American Summer Filmmaker Michael W. Gray Talks Baseball, First Love and Enduring Childhood Memories

American Summer has arrived in cinemas with a premise that reminds us why certain summers remain lodged in the memory for the rest of our lives.

Written and directed by Michael W. Gray, the film centers on Mikey (Logan Gray & Steve Guttenberg), who looks back on a formative summer when first love, baseball and family uncertainty collided. He meets “the” girl, earns a place on the travel baseball team and tries to navigate life without knowing whether his US Army father, missing overseas, will return home.

Starring Guttenberg, Christie Brinkley and Dan Lauria alongside Gray, Mia Talerico, Cullen Moss, Erinn Ruth, Maximus Virgili and Callie Reese, American Summer balances coming-of-age comedy with a heart-warmingly poignant story about memory, family and the experiences that shape us before even realise they’re doing so. MLB legends Lee Mazzilli and Luis Sojo also feature.

With American Summer now in cinemas, CinemaChords sat down with Michael W. Gray to discuss the genesis behind the film, its themes of family and memory, and the challenge of capturing the particular feeling of a summer that, seen from adulthood, can seem to have lasted a lifetime.