Big Neil's movie coming soon!

'In the end, he changed our lives': Doc on former Holy Name/HC star Neil Fingleton slated to premiere next month

Jennifer Toland
Telegram & Gazette

Filmmaker Paul Stainthorpe, who grew up in Durham, England, the same hometown as Neil Fingleton, began working on a documentary about the late former Holy Name High and Holy Cross towering hoopster and honorary Worcesterite in November 2019.

Stainthorpe was set to visit the U.S. in June 2020 to take video footage for the film and interview Fingleton’s coaches, teammates and friends, but the COVID-19 pandemic put those plans on hold.

“We did think about, ‘Do we use Zoom to do some interviews, or do we get a crew in America to do the interviews?’ ” Stainthorpe said during a Zoom chat from England Friday afternoon. “I did seriously consider it because I didn’t know when (the travel restrictions) were going to end.”

Neil Fingleton first found success at Holy Name before heading to college and into the world of acting.

Stainthorpe, though, was determined that the film illuminate Fingleton’s essence. For Stainthorpe, that meant navigating the halls of Holy Name (now St. Paul), climbing the hill to the Hart Center at Holy Cross, stepping on the basketball courts at both schools, and even strolling down Shrewsbury Street, where Fingleton got his hair cut at Tommy M’s Barber Shop and ate Italian dishes at La Scala.

“It was really important for me to almost walk in Neil’s footsteps,” Stainthorpe said, “and walk the streets of Worcester and get a sense for what the place is like because it is an amazing place.”

During Friday’s interview, Stainthorpe wore a Holy Name sweatshirt, a gift from HN/St. Paul athletic director Jim Manzello.

Neil Fingleton plays in his first game for Holy Name against Fitchburg, Dec. 16, 1997.

After more than three years in the making, “Big Smooth,” which chronicles Fingleton’s fascinating, but too brief life is “99.9%” complete, Stainthorpe said, and the film’s premiere is March 26 at Gala Theatre in Durham, England.

Following his graduation from Holy Cross in 2004, Fingleton played professionally overseas before launching a career in acting. His most notable role was as Mag the Mighty in “Game of Thrones.”

In 2007, Guinness World Records validated the 7-foot, 7.56-inch Fingleton as the United Kingdom’s tallest living man.

Fingleton died Feb. 25, 2017, at age 36 at his home in Durham.

Met in their teens on basketball court

Stainthorpe met Fingleton just once, when they were both 16, during a chance encounter at a local basketball court. Fingleton was 7-foot-1 at the time. Soon after that meeting, Fingleton came to the U.S. on his own to enroll at Holy Name, and Stainthorpe followed his career, with admiration, from afar.

“(After he passed),” Stainthorpe said, “I started thinking, ‘This is really an inspiring story how he used something he was born with (height) to have two great careers. I would just like people to watch the film and reflect on themselves as people and, hopefully, it makes them question their own potential — you don’t know what you’re capable of. Neil had a dream, and he was so resilient. He never gave up.”

Neil Fingleton provided a big presence in the middle for Holy Cross on defense.

For “Big Smooth,” Stainthorpe and his Lone Pine Pictures team conducted 48 interviews, including with Fingleton’s mother, Christine, and brother, Michael, and whittled 1,000 minutes of footage to 80, which is the film’s running time.

Stainthorpe and his crew spent seven days in Worcester and talked with J.P. Ricciardi, Fingleton’s coach at Holy Name, Phil Giarusso, with whom Fingleton lived in Worcester, members of Giarusso’s family, Manzello, and friends and former teammates from Holy Name, including Dave McNamara and Bill Bertrand, and from Holy Cross such as Torey Thomas.

“You learn by listening, don’t ya?” Stainthorpe said, “and just by sitting and listening to these people who knew Neil with all the stories, I thought, ‘If I was to pass away tomorrow, what would people say about me?’ It would be nothing like what I was listening to. It made me reflect on my own life and, ‘What can I do to be better?’ ”

Stainthorpe didn’t offer up many spoilers, but he did say that everyone he interviewed got the same last question — “What will you remember most about Neil and why?” — asked via video by Fingleton’s mother.

Stainthorpe said Manzello most remembered Fingleton’s smile, a neighbor of Giarusso his empathy and compassion. Added Ricciardi: “Neil came over to Worcester, and we thought we were going to change Neil’s life, but in the end, he changed our lives.”

Wonderful sense of humor

Actor Ian Whyte from “Game of Thrones” said Fingleton approached everything with great courage. Everyone commented on Fingleton’s great sense of humor.

“We got some beautiful stuff,” Stainthorpe said.

Neil Fingleton, left, as Mag the Mighty in "Game of Thrones."

Thomas, who is playing professionally in Paris, is hoping to fly to England for the premiere.

Fingleton earned McDonald’s All-American honors at Holy Name and began collegiately at the University of North Carolina, before transferring to Holy Cross. He was the tallest player in HN, UNC and HC histories.

Stainthorpe said he is close to getting a screening for “Big Smooth” in Massachusetts, likely in late April or early May. He is hoping the Boston Film Festival and others accept the film.

“It’s an inspirational story,” Stainthorpe said. “We cover when Neil passed, but we come out of that, and the documentary finishes on a high.

“There was one point,” Stainthorpe added, “in between (COVID) lockdowns where I really struggled and wondered if I was ever going to finish the film. Then I reminded myself, ‘How could I give up on a film that’s about a man who never gave up?’ ”

—Contact Jennifer Toland at jennifer.toland@telegram.com. Follow her on Twitter @jentolandtg.