Over the years, Martin Lawrence has built a career as one of today's top comedy film stars in blockbusters such as "Bad Boys," "Blue Streak," "Big Momma's House" and "Bad Boys 2." In addition to their comedic elements, these pictures had an edgy action bent, with Martin playing characters who pushed - or went beyond - traditional boundaries.
While Lawrence has done extremely well in this genre, Producer Robert Simonds, a successful filmmaker of comedies such as "Just Married," "Cheaper by the Dozen" and "Big Daddy," thought Lawrence's comedic talents would serve him well in a picture tailored to family audiences. "We went to Martin and said, 'Let's do something you haven't done before in films'," recalls Simonds. "Let's make fun not only of Coach Roy's hipness, but of Martin's personae in some of his previous films."
Lawrence embraced the idea of playing a character whose edge is mocked, then softened by a ragtag team of wannabe ballplayers. In fact, Lawrence said that a friend who had made the big family comedies "Dr. Dolittle," "Dr. Dolittle 2" and "Daddy Day Care" following a string of edgy comedy/action hits, encouraged and inspired Martin to tackle his first family comedy. "Yeah, Eddie Murphy said I should try something new like this - working with kids in a comedy," says Lawrence. "And I'm really glad he did; working with kids was a lot of fun."
While trying something new was all well and good, Martin notes that there were three even more important reasons for taking on REBOUND: 1) Basketball, 2) Basketball, and 3) Basketball. "Working on a film about the game I love isn't like work," says Lawrence, a lifelong basketball fan who relaxed between camera set-ups with pick-up games on a court outside his trailer. "With REBOUND, I got to practice on-camera as well as off-camera. What could be better?"
Well, how about taking on another character in the same film? Lawrence does just that, portraying a flamboyant clergyman known as Preacher Don, who gives motivational pre-game speeches to the young players. "I thought it would be fun to have an outrageous character like that inspire the kids," says Martin.
With Lawrence committing to his first family friendly big-screen comedy, Producer Robert Simonds and the studio turned their attentions to finding a director. Steve Carr, who had guided Eddie Murphy in "Dr. Dolittle 2" and "Daddy Day Care," was their choice. "Steve's tastes are really in sync with the tastes of movie audiences," says Simonds. "In addition, we knew he would create an environment that would bring out Martin's special brand of humor."
Carr couldn't resist taking the reins of REBOUND. "Having done two family comedies with Eddie, I was ready to try something different," he says. "But when they asked me to direct REBOUND, I suddenly realized that the film and the role would be perfect for Martin. That it would provide the opportunity to for him to explore a different comedic side. And who wouldn't want to be a part of that?"
As Carr and Simonds prepped REBOUND, the screenwriting duo Jon Lucas & Scott Moore continued work to refine the script, a process referred to by the filmmakers as "Martin-izing." (The story is by William Wolff and Ed Decter & John J. Strauss.) The first "Martin-ization" step came when Lucas & Moore met with the actor. "Yeah, we pretty much locked him in a room with us," jokes Lucas. "We already thought the idea of teaming Martin with a bunch of kids was irresistible, but meeting and talking with him took us to another level," adds Moore. "At our meeting, we wrote down everything he said, to get an idea of his cadence and comedic timing. It was pure gold."
Lucas & Moore worked to make the Smelters funny and identifiable as individuals. "We wanted each kid to be idiosyncratic, charming and readily identifiable, so audiences would recognize each kid right away," says Lucas. Adds Moore: "We gave each kid a 'twist' to separate him or her from the rest. Young audiences will relate to them, but laugh at each Smelter's unique quality."
The Mt. Vernon Junior High School Smelters are: Keith (Oren Williams), the squad's leader, who has some ability but thinks he's a one-man team; "One Love" (Eddy Martin), who dreams of a future sponsor deal (never mind that he has yet to score in a game); Goggles (Gus Hoffman), who sports huge, Kareem-style eyewear; the chubby, lovable Fuzzy (Logan McElroy); Ralph (Steven Anthony Lawrence), who stands a towering 4' 0" and has an unfortunate tendency to "toss his cookies" during each game; "Big Mac" (Tara Correa), a fearsome, bullying…girl (the role was originally written for a boy); and Wes (Steven Christopher Parker), a shy, awkward six-footer whom Coach Roy (ironically) calls "The Sledgehammer."
"It was great fun - and a little nostalgic - to write the kids," says writer Scott Moore. "It took us back to our junior high school days, when we were cut from every team!"
"Of course, no one is good at any sport in junior high," adds Jon Lucas. "That's where you learn to play the sport!"
The filmmakers auditioned over 1500 youngsters to come up with the Smelters. "We not only cast the roles, we cast the group," says Executive Producer Heidi Santelli, "because we wanted the kids to work together effortlessly."
Another key figure in Coach Roy's brave new world is team captain Keith's mom, Jeanie Ellis, a single parent whose romance with Coach Roy lends emotion to the story. "Roy's connection to Jeanie and her son is a key element of the film," says Santelli. "It's about Roy finding a family, and becoming a new man."
But Roy's relationship with Jeanie is rocky at the beginning. "Jeanie is against the idea of Roy coaching the boys, especially her son Keith, because she doesn't appreciate Roy's ethics or his way of life," says Wendy Raquel Robinson, who plays Jeanie. "But as he brings the team around, and begins to change, so does her interest in him come around."
Also playing key roles are Breckin Meyer as Roy's high-powered agent, Tim Fink; "Saturday Night Live's" Horatio Sanz as Assistant Coach / Home Economics Teacher Mr. Newirth; and "Will & Grace" star Megan Mullally as Mt. Vernon's acerbic Principal Walsh.

STEVE CARR (Director) was just out of art school when he began his career in the music industry with his own graphic design firm, The Drawing Board Graphic Design Company (DBGD). Over the next decade, DBGD created the most influential and recognizable album art in hip-hop, for Def Jam Records and such artists as Public Enemy, LL Cool J, The Beastie Boys, Mary J. Blige, Puffy and Notorious B.I.G.
After starting Drawing Board Pictures with partner Heidi Santelli, Carr directed music videos for such artists as Moby, Method Man, Public Enemy, Slick Rick, Timberland and Redman. He won MTV's Music Video Award® for Best Rap Video on Jay-Z's "Can I Get A." Carr was nominated for three additional MTV awards for his videos featuring Nelly and Ludacris.
His video direction led to his first feature film assignment, "Next Friday," starring Ice Cube, which was followed by Fox's box-office comedy hit "Dr. Dolittle 2," starring Eddie Murphy. A third comedy hit, "Daddy Day Care," again starring Murphy, followed.
Carr and Santelli are currently readying a remake of "Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House," and the comedy "Mama's Boy."

JON LUCAS & SCOTT MOORE (Screenplay) sold their first screenplay five years ago, and have since penned and sold several scripts. REBOUND is their first produced screenplay. They have several scripts in development at various studios.

WILLIAM WOLFF (Story) wrote for the television series "Good Versus Evil."

ED DECTER & JOHN J. STRAUSS (Story) are screenwriting partners who co-wrote the smash hit "There's Something About Mary." They also co-wrote "The Santa Clause 2: The Mrs. Clause" and wrote "The Lizzy McGuire Movie."
The recently penned the screenplay to "The Santa Clause 3," again starring Tim Allen, directed by Michael Lembeck.
They were the creators and co-executive producers of the CBS-TV series "The Closer." They first collaborated on a script for director Taylor Hackford, called "Forever Murray." They continued writing for both movies and television, and count among their credits the TV sitcoms "Boy Meets World" and "Chicago Sons." They also scripted the 1991 feature film "Options."