Sleepless in Midland

"Friday Night Lights" -- the tv show

Movie director Peter Berg wrote a pilot script and may direct a tv show based on the movie "Friday Night Lights" but set in present times.   Link:

... while NBC is looking ahead to next season's return of the NFL to the network with a pilot order for a drama based on the feature "Friday Night Lights."

/snip/

The 2004 film "Friday Night Lights," from Imagine Entertainment and NBC's corporate sibling Universal Pictures, starred Billy Bob Thornton as a straight-arrow coach who leads his small-town Texas high school football team to the 1988 state semifinals. The "Lights" pilot is set in the present.

The feature's director and co-writer, Peter Berg, penned the pilot script and is executive producing the NBC project with Sarah Aubrey and John Cameron, his partners at the Universal-based company Film 44, and Imagine's Brian Grazer. Berg also is on board to direct.

Imagine's TV arm, Imagine Television, is producing the pilot with NBC Universal Television Studio.

Thanks to PEGJOVI for the heads-up.

Updated 1/23/06; 6:37 pm.

Terry left a comment at one of the earlier entries about the movie Friday Night Lights.  (Link).  And he gave us a headsup about the casting call in Austin for football players for the tv series.  But there's a short fuse, they take place 1/24 and 1/25/06.

KXAN.com has the lowdown.

The network is working on a pilot called Friday Night Lights, based on the 2004 movie and the book by the same name.

Auditions will be held Tuesday and Wednesday at Austin Studios on East 51st Street, starting at 9 a.m.

For directions and times, you can call 512-538-0197.

Thanks Terry.

"Friday Night Lights" winner of ESPY 2005

And the award goes to:  "Friday Night Lights" in the ESPY category of Best Sports Movie.

Yeah!  Well deserved.  What a great movie that was.  Congratulations to Peter Berg and all involved.

See the full list of winners here.

Speaking of awards, Eric alerts us to another winner.  It's Midlander Jon Lindgren who won $50,000 in the Amazon Theater/Tribeca Film Festival Short-Film Competition for "Rachel's Challenge."  Follow the link and the instructions there to see the seven minute movie.

"Friday Night Lights" director Peter Berg back in Odessa

The Odessa American online news, in an article titled "FNL" Comes Back to Odessa, reported that Peter Berg was in Odessa for a banquet Saturday night:

The Permian High School football team got one last flash of "Friday Night Lights" as movie director Peter Berg delivered the keynote address Saturday at the football banquet.  Berg spoke at the annual dinner, which Permian gives to honor its players, trainers, filmers, cheerleaders and band boosters.

Berg said he was glad to be back in town since filming the big screen movie last Spring.  "You touched me, and you touched my family," Berg said. "I've missed Odessa."  Berg joined about 700 other people in an MCM Grandé Hotel Fundome banquet hall that bled Mojo spirit. Black and white reigned from dresses and tuxedos to balloons, tablecloths, decorations and ornaments.

-snip-

Berg was the star of the night, though. The 40-year-old director stepped up to the podium, his notes scrawled on rumpled pieces of notebook paper, and opened his speech with a hearty Texas welcome.

"Howdy, y'all," he said, eliciting cheers from the audience of players, trainers, parents, a judge, a deputy police chief, former Permian trainer Trapper O'Connell, school board members and the sheriff.

Berg talked about the DVD release of "Friday Night Lights," calling it the No. 1 DVD in America.  The $30 million film, starring Thornton and Tim McGraw, earned about $61 million in theaters during the fall. The movie, which hit video stores Jan. 18, is based on H.G. "Buzz" Bissinger's 1990 book of the same name.  Berg also mentioned that Thursday he begins a world tour of the movie.  "It'll play in Australia, Japan … Asia and Africa," he said. "This movie will literally be seen all over the world."

"Friday Night Lights" out on DVD

"It's like a madhouse," Randy Ham said. Ham is the book manager at Hastings Books, Music and Video, 3897 E. 42nd St. "I haven't seen a release this big since the last Harry Potter book. I really have not seen a movie release this big."  - from the Odessa American.  Here's more:

"It's going really good," said Orlando Spencer, executive team leader for hard lines at Target Store, 3909 E. 42nd St. "A lot of people are really interested in it. It's a really good seller."

Like other stores, Target ordered plenty of extra copies to accommodate the Odessa crowds.  "We knew it was going to be big," Spencer said.

