Nadia (1984)

in Movies
Has anyone else seen this made for TV movie "Nadia" (1984) about Nadia Comaeci? Frankly, (IMHO) it's much, much better than it has any right to be. It's an all around great sports movie.
One fun thing about it: it stars two actors with a Bald Move connection who go on to star in Breaking Bad (Jonathan Banks as Mike the fixer) and Mad Men (Talia Balsam as Roger's 1st wife).
That said, what made me revisit it is the new season of the 30 for 30 podcast about how the gymnast coaches - Bela and Marta Karolyi - have been (to say the least) task masters throughout their career. As coaches of the Romanian national team, the athletes secretly referred to Bela as "Dracula", due to his cruelty. As it relates to the movie, this is the sort of thing that Aron was talking about in Lunch today (7.31.2020) about how dramatic retellings can take poetic license too far. In the movie, the Karolyis are seen as tough but loving. That no longer seems to be the case.
One fun thing about it: it stars two actors with a Bald Move connection who go on to star in Breaking Bad (Jonathan Banks as Mike the fixer) and Mad Men (Talia Balsam as Roger's 1st wife).
That said, what made me revisit it is the new season of the 30 for 30 podcast about how the gymnast coaches - Bela and Marta Karolyi - have been (to say the least) task masters throughout their career. As coaches of the Romanian national team, the athletes secretly referred to Bela as "Dracula", due to his cruelty. As it relates to the movie, this is the sort of thing that Aron was talking about in Lunch today (7.31.2020) about how dramatic retellings can take poetic license too far. In the movie, the Karolyis are seen as tough but loving. That no longer seems to be the case.
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