T
he movie chronicles the team’s transformation under Routh as they make an unlikely underdog run to the New York state prep
school championship game. Peck’s filmmaking team included: co- producer J. Todd Harris, who has made 35 films in the last 15 years, including Academy Award Best Picture nominee “The Kids Are All Right,” Sports Studio’s action coordinator Mark Ellis, who scripted sports scenes for “Miracle” and “Invincible;” director Steve Rash, whose resume ranges from “The Buddy Holly Story” to the “Bring It On” franchise; and executive producer Jeffrey McCormick, the former Syracuse All-American who led a group of more than 50 strategic partners, including the Onondaga Nation and US Lacrosse. Peck championed the script in the mid-1990s and decided to pursue its production independently three years ago.
Embracing Native Roots “The more I get involved in this movie,
the more I realize that it’s not just a passion of mine,” said co-producer Neal Powless (pictured below, second from left with Peck). “It’s a life dream. It has consumed me like I didn’t expect it would.” Powless’ role in “Crooked Arrows” was to portray lacrosse truthfully while respecting its Native American origins. The grandson of a chief, the son of a chief and the brother of a chief, Poweless was raised with a traditional background in the Long House on the Onondaga Nation. He grew up speaking the native language and embracing the culture. When he was younger, he traveled with his father, Irving Powless Jr., giving presentations to middle- and high-school kids. They taught a course on native heritage at Cornell.
Powless, assistant director of the Native Student Program at Syracuse, had a grandfather who played professional lacrosse in the 1930s for the Syracuse Devils. His father played with Oren Lyons, the former Syracuse All-American goalie and current Turtle Clan Faithkeeper, and once knocked down Jim Brown. His brother Brad played for the Buffalo Bandits and later coached the Rochester Knighthawks. Neal had a distinguished lacrosse career too, a three-time All-American at Nazareth before playing professionally for nearly a decade. In 2002, as a member of the Iroquois Nationals, he became the first Native American on the All-World team. “My whole life has been building up to this moment,” he said, ““to combine my Native heritage and knowledge with my lacrosse heritage and knowledge.” Neal’s grandfather perhaps predicted Powless’ prominent position on “Crooked Arrows” more than 30 years ago, when he gave Neal his Native name as a baby: Hawwhen’nawdies, which means “He brings the message,” or “His voice is heard among the people.”
Peck and Harris positioned “Crooked Arrows” as a movie with “authenticity” and “integrity.” Powless provided that. He helped rewrite a dozen different versions of the script to accurately portray Native American customs, beliefs and culture. While the film features made-for-Hollywood moments — it’s not a documentary — it provides refreshing candor. The plot is believable, the lacrosse is legitimate and the Native American undercurrent offers deeper meaning.
In a halftime speech at the state championship game, Routh delivers this message to the Crooked Arrows: “We play to honor our ancestors who were buried with their sticks. We play to honor
our grandchildren, who will be given sticks when they’re born. This game has been in our blood for a thousand years. Today, win or lose, we return lacrosse to our people.” And that message highlights Jamison Koesterer’s vision for the movie. “I don’t think Neal or I recognized the scale of what this movie could be, and how big it could become,” said Koesterer, a two- time NCAA champion midfielder at Johns Hopkins and current Blue Jays assistant coach whose first involvement in the film came as a lacrosse-specific consultant. Eventually, after spending days on the set coaching, Koesterer was cast as Emmitt Davis, the rival team’s head coach. Koesterer (pictured below, first from left) was raised in Cazenovia, N.Y., not far from a reservation. “It started off as a joke between Neal and I, that we wanted to do right by the guys we grew up playing with,” he said. “But it’s so much more than that. This is for the sport at large.”
The Beauty of the Game Soccer’s field dimensions, football’s
physicality and intensity, hockey’s speedy precision passing, basketball’s play geography and team elements — lacrosse has it all. And Ellis was hired to capture it. “Crooked Arrows” used three cameras, consistent with the roughly 50 sports movies filmed in the past by Ellis, who’s widely considered the best in the business at shooting sports action. “To give you some context, [Ellis] left the filming of ‘Crooked Arrows’ for three days to go do the sports scene in ‘Batman,’” Peck said. “‘Batman’ can get whomever they want.” Ellis studied lacrosse for six months, attended the NCAA championships, watched film of Paul Rabil and Mikey Powell and talked strategy with Koesterer and Powless. “I don’t think TV gives the
42 LACROSSE MAGAZINE May 2012>>
A Publication of US Lacrosse
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