George Clooney directs an adaptation of acclaimed nonfiction author Daniel James Brown’s bestselling novel for the big screen with classic Hollywood themes. The Boys in the Boat tells the improbable but inspiring true story of the University of Washington’s men’s rowing team. The poverty-stricken students won gold at the 1936 Summer Olympics in Nazi Germany. Callum Turner stars as Joe Rantz, who was abandoned by his father at age 13, but achieved an epic victory through pure grit and determination. He falls in love with Joyce Simdars (Hadley Rabinson) in a sweet romance that results in a lifetime of happiness.

Brown admits to being “nervous” watching The Boys in the Boat last August. But “by the time the film was halfway through, I was starting to sniffle. My wife was sniffling. And by the end, we were both pretty much in tears.” Brown was “really moved” and “happy when the lights came up.” He explains “the project got stuck in convoluted Hollywood stuff. For many years, I didn’t think it was going to happen at all. Getting past that, and actually seeing what George Clooney produced, was exhilarating.”

Brown and Clooney both felt “it’s time for an old-fashioned movie with an old-fashioned love story.” He admits to being “a sucker for that kind of thing.” Brown spent “hundreds of hours” with Joe and Joyce’s daughter, Judy, “developing the book.” He had an “obligation to try to get their lives right.” She was “really happy with the way [Clooney and screenwriter Mark L. Smith] handled it.” Read on or watch above for our full interview with Daniel James Brown.

Confident in George Clooney

MovieWeb: You’ve had a lot of success with your book. What were your first thoughts once finally seeing the movie?

Daniel James Brown: I first saw it back in August. The Clooneys invited us down for a screening. I was nervous, but by the time the film was halfway through, I was starting to sniffle. My wife was sniffling. And by the end, we were both pretty much in tears. We were really moved. I was really happy when the lights came up with the result.

MW: George Clooney and screenwriter Mark L. Smith focus on Joe Rantz (Callum Turner) as the primary protagonist. I haven’t read the book, but have been told he was just a segment of a greater story about the team and the Olympics in Nazi Germany. Were you happy with that choice of perspective?

Daniel James Brown: I am. It’s a 350-page book. There are going to be storylines in the book that can’t make it into a two-hour movie, obviously. That’s part of what I was nervous about before I saw it for the first time. They necessarily had to focus on the year that the Olympic gold medal race took place, and give you a sense of the backstory. I thought they did a terrific job. I think if they had unveiled the entire backstory, it would have been a four or five-hour movie. Yeah, so I was really happy with the way they handled that.

MGM

MW: The book rights have gone through many different hands. Were you worried about your vision? How did you feel when the rights finally came to George?

Daniel James Brown: At first, I had no idea. It did go through a lot of hands. George called me shortly after he signed up to direct. We had a pretty long conversation on the phone. Right from the moment we had that conversation, I felt really confident. He talked a lot about how he had grown up relatively poor in Kentucky, and some of the struggles he’d gone through as a young man, and how the story at the center of The Boys in the Boat resonated with him. It’s about these working-class kids who are really struggling to stay in school and get an education in the middle of the Depression. His personal story connected with this story in a way that made me feel really good about the way he was going to approach it. When I saw the movie for the first time, that is, in fact, exactly what he had done.

RELATED: George Clooney and Joel Edgerton on Their Inspiring Film The Boys in the Boat

MW: How involved were you in the nuts and bolts process? Did they ever come to you for thoughts on Mark’s script, the casting, or were you basically hands off?

Daniel James Brown: Yeah, I was 90% hands off. Certainly Mark and I did talk a couple of times. They ran the script past me partway through the process. I made some comments, but it’s definitely Mark L. Smith’s product. I had sort of an indirect and relatively small involvement in that.

An Old-Fashioned Love Story

MW: There’s this great, old-fashioned love story between Callum Turner and Hadley Robinson that’s really the backbone of the film. I’ve read that Joe Rantz’s daughter brought you their story. Have you gotten feedback about how that romance was viewed by the family?

Daniel James Brown: Yeah, I was really happy with that. I should say, first of all, the film and the book are about these nine young men. When I was writing the book, I felt an obligation to try to get their lives right. I spent a lot of time contacting family members. Joe’s daughter Judy worked very closely with me on developing the book. I spent hundreds of hours with her. And a big component of that, of course, was the relationship between her mom and her dad. As the film’s come out, I’ve talked to her several times since then. She’s really happy with the way they handled it. The love story really touched me. That’s why I say I was sniffling halfway through the movie. I’m kind of a sucker for that kind of thing. I found it really touching. I think they handled it beautifully.

MW: Let’s extrapolate further. The scene on the train where he runs off and kisses her, that got to my crusty old heart. You just don’t see that in Hollywood anymore. Do you think that’s something modern audiences want to see?

Daniel James Brown: Yes, I’ve talked to George about that quite a bit. He feels the same way. Both of us feel it’s time for an old-fashioned movie with an old-fashioned love story. It’s not salacious. It’s very family friendly. That’s part of the way he approached the film, to give us exactly the kind of movies a lot of us grew up with. I [shouldn’t] use the word “old-fashioned.” I’m really talking about movies just from a couple of decades ago that have heart, are straightforward, and touching. A big part of that is going to be a love story. It was a very deliberate decision on his part. Of all the things he could have taken from the book, I’m glad that’s one of the things he built on.

Related: The Boys in the Boat Review | George Clooney’s Uplifting Sports Drama

MW: Joe was abandoned by his father at 13-years-old. They have a reckoning, but it’s kind of subtle. Part of me wanted Joe to be like, damn you, you left, and now I’m doing great. Was there ever a thought of making that scene a bit harsher? Or do you think they handled that in the right way?

Daniel James Brown: I understand what you’re saying. I think they did handle it in the right way. That’s partly because of the reality of the backstory. Joe was abandoned by his family, his father in particular. You would think he would have been very angry and resentful for the rest of his life. But in fact, he just wanted to get back to a family situation. So in the film, we don’t see that happening yet. But in real life, he wound up more or less reconciling with his father. The film sort of strikes a middle note there that I think actually works pretty well.

MW: What was the best and worst day, as the author of The Boys in the Boat, seeing the film finally come to fruition?

Daniel James Brown: Gosh, I guess the best day was actually seeing it. We came down to LA. We went to view it in the screening room on the Warner Bros. lot. I was very nervous. And so getting past that, and actually seeing what George Clooney produced, was exhilarating. The worst day unfolded over years, which was just that the project got stuck in convoluted Hollywood stuff. And so, for many years, I didn’t think it was going to happen at all. That was very exasperating. It was a very long worst day.

MW: Is there anything specifically you’d like our audience to pay attention to? Something you think they might find rewarding?

Daniel James Brown: This is sort of filmmaker stuff, and that’s not my field of expertise, but I think the thing is really well edited. The pacing works really well. As I say, I’m not a film expert, but especially when I saw it the second time, I was noticing smaller details. One of the things I noticed was that the pacing seemed right. The editing seemed right to me.

It seems right to us, too. The Boys in the Boat is currently in theaters from Amazon MGM Studios.