College Hoops Daily Interview

College Hoops Daily recently interviewed director Rory Owen Delaney about “The Rivalry: Red V. Blue.”

“The Rivalry: Red V. Blue” was recently featured on the popular college basketball blog College Hoops Daily. Below is an excerpt from Jon Teitel’s interview with the director of “Red V. Blue” Rory Owen Delaney.

Red + Blue = Rivalry: CHD interviews the director of a Kentucky-Louisville documentary by Jon Teitel

“The Rivalry: Red v. Blue” is a documentary about the rivalry between Kentucky and Louisville, which is one of the greatest in college basketball. Located 75 miles apart from each other in Lexington and Louisville respectively, the teams have combined to win 11 NCAA titles including two of the past three.  The film includes interviews with such legendary figures as Denny Crum, Joe B. Hall, Russ Smith, and Scott Padgett.  CHD’s Jon Teitel got to chat with director Rory Owen Delaney about his favorite players, how fans think about Rick Pitino, and his prediction for the big game this weekend.

Why did you decide to make this film? I got the idea to make “Red V. Blue” on New Year’s Eve in 2010, which happened to be the day of the UK-UofL men’s basketball game. That year’s game was played in Louisville at the Yum! Center, but at the time I was visiting my family in Steamboat Springs, Colorado. However, my isolation in the Rocky Mountains did not prevent my participation in the exchange of some annual good-natured rivalry banter with my fellow Kentuckians: quite the contrary!

Before the game I fired off a series of cocksure text messages to my Big Blue Nation friends, talking about how the Cardinals were going to finally best the Wildcats and Rick Pitino was going to get his first win for UofL over UK since his nemesis John Calipari took the reins in Lexington (disclaimer: I am a life-long Louisville fan.). When that prediction did not pan out and the Cats stomped the Cards at home 78-63, my phone started blowing up with text messages from all of my UK-supporter friends, who were reveling in yet another victory…

To read the full interview, visit College Hoops Daily.

SLAM Magazine “Red V. Blue” Rivalry Documentary Interview

SLAM Magazine interviews director Rory Owen Delaney about his new rivalry documentary Red V. Blue.

Read the interview on Duane Watson’s blog “Directing Traffic: Basketball on Film.”

Battleground State: Red V. Blue documentary takes a close looks at Louisville-Kentucky rivalry.

By Duane Watson

Many will argue that North Carolina versus Duke is the greatest rivalry in college basketball, but in the Bluegrass State, nothing is as divisive as Louisville vs Kentucky. Only in Louisville, will you find two seniors coming to blows over their respective schools at a dialysis center. Yet despite their close proximity, both universities have only faced each other 46 times since 1913. The competition intensified with the annual Battle of the Bluegrass, which started in 1983, however, games take on a deeper meaning with the National Championship on the line. Both schools are in the Sweet 16 and face off in the Midwest Regional semi-final, No. 4 Louisville will face No. 8 UK with more than just state pride will be at stake.

Red V. Blue started filming as the Wildcats made their 2012 championship run, and the subsequent season as the Cardinals not to be outdone, won a national championship in 2013. Yet the documentary goes far back into the history of the state and it’s climate on a cultural level, providing a deep understanding of how this feud came to be, and why it still rages strong. While conflicts didn’t permit for the most coveted sit down Rick Pitino, the only person to have coached at both schools, there are a dearth of interviews, from former players, coaches, historians and most importantly their passionate fans.

SLAM spoke with Rory Owen Delaney, the director of Red V Blue about the film.

SLAM: Is this the biggest rivalry in basketball and why?

Rory Owen Delaney: Yeah, I think it really is the biggest rivalry in basketball. One of the big reasons is they only play once a year, as they’re not in the same conference. So you don’t get that Duke/North Carolina deal where they play twice and may play in the ACC tournament. They just have this one game and you got to get it right, and maybe you’ll get a meeting in the NCAA tournament. The other reason is there are no pro sports teams in Kentucky, so those two universities are the equivalent of pro teams. I think even Forbes Magazine has analyzed this and I believe both of those teams generate more revenue than most NBA teams. (Louisville has topped Forbes list for most valuable college basketball teams the last two seasons, but the program doesn’t generate more revenue than pro teams—Ed.). Lastly, I think this whole history of where they didn’t play for decades and where there was this urban rule, almost even a little bit of regional tension to it. Even though it’s not like it used to be, there still a little specter of it and fires people up a little bit more.

Click here to read the rest of the interview!

Kentucky Premiere Recap

Kentucky Premiere Recap

It’s been an awesome few days in Kentucky unveiling “The Rivalry: Red V. Blue” to audiences across the state. Both Kentucky and Louisville fans have responded positively to the film and we can’t wait to share it with more of you!

For the December 27th premiere at the Lexington Opera House, Lexington mayor Jim Gray was in attendance along with Rob Bromley, Miss Kentucky, Governor John Y. Brown, and Tom Leach, among others. WKYT News covered the event on the local news. Watch here.

For the December 29th premiere at the Muhammad Ali Center, Louisville mayor Greg Fischer attended along with Tony Vanetti, Terry Howard, Al Benniger, Jim Tharp, Ken Kurlas and the barbers (Robert Boone and the Wagners). WHAS and WLKY covered the event on the local news. Watch here.

