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Genre: Romantic Comedy
Cast: George Clooney, Renée Zellweger, John Krasinski
Extras: Hundreds of the finest amateur actors ever to assemble in the Carolinas.
Director: George Clooney
Writers: George Clooney, Duncan Brantley, Rick Reilly
Producers: Grant Heslov, Casey Silver
Executive Producer: Barbara Hall
Oscar winners George Clooney and Renee Zellweger star in a romantic comedy based in the mid-1920s, right before the birth of the National Football League.
Clooney plays George Connolly, a rogue, aging football hero and Zellweger plays Lexie Littleton, a rookie reporter.
Connolly sees his team lose its sponsor and the league is on the verge of collapse. He convinces Carter Rutherford, (played by John Krasinski), a college football star and WWI hero to join the team of misfits. Dodge is banking on Carter to capture the country’s fascination and help the sport survive.
Carter is the U.S. poster boy for the war. As a war hero, he has good looks and unmatched speed on the football field. Dodge may be fooled by Carter’s stories but Lexie thinks there’s more to Carter than meets the eye.
Dodge and Carter become rivals for Lexie’s affections with Dodge trying to get the girl and keep his team together at the same time.
Connolly’s character is loosely based on Johnny “Blood” McNally. McNally was still playing college football when he signed on to play for the Duluth (Minnesota) Eskimos, a team that took regular beatings from the big-city teams.
Blood was an unpredictable character who could recite Shakespeare and other greats of literature atop a bar table and, with his dashing good looks, attract more ladies than anyone else around.
Rick Reilly, Sports Illustrated Senior Writer, and Duncan Brantley, a former Sports Illustrated reporter, wrote the script in 1992.
Clooney bought the script and took on dual roles as director and actor. He also wrote some of the screenplay.
Did you know?
NFL Hall of Famer Johnny “Blood” McNally played 14 seasons, most with the Green Bay Packers. At the Titletown Brewery in Green Bay, “Johnny Blood Red Ale” is named after him. |
