Hear the name "Othick" and many longtime Tucsonans will think of the blond, boyish Arizona Wildcats basketball player who bombed three-pointers in the late 1980s and early 1990s.
But it's Matt's younger brother, Trent, who will be the center of attention when the pair return to Tucson Monday.
Trent, 36, an up-and-coming film and theater producer, is opening the film "Yonkers Joe" and the one-man Broadway production of "A Bronx Tale," which is on a national tour. Look for coverage of the play in the Arts section Friday and Jan. 30.
Former Oscar nominee Chazz Palminteri stars in both productions. Tucson is the only city where they'll play at the same time.
The film, about a gambling cheat who tries to pull off a big score to pay for his son with Down syndrome to be institutionalized, opens at the Loft Friday. The Othicks and Palminteri will attend a screening at 7 p.m. Monday, and Palminteri will answer audience questions afterward.
People are also reading…
"It feels great to be coming back to Tucson with our film and play, Trent said. "We have a lot of great friends in Tucson and a lot of fond memories there. We live in Las Vegas now and spend time in New York and Los Angeles a lot for work, but Tucson is still home to us."
Matt, who is a partner in Trent's indie filmmaking company, GO Productions, said he's glad his brother is getting recognition.
"He was my No. 1 fan from the day I started getting publicity from basketball," said Matt, 39, who had a brief stint in the NBA. "I've always respected him, and now that he's older, I'm excited that the limelight has started falling on him. He deserves it."
The movie debuted at the Tribeca Film Festival last April. "We had people leaving Tribeca in tears," Trent said.
It opened in New York and Los Angeles on Jan. 9, and Magnolia Pictures plans to follow with at least 10 cities, including Boston, Chicago, San Diego, Philadelphia and Atlantic City, N.J., in the next few weeks.
Reviews thus far have been mixed, with some critics calling it a rip-off of "Rain Man," while others have praised its heartfelt story and realistic attention to detail in the gambling world.
"I love the script," Trent said. "It's the only realistic gambling script I've ever read. . . . The gambling stuff is real. And the dialogue is real — it's written the way gamblers talk."
Trent talked about the movie, his childhood and his time at the University of Arizona in a phone interview with the Star last week that spanned 3 1/2 hours.
"He's a really good storyteller, and I give him a hard time about how much he likes to talk," Matt said later with a laugh. "He's a very smart kid. I guess he's not a kid anymore, but he still seems like a kid to me. He's still my little brother, and he's really taught me a lot about the movie business."
Matt said his role is to help Trent with business know-how, fundraising and artistic advice, specifically with music. He said the only way he'll miss the Monday night screening is if the doctor grounds his wife, who is pregnant with twins due on Feb. 27.
How they started
Trent and Matt grew up in Albuquerque, N.M., but moved to Las Vegas with their dad, ex-Wichita State assistant basketball coach Rolland "Buddy" Othick, in 1985 after their parents separated. They attended Bishop Gorman High School, where Matt's talent on the court made him a national recruit, with coaches from UNLV, UCLA, Arizona, New Mexico and Alabama falling all over themselves to land him. Othick committed to New Mexico and later UNLV but eventually chose Arizona.
Trent was later recruited by Columbia University, which he turned down to follow Matt to the UA.
"I started driving to Tucson almost every weekend to visit my brother," Trent said. "We had such a good time down there that Ivy League basketball wasn't something that excited me."
Trent studied political science and worked as a disc jockey at Tucson nightspots, including the Green Dolphin.
He also met his future wife, Erin, who moved with him to Las Vegas after graduation in 1994. Trent worked as a law office clerk and applied to law schools before enrolling at Whittier College, near Los Angeles.
Going Hollywood
He dropped out after a semester to chase a career in the movies, to the chagrin of Erin's father, director Robert Lieberman ("Fire in the Sky," "D3: The Mighty Ducks"), who told Trent to stay away from the industry because it was so difficult.
"In his eyes, he was a failure because he wasn't Spielberg," Trent said. "He and Spielberg came out of USC the same year together."
Trent started taking low-level production-assistant jobs, while Lieberman tried to steer him into becoming an agent.
