When Scotty Curlee was 18, he
had no idea God already was
orchestrating his life.
An army brat from South Korea,
he came to America with dreams
of becoming an Olympic medalist
in cycling. Then his father died.
He promised his mother he’d go
to college; after graduating from
Liberty University, he spent 10
years in the pharmaceutical industry.
Looking back, he now sees
that all of this prepared him for his
role as producer, director and lead
actor in The Potential Inside, the
story of a pro cyclist who hits rock
bottom when his young daughter
dies in a tragic accident.
“There are a lot of cycling
movies for the road,” Scotty
says, “and a bunch of mountain
bike documentaries, but there’s
never been a feature level film
that revolved around the sport
of mountain biking as does The
Potential Inside.
I put in about six
months of solid
training and riding
to get back into the
groove for the role.”
Under the supervision
of cycling
coach Hunter Allen
and two-time U.S.
national champion
and gold medallist
Jeremiah Bishop,
Scotty and his crew
made sure the sport
was depicted accurately.
“We wanted
to tell a story of redemption
and hope, but do it with reality,” Scotty
says. “We wanted it to be original and different, and
we hope people who see it don’t feel preached at, but
feel motivated to make a change. We get so caught
up in life—putting out fires—that we often don’t become
who God made us to be.
“The whole concept of max VO2 [maximal oxygen
consumption] in the movie is a foreign concept to
most people, but the more important thing is not
the physical max VO2, but the correlation it has to
our spiritual lives. Every day, we need to look for the
opportunity to reach our true potential.”