'What an incredible life': Behind the scenes of Uecker doc with the filmmakers

MILWAUKEE -- There was Opening Day for the Brewers, and then there was opening night for filmmakers Steve Farr and Michael T. Vollmann, who were on hand at American Family Field on Thursday as fans watched a preview of their feature-length documentary, “Ueck,” about the late, legendary broadcaster Bob Uecker.

The film will premiere on April 16 during the Milwaukee Film Festival before a major theatrical release later this summer. For nearly two years, before Uecker passed away in January 2025 following a private battle with small cell lung cancer, “Mr. Baseball” and his wife, children and friends welcomed the film crew into their lives to tell the story of Ueck’s journey through baseball, stage and screen.

To see a teaser trailer yourself, you can visit ueckmovie.com.

Farr, originally from Racine, Wis., and Vollman, from Milwaukee, sat down with MLB.com during the middle innings on Opening Day to discuss the project.

This project was obviously complicated by the fact that the principal passed away during filmmaking. How does that change your emotions today, knowing that folks are watching it in a totally different way than if Ueck were sitting here with us in the press box?

Vollmann: It's interesting, because when we first met with him, it never even dawned on me that he was 88, because he had so much energy. And then as time went on, we kind of started getting wind that he had this diagnosis.

Farr: The diagnosis is part of it, sure. But I don't think it weighs down the film. I think it gives it a lot of emotional clarity at times.

Vollmann: You feel the impact of what he means to the community and people in this ballpark, knowing what he's going through and seeing how much he loves calling baseball -- that he's willing to go do a radiation treatment and then come to the ballpark. I mean, that's kind of insane, you know? We learned along the way that this is his joy, this is his happy place here at the ballpark. This was his refuge from all the external things that life throws at you.

Farr: I guess I’ll add on to that one thing. There was some talk of, ‘Is the diagnosis and his illness part of this?’ My argument was always that we need to include it because people love Ueck as it is, but when they realize what he was going through to actually show up to games after treatments, they're just going to love him even more.

When was the last time you filmed him here at American Family Field?

Vollmann: Well, it would have been his last game. The last game of the Wild Card Series in 2024.

Farr: You know, some days he'd be fine with us being in the booth or having a little camera set-up. And other games, he said, ‘Well, I don't think so.’ And so that game, we really only had one camera on him. It was a very long lens, looking in from outside. And at the end of that game, he takes a long time. You can't imagine what he's thinking. It’s emotional.

Do you think fans will learn anything new about a life that was as public as his was?

Vollmann: I think so. I think we've connected all the dots. It's his entire life in one package. There's rare things like newspaper art, archival footage from Atlanta and the Minor Leagues, his first time doing TV as a broadcaster, some pretty interesting stuff. It’s hard because when you're constructing a film, you want to include all of it. And then as you're building the story, it really hurts when you have to cut something. We started with, like, a five-hour assemble.

Farr: It’s probably going to end up being 90-95 minutes.

Does that mean the film isn’t finished yet?

Vollmann: Who was it who said this, Orson Welles? ‘A film is never completed, it’s only abandoned.’ In some ways, this is like that. You’re going to have to pry it out of our hands.

What do you want people to take away when they see the finished product?

Farr: People have asked that question, and I don't know if I've ever really articulated it right, but I just want people to confirm that how you felt about Ueck, he really was that guy. Both of my parents passed during the making of this, and he cared. The first thing out of his mouth would be, ‘How's your dad doing? How's your mom doing?’ He didn't have to ask. But there was something about that that was really powerful, and it meant so much to me.

Vollmann: One of the things for me was that I just sort of assumed he would show up, sit down and just wing it, right? But I was impressed by the amount of preparation. I'd never really seen what happens in those broadcast booths. And doing it at that age? I had never even calculated how old he was, because I’ve been hearing him on the radio since I was 8 years old. Then you start doing the numbers: 88, 89, 90. It’s incredible. What an incredible life.