Son has role in dad’s baseball movie




STEVE AMES/The Acorn  RAVENS AND THEIR PRODUCER-David Rosemont of Agoura Hills, executive producer of

STEVE AMES/The Acorn RAVENS AND THEIR PRODUCER-David Rosemont of Agoura Hills, executive producer of “The Winning Season,” stands with (from left to right) Ravens player Colin Rosemont, 12, of Agoura Hills (a sixth-grader at Viewpoint School in Calabasas who has a part in the movie) and Southern California Ravens Jim Sherfy, 12, of Camarillo (a sixth-grader at Las Colinas Middle School) and Shane Crofts, 12, of Calabasas (a seventh-grader at A.E. Wright Middle School).


By Steve Ames
Special to The Acorn

Colin Rosemont, 12, of Agoura Hills won’t be the star of "The Winning Season." He’ll be seen in less than 15 minutes of the 90-minute movie, but for him, the role will be special.


He’ll play the part of Mike Petty in the movie, which is about baseball immortal Honus Wagner. It was produced by Colin’s dad, David Rosemont, and filmed for Turner Network Television.


"The Winning Season" will be televised on Sun., April 4 at 8 and 10 p.m. and midnight; Wed., April 7 at 8 and 10 p.m.; Sat., April 10 at noon; and Sun., April 11 at 9 a.m. and midnight. The film runs two hours and has a PGL TV rating.


"I just liked spending the time and it’s really a cool experience," said Colin. "I’ve been on sets my whole life, but actually being in (a movie) was really cool and I was able to see how much work it takes.


"Just to shoot a five-minute scene, it takes two days. It’s a lot of hard work. I used to think that acting was that you were in front of the camera and get paid lots of money. You just show up. It’s a lot harder than that."


Colin said that, for his scenes, it took at least 20 times just for him to pitch to one batter.


"There’s five different batters, so you do every one at least 15 or 20 times," he said. And when he was finally told it was a "take," his response was an immediate "Yes!"


"You get to get rid of that and think about the next one," Colin said. "You get a break and think about the next part."


David Rosemont, an Emmy Award-winning producer who is president of Rosemont Productions International, Ltd. in Canoga Park, resides in Agoura Hills with his wife, Vicki, and three children, Hannah, 15, Colin, and Preston, 8 1/2.


The early scenes of the film take place in 1985, and the movie flashes back to 1909. It stars Matthew Modine as Honus Wagner and Kristin Davis as his fiancée. It’s based on the book "Honus and Me" by Dan Gutman.


"The Winning Season" is the story of the 1909 World Series and John Peter "Honus" Wagner ("The Flying Dutchman"), who played shortstop for the Pittsburgh Pirates in their championship win over the Detroit Tigers.


Wagner, one of the five original members inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1936, played 21 seasons, from 1897 to 1917. In 1905, he became the first baseball player to have his signature branded on a Louisville Slugger bat. In 2000, a Honus Wagner T906 tobacco card was sold on eBay for a record $1.265 million.


"I’ve made a lot of different kinds of movies over the years, and I always wanted to do a movie set against the world of baseball," Rosemont said.


"A lot of my favorite movies have been movies set against the world of baseball, such as ‘The Natural,’ ‘Field of Dreams’ or ‘The Rookie.’ Yet they aren’t really movies about baseball. Baseball seems to illuminate the larger story."


Rosemont said he thought this was a beautiful story about a young man who goes back in time to meet his hero, a man who played baseball in a much simpler era.


"(He) learns that the simpler pure values of life learned by Honus from playing baseball he can then apply to his life. I think that’s the message he gets. The young boy actually becomes a man."


Rosemont said he spoke to Wagner’s granddaughter. "We had a lovely conversation," he said. "She was very excited and told me many great things about him.


"Honus was a baseball player," Rosemont said. "He was tough. He was a rascal. He was bright. He was also known as a gentleman."


The full cooperation of the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y. made research on uniforms and mitts accessible. Rosemont said live action and visual effects were used to create the fifth, sixth and seventh games of the 1909 World Series at Forbes Field in Pittsburgh and Bennett Park in Detroit.


"One of the most important things in my movies is authenticity," he said.


Rosemont said there’s one reason why this movie got made and that’s his son. Colin and Preston play baseball. Colin plays year-round for his tournament travel team, the Southern California Ravens, for which Mark Davis is the coach.


"When I found this book—‘Honus and Me’—in New York, I came home and gave it to Colin to read. He was 9 at the time," Rosemont said. "I read it on the plane.


"I said, ‘This is a cute idea.’ The next day Colin said, ‘Dad, this would be a great movie.’ I gave it to my wife, Vicki. I wanted a woman’s perspective. She thought it would be a great movie."


He said that two-and-a-half years later, production was underway for the movie in Winnipeg.


David Rosemont said the good thing about Colin is that he’s a person who has a big heart.


"He’s very popular," David Rosemont said. "He’s bright. He’s a great athlete and the fun thing about this is he played a kid who is a real jerk, the pitcher on the other team.


"So he got a chance to kind of let it all go. I must say that everybody who watches the movie remembers him. He opens the movie and he closes the movie."


The rest of the Rosemont family—Vicki, Hannah and Preston—are seen in background shots in the film.


David Rosemont said there’s a great line in the movie: "‘There’s not much to being a ballplayer if you’re a ballplayer.’ Honus Wagner says that to the kid.


"You know what? It’s a metaphor. If you really want to be something, there’s not much to doing it if you decide that you are. That’s what I think people will carry away from this film."


Colin Rosemont did it. He had a part in the movie his dad produced, but will he become an actor? Not necessarily.


He’s looking to be the next Alex Rodriguez, according to his dad.


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