Based on the 1987 true story, Disney’s “McFarland, USA” follows beginner runners from McFarland, an economically challenged town in California’s farm-rich Central Valley, as they give their all to build a cross-country team under the direction of Coach Jim White, a newcomer to their predominantly Latino high school.

Kevin Costner, who is no stranger to sport movies, was recruited to play Coach Jim White. Costner had read the story many years before and remember being “very taken by it.” He said in a recent press conference, “I lived in the Central Valley, in Visalia. I actually played McFarland in high school baseball.” He feels so fortunate to play a real life person, like White, who affects and shapes young minds in the right direction. “Relationships that coaches establish with young people is something that carries through their life if it’s done right. There’s not a lot of Jim Whites, but there are Jim Whites, and he represents the best of the best,” he added. He also mentioned having two coaches while growing up that had that kind of impact on him.

The approach for this film was immersive, something director Niki Caro is known for doing. The same diligence she had to understand the Maori culture, for her award winning film “Whale Rider,” she brought to McFarland’s Latino community. “I was inspired, simple as that. Not only and just by Jim White and the original team, and the scale of their achievement, and the legacy that left and the legacy that goes on, but I was inspired by the people, by how hard they work, by the commitment to their families, their faith, their community,” she said.

Caro wanted “McFarland, USA” not to be just an entertaining movie, but to be real because it’s about real people’s lives, so she was set on finding part of the cast from McFarland itself. Three out of the seven runners on the team in the movie are from McFarland. She added, “that’s deeply satisfying to me, to go in and tell a story that is not only meaningful, but is true and real, and tell it with the real people.”

Like the real McFarland team from 1987, all seven actors had to train to become cross-country runners, no easy feat for the majority of them that had no running experience at all. Leading the team was Carlos Pratts portraying Thomas; Rafael Martinez, Ramiro Rodriguez and Michael Aguero who played the Diaz brothers David, Danny and Damacio, respectively; Hector Duran as Johnny; Sergio Avelar as Victor; and Johnny Ortiz as Jose.

The cast had the opportunity to meet their real-life counterparts, and take the time to get to know them and understand their journey. Many of White’s runners, after graduating from college, came back and remained in the community, most coaching kids today. “We feel we owe, and we are willing to give back to what we received from the fields, from the community, from the people who lived there, from our coaches and teachers,” said Damacio Diaz.

For Jim White it boils down to one thing: attitude. “My whole philosophy on everything is about attitude. I had to have a good attitude, and I had to transfer that to the kids. That is the only thing you can control. The most important thing for me to transfer to these kids is the attitude of hard work can transfer into the classroom, and into your jobs, and into their lives,” he said at the press conference.

This is a very important story to tell because it gives light to the fabric from which this country has been built on, and it also gives a voice and face to all the Latino communities out there. “There is no more American story than parents who are willing to do anything to better their children, to give their children a chance,” Costner said. Caro’s mission for this film was to pay tribute to the McFarland community and to expose the enormous contribution these people make to this country.

Don’t miss McFarland, USA in theaters February 20, 2015.