- snip -

Shelly Rodriguez, a manager at Video One, 2760 N. Grandview Ave., said the store allowed people to pre-order the DVD, in effect, reserving it. For those who didn't, there aren't any left.

In fact, the movie was even selling well in Midland, which was vilified in the movie.  [emphasis added]

"The sale is going great," said Kimberly Hoelle, the assistant store leader at Hastings, 3111 W. Cuthbert Ave in Midland.

I can't speak for every Midlander, but I loved it!  You can see my review here.  Heck, I might even break down and buy a DVD player so I can see all that extra stuff they put on those DVDs.

Coach Gaines Returns to Odessa

And finally, coach Gary Gaines, who was played by Billy Bob Thornton in the movie, will return to Odessa.  It's a story book ending.  After a long absence, he's returning to Odessa to serve as athletic director for the Ector County Independent School District.  What symmetry.  What a beautiful ending for the story.  You can't make this stuff up.  Good luck, coach Gaines.  We all wish you the very best.

[To see the complete collection of postings at this weblog about the movie, which includes extensive behind the scenes reports on the making of the movie along with photos, click Friday Night Lights.]

"Friday Night Lights" props for sale on E-bay.

Pegjovi emailed to alert us to an Ebay auction of items supposedly used in the making of the movie Friday Night Lights. (Link is to the full FNL coverage at this weblog.)

Among the items listed are Panther cheerleader outfits, Permian High School letter jackets (without the letter), and MOJO sleeveless shirts. If you are interested, check it out at this E-bay link.

Thanks Pegjovi!

Bull Durham's review of "Friday Night Lights"

Check out this new blog sending forth excellent movie reviews from Odessa, Texas. In particular, Bull Durham's Hot Corner has a wonderful review of Friday Night Lights relating lots of first hand experiences.

He says, "This story is so realistic it brings back personal nightmares. Friday Night Lights is genuine, gut wrenching, and most of all, heart-felt." Permalink.

Glad you liked it. So did I.

"Friday Night Lights" First Weekend Gross: $20.6 Million

In an article updated 10/10/2004 11:14 PM, USA Today's preliminary report says that Friday Night Lights grossed $20.6 million over the weekend placing it second behind Shark Tale. Here's what they said:

Timing was on the side of Friday Night Lights, the high school football film that was the surprise of the weekend.

The drama, based on the 1988 Permian High School football team in Odessa, Texas, stunned analysts by bringing in $20.6 million. The haul was $5 million more than analysts expected, good for second.

Lights flourished by luring moviegoers who are not typical fans of sports films: 44% of the audience was female. [Emphasis added.]

"We knew that women would be drawn to the story of the relationships and the community," Universal distribution chief Nikki Rocco says. "So we advertised as much on the morning news shows as we did on ESPN."

/snip/

Final numbers are due today.

It's interesting that the audience was 44% female. By the way, the USA Today movie review gave the movie three and one half stars out of four.

For my own review of the movie see "Friday Night Lights." Saw it. Loved it!. And to see all of the items at this web log about the making of the movie click "Friday Night Lights".

"Friday Night Lights" - another point of view

Anonymous Houston Extra has seen the movie Friday Night Lights and has logged in with his take:

Well I hate to be the negative one but I just think the movie could have been so much better. The performance of each and every actor was clearly superb but the directing and screenplay were lacking in the eyes of many of the extras who participated in the Houston filming. Peter Berg chose a few personalities to go deep rather than give us a better flavor of the community as a whole. I mean, unlike "The Rookie" or "Hoosiers" where we got a real sense of the community culture, FNL gave us a couple boosters and a guy at the burger stand. I guess all the people in the stands were suppose to give us a feeling of life in Odessa along with "gone to the game" signs in store windows.

Berg totally weakened the storylines with excessive time spent on shoulder pad crunching rather than the interesting vignettes of dialog that were playing out among fans, boosters in the suite, recruiters, announcers, cheerleaders and students, faculty and alumni. Somehow that all got left on the cutting room floor and turned a potentially great movie into a docu-drama. In my opinion the best part of the movie was when the dads and alumni in the stands were conversing on opening day practice. After that it was all weak dialog or Billy Bob monologues.

