After Indiana destroyed Alabama in the Rose Bowl, Curt Cignetti said that this historic season was worthy of a movie. He’s right. Netflix doc? Probably. But a big-screen movie, something like “Hoosiers meets Any Given Sunday”? No.
Here are some reasons why.
In general, football movies are like throwing a football “Hail Mary.” The Hollywood Reporter recently listed the top 25 sports of all time. Besides ESPN’s O.J. documentary, O.J.: Made in America, no other football film made the list, not even the aforementioned Any Given Sunday or Jerry Maguire, which (by the way) was more of a romance than a football movie.
Scene from Friday Night Lights, courtesy Rotten Tomatoes
Why won’t audiences turn out for a football movie? One reason is that it’s difficult to connect to the ginormous players who are hidden in helmets and shoulder pads. Besides, there are too many players on a football team, and it’s confusing to tell who’s who, especially when they’re in helmets.
It should be noted that two successful football movies, Friday Night Lights and Remember the Titans, counter the argument. Add to those the fact that Tom Cruise was very believable as a defensive back in All The Right Moves. But, again, he was playing a high school senior.
High school ball is at a scale where local issues and circumstances come into play (e.g., the racial divide in Titans). Those films are more relatable to the public than is college ball.
Besides, while football is going global, NFL football is what’s going international, not college football. Superhero fare is, sadly, a safer bet for films.
IU’s Cignetti (photo courtesy NY Times)
Indiana is 15-0. For the most part, they’ve steamrolled the opposition. Is that good? Yes, if you are a Hossier fan, but not if you are deciding to cast a film. No conflict. Few challenges. Just uncomplicated wins.
Cignetti has done an incredible job, and he should be the coach of the year–make that the decade–for what he has accomplished. But from what I’ve seen, he doesn’t have much Ted Lasso in him. That probably has a lot to do with his team’s success. However, a Hoosier football movie might be an easier sell if he were more animated. Throwing chairs isn’t good sportsmanship, but it’s great theater.
Then again, in Friday Night Lights, Billy Bob Thornton turned a relatively dry coach into an absolute epic. But, again, that was high school.
Indiana’s season won’t be made into a movie, but here’s hoping I’m wrong.
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Jon Hart is the author of Unfortunately, I was available.
