About
“Hey, that would make a great movie!”
Remember Minnesota came from the same magical place most movies begin, with someone saying those seven little words. The first time they were spoken was nearly sixteen years ago when John Carroll Lynch sat down with his new financial adviser Brad Melby and noticed the head of an oar mounted above Brad’s desk. “What’s that?” John asked him. After Brad had told him the story of his experience on the Men’s Crew at the University of Minnesota, John immediately blurted out, “Hey, that would make a great movie!”
It’s an unforgettable story and John thought about it for years. With his film career thriving, he kept coming back to it, wondering. At a party, John pulled his friend Tess Clark, a screenwriter, to the corner of the room, said he was thinking about writing a movie and proceeded to tell her the story he’d been contemplating for years. Once Tess had confirmed what John has suspected, that it would in fact make a great movie, John asked Tess to bug him about it, to hound him and encourage him to put it on paper. Tess bugged him for three years. She felt that the story was so good that she wanted to make sure it made its way to the screen.
Finally, John and Tess sat down and wrote the screenplay together.
Based on the true story of the 1987 University of Minnesota Men’s Crew, Remember Minnesota follows the against-all-odds, victorious season of a group of four men and one woman who came from their rusted corrugated tin hut on the banks of the Mississippi and, for the first time in the history of the university, went all the way to the coveted rowing regatta championships to compete against the most powerful teams the Ivy League had to offer.
Rowing, a “club” sport at the university, was not financially supported by the U of M athletics department. Instead, the team was fueled by personal sacrifice, a coach’s dream, and the passions of five athletes who set aside individual ambition in order to harness the power of a united purpose. It is a story about being transformed by a sport, overcoming defeat, rising to challenge, accepting limitations, and recognizing that love can come in the most surprising places. In the tradition of Invincible, Miracle, Hoosiers, Chariots of Fire, and Breaking Away, Remember Minnesota is a heartwarming story of victory in the deepest sense.
Unexpected. Unlikely. Unforgettable.
Remember Minnesota
Mikael Salomon – Director
Mikael Salomon began his film career as a cinematographer, and he was trusted with his keen eye behind the camera for notable directors like James Cameron (The Abyss), Steven Spielberg (Always), and Ron Howard (Far and Away, Backdraft). He launched his directing career with actress Reese Witherspoon in the adventure A Far Off Place, followed by Morgan Freeman and Christian Slater in the action thriller Hard Rain, and he has gone on to helm highly esteemed television series and miniseries like A Band of Brothers, Rome, The Company, The Fugitive, Andromeda Strain, and Alias among them. He’s a two-time Academy Award nominee for cinematography (The Abyss, Backdraft), an Emmy Award winner for his direction (A Band of Brothers), and he has twice been nominated by his peers in the Directors Guild for his Outstanding Directorial Achievement (The Company, Andromeda Strain).
Diane Nabatoff – Producer
Diane Nabatoff began as an associate producer before claiming the title of Senior Vice President of Production for Henry Winkler’s production company. From there, she was a Producer at Interscope Communications, where she developed and produced films that include: Very Bad Things, written and directed by Pete Berg and starring Christian Slater, Cameron Diaz and Daniel Stern; The Proposition starring Kenneth Branagh, Madeleine Stowe and William Hurt; Operation Dumbo Drop, directed by Simon Wincer and starring Danny Glover, Ray Liotta and Denis Leary; Separate Lives starring Jim Belushi and Linda Hamilton; Holy Matrimony, directed by Leonard Nimoy and starring Patricia Arquette; and Body Language starring Tom Berenger. As an Executive Producer, she has worked on projects with Heather Graham, Sissy Spacek, Alan Cumming, Ted Danson and Charles Dutton. In 2000, Diane founded Tiara Blu Films where she has produced Take The Lead starring Antonio Banderas, and Narc starring Ray Liotta and Jason Patric. She is currently developing projects at studios and cable networks as well as several features that will be independently financed.
