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Blair Underwood and Ashton James are a father-son duo facing steep odds in their new movie.
Youngblood, directed by Hubert Davis, features James as hockey star Dean Youngblood in a reimagining of the 1986 sports film that starred Rob Lowe, Cynthia Gibb and Patrick Swayze.
“You worked too long and hard for you to let anybody take this from you,” Underwood, 61, can be heard telling his onscreen son James in the trailer shared exclusively with PEOPLE.
Shawn Doyle, as Dean’s coach, can later be heard encouraging the film’s hockey-playing heroes: “If you’re gonna lose, you lose to the best team! Don’t lose to yourself!”
Courtesy of Well Go USA
“The film builds on what people loved about the original through a fresh energy that hits different,” James, a Canadian actor who also led 2024’s Boxcutter, tells PEOPLE. “I think fans, old and new, are in for something special. I hope they see it on the biggest screen possible.”
Davis says, “Fans of the original Youngblood will see there’s a lot of the movie we pay homage to.”
“What drew me to the script was the idea of inverting some of the tropes in a lot of ’80s movies I grew up with,” adds Davis. “I was really interested in exploring that dynamic and ideas of masculinity and sport.”
Courtesy of Well Go USA
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Youngblood is co-written by Josh Epstein, Kyle Rideout, Seneca Aaron and Charles Officer. The latter was a filmmaker and pro hockey player who died in 2023 after taking on the role of both writer and director on Youngblood.
“The last time I saw Charles was at a TIFF screening of Hubert’s film Black Ice, so stepping onto set with Hubert felt like a full-circle moment,” says James. “He guided us while honoring Charles’ legacy.”
Hubert has praise for his leading man as well, noting that James endured two years of rigorous training on the ice.
“Ashton worked extremely hard on the physical aspects in becoming this talented young hockey player,” says the Oscar-nominated director.
“I really wanted the hockey scenes in the movie to stand out, so we spent a lot of time working on those sequences to get them right. I hope audiences get to enjoy the hockey action of the movie, but also that they are able to engage with the characters — because those are the films I love.”
Well Go USA
Youngblood also stars Alexandra McDonald, Henri Picard, Emidio Lopes, Olunike Adelyi, Tamara Podemski, Keris Hope Hill, Donald MacLean Jr., Joris Jarsky and Allan Hawco.
“At its core it’s a story about a father and a son,” says Hubert, calling Underwood “incredibly talented. … We really needed an actor of Blair’s caliber to ground the story with a great performance.”
After a premiere at the 2025 Toronto International Film Festival, Well Go USA’s Youngblood is in theaters March 6.
