GETTING OUT OF THE STARTING BLOCKS : `PREFONTAINE' A STORY OF UNDERDOG DETERMINATION; THEN THERE'S THE FILM.

Byline: Amy Dawes Daily News Staff Writer

``From the makers of `Hoop Dreams,' '' trumpets the advertising for the movie ``Prefontaine,'' the true story of the short life of Steve Prefontaine, one of this country's best-known track and field athletes.

So, when the movie unfolds documentary-style, with grainy video footage and simulated interviews with the runner's coach, teammates and family members, it's natural to assume that the filmmakers took this approach because it was tried and true.

After all, ``Hoop Dreams,'' the saga of two inner-city high school basketball players, was a documentary triumph - one of the rare nonfiction films to make a hit both with critics and with theatrical audiences.

So, wouldn't it make sense that Steve James and Peter Gilbert, the director and the producer of both movies, just wanted to stick with the style they knew?

Maybe, but that isn't what happened, report the filmmakers.

They actually set out to make a traditional feature film, and had even written a complete script that bore no resemblance at all to a documentary.

But when Disney revealed that the budget for ``Prefontaine'' would be a fraction of what they'd anticipated, it was back to the drawing board.

``We actually did it this way out of economic necessity,'' said James. ``We were given a budget of $5 million (they later coaxed an additional $3 million out of Disney) and a shooting schedule of 33 days. So we realized that using archival footage could provide a lot of short cuts.''

``Also, I had talked to all the people who knew Steve in the course of my research, and the way they remembered him was so vivid, even 22 years after his death.''

``I realized that the best way to tell the story was just to let these people tell it.''

Gilbert, the movie's producer and cinematographer, felt the same way. ``When the movie finally arrived at this documentary-style form, I got really excited, because I thought, `This is the audience that will understand who this guy was and what he meant to the sport.' ''

``This way, with all the interviews and archival clips, it never lets you forget that this is a true story.''

The story is about a brash, cocky three-miler from the University of Oregon (played by Jared Leto) who took up running when he discovered he was too small for team sports and set American records in every race from two miles to six miles and 2,000 meters to 10,000 meters. It's about a photogenic, golden-haired youth who raised the profile of the sport by making it a point to put on a great show for the fans and the press, and by fearlessly taking on an amateur sports establishment that trampled on the rights of athletes.

It's about a boastful contender whose dream went up in flames when he came in fourth at the 1972 Munich Olympics, but who made great personal strides in the wake of the defeat.

And it's about an inspiring teammate whose promise was cut short when he died in a car accident at age 24, flipping his gold MG roadster on a curvy Oregon road as he drove home late at night from a party.

That very day, he'd won an international race at his home stadium at the University of Oregon, and he'd recently been named ``the most popular track athlete in the world'' by Track & Field News.

Almost incidentally, it's also about the humble beginnings of the Nike athletic shoe empire, since the company grew out of the running shoe designs originated by Prefontaine's University of Oregon track coach Bill Bowerman (played by R. Lee Ermey), who liked to use his wife's waffle iron to stamp out the rubber soles.

Prefontaine was the first athlete to wear and promote the shoes, and he helped sell them from the back of a vehicle at sporting events.

But with the exception of amateur runners who came of age in the '70s and remember the panache and popularity that ``Pre,'' as he was known, brought to the sport, few people outside of Oregon and the sports world will still be familiar with the athlete.

That's a potential problem for the filmmakers.

``We have to get Pre's story across to people who have no idea who he was,'' said Gilbert.

``We're hoping people won't just see it as a sports story,'' said James. ``We're hoping they'll see it as the story of a guy and his dreams, and what happens to him after his dreams don't work out the way he'd planned. How in a way, he gets more from losing than he would have from winning.''

Behind the scenes, there was a real-life contest going on, with Gilbert and James as the underdog low-budget filmmakers facing competition at least as intimidating as what Pre was up against at the Munich Olympics.

A rival project was being prepared at Warner Bros., with no less a personage than Tom Cruise as producer and with legendary screenwriter Robert Towne (``Chinatown'') as writer and director. Billy Crudup would star in that project, which had a budget at least three times the size of the Disney movie, and for awhile, it was rumored that Paul Newman would play the track coach, Bill Bowerman. (Donald Sutherland later took the role. The Warner Bros. movie, called ``Pre,'' is currently scheduled for a fall 1997 release).

``Sure, it was scary,'' said James. ``I called Peter up one day while I was writing, and I said, `Do you realize I'm in a writing competition with Robert Towne? I mean, I've been to film school, I've read `Chinatown.' I'm sitting in my room thinking, `I wonder what he's doing with this part of the script?' ''

But James and Gilbert, who shot their film in Seattle while the Warner Bros. project was filming on location in Eugene, Ore., at least had the loyalty of Pre's family and some of his friends and teammates to boost their morale.

Pre's parents, Ray and Elfriede, and his sister Linda, granted the Disney project exclusive rights to their story and shared archival materials such as the home movie that appears in the film.

``The family could have made a lot of money by aligning with the other production, so it meant a lot that they stuck with us,'' said James.

``But ultimately, we're hoping people will judge our film on its own merits, and not compare the two.''

The ``Hoop Dreams'' team also is hoping that the industry won't forever pigeonhole them as `those sports guys.''

``Hopefully, people will look at this film and see what makes it work, which is not that it's about track and field, but that it's about this interesting character who grows and changes. If they see that, maybe we'll have a shot at other things,'' said James.

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Photo: ``Prefontaine'' is the story of a three-miler from the University of Oregon (played by Jared Leto) who took up running when he discovered he was too small for team sports. The film's producer and director at times felt they were running an uphill race making the film on the available budget.