Baseball season is winding down, which means the World Series is right around the corner. To get fans ready for the fall classic, Briarcliff Entertainment released a new movie called The Hill, which is about the life of former professional baseball player Rickey Hill. Earlier this summer, PopCulture.com spoke exclusively to Colin Ford, who plays Rickey Hill in the new film. Ford shared details of what fans can expect from the film, which also stars Dennis Quaid.
“Fans can expect an inspirational story about faith and perseverance and pursuing one’s God-given talents,” Ford exclusively told PopCulture. “Also, some trials and tribulations and some crazy things happen along the way.” The Hill tells the story of Rickey, whose goal is to play professional baseball despite batting a degenerative spinal disease. His pastor father (Quaid) does everything he can to prevent Rickey from playing baseball to protect him from injury. Rickey’s talents make him a local baseball star, but as he tries out for Major League Baseball, his desire divides the family and threatens his dream. Ford and Quaid star in The Hill with Joelle Carter, Randy Houser, Jesse Berry, Bonnie Bedelia and Scott Glenn.
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“I think if you look at what Rickey went through and the mindset that he had, the positivity and the overall outlook that, ‘I can do this, I can achieve this,’ his self-belief when others had doubt in his goals, I think that who wouldn’t want to portray a character that has such an amazing outlook?” Ford said. “And I just wanted to do the story justice. I mean, it was a wonderful script and I just wanted Rickey to come to life on the screen the way that I read him on the page.”
Ford, who has starred in television shows such as Walker and Supernatural and movies such as Captain Marvel and Sweet Home Alabama, worked closely with Quaid, who has been in his share of sports movies in his career. Ford enjoyed sharing the screen with Quaid since he was easy to work with.
“It was really awesome. It was such an amazing experience.” Ford said. “Back in 2018 when my audition process began, I had an initial audition, but I got a callback and I actually got to go in and read with Dennis and do an audition with Dennis. So that was very nerve-racking, but at the end of my audition, he kind of gave me a ‘Good job.’ And so that made me feel really, really good. And then ultimately had many years in between the time of that audition and filming, but I was just as nervous showing up to my first day of set working with Dennis. I mean, he is a legend, but he made me feel so comfortable and calm and just getting to work opposite him made my dream come true. So it was amazing.”
The Hill, directed by Jeff Celentano, is out in theatres now.
