Films based on sports and drama rarely manage to keep their audience interested, but Glenn Withrow’s The Last Champion differs greatly when it comes to keeping its viewers at the end of their seats. Starring Cole Hauser and Sean H. Scully, this 122-minute-long film shows the real value of a second chance.
The Last Champion revolves around John Wright, a local star who brings fame to the town through his skilled wrestling moves. Wright was a part of his school’s wrestling team but showed great potential despite only being in high school. All of his classmates, friends, and people in his life believed that Wright could one day be an Olympian.
Things take a turn for the worse in Wright’s life after he ends up being caught in a messy scandal. This not only tears down Wright’s image of a hometown hero, but it also leads him to abandon his dreams and live in regret over what had happened.
Wright isn’t the kind to back off from hardships, and 20 years later, he finds a way to get back into the sport by coaching local kids and students at his high school. The Last Champion is an inspirational story of Wright’s journey from a fallen hero to a person that the whole town could look up to.
Besides Cole Hauser in the role of John Wright, the cast of The Last Champion consists of Sean H. Scully as Michael Miller, Hallie Todd plays Melinda Miller, Randall Batinkoff plays Bobby, Peter Onorati plays Frank, and Annika Marks stars in the role of Elizabeth Barnes.
Filming Locations
Glenn and the rest of the production team started working on the film back in 2016, with the major filming locations for the entire film being Idaho and Washington. The crew spent most of the time in Moscow, a “heart of the arts” city in Idaho.
This cozy city, located in the Northern region of Idaho, has all kinds of exciting jazz festivals, art galleries, and other recreation spots. Due to the abundance of coffee shops, restaurants, and scenic parks, Moscow is one of the most visited places in this part of Idaho.
The Kibbie Dome, a prominent stadium in Idaho located at 711 S Rayburn Street, was used to film scenes of the wrestling fights. Besides being a popular athletic stadium, the Kibbi Dome also additionally hosts all kinds of exciting large-scale events.
Moscow, Idaho, has served as a filming location for productions like Talent for the Game, The River Thief, Dandelion, and other low-budget films. Much recently, Moscow was sued as a location for filming the bigfoot-themed film “Cascade: Bigfoot Mystery“.
The First United Methodist Church of Idaho can be spotted in some of the scenes of The Last Champion. Built back in 1906, this church is one of the oldest places in Idaho.
Washington was another location where The Last Champion crew filmed scenes of the movie. There’s a lot that Washington is known for, but the state manages to have both a pretty city side and various picturesque nature spots. Glenn and his production team were spotted filming scenes in Garfield, Washington.
The Gladish Community and Cultural Center, located at 115 MW State St. Pullman, made it into The Last Champion too. This cultural center comes up with new beneficial plans for Pullman all the time and often restores historical places in the town to a much better condition.
The Christmas party scenes from this Cole Hauser film were shot in the Red Barns Farms, which are located at 501 Wawawai Road, Colton, Washington. Despite being almost a century old, the Red Barns Farms still raises healthy ducks, goats, hens, and even bees all around the year.
While the Red Barns Farms have helped produce all sorts of dairy and other food products, it also hosts cozy weddings and events for those wishing to add a country touch to their special days. Washington was used in productions like Twilight, Captain Fantastic, The Ring, and many other hits.
This sums up all known locations of Withrow’s The Last Champion. The 122-minute-long film is now available to stream on Apple TV.