- Title: USA: Mark Wahlberg film "Invincible" set to lead weekend box office
- Date: 31st August 2006
- Summary: LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES (RECENT) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (English) MARK WAHLBERG, WHO PORTRAYS VINCE PAPALE IN "INVINCIBLE," SAYING: "Certain people who don't know football might not be turned off if the football isn't as real as it should be, but me going in, I would go see this movie whether I was in it or not, and if the football didn't work then the movie wouldn't work in my opinion. So I just had to get out there and try to make it happen. And, you know, I approached the guys and the team like 'okay, I'm trying to make the team, win my position, and win your respect,' and that was my approach to the movie. It was a painful one, it was a painful choice - but you know, in the end it was worth it because two weeks after it was over all the pain was gone, and I just felt like 'you know what? You are a bit of a wimp, but you toughed it out,' and I was proud. I was proud."
- Embargoed: 15th September 2006 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Usa
- Country: USA
- Reuters ID: LVAADKM2VJH6V02RP674ZA8ZFCUG
- Story Text: When Disney's new football movie "Invincible" opens in theaters, it will carry the rare seal of approval from the NFL, which hasn't partnered on a major motion picture in a decade.
In recent years, the National Football League has turned down participation in and partnerships with such movies as "The Longest Yard," "Any Given Sunday" and "The Replacements."
Cameron Crowe's 1996 movie "Jerry Maguire" was the last one that the league felt genuinely represented the "heart and soul" of the game, according to Tracy Perlman, NFL's director of entertainment marketing and promotions.
"Invincible" stars Mark Wahlberg in the true story of Vince Papale, a 30-year-old bartender, out-of-work teacher and avid Philadelphia Eagles fan who never played college football but made the team at an open tryout.
"Certain people who don't know football might not be turned off if the football isn't as real as it should be, but me going in, I would go see this movie whether I was in it or not, and if the football didn't work then the movie wouldn't work in my opinion. So I just had to get out there and try to make it happen. And, you know, I approached the guys and the team like 'okay, I'm trying to make the team, win my position, and win your respect,' and that was my approach to the movie. It was a painful one, it was a painful choice - but you know, in the end it was worth it because two weeks after it was over all the pain was gone, and I just felt like 'you know what? You are a bit of a wimp, but you toughed it out,' and I was proud. I was proud," Wahlberg told Reuters.
With its official participation in the movie, NFL team logos and the NFL shield appear throughout the film along with the authentic Philadelphia Eagles uniforms from 1976 and the NFL football from the mid-1970s. Scenes from the movie were shot at Texas Stadium in Dallas and footage from real NFL games was incorporated into the movie as well. The NFL also helped put co-star Greg Kinnear together with the man he portrays in the movie -- coach Dick Vermeil -- and worked with the filmmakers on making the details of the movie accurate.
Can a man with no college experience at age 30 make the NFL in 2006? Papale said probably not but other American dreams are coming true.
"Dreams do come true, everybody, it doesn't have to be in sports, it could be like 'American Idol,' it's one of the cool things, and you've got 'Survivor,' you know, people are going out and doing that, you've got all your real life, your reality things but sure it's out there, but the take-away in this movie is that if you have a goal or a dream just know that you're going to have stuff that is going to be thrown at you, and just, you have a good plan and you have a good attitude, and you can get it done," Papale said.
Disney paid the NFL about $600,000 in licensing fees for the use of its marks and logos, as well as footage used in the film, sources close to the partnership deal said. But a source said the league is spending even more than that on promoting the movie.
To promote "Invincible," the NFL bought such in-stadium media as scoreboard commercials and jumbotron trailers, print ads in ESPN the Magazine and Fantasy Football Digest, and is doing an e-mail blast to 2.8 million NFL fans with the trailer attached. The NFL also ran commercials for the movie during preseason games on ESPN and the NFL Network.
Greg Kinnear, who portrays Coach Dick Vermiel in the film is actually surprised that the most money on the film wasn't used on insurance on Wahlberg scenes on field.
"Well he wasn't on set much, it was mostly CGI and his stunt-doubles, he was, I remember him, he would come out of his Jacuzzi occasionally for like lunch and stuff. No, my head is completely off the mark, I gotta say. I've just been giving him props all day so I had to slip that in. I don't know who insured the movie - he should not have been taking the hits that he was taking in this film. He was really up to the challenge. I thought he would be, he's a physical guy, you know, he's got arms like this, and he went out there and he earned the respect of a lot of our players, and a lot of our players were former NFL players," Kinnear said. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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