Lynwood Rotary Meeting 04-16-2015

For the meeting on April 16,  2015  12pm – 1:30pm ,  members and guests experienced a special treat with the presentations of two actors from the current feature length film, “McFarland USA.”  (McFarland is a town about 25 miles north of Bakersfield, where the residents, all of Mexican-American heritage, work in the agriculture fields.)  The two young actors played the roles of two of the seven actors who portrayed the seven member cross country team from McFarland High School.  The film is based on a real-life story of Coach Jim White, played by Kevin Costner, who in 1987 organized a cross country team at McFarland High School.  The high school had never before had a cross country team.  At the end of the film, it is explained that through the leadership of Coach Jim White, in the next twelve years, the McFarland cross country team won the state (CIF) championship nine years of the twelve years that Coach White coached at the high school.  Also it is mentioned that Jim White continues to live in McFarland and regularly visits the team each year.  The resulting careers of each of the seven team members are explained and all of the team members went on to graduate from various colleges.

 

Rafael and Hector complimented the film director, Niki Caro. in her successful efforts in portraying the real lives of the team members, and of their families, and of the McFarland community.

 

At the Rotary meeting, Rafael Martinez and Hector Duran (who played real life team members, David Diaz, and Johnny Ortiz, respectively) described how they became selected for the movie.  Four of the seven actors for the team were from McFarland, while Rafael and Hector and a third actor were from the LA Area.  Through an agent Rafael was selected for the movie (following auditions).  Hector explained that when he was contacted about being in the film he initially responded that he had other commitments at the time.  But then he was sent the script, and after reading it, he said to the film representative: “Count me in!  I want to act in this film!”

 

Both Rafael and Hector talked about the bond that developed between the actors, noting that Kevin Costner’s role in the film, portraying Coach Jim White, helped everyone in the film to develop a sense of family and, as advocated by Costner, playing the role of Coach Jim White,  a strong positive attitude to win!

 

For each Rotary member and guest, Rafael and Hector wrote personal notes and signed copies of the publicity photo that shows the seven team members at a beach.  In the film, Coach Jim White, while returning from a track meet in the small school bus that Jim White drives to transport the team to meets, makes a side trip to the ocean, which the boys had never seen before.  This image of the happy and excited boys is the image used in the film advertisements.  Besides group photos of the two actors with members and guests present, photos were taken of Rafael and Hector writing personal notes on the photo showing the seven team members running into the water at the beach.