OLIVER STONE:I was really interested in the subject of a football movie.
I combined the two scripts at the last second.
JAMES WOODS (HARVEY MANDRAKE):I was surprised Oliver did it.
I didn’t even realize he was a football fan.
The salaries are enormously inflated and lose meaning for most people.
WOODS:Oliver got postponed, and I actually waited a year out of loyalty to him.
STONE:There was a long wait to make the movie.
It was a tremendously political thing.
WOODS:It’s a very political movie.
We decided to really go for it.
LAWRENCE TAYLOR (LUTHER LAVAY):The league wanted no part of Oliver [laughs].
STONE:The NFL was very nasty.
They hated the script.
They tried to kill the deal by telling players not to be involved.
We barely got the stadiums.
[Cowboys owner] Jerry Jones helped by telling them to f off and giving us Texas Stadium.
It was a fight all the way.
There was no coverage from the sports shows.
It was not fun to fight them, it’s like fighting the Pentagon.
And a workout in Los Angeles quickly eliminated many possible stars, including a Grammy-winning rapper and media mogul.
STONE:Robert De Niro was involved before me.
I worked with Al onScarface, and he was willing to do it and make the movie possible.
I’ll never forget the openness in which these coaches spoke, very congenial and receptive.
I learned a lot.
We were out there running with real quarterbacks, running backs, and receivers.
LL COOL J:People think they’re athletic until they have to be athletic.
BELLAMY:Actors were getting that tap, like, “Thank you for your services.”
When we started, it was 20 guys at receiver.
After lunch, it was just me.
STONE:We had Puff Daddy at one point.
He was not really a natural athlete, so we waited him out.
He could not throw.
His mechanics were just off.
He could not put enough velocity on the ball.
STONE:He was going to acting classes, but he was a ways away.
The bigger issue was the arm.
Jamie was really our first choice because he was a high school quarterback.
JAMIE FOXX (WILLIE BEAMEN):Oliver really challenged me.
The first time I auditioned he was like, “You’re terrible.”
Because I was loud, TV is loud.
I learned how to be smaller and go toe-to-toe.
And I was like, “Wow, this great, no matter what happens after.”
BELLAMY:Once you made it, we went to camp in Florida, which is where we shot.
We had to learn like 52 plays.
STONE:I wanted certain pop in of plays.
I wasn’t the kind of director to turn this over to a specialist.
I didn’t want it to be conventional.
FOXX:There’s a lot of Willie Beamens, both black and white like Baker Mayfield.
LL COOL J:I was so sore that when I sneezed, my ass hurt.
We felt it, physically.
That is a tough, tough way to make a living.
If people knew how these players felt after they play, they would have a newfound respect.
You don’t realize the level of physical sacrifice that these guys make.
BELLAMY:Cats were like, “Oh s, this is real.
Maybe we should have got tapped out.”
PACINO:The hits were intense and you could feel that.
No, that guy couldn’t even get on the practice squad.
STONE:I got theSaving Private Ryancameraman, because I knew the look I wanted.
STONE:These guys are playing for their lives and laying out their bodies.
I cut toBen-Hurfootage, because it’s a gladiator sport.
Ironically, [Ben-Hurstar] Charlton Heston shows up in the movie, too.
BELLAMY:We had injuries, we overcame adversity.
We became real football players.
TAYLOR:Son, I had no problem shooting the football.
LL COOL J:Oliver is not a conservative director.
It was like organized chaos.
AARON ECKHART (NICK CROZIER):We were at war in South Beach.
I don’t know who we were at war with, but we were at war.
STONE:It was war, because I was dead when it was over.
It was as tough as makingPlatoonand a war film, in it’s own way.
ECKHART:I just remember the insanity of it.
Oliver loves the idea of chaos and clashing and coming up against each other and creating that tension.
He always kept everybody off balance.
I was like, “Oliver told me to come out and say something to you.”
[Laughs] I’ll never forget that moment.
And the whole movie was like that, for everybody.
WOODS:A lot of what we did was improvisational.
PACINO:I have a fond memory of it, everybody together.
It had a good vibe.
WOODS:I have never in my life laughed that much.
I mean, if you could imagine this group of guys, the s that L.T.
would give to Jim Brown, in a fun way.
Dennis [Quaid] and I would be crying laughing.
I was trying to get clean, so I stayed away from most of the mayhem.
LL COOL J:It was Miami, we was going crazy.
BELLAMY:We took over Miami.
We was walking around that city on fire.
It’s amazing the movie got done, we was partying so much.
ECKHART:It was what you think.
[Laughs] It cannot be told.
BELLAMY:We had to acclimate to the bravado.
So, when we were onscreen, we weren’t acting anymore, we were living it.
I mean, there were fights, there were disagreements, there were hard hits.
STONE:It was a physical and rough movie.
Who’s the real alpha-male?
No one thought that these two knuckleheads would start fighting for real.
The first three takes nobody got hurt ‘cause we had helmets on.
Everybody said they’re good.
We must’ve did it like nine times.
“Here we go, again.”
Eventually, Jamie punched LL in the face, and then he knocked Jamie out.
LL COOL J:Put it this way, we didn’t film anymore that day.
BELLAMY:They kept some of it in.
STONE:It was contained.
I think the danger was when Al tried breaking them up.
That was what we were concerned about.
He’s a small guy compared to them, and we didn’t want him to get hurt.
LL COOL J:Nobody got to worry about Al.
You’re worried about Scarface?!
But we’re grown now."]
That’s football, guys.
That’s all it is.
ECKHART:Al giving the “inch by inch” locker-room speechis unforgettable.
I wanted to put that into what football is.
It’s an homage to the difference between getting by and really making it, between winning and losing.
PACINO:I may have changed a couple words here and there, but it was in the text.
I was grateful it was filmed toward the end.
I got to know the guys and where I was coming from.
I felt more in it.
STONE:You get to a certain age and people question your ability.
TAYLOR:It was remarkable watching Al.
ECKHART:The jaws were on the ground.
I really felt like I got to see greatness.
BELLAMY:We did it eight times, and we could have run through a brick wall every time.
Not just because of the quality, but for the impact it has made.
There was a tendency to rush people back [into the game].
ECKHART:These guys hit so hard, I don’t see how they survive.
If one of them hit me, I would be dead.
I’ve had my share of concussions, pretty bad ones.
MODINE:I loved how James’ character challenges mine with the Hippocratic Oath.
OWENS:They wanted to make it as realistic as possible.
Guys risk their lives and bodies for the sake of a win.
It’s a great representation of what happens behind closed doors.
TAYLOR:Have you read about me?
Do you recall the ’80s?
BELLAMY:We felt like we made a classic.
FOXX:It’s the ultimate gladiator film.
If you fall, they take you off, and then somebody else takes your place.
BELLAMY:Players come up to me like, “Dog, did you play?”
I’m like, “Hell no, but I did in that movie.”
