JB Bernstein, the sports agent who famously scouted cricket players from India to take a shot in Major League baseball, inspired the feature film Million Dollar Arm.

JB Bernstein On 'Million Dollar Arm'

Bernstein believes that Million Dollar Arm, directed by Craig Gillespie from a screenplay by Thomas McCarthy, does a more than fair job of capturing the essence of his story and the journey of the two young men he recruited. “It's not a documentary, but as far as true stories go, this one is pretty accurate,” Bernstein told uInterview exclusively. “I know most movies take true stories and take pieces of the story and build the movie around it. But really all the major scenes in the movie pretty much happened.”

Bernstein On Being Played By Jon Hamm

Bernstein also didn’t have a problem with Mad Men star Jon Hamm playing him in the film. Not only was he flattered by the casting, he was impressed with how Hamm channeled his personality on screen.

“It was awesome. You know everybody came and said who should play me in the movie and, trust me, before this movie, Jon Hamm was not the name that came up for me. I would get Steve Carrell or Adam Sandler,” Bernstein said. “Just the way he dealt with us and the actors, he is such a gracious guy and such a smart guy and a guy that I really look up to. I'm really, really proud of the job that he did, and I'm proud to consider him a friend.”

Read uInterview’s Full uQ&A With JB Bernstein HERE

Just as important as casting Berstein in Million Dollar Arm was finding the actors who would play cricket-turned-baseball players Rinku and Dinesh.

“When I heard it was gonna be [Surah Sharma and Madhur Mattel] and saw their audition tape, it was great. It was amazing watching their transformation the same way I watched Dinesh's transformation,” Bernstein told uInterview. “The transformation of their bodies in terms of them working out, the transformation of them learning how to pitch – there's a great bonus feature on the DVD which actually shows their training and them learning to pitch, and Dinesh working with them, so it was a really unique experience.”

The Million Dollar Arm DVD was released Oct. 7.