Trent said he finally laid down the law, saying, "I'm sorry to disappoint you, but I will be marrying your daughter, and I'm not going to law school." Trent and Erin married in 1998 and have three kids: Dylan, 1, Tyler, 4, and Natalie, 6.
One of Trent's most promising early projects was "The Cooler," which he says he worked on for nearly a year before a change in direction cut him out of the project.
Trent was devastated, because the 2003 film — which stars William H. Macy as a guy whose luck is so bad that a casino hires him to halt hot streaks — was wildly praised and financially successful. It landed Alec Baldwin an Oscar nomination for best supporting actor.
Trent returned to Las Vegas, and with Matt's guidance he started Insomnia Entertainment with friends Frank and Lorenzo Fertitta, who own Ultimate Fighting Championship. The company pitched the reality show "The Casino" to Mark Burnett Productions. The show aired on Fox in 2004. Trent and Burnett were executive producers.
On a roll, Trent and Matt produced the college-reunion comedy "Standing Still" (2006) with Amy Adams, which had a small release.
Now, with GO Productions, the Othicks have "Yonkers Joe." Trent used his UA ties — Palminteri's agent is UA grad Brad Slater — to interest the actor in the film.
"I thought Chazz was the perfect type of person for the role, as long as he didn't play the gangster he always has," Trent said.
Matt helped secure funding for "Yonkers Joe," tapping friend Jim Click to put up part of the $2.5 million budget.
"I've been friends with Jim quite a while," Matt said. "He's such a great guy and has always been a giving person. This opportunity came up, and the movie involved a Down syndrome kid. He's really into charity and always trying to help people. He was interested in it, and the timing was right. He was gracious."
Click said he was impressed with Trent when Matt introduced him. Click said he invested in the movie mostly because he liked Trent.
"I like Trent, and I hope the movie does really well for him," Click said. "He's an awful nice young man."
Before filming started, Palminteri asked the Othicks to produce a Broadway revival of his one-man show, "A Bronx Tale," which gave Palminteri his break in the early 1990s. The show has been an unqualified success, with 108 shows in 2007 and 2008.
Palminteri said he was impressed by the Othicks.
"While doing the movie, they say they'll give me the money. Six weeks later, I was on Broadway. They put up the millions to put on the show without ever having seen it," Palminteri said.
"To do a show, a Broadway play, you've got to get angels, lawyers, lots of people. This was done on a handshake. The most unbelievable producers I've ever had."
Getting the film and play off the ground at the same time (while a Broadway actors strike threatened to derail "A Bronx Tale") was taxing. Erin also was pregnant with Dylan, their youngest.
"I had three babies on the way at the same time. I was so stressed out that I think it just shut my immune system down," said Trent, who contracted MRSA, a virulent staph infection that he couldn't shake for more than a year.
Looking ahead, Trent said he's going to be "extra cautious" taking on projects this year because of the bad economy.
What's next
The brothers are interested in doing a biopic on Bison Dele, the Arizona Wildcats and NBA star formerly known as Brian Williams, who disappeared while sailing in the South Pacific in 2002.
The Othicks had considered him a close friend since high school. Williams even lived with the Othicks during his junior year.
After graduation, Williams went on to play for the University of Maryland until Matt persuaded him to transfer to Arizona.
And after winning the NBA title in 1997 with Chicago Bulls (a team that also included fellow former Wildcats Steve Kerr and Jud Buechler), Williams called the Othicks' dad to thank him for persuading him to stick with basketball. The Othicks say they had remained close with Williams right up until the time of his disappearance.
"We were thinking of doing something right after that happened, but it got too personal, so we kind of stepped away. I'm thinking of finding a great writer to do something with it," Trent said.
Whatever the project, Matt remains one of his brother's biggest fans.
"He's as good a producer that there is out there right now," Matt said. "He brings in quality movies with budgets that most people couldn't even get a movie off the ground with. He's an incredible negotiator."
If you go:
"A Bronx Tale"
• Presented by: Broadway in Tucson.
• When: 7:30 p.m. Tuesday through next Thursday; 8 p.m. Jan. 30; 2 and 8 p.m. Jan. 31; and 1 p.m. Feb. 1.
• Where: Tucson Music Hall, 260 S. Church Ave.
• Tickets: $25-$65; student tickets half-off.
• Reservations and info: 321-1000, or www.broadwayin tucson.com
