‘Champions’ Features Palisadian Cheech Marin

By LILY TINOCO | Assistant Editor

Palisadian Cheech Marin can be seen in director Bobby Farelly’s latest sports-comedy, “Champions.”

The film reunites Marin and actor Woody Harrelson for a “hilarious and heartwarming” story of Marcus Marakovich (Harrelson), a former minor-league basketball coach who is ordered by the court to instruct a team of adults with intellectual disabilities, according to a synopsis by Fandango.

Working alongside Julio (Marin), Marcus aims to get his team—The Friends—to the Special Olympics and earn himself a spot back in the NBA.

“He soon realizes that despite his doubts, together, this team can go further than they ever imagined,” the synopsis read.

The cast is comprised of a number of new faces who make up The Friends, including Madison Tevlin, Joshua Felder, Kevin Iannucci, Ashton Gunning, Matthew Von Der Ahe and more. They are joined on screen by Kaitlin Olson, Ernie Hudson and Matt Cook.

Of working with Harrelson again, Marin told Collider he is a “fun scene partner.” The two previously worked together in a Sam Shephard play.

“That [was] really the initial push to do this film,” Marin said in his interview with Collider. “I knew Woody well because we had worked together, so this is gonna be fun. Then after having read the script, I could really see ourselves in these roles, and, ‘This is gonna be fun. I think it’s going to be a very eye-opening experience,’ which it turned out to be.”

When asked to reveal some behind-the-scenes tidbits, Marin shared that the team endured the freezing cold when shooting in Winnipeg and commended the professionalism of the individuals who made up The Friends.

“It was amazing,” he explained. “You know, they weren’t doing Shakespeare or ‘Hamlet,’ but they were non-professional actors. You know, that was like asking somebody to be really good in figure skating when they’ve never put on a pair of figure skates before.”

With a runtime of two hours and four minutes, “Champions” hit theaters on Friday, March 10. The film is rated PG-13 for strong language and crude/sexual references, according to IMDb.