Billboard caught up with actor Kurt Russell and his very accomplished nephews at Sundance Film Festival to discuss their new film “The Battered Bastards of Baseball.”
For the documentary, co-directors Chapman and Maclain Way dug into the illustrious backstory of their grandfather Neil Oliver “Bing” Russell, a “Bonanza” and “Magnificent Seven” actor who indulged his love of baseball by starting an independent minor league team from castoffs and spare parts during an era when such an idea seemed ludicrous.
“He was a dichotomy,” Russell says of his father. “He was a really smart guy who was a Dartmouth business grad who wanted to do two things with his life: play baseball and play cowboys and Indians. And that’s exactly what he did.”
Also on hand was Russell’s other nephew, Brocker Way, who handled the entire score in a tidy four weeks. To add to the family’s musical acumen, Chapman and Brocker are currently working on an upcoming sophomore album with producer Tom Biller (Elliott Smith, Fiona Apple). Billed as Chapman & Brocker, they released their debut album “Dance of the Crazy Man” in 2008.
Russell weighed in on the role of music in today’s film sets, as well as his upcoming projects like “Fast & Furious 7.”
See All Billboard Video from Sundance: