The 1980 Olympic hockey game and its' story was filmed and produced into one of Walt Disney's films, Miracle. The film, directed by Gavin O'Connor, was made in 2004 and is entirely based on the true story of the 1980 Olympic hockey game versus the Soviets. Gavin O'Connor insisted on using real hockey players for the movie, and tryouts were held with about 4,000 players in 6 cities. The tryouts were held in New York, Boston, Minneapolis, Los Angeles, Toronto, and Vancouver. A majority of the cast consisted of hockey players, some of which are Michael Mantenuto (Jack O'Callahan in the film), Nathan West (Robbie McClanahan), Patrick O'Brien Demsey (Mike Eruzione), Eric Peter-Kaiser (Mark Johnson), and Bill Schneider, who plays his own father, William Schneider. Gavin O'Connor believed that it would be easier to teach hockey players how to act rather than teach actors how to skate. With the help of ReelSports Solutions, a sports entertainment organization, the actors went through a 6 week training session in which they learned the game play for play. The movie, Miracle, earned a multitude of positive reviews, and won the Best Sports Movie ESPY award in 2004. _
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