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from http://au.news.yahoo.com/040831/2/qke7.html
Hopoate's fingers find Hollywood fame
Rugby League bad boy John Hopoate and his infamous on field fingering scandal have been immortalised in a Hollywood film starring Alec Baldwin and Matthew Broderick.
The film, The Last Shot, has nothing to do with rugby league and its American writer-director Jeff Nathanson is not a fan of the sport and knows little about it.
Nathanson, however, thought a brief, out-of-the-blue mention about Hopoate's notorious 2001 finger probing incident in the offbeat, witty comedy would fit well in a scene, despite it having nothing to do with the context of the film.
In the scene Tony Shaloub, who plays an eccentric mobster, is watching a game on TV and begins ranting about how a player was banned for sticking his fingers in other players' rear ends.
"You'll notice Tony Shaloub is always watching some obscure sporting event, some weird thing like bowling, so it was something to do," Nathanson said.
"Then I decided to give him a speech about rugby and thought it would be odd."
Nathanson was holidaying in Europe in 2001 when he first read about Hopoate's notorious 12-week suspension for putting his fingers up the backsides of three North Queensland players during a game.
"I was travelling in Europe and I was reading the newspaper and reading about the incident and just kept it in the back of my mind," Nathanson said.
NRL judiciary commissioner Jim Hall, at the time of the incident, described Hopoate's probing as the most disgusting allegation he had to deal with in his 45 years involved in rugby league.
The Last Shot, which also stars Calista Flockhart, Ray Liotta and Australian actress Toni Collette, is scheduled to open in Australian cinemas in October.
The film is set in Rhode Island and Los Angeles and is based on a true story.
Broderick plays down-on-his luck screenwriter, Steven Schats, and Baldwin is FBI agent Joe Devine who is cracking down on mobsters with ties to Hollywood.
Devine poses as a film producer and offers to turn Schats' script into a motion picture, although the FBI fails to tell Schats that it's just a trap to catch the mobsters.
Collette gets plenty of laughs playing a faded movie star desperate to play the female lead in the "film".
Nathanson is one of Hollywood's best known screenwriters, penning two recent Steven Spielberg/Tom Hanks films - Catch Me If You Can and The Terminal - and the two Rush Hour movies. The Last Shot is his directorial debut.
Hopoate's fingers find Hollywood fame
Rugby League bad boy John Hopoate and his infamous on field fingering scandal have been immortalised in a Hollywood film starring Alec Baldwin and Matthew Broderick.
The film, The Last Shot, has nothing to do with rugby league and its American writer-director Jeff Nathanson is not a fan of the sport and knows little about it.
Nathanson, however, thought a brief, out-of-the-blue mention about Hopoate's notorious 2001 finger probing incident in the offbeat, witty comedy would fit well in a scene, despite it having nothing to do with the context of the film.
In the scene Tony Shaloub, who plays an eccentric mobster, is watching a game on TV and begins ranting about how a player was banned for sticking his fingers in other players' rear ends.
"You'll notice Tony Shaloub is always watching some obscure sporting event, some weird thing like bowling, so it was something to do," Nathanson said.
"Then I decided to give him a speech about rugby and thought it would be odd."
Nathanson was holidaying in Europe in 2001 when he first read about Hopoate's notorious 12-week suspension for putting his fingers up the backsides of three North Queensland players during a game.
"I was travelling in Europe and I was reading the newspaper and reading about the incident and just kept it in the back of my mind," Nathanson said.
NRL judiciary commissioner Jim Hall, at the time of the incident, described Hopoate's probing as the most disgusting allegation he had to deal with in his 45 years involved in rugby league.
The Last Shot, which also stars Calista Flockhart, Ray Liotta and Australian actress Toni Collette, is scheduled to open in Australian cinemas in October.
The film is set in Rhode Island and Los Angeles and is based on a true story.
Broderick plays down-on-his luck screenwriter, Steven Schats, and Baldwin is FBI agent Joe Devine who is cracking down on mobsters with ties to Hollywood.
Devine poses as a film producer and offers to turn Schats' script into a motion picture, although the FBI fails to tell Schats that it's just a trap to catch the mobsters.
Collette gets plenty of laughs playing a faded movie star desperate to play the female lead in the "film".
Nathanson is one of Hollywood's best known screenwriters, penning two recent Steven Spielberg/Tom Hanks films - Catch Me If You Can and The Terminal - and the two Rush Hour movies. The Last Shot is his directorial debut.
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