The Cast Of The Long Game Tease Sports Film At SXSW – Deadline

THE LONG GAME

Section: Narrative Spotlight

Director: Julio Quintana

Screenwriter: Julio Quintana, Jennifer C. Stetson, Paco Farias

Logline: When JB Peña moves to the small town of Del Rio, TX to take over as the school district’s superintendent, his dreams of joining the prestigious, all-white Del Rio Country Club are immediately squashed. However, soon he meets a group of high schoolers who happen to caddy at the club—they too are prohibited from playing the same course because of the color of their skin. So JB and them band together, at first with the aim of winning tournaments and making it to State, but quickly learn that there’s a lot more to aim for—and a lot more on the line—when a team of Mexican-American teens competes and wins in this exclusive world. Based on the novel, Mustang Miracle by Humberto G. Garcia.

Panelists: Julio Quintana, Jay Hernandez, Dennis Quaid, Julian Works, Jaina Lee Ortiz, and Brett Cullen

Premiered: March 12, 2023

Key Quotes: Hernandez: “I play J.B. Peña and I’m the guy who puts this team of kids together almost for selfish reasons. I think initially, the inception of this team was really this man’s inability to access certain social strata and he’s like, ‘This is my way in.’ It’s sort of self-serving initially but I think through the process he finds that there’s something bigger happening.”

Ortiz: “Lucy Peña is the loving supportive wife of J.B. whose a bit progressive, nurturing, and knows exactly what he needs during this transition of his life. This guy just wants to play golf. The high school boys become family, the kind she wishes she had had. You’ll catch me there, laying in bed with Jay Hernandez.”

The Deadline Studio at SXSW runs March 10-13, where the cast and creatives behind the best and buzziest titles in this year’s lineup sit down with Deadline’s festival team to discuss their movies and the paths they took to get to Austin, Texas.