Masonic Home’s ’12 Mighty Orphans’ brings Hollywood to Fort Worth because of this guy

The making of the movie “12 Mighty Orphans” is the rare tale of Texas beating Oklahoma in a football related activity.

It’s ultimately a Fort Worth story that turned into a Fort Worth book that has been made into a Fort Worth movie thanks to a Fort Worth guy.

Texas notoriously loses potential films to Louisiana, Georgia, New Mexico, and “Orphans” was nearly filmed in Oklahoma because our tax laws aren’t as favorable as other states.

George Young Jr., an oil and gas man who lives in the Westover Hills area in Fort Worth, is the primary reason the best-selling book written by Jim Dent is finally a movie, and was filmed here.

On Monday, Hollywood made the rare appearance in Fort Worth to promote “12 Mighty Orphans” the movie, which opens this week.

The story chronicles the Masonic Home football team, comprised of orphans, in the late ‘30s that was one of the best high school football teams in Texas.

On Monday morning at the Masonic Temple in downtown Fort Worth, actor Luke Wilson was joined by the film’s director, Ty Roberts, and actress Vinessa Shaw, for a panel discussion led by outgoing Fort Worth Mayor Betsy Price.

On Monday evening, we actually had a red carpet premiere in the Stockyards. The film was shown at the Downtown Cowtown Isis Theater, with an after party for the pretty people wearing their Oscar best at the Drover Hotel.

If you possess even a tenth of an ounce of civic pride, it is impossible not to enjoy the attention for the type of event that happens in Fort Worth almost as frequently as sub-freezing temperatures.

So, we’re 2-for-2 this year.

The film was shot in the fall of 2019, and used locations in Weatherford, Cleburne, and all over Fort Worth. You’ll notice some of Farrington Field and Gateway Park, with the aid of a little CGI.

“Went to Joe T’s quite a bit, three or four times a week,” Wilson said of his filming experience here. He also ran on the Trinity River trails, most likely to work off Joe T’s.

“No other city has given us this type of support,” Roberts told the audience.

This all happened because Young basically made it so.

“This took forever,” he said Monday.

This all started about 20 years ago when Dent called Russell Morton, whose grandfather ran the Masonic home in the ‘30s and ‘40s.

“I was working in New York when someone said, ‘Some guy named Jim Dent who wrote ‘The Junction Boys’ is on the phone and wants to talk to you,’” said Morton, who now lives near Rivercrest Country Club. “I thought, ‘You know, I’d never heard that one before.’”

With some help provided by Morton, Dent wrote the book and it was published in 2008. For those who are familiar with the book it all but screamed, “Disney, buy me!”

That didn’t happen.

Morton bought the initial screen rights, and flew to Los Angeles to meet with director Peter Berg. Berg had turned the best-selling book “Friday Night Lights,” which was written by his cousin, Buzz Bissinger, into a successful Hollywood movie.

Berg also developed the subject into a hit TV series by the same name.

Morton had so much material on this subject that he thinks “12 Mighty Orphans” could eventually turn into a TV series. A pilot episode has been written and Roberts is hopeful there could be a future for the many other untold stories from the Masonic Home players.

But long before any of this all happened, the idea of the film was pitched to potential investors, including Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones. He said no. So did former Cowboys fullback Daryl “Moose” Johnston.

There was a great, Hollywood story, here. There just was no Hollywood money.

Eventually the project found its way to Young. By that point Morton, who worked in the financial sector, had given up and moved on.

It had been so long that one of the actors Morton and his associates targeted for a specific role aged out of it. Robert Duvall is still in the movie, but he took on a part of one of the older characters.

Established Hollywood producer Michael De Luca, who was nominated for three Academy Awards for his films “The Social Network,” “Moneyball” and “Captain Phillips,” and his ex-wife Angelique, who lives in Fort Worth, also helped to produce “Orphans.”

Then, when Luke Wilson’s name was attached to it, the story of the Mighty Mites finally had some legs to get to the big screen.

“It’s an indie’ [independent] movie but when Sony picked it up that helped a lot,” Young said. “I think we’ll do fine.”

Young did his best to deflect the credit, but he’s the one who pushed through, even when the film was over budget. Someone has to cover those costs.

The Masonic Home’s Mighty Orphans are finally on the big screen, and it’s because a Fort Worth guy made sure that not only did it happen, but that it happened right here.