A Race To The Finish -- Competing Films To Tell Story Of Running Legend Steve Prefontaine

He set his first national running record as a high-school senior.

As a college freshman, he graced the cover of Sports Illustrated.

By 21, he had raced in the Olympics.

This summer, two major motion picture companies are filming his life story.

Yet, the reaction most people have when the name Steve Prefontaine comes up, is: "Who?"

A legendary name among track-and-field enthusiasts (if not the general populace), Oregon native Prefontaine once was considered America's greatest distance runner. At the time of his death, in a 1975 car crash at 24, he held every American record between 2,000 and 10,000 meters.

Filmmakers Steve James and Peter Gilbert, the team who created the critically praised 1994 documentary "Hoop Dreams," are spearheading one production, filming now through August in the Seattle area. Their film, "Prefontaine," will be distributed by Disney's Buena Vista Distribution Co.

The other Prefontaine film, under the working title "Pre," is scheduled to begin shooting next month in Oregon, and will be distributed by Warner Bros.

The life of a 1970s runner seems an odd subject for a film, let alone two films, in this year of boffo special effects and invading space aliens.

"His story has common themes to anyone's life - the struggles, competition and the human spirit," said producer Mark Doonan, who, along with producer Jon Lutz, came upon the Prefontaine story two years ago while scouting for film project subjects. The two, both residents of Eugene, Ore., became supervising producers of a documentary on Prefontaine called "Fire on the Track," which aired last year on CBS.

"We felt this (subject) was rich enough for a feature film even before we did the documentary," Lutz said.

Lutz contacted producer Irby Smith ("Angels in the Outfield," "City Slickers"), who brought the film to the attention of Disney head Joe Roth.

"Joe loved it from the very beginning," Doonan said. "He quoted Prefontaine's high school two-mile record to Irby over the phone."

Roth brought Smith, Lutz and Doonan together with the creative team of Gilbert and James.

"They saw the documentary," Lutz said of Gilbert and James, "visited us in Eugene and they caught the vision."

The vision is this: The story of a gifted runner with a blue-collar work ethic whose charisma turned track-and-field events into high drama.

Certain words come up repeatedly when people talk, or write about, Prefontaine: gutsy, charismatic, passionate, controversial, larger-than-life.

Raised in Coos Bay, Ore., Prefontaine set a two-mile national prep record, and later at the University of Oregon won four NCAA titles and set seven national records. In college, he lost two cross-country races his freshman year, then won every college race after that. He also never missed a workout.

He was aggressive, with "that kind of bravado - the Muhammed Ali `I'm going to take him out in Round 3' " confidence that allowed him to announce what he was going to do - and do it," said Geoff Hollister, Prefontaine's friend and a technical adviser for the film.

He was charismatic both on and off the track.

"Steve was extremely extroverted and at an early age he had an eye for the camera," Hollister said. ". . . He dominated a room."

When Prefontaine ran, his fans, known as "Pre's People," would show up in force, chanting "Pre! Pre! Pre!" as they watched their idol dominate the field.

"I think he was a rock star of track," said actor Jared Leto ("My So-Called Life"), who plays Prefontaine. "He was an athlete who was exciting at a time when most athletes were straightforward, a little boring. He had an edge. A spark."

In 1972, Prefontaine ran in the 5,000-meter final at the Olympic Games in Munich. Determined to win, not just place, he took the lead in the race with a mile to go. But near the end, looking exhausted, he lost ground and came in fourth.

Those who knew him said the loss seemed to change him, mature him. Always gutsy by nature, he became an activist for amateur athletes, speaking out on their behalf against the athletes' governing organizations.

He turned down a $200,000 offer to run on the professional circuit, determined to keep his amateur status and race in the next Olympics. He lived on food stamps in a $60-a-month trailer.

He did, however, against the amateur athletic codes of the time, accept a $5,000-a-year job with Blue Ribbon Sports, a sports shoe company started by Prefontaine's track coach, Bill Bowerman, and U. of O. runner Phil Knight. In 1980, the company would become Nike.

Prefontaine spoke out against what he perceived as the nation's hypocrisy about Olympic athletes, who were showered with attention once every four years, then ignored for the other three. He defended amateur athletes' rights to make a living off their sport.

"He wasn't encouraging these changes just for himself," Hollister said. "He had the guts to say enough is enough."

On May 29, 1975, only hours after winning a 5,000-meter race, Prefontaine died in a car crash.

"It's the opposite of a cliched sports story," James said. "Instead of an underdog who wins at the end of the story, this was a guy who never lost. But he lost the big one and then became an activist. . . . For a guy who died at 24, he was very complicated. He touched a lot of people and he angered a lot of people."

Compelling though Prefontaine's story is, it's still odd that two movie companies are interested in the story at the same time.

"The decision-makers in Hollywood are now mainly in their 40s and they remember Steve," suggested producer Jon Lutz.

Now, the race is on between the two Prefontaine movies.

Historically, when movies with identical subjects are released at about the same time, the second film almost always does worse at the box office. "Dangerous Liaisons" blew away "Valmont." "Tombstone" scooped the audience from "Wyatt Earp."

"Prefontaine" - the movie filming in the Seattle area - has the cooperation of Prefontaine's family and Nike. In addition to Leto, the movie stars Ed O'Neill ("Married With Children") and R. Lee Ermey ("Dead Man Walking").

"Pre" - the Warner Bros. film shooting in Oregon - boasts writer Kenny Moore, Prefontaine's training partner and a competitor, and writer/director Robert Towne (Academy Award-winning writer for "Chinatown"). The movie is being produced by Tom Cruise and Paula Wagner, starring up-and-coming Broadway star Billy Crudup ("Arcadia") and Donald Sutherland.

Originally, both film releases were scheduled to coincide with the Olympics in Atlanta. Both were delayed.

It took longer than expected to come up with the script on "Prefontaine," Lutz said.

In April, "Prefontaine" producer Irby Shaw was quoted in Entertainment Weekly as saying of the competition: "They're running - we're crawling."

"That quote was made a long, long time ago," says Toni Atterbury, publicist for "Prefontaine."

"Prefontaine" has already shot numerous scenes, including those in Olympia, which substitutes for Coos Bay; and at the University of Puget Sound, doubling for the U. of O.

On Aug. 10, Husky Stadium will become the track-and-field stadium at the Munich Olympics.

The Warner Bros. film was scheduled to begin shooting in June. Now, it's scheduled to begin Aug. 31. Warner Bros. representatives declined to comment on reasons for the delay.

"We'll be just about done shooting when they start," Lutz said. ". . . But, we feel our primary responsibility is to make a quality movie and not worry about things out of our control."