‘Screwball’ Clip: TIFF World Premiere Doc Uses Child Actors To Recreate The Recent MLB Steroid Scandal

Oh to be a fly on the wall of the pitch meeting for Billy Corben’s upcoming documentary “Screwball.” How do you pitch a hard-hitting expose tackling the recent PED controversy surrounding superstar Alex Rodriguez and his relationship with the infamous Biogenesis featuring re-enactments starring little kids? It sounds batshit crazy. But I guess when you’re the director behind docs like “Cocaine Cowboys,” “The U,” and the underrated “Dawg Fight,” you just get that sort of green light.

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As mentioned, “Screwball,” which is debuting at the upcoming Toronto International Film Festival, features all the information you might expect from an investigation of alleged performance-enhancing drug usage in Major League Baseball, but with the added bonus of cute kids (complete with fake mustaches, when necessary) acting out all the meetings. It’s incredible and weird all at the same time.

In the first clip (via Deadline) for the film, we see a perfect example of what you might expect from the crazy juxtaposition. Out of context, it might be difficult to understand what’s going on, unless you’re familiar with the story at the root of the film, but just as a taste of what’s to come in the doc, you’re either going to think it’s absurdly amazing…or just plain absurd.

With all the highly-anticipated docs premiering as part of TIFF Docs, including Michael Moore’s “Fahrenheit 11/9,” suddenly “Screwball” has leapt to the top of my must-see list. How far will they go with the kids? Will the film show kids pretending to use steroids? What will the kid version of Alex Rodriguez look like?

We’ll have the answers to those questions when the film premieres at TIFF. There’s no doubt this film will get picked up soon thereafter for a wider release.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M1aucbxpGFc