Amazon MGM Studios recently hosted a press conference for The Boys in the Boat, directed and produced by two-time Oscar winner George Clooney. Based on Daniel James Brown’s bestseller, the film brings the story of the University of Washington’s scrappy junior varsity rowing team to life, following its members as they vie for positions on the crew through their emergence as underdogs in the 1936 Olympics.
The film’s stars – Callum Turner (“Joe Rantz”), Joel Edgerton (“Coach Al Ulbrickson”), and Hadley Robinson (“Joyce”) – joined Clooney and producer Grant Heslov to discuss the incredible true story that inspired the film, the training process, and the difficulties of shooting a movie dedicated to the sport of rowing.
“It’s a little like F1 in a way, which is you can’t see speed from far back. You have to be up close. And so, it doesn’t look as exciting when you’re watching it from far away,” said George Clooney. “We had to come up with a math to make the rowing energetic and exciting, which we had to figure out.”
On filming the rowing scenes in The Boys in the Boat:
George Clooney: “These guys did an amazing job because people who know rowing, they got up to 46 stokes, which is what the Olympic team was doing. They didn’t do it for quite as long as the Olympic team did it, but it doesn’t matter.”
Callum Turner: “We did it for about four seconds.”
George Clooney: “That’s all right. It’s called film.”
Callum Turner: “There was a euphoric feeling when we did that because we were aiming towards that. And there were so many moments, you know? You’re learning a new skill, and one as difficult as this, but you just don’t think you’re going to make it. And to actually do it was a wonderful thing. And you’re doing it with eight other people. It’s remarkable.
The last row that we had was a special feeling, too, when we rowed back in and we rowed in slowly, you know? It was the last time we were ever going to be in the boat together and we’d achieved something.”
George Clooney: “And they all put on 70 pounds afterward, too.”
Callum Turner: “I think it was about 80, 90.”
Grant Heslov: “You know, about that, though, doing it all together, and what you have to do with rowing, it’s almost unlike any other sport because you are in unison and it’s working as one. As, like, right at the end of the movie, you see him say that.
I think that’s a great message for right now in a very divided world we’re in, that we can all work together and we can all be one. I think that’s one of the underlying things that this movie brings out.”
Callum Turner: “Absolutely. And it’s just inherent in Joe, you know? In the beginning of the book, Dan says that he’s asked to write the book about him. And he says, ‘No, I don’t wanna write the book, this can’t be about me. It’s gotta be about the boat, you know?’ And I do feel that – you know, we’re the actors – but I really feel that this film is about the boat and what the boat goes on to do.
It’s a special thing that we were able to do together. Reading the book in prep was one thing. I felt like I understand it. And I’ve been rereading it for the press, and it’s just so much more profound. It’s truly a remarkable thing.”
On tackling a Depression-era story set in Washington:
George Clooney: “The truth is, you know, Washington was such a new state, was such a new part of the world that the idea that rowing was even on the map compared to these other sort of legacy schools… And so, the fun part was that these young men, out of necessity, out of hunger, out of having nothing else, too, they were lumberjacks. They got together, and it’s sort of like The Beatles, you know?
You put together a group of men who actually could be good enough to win the Olympics, you know? It’s like […]when your third-best songwriter is George Harrison. It’s sort of a magical group. And it’s sort of what happened with these guys, was they ended up having these incredible men who worked as an incredible team.”
On training to portray a world-class rower:
Callum Turner: “None of us had [experience], actually. And we turn up in February, and we get on the river. It’s snowing and we’re all in the tight shorts and freezing cold and have no skill at being in the boat. After about three weeks, George and Grant come down to have a look and check in on us…and we weren’t in a good place. [Laughing] I could see the pain behind the smile on George’s face.”
Grant Heslov: “That wasn’t pain. That was fear.”
Callum Turner: “Yeah, and we were worried, too. I mean, we had to learn, one, how to learn a new skill. But then, also be in unison. I think that’s the hardest part about rowing is that you all have to be in complete unison. There’s no, like, hiding. And if one person is out by a millimeter, the boat suffers.”
George Clooney: “Listen, they trained all together for almost every single day for five months to do this.”
Callum Turner: “We did everything. We ate together. We, you know, went out together. We exercised together. [Laughing] We didn’t sleep together.”
