Manager's life coming to big screen
By Joanna Massey, Globe Staff, 8/6/2003

Julie Campbell realizes that a movie about baseball is not exactly groundbreaking territory. But the Hull-based independent feature film producer says she believes there is one aspect of the game that has never been explored compellingly on screen -- the life of a minor league coach.

Campbell, who runs Mark Campbell Productions, had searched the country last year for a minor league manager with a story to tell when she happened to mention to California-based screenwriter Eugene Corr that a new team had formed in her own backyard -- the Brockton Rox.

"When I told him about the coach, he was like, `Wait, Ed Nottle is their manager? Ed's been in baseball for 40 years and, not only that, he sings!' " Campbell said. "I knew we had our story."

Nottle, a pitcher for 13 years and a manager since 1977 who recorded a CD called "To Baseball with Love" with the Oakland Symphony Orchestra, is in his second season leading the Rox, a Northeast League team. A former manager of the Pawtucket Red Sox, Nottle once came close to managing the Boston Red Sox.

Campbell said she approached the Brockton skipper in April about making a film about his job.

"He had no objections, but as I spent more time with him and he was telling me all these colorful stories about his life, we both realized how involved he was going to be in making the movie," she said. "He finally said, `Why don't you just do the story about me?' "

So Campbell purchased the rights to Nottle's life story, and earlier this summer began recruiting a production team. Corr, the screenwriter and baseball enthusiast who served as a second unit director on the film "Bull Durham," has signed on to write the script.

Peter Carlos Masterson, who has worked on more than 50 films and just completed his directorial debut in "West of Here," starring his sister Mary Stuart Masterson, will direct the film. Both Corr and Masterson planned to travel with Nottle and the Rox on a road trip to Bangor last weekend to begin researching the film.

Campbell, who is in the process of securing corporate sponsorships for the movie, said she hopes to begin shooting next spring or summer, with a tentative theatrical release date in the summer of 2005. The movie, called "I'm Still Standing: The True Life Story of Singing Ed Nottle," will be filmed in Brockton, Hull, and on location throughout New England.

"Ed came up with the name because of the fact that he came so close as both a player and a manager to the major leagues," Campbell said. "Most people in professional sports would be bitter about it, but he's not. He's so down-to-earth and truly loves what he does. After 40 years, he's still out there, not hiding with his tail between his legs."

Nottle, who was on the road with the Rox and could not be reached for comment, has been married to his wife, Patti, for more than 30 years and lives in Evansville, Ind. When his daughter, Terri, was younger, she used to travel with Nottle's team as a way to spend time with her father. This summer, his granddaughter Randie is doing the same, Campbell said.

Campbell said the film will explore not only the pressures of balancing baseball life and family life, but also "the incredible amount of pressure a minor league manager is under."

"We want to show in-depth what the inside of minor league baseball really is," she said. "They're not making millions of dollars; they're there because they love the sport and dream of playing in the big leagues. The manager has to deal with inside management and individual players. And what happens when all of the sudden a scout comes and takes your best player? You still want to win."

An avid sports fan and native of Maine, Campbell worked in marketing and television in Boston before founding Mark Campbell Productions, named for her brother, who died in Hull in 1993 at the age of 19. In 1997, she produced the indie comedy "Urban Relics," starring Richard Romanus and Frank Sivero. The next year, she purchased the life story rights of Travis Roy, the Boston University hockey player who was paralyzed with a spinal cord injury within the first 11 seconds of his debut NCAA game. Jamie Redford, the son of Robert Redford, has expressed interest in writing the screenplay, Campbell said.

But her true dream is to produce a baseball movie. Despite the flops of films such as "Summer Catch," based on the Cape Cod Baseball League, Campbell says she believes Nottle's life story is compelling enough to appeal to a wide range of audiences.

"The material is just so rich, and everybody loves baseball," she said. "There may be hundreds of baseball movies, but a new one still comes out every summer."

Masterson, the film's director, agreed.

"Everything that's been written about Ed is so interesting; it's invaluable in a cinematic sense," he said in a telephone interview from New York City, where he is working on another film. "Julie and I have been waiting to make a movie based on a baseball manager. It's always about some star or the team."

While Campbell said she knows she could make the movie for half the cost by shooting in Canada, she said she is devoted to filming on the South Shore and in New England.

"It's a great way to generate revenue for Brockton and the South Shore," she said. "It could be millions of dollars, and we want it spent here."

So, who does Campbell envision playing Nottle?

"Jack Nicholson, definitely," she said. "He's the right age, the right look, and the right attitude."

Joanna Massey can be reached at massey@globe.com.

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