28- YEAR GAME OF CHASEY
ISLA Fisher called it chasey. Jon Hamm called it tag. Fisher was raised in Perth and Hamm in Missouri, but despite the Hollywood stars growing up more than 17,000km apart, pursuing their friends around playgrounds and their neighbourhoods was a staple of their young lives. Fisher, the red- haired Australian actor, 42, and Hamm, 47, best known for his Emmywinning role in the TV drama series Mad Men, retreated back to their childhood memories for their new comedy film, Tag.
“We actually played chasey which was the Australian equivalent of America’s tag,” Fisher says. “A bit later we did kiss chasey. You chase the boys and try to kiss them, but the only time I successfully kissed anyone they had a helmet on and I knocked my teeth on his helmet.”
Tag is based on the true story of a group of American men who began playing a game of chasey or tag 28 years ago at their Spokane, Washington high school. The game never ended. Today they are in their 40s, most are married with children, they live in different parts of the US and have jobs ranging from a Catholic priest to a chief marketing officer at the upmarket US department store Nordstrom. But, during the month of February each year their game of tag continues. The player who is “it” travels cross- country and uses disguises and ambush strategies to tag their friends, who are on high alert. They credit the game for keeping their friendships strong for almost three decades.
TAG IS IN CINEMAS NOW.