His Name. His Mission.

Synopsis
Victor is based on the true life story of Victor Davis, the Canadian Olympic and World champion swimmer whose life was cut tragically short by a hit-and-run driver in Montreal in 1989. It is the inspiring chronicle of a great Canadian hero - a working class kid from small-town Ontario, who through sheer guts and determination overcame both physical and psychological challenges to reach the ultimate pinnacle of his sport.

Director
Jerry Ciccoritti

Writer
Mark Lutz

Cast
Mark Lutz ... Victor Davis
Ron Lea ... Cliff Barry
Polly Shannon ... Donna Clavel
Sasha Roiz ... Alex Baumann
Jef Mallory ... Greg Davis
Chris Owens ... Dave Stubbs
Peter MacNeill ... Mel Davis
Hamish McEwan ... Frank Roth
Lynne Cormack ... Adair Hanna
Debra McCabe ... Leona Heyens
Dillon Casey ... Glenn Crossley
Glen Oomen ... John Moffett
Sean Sepulis ... Steve Lundquist
Scott Van Doormaal ... Mike West
Jamie Fairweather ... Dean Sonocki
Billy Parrott ... TV Reporter #2
Danny Lima ... Stoner #1
Daryl Patchett ... Crony #1
Christopher Cordell ... Crony #2
Landy Cannon ... Reporter #1
Bruce Hunter ... Sports Broadcaster
R.D. Reid ... Dr. Schaman
Amy Ciupak Lalonde ... Jennifer Watt
Adam MacDonald ... Dave Kolisnik

Release date
Janauary 13, 2008 (CBC channel, Canada)

Did you know that?
- Movie was shot in Toronto, Canada.
- It took five years to Mark of meetings important people who knew Victor best and do researches to bring the movie to life. This is the first screenplay of his career.
- Mark Lutz met casually Victor Davis twice.
- A shoulder injury ended Mark's Olympic dreams.
- No body double was needed on the set for Mark because of his swimming background and recent training for the movie.
- First scheduled to air monday March 26, 2007 the movie was pushed back due to an upcoming election.
- Some famous races were recreated for the movie.
- The movie wrapped up filming in October 2006.
- It took Mark three months of constant writting for the first draft of Victor.

Review


Quotes (from Mark about the movie)
"They always say write about what you know so having spent 15 years waterlogged in a pool, swimming was something I knew about." (Performers 2007)

"We needed a lot of extras for a lot of races, so why not throw it to Gryphon swimmers? I still follow the program. It's great that we could do that." (Montreal Gazette 2006)

"I always thought it would be nice to see a Rocky in the pool, the Vic Davis story is essentially that - the underdog who makes it against all odds. From all the research I did, I really believe that Vic got the shaft, and I want to unshaft him a little bit. He was vilified in the press probably worse than any Canadian athlete of the time. It's been nothing short of joyous to watch these actors take lines I've written and create something from them that is way more than I envisioned. What I've learned is strength of faith. I never thought this wasn't going to get made. If you put it out there and say: 'This is going to happen,' I believe you can do it. Just (expletive) do it. It's an interesting lesson. And it's how Vic lived his life." (BSCTA 2006)

"It's incredible the discipline you can have knowing you're going to be walking around in a Speedo for 20 days." (Performers 2007)

"There's a certain solitude and intimacy to swimming that is never seen by the general public. So much of your time in training and races is spent staring at the bottom of the pool. There's a lot of stuff that plays inside your head. The fact that he (director Jerry Ciccoritti) said Raging Bull, (Martin) Scorcese just captured the intimacy of boxing in a way that no one else had. [...] But then I thought, `Omigosh, what about the Vic Davis story, that has elements of Rocky and Prefontaine and things like that. To use the (Steve) Prefontaine (track star) example, it's an inspirational yet tragic story but he didn't extend to the heights that Vic did and he wasn't the kind of boisterous in-your-face kind of guy and he didn't have the economic disparity or the run-ins with the law. Vic had so many obstacles to overcome in his life. I think so many times he was only labelled one way in the media, But when you talk to his friends and his family, they all talk about him that if you were ever in a situation at 2 o'clock in the morning, Vic was the guy you called. The way they spoke about him and their friendship with him was all very passionate, without exception. When we say warts and all, yeah, but the all part, we want people to see that side of him." (Toronto Star 2006)

Polly Shannon about Mark Lutz: "Mark has fought left, right and centre to make this as accurate and true and honourable as anyone could" (BSCTA 2006)

Music
Robert Carli

Production Designer
Peter Emmink

Editor
James Bredin

Director of Photography
Gerald Packer

Producers
Mark Lutz
Ted Miller

Executive Producer
Bernard Zukerman

(Synopsis and pictures from official site. Victor (c) CBC / Indian Grove Productions / Muse Entertainment Enterprises)

Official Myspace (with trailer)

<< More >>

- Mark Lutz stars as Canadian Olympic Great, Victor Davis, Northern Stars, March 5, 2007
- Victor, Performers, Spring 2007 (pdf)
- A candid look at the life of Victor David, CBC, early 2007
- The Victor Davis Story comes to CBC TV, To411daily, February 20, 2007
- Victor - The Victor Davis Movie, Swimming.ca, Feb 9, 2007
- Victor: The Victor Davis Story, a two-hour movie to be telecast on CBC, British Swimming coaches & teachers association, November 21, 2006
- Film celebrates pool legend's life, Montreal Gazette, November 11, 2006 (pdf)
- Le drame porté a l'ecran, Canoe, October 26, 2006
- Local Swimmers provide the realism in Davis biopic, Sports, September 25, 2006 (pdf)
- Guelph meet has Victor Davis presence, Ontaria University Athletics, September 21, 2006
- Film on Olympian set to make waves, Toronta Star, September 12, 2006
- Zukerman, Lutz take a dive, Playback, August 21, 2006
- Mark Lutz had his own Olympic dream, now he gets to play a gold medalist, The Gazette, July 17, 2006
- Gryphon swimmers star in Victor, The Portico - University of Guelph. (late 2006)

- Victor Davis memorial fund
- Victor Davis profile at int'l swimming hall of fame