The call came just after 6 a.m., 17 years ago this Remembrance Day morning.

"Vic's been in an accident," Clifford Barry told me. "And it doesn't look good."

For the next two days, with family and friends standing vigil at Notre Dame Hospital, Barry remained at the intensive-care bedside of Victor Davis, the swimmer he had coached to three world records and four Olympic medals, including gold in the 200-metre breaststroke at Los Angeles in 1984.

Davis, 25, never regained consciousness. He died Nov. 13, 1989, of a fractured skull suffered when he was struck and thrown 18 metres by a hit-and-run driver in Ste. Anne de Bellevue.

Mel Davis and Leona Heyens saw to it that their son's death would provide life and meaning to others. The swimmer's heart, liver, kidneys and two cornea were harvested for successful transplant; the Victor Davis Memorial Award was later established to provide bursaries to needy Canadian swimmers, and more than 55 athletes have benefited since its creation.

Next March, Davis's remarkable life, death and legacy will be remembered in Victor: The Victor Davis Story, a two-hour movie to be telecast on CBC.

Now in post-production, the film stars in the title role former Pointe Claire swimmer Mark Lutz, who long has dreamed of bringing to the screen the story of a childhood swim hero.

Lutz is best known for his role as Groosalugg on the WB television series Angel. His other credits include Friends, E.R., La Femme Nikita and Queer as Folk.

The actor spent nearly five years interviewing those who knew Davis best, securing the rights, writing and rewriting and shopping the screenplay, and finally working himself into the finest shape of his life to play an athlete legendary for his energy and Greek-god physique.

The $4-million film explores Davis's life from 1982-84, from his first world record through his Los Angeles Olympic victory, and then the final three days of his life.

"I was totally thrilled that Mark wanted to do this," said Mel Davis, who opened to Lutz his son's life, blemishes and all.

"I hope it will inspire some kids. Vic and his teammates wanted to prove to the world that Canadians could win. They were tired of being third or fourth."

To Davis, second place was always the first loser.

We were friends through the 1980s, during my days as communications director for Swimming Canada, travelling much of the world together. I coached him on working with media and sponsors, helping him file off at least a few of his rough edges.

In the end, I reported on Davis's death, eulogized him at his funeral at the request of his parents, and was honoured to fulfill his family's wishes that I take his cremated remains to New Zealand, where in 1981 he had won his first international gold medal. During the 1990 Commonwealth Games, I arranged to have his ashes scattered in the Pacific Ocean, in the lee of volcanic Rangitoto Island.

The three days I spent on the Toronto film set in September, living with Lutz, talking to executive producer Bernie Zukerman, director Jerry Ciccoritti and the cast and crew, convinced me Davis's story would be told as it should be:

It will not be a sugar-coated piece of fiction, but a balanced view of a young man whose strengths and weaknesses combined to make him one of the most compelling and complex Canadian athletes of his era.

Lutz's screenplay, the first of his career, is beautiful. He has not wallowed in melodrama, the naked truth about the mercurial Davis's unwavering will to win and his dynamic relationships an even more powerful script.

"I always thought it would be nice to see a Rocky in the pool," Lutz said of the Stallone boxing classic. "The Vic Davis story is essentially that - the underdog who makes it against all odds.

"From all the research I did, I really believe that Vic got the shaft, and I want to unshaft him a little bit. He was vilified in the press probably worse than any Canadian athlete of the time."

That was solely due to Davis's upending of a plastic deck chair at the 1982 Commonwealth Games in Brisbane after a Canadian relay team was disqualified by timing equipment that had been faulty the entire meet.

Queen Elizabeth was in attendance that night, and the incident tarred Davis to and well beyond his death, detailed in most every story about him.

At the 1986 Edinburgh Commonwealth Games, Davis offered the queen a souvenir Frisbee and apologized for the chair. She replied she had no idea what he was talking about.

Native Montrealer Ron Lea doesn't merely play the role of Cliff Barry, he channels him brilliantly. Polly Shannon, raised in Aylmer, perfectly captures the playfulness and devotion of Davis's girlfriend, Donna Clavel. Sasha Roiz, who grew up on the West Island, shines as Davis's close friend and Olympic-champion teammate Alex Baumann, and veteran actor Peter MacNeill nails Mel Davis, beneath whose crusty hide beats a heart of gold.

As strange as it is to see someone cast as yourself in a film,

X-Files alumnus Chris Owens impressed me with his attention to detail. And from me he learned the basic tenet of sports journalism: Always get a receipt.

Award-winning Canadian filmmaker Zukerman bought this project last winter, almost the instant it landed on his desk, and within days signed a deal with CBC. Ciccoritti, Zukerman's uniquely creative longtime friend, immediately agreed to direct.

"I remember Victor's Olympic race, his bad-boy image and tragic death," Zukerman said. "But I didn't know the details. This screenplay had everything - the love story, working-class element, the struggle for Victor to achieve what he did, and how everything that could go wrong in the last year of his life did go wrong.

"In another country, one that embraces its heroes more, where the film culture is more established and accepted, this would be a feature film. I think it has those kind of epic proportions.

"This is about a timeless figure, about drive, ambition, love and generosity, loss and victory and, ultimately, heroes. It's about what makes a champion."

"I saw this as a spiritual story, about the location of the soul," said Ciccoritti, who wrote in his director's bible before the 20-day shoot that he had no interest in making a sports movie.

Ciccoritti says he prepares meticulously in pre-production so he can let a controlled chaos reign during filming, when he takes inspiration from the moments around him. This cast offered him many such moments.

"Every single actor is now invested in a very different way," said Shannon, who played Margaret Trudeau in Ciccoritti's 2002 miniseries Trudeau. "We feel a responsibility and a connection. This film is about someone I never met, but talking to people who knew Victor has infiltrated my life.

"I cannot, and will not, cheat my way through this. I want to honour this man."

Shannon says she felt physically ill, emotionally pummelled during scenes of a comatose Davis on his deathbed. Jef Mallory, who plays Davis's brother, Greg, was so moved - at 19 he lost his own father following brain surgery - that he took himself to a hospital with an anxiety attack after one day on that set.

Shannon is certain that Lutz, who met Davis casually only twice, will honestly tell a great champion's story.

"Mark has fought left, right and centre to make this as accurate and true and honourable as anyone could," she said.

For Lutz, the experience has been a revelation. He has invested enormous passion and drained his emotional bank to realize this dream.

"It's been nothing short of joyous to watch these actors take lines I've written and create something from them that is way more than I envisioned," he said.

"What I've learned is strength of faith. I never thought this wasn't going to get made. If you put it out there and say: 'This is going to happen,' I believe you can do it. Just (expletive) do it.

"It's an interesting lesson. And it's how Vic lived his life."

dstubbs@thegazette.canwest.com