Show Josh Lucas lived the role Susan King Los Angeles Times In Glory Road which opened Friday Josh Lucas plays legendary basketball coach Don Haskins who took his underdog team the Texas Western Miners to championship glory 40 years ago What makes Haskins' Haskins accomplishment accomplishment accomplishment historically significant is that his starting lineup in the title game was composed entirely of African American players Though Lucas 34 never had a sports mentor such as Haskins there was a high school coach who changed his life There was a debate coach who was so storied because he had won 13 state championships in a row says Lucas best known for his roles in Sweet Home Alabama The Hulk and A Beautiful Mind He was an extremely complex tough psychological psychological psychological manipulative powerful powerful powerful power power- ful man It was this coach at a public school in a small town south of Seattle who first saw the actor lurking inside Lucas The coach would take you in and basically talk to you for a period of time to determine what position on the debate team you should be in But during this sizing up the coach didn't think Lucas was bright enough to debate sub sub- Instead the coach suggested that he try his hand at dramatic interpretation in which students would perform 10 minutes from a play There are no costumes says Lucas relaxing in the front yard of his rustic Hollywood Hills home g 1 r t. t t 4 i i Lr 7 k I 1 III ern v II 61 J u ii z 1 II III C I Josh Lucas Lucas' character teach teaches s his two sons how to play basketball in the latest Disney sports flick Glory Road f It is by using voice and face It is really interesting training Shortly after Lucas was selected select select- ed for a dramatic interpretation he said he realized This is what I will do for my life Though the role of Haskins seems to fit Lucas like a glove it was actually Ben Affleck who had been attached to Glory Road But he dropped out within a month before production began in inthe inthe inthe the early fall of 2004 because of scheduling problems James Gartner an accomplished accomplished accomplished commercial director who makes his feature debut with Glory Road says he knew Lucas mostly from A Beautiful Mind in which the actor played a fellow student of mathematical genius John Nash What I am locked into when I Iam Iam Iam am casting is just how truthful an actor is Gartner says I Hooked looked at a lot of his work and thought he was an honest actor someone G F. F dr TnT q n n I s IS is genuine me nOTo YOU QI n t see see h his IS J work t just becomes that thaI i char acter With less than a month before production was set to begin Lucas became obsessed with researching Haskins I found out quite quickly how much people respected and loved him on a grand scale Lucas says I literally had legendary basketball personalities around me one of them who is now coach at the University of Southern California Tim Floyd who worked under Haskins every single single single sin sin- gle day watching every single take and talking to me after every sin sin- gle take Lucas also spent a lot of time with Haskins but their relationship relationship relationship relation relation- ship was more playful He and I would go out in his big truck and drink tequila and tell stories Lucas says What I found so interesting about him is that he has one of the thc most complex complex complex com com- plex powerful and even dangerous danger danger- ous intensities on the court His players hated him because he drove them so hard But their mothers loved him because Haskins brought these young African American players from across the country and gave them a shot at higher education and the opportunity to excel at th their their ot r sport I realized I had a responsibility ty to figure out how to play not just the intensity of him but what was beloved about him Lucas says The day they finished playing for him they were lifelong lifelong life life- lifelong long friends w if 1 Lucas deliberately deliberately-at deliberately didn't frate frater nize with the actors fi who play played playeS M 1 members of the basketball squad Haskins like me wasn't th that different in age from his players at that point He has to command a certain discipline be a father- father type figure I wish I almost yearned to be able to be a bit more me I spent a lot of time in their faces and being difficult at times tunes Josh was the coach on and off camera Gartner says echoing Lucas I think they looked at him too in a leadership kind of position He kept that going outside outside outside out out- side of the cameras camera's range |