The Emerald Diamond
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The Emerald Diamond is a documentary following the history of Baseball Ireland and the Irish National Baseball team. It is scheduled to be released in 2006, with the first round of theatrical screenings sponsored by Boru Vodka.
Director John Fitzgerald financed the film almost entirely on credit cards while working freelance at various jobs in the TV and film industries. The film crew was comprised of professionals from in and around Fitzgerald's hometown of Valhalla, NY, with each crew member coincidentally living in towns along the Metro North Railroad's Harlem Line - leading to the creation of Harlem Line Pictures.
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[edit] Worldwide Screening Tour
Although the film received positive reviews from The New York Times, New York Post, Irish Echo and National Public Radio, Fitzgerald opted to release it immediately before receiving a traditional distribution deal. On February 25, 2006, "The Emerald Diamond" debuted to a sold out crowd of 250 people at the Jacob Burns Film Center in New York. Among those in the crowd was Major League Baseball Executive Vice President Robert Manfred. Manfred was taken with the Irish National Team's story and promised to help the film and the team in any way he could. He arranged to have the film's trailer played at Shea Stadium (New York), The Metrodome (Minneapolis), and AT&T Park (San Francisco).
"The Emerald Diamond" was screened in theaters in 22 U.S. cities and two Irish cities, between February and August, 2006. Many of the U.S. screenings were sponsored by Irish heritage organizations, baseball museums or Irish-based vodka company Boru Vodka.
[edit] Film Festivals
The film received the Critic's Choice Award at the 2006 Baseball Film Festival at the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, NY. The award was selected and presented by film critic Jeffrey Lyons.
[edit] Media Reviews, Publicity Stunts and Celebrity Endorsements
The film has received positive reviews from The New York Times, New York Post, National Public Radio and most Irish-American newspapers. In addition, the film has been featured by FoxNews, National Public Radio and Boston's CBS-4. The attraction of the major media outlets is very rare for such a low budget film, but it is likely due to the heartwarming underdog story of the Irish National Team, coupled with Fitzgerald's determination to make the film entirely on credit cards.
Jack Curry of The New York Times wrote, "Think of Rudy, the Notre Dame walk-on, and multiply it by about a dozen." Kevin Kernan of The New York Post called it "A terrific film!" while Bill Littlefield of National Public Radio called it, "A tale of perseverance, salted with humor and irrigated with beer."
On July 4, 2006 to celebrate the release of the film on DVD, Fitzgerald and Director of Photography Bill Winters - each trying to overcome a fear of flying while promoting the film - both jumped out of a rented single engine plane over Cooperstown, NY dressed as a leprechaun and a baseball player, respectively. Fitzgerald successfully landed on Main Street in front of the National Baseball Hall of Fame and was subsequently arrested for disturbing the peace and skydiving without a permit or the required training. Winters experienced a panic attack and pulled his ripcord early, ending up 45 miles northwest of Cooperstown on a cow farm. Fitzgerald was held in town jail overnight and released. Winters spent the evening wandering around the farm until hitchhiking back to New York City the next morning. He refuses to speak to Fitzgerald to this day.
In summer 2006, rumors surfaced that the story of the Irish National Baseball Team was being turned into a feature film script. Many well-known actors from Ireland and America were rumored to be interested in producing and/or starring in the film, including Colin Farrell, Matthew McConaughey, Pierce Brosnan, Charlie Sheen, Tobey Maguire, Denis Leary, Edward Burns, Vince Vaughn and Norm MacDonald. The female lead - rumored to be a love interest character that was created specifically for the script and did not exist in the documentary - is said to be under consideration by Lindsay Lohan, Robin Tunney and Jenny McCarthy.
[edit] The Future of The Emerald Diamond
After winning the Critic's Choice Award at the 2006 Baseball Film Festival, Fitzgerald confirmed that he was writing a feature film script based on the story of the Irish National Baseball Team. He noted that the script will contain several stories that didn't make it to the documentary. He refused to confirm or deny interest or involvement of any actors.
Fitzgerald also announced that he has founded a nonprofit group to help further the development of Irish youth baseball and the Irish National Baseball Team. The organization is called "Emerald Diamond USA" and it will focus on raising funds through online donations and fundraising screenings of "The Emerald Diamond."
[edit] Trivia
Director John Fitzgerald originally wanted to play for the Irish National Baseball Team, but was ineligible. With his background in TV and film, he decided to try to tell the team's story to a wider audience by making it into a documentary.
Fitzgerald had never directed, produced or edited a documentary or a feature film before "The Emerald Diamond."
Fitzgerald, Director of Photography Bill Winters and Continuity Consultant Justin Bergen played on the same Little League team in the early 1990s, which was named after the local Knights of Columbus post.
Most of the film's crew lives or lived along the Harlem Railroad Line in Westchester County, New York during production. Fitzgerald (Valhalla), Winters (White Plains), Visual Effects Supervisor Lorraine Robinson (Yonkers), Cameraman Jay Lavely (White Plains), Cameraman Shane McGaffey (Pleasantville), Music Supervisors Anthony Packes (Thornwood) and Brian McArtin (Yonkers), Audio Mixer Jim Roberts (Somers) and Continuity Consultant Justin Bergen (North White Plains).
Fitzgerald supervised the recording of the film's narration over the phone. Unable to find a quiet place to oversee the session, he drove his car into the Gate of Heaven Cemetery, near Lou Gehrig's grave to listen as narrator Sean McCarthy read through the script in his New York City studio.
Los Angeles Dodgers announcer Vin Scully was originally interested in recording the narration, but was unable to because of a busy personal schedule immediately following the 2005 Dodgers season.
The premiere screening of "The Emerald Diamond" was held at the Jacob Burns Film Center in Pleasantville, NY. It sold out a 250-seat theater in under 10 minutes.
Fitzgerald and Winters narrowly averted arrest for tearing down a Clifford T. Reid campaign poster on a Dublin highway. The poster was for a fringe candidate whose campaign slogan was ["http://www.inquisition21.com/article118.html"] "Stop the Paedophiles!". Both Fitzgerald and Winters decided the poster was too funny not to bring home and a candidate with such ridiculous looking poster didn't stand a chance at winning anyway. They also were under the impression that Reid himself was the pedophile that needed to be stopped - an assumption that was incorrectly made by many Irish citizens who noticed the giant posters all over the roadways. Reid lost in a landslide.
The next morning, Winters attempted to return home on an Aer Lingus plane headed from Dublin to New York. The plane's #2 engine caught fire just as it flew over the Atlantic Ocean and made an emergency return to the airport. Winters left that night on a different Aer Lingus flight, but informed Fitzgerald he would never fly Aer Lingus again.
The afterparty that followed the premiere screening of "The Emerald Diamond" was held at the James Joyce Pub in White Plains, NY.
The logo for the film contains the names of cities "Dublin Boston NYC Belfast" - referring to an early version of the film that had extended story development featuring Cormac Eklof (from the Boston area, but raised in Dublin), Sean Mitchell (Dublin), Joe Kealty and Chris Gannon (both of Boston), Chris Foy (from New York) and Terry Rosbotham (from Belfast). As the film's running time was trimmed from 2:30 to 1:30, much of the background childhood stories were cut back, but Fitzgerald kept the film's theme to reflect the premise that the Irish National Team was made up of players from various backgrounds and experiences, but they all played together under the Irish flag.
[edit] Crew Nicknames
Director John Fitzgerald developed nicknames for the production crew so people could easily remember who everyone was while following his production updates on his blog.
Director of Photography Bill Winters - Nicknamed "The Captain" because of his ability to answer any question related to cinematography, production, editing or anything else Fitzgerald could think to ask.
Visual Effects Supervisor Lorraine Robinson - Nicknamed "The Photoshopper Deluxe LE Edition" or "Photoshopper" for short, because of her ability to create, alter or edit any image in Adobe Photoshop.
Cameraman Jay Lavely - Nicknamed J-Lovely because it sounded cool.
