![]() I had trouble with it, but then I thought Mr. The art of racing in the rain movie#Like I say, no one I’ve met who ever read the book and the many people I know who have seen the movie had any trouble accepting this premise. The dog, named Enzo (just as Kitch’s real dog is named Enzo), explains right at the beginning of the movie that, although he understands everything going on around him, up to and including the thoughts and motivations of the humans he meets, and up to and including the Eastern philosophy of reincarnation, which he claims he saw on a documentary on TV, his dog tongue cannot form words and he therefore can’t discuss these topics at length with his human family. This dog’s voice is done by the gravelly voiced Kevin Costner. It may seem ludicrous but I have not yet met anyone who had any problem whatsoever with the whole story being told by a dog. ![]() Oh, and the whole thing is narrated by a dog. ![]() The antagonist in the movie uses a slightly different and more believable means to disrupt our hero’s life than was presented in the book, but otherwise the movie follows remarkably close to the book. Stein based The Drama on what a friend and fellow racer was going through around the time that he, Stein, was writing the book. The rest of the two hours and 14 minutes is given over to The Drama. I wish I could have timed the total racing seen on screen during the film but I’m guessing it’s 10 percent or so. At least not for what I believe to be the average Autoweek reader. It’s not crazily overdramatized as often happens in lesser movies like “Spinout” starring Elvis Presley or The Big Wheel with Mickey Rooney or in any local news coverage of any crash at any race track. The racing as presented is good, thanks to the involvement of racer/moviemaker Jeff Zwart. He starts in what looks like IMSA GTD, then works his way up to IMSA DPi and then, well, I won’t spoil it for you. Yes, the movie – Ventimiglia stars as Denny Swift (oy), a promising racer battling his way up the IMSA ranks. Watch 'The Art of Racing in the Rain' trailer While actor Milo Ventimiglia does a credible job, I gotta think racing fans would have appreciated seeing real racer Dempsey in the role. ![]() Maybe he aged too much over the ten years it took to get the movie made. Unfortunately, Dempsey doesn’t star as the hero, but is listed instead as an executive producer. Universal bought the rights to the book for racer/actor Patrick Dempsey, but couldn’t find a director. When writer Garth Stein took a driving school from Kitch in 2001, met Kitch’s dog, and read Kitch’s paper, the wheels, so to speak, were set in motion.įirst came the book, which was on the New York Times best-seller list for three years, then the movie, which opens Aug. ![]() Kitch also has a big, sage golden retriever. (Anyone who’s raced on it knows it is a really fun track in a beautiful location and it sure as heck rains a lot there.) Kitch raced at Daytona 20 times, winning the SRP II class in 2003. Kitch operates ProFormance Racing School at Pacific Raceways, formerly Seattle International Raceway, in the Pacific Northwest. The art of racing in the rain drivers#“ A document Kitch wrote long ago explaining ‘the mental and physical disciplines for drivers to become efficient driving a car in the rain’ not only helped racers become more prolific (I think they meant to say proficient) in wet race conditions, it inspired life lessons that led to the book and now the 20th Century Fox drama that premieres on Aug. Racing sanctioning body IMSA explained it in an IMSA Wire Service story: To those who say Hollywood never gets racing right (except the movies “ Grand Prix” and “ Le Mans”), I say, they got the racing right in “ The Art of Racing in the Rain.” In fact, the whole movie is based on, or was at least inspired by, the treatise of a real racer, Rolex Daytona 24 winner and racing coach, Don Kitch Jr. ![]()
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