'Gridiron Gang' has roots in Calabasas

STANDING TALL-What began with a chance encounter 15 years before has evolved into a life's mission for Lee Stanley, third from left. Stanley's feature film, "Gridiron Gang," tells the story of how a juvenile detention camp probation officer turns a group of teenage felons into a football teamFrom left, Malcolm Moore, Xzibit (who plays Moore in the film), Stanley, The Rock (who plays Sean Porter in the film), Sean Porter and Shane Stanley. Lee Stanley remembers the day he got the phone call that would eventually change his life. It was a member of the staff at Camp David Gonzales, a juvenile detention camp on Las Virgenes Road in Calabasas.

Someone had run across Stanley's production company in the phone book, and seeing that the director, producer, jackof-all-trades lived nearby, they wondered if he could repair a film reel damaged by a video projector.

"Curiosity drove me to go," said Stanley, who had moved his family to Calabasas from Encino for the better schools. "We drove by (the camp) all the time and I always wondered what it was. That visit started everything."

Now, 15 years after he walked through the gates of Camp Gonzales, Stanley and his son, Shane, are counting down the days until the nationwide release of their first feature film. "Gridiron Gang" is the true story of a juvenile detention camp probation officer who turns a group of tough teenage felons into a high school football team. The Columbia Pictures project is based on Lee and Shane Stanley's 1992 documentary of the same name.

Upon arrival at the camp, a juvenile inmate was ordered to give Lee Stanley a tour of the facilities. The youth, just shy of 18, had an attitude that Stanley was not going to easily accept.

"He was just mad-dogging me," he said of the boy's defiant stare. He tried to offer some advice, encouraging the boy that after the court seals his records, he could start over and be whatever he wanted to be.

"Before I left, I reached out and shook his hand, and his hand was just hanging there, limp. I said to him, 'When you shake a man's hand, you use a firm grip and look him in the eye and (call him) "sir." As I was walking out, I heard, 'Sir?' And with great difficulty, the boy said, 'Will you come back and visit me?'"

Stanley began volunteering at the camp and spending more time there.

"When he committed to helping those kids, we went from living, literally, in a five-story home in Malibu to selling the bigger house and moving to a small one on a property with a lot more land," Shane said. The extra space was filled with a dirt bike track, horse stables and other diversions for youth. "It became, 'how do we make an environment for these kids?' Our lifestyle changed so we could focus on the kids."

Next came a series of documentaries featuring the juveniles from Camp Gonzales and facilities like it. Stanley and his wife, Linda, have been producing films together since 1981. The pair married in 1977.

"No matter where we were at, she always made me feel like I was about to win an Academy Award," he said of his wife, who now works in real estate at Prudential.

Many of their projects took off after Stanley was successful in getting a court order allowing them to take youths from the detention camps out to sea on the Stanleys' sailboat.

"The Desperate Passage Series" was nominated for 33 Emmys and won 13 over a sixyear period. At 16, Shane became the youngest person to win an Emmy when he took one home for his camera work on "Desperate Passage."

"It was great," Shane said with a laugh. "I remember I got a two-for-one deal on my tux for my junior prom." He wore the same tuxedo to the Emmys award ceremony that same week.

Despite his success, Shane had other plans. He was a champion dirt bike rider and, as his father put it, "he went out to be a rock star for awhile." But when a meeting with Capitol Records turned out to be about his band's music video, Shane said a light bulb went off.

"We thought we were getting a record deal. But they wanted to hire me to make music videos," Shane said. "You can have your father's, your parents' influences, inspiring you, guiding you. But it took an outsider to tell me it after hearing it from them for 10 years. . . I quit the band two days later."

Shane said he assumed his father would give him a job, but no such luck. He worked his way up from the bottom, starting as a production assistant on sitcoms, climbing the ladders at A&E, Castle Rock and "Entertainment Tonight." Shane also formed a production company with actor Charlie Sheen and Bret Michaels of Poison, and said it helped him get his "feet wet outside of dad's umbrella."

During that time the Stanleys began working on "Gridiron Gang," a documentary about violent juvenile inmates who are taught the game of football and begin competing against regular schools.

The film won Stanley another Emmy and generated serious buzz. The Stanleys said everyone wanted to make the movie, but because of the way it was packaged and other technical factors, "Gridiron Gang" was put on the back burner.

Not anymore. The Stanleys say Columbia honored their top priority: to stay true to the original documentary. The crew screened it prior to beginning work on the feature film. Actors had to look the part, and preferably, have some experience with the type of situation the boys actually faced. The movie was shot on location at Agoura and Westlake high schools and in Malibu at the California Youth Authority's Camp Vernon Kilpatrick, where 110 juvenile offenders are incarcerated.

"There weren't any incidents," Stanley said. "Everyone's concern was escapes, and there were none. We talked to the kids. We wanted them to understand what we were doing. We told them that the only way this was going to work was, if you give us your respect, you'll get ours."

The Stanleys pour praise on the star of their film, Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, who plays Sean Porter, the real-life head coach of the team.

"He knocked it out of the park," Stanley said. "No one could have done this except for Rock. He was arrested seven or eight times as a juvenile. He played professional football for awhile. And he knows what it takes to be a champion."

According to Stanley, Johnson has tripled his promotion efforts.

A reporter "said to Dwayne, 'This film seems like it's very important to you,'" Stanley said.

"He thought carefully and then said, "Gridiron Gang' is the most important film I've ever done. And 'Gridiron Gang' is probably the most important film I'll ever do.'

"Watch out, Hollywood," Stanley said. "He's set a new standard for celebrity. He's a class act. It's not rehearsed- it's who the man is."

Despite their admiration for Johnson, it's clear who Stanley counts as his most valuable asset. "I know when Shane is handling something, it's going to be precise--he's a wonderful communicator," Stanley said, looking over at his son. "I know the job is going to be clean and done right. He's like a dog after a bone. Whether he's producing a video or getting speakers for the car, he never drops the ball. That gives me a tremendous amount of peace."

At every compliment, Shane thanks his father. There is a sense of peace for both father and son--the excitement of the coming release paired with the satisfaction that it was done right.

Stanley said the film "totally fulfilled our expectations," and Shane agreed.

"There's not a phony frame in the movie," he said.

"Gridiron Gang" opens nationwide on Fri., Sept. 15