Actor James Van Der Beek is best known for his role as Dawson Leery in "Dawson's Creek." He now plays a fictionalized version of himself on the show "Don't Trust the B* in Apartment 23."
His latest movie, "Backwards," opens in theaters on Friday, September 20.
www.backwardsthemovie.com
MOVIE SYNOPSIS
Abigail Brooks has spent her lifetime trying to win an Olympic rowing medal, sacrificing friendship, love, and a "normal life" along the way. At the last Olympics, Abi fell short, and was named the team's alternate. But this time, nearing her 30th birthday, Abi is poised to get her shot at the gold. Yet after winning a tight seat race against a younger competitor, Coach Spriklin surprisingly names Abi as the alternate once again. Furious, Abi quits the team. Abi's longtime roommate and best friend, Reba, is named the new alternate, and is ecstatic about the opportunity.
Defeated, Abi moves back home with her widowed, workaholic mother. Tension builds as Abi's mother urges her to "move on" from the rowing life Abi's father, a coach, introduced her to. Unable to do that, but needing an immediate job, Abi seizes an open crew coach position at her alma mater, Union High. There, the head of athletics is her old boyfriend, Geoff. Years before, Abi broke up with Geoff to pursue her Olympic dream, while Geoff left competitive rowing. Geoff has carved out for himself a comfortable living, and has a younger, serious girlfriend.
Abi trains her high school rowers in an obsessive fashion, refusing to heed Geoff's advice that she is pushing the girls too hard. Hannah and Susan, two talented athletes who row together in a double for Union, lose an important regional race, threatening their eligibility for the all-]important Henley Regatta in England.
Facing failure again, Abi reinvents herself as a coach, and, in the process, learns to have fun again both on the water and off. As Abi improves as a coach and matures as a person, sparks start to fly again between her and Geoff.
At a crucial moment for Hannah and Susan's rowing career, Abi suddenly faces choices that threaten her relationships with everyone she is close to.
BACKWARDS is an intimate look at the personal sacrifices and complex choices facing competitive Olympic hopefuls. It is also a film about dreams -]-] young people pursuing their dreams and older people guiding them, often after having to modify their own dreams.
Sarah Megan Thomas and James Van Der Beek in "Backwards" (13th Night Productions/Dada Films)
