanted to do something that really was a value to her.

"But she also wasn't setting out to change the world. She just looked at what she had in front of her and went, 'Wow, I have a great team. I think that these girls need to be trained further and we can be better.' There was this no nonsense, one-foot-in-front-of-the-other feeling that came from her that really helped me in playing her."

Gugino also indicated that the reality of who she was playing and what the story was about came even more alive because the film was shot on location at Immaculata College. "It really felt like your were just THERE, like we were transported back."

We also talked about one scene - and I won't give it away for those who haven't seen the movie yet - where the coach may have gone too far and pushed too hard. It was one of those times that could only be described as a very lonely moment of leadership.

"There always does seem to be that moment when the coach has to break through at some level." Carla responded. "She has to take off the kid gloves and push them further than they think they can go.

"What we were trying to convey is that she really questions deeply whether she's gone too far. There is no doubt that her personal frustrations are coming out there. She doesn't know how to show them they really can do it and she probably doesn't do it in the most healthy way.

"What was also very important to me is that we didn't, for lack of a better word, 'canonize' her. I wanted it to be seen that this woman was going into new terrain and she's not an expert at it. With any of the big things in life, we're trying to figure out how to be the best version of ourselves.

"It was important to me that that she failed a couple of times - or maybe didn't, but was lost trying to find it."

As with lot of interviews of this type, I asked Carla what she would like people to take away from the film.

"I think that first and foremost, a really wonderful and most enjoyable time at the theater. One of the reasons we make movies is to entertain.

"And, in this case, to share a dynamic story that affirms the fact that there really is an equality of dreams. Some people have been raised in an environment that has allowed them to know they can pursue their dreams. Other people, unfortunately, have been raised in an environment where this has not been instilled in them.

"Hopefully, this movie will open the doors for a few people to say, 'I'm going to try what I love; I'm going to really go for it.' If it affects people that way, I will feel that we have accomplished what we wanted.

"One of the key lines to me in the movie is when Ed Rush's character in the movie. [Ed. - Cathy's Husband] says, 'Maybe they don't even want this." And she says, 'They don't even know they can want this.'

"It's about allowing people to know that we all can accomplish, in very small steps, great things in the world."

The Mighty Macs has been getting great reviews from movie critics, public figures and religious leaders alike. The Most Reverend Charles Chaput, of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia where Immaculata College - now Immaculata University - is located, attended the premier of the film in the City of Brotherly Love.

"Friday night I attended the premiere of THE MIGHTY MACS, which tells the story of Immaculata College's improbable road to national fame in women's basketball," Archbishop Chaput said. "I was welcomed on the red carpet by writer and director Tim Chambers of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia.

"This story of story of faith and determination is inspirational. The family friendly film reminds us of the power of believing that we can achieve against seemingly insurmountable odds."

You don't have to go too far from the set of "Mighty Macs" to find these real stories of determined faith the archbishop is referring to. The real coach, Cathy Rush, as well as rising star Katie Hayek, who plays Trish Sharkey in the film, are both cancer survivors.

Katie, a former basketball player at the University of Miami, Fla., was diagnosed with Hodgkins Lymphoma on the day shooting started for the film. With the support of Director Tim Chambers, she continued working throughout her chemotherapy treatments, while still turning in a stirring performance.

"Mighty Macs," now in theaters across America, is well worth seeing. Back the Macs!

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Randy Sly is the Associate Editor of Catholic Online and the CEO/Associate Publisher for the Northern Virginia Local Edition of Catholic Online (http://virginia.catholic.org). He is a former Archbishop of the Charismatic Episcopal Church who laid aside that ministry to enter into the full communion of the Catholic Church.

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