A new release of the The Natural will look completely different than the version you've already seen. Sony Pictures

Director Barry Levinson is one of Baltimore's most noted sports fans. He's a part-owner of the Orioles and his filmography includes Diner and The Natural. SI.com spoke recently with Levinson on the DVD re-release of The Natural, which features a completely restructured first act and 15 minutes of additional footage.

SI: You've said previously that you want nothing good to happen to the Indianapolis Colts. You actively root against the team. How did it feel when they won the Super Bowl?

Levinson: Look, I think Peyton Manning is one of the great quarterbacks. I love what he represents in terms of football and his talent. But my feeling has to do with the fact there were too many elements of greed and arrogance for the Irsays that were so egregious. It's hard for me to say bygones are bygones. I wish the best for the ballplayers that are there, but I can't get over the level of arrogance to pack up a van in the middle of the night and sneak out of town and take the memorabilia, some of which did not belong to them. Owners have to do better. When they feel that their interests are more important than the interests of the fans, it infuriates me.

SI: So how will the Orioles do this year?

Levinson: Well, I hope they do better but I worry. But I look forward to watching [outfielder] Nick Markakis. He could be a big surprise this year.

SI: You've said repeatedly that you have always been haunted by The Natural. Why?

Levinson: Well, with the version that we put out, we were under such scrutiny with a release date that we never got the first act sorted out as well as we wanted to. (Editor) Stu Linder and I, even as we worked on other movies, we would talk about the first act of The Natural. We wondered if we could ever revisit it. At one point we even called Sony to see about the footage but we were told the footage was lost. It always stayed in our head. Unfortunately, Stu died last year. But a couple of months after that, I talked to Sony about a new edition of the DVD. I told them I had always thought about the first act. Sony's Chris Holmes said he would look into it and he would periodically call me and say I found this footage or this shot. It was like an archaeological dig and we started putting it together.

SI: What does the additional footage mean for the film?

Levinson: It shows how Roy Hobbs was haunted by his past. He makes the journey back to get Wonderboy, and he's haunted by the things that took place in his past and it stays with him. It gives the film a little more character and makes the Hobbs character richer and fuller.

SI: Why did the film resonate with baseball fans?

Levinson: Well, you never know why a movie will sort of
stay and hang in. It just does. I think it the nature of mythology runs deep. Somehow we connected with that. Fathers and sons, the music, I don't know if any one element is the reason for it. It's one of those things you can never define.

SI: Was Robert Redford always your choice for Hobbs?

Levinson: He was a big fan of Diner so that's how we met. Shortly thereafter he said maybe we can work on something together. I had only done this one little movie and so I thought: What was the likelihood of that? But a few months later we got together. I was talking about baseball and he had played some baseball when he was younger. Out of that conversation, The Natural came up. He remembered having seen a script on it at one point.

SI: Has there been anyone in baseball who you see in cinematic terms?

Levinson: Would any ballplayer would make a worthy film? It's been touched upon but I think Micky Mantle was probably one of the great natural talents ever to come along. In a sense to many people, as great as he was, he was never as great as he could have been. Demons plagued him. To really look at Mantle might be interesting because there probably was never more of a natural talent to come along. Incredible speed and power, a switch hitter, a country boy, he was great but not as great he might have been.

SI: What sports films have resonated for you over the years?

Levinson: Pride of the Yankees if you go back to the old movies. It endures. I think Bull Durham in a different way really works in terms of the behavior of ballplayers. Raging Bull is one of the great boxing movies The one I like is the Ali documentary, When We Were Kings. That is spectacular. I also thought The Champion (1949) with Kirk Douglas was terrific. I remember liking that as a kid.