AMY ADAMS HITS CLOSE TO HOME IN "TROUBLE WITH THE CURVE"

Prior to her much-awaited turn as the new Lois Lane in next year’s “Man of Steel,” Amy Adams can soon be seen in Warner Bros.’ new family drama “Trouble with the Curve” as the estranged daughter of Clint Eastwood’s character. 

Photo courtesy of Warner Bros.

In the film, Gus Lobel (Eastwood) is an aging baseball scout for the major league team, the Atlanta Braves. Long since widowed and living alone, Gus has embarked on a recruiting trip—maybe his last, considering his age and the changing business—to find a talented young player. He’s joined by his daughter Mickey (Adams), a busy corporate lawyer. The two have maintained a mostly episodic and often strained relationship in the past, which secrets and lies have not helped to mend. As they reconnect and attempt to work out their personal issues, they cross paths and fates with Johnny (Justin Timberlake), an upcoming rival scout, in a season that will be deeply cathartic for all of them. 

Adams says that there’s universality to Mickey’s feelings about her dad. “Daughters always want the approval of their fathers. So, naturally, Mickey wants Gus’s attention; she wants him to be proud of her, but he, like many dads, has a hard time conveying that. Over time, she’s built up a wall and things between them have become contentious, to say the least.”

Unlike Gus, Mickey’s career is on the rise: she’s an associate competing for a coveted slot as a partner at her law firm. “Mickey and Gus have a lot in common,” Adams states. “They’re two people who focus on their work to keep from having to focus on anything else. She learned from the best; she keeps really busy so that she doesn’t have to explore the deeper, emotional side of herself.”

Despite her reluctance, Mickey takes it upon herself to look out for Gus, joining him on his latest scouting trip, hoping to be his eyes on the field. However, Eastwood notes, “He doesn’t want anybody to help him, because he equates that with them feeling sorry for him, which he can’t stand. He especially doesn’t want Mickey there because he doesn’t think it’s a healthy atmosphere for a young woman, even though she was around it a lot when she was growing up and knows the game very well. He’s also afraid she’ll catch on to what’s really wrong with him.”

Adams observes, “I think Mickey views going to North Carolina to help her dad as potentially her last chance to connect with him, and to convince him to start taking care of himself. But it’s hard for her because she doesn’t know how to communicate with him. They don’t talk, they argue. And she’s no more comfortable taking care of him than he is being taken care of. This time together could be a game changer, one way or another.”

Director Robert Lorenz says, “Mickey’s got so much going on in her life at the start of this story—she’s on the verge of achieving her career goals, her relationship with her boyfriend is at a crossroads, and then she learns her father’s livelihood is in jeopardy. It’s a perfect storm of life events that forces her to re-examine what matters to her.”

The director adds that he was eager to work with Adams, noting, “Amy embodies the characters she plays so well. I also had a sense she’d be a good match for Clint, that she could stand up to him on screen, which she had to do…a lot.”

Adams was drawn to the script, and even more to the opportunity to work alongside Eastwood. “Working with Clint was amazing,” she confirms. “He is truly a legend, so to share the screen with him was an honor.”

“Amy was a joy to work with,” says Eastwood, who was equally impressed with Adams’ skills on the diamond. “Mickey’s a girl who was raised on baseball, and one thing I admired about Amy is that she can sprint like a guy, wind up and throw a ball like a guy, and take a real swing with a bat. So she was perfect for the part of a woman who isn’t an athlete, but who grew up around a sport, who has it in her blood.”

             “Trouble with the Curve” is distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures, a Warner Bros. Entertainment Company.

JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE IN "TROUBLE WITH THE CURVE"

Newlywed music superstar and talented actor Justin Timberlake is back on the screen as baseball scout Johnny Flanagan who develops feelings for the daughter (Amy Adams) of a veteran scout (Clint Eastwood), in Warner Bros.' engaging drama “Trouble With The Curve.”

             In the film, Gus Lobel (Eastwood) is an aging baseball scout for the major league team, the Atlanta Braves. Long since widowed and living alone, Gus has embarked on a recruiting trip—maybe his last, considering his age and the changing business—to find a talented young player. He’s joined by his daughter Mickey (Adams), a busy corporate lawyer. The two have maintained a mostly episodic and often strained relationship in the past, which secrets and lies have not helped to mend. As they reconnect and attempt to work out their personal issues, they cross paths and fates with Johnny (Timberlake), an upcoming rival scout, in a season that will be deeply cathartic for all of them.

