Somewhere along the way, producer Jerry Bruckheimer ("Remember the Titans," "Pearl Harbor," "Black Hawk Down," "Pirates of the Caribbean") began calling Gartner. Gartner turned down several films. "The work he presented to me wasn't quite what I felt my place was," he said.

After years of making commercials, Gartner has come to understand how he works best. He knows what type of humor and what emotion underlies his work.

What attracted him to "Glory Road" was not the sports aspect, he said. In fact, now, he says, he wouldn't care if he never saw another basketball court. It was the underlying emotional tone that resonated with him.

The main difference between making commercials and making a movie is just the amount of time you spend working 12 or 14 hours a day, Gartner has discovered.

Commercials take three weeks, and then you can take time off and think about something else. Making "Glory Road" required him to work incredibly hard and to think about one project, constantly, for two years.

Gartner has never wanted to live in Los Angeles, he says, even though his three grown children live there now. He and his wife have a home in Traverse City, Mich. Living in a small town keeps him grounded, Gartner said. "It is reality, versus the whole L.A. thing."

But he hasn't been home enough in the past two years. And now, he said, he is exhausted. Still, he is also excited about the prospect of having audiences, and a live response to his work.

He received awards for his artistic commercials but he didn't get a lot of feedback. People watch commercials in their own home, he said.

So, tired though he may be, Gartner finds it exhilarating to sit in a theater and watch "Glory Road" with a live audience.

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E-mail: susan@desnews.com