In March 2024, filming for the Jessica Alba movie “Flash Before the Bang” will start in Oregon and Washington. The 1980s sports drama centers on a deaf track athlete who is ridiculed but remains driven and attempts to find chances at a high school that supports the deaf community. But when he discovers that the team he is playing for is extremely unmotivated and is being coached by a deaf coach who is experiencing his own midlife crisis, all of his dreams of fame and salvation are dashed. The film’s logline reveals that the “underdog, ragtag deaf track team and their checked-out coach must overcome their school’s indifference, outsiders’ low expectations, and their own self-doubts to make it to the Oregon State Track & Field Championship.”
Deaf writer-director Jevon Whetter, who shaped the picture and gave it a genuine touch with his personal experiences, wrote and directed the film. With “Signs of Your Heart,” starring Kelli McNeil and Kyle Leatherberry, the director made his feature picture debut.
Alba is also an executive producer of the movie. Her most recent credits include roles in the television shows Honest Reservations, Entourage, Killer Anonymous, and Sin City: A Dame to Kill For. This script, which depicts the little-known truth of what life was like for deaf and disabled individuals who were kept off from society in practically every aspect prior to the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, touched me deeply. It is based on the true tale of filmmaker Jevon Whetter. The actress said in a statement, “I’m so excited to be a part of this groundbreaking story about deaf people, made by deaf filmmakers, with a primarily deaf cast for mainstream audiences.”
A collection of deaf performers, including Russell Harvard (who played Mr. Wrench in Fargo and Justin in Causeway) and Daniel Durant (who played Leo Rossi in CODA and Max in Floridian Man), join Alba. The film will be produced by John D. Eraklis, Tiffany FitzHenry of FitzHenry Films, Mary Aloe from Aloe Entertainment, and Delbert Whetter, brother of filmmaker Jevon, of Exodus Film Group. Along with Fanshen Cox, Nat McCormick, Brian O’Shea, and Ben Affleck, Matt Damon serves as the film’s executive producer.
Delbert and Jevon, who come from a multigenerational deaf family, claimed in a statement that they witnessed the movie’s events firsthand as both fans in the bleachers and as Jevon’s younger brother. This story is among the most profoundly transformative experiences of my life, and I am eager for everyone to witness it on screen and find inspiration in it as well.