             Timberlake says that the atmosphere Lorenz fostered on set enabled the actors to better define those relationships. “Amy and I were able to establish really good chemistry between the two characters, which I think is a testament to Rob. He was completely all-knowing of the story we were telling, and what was right and what was interesting about each character.”

             A former pro pitcher, nicknamed The Flame for his 100-mile-per-hour fastball, Johnny’s career was cut short, and he has turned to scouting…for now. Timberlake reveals, “The first time we see him, he’s on the side of the road, watching a bunch of kids in a pick-up game and speaking into a recorder, giving the play-by-play. It’s an early hint that, now that his career as a player is over, he’s honing his chops, hoping to get into broadcasting.”

Photo courtesy of Warner Bros.

             The actor drew on his own experiences “calling” games. “When I was a kid, I used to mimic the announcers, trying to replicate that rhythm and charisma they have. It’s an audio-only performance so you really have to connect to your audience—the fans—because you’re narrating a part of life that they’re so passionate about.”

             It was Gus, in fact, who brought Johnny up to “the show” when he pitched for the Braves. Now, Gus and Johnny, who’s scouting for the Red Sox, are both looking to add a coveted player to their respective teams. In spite of their presumed rivalry, Gus still acts as something of a mentor to the younger man, who even picks up a few pointers from Mickey.

              “Trouble With The Curve” is distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures, a Warner Bros. Entertainment Company.

MOVING TALE ON FAMILY DYSFUNCTION IN “TROUBLE WITH THE CURVE”

Academy Award® winner Clint Eastwood (“Million Dollar Baby,” “Unforgiven”), Oscar® nominee Amy Adams (“The Fighter,” “Doubt”), and Justin Timberlake (“The Social Network,” “Friends with Benefits”) star in Warner Bros.’ “Trouble with the Curve,” which marks the feature film directorial debut of Eastwood’s longtime producing partner Robert Lorenz.

Photo courtesy of Warner Bros.

             In the film, Gus Lobel (Eastwood) has been one of the best scouts in baseball for decades, but, despite his efforts to hide it, age is starting to catch up with him. Nevertheless, Gus—who can tell a pitch just by the crack of the bat—refuses to be benched for what could be the final innings of his career.

He may not have a choice. The front office of the Atlanta Braves is starting to question his judgment, especially with the country’s hottest batting phenom on deck for the draft. The one person who might be able to help is also the one person Gus would never ask: his daughter, Mickey (Adams), an associate at a high-powered Atlanta law firm whose drive and ambition has put her on the fast track to becoming partner. Mickey has never been close to her father, who was ill-equipped to be a single parent after the death of his wife. Even now, in the rare moments they share, he is too easily distracted by what Mickey assumes is his first love: the game. 

Against her better judgment, and over Gus’s objections, Mickey joins him on his latest scouting trip to North Carolina, jeopardizing her own career to save his. Forced to spend time together for the first time in years, each makes new discoveries—revealing long-held truths about their past and present that could change their future.

Timberlake is Johnny Flanagan, a rival scout who has his sights on a career in the announcer’s booth…and has eyes for Mickey. The main cast also includes John Goodman as Gus’s old friend and boss, Pete Klein, and Matthew Lillard as Phillip Sanderson, the Braves’ associate director of scouting.

“‘Trouble with the Curve’ is a story about how we deal with what life throws at us,” describes director/producer Robert Lorenz. “It has characters in whom we can all see a bit of ourselves, reaching those moments in life when we are faced with re-evaluating priorities: the importance we put on our careers, our friendships and our family.”

At the center of the story are a father and daughter whose lives have taken them in opposite directions. Even when they’re together, they are worlds apart. But now, circumstances are forcing them to face their differences on common ground. 

“In any family, even when things get tough, there are always ties that connect you,” says the film’s star and producer Clint Eastwood. “You just have to find a starting point to begin to close the gap.”

Trouble With The Curve” is distributed in the Philippines by Warner Bros. Pictures, a Warner Bros. Entertainment Company.