John Carroll Lynch – Producer, Screenwriter, Actor
John Carroll Lynch began his acting career in Minneapolis at the renowned Guthrie Theater where he spent eight seasons appearing on stage. In his first film Fargo he played the postage-stamp-painting husband of pregnant policewoman Frances McDormand. Now with over thirty-five feature film credits, he continues to be in high demand with appearances in The Good Girl, Pushing Tin, Face/Off, Volcano, Confidence, Gothika, Zodiac and Things We Lost in the Fire. On television, Lynch spent six seasons as Drew’s brother on The Drew Carey Show, completed the final season of HBO’s Carnivale, and appeared in Tuesdays With Morrie, Live From Baghdad, and From the Earth to the Moon. He is the co-writer of the screenplay Remember Minnesota, and will be playing Brad Melby’s father in the film.
Tess Clark – Producer, Screenwriter
Tess Clark’s production company has been successfully producing and managing television advertising campaigns for nearly twenty years. She was at the helm of a sports series on ESPN, and her short film The Middle Passage won numerous film festivals before finally earning a spot on the short-list for the 1994 Academy Awards. Tess has written documentary films, pilots for episodic television series, and hundreds of commercials. She spent three years cutting her sitcom teeth at Paramount Studios on Family Ties and Cheers. Her award-winning screenplays have been recognized by the Academy Award Foundation’s Nichol Fellowship, Sundance Institute, the Telluride Independent Film Festival, and purchased by both independent producers as well as major studios. Tess is the co-writer of the screenplay Remember Minnesota.
Brad L. Melby – Producer
Brad Melby’s experiences as a rower on the University of Minnesota’s Men’s Crew, where the Gopher’s achieved their highest finish in history at the Intercollegiate Rowing Association Championship, are the basis for the screenplay. A graduate of the U of M, Brad is now a Senior Financial Advisor and Business Financial Advisor, as well as an Ameriprise- associated financial advisor franchise. In practice since 1990, he has consistently been recognized at the top of his industry, serving as a national speaker and a contributor to both local and national media outlets. A North Dakota native, Brad resides in East Bethel, MN.
John Stout – Executive Producer, Attorney
John Stout is an officer and shareholder of Fredrikson & Byron, a 200 plus attorney firm with offices in Minneapolis, London and Monterey, Mexico, practicing principally in governance and finance. Stout chairs the firm’s Corporate Governance Group, and co-chairs the firm’s Advertising, Media and Entertainment Group. His initial feature film representation was Jonathan Livingston Seagull. Since then he has worked on the financing of more than 70 independent feature films, most recently A Prairie Home Companion, written by Garrison Keillor and directed by Robert Altman, for which Stout served as a Co-Executive Producer and attorney for the limited partnership which financed a portion of the film’s budget. He co-founded New Front Films, which produced six feature films. During the 1980s Mr. Stout was engaged by American Playhouse, New York, to establish a for-profit subsidiary, Playhouse International Pictures, and finance a slate of specialized films. He has producing credits on five feature films. Mr. Stout co-founded the Minnesota Film Board in 1981, currently serves as a director and its pro bono legal counsel, and continues to volunteer substantial time and energy to the growth and development of the film and television industry in Minnesota. He has been recognized by former Governor Perpich and the Minnesota Legislature for his service to Minnesota’s film industry.
Susan Austin – Media & Investor Relations
Susan Austin, an independent marketing consultant based in Minnesota, launched her company Austin Media & Marketing after spending seven years as a member of the Corporate Affairs and Communications Department at Amerprise Financial. She has over 15 years of experience in the television news industry, working as an award-winning anchor and reporter in the Savannah, GA, Davenport, IA, and Minneapolis/St.Paul television markets. Prior to her stint at Ameriprise Financial, Susan was the Director of Marketing Communications for the Mall of America, the nation’s largest retail entertainment center located in Bloomington, Minnesota. Susan is a member of the Public Relations Society of America, and a former member of the NAVA Public Relations Task force assembled in 2004 to provide balance to media coverage of the annuity industry.
For further information, contact us here: info[at]rememberminnesota.com
