Why didn’t a very special team, with Tom Hanks and Geena Davis, have a prequel and now it will be a series?

fan of A very special teamPenny Marshall’s 1992 film, starring Tom Hanks and Geena Davishas already spawned a new series on Amazon Prime Video – it will debut in August – but the truth is it was going to have a prequel before … and now we know why it wasn’t.

Regarding the 30th anniversary of the film, in an interview with The Hollywood reporter, scriptwriter Lowell Ganz discussed plans for a prequel that were made in the wake of the film’s initial success.

While it never materialized, the second film would focus on the baseball career of Tom Hanks’ character Jimmy Dugan.

Differences with the study

“In fact, we had plans to do a new story centered fundamentally on Jimmy’s career,” Ganz said. “She would have talked about her career before she got involved in the women’s baseball leagueand then he would jump on stage when he gets a job as a manager of a men’s baseball league … “.

“He’s going to give a black player a chance there – we’re talking right after Jackie Robinson’s retirement – Tom was really excited, but we couldn’t get the studios to approve it.”

Ganz says the studio was not interested in doing a continuation of the classic women’s baseball that did not include women playing baseball.

“We wrote it, we got paid to write a script,” he said. “As Tom said, ‘it was when I was still young enough to be credible as a baseball player.’ Based on what I remember, Columbia wanted us to make another “girl” movie, as they called it.

“We had nothing more to say about it. We didn’t agree with the people of Columbia. They wanted Tom Hanks, of course. But they also wanted more women to play baseball … I don’t know what story they thought we could write at the time. So it all fell apart. “

Yet, 30 years later, his film is about to find a new life through the Amazon Prime Video platform.

the original plot

The story of the origins of A very special team (A league of its own) reported that in 1943, while men were at war, baseball was about to disappear. But this was not the case thanks to a group of women.

At that time, the production was supplemented by Geena Davis and Lori Petty, who were part of the women’s team and had to prove that they were capable of competing and fighting like men; in front of his sarcastic, cynical and always almost drunk coach Jimmy, played by Tom Hanks.

the new series

Today, in the age of streaming, the film has grown into an 8-episode series: a comedy about the All-American Women’s Professional Baseball League of World War II, which harks back to the light-hearted spirit of the film. Penny Marshall.

At the same time, it delves into the story of an entire generation of women who dreamed of playing professional baseball. Immerse yourself in race and sexuality, following the journey of a new group of characters as they carve their own paths, both in the league and beyond.

In fiction, a group of dreamy and emancipated women who live different experiencesas they venture, learn, play and have fun, with a musical background that takes us back to the 80s and 90s.

“I’m not speaking from a place of resentment. I’m just speaking from a place where I doubt I’ll see it because it will seem too strange to me. I can’t imagine he will enjoy the experience. Those characters are mine.Lowell Ganz pointed out.

The current cast of A very special team is made up of actresses Have Jacobson, D’Arcy Carden, Priscilla Delgado, Chanté Adams and Gbemisola Ukumelo, Moreover. Its production companies include Amazon Studios, Field Trip Productions and Sony Pictures Television.

CJL / POS