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1996 Comedy Celtic Pride Recalled 30 Years After Release
The 1996 film Celtic Pride, starring Dan Aykroyd and Daniel Stern as Boston Celtics fans who kidnap a rival player, marked early credits for Judd Apatow. The movie earned $9 million at the box office upon its April 1996 release.
The Hollywood ReporterAudio version
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The 1996 comedy Celtic Pride centered on two Boston Celtics fans who kidnap Utah Jazz player Lewis Scott to help their team in the NBA Finals. Filmmaker Tom De Cerchio made his feature directorial debut with the project after leaving production on an Ace Ventura sequel. Judd Apatow received an early screenwriting credit and collaborated on the story with Colin Quinn.
Cerchio said he worked on script rewrites at Apatow’s home, which Apatow had recently acquired from Garry Shandling. Apatow later invited De Cerchio to join him on the Vancouver set of Happy Gilmore. “Rather than shun me, Judd immediately invited me to hang out with Adam, [producer] Jack Giarraputo and the rest of their crew,” De Cerchio said.
“I’ve never laughed that hard in my life. ” Damon Wayans trained with college basketball players to prepare for his role. The film shot for a month at Boston Garden and included cameos from Celtics figures Larry Bird, Bob Cousy and Red Auerbach.
Disney released Celtic Pride on April 19, 1996.
U.S. box office. De Cerchio said he still regrets that the film did not perform better for the Boston extras who appeared in it.
