By: debbie lynn elias
Number 1 in my heart and my Number 1 movie draft pick this weekend is DRAFT DAY. As I told director Ivan Reitman, I may love the football draft day itself, but I love DRAFT DAY the movie. Talk about a winning team! Directed by Reitman from a script by diehard football fans and screenwriters, Rajiv Joseph and Scott Rothman, DRAFT DAY takes us off the field and into the executive suites during the course of one day in the life of football and the life of Cleveland Browns fictional General Manager, Sonny Weaver, Jr., that day being “Draft Day”.
As Kevin Costner calls the plays as Sonny Weaver, Jr., DRAFT DAY boasts one hell of an offensive line-up with some special teams to rival any cast on screen today – Jennifer Garner as girlfriend and Browns salary cap manager Ali, Denis Leary as Browns head coach Penn, former pro football player Terry Crews as Browns legend Early Jennings and fellow player Arian Foster as his son and early round draft pick Ray Jennings, Josh Pence as #1 draft pick Bo Callahan with Sean Combs easily adding two point conversion as Callahan’s agent Chris Crawford, Tom Welling as the current QB Brian Drew, Ellen Burstyn as Sonny’s mother Barb Weaver and Frank Langella as Anthony Molina team owner-without-a-clue-about-the-game. And if that’s not enough, how about a back line with, among others, NFL players Demario Davis, James Brewer, Ramses Barden and Stephen Hill, not to mention the actual ESPN on-air crew of Chris Berman, Mel Kiper, Rich Eisen, Mike Mayock, Deion Sanders and Jon Grudenalso. And how about NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell himself?
With less than 13 hours until the 2013 NFL draft starts, all eyes are on #1 prospect Bo Callahan, a QB out of University of Wisconsin. Thanks to his savvy agent Chris Crawford is postured as the subject of what many predict will be an intense bidding war during these final hours. Browns coach Sonny Weaver is behind the eight-ball. With a 2012 6-10 season, owner Anthony Molina is looking for any reason to fire him, as are the Cleveland fans who are less than disappointed with the fact that when Weaver came onto the scene, he fired his own father, a legendary and beloved coach who took the Browns to greatness in the past, while Sonny Jr. Has done anything but. Needing a miracle to save his job and the Browns, Weaver is slated to pick seventh in the first round; not an enviable place in Weaver’s current position. And as if this isn’t enough pressure, the morning of DRAFT DAY his girlfriend Ali – who also happens to be the team’s salary cap manager – drops the bombshell that she’s pregnant and wants to discuss the situation “now.” For Sonny, on today of all days, “now” isn’t possible.
But Sonny Weaver is no ordinary man. He will get through the day. He will make the plays and pass the ball as needed, starting with making a deal with the Devil; in this case, the Seattle Seahawks. Sonny will get the Seahawks #1 first-round draft slot in exchange for the Browns’ next three years of first-round picks. This will give Sonny a shot at Bo Callahan, but is that who he wants, is that who he needs, is that who the team needs, especially when they have a QB who is at the top of his game playing better than ever. Adding fuel to the frenzied fire is Coach Penn who not only dislikes Sonny but he hates rookie players. Penn wants a running back, specifically one RB – Ray Jennings, son of Browns legend Earl. It doesn’t hurt Penn’s cause that Ray and Earl both are also hounding Sonny to draft Ray. And then there’s Ohio State linebacker Vontae Mack who will give up his soul to play for Sonny and the Browns. And Vontae’s got something that Sonny values above all else – character and integrity.
And so the wheeling and dealing begins with Sonny making deals upon deals with fascinating methodical machination as the clock ticks down to the NFL Commissioner declaring “Draft Day” open.
As Kevin Costner has done for the sport of baseball, so he now does with football bringing his own “everyman, everyday conscience and ethics” and setting the tone. Costner’s Sonny is the calm amidst chaos. Giving Sonny an introspective and quiet nature, on the occasions when the voice does get raised or the fist pounds the table, the effect is palpable and forces you to sit up and take notice both on and off screen. Jennifer Garner is a delight as the no-nonsense Ali, finding the balance between hard nose businesswoman and just being a woman in love with a man. As Garner disclosed during our press day for DRAFT DAY, to prepare for the role of Ali she actually shadowed the Browns salary-cap manager, a female by the way (as are many), incorporating not only manner and style, but actual clothing style to further the authenticity of the experience.
Some wonderful foils come in the form of Denis Leary, Ellen Burstyn and Frank Langella. Each commands not only their respective role but our respect when on screen. Each is confident, loud, brash and the individual dynamics created with Costner resonate.