And as far as crunching tackles... enough already. Did they have to take us through every blessed game of the season. Maybe it's just my taste but movies like "Rudy" with a great story behind it are so much more enjoyable. Of course those movies like most are meant to be positive, uplifting and project optimism. Berg also separates the audience from the characters in game action sequences. Unlike Tom Cruise in "All the Right Moves" where you see the actors making plays on the field you feel the absence of the actors in the action.

The town of Odessa is enthralled with high school football because they love it and enjoy it. It brings the community together it doesn't tear it apart. Berg could have made this movie more about a community that goes "Over the Top". That's real and it happens in towns all over the United States. Instead Berg would lead us to believe that high school football is the root of all evil for a small town in West Texas.

Thanks AHE. For my own take on the movie see the post just below this one or click "Friday Night Lights." Saw it. Loved it!. And to see all of the items at this web log about the making of the movie click "Friday Night Lights".

"Friday Night Lights." Saw it. Loved it!

The Last Picture Show meets Any Given Sunday.

Last night at least 900 people paid $100 each for a ticket to see the Texas premiere of Friday Night Lights in Odessa. And, it was a real premiere with limos, a red carpet, tv crews, stars, the director. The only thing missing was Joan Rivers.

Author H. G. "Buzz" Bissinger apparently never really understood the intoxicating effect winning can have. And, in his book he treated the people of Odessa as some sort of curiosity. Forget the book. The movie was the book Buzz Bissinger should have written. Anyone who has ever enjoyed a football game will enjoy this movie. And what a powerful movie it was!

The camera work was tremendous. And, the well choreographed, Dolby amplified, hard slamming football action made me want to hide behind the seat in front of me. And some of the scenes were so climatic that it made the movie audience want to cheer. We had to remind ourselves, it's only a movie. It's only a movie.

Coach Gary Gaines can finally hold his head high again. Billy Bob Thornton did an excellent job of portraying him as competent and firm yet compassionate. The real Coach Gaines should be quite pleased with the movie.

There were some unlikeable characters in the movie. In particular, Tim McGraw played a drunken football-obsessed dad whose destructive tendencies were almost overwhelming. But, it was a great performance, and it must have been a tough part for McGraw to play.

Derek Luke was a smashing hit as Boobie Miles. Luke played Miles as a brash braggart with nothing but fabulous things in his future. The real Boobie Miles was in attendance, and his outgoing personality made him unmistakable as he held court at the post premiere party. But, in the movie, Miles sustains a knee injury, and the scene in which he sits with his uncle, L. V., in the parking lot of Ratliff Stadium and finally faces up to reality will just reach into your chest and rip out your heart. Take a handkerchief.

There were no scenes in which the stadium crowd cheered because a player got injured, so reason must have prevailed in the editing room.

Before Miles' knee injury Permian was on top of the world. "Expectations couldn't be any higher," the coach tells the players. "We will win state."

Following Miles' departure from the game, Permian went from the upper dog to the underdog which had to claw and fight its way back inch by bloody inch. And, with just the sheer luck of a coin toss Permian got the chance to play for the state championship in the movie.

The championship game in the movie was between Permian and Dallas Carter in the Astrodome. And, if anyone had come off as a villain before, that all fell to the wayside as we met Dallas Carter. From the first encounter with the Carter coaches as they played the race card in a preliminary meeting, to the last unpunished game violation, you could feel about as much compassion for Carter as for O. J. Simpson.

The championship game will really get your adrenalin going. You probably already know how it ends, so I won't dwell on it. But, I'll say that last night, regardless where we came from, we were all Permian Panthers.

Two thumbs way up! Go see it!

Updated 10/12/04: Welcome visitors from GruntDoc.com; Jessica's Well; Bull Durham's Hot Corner; BillyBobapaloosa; and Amerika Kiest. I have had a great time covering the making of the movie, and finally being able to see it on the big screen was a pleasure almost beyond words.

[To see all of the items at this web log about the movie and the making of the movie click "Friday Night Lights".]

"Friday Night Lights" - The Odessa Premiere

Here are some photos taken in and around the red carpet runway at the Odessa, Texas, premiere of Friday Night Lights.

To see all of the items at this web log about the movie and the making of the movie click "Friday Night Lights".

"Friday Night Lights" - Texas Premiere Tomorrow!

Tomorrow (Thursday, October 7, 2004) is the big day for the Texas premiere of Friday Night Lights at the Century Theater in Odessa, Texas.

