We went and saw the Forever Strong movie yesterday. It was a good movie that wasn't just all about rugby - focused on the change we can go through if we are willing to repent and improve.
There were a few scenes of my brother Craig, but they were too fast. I don't know if they were just too fast in general or too fast because I wanted to be able to say - "Hey, did you see my brother Craig in that Forever Strong movie in the xxxxx scene...."
He was in the opening scrum or something and then in a lot of scenes in the final championship game.
In honor of the haka dance in the movie, and at the numerous BYU rugby games played, here's Chris and Jared performing this at a mini-family gathering. It's always fun to re-watch.
Obviously, they just posted what my brother Christopher put on wikipedia a few months ago.
And so, I've made my Hollywood debut. Let's hope that this is as far as it ever goes. But, perhaps if I am lucky, someone will actually check into what the "lead crowd filler" role actually is and maybe I will get an interview with someone or see some blog post talking about the absurdity of someone being cast as a live crowd filler.
Oh, and I clicked on this link - http://www.rugbymovie.com/ - and if you pause the trailer at the 20 second mark you can see my brother Craig tackling some dude for the 20th and 21st second. Now, that's a lead cast member. He made it to the trailer.
I really enjoy rugby. I don't fully understand it, but all of my brothers play, make it the final four championships every year and give me a chance to fly out to Palo Alto to see the play offs and a few relatives. This is the first year in a while where no brother will be playing. But, when Brett comes off his mission, I'm sure he will be back on the playing field and I'll have another trip to look forward to.
A new movie will be coming out in September - Forever Strong. It's based upon a true story about the Highland rugby team (Utah high school) , but that's about all I know. Oh, wait, that's not all I know.
My brother Craig is in the movie playing rugby. He, along with a lot of other All-American rugby players from BYU and University of Utah in 2006, are real rugby players in the movie. The town they filmed in is outside of Toelle, Utah. The town is smaller than Toelle - so it might not actually be a town. I know, I was there. At least for one day. Believe it or not, I had to sleep in my rental car at a truck stop the night before because Salt Lake City had so many conventions that week. All hotels were booked in every direction. After driving around Toelle type towns (late at night- spooky feeling) and finding no hotels (not even Bates hotels), I finally realized I'd have to do the Hawaii vacation trick. That would be putting t-shirts over all the windows and trying to squeeze my six foot frame into the backseat of the smallest size rental car. Those kind of experiences are only good for journal entries at later dates. Anyway...off topic at hand.I sat next to this dummy in the stands and pretended to cheer. We weren't allowed to make any noise while we cheered. Silent cheer. I guess I had nothing else to do while I sat and waited for my brother to finish playing in some rugby scenes.
The players received free food for their efforts...and some exercise and bruises. Some of the volunteers that sat in the bleachers won free iPODs. I'm not sure how free that is after you've had to sit in the sun for 8 hours, but it was amazing to see the characters that came out of the woodwork to participate and await the chance to possibly win an iPOD and receive an over baked hot dog.
The main characters didn't know how to play rugby when they started shooting the film. Craig said they were told to be a little gentle when the main characters were running with the ball or being mauled. I would say tackle, but not sure if that is a rugby term.
Anyway, it should be a good movie. If anything, you will get to hear and see the rugby players doing a hauka (hakka?) dance at some point which is always interesting.
Ok, so BYU takes rugby pictures with incorrect lighting on a consistent basis, but here's Brett's picture.
It looks like BYU won the Wasatch Cup for the third year in a row. I looked up the info on the BYU rugby site and found a little sports report.
I must say that I do enjoy watching rugby. Partially, it's because I can never really track the ball. I will think it's under some kind of pile of players, but out of the corner of my eye there will be swift movement in another part of the field and yep, the ball has somehow transfered over to the new location through some kind of strateg-ery that is beyond the grasp of the untrained eye.
Speaking of rugby, there is a movie that is supposed to come out with my brother Craig in it - Forever Strong - where he plays some rugby as well. Not sure on the movie status, but the premier seemed to bring positive reviews. Ok, at that link take special note that my brother Chris added me to the list of people on the movie. Yes, I did actually sit in the bleachers and do fake clapping and yelling while sitting by an actual dummy.
I sat next to this dummy in the stands and pretended to cheer. We weren't allowed to make any noise while we cheered. Silent cheer. I guess I had nothing else to do while I sat and waited for my brother to finish playing in some rugby scenes. 
