Without Limits is a 1998 American biographical sports film. It is written and directed by Robert Towne and follows the relationship between record-breaking distance runner Steve Prefontaine and his coach Bill Bowerman, who later co-founded Nike, Inc. Billy Crudup plays Prefontaine and Donald Sutherland plays Bowerman. It also stars Monica Potter, Jeremy Sisto, Judith Ivey, Matthew Lillard and William Mapother.
The film was produced by Tom Cruise (Cruise and Mapother are cousins) and Paula Wagner, and released and distributed by Warner Bros. Due to a very low-key promotional campaign, the $25 million film grossed only $777,000 at the box office, even though it received positive reviews from many major critics.[ Without Limits - Box office / business at the Internet Movie Database][ Without Limits at Rotten Tomatoes] Sutherland received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in the film.
Plot
The film follows the life of famous 1970s runner Steve Prefontaine from his youth days in Oregon to the University of Oregon where he worked with the legendary coach Bill Bowerman, later to the Olympics in Munich and his early death at 24 in a car crash.
Cast
Production
Development
20 years prior to the film's release, Kenny Moore, a friend of late Steve Prefontaine, approached
Robert Towne with the intention of making a film about Prefontaine but Towne was unavailable at the time. Three years later, the two worked together on the film
Personal Best and they again explored the idea. In 1994, the two met and Moore began writing a script for Towne to direct.
Mary Marckx, Prefontaine's former girlfriend and friend of Moore, gave Towne over 200 personal letters written by Prefontaine, which provided an insight into his thoughts and she also shared information on the relationship he had with his mother.
Explaining how Tom Cruise got involved in the project, Moore said:
Casting
Towne originally envisioned Cruise in the role of Prefontaine, but it was decided he was too old.
For the role, Billy Crudup who had been a college athlete trained for four months with
Patrice Donnelly (she starred in
Personal Best) to run short distances as he was expected to run 110 to 200 yards for a 5,000 meter race sequence. He also watched actual footage of Prefontaine to imitate his moves.
Tommy Lee Jones,
Harrison Ford and
Clint Eastwood were considered for the part of Bowerman but they all turned it down and Donald Sutherland eventually landed the role.
Monica Potter played the role of Prefontaine's girlfriend and spent a lot of time with Mary Marckx to prepare for the part.
Filming
The film was shot on location in
Oregon using the University of Oregon's
Hayward Field. Scenes were also filmed at Heceta Beach, Oregon.
's house served as a shooting location.
After two months of filming in Oregon, the production moved to
Los Angeles to film the Munich sequences at
Citrus College.
Some visuals of the Munich Olympics came from the documentary
Visions of Eight:
Reception
Without Limits met with positive reviews from critics. On review aggregator
Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds a 79% "fresh" approval rating with an average score of 6.6/10, based on 39 reviews. The website's consensus reads: "This drama about American track star and hero Steve Prefontaine intelligently looks at the character of this oft mythologized athlete and features a fantastic performance by Donald Sutherland as Prefontaine's trainer."
See also
External links
