The last thing Steve James expected was to get caught up in a race to complete his new movie before another director beat him to it - a movie, ironically enough, based on the life of a famous runner.
But "Prefontaine," which will have its world premiere Friday night at the Sundance Film Festival in a special Provo screening, is just one of two films to be seen on the big screen this year about the life of long-distance runner Steve Prefontaine and his college and Olympic career.While James, who was responsible for the acclaimed "Hoop Dreams," made "Prefontaine" for about $8 million - a paltry production figure by Hollywood standards - Tom Cruise's new production company at Warner Bros. is making its own $40 million version. That one, written by Robert Towne ("Chinatown") is called "Pre" and is scheduled for release this fall.
"It's been a really insane undertaking, making the film on such a small budget," James said in an interview. "Their version is like a Cadillac and we're here with the Volkswagen. But I really think we pulled it off."
The writer-director hopes audiences will agree and won't skip his film in favor of the more expensive feature.
"Unfortunately, people sometimes think that because a film was made with more money it must be a better film," he said. "That's not to say their movie won't be good - it has a lot of great people involved. But I'm just partial to mine. Go figure."
James and his filmmaking partner, Peter Gilbert, were brought onto the project by Joe Roth, chairman of Walt Disney Studios, a self-proclaimed "sports nut" who saw and loved their work on "Hoop Dreams." But that film was a documentary instead of a feature, which made some of the studio heads nervous.
"Well, before `Hoop Dreams' I wasn't really known for anything. But I've always been enamored with dramas," he said. "With the real characters in this story, I think this is a great drama."
Besides, "Prefontaine" mixes archival footage of some of the runner's competitions with re-creations of other sequences and fictionalized interviews, giving the film a quasi-documentary feel.
"It's a good comparison, saying it's the middle ground between `Breaking Away' and `Hoop Dreams,' " James said. "The pseudo-documentary stuff is there to show what kind of effect he had on these people, and to show this is a real story - that it's not made up."
He was also helped by an experienced cast that includes veteran character actors R. Lee Ermey, Ed O'Neill and Lindsay Crouse, as well as Jared Leto (from TV's beloved "My So-Called Life" series), who plays Steve Prefontaine.
"When you're making such a great story, you've got to have great people, and I think those names speak for themselves," James said.
On top of the obvious pressure of competing with another studio, James said he also felt overwhelmed by the success of his first film, which got its big break at the 1994 Sundance festival.
"Once you've tasted success like that, you can't help but look over your shoulder," he said. "I don't think I could ever top what happened at Sundance that year. It was a once-in-a-lifetime experience. If I should ever be so lucky again, someone should probably shoot me."
But James is treating the pre-"Prefontaine" hype with the same sense of "cautious pessimism" that kept him humble during all the "Hoop Dreams" hoopla.
"With `Hoop Dreams' I just wanted to get it on PBS, and things kept escalating. Now I've just got to make sure I'm not disappointed if people don't like this one."
Of course, he can also bury himself in his work - he has a full slate of projects in the works, including the dramatic features "Cockroach Basketball" and "Clemente," based on the life of pro baseball star Roberto Clemente. James is also working on "Stevie," a documentary film about "Big Brother" programs in rural southern Illinois.
"Well, I've got to do something besides sports movies, don't I?"