GOSHEN — Thirty years later, David Anspaugh, director of the 1986 basketball film ‘Hoosiers’ and the 1993 sports film ‘Rudy,’ is still in awe at the impact his movies have on aspiring athletes.
“It’s still funny, after all these years,” Anspaugh said. “Every year, USA Today usually does, once a year, the top 10 sports films of all time, and ‘Rudy’ and ‘Hoosiers’ are usually in that, and ‘Hoosiers’ is usually number one. I don’t believe in ratings, but the fact that this little sucker that we nurtured for 18 years, and ‘Rudy’ in another way, for it to have that kind of longevity — I mean it was above ‘Rocky.’ I’m immensely proud of it.”
Anspaugh was one of many directors, producers, playwrights, and actors to attend the River Bend Film Festival in Goshen over the weekend. Anspaugh spent much of the weekend at engagements including a Friday morning director panel and an evening special screening of ‘Rudy’ followed by a Q&A. On Saturday afternoon, Anspaugh met with folks at the Elephant Bar to view deleted scenes from ‘Rudy,’ and offer their thoughts on the best ones to add to the movie for the 30th-anniversary edition.
‘Rudy’ is a biographical film of the life of Daniel “Rudy” Ruettiger, who harbored dreams of playing football at the University of Notre Dame in the 1970s despite significant obstacles.
“It’s been a hell of a ride, that film, for sure,” Anspaugh said.
About five years ago, Anspaugh taught a filmmaking class at IU for graduate students and found that at least half of his class had never seen the movie.
“That’s why I’m glad it’s still getting some showtime,” he said.
To this day, Anspaugh is continually amazed by the impact movies he’s directed have.
“You have no idea what the effect has on people,” he said.
At a golf tournament, a woman running the concession stand told her that his movie saved her daughter’s life.
“She tried out for the volleyball team and she didn’t make it,” he recalled. “She locked herself in her room for days. And she said a best friend came over and brought the tape of the movie and showed it to her, and she came out after watching that and said, ‘I’m going to make that team next year, Mom.’ And she said, ‘Now, she’s getting a scholarship.”
Anspaugh recalled hearing about a story in the LA Times, where Kobe Bryant met Rudy Ruettiger. In 2011, Ruettiger’s daughter Jessica was posed to sing the National Anthem at a Sacramento Kings vs Los Angeles Lakers basketball game. The late NBA star was on the court warming up, and they asked him for use of the court to rehearse. Afterward, Ruettiger greeted Bryant, and as the Ruettigers were walking out someone informed Bryant that he was the Rudy from the 1993 film.
“He said to Rudy, ‘This is one of the most influential pieces of inspiration I’ve ever had in my life,” Anspaugh recalled. “He said ‘If I had that kind of attitude that you had to be able to get into Notre Dame, how good would I really be?’ He said, ‘I use this movie as inspiration.” And it’s like are you kidding me? Kobe Bryant, really?”
Anspaugh grew up in Decatur, graduated from Indiana University Bloomington, and eventually made his way to Los Angeles to attend the University of Southern California School of Cinematic Arts. After directing several popular TV shows, he transitioned to feature films when his best friend from IU, Angelo Pizzo, wrote ‘Hoosiers’ and wanted Anspaugh to direct. The duo also teamed up for college football movie ‘Rudy’ and later for soccer film ‘The Game of Their Lives,’ and Anspaugh has directed and produced over 25 films in his time in Hollywood.
While he admits that some of the scenes and characters were fictional, most of the movie is historically accurate.
“I think some of the most effective movies ever made were made were accurately,” he said. “I mean, look at ‘All the President’s Men’ – I could watch that over and over. With Rudy, we can document literally every scene in the whole movie and if it wasn’t exact, the spirit of it was.”
In 2014 Anspaugh relocated to Bloomington, where he taught a class at IU, directed local theater productions, and served as an executive producer on films. Almost all of Anspaugh’s work from preproduction to research, through postproduction, has been donated to the Indiana University’s Lilly Library Moving Image Archive.
