Part-time Orchid Island resident Ken Whitney, who retired in 2013 after 25 years as an executive with the Blackstone Group investment firm, had heard all the reasons why he shouldn’t put his money behind a golf movie.
Especially this: Unless the flicks are funny, they’re usually not profitable.
While “Caddyshack,” “Happy Gilmore” and “Tin Cup” have become embedded in American culture, golf dramas such as “The Greatest Game Ever Played,” “The Legend of Bagger Vance” and “Bobby Jones: Strokes of Genius” struggled at the box office.
And “Tommy’s Honour” – the independently produced, Scottish-made film that will open next week in 150 theaters in 30 American markets, including Vero Beach – isn’t a comedy.
It’s an emotionally gripping drama that tells the story of the challenging and bittersweet relationship between the father and son who ushered in the modern game of golf in a class-divided Scotland in the mid-to-late 1800s.
“I read the book and loved it,” Whitney, 59, said of “Tommy’s Honor: The Story of Old Tom Morris and Young Tom Morris, Golf’s Founding Father and Son,” the award-winning volume on which the movie is based. “It’s a very powerful story.
“Some golfers might know the names, but most people don’t know the story, and this is a chapter in the history of golf needs to be told,” he added. “But this is more than a golf story. It’s really a love story.
“Golf is just the backdrop.”
That’s why, despite hearing from a stream of naysayers, Whitney accepted venture capitalist Keith Bank’s invitation to join him as an executive producer of “Tommy’s Honour.”
In fact, Whitney took the plunge against the advice of Teddy Schwarzman, the founder of Black Bear Pictures, which produced the 2014 hit, “The Imitation Game,” which received eight Oscar nominations, won the 2015 Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay and grossed more than $225 million.
“Teddy is the son of Stephen Schwarzman, who is one of the founding partners at Blackstone, and I was half-hoping he would want to participate,” Whitney said. “But when I told him about the movie, he was something less than encouraging.
“I remember him saying, ‘You’re probably going to lose all your money.’”
There was one friend, however, who offered encouragement: When Whitney discussed the project with Barry Reardon, the now-retired Warner Bros. president for distribution who owns a home at Orchid Island, he was told to trust his instincts.
“He said the No. 1 rule in this business is to never generalize,” Whitney said, explaining how Reardon cited “Chariots of Fire,” the 1981 British-made historical drama that won four Academy Awards, including the Oscar for Best Picture, despite lacking a marquee screenwriter, director and cast.
“So I’m aware of the risks,” he added. “I told my wife: What we put into this, we might never get back. But she could see how much I wanted to do this, that this was a passion project for me, and she told me to go for it.”
Still, it wasn’t until Whitney met with the movie’s director – Jason Connery, Sean’s son – that he was finally convinced to put his money where his passion was.
Whitney flew to Los Angeles and they talked for four hours over dinner. He said Connery’s enthusiasm for “Tommy’s Honour” was infectious.
“It wasn’t just Jason’s vision for the film,” he said. “It was his passion for the project. He talked about his relationship with his father and how it revolved around the game of golf.”
A former University of Delaware golfer who has won multiple club championships and remains heavily involved with national and local First Tee youth-development programs, Whitney was already sold on the story.
For those who don’t know:
Tom Morris, also known as “Old Tom,” was a club maker, ball maker, greens keeper, caddie and head pro at St. Andrews from 1865-1903. He was instrumental in founding the Open Championship, also known as the British Open, in 1860, when he struck the first ball in tournament history. He played in the event for 36 consecutive years and won the title four times, his last coming in 1867 at age 46, which, to this day, makes him the oldest Open champion.
Tommy Morris, also known as “Young Tom,” was golf’s first prodigy, having won a still-unmatched four consecutive Open Championships and becoming the youngest major champion in history when he won the 1868 title at age 17. He also was one of the pioneers of professional golf, as well as a course and equipment innovator, before his death at 24 – just months after his wife and baby died during childbirth.
Tom Morris was subservient to the class distinctions of Scotland in the 1800s, never once stepping inside the Royal & Ancient Golf Club’s clubhouse. Tommy Morris, born and raised in St. Andrews, was a rebel who refused to accept the societal and golf norms of the time.
As Connery says on the movie’s website, “They were creating history with no sense of their legacy.”
“It’s a story line people are going to love,” Whitney said, “and Jason did a wonderful job of pulling it all together.”
The only actor recognizable to most U.S. movie goers is Sam Neill, who starred in “The Hunt for Red October,” “Jurassic Park” and “Bicentennial Man.”
The roles of Tom and Tommy Morris are played by Scottish actors Peter Mullan and Jack Lowden, and British actress Ophelia Lovibond plays the part of Tommy’s wife, Meg Drinnen.
The screenplay was adapted from the book by Cook and his wife, Pamela Marin, a former feature writer for the Orange County Register and Los Angeles Times.
“Tommy’s Honour” debuted in June at the Edinburgh International Film Festival and, four months later, earned Best Feature Film honors at the British Academy Scotland Awards.
The movie made the first of its three scheduled U.S. premiers last week at the World Golf Hall of Fame in St. Augustine, where Whitney said it was well-received, albeit by a golf-loving audience.
Two other premiers are scheduled for April 12 in New York and April 13 in Chicago – proceeds from both will benefit the First Tee – before the movie opens nationally April 14.
“The golf community has really embraced this movie, so much so that everyone that’s seen it has said they’ve enjoyed it,” Whitney said. “We’ve already gotten praise from CBS’ Jim Nantz, the Golf Channel’s Rich Lerner and Ben Crenshaw, a two-time Masters champion and Hall of Famer.
“Kingdom Magazine, which was started by Arnold Palmer, recently came out with a five-page article on why it might be the best golf movie ever made,” he added.
“So we’re looking forward to finally getting this out in front of general audiences.”
Whitney, whose full-time home is in Scarsdale, N.Y., expects “Tommy’s Honour” to be a big hit in Vero Beach, given the number of golfers and golf fans in the community.
By the way, this isn’t Whitney’s first venture into stage and screen. He was a producer for “Fun Home,” the Broadway musical that won five Tony Awards in 2015. He’s also currently producing a film about how Charles Dickens came to write “A Christmas Carol.”
“Tommy’s Honour,” though, seems to mean more to him.
“It’s an expensive project because it’s a time-period drama, so there’s a lot involved in terms of the attention to detail – to hair, makeup, costumes, equipment, the landscape, and even the golf swings, which were different back then,” Whitney said.
“But it’s been a wonderful project and I’ve enjoyed every minute of it. I’m excited about it, because this is a story that needs to be told. I think this is a film that people will be watching for a long time.”
