Ron Howard is stepping up to the plate — and it just so happens to be for his favorite team.
The 71-year-old director has teamed up with fellow filmmaker R.J. Cutler for the new Apple TV+ docuseries Fight for Glory: 2024 World Series, offering viewers an inside look into the monumental World Series between the Los Angeles Dodgers and the New York Yankees in October.
“For 60 years, Major League Baseball has produced summary films about the World Series, and this year, they decided to step it up and invite a filmmaker in to tell the story in its most cinematic, dramatic, emotional, character-driven way possible,” Cutler, 64, who directed the doc, tells PEOPLE.
His previous credits include producing the Oscar-nominated 1993 documentary The War Room and producing and directing 2024 films about Elton John (Elton John: Never Too Late) and Martha Stewart (Martha).
Apple TV
Howard, who serves as the executive producer of the documentary series through his production company Imagine Entertainment, adds, “Baseball is a great sport to delve into because there’s so much heart and soul that goes along with the skill and athleticism. We had all of these possibilities, but no idea what teams it would be. The thing about documentary filmmaking is that you’re waiting to discover and then share whatever it is that you find.”
Despite not knowing which teams would make it to the World Series when they first signed on to do the project, Howard says it was serendipitous that his favorite team made their way in: “I’m a lifelong Dodgers fan, so it was thrilling for me. As executive producer, I just got to sit back and be a fan.”
While he might be a lifelong fan, Howard grew concerned when his beloved team was doing a bit too well against the Yankees. “The Dodgers got up 3-0, and I was torn for the first time in my life,” he tells PEOPLE. “I’m a producer that wants a little more drama, wants the series to go just a little bit longer, and yet my beloved Dodgers are close to a sweep.”
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Ultimately, Howard was pleased with the outcome (the Dodgers won 4 games to the Yankees’ 1). “I’d say that I got my cake and ate it, too,” he says. “It was a great series, and we got to be part of producing a great documentary.”
Not everyone involved with making the documentary got the showdown they wanted. “Some of us would’ve been fine if the Mets were in the World Series,” Cutler jokes. “Ron did what he could to make sure that the Dodgers were in the World Series.”
Regardless of which teams were involved, both Howard and Cutler are grateful to do what they love for a sport they love. “There is so much adversity — and even failure — in baseball to overcome, and so how players deal with that becomes the essence of the dramatic story that you’re telling,” Cutler says.
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He continues, “The opportunity to make these films, to be an artist telling stories about the world we live in through the lives of extraordinary people and to explore the themes that come with those stories is a great privilege and a great joy for me. So if you can do our kind of work — making things that give people the opportunity to laugh and cry and stomp their feet — as far as I’m concerned, it’s a day well spent.”
With baseball season rapidly approaching, the question remains: Will they be documenting another World Series? “I think today, we’re probably both wishing for more baseball,” Cutler says. Howard adds, “We would love to do this again and again and again. There’s no reason not to do this every year.”
Fight for Glory: 2024 World Series is now streaming on Apple TV+.
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