MESA, Ariz. -- What a story it would be if the Cubs were to win the World Series this year, the 100th anniversary of the last time they celebrated a championship, which was in 1908. That's what documentary filmmaker John Scheinfeld is counting on.

Scheinfeld and a Chicago crew will follow the 2008 Cubs for a movie with a working title, "We Believe."

"It's not a history of the Cubs," Scheinfeld said Tuesday. "What we're doing is a film exploring the love affair between the great city, Chicago, and it's ball team, the Cubs -- what makes Chicago unique, the city, and what makes the people of Chicago unique and why they have supported this team so passionately for so long. We'll get into the psychology of that, the history of that.

"My challenge as a filmmaker is to find the right balance between Chicago and the Cubs."

This isn't really a sports movie.

"This is the kind of film for anybody who has ever loved their team," Scheinfeld said.

Any sports fan can relate to that. But devoted Cubs fans have endured more than others. The team's 100-year drought without a world championship is the longest in professional sports. The Cubs don't have to win for Scheinfeld to make the movie.

"We are setting it against the landscape of this season for the Cubs," he said. "We'll follow that, and the icing on the cake would be if they win the World Series this year."

Scheinfeld did mention to Cubs manager Lou Piniella on Tuesday during his interview that it would definitely help if the team won it all.

"That'd be nice -- that'd make a good movie," said first baseman Derrek Lee, one of nine current Cubs players the film crew will interview.

The players, ranging from Lee and Ryan Theriot to Kerry Wood and Carlos Zambrano, will be the stars, and the movie will follow them over the course of a season. Interviews began this week in Mesa.

"They are our eyes and ears into what this season is all about," Scheinfeld said. "They also talk to us about Chicago, and why they love it and why they live here."

He also plans to interview politicians, historians, former Cubs like Ron Santo and Ernie Banks, famous Chicagoans and fans to give them an insight into what's special with Chicago and the team.

"Everybody has an opinion about [Chicago]; everybody has some thoughts about it," Scheinfeld said. "What I hope I'll be good enough to do is capture in this film what that spirit is and why that's so special. Even though people don't live in Chicago, they love the city and love the Cubs."

Scheinfeld was born in Chicago, but he left the Midwest when he was younger. He can relate.

"I'm a long-suffering Cubs fan, like most people," he said.

Among Scheinfeld's credits as a director and writer is the documentary movie, "The U.S. vs. John Lennon," released in 2006. He has hired a Chicago crew, including photography director Rich Christian, and will do everything production-wise in Chicago. The plan is for limited theatrical distribution, and hopefully more, because the goal is to appeal to fans in general.

So far, the Cubs players have given the crew a thumbs-up for the idea.

"They asked pretty good questions," Lee said. "They asked about the fans, the city, the ballpark. I like what they're doing."