Anyone who ordered a ticket should have it by now. The tickets mailed out by the ECISD Education Foundation will allow the ticket holder to get into the theater where Century Theater tickets will be issued with a specific theater assignment.

A portion of the Education Foundation ticket will allow admission to the post screening party at Graham's Central Station. And, upon admission, the ticket holder will be issued four (count 'em, FOUR) drink tickets! Hot dang! According to Ginger Pope of the Odessa American "Several television stations are planning a live broadcast from the event...". I hope the "Cops" tv crew isn't one of them!

[To see all of the items at this weblog about the movie, including photos, click "Friday Night Lights".]

"Friday Night Lights" - 1st review

David J. Lee has penned a review of Friday Night Lights in the October 3, 2004, Odessa American Online:

What many people hoped the book would be, the "Friday Night Lights" movie is — a feel-good sports story that will leave fans cheering in much the same way "Hoosiers" did.

/cut/

The movie is suspenseful, and even though most Odessans know the story, some of them are bound to sit on the edge of their seats and hope Permian will win.

As one Midlander said at a recent screening of the film in Los Angeles: "I can't believe I'm a Lee graduate and found myself rooting for Permian." She couldn't help it and neither could the others in the audience. And that's because it's not Permian they're rooting for; it's the players Berg brought to life. By the end of the movie, the audience is pulling for players they feel they know so well.

Can't wait for the movie!

[To see all of the items at this weblog about the making of the movie, click Friday Night Lights.]

Billy Bob Thornton on the "Tonight Show" Friday night, 10/1/04

Billy Bob Thornton was a guest on Jay Leno's "Tonight Show" last night. They showed a clip from Friday Night Lights, and it was scene in which coach Gary Gaines gives a pep talk to his players in a locker room. Here's Billy Bob Thornton as coach Gaines in that scene:

You all have known me for a while, and for a long time now you've been hearing me talk about being perfect. Well, I want you to understand something. To me, being perfect is not about that scoreboard out there. It's not about winning. It's about you and your relationship to yourself and your family and your friends.

Being perfect is about being able to look your friends in the eye and know that you didn't let them down. Because you told them the truth. And that truth is that you did everything you could. There wasn't one more thing that you could have done. Can you live in that moment? As best you can with clear eyes and love in your heart. With joy in your heart. If you can do that gentlemen, then you're perfect.

Then the scene ended with applause from the audience, a good bye handshake from Jay Leno, and a cut to a commercial. In all fairness I should probably point out that earlier in the interview Mr. Thornton said some things that, hmmmmm, how shall I say this, things that might be considered a little bit less than perfect. For example he said that he thought William Shakespeare was overrated. He also said that he wanted to name his illegitimate daughter after Barney Fife. So, I can only suppose that when someone gets a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame it makes them really, really smart.

[To see all of the items at this weblog about the movie, including photos, click "Friday Night Lights".]

"Friday Night Lights" - Texas Premiere ticket sales

The ECISD Education Foundation still has a few tickets available for the "Friday Night Lights" Texas premiere on October 7 in Odessa. They plan to mail out tickets and instructions Monday, September 27, to those who have paid the $100 ticket price. Actually, they won't be issuing tickets to the movie - Century Theater will do that.

The Education Foundation ticket will enable the holder to go into the theater on the night of the show to retrieve a movie ticket. There may be as many as four screenings of the "Friday Night Lights" that night to accommodate all of the ticket holders. But, Century Theater will be going about it's normal movie business that night as well, so there is a potential for congestion. I'm sure the ECISD Education Foundation will get it all done in an orderly fashion.

I know, I know. The prospect of school administrators selling movie tickets is generating snarky thoughts in some of you. You're thinking about the likelihood it will turn into something similar to college registration in the pre-computer days. Or, you might be working up some lame joke, like this one, for example:

How many school administrators does it take to sell a movie ticket?

Four.

One to hand out the ticket, take the money, and retrieve the ticket.

A teacher to teach the other one how to do it.

An evaluator to evaluate the teacher.

And a union representative to criticize the evaluator.

But no. We don't do that sort of thing around here.

[To see all of the items at this weblog about the movie, including photos, click "Friday Night Lights".]

