Inside look at 'Screwball' documentary that 'MLB and A-Rod would rather you not see'
Billy Corben, the famed documentary filmmaker behind such hits as "Cocaine Cowboys" and ESPNâs 30 for 30 "The U," is back with a new film and itâs one he doesnât think Major League Baseball and Alex Rodriguez will be rushing out to see.
"Screwball," which is set to premiere this Saturday at Doc NYC and will likely have a wider release as soon as spring of 2019, takes you on a fun trip back to when performance-enhancing drugs were all the rage in MLB and provides incredible details about A-Rodâs usage of PEDs (and all the things he did to try to keep it quiet) as well as that of other stars, such as Manny Ramirez and Ryan Braun, who also got busted.
The story dives into what happened after Rodriguezâs memorable news conference at spring training in 2009 when he admitted to using PEDs in the past and said that everyone should take his word on it that he wouldnât use them again and to judge him on his actions from that day going forward. It goes into how A-Rod saw the success a juiced-up Manny, who would get hit with a 50-game suspension for PEDs, had with the Dodgers and asked Tony Bosch to get him on that program. It goes into how A-Rod hit three home runs in a game against the Royals shortly after starting treatments with Bosch. It goes into A-Rodâs battle with MLB to try to get his season-plus-long suspension overturned. It goes into Rodriguez paying protesters in pizza to show up outside of MLBâs NYC offices on the day of the arbitration hearing when he infamously kicked over a lawyerâs briefcase before storming out of the room.
âOur effort (in telling the story) isnât to remind everyone what an aââ (Rodriguez) is,â Corben said, âitâs just to tell the truth in what happened in the story.â
But much like Corbenâs other work, the tone of the film is done in such a fun way that itâs hard to look away from it during its 90-plus minutes.
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âWe were looking to create Coen brothers-esque experience of telling a quirky tale about a wild cast of characters⊠and highlighting the absurdity of it all was the goal,â Corben told For The Win this week. âThe idea I came away from it [is], âThese are the new values of America.â Thatâs something I walked away with in the middle of some interviews we did during filming and seeing how Alex and MLB behaved. While it seems like a uniquely Florida story, it struck me as reflecting values of America now, ones that I think are warped and misguided. In the end, (the story) kind of had a âcrime paidâ aspect to it. MLB and Alex ended up winning. The rich got richer and the poor got poorer and thatâs so America 2018.
âIâm certain that this is a documentary that MLB and A-Rod would rather you not see, Iâm certain of that,â Corben said.
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The story is mostly told through first-hand accounts of two key guys, who happen to be two classic characters from the Miami area â Bosch, the founder and owner of Biogenesis who was also the fake doctor who controlled and oversaw all the playersâ PED programs, and Porter Fisher, a South Florida resident who loved tanning salons and Boschâs ability to make him look buff.
But what makes this documentary unique and enjoyable is that Corben used child actors to play out all the characters in the story, lip-syncing the lines being told by Bosch and Fisher. Hereâs a taste of the film, make sure you stick around for A-Rod at the end of this:
Corben didnât go into this thinking he would have child actors being in it at all, but that the idea struck him one day during filming.
âWhile watching the interviews of Tony and Porter, I noticed the way they both were very moment-by-moment in the way they tell a story,â Corben said. âThey provide the step-by-step dialogue and so I was like, âOK, we can Drunk History this.â And then it struck me how every single adult in this story acted like a child. Every single one of them. I was like hereâs our idea. It was a perfect story for it.â
While many players (Manny, Melky Cabrera, Bartolo Colon and others) used Boschâs services, A-Rod acted much differently and therefore plays a larger role in the film.
âThe only reason why Alex is in the movie even more than the others is he appealed the suspension and went on to that arbitration,â Corben explained. âEveryone else just took their lumps because they were guilty. They didnât want to drag it out any longer than necessary. Alex just didnât know how to admit he was wrong. Thatâs the most troubling thing â and âTrumpianâ thing about it, too â he was incapable of admitting that he was wrong. He was incapable of admitting that he made a mistake or that he cheated. It was just like, âNo, I didnât do this.â And I donât even know if heâs ever said out loud, âYes, I did do this.â Heâs joked about it and I guess heâs apologized in some obscure interviews that heâs done more recently but I donât think heâs ever admitted that âEvery single thing I said no to and denied â I did all of that.â And yet he is this beloved and pop-culture figure now.â
So does Corben think all of these details will make people look at A-Rod any differently after seeing the film? In a word, no.
âEverybody remember how much of an aââ he was and nobody cares now,â he said. âWe have new values in this country. When we were kids, we were taught core values to a happy, healthy and successful life â honesty, integrity, treating other people the way we would want them to treat us. And now itâs like, lie, cheat, and steal and thatâs how you get successful and thatâs how you get ahead. And those are sort of the new core American values and thatâs what weâre teaching our children. And I think thatâs how MLB behaved, thatâs how Alex behaved â lie cheat and steal and you can become president of the United States. I think thatâs the message weâre sending to our children. Those are Americaâs new core values for happiness and success so I donât really see what difference this movie will make in terms of his reputation now â everyone knows what he did and that he lied to everybody with impunity and that he tried to cover it up with impunity. I donât think the way MLB behaved was that much better, it might have been worse, in fact. I think that might surprise more people than the Alex part of it.â
"Screwball" will teach you things that you didnât know, or maybe details you forgot about the steroids era in baseball. And it does it all in fun, brilliant ways. Itâs also a wild story with so many different characters that could really only take place in the state where Corben was born, raised and resides.
âFlorida rarely shocks me, but it regularly disappoints me,â he said. âAnd this is one of those cases where we might have crossed that threshold.â
Follow For The Win's Andy Nesbitt on Twitter @anezbitt.