The Inside Story The story of "Racing Stripes" starts some five years ago when executive producer Steve Wegner and screenwriter Dave Schmidt were having "a bet on the ponies. We thought that a racetrack environment would be a great setting for a film," recalls Wegner. "We started out thinking that in horseracing, where bloodlines are everything, what would happen if a horse who wasn't a thoroughbred wanted to race?" The story was then taken to Alcon Entertainment. "As a company, we've never wanted to be held to one genre," says Broderick Johnson. "It's really about making quality films, and making them responsibly. We love comedy, we love family films, and Racing Stripes is a very funny and heartwarming story." When director Frederik Du Chau was brought on to the project, he and writing partner Kirk DeMicco added a real twist to the concept. They incorporated a Zebra into the story. "That really jumpstarted the movie," says Wegner. "It elevated the whole film to another level because it's so different from the get-go. Seeing a zebra on a racetrack, racing thoroughbreds, is just such a great image. Racing Stripes is truly a sports movie, about someone fighting against all odds to be a champion." It has taken the last two years [including 14 weeks of shooting in South Africa], to bring "Racing Stripes" to the big screen. Why did it take so long? The biggest problem evidently was finding a location which could give all the impressions that the setting was the famous Kentucky racehorse territory and having access to plenty of Zebras. The ideal location turned out to be "in the green rolling hills of the Midlands Meander in the province of KwaZulu-Natal on the 600 acre Riverholme Farm." The credit for transforming the unused horsefarm goes to production designer Wolf Kroeger and his team who "scraped the land to make it look more like a dirt yard, erected 1.86 miles of fencing, and planted lots of grass and trees, as well as an orchard to make the stables look prosperous." He says that was "no small feat considering when they arrived it was the middle of winter and the land was brown and the ground hard from ice cover. The team brought in fifty large truck loads of timber, brick, sand and cement and then manufactured their own shingles from redwood." The venue for Stripes big race, Turfway Park, created another hurdle for the team to overcome. Turfway Park is in fact "the Scottsville Race Course in Pietermaritzburg, not far from the coast of Durban." Because the team couldn't find a race track in South Africa that resembled Kentucky, they built everything from scratch. The grandstand, which had to hold one thousand spectators, involved considerable constructional engineering. It was then dressed with fronting, flags and swags. The saddling ring and winners circle structures were also kept simple." While the physical settings are convincing and idyllic, what makes the film even more special is the magical array of animal characters and those who voice them. The animal characters are funny, adorable and quick witted. Well, except for a bloodhound Lightning who is always napping. It's fair to say though, when he is awake, Lightning contributes a few good laughs. Two zebras, named Columbia and Zoë, alternated playing Stripes as a baby. The little foals had to perform tasks such as rooster chasing, sticking their heads inside a chicken coop to surprise its inhabitants, and racing a postman's truck. zebra trainer Steve Martin " chose eight zebras to play Stripes in his "teenage" years, all with typical adolescent behavioral problems. Zebras are fairly aggressive by nature, due to their instincts for self-preservation in the wild, and it took over three months to train them to work safely and comfortably around the other animals." One extraordinary segment in the film is the Blue Moon Race, an illicit underground race, like teenage illegal street drag races, "where the horses gather after dark to show their stuff; no humans, no rules. The complexity of that scene was extraordinary," says horse trainer Heath Harris. "To get forty horses all working together, all lined up side by side and then have the zebra playing Stripes coming in to walk among all the other horses, having to ignore them to do the job, and then stop and pick up a point and a mark. We managed to achieve it with virtually no computer work, nearly everything is for real. It was pretty amazing to actually get the interaction of those animals." Next job on the production teams list was getting the right actors, not only for the onscreen human roles, but more importantly finding the right voices to match the array of animals. "Frankie was our first choice for Stripes," says Johnson. "We had wanted to work together again after My Dog Skip, and he loved the Stripes story." Frankie Muniz agrees, noting "like My Dog Skip, it's nice to work on a movie where everyone can go and see it and feel good at the end, no matter what their age. And to give my voice performance, then months later actually see the finished product, is just so weird and fun and exciting!" Two time Academy Award winning actor Dustin Hoffman says he saw "Racing Stripes" as "a chance to tackle a fresh challenge. I'd never done voiceover work or animation and you always want to do something new. You know, many actors want to play Hamlet and Macbeth, and ever since I became an actor, from the very beginning I just wanted to play a Shetland pony. I can't explain why." While I would love to go through all the animals, doing so would reveal much of the magic that makes this great family fun and good fun viewing for anyone who loves, animals, underdogs and a feel good ending. Let me just finish on one other character who is just so much fun. I'm talking about Goose, a Pelican who is on the run from the mob. "Goose has a very active imagination, and he's insecure in a lot of ways," says actor Joe Pantoliano, "so he tends to create his own reality so that people will fear him. He thinks he'd rather be feared than loved, but throughout the story he gets to meet these wonderful characters, and in the end he's got a bunch of friends that really like him." That little moral message is one of the many threading their way through "Racing Stripes. Crew Bytes "RACING STRIPES" was .......
directed by Frederik Du Chau ["The Mystery of The Lamb", "Sony Wonder", "Hong Kong Phooey" and "Quest for Camelot"]; screenplay by David Schmidt ["Racing Stripes"]; Two Time Genie Award winner production design by Wolf Kroeger ["Last of the Mohicans", "Shadow of the Wolf ", "It Rained All Night the Day I Left", "Enemy at the Gates" and "The Edge"]; edited by Tom Finan ["Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas", "The Emperor's New Groove", "Stuart Little" and "The Lion King"]; director of photograhpy David Eggby A.S.C ["Mad Max", "Lightning Jack", "Scooby Doo" and "Pitch Black"]; original music by ["Kiss the Girls", "Blade", "The Net", "Rules Of Engagement" and "The Cooler"] produced by Broderick Johnson & Andrew A Kosove ["Lost & Found", "My Dog Skip", "Dude, Where's My Car?" and "Insomnia"], Edward McDonnell ["Under Siege", "Glimmer Man", "Three Kings" and "Shanghai Knights"] and Lloyd Phillips ["The Legend of Zorro", "Vertical Limit", "Beyond Borders" and "Twelve Monkeys"]. Casting About "RACING STRIPES" stars .......
Bruce Greenwood ["Thirteen Days", "Double Jeopardy", "Rules of Engagement" and "I, Robot"]; Hayden Panettiere ["A Bug's Life", "Message In a Bottle", "Object of My Affection", "Raising Helen" and "Ice Princess"]; M Emmet Walsh ["Snow Dogs", "What's Up Doc?", "Blade Runner" and "Christmas With The Kranks"]; FOUR Time CableACE Awards winner Wendie Malick ["The Emperor's New Groove", "Scrooged", "Funny About Love" and TV's Nina from "Just Shoot Me"]; Mandy Moore ["Chasing Liberty", "The Princess Diaries", "A Walk To Remember" and "Saved"]; Michael Clarke Duncan ["The Green Mile", "The Whole Nine Yards", "Daredevil" and "Bulworth"]; THREE Time TNN Comedian of the Year Award winner Jeff Foxworthy ["Blue Collar Comedy Tour Rides Again" and "Blue Collar Comedy Tour, The Movie"]; Joshua Jackson ["Crooked Hearts", "The Skulls", "The Safety of Objects" and "Ocean's 11"]; Joe Pantoliano ["Risky Business", "Bad Boys I & II", "The Fugitive" and "Daredevil"]; Academy Award, NAACP Image and Golden Globe Award winner Whoopi Goldberg ["The Color Purple", "Jumpin' Jack Flash", "Ghost" and "Sister Act I & II"]; Dustin Hoffman ["Tootsie", "Moonlight Mile", "Meet The Fockers" and "Finding Neverland"] and Frankie Muniz ["My Dog Skip", "Agent Cody Banks", "Big Fat Liar" and "Agent Cody Banks 2"] as the voice of Stripes. The Story While changing a wheel on a stormy night a young Zebra is left behind by a travelling circus, until the former thoroughbred horse trainer Nolan Walsh comes across him. With no-one in sight and no clue as to where the Zebra has come from, Nolan takes him home to the Nolan farm. His daughter takes an instant shine to the animal and when her father agrees to keep it a strong bond is formed between Channing and the zebra she names Stripes. Left alone in the Walsh's barn, the young Zebra discovers he is not alone. He hears voices. Soon Stripes is introduced to Franny the goat, a Bird-brained rooster named Reggie and a grumpy old shetland pony named Tucker. It's not long before Stripes is out and about and meeting the neighbours from the Clara Dalrymple stud. Strangely, Stripes somehow gets the impression he's a racehorse too. Much to the disgust of the legendary Trenton's Pride. All Stripes wants to do is be a racehorse. Then through a twist of fate, Stripes gets his chance. But can a Zebra really race? And what will happen if Stripes finds out he's a Zebra, not a racehorse. With the help of a Pelican named Goose, two horseflies Buzz and Scuzz and a filly named Sandy, Stripes might just make it to the big race day. The Verdict "Simply put this is excellent family fun. The talking animals, voiced by some of the biggest celebrities in Hollywood and singer Mandy Moore, add fun to the concept of a Zebra who thinks he is a racehorse. It's very sweet, the animals are loveable crazy things, especially Goose, a pelican on the run from the mob. The beauty of "Racing Stripes" is that it has just the right mix to ensure parents are entertained as well as the kids. Well worth taking in as part of a family day out at the local cinema. Recommended." The Cast

Bruce Greenwood Hayden Panettiere Caspar Poyck Gary Bullock Wendie Malick M Emmet Walsh Thandi Puren Morne Visser Dawn Matthews Matt Stern John Lesley Graeme Hawkins Tarryn Downes

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Nolan Walsh Channing Walsh Mailman John Cooper Clara Dalrymple Woodzie Reporter #1 Reporter #2 Reporter #3 Reporter #4 Paddock Boss Track Announcer Anthem Singer

The Voice Cast

Frankie Muniz Mandy Moore Michael Clarke Duncan Jeff Foxworthy Joshua Jackson Snoop Dogg Joe Pantoliano Michael Rosenbaum Steve Harvey David Spade Fred Dalton Thompson Dustin Hoffman Whoopi Goldberg

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Stripes Sandy Clydesdale Reggie Trenton's Pride Lightning Goose Ruffshodd Buzz Scuzz Sir Trenton Tucker Franny

The Crew Directed by Frederik Du Chau Story written by David Schmidt/Steven P Wegner/Kirk De Micco & Frederik Du Chau Screenplay by David Schmidt Produced by Broderick Johnson/Andrew A. Kosove/Edward McDonnell & Lloyd Phillips Original Music by Mark Isham Cinematography by David Eggby Film Editing by Tom Finan Casting by Cathy Sandrich Production Design by Wolf Kroeger Art Direction by Jonathan Hely-Hutchinson Costume Design by Jo Katsaras Unit Production Manager Angela Phillips Run Time 102 minutes Rated G [AUST] Copyright ©2005 - Warner Bros - All Rights Reserved Copyright Protected © 2005 - Impact Internet Services - All Rights Reserved