On the research process:
Callum Turner: “I mean, a lot. The book is so rich, and the story’s so true. It’s a really beautiful underdog story. And I think the thing that got me was the moment where he comes home from school one day, and the car’s running, and stepmother’s in the front, brother, and sister are in the back. Everything’s on the top, and his dad’s on the porch. And he says, ‘Where are we going?’ He was 13 years old. And his dad says, ‘We’re going. You’re not.’ And he was left to fend for himself.
I just think it’s remarkable what he was able to achieve with his life. And I loved him from that moment and wanted to represent him.
And with Joyce, too, you know? This is a true love story. And with The Boys in the Boat, they rowed once a year, every year for 50 years.”
Joel Edgerton: “When I first spoke to George and I looked at photos of Al, it was like I was staring at my grandfather – my Dutch grandfather – not that that gave me any roadmap as to how to play the character. He would be terrible with my terrible Dutch accent. But you know, it was more about reading the book and understanding the essence of that guy. And you know, whenever I hear about actors playing really, really super famous icons, I’m always like, ‘Good luck,’ you know?
And hats off to them when they do it really well, and most people have in recent years. But someone like Al is a real guy that nobody on the street really knows about. So, there’s a certain amount of room to just create the coach that suits this film the best, rather than feel like his great-great-grandchildren are going to come and kick me in the shins if I don’t get rid of my lisp or something.”
Hadley Robinson: “I think it was a similar journey, actually. There’s so much you can take from just a single photo. And there’s one photo of Joe and Joyce sitting on the ground and I think Joe had just proposed to Joyce. I think he was pretending to be picking clovers and then he had a ring in his hand instead. And there’s this look of just pure joy, but just a little bit of mischief in there. And I’m like, ‘ooh, I want to capture that feeling.’
I think, you know, Joe is kind of shy and Joyce is kind of his counterpart or antithesis, which I think is pretty interesting because in life, I think I’m more of the shy one and Callum’s very boisterous. So, that was interesting to find together.”
On what grabbed him about playing Coach Ulbrickson:
Joel Edgerton: “I just loved when I first talked to George and Grant about the script, you know, and read the script, that it was described as one of those coaches that I think we’re all familiar with, who seems to derive zero pleasure from his job. I always look at these coaches and think, ‘Wait, why are you even doing this? Like, you know, you’re coaching your way to an early grave.’
I started to really realize that behind the sort of angry, blustery, red faces, they’re often – and grimaces – just guys who care too much. And that it reminds me of the relationship between fathers and sons.
Coaches are like dads to me. I had so many coaches in my illustrious, failed sports sort of attempt, who were just like tough dads. I really wanted to please them. So, you know, I was really excited to play the coach and excited to not have to go through what Callum went through. Because you’re getting older.”
Callum Turner: “Joel did a little rowing. You did some rowing, though, no?”
Joel Edgerton: “I did a little bit.”
Grant Heslov: “Yeah, we cut that out.”
Joel Edgerton: “Yeah, we cut it out. Not because it wasn’t good.”
Grant Heslov: [Laughing] “No, no, it was very good.”
George Clooney: “I have to say something also, though. Joel’s a ballsy actor, right? And it takes a lot of nerve to not try to cop out and show too much, show that I really care.
And you remember what, like, Danny DeVito in Taxi – he played a jerk. He never sort of cheated it. He never all of the sudden was kind of nice. And not that you played a jerk, but you know, you never gave us the idea, for such a long period of time anyway. You weren’t always going, ‘Don’t worry, I really am a good guy.’ You let us get in slowly. It takes a lot of nerve as an actor.
I remember the studio would call after dailies and go, ‘Why is he so mad? Why is he so grumpy?’ And I was like, ‘Relax.’”
Joel Edgerton: “I always feel like there’s been men in my life, you know, that aren’t an essay of words of love. But when they just put their hand on your shoulder or something in a look or just one or two words can make you feel incredibly valued and incredibly loved. I think that that’s what we were going for with this. And it was in the script, so I was really just doing my job.”
On the appeal of playing a character from the 1930s:
Hadley Robinson: “I loved it. I love a period piece, and this is a really interesting time in history. These people are pretty much destitute and really struggling to make ends meet. And both of them, you know, Joe and all of his teammates, but also Joyce, they’re all working to put food on their plates. Yeah, I loved working in this time period.
I think it’s like finding the hope and the light within these people, even though they’re going through so much. I think it’s just, like, they have such high hopes, and they need to have light because they’re in this situation. And yeah, I think [it’s] probably one of the most interesting time periods to kind of delve into, even when it comes to character study.”
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The Boys in the Boat opens in theaters on December 25, 2023.
