About 22 years after co-starring in “
THE ROOKIE,” actors
DENNIS QUAID and
JAY HERNANDEZ are teaming up again in “
THE LONG GAME,” which premieres today in theaters nationwide. “(Dennis) made me feel comfortable and empowered me (on the set of ‘The Rookie’), and I still remember that,” Hernandez said of the new golf movie. “So to be able to do this film with him 20 years later, it just felt like a full-circle moment.”
“The Long Game,” which is distributed by Mucho Mas Media and based on HUMBERTO G. GARCIA's 2010 novel “MUSTANG MIRACLE,” depicts the true story of the San Felipe Mustangs, a group of Mexican-American high schoolers in Del Rio, Texas, who overcame limited experience and inferior equipment to defeat wealthy, all-white teams and win the 1957 Texas high school state championship. Hernandez plays a superintendent who coaches the boys, while Quaid plays an assistant coach. The movie is directed by JULIO QUINTANA and also stars CHEECH MARIN.
“There are so many stories about the Latin community, the Mexican-American community, that are just kind of forgotten, whether it’s in the history books or the movie theater,” said Hernandez, who is Mexican-American. “So I feel some sort of obligation to tell stories like this and to find things that show our community in a very positive light.”
In 2002’s “The Rookie,” Quaid portrayed a high school baseball coach to Hernandez’s character while also serving as a real-life mentor to him on the film’s set. This time, the 46-year-old Hernandez played a similar role for the five young actors who depict the Mustangs in “The Long Game.”
“JULIAN (WORKS), one of the younger leads, he came up to me and said that he had been inspired by watching my career and kind of understood that things were possible because of watching guys like me find success in the business. I was really humbled by that,” Hernandez said. “So I just opened the door and said, ‘If there’s anything you need, you need advice, you need help with something, I’m here for you.’ I gave them my number and made sure that if they needed somebody to lean on, that I could be that person.”
