The Blond in the Boat

'A story centered on the University of Washington's rowing team, from their Depression-era beginnings to winning gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics.'

I love a good movie trailer, especially those that arrive around Christmas, dropping into theatres just in time to be eligible for an Oscar nomination.  They usually have a majestic score, and dramatic visuals that draw you in.  Recently, it was the trailer for the George Clooney directed The Boys in the Boat that has been grabbing my attention.

When I first saw the trailer, my first thought was it was one of the 'whitest' movie trailers I'd seen in awhile.  I'll cut it a bit of slack, as it's based on a 2013 novel by Daniel James Brown. The book details the true story of the University of Washington crew that represented the United States in the Men's eight at the 1936 Summer Olympic games.  There weren't many black rowers on University teams in the 1930's, in fact the first black American rower, Aquil Abdullah, to make the Olympic team wasn't until 2004. 

The second thing I noticed in the trailer was of course the hot blond in the boat.  I kept thinking I knew who he was, but couldn't quite place him.  I think the dyed blond hair threw me, and the fact that the actor went to the 'Andrea Zuckerman' school of casting actors in their 30's in high school and college aged roles.

I went to IMDB and discovered I was indeed familiar with 33 year old model and actor Callum Turner.  I had in fact featured Callum on FH back in 2014 when he was 24, playing a teenager in the UK based mystery mini-series Glue.  Some of you may remember that older post, especially the nude scenes featuring the 'not yet blond' actor.  If you didn't see it, I updated it and added a video clip on the NEXT PAGE HERE: