Sandlot director David M. Evans is making another baseball movie. No, it isn't Sandlot 3. Instead, his new one is called The Final Season and it stars Sean Astin as the coach of a Norway high school baseball team fighting ice and angry seals to lead his Nordic ball bashers to victory. What do you think are the odds that their team mascot will be a Viking? I'd say pretty good.
The latest word on the film comes from our friends at MovieHole who have the inside track on filming. According to Clint, they've rounded out the rest of the movie's cast, replacing "Angel's" Amy Acker with yet another Whedonverse alum. It's Eliza Dushku who will step into a supporting role as the world's hottest lawyer.
For a year or two there it seemed like Eliza was going to break out and become the next big thing. But somewhere along the way that got derailed as people (people being me) began to confuse her with Elisha Cutherbert and Jessica Biel. The former because their name is similar and the latter because they look vaguely similar. It's a good break for Eliza, who has just finished working with the great Alan Rickman on a film called Nobel Son.
Along with Eliza they've brought in some great character actors like Frailty's Powers Booth, Nash Bridges' dad James Gammon, and all around creepy bald guy Larry Miller. Also on board is Mackenzie Astin, who sounds suspiciously like one of Samwise Gamgee's relatives, possibly his kid? I refuse to look that up.
So, if you're a fan of The Sandlot (which I am), keep an eye out for this one. If you've seen Sandlot, you know Evans is a talented family film director, and baseball is definitely his thing. You've got to believe he's better than the direct to video sequels he's been relegated to doing since the bomb of 1996's First Kid.