For the December 30th premiere a the SIPP Theater, Paintsville mayor Bob Porter attended along with UK fan Doug Young and U of L fan Rick Roberts. WYMT covered the event on the local news. Watch here.

More photos to come and more screenings to be announced very, very soon. As far as DVDs and blurays, we are planning on releasing them this spring in time for March Madness. Finally, our new web store is almost complete and you will be order to preorder DVDs and blurays there, as well as order some of our unique merchandise.

P.S. the morning of the 27th director Rory Owen Delaney was a guest on the Great Day Live morning show on WHAS11 in Louisville where he was seen desperately holding on to the back of the couch during his interview with Terry Meiners. Those couch cushions are really, really small 🙂

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Red V. Blue Q & A Session

Watch the Red V. Blue Q & A Live!

Tonight we will be live streaming the filmmaker Q & A for “The Rivalry: Red V. Blue” at the Lexington Opera House with the assistance of Volar Video. Director Rory Owen Delaney, producer Wade Smith and cinematographer Aaron Mikel will be answering your questions live. The Q & A is scheduled to begin at 9 pm and you can watch it all right here on redvbluefilm.com!

Thanks to Gillette for sponsoring “The Rivalry: Red V. Blue.” To find a screening in your area, click here.

Surreel Films Interview

Director Rory Owen Delaney talked with Surreel Films Chris Ritter about The Rivalry: Red V. Blue.

Here is the podcast in case you missed its original broadcast on Crescent Hill Radio in Louisville, KY a couple weeks back. Rory talks about the movie, the kickstarter campaign and the chance at making Kentucky film history! For more info on Surreel Films click here.

Foxy 94.3 FM Interview

Thursday morning director Rory Owen Delaney and producer Wade Smith talked The Rivalry: Red V. Blue on the Foxy 94.3 FM morning show with Tia Fletcher.

Tia Fletcher

In case you missed it, you can listen below on our Soundcloud page. WIFX Foxy 94.3 FM is a Gearheart Broadcasting station transmitting 50,000 Watts of Hits power from Jenkins ( Letcher County ), KY with studios at Fox Bottom in Harold ( Floyd County ), KY. It is Letcher County’s largest commercial station!

To help make Kentucky film history (and finish the first documentary about the epic UK-Louisville hoops rivalry), please back us on kickstarter! Your kickstarter donations are paying for licensing the university logos and archival footage, in addition to covering various post-production finishing expenses. So far we have raised more than $25,000, but we only have two days left to raise $15,000, so we can hit our goal of $40,000. If we don’t hit the goal and only raise $38,000 or $39,000, we don’t keep a penny and all your awesome pledges will be returned!

So tell your brother, sister, mother, aunt, uncle, grandpa, grandma, nephew, niece, cousin, blood brother, librarian, postal worker, gym teacher, coach and local police officer about this one-of-a-kind movie that celebrates one of Kentucky’s greatest annual traditions: the UK-UofL basketball game!

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Insider Louisville Profile

Today The Rivalry: Red V. Blue was profiled by Insider Louisville.

The story by Albrecht Stahmer details the filmmaking team’s diverse backgrounds and sheds more light on the origin of the original idea for the documentary. Read all about it below.

“I am more than just a serious basketball fan. I am a life-long addict. I was addicted from birth, in fact, because I was born in Kentucky,” claimed Louisville native Hunter S. Thompson.

He may have been talking about his allegiance to his beloved Kentucky Wildcats, but he no doubt came across Louisville Cardinals fans of like mind in his hometown. March Madness television ratings consistently paint Louisville as the nation’s capital of college basketball fandom.

While the Hatfields and McCoys may be relegated to the history books, the Cats and Cards rivalry continues to inflame, especially here in Louisville — ground zero of red versus blue. Louisville fans may make up the majority, but Kentucky fans are a boisterous minority.

The story has been covered extensively locally and even nationally, but it’s never been told on the big screen.

That will soon change when the documentary film “The Rivalry: Red v, Blue” premiers in December.

If you’ve spent any amount of time in Kentucky, you get it: You’re either a fan of the Cats or of the Cards, but never of both.

State motto be damned, divided we cheer.

To read the rest of the Insider Louisville story, click here.

Denny Crum, Joe B. Hall + Adam Lefkoe

Last week’s Red V Blue production shoot couldn’t have been more fruitful. The week started out with an interview with Coach Denny Crum, who led the Louisville Cardinals to two national championships. The next day we sat down with Coach Joe B. Hall, who led the Kentucky Wild Cat to a national championship both as a coach and a player. Then we were off to Paintsville in eastern Kentucky where we interviewed some local diehard fans. Friday night we finished off the trip by interviewing WHAS sports anchor Adam Lefkoe in Louisville, who rocked out some great stories in between his TV spots. Stay tuned for further developments.

Three City Coverage for Dream Final Four Match-Up

More good news. We will have camera crews in three different cities for the dream final four match-up this Saturday between Louisville and Kentucky. Not only will we have one unit in New Orleans, we have also added one unit in Louisville (Team Aaron Mikel) and one in Paintsville (Team Ronnie Dee Blair). These two additional Kentucky based units will allow us to capture all the local rivalry excitement. So now you need to keep an eye out for us in Kentucky too! And if you spot us please come say hi and tell us what the rivalry means to you and your family because that’s what Red Versus Blue is all about. To contact us directly please email wade@mbdfilms.com, pg@mbdfilms.com or rory@mbdfilms.com.