Kevin Costner and coach Jim White recall tales of triumph in ‘McFarland, USA’

The last film I can recall that revolved around a running sport was “Chariots of Fire,” which was made in 1981. While Disney’s “McFarland, USA” is far from the same quality as “Chariots of Fire,” it is still an effective addition to the incidental category.

The film follows the true story of Jim White, played by Kevin Costner, and the surprisingly successful cross-country team he created for the school’s community high school in 1987. During a conference call, both Jim White and Kevin Costner spoke about the adaptation of this inspiring story and what exactly made it so much more than just a sports movie.

While this inspiring tale of a small California high school may be unknown to the majority of moviegoers, Costner said he was actually quite familiar with it before he took the role.

“I remember 15 or 20 years ago, I read a story about McFarland in Sports Illustrated about Coach White, and I was just thinking, ‘Wow, what a great story,’” Costner said. “When I was approached to be in this movie I thought, ‘wait a second, I know this story.”’

Costner, a California native, revealed he actually played high school baseball against McFarland in the ’70s.

“It’s really become full circle for Jim and I,” he said.

The circle for Jim White, however, started when he moved to McFarland in search of a new teaching job, and eventually landed at McFarland High School. While rich in farmland, the predominantely Latino community was one of the poorest in the state, leaving young men with two options: make their pay by farming or through gangs.

Those who farmed did so before and after school, with running as the only form of transportation between each.

White, who was also the school’s physical education teacher, remembered the first time he sent the boys to run a lap.

“These boys didn’t slack off and jog or walk like everybody else was doing. They actually loved to run,” he said. “They’ll run for anything, you know.”

After discovering the boys’ indisputable endurance, Jim White grouped together seven boys to create the school’s first cross-country team, the team the film is based on.

“(The film) means an awful lot to the community of McFarland, myself included,” White said.

The release of the film, he said, even caused the city to change its city slogan, which once read, “Heartbeat of Agriculture,” but now reads, “Tradition, Unity and Excellence,” with a logo of a girl running through fields.

For Costner — a familiar face to sports films — the uniqueness of “McFarland, USA” was in its reality, one that Costner made sure the film kept, even initially declining the role until Coach White’s role was written more accurately. For him, it was the truth behind the film that made it all the more special.

“What you’re really watching when you watch a sports movie, you’re watching what makes it inspirational,” Costner said. “Just the fact that there’s a level of authenticity about how a person has to go through their day can be very entertaining.”

Though marketed as an inspirational sports movie, Costner and White were keen to express that this film wasn’t just a stereotype.

“It is really, really true to life’s hardships that the kids had to go through working in the fields,” White said.  “That is so important to understanding what they’re really going through.”

Costner agreed, stating that there was a reason the title of the film was what it was.

“At its very core, this is not a movie about running.  It’s not about cross-country,” Costner said. “This movie is really about the American dream and the American dream in McFarland is alive and well.”

“McFarland, USA” is in theaters now.