The Making of "Friday Night Lights" on CMT

Country Music Television (Cox local channel 38) is scheduled to show a program about the making of "Friday Night Lights" on October 2, 2004, at 8:30 P.M. CDT. Link to CMT:

Tim McGraw hosts this look at the making of his new feature film Friday Night Lights. The film opens Friday, Oct. 8, and chronicles the story of the economically depressed town of Odessa, Texas...

Set your VCR. [Updated: If you have a TIVO, set your TIVO.]

In the meantime, MTV describes the movie this way:

A town for sale, Odessa, Texas has seen better days — the financial bust is evident in its boarded-up shops and broken lives. Just one hope sustains the community. Once a week during the fall, the town and its dreams come alive beneath the dazzling and disorienting Friday night lights, when the Permian High Panthers take to the field. In a city where economic uncertainty has eroded the spirit of its inhabitants, nearly everyone — players and pastors, coaches and boosters, family and fans — seeks comfort in the religion of the Friday night ritual, where the unfulfilled dreams of an entire community are shifted onto the shoulder pads of a team of high-school athletes.

Starring: Billy Bob Thornton, Tim McGraw, Derek Luke, Jay Hernandez, Lucas Black, Lee Thompson Young, Garrett Hedlund, Connie Britton, Lee Jackson

Directed by: Peter Berg

Release Date: October 4, 2004

To see all of the items at this web log about the movie, including photos, click "Friday Night Lights"

"Friday Night Lights" to premiere in Odessa

This is good news in more ways than one.

Representatives of the ECISD Education Foundation had the opportunity to screen the movie "Friday Night Lights" recently, and they liked it well enough to seek the right to have a premiere in Odessa.

The revised nation wide opening date for the movie is October 8. But, the Odessa premiere will be on October 7 at the Century Theater. The ticket price for that event is a bit severe at $100, but ECISD Education Foundation gets the money, so hopefully the teachers will ultimately benefit from it. Here's a link to an article in the OA Online News which describes the event in more detail.

Also in FNL news, Pegjovi has emailed to say that AOL users can use FNL icons for their buddy lists.

[To see all of the items at this weblog about the movie click Friday Night Lights.]

Joe Millionaire 2 meets "Friday Night Lights"

The April 22 addition of LufkinDailyNews.com contains the revelation that former Midlander, David Smith, who was Joe Millionaire 2 in "The Next Joe Millionaire, an International Affair," has a small role in the movie "Friday Night Lights." Here's the key graf:

These days, Smith is trying to get back into the entertainment business when he's not on the rodeo circuit. He said he recently had a small part as a press box coach in the "Friday Night Lights" being filmed in Texas.

See ya in the movies, David.

[Thanks to Westgate for the heads up.]

Unannounced Casting Call in Odessa 8/25/04

Odessa, Texas. The new Hollywood.

With nothing more than word of mouth and signs in front of two cafes for advertising, a crowd of around 200 people showed up Wednesday to apply for parts in The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada, a film to be directed by Tommy Lee Jones in Odessa, Van Horn and other places in West Texas.

The movie, set to begin filming on September 21 in Odessa, is supposed to be about a ranch hand who tries to keep a promise to a deceased friend to bury the friend in Mexico.

Apparently, many of the applicants also worked on Friday Night Lights.

Source: Odessa American.

"Friday Night Lights" - a revised opening date?

There's a short item in the Houston Chronicle about some celebrity sightings during the recent reshoot and new scene filming in Houston. And there was this line:

[Billy Bob] Thornton was in town for a quickie scene reshoot at the Astrodome for Friday Night Lights, which is scheduled to open in movie theaters Oct. 8.

Originally, the opening date was said to be October 15. So, either the author of the Chronicle article was misinformed or there's a new opening date.

And, here's a link to a Friday Night Lights trailer. Apparently, the trailers are being run on tv in Houston during the Olympics.

[Thanks to a Houston FNL extra for the pointer!]

"Friday Night Lights," a new scene filming in Houston

"GET ME REWRITE!"

The casting director has issued a call for the Houston extras to come back to work for more filming of "Friday Night Lights" on August 18, 19 and 20, 2004.

On Wednesday they are shooting some retakes at the Astrodome.

And, on Thursday and Friday nights they will be shooting a new scene called "Burger Joint." They are seeking three long haired white guys who look like teenage heavy metal rockers one of whom should be able to emulate Jon Bon Jovi from the 80s.

Hmmmmm. Two months before the planned release and they are shooting a brand new scene. That's an interesting development. Maybe the film scored poorly with the age 18 -34 focus groups. "It needs some rock and roll, dude!"

[To see all of the items at this weblog about making of the movie click "Friday Night Lights".]

Group working on "Friday Night Lights" premiere in Odessa

The Education Foundation for Ector County Independent School District is a fund raising group for the benefit of teachers in the ECISD. And, the group is working toward a goal of having the "Friday Night Lights" movie premiere in Odessa, according to an article by Ginger Pope in the Odessa American.

Members of the Education Foundation will travel to California in July to preview the movie. This is one step closer to a possible communitywide premiere of the movie in Odessa.

Lorraine Perryman and Cindi Wiehle, co-chairs of the foundation's "Friday Night Lights" premiere committee, will be traveling to California for the preview. Perryman said so far the only thing nailed down on the project is a signed letter of intent to have a premiere here.

/cut/

Perryman said Universal will make a final cut of the movie. Then members of the foundation will preview the movie when they go to California next month. Based upon what they see, the committee will then decide if the foundation can support the movie.
"We've been sworn (by Universal) not to talk about what we'll see," she said

/cut/

Venue ideas depend on how many copies of the movie are furnished, Wiehle said. Talk of venues range from a giant screen show at Ratliff to Century Theaters and Graham Central Station to the downtown Ector Theatre. The foundation would like to premiere the movie 10 days before the actual release, she said.

My vote would go to the giant screen at Ratliff Stadium. But, if the group decides after screening the movie not to have a premiere in Odessa then we can all draw our own conclusions about how well the movie might go over here.

"Friday Night Lights" - the 1st trailer

Screen shot from trailer

Update 6/14/04: PEGJOVI sent this screen shot of a crowd scene from the FNL trailer. And, she's in there somewhere.

Thanks Pegjovi. See you in the movies!

----------------------
A "Friday Night Lights" movie trailer can be seen at Yahoo. Be sure to check out the still shots there, too.

Thanks to Allen at GruntDoc for that link.

"Friday Night Lights" - the book's author

Fans of "Friday Night Lights" author H. G. Bissinger will get a chance to meet him and get his autograph at a book signing from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. tomorrow, June 11, at Hastings Book Music & Video located at 3895 E. 42nd Street in Odessa, Texas.

Update 6/13/04: David J. Lee reported in the 6/12/04 Odessa American that 200 people showed up for the book signing and that about 100 books appeared to have been sold by the end of the signing. Here's more from the article:

The book about Permian High School's 1988 football season spurred controversy about racism and ethics in the city of Odessa.

"My sense is … times heals a lot of wounds," Bissinger said. "Let's face it. They're so ga-ga over the movie, they're like 'What book?' "

Movie director Peter Berg, Bissinger's cousin, is making a film based on the book.

[James "Boobie"] Miles said he believes the city has changed greatly since 1988. "There's no more black and white," he said. "That was 15 years ago. Let it be in the past."

And, Ken Brodnax in the 6/13/04 Odessa American reports that Mr. Bissinger had come to Odessa because Sports Illustrated had sent him back to write a story about how Odessa has changed. And, Mr. Brodnax had some interesting tidbits about Mr. Bissinger:

Still, the author admits that the phenomenal success of the book (he said it still sells about 35,000 copies a year) can sometimes be a burden.

Bissinger likens the attention given to him for writing "Friday Night Lights" to the football hero who is always frozen in time during his glory days. "It's sort of the nonfiction version of the high school quarterback. I've actually written other things in my life." The author said he thinks some of his later books are actually better-written. He went to Hollywood a couple of years ago to be a writer and producer for the popular television drama "NYPD Blue."

"But 'Friday Night Lights' is my badge, and sometimes I wear it proudly and sometimes I wonder, honestly, if it would have been better if I'd written it at a later time in my life."

We'll be watching for that Sports Illustrated article.

"Friday Night Lights" - a kegger scene?

Was there a "kegger" scene in the movie "Friday Night Lights"? Check out Leslie's comment following this post.

Thanks Leslie! We'll be watching for you!

"Friday Night Lights" - Commentary from Anonymous Houston Extra

The other day we heard from an Anonymous Houston Extra who worked in the Houston production of the movie "Friday Night Lights." AHE has checked in with another commentary about the movie and how the citizens in west Texas may be portrayed.

I have a personal comment about why the FNL book and movie were made. I think it's actually quite simple. I remember very well hearing about an author going into Odessa back in the 80's to write a book about the high school football team there. I said even back then to my wife, "oh my goodness, are these people so naive that they can't see this carpet-bagger is coming in to do a tap dance all over them." But times were tough, and I guess the people of Odessa just wanted to believe something good could come about from it.

Bissinger could have picked "Any Town USA" to write a book on high school football. The fact is that Bissinger needed a stereo-typical Texas town environment where exaggerated plots could be amusing and believable to outside readers. Odessa was perfect because it was an isolated Texas town and virtually unknown to most of the country... everything would be real and believable to the reader. With Odessa he had license to incorporate racism, a society filled with under-educated "red necks" and a mentality that "winning the football game" is everything.

I think it's so silly when people ask Berg why he made FNL. He's Bissinger's cousin that's why. The movie isn't "Schindler's List" you know, and it's not even about football. It's about Peter and Buzz just wanting to make a buck creating a film they hope people will view as entertainment... and you can expect Berg to do whatever he can to make it entertaining including a lot of exaggeration. I heard extras say scene after scene "I would never act like that in public". I also watched the opening scene of the championship game where one of the coaches (not Billy Bob) getting his defense fired up to take the field. He starts yelling over and over "this is your opportunity to legally assault somebody. I want you to go out there and assault somebody."

The people of Odessa need to take these caricatures with a "grain of salt". I just hope the movie doesn't go overboard and get too "cheesy". Otherwise, Peter and Buzz will get their nice contract salaries, Odessa will get pie in the face one more time and Universal will get a nice big tax write-off like Alamo gave Touchstone.

Yes, we all hope the movie doesn't go overboard. West Texas is flyover country even for other Texans, and it's a rare opportunity to get some national exposure. But, if they do get too "cheesy" with the movie, then we promise to try to maintain our dignity as we read that it was a box office bomb.

UPDATE: Anonymous Houston Extra checked in again with this:

Also a personal FYI... I got a nice card with photos from the friend who accompanied actress Eloise Broady on the FNL set. Eloise is a past Playboy centerfold who plays a "dizzy" girlfriend of a rich Permian Booster. I know what you are wondering but let me stop you now... she is clothed in all the photos. In real life she is married to John Paul Mitchell the hair products magnet and owner of Patron Tequila. In the rush Eloise's friend was mistaken by the director for an extra and used in several takes also. There was nothing stuffy about Eloise or her friend. They cut-up and had fun the whole time they were there.

Have a great summer and I'll check in after release of FNL.

Thanks! We look forward to it!

"Friday Night Lights" in Texas Monthly

An emailer said that the June issue of Texas Monthly has a short item about the movie. The excerpt he sent appears to be an analysis of director Peter Berg's intentions based on a reading of regional newspapers. Here's the excerpt:

Thus far, Berg's comments on how hard-hitting the film might be have varied. On the one hand, "I was never interested in an in-depth, investigative profile of the sociological issues surrounding the community," he said in the San Antonio Express-News. "I wanted to make a movie about high school football." Then Berg told the Houston Chronicle that his movie will be "very true to the book, especially in tone ... It is a very real look at an intense and sophisticated program." Either way, expect his film to be softer than the book, less because Berg is worried about sparing Odessans' feelings than because in Hollywood, you just don't show a coach saying, as one does in the book, that without football, his prize running back is just "a big ol' dumb n---er."

Well, you don't say it anywhere. Even in Texas Monthly.

Thanks for that email.

"Friday Night Lights", A Houston Extra Reports

An extra at the Houston FNL set, who wishes to remain anonymous, emailed a very interesting report. We've already heard about Peter Berg and 2nd assistant director Dave, so here's another take.

Love the site. I took my son down to be an extra for the Houston shoot and ended up working as an extra myself for a week. What a great time! I can tell you nothing improper went on within the Permian extra group. Everyone seemed to get there on time; appropriate lunch breaks; and did everything expected, etc.

There were hundreds of extras a day in the Dome, and they had "wrappered" foods available for us all day long. I would say things were pretty clean considering that. Extras seemed to take photos whenever they wanted and hollered to stars to come over and sign autographs. It made me nervous to watch all that, but I never once heard anything said nor did I ever see a star not want to come over to an extra that called them... unbelievable. You wonder how they ever completed the shoot.

I even had a scene as an extra in the Permain Booster suite where some of the paid actors came up and introduced themselves to me... again unbelievable.

My thought on Peter Berg is that he is better working and communicating with professional talent. By the time they got to Houston I think his patience had pretty well "had it" with this massive group of non-professionals running around the movie set. On the other hand, I think 2nd A.D. Dave did a tremendous job of working with the bottom of the barrel and getting their best. Extras don't like being told to move here and there after sitting in one place for three hours; or not being chosen for a particular scene. But I thought Dave was very political in his handling of all that crap, and I have to especially admire how he took the time to memorize literally hundreds of "extras" names.

In the movie the championship game comes down to the very last play (about a 30 yard run after a pass) and Permian gets stopped at the six inch line. They did a couple different endings of Billy Bob's reaction. The second one they shot, Billy Bob turns to his wife in the stands, and you see a close up of tears coming to Connie Britton's eyes. The problem is that the second version was shot on a different day with a different set of extras. A lot of work had to go in to making the extras look like the first set of extras (including painting beards and faces).

Thanks! Those first hand reports really bring it home. He emailed back to add the following:

Also, there was quite a long article on being an extra in the FNL movie about two weeks ago in the Houston Chronicle. It might be found on their website. I can't remember the day now but the lady they interviewed was a Permian extra that worked the whole Houston stint. Although she was quite quiet among our group I remembered her.

Another interesting thing about the Houston extras is that quite a few were from Austin and worked both locations. What some people won't do to get their face on the big screen.

Yeah, we've heard about those "professional" extras. Anyway, thanks again! By the way, that Houston Chronicle article was mentioned in these pages, and the whole thing can be seen here along with a falsh photo gallery. It's worth a look.

Odessa High School grad has part in "Friday Night Lights"

"Friday Night Lights" correspondent Teresa McMahan sends this link to the Sul Ross website which contains an article about Charles "Tiki" Davis. He went to Odessa High School then went on to graduate from Sul Ross State University in Alpine, Texas, with a degree in communications. He originally had a part in the movie as a football player, but after getting to know some of the key people, he ended up with a speaking role. Here's an excerpt from the article:

Cast as minor, "locker room/in the huddle" extra during the first two of weeks of location filming in Odessa, Davis used much of his down time in between shots to network and associate with other cast members.

/cut/

"By the time we went to Houston, the director had decided to put me in a speaking role of the team captain for Dallas Carter," Davis said.

"That gave me several important scenes where I give hard time to the Odessa Permian captain," he said, so I'll be sure to be on the screen."

We'll be watching for you Tiki.

"Friday Night Lights" - an extra in Houston featured in HouChron

A May 7 HoustonChronicle.com article provides a glimpse of an extra's life at the Houston Astrodome setting of the filming of "Friday Night Lights". There's a flash photo slide show with some interesting pictures. One shows a pump jack in the foreground and Ratliff Stadium in the background with this caption:

An oil jack pump sits in front of the infamous stadium used by the Permian High School football team, where the team's story is being filmed in Odessa, March 22. (emphasis added)

That's the first time I've heard it called "infamous." Maybe it's because the Panthers won so many games that it was a crying shame for their rivals.

"Friday Night Lights" - vintage cars

"Friday Night Lights" correspondent Teresa McMahan sent this link to Tony Scharp's pictures of his Mustang which served as a vintage Texas DPS Highway Patrol car for the movie.

Mr. Scharp has a nice write up at the site about his experience working in the movie with his car, including this about having cleaned up the car nicely only to have the crew make it look dusty, a condition not really that hard to achieve out here.

I got the car so clean that in some shots there was too much glare. One area was the right rear bumper. Others were the spotlights, front bumper and new headlamps, and painted area around the left spotlamp. They sprayed the area with Arrid spray deodorant and had a special little "puffer" machine to blow dust on it. The picture with the rear bumper and bumper stickers show what it looked like. So much for worrying about getting the car all cleaned up!

Click the thumbnail to see what he's talking about. I really doubt that the Highway Patrol cars had MOJO bumper stickers on them back then, but hey, it's only a movie. Thanks for sharing this, Tony.