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NAME:
Jeff Santo
TITLE / ROLE:
Director, Co-writer, Co-Producer
"This Old Cub"
COMPANY:
This Old Cub LLC
PRODUCTION CREDITS:
"Liar's Poker," "This Old Cub"
LIVES:
Los Angeles
NUMBER OF YEARS IN FILM:
12
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You can say that "This Old Cub" is a film that Jeff Santo was born to direct.
Santo, whose first feature film "Liar's Poker" won Best Film at the 1999 Chicago Alternative Film Festival, is the son of Chicago Cubs great Ron Santo. For fourteen years, Ron Santo put up Hall of Fame numbers playing third base for the Cubs. Not until late into his playing career, however, did he disclose a lifelong battle with Type One Juvenile Diabetes.
Ron Santo's recent health problems – losing two legs to diabetes and cancer of the bladder – have not deterred him from his assignments as a radio broadcaster for the Cubs. Like the late Harry Carey, Ron Santo is the embodiment of all things Cub – eternal optimism in the face of recurring defeat.
In December 2002, Jeff Santo set out to film his father's rehabilitation and journey back to the broadcast booth after his second leg was amputated in as many years. Not even the most optimistic of Cubs fans predicted that the club would ultimately win its division and fall only five outs short of the World Series.
In this month's Taking Credit, Jeff Santo describes what it was like working on such an emotional project and why the Cubs decision to retire his father's uniform number gave "This Old Cub" a Hollywood ending.
As a filmmaker, what unique challenges did you encounter while profiling your father?
The subject matter was easy because I was born into baseball and lived in the clubhouse growing up. My family has a history with the Cubs, and this film got me a lot closer to that.
Going through the whole process, and seeing him going though it, that was the hardest part. The first leg, though, was the hardest. He had nine-hour surgery and went into cardiac arrest. He almost died.
But I felt it was important to get that story out so it can touch so many people. The idea was to transcend his story into a baseball film. I didn't want a film crew. I did it myself. Sometimes I would have a digital camera in one hand and I was helping my father with the other.
The biggest challenge was that I didn't want a movie about a son helping his father, but about a filmmaker profiling a man. I'm glad I had my partner Tim Comstock with me throughout the process. Tim worked for years at Tom Hanks' Playtone Production Company.
There were times I had to put my camera down and help my dad. It was emotionally draining but also inspiring to do. Once we got started, it took its own course.
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004: Jeff Santo
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