On a gloriously sunny day in the middle of June, I was given a behind-the-scenes look into the making of "Million Dollar Arm," the Disney movie starring Jon Hamm that will be released nationwide on May 16. This day of filming took place on the Georgia Tech baseball field in Atlanta, a much more cost-efficient place to shoot than Southern California.

The film is the true story of two kids from India, Rinku Singh and Dinesh Patel, who won a television contest as the hardest throwers in their country, and their journey to the United States to become baseball players. Hamm plays J.B. Bernstein, the sports agent who came up with the whole idea, made the reality show in India happen, and then housed Singh and Patel as they worked with pitching coach Tom House on the USC campus.

We ran our a few days after the set visit, and over the next few weeks leading up to the release of the movie, well give you Q&As with the films primary actors, as well as conversations Kyle Lewis Jersey with the real-life subjects of the movie.

Today, its my interview with Bill Paxton ("Twister," Tombstone," " A Simple Plan," "Aliens," to name just a few), who plays House, a baseball lifer who pitched in the majors for eight seasons in the 1970s and has since carved out a reputation as an excellent pitching coach, in the pros and in college. We were sitting in the first-base dugout, and Paxton did his very best to carve out a few minutes for our chat on this busy day.

SPORTING NEWS:Ive heard from everyone Ive talked with that Tom House is a unique guy. What were your first impre sions of him?

PAXTON: Well, you know, theres the stereotype, youre thinking about the tobacco-chewing, kind of gruff, kind of no-nonsense, no-screwing around kind of mirthle s people that youd come to think of. But theres Ken Griffey Jersey clichs in everything. Theres a clich to actors, and clichs to this and to that. But hes so the antithesis of that. Hes like this nurturing den mother. He really, truly is, like I was saying in another interview, hes an idealist, he is a vocationalist. I mean, when a guy goes from Major League Baseball back to teaching high school and college guys, hes not there for the money or the glory.

SN:Right.

PAXTON: He really brought a lot of 21st-century technology to the game, in terms of this 3D imaging and breaking down the mechanics of a pitch and what really actually happens biomechanically. They started learning so many things they didnt already know. The human eye can only see, I think he said, 1/32nd of a second, whereas some of the motions of a pitch can go by in 1/75th or even 1/125th of a second. By slowing this down and Robinson Cano Jersey starting to reanalyze this stuff, he started to realize a lot of the conventional wisdom of how pitching is basically taught was erroneous. And he took a lot of heat for that, and he still has his detractors. They think hes kind of a new-age touchy-feely guy. But, I tell you what, hes the guy who would inspire me as an athlete, because he understands the struggles, the frustrations and hes not result-oriented. Its about the proce s. He says most of the guys he gets, he has to end up un-teaching, to reteach them, because they way theyve learned, theyre going to end up in the hospital. Thats how he really wants to help the players reach not just maximum performance, but sustainability.

SN: It seems like, in this case, he was the perfect guy, a guy whos going to be patient.

PAXTON Edgar Martinez Jersey : The perfect guy to find these guys, but again, the thing is when he saw these guys is that he was intrigued. Because he thought if he could make it work, it would be great for the game of baseball, and great for the idea that all these sports are trying to open up to the international market. He was thinking about how it would be good for the game. He wasnt thinking about how to make a buck out of it. Thats kind of the crux of the story, with the character Jon Hamm is playing. This movie is kind of about finding your soul. You go to this country and bring over these two guys, so its kind of a fish-out-of-water story.

PRODUCTION ASSISTANT: Excuse me guys, but Im afraid weve got to get you changed for 167.

PAXTON: Good lord.

PA: I know.

PAXTON: Ill just change right here. Cmon, lets go. Im already wearing my other outfit underneath this one. This will take two seconds. You know what, Ive got a minute. Let me finish up.

PA: OK.

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PAXTON: What was I saying? Oh, yeah. The movies about finding your soul, but its also a fish-out-of-water story. Bernstein goes over there to try and start this show and find these prospects, and hes in complete culture shock when he gets to India. And then, of course, when he brings Rinku and Dinesh over here, its a complete culture shock for them. So its kind of a cro s-cultural exchange. And by the end of the movie, hes learned as much from these two youngsters, because they do come from an old culture that has a lot of great tradition and spiritualism. And obviously, theyve learned a lot of stuff, too, probably mostly bad American habits. But I think its going to be a movie that people find not only entertaining, but itll touch them in a way.

SN: Sure.

PAXTON: I love sports films. I got to direct, which to me was one of the proudest moments of my life, was directing the Greatest Game Ever Played by Walt Disney. Again, it was a great human interest story, triumph Edwin Diaz Jersey over adversity, an underdog story of this kid named Francis Ouimet who was the son of immigrants and a caddie and at age 20 qualifies to play in the 1913 U.S. Open. Shia LaBeouf played that part. So when this came along, Mark Ciardi I had met at the premiere of Miracle (NOTE: Ciardi was a producer for "Miracle" and "Million Dollar Arm," among other things), because I was just going into preproduction on Greatest Game. We were all at The El Capitan (Theatre) for the premiere, and I was blown away by Miracle. I thought Kurt Ru sell should have been nominated for an Academy Award in that movie. And I

DIFFERENT PRODUCTION ASSISTANT: Bill, Im sorry, theyre saying we need to change you.

PAXTON: Just bring the clothes here.

PA: You want the clothes here?

PAXTON: Just bring them right here. And bring me a cigarette, too, will ya? (turns to me) Im sorry.

PA: Do you really want a cigarette?

PAXTON: No, Im fine. What was I saying? I hate that (expletive).

SN: Talking about the Miracle premiere.

PAXTON: