"Friday Night Lights" newspaper roundup 3/15/04

The Midland Reporter-Telegram's Georgia Temple reported on March 13 in the print addition and on March 15 in Mywesttexas.com that the film crew redecorated a locker room at Scharbauer Sports Complex to look like an Astrodome locker room:

"They moved in on March 1st, and they've transformed the home locker room at Grande Communications to be similar to the locker rooms at the Astrodome," said Nancy Swallow, facility manager for the Scharbauer Sports Complex. "They've laid carpet, put linoleum in the bathrooms. They've added paint.

"Every detail in my locker room has Astrodome on it," Swallow said. " And if you have ever been in the locker rooms, they're in a hallway. And they've put up a wall facade that makes it look like when they shoot out our double doors that they are in a hallway."

In reality, the Permian Panthers played Dallas Carter in the Class 5A state semifinal game at Austin's Texas Memorial Stadium, now called the Darrell K. Royal Texas Memorial Stadium. The Panthers lost 14 to 9. In the film, this game -- between Permian and Carter -- becomes the state championship played at the Astrodome. /cut/

"The Universal staff that I have been dealing with have been so wonderful to work with," Swallow said. "And this being our first movie shoot out there, they have set the standard pretty high."

When the filming is over at the Midland complex, everything will be put back as it was, Swallow said. "Everything they put in has got to come out. They have to return it to the city of Midland in the same fashion they received it."

The March 9 Odessa American provided some background on Boobie Miles:

It's been 10 years since James "Boobie" Miles stepped foot in Ratliff Stadium, "since little John Williams graduated," but being on the field still holds a powerful emotional sway for him.

"It still feels the same," Miles said. "It feels like magic. It gives you goose bumps.
"I'm thinking about all those 80-yarders and 60-yarders I used to run," he said. "Every time I come here, it brings back memories."

As long-time Mojo fans and readers of "Friday Night Lights" know, Miles' football career was effectively ended when his left knee was injured in a 1988 preseason scrimmage.
Miles had been the team's star player but was sent to the sidelines before the season even started.

After the injury, according to H.G. Bissinger's account of the 1988 Permian football season, Miles had become useless.

After graduation, Miles cut off his ties with Permian and the Mojo institution, but any resentment Miles had for his former team has faded.

It certainly was apparent Monday as he stood behind director Peter Berg's chair, watching his son, James III, give the "action" and "cut" commands through Berg's megaphone.

"You leave the past in the past," Miles said. "It doesn't bother me. You live and you learn."

Miles also said having a movie made about his high school exploits was exciting.
"It's every high school athlete's dream," he said. "We (the former players) never thought it would ever, ever come to something like this."

[Gossip: Passing along a little gossip, those people whose real names are being used in the movie are said to be receiving $10,000 each for that privilege!]

Various things around Odessa have been changed to reflect a 1988 look for the filming. The set director Carla Curry, formerly of Hobbs, NM, has tried to make everything in the movie look as realistic for the period as possible. Odessa American's OA Online of March 12 has more:

Set director Carla Curry said the changed gas signs at the 7-Eleven caused some confusion. "We did have one woman come in and ask why the price on the pumps [99 cents per gallon!] was different from the price on the sign," Curry said. As the film's set decorator, it's Curry's task to make sure the scenes are as authentic as possible.

For Curry, that meant sifting through period magazines and catalogs, Permian High School records and scrounging in area thrift shops for 1980s paraphernalia.

"We're trying to keep it as real as possible," Curry said. "Fortunately, Permian is pretty well documented. Their record keeping is pretty dead-on.

"Fortunately it's 1988, so things are still available," she said. Curry, a Hobbs, N.M. native, said her background helped as well.

"I grew up out in this part of the country so I wasn't totally ignorant," Curry said.

To make the film look authentic, the crew had to revamp local sets. At the 7-Eleven, that meant changing the gas prices, putting up 20-year-old cigarette ads and adding an old phone booth.

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

Comments

[Randy Severs]

I am the Gen.Forman in the Construction Department. I would just like to thank everyone in the Midland-Odessa area. It was a pleasure to work with all of you. We met a lot of nice people and felt welcome. Thank you again from the constuction Dept of "Friday Night Lights"