Luke Wilson, Martin Sheen bring football magic to Fort Worth’s ‘12 Mighty Orphans’
As Coach Rusty Russell of the Masonic Home Mighty Mites, Luke Wilson falls somewhere between salty veteran college basketball coach Bobby Knight and UCLA’s John Wooden.
His assistant coach, Martin Sheen, who plays Doc Hall, is a combination of “Doc” on the old CBS Western series “Gunsmoke” and Hickory High assistant coach Scooter Flatch in the sports movie “Hoosiers.”
That’s the magic audiences will get with “12 Mighty Orphans,” a sports movie based on the nonfiction book “12 Mighty Orphans” written by Jim Dent about Fort Worth’s orphanage Masonic Home and its football team the Mighty Mites, who once ruled Texas high school football in the 1930s and 1940s.
The movie, which is partly true but partly fictionalized, is set to be released at theaters in Texas and New York on June 11 and wider distribution on June 18.
Coach Russell and Doc Hall molded a team of orphans who were outweighed at least 30 pounds per player into a team playing for a state high school championship.
More than a century ago, the Masonic Home was built in Fort Worth to house and educate orphans of Texas Freemasons. The school was dissolved in 2005, but several of its buildings still exist and a Masonic Home Ex-Students Association still holds meetings and reunions.
Wilson and Sheen recently talked to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram about “12 Mighty Orphans,” and gave these accounts:
Wilson said the script and director Ty Roberts attracted him to be in the movie, which was shot mostly in Fort Worth and Weatherford.
“I really liked it,” Wilson said in a telephone interview. “The idea of being a coach and teacher in the Dust Bowl era, and filming in Fort Worth.”
Wilson has played a teacher in other movies such as “Tenure,” but in this movie he’s a high school football coach, a role he had never played before through the years.
“I spent a lot of time learning the dialogue of being a coach,” Wilson said. “Rusty was more of a kind guy who was suffering through PTSD.”
The coach had fought in World War I and had lost a brother.
It was a homecoming of sorts for Wilson, who was born in Dallas. Of course, Wilson said, you couldn’t help but follow the Dallas Cowboys growing up in the Dallas-Fort Worth area.
One of the joys of making “12 Mighty Orphans” for Wilson was working with veteran actor Martin Sheen. At the mention of Sheen, Wilson quickly rattled off Sheen movies such as “Badlands,” “Apocalypse Now,” and “Departed.”
“It was just great to be around him,” Wilson said.
As for the ending of “12 Mighty Orphans,” Wilson said, audiences will just have to remember that the orphans made it their goal to never stop fighting.
“I like the way it ended,” Wilson said. “Of course, it just doesn’t end there.”
Sheen, who turns 81 in August and has been in more than 300 television shows and movies, agreed.
“If what you believe in is not costly, then you’re left to question its value,” Sheen said.
In a recent interview with the Star-Telegram, Sheen said he couldn’t say enough of the hospitality he received in Texas during the filming of the movie in 2019.
Sheen also noted that more than 100 ex-Masonic Home students played various roles in the movie.
“What surprised me most about this movie was the energy that these people brought to it,” Sheen said. “The whole community was created by Ty Roberts (director), his team, his family. They just invited us to get on this adventure, get on this bandwagon and have this adventure with us.”
Sheen said audiences will remember the grit of the orphans.
“These were a bunch of lads who not much was expected and they didn’t expect much themselves until this extraordinary man came along,” Sheen said. “He inspired them to realize that every single one of us has not just a responsibility in our lives, but we have purpose. And we have to find that purpose and very often it’s best through community.”
Sheen called making the movie one of the greatest experiences in his life.
“I just couldn’t get over the generosity and the joy of the community they created there,” Sheen said. “I’ll never forget those experiences.”
This story was originally published May 31, 2021 at 5:30 AM.
