AACTA Awards controversy as director faces sexual assault charges

By Garry Maddox
Updated August 16 2016 - 2:14pm, first published August 11 2016 - 8:40am
Controversial awards inclusion: Aaron Jakubenko and Wade Briggs in <i>Spirit of the Game</i>.
Controversial awards inclusion: Aaron Jakubenko and Wade Briggs in <i>Spirit of the Game</i>.

The Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts has defended its decision to include a film whose Mormon director is facing more than 50 sexual assault charges in its awards this year. J.D. Scott's basketball drama Spirit of the Game is among 24 films announced as being in the running for the sixth AACTA awards in December. Scott, also known as Darran Scott and Dan Scott, is accused of assaulting 15 boys aged between 11 and 15 when he was coaching two junior football clubs in Melbourne while a high-ranking member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. One of his alleged victims recently took his own life. Academy chief executive Damian Trewhella says that with only charges against Scott at this stage "the matter is before the courts to determine the outcome and the film is to be judged on its own merits". Written and directed by Scott, the film tells the real-life story of a team of Mormon basketballers who helped the Australian team prepare for the Melbourne Olympics in 1956. It stars Kevin Sorbo (Hercules), Aaron Jakubenko, Mark Mitchell, Anna McGahan and former Boomers player and coach Lindsay Gaze. Scott, who has also acted in such TV series as Carson's Law, The Henderson Kids and Underbelly, told a Mormon publication in the US that he "received direction from the Lord" in making the film. He previously directed the little-seen 2013 sports drama The Playbook, about a basketball coach who, after a tragic accident, uses his sporting playbook to get his life back on track.

Other awards contenders

Heroic war story ... Andrew Garfield in Hackshaw Ridge." src="http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/k/j/0/z/3/image.imgtype.articleLeadwide.620x349.png/1447886980129.png" title="" width="100%">

Subscribe now for unlimited access.

$0/

(min cost $0)

or signup to continue reading

See subscription options

Get the latest Ballarat news in your inbox

Sign up for our newsletter to stay up to date.

We care about the protection of your data. Read our Privacy Policy.