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Augie Press Kit 012618 A film by James Keach Film website: www.augiemovie.com Running Time: 84 minutes. This film is not rated. Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rIOpd_q3KcM&feature=youtu.be Publicity Contact: Linda Brown / Indie PR / [email protected] / 818.380.0050 XXXX !1 “AUGIE” - An inspirational love story of fitness legend Augie Nieto and his journey from Success to Significance through ALS. SYNOPSIS Oscar nominated Director James Keach tells the inspirational story of Augie Nieto. Often referred to as the Steve Jobs of the fitness industry, Nieto arguably saved millions of lives when he catapulted Life Fitness and the revolutionary Lifecycle® to global fitness leader and worldwide prominence. However, Augie’s greatest accomplishments came after he was diagnosed with ALS in 2005. Today, the Fitness Legend, wheelchair bound, takes on ALS with his wife Lynne, leading the race to a cure in the fight to save his own life and the lives of millions…once again. AUGIE is an 84 minute documentary which stars Augustine L. Nieto II (“Augie”) and his wife Lynne Nieto. The film is directed by Oscar nominated James Keach (Glen Campbell…I’ll Be Me, Walk the Line), Produced by James Keach and Eric Carlson, and Executive Produced by Michele Farinola. !2 Meet Augie Nieto The early days of Lifecycle in 1979 when Augie and his team traveled the country trying to sell Lifecycle’s in his RV, “Sluggo.” While attending college in native Southern California, Augie Nieto wrote an in depth report outlining details of how to create a health club. Even though the report came in at a C- minus, he subsequently opened one, and caught the eye of the inventor of the Lifecycle prototype. Nieto, then 20 and a life-long exercise devotee, recognized the potential in a revolutionary fitness product; the first computerized exercise bike created by Dr. Keene Dimick. He bought the prototype for $350,000 he borrowed from friends and family, and upgraded it. Launching the Lifecycle® brand upon the world, Nieto sold models at $4,000 each from the back of a mobile home with a skeletal crew. The bike was not an easy sell. Augie Nieto was the co-founder of Life Fitness, a global leader in the fitness industry. Today, Life Fitness continues to be on the cutting edge of technology and fitness equipment design. Augie is an original pioneer in the fitness industry and served as president of Life Fitness for nearly 25 years. In 1984, he sold his company to Bally Entertainment Corp. of Chicago, but stayed on, adding the Life Rower, the Life Circuit and the Life Step- and growing sales from $8 million to well over $100 million. Life Fitness was acquired by Brunswick Corporation in 1997. Augie became the Chairman of Octane Fitness, a manufacturer dedicated solely to elliptical fitness machines, which he sold in 2016. !3 Living large on the Orient Express in 2002. Augie lived life hard and fast. His success as an entrepreneur came with a price and soon Augie’s first marriage ended. Years later, he reunited with his childhood best friend and high school sweetheart Lynne. Several years before, Augie had stood up for Lynne at the wedding to her first husband as a bridesmaid (yes, you read that right!) The two were married and life continued as Augie’s success grew with Lynne at his side. Theirs is a remarkable story of unlikely and enduring love. After Augie and Lynne renewed their wedding vows in 2005. !4 Augie called upon his unwavering determination in the face of adversity many times over the next 40 years, but never was his drive for success tested more than when he was diagnosed with ALS (Lou Gehrig’s Disease) at the age of 47. He reacted as anyone else might: he went into denial. He became angry. He asked “why me?” and “what did I do to deserve this?” Then, just three months later, he tried to take his own life. Up until that pivotal moment, Augie might have defined himself as a loving husband, father to four, and pioneer of the indoor cardiovascular revolution. For a man whose life was literally about fitness and staying active, the idea of not being able to move or speak was unfathomable. How do you come to grips with such a thing? How do you find the will to move forward? Purpose. To a person whose life is devoted to fitness, a disease that eats away at the body’s muscle could have been crippling, but Augie grew stronger. Augie didn’t just come to grips with his ALS, he began to persevere and overcome. He summoned those same rare qualities that made him an effective and respected leader, and