"Bad News Bears" Meets "A Separation"

The more time that passes the more I realize that "A Separation" was the best film of 2011. It is well written - the characters and plot make you literally feel as if your insides are wrenching. I love the acting, dialogue and set - everything, but it is the relationship between the teen girl and her father that transcends the dialogue, plot and the Iranian setting - it stands on its own and has stayed with me in a beautiful way. I credit the director and actors for this.

I was watching Mary's soccer team getting beaten by a talented but very rude team when I came up with an idea for a script. A ragtag girl's soccer team of new immigrants, African Americans and geeky white girls starts the season losing every game before the father of one of the girls starts assistant coaching and unites the girls as a team and leads them to a State Championship playoff game against their original foes.

It's a sports movie and I have never written a movie, so it will no doubt be clumsy and overly dramatic (not at all the movie I would like to write). It will be more "Bad New Bears" than "A Separation," but it is the relationship between the father and daughter that I want to emulate most - the universal parental love that doesn't need subtitles. My biggest challenge will be using authentic dialogue while keeping it "Family Friendly" (it's different in 2012 - notice that Walter Matthau is holding a beer in the picture - when it was remade a few years ago the details like this were taken out).

Trivia Question: Who wins the Championship game at the end of the movie? The Yankees? Or the Bears?