A perfect blend of talent comes from Tom Welling, Josh Pence, Chadwick Boseman and particularly, Terry Crews and Arian Foster, themselves involved in actual draft days; for Crews it was in 1991 when he was 11th round #281 when picked by the L.A. Rams while for Foster the phone never rang on draft day but he was eventually signed as an undrafted free agent. As Foster stated, “[Making DRAFT DAY] gave me my own draft day!” Boseman’s Vontae Mack is a perfect youthful compliment to Costner’s Sonny while there is never a second that you don’t see Welling, Pence and Boseman as football players.
Given that comedy legend Ivan Reitman is the man at the helm of DRAFT DAY, I was expecting a laugh out loud funny comedy. That’s not what we get. What Reitman and team deliver is a richly textured character study not only about a man and those around him, but about character, ethics and integrity. The fact that this man happens to be a general manager in the NFL just adds that extra point and affords screenwriters Joseph and Rothman the opportunity to steep the film in authenticity with stats, scouting, analysis, re-watching of game-day videos of potential draft picks, telephone calls upon telephone calls among various team managers, and dialogue that serves up a perfect blend of actual historical names, plays and real life 20/20 hindsight. Even more interesting is the infusion of budgetary concerns and salary caps as well as appeasing the all important fans. But then Reitman gives us something we haven’t seen before – full participation of the NFL, multiple teams in the league, ESPN and the biggest surprise of all, being allowed to film during the actual DRAFT DAY at Radio City Music Hall. Blending actual “Draft Day” footage shot in more an experiential documentary format with the narrative of the rest of the film is effective and engaging, fully immersing the audience in the excitement of the moment.
According to Reitman, key for the NFL was accuracy. “The great news was the NFL loved the script right from the beginning.” Getting their permission and involvement was “quite unique. . .[and] may have only happened once before on film and never to the extent that we worked with them. They allowed us to use the teams and the draft itself, and the facilities and players. What they were most interested in was accuracy; that we weren’t saying something that didn’t work. It went through about eight departments in the NFL of people who take place in it, coaches. It was vetted very closely. I think they had a couple comments about language. Not the “F” word and things like that, although they didn’t want a lot of it, but I think particularly in terms of how people work professionally during the draft, I think they were sensitive to a couple of phrases that we used. It was mostly about accuracy.”
As co-writer Scott Rothman notes, in addition to accuracy, also of concern was “Just taking care of some of their sponsors and some of the people that have co-sponsorships with the NFL.” Expounding, Reitman is quick to mention, “If we had a phone company that was not ‘the’ phone company of the NFL, then I think there was a conversation on how it was featured. . .[T]hey didn’t want to insult their corporate sponsors. That was the major thing.”
For writers Rajiv Joseph and Scott Rothman, in crafting DRAFT DAY, “We started out wanting to write a fictional story about a fictional GM and a fictional draft picks but in the same way that we would want to use the brand of the NFL, the team names, the team logos, the history of the NFL kind of comes with that as well. So when Kevin Costner’s character speaks of Joe Montana and John Elway, these obviously have a place in the imagination of any football fan. That was part of it. It didn’t even feel like a trick. It felt like those two worlds that would just blend for us in the tone of the story.” In melding reality with fantasy, the pair also came up with some very inventive fictional names for players. As Joseph reflects, “We had a blast coming up with fictional names. We thought some of our names were too far out there and then when we shot at the draft, the actual Cleveland Browns draft this guy Barkevious Mingo. [laughing] As far as fictional names, I think we were okay.”
Calling on cinematographer Eric Steelberg. Reitman and Steelberg create a clean, bright, unfettered pallet that gives the characters room to breathe in what is essentially a claustrophobic situation. Tension and suspense are ratcheted up as the clock keeps running thanks to a split-screen technique closely associated with Ross Hunter films back in the 60’s but now taken to a new level that not only gives life to the static nature of telephone calls, but moves characters seemingly from one screen into the next, one call into the next, pacing, walking, active motion that crosses over between the split screens, giving not only a three dimensional life to these phone negotiations, but puts the audience in the room with the coaches and managers. This is fantasy football come to life.
As Costner himself describes DRAFT DAY, “It’s really about the human element. . .It’s the moments [like that] where we see ourselves and we chuckle. When we’re in the middle of our own life, it’s not very funny and we’re confused. But this movie, it’s not about football. It’s about that age old thing of people who love each other who just can’t seem to get it together for a while and then finally do. We adore that. We want that.” And yes, character does count.
Directed by Ivan Reitman
Written by Rajiv Joseph and Scott Rothman
Cast: Kevin Costner, Jennifer Garner, Denis Leary, Ellen Burstyn, Frank Langella, Terry Crews, Tom Welling, Josh Pence, Chadwick Boseman, Arian Foster