applied them to his new reality. As Augie accepted the hand he’d been dealt, he and his wife Lynne, launched Augie’s Quest to fund research and drug development aimed at ending ALS. “It’s this work that has kept me motivated and inspired to keep on living,” Augie now says. Augie congratulates Augie’s Quest Founder Award recipient and good friend Bob Olsen at the Tradition of Hope Gala in 2016. Augie’s Quest is a cure-driven campaign and is currently part of the ALS Therapy Development Institute (TDI) for which Augie serves as Chairman. Augie set out with a goal to raise $3 million towards the cause, a number overwhelming to some, but Augie called on his friends and drew tremendous support. With the help of the fitness industry, Augie’s Quest has raised over $60 million as of 2017 and, combined with the amount raised since Chairing ALS TDI, the number is well over $100 million. !5 Augie and Lynne arrive for a Zumba-thon event with over 1,300 participants that went on to raise $221,000 for Augie’s Quest in 2011. Augie serves as an operating advisor to North Castle Partners, a private equity firm, and is on the board of Curves, Jenny Craig, and Hydromassage. Augie formerly served on the board of Quest Software, where he was one of four members of its “Special Committee” who negotiated the sale of Quest Software to Dell Computers in 2012. He also served on the board of Dynavox Systems, a developer of speech generating systems. Augie is Chairman of the Board of the ALS Therapy Development Institute in Cambridge, MA, the world’s largest ALS dedicated drug development organization. He is the Chief Inspirational Officer for Augie's Quest, an aggressive, cure-driven, international fundraising effort, having raised over $60 million to date to fund research at the ALS Therapy Development Institute. Augie lives in Corona del Mar, California, with his wife Lynne and their dog Rubye. He has four adult, married children and eight grandchildren. !6 An Interview with Augie Nieto Why is your story important to bring to the screen? It is Lynne and my hope that by putting our story out there, we can touch others who are going through difficult times, raise awareness and critical funding for effective treatments and an ultimate cure for ALS. You had the good fortune to work with Award-winning Director / Producer James Keach and Producer Eric Carlson. What did James, Eric and their team bring to your story? Were there any surprises? We put our trust in James and Eric, and we weren’t disappointed. The experience was far better than we could have imagined, and we became true friends with James and Eric, too. What they brought to the screen is the real heart of our story. They created a love story out of an ALS diagnosis, filled with humor and honesty and hope. And that’s really been Lynne and my life, our struggle, our passion and approach to this disease. James and Eric bring that to life, and I think, make it actually entertaining and approachable for audiences, especially those new to ALS. And that is key. What was the biggest hurdle / frustration you had to overcome in the making of this movie? From the very beginning, I was all in on this opportunity, an open book, energized and ready to make this film a huge success. The decision for Lynne, was a little different. She wasn’t too keen on opening up our lives for the world. We are the classic extrovert/introvert couple. But she set the tone, and said wholeheartedly, “If we’re going to do this, we’re doing it. We have to be 100% open and honest about the good, the bad and the ugly.” That’s tough, having cameras with you, in our bedroom, in the intimacy of our home, our private lives, our relationship, our family history, sharing our real story. But we did it, and we think it comes through in AUGIE as really genuine. It’s our real life. What was your reaction when you saw the finished film? What did you learn about yourself through the experience of making of this film? Lynne and I watched it for the first time in our home. James, Eric and some of our Augie’s Quest to Cure ALS team came down to premiere it on our family room TV. It’s an odd !7 experience to watch your life. It’s hard to explain that feeling. Of course, we were in tears, happy tears mostly. I know for Lynne, the hard part was hearing my voice – which she hadn’t heard in quite a while -- and realizing how much she missed my voice, and how bittersweet that was. For me, the scenes discussing my attempted suicide, hearing my family’s raw reactions, of course, were incredibly tough.
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