From The Gridiron To The Multiplex
Published: Jul 12, 2007
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GAINESVILLE - The casting call asked for men ages 18-30 with extensive football experience. It also included one special request.
"FILM SET IN 1970-71," it read. "If you're interested in being a player in the film, let your hair grow!"
Dock Pollard never saw the call sheet for "We Are Marshall." Instead, a chance meeting with former University of Florida teammate Travis McGriff in Gainesville's Oaks Mall launched a budding film career Pollard never even imagined possible.
Pollard initially thought McGriff was joking. But McGriff, a former Gators and Denver Broncos receiver who teamed with former USF and Tampa Bay Storm receiver Clif Dell to absorb all the punishment for star Mark Wahlberg in "Invincible," explained that filmmakers need experienced athletes to make sports scenes look realistic.
"I was on the next thing smoking to [audition in] Atlanta," Pollard said.
Pollard got the part, playing Marshall running back Terry Gardner. Then, thanks to his brief experience as a minor-league baseball player and the "baby 'fro" he grew while filming "We Are Marshall," Pollard parlayed the role into another job - playing Yankees second baseman Willie Randolph in the ESPN miniseries "The Bronx is Burning," which debuted Monday.
Pollard, McGriff and Dell are part of a growing group of Sunshine State football players whose gridiron backgrounds have helped them move into the movie business. The recent surge of Florida-based players can be traced to a phone call Storm offensive coordinator Pat O'Hara received shortly after he joined the Orlando Predators as a quarterback in 1997. A man named Mark Ellis was setting up the football scenes for "The Waterboy," a modestly budgeted Adam Sandler movie to be filmed in Orlando. Ellis, a former Appalachian State player who got his first taste of the business while filming 1993's "The Program," knew he couldn't simply hire a bunch of athletic-looking extras. He needed real players.
"There is no way to fake this stuff," said Ellis, who has designed sports scenes and hired athletes for "Any Given Sunday," "Miracle," "We Are Marshall," and dozens of other projects.
Realistic Action Sought
Ellis and O'Hara got along so well making "The Waterboy" that Ellis eventually hired O'Hara to recruit players and coordinate football scenes for his company, Reel Sports. Earlier this year, the men split from Reel Sports to form The Sports Studio.
Ellis and O'Hara each stressed that realistic on-field scenes are the key to a good sports movie - even a comedy. Sports fans have grown too savvy, they said, to believe run-of-the-mill actors as athletes. That's why studios hire "special-talent extras" who played at the major college or professional level. Arena Football League players are ideal for football movies, O'Hara said, because most play offense and defense. NFL players, he said, make too much money to risk injury during 12-hour filming days that could include dozens of bone-crunching hits.
Those hits, the players said, are brutal. Shortly after "Invincible" hit theaters, McGriff said he never got beat up in the NFL the way he did on the film set. Ellis said directors constantly look for the hit that will make the film's trailer. An "Ooooh" from the audience during the preview can translate into a big opening weekend at the box office.
Dell, who also worked on the 2005 remake of "The Longest Yard," wound up on the receiving end of the hit that became the centerpiece of the "Invincible" trailer. As Dell runs down the sideline during a kickoff, he is crushed by a New York Giants blocker. Moviegoers believed Wahlberg's neck nearly got snapped, but Dell knew better.
"I only had to do that twice," Dell said. "Thank God."
Don't Quit Your Day Job
Contrary to popular belief, the pipeline from the football fields of Florida to the silver screen didn't begin with Burt Reynolds, the former Florida State running back who already was a Hollywood veteran when he showed off his arm in the original "Longest Yard" in 1974. It actually began when Dale Van Sickel, an All-American at Florida in 1928, took a role as the Army football captain in 1931's "The Spirit of Notre Dame." Van Sickel went on to become one of Hollywood's pioneering stuntmen.
O'Hara said players shouldn't expect to move to Hollywood and become stars, but some get bitten by the acting bug anyway. Former LSU and Florida football player Todd Holland was hired for "The Waterboy" and wound up playing a meaty role as the chief on-field antagonist to Sandler's Bobby Boucher. Sandler even body slams Holland's character during the movie's climax. Since then, the former lineman has appeared in "The Longest Yard" remake, "Grandma's Boy" and on an episode of "My Name is Earl."
Pollard, currently training to be an emergency medical technician, isn't ready to give up his day job just yet. His only line in "We Are Marshall" was cut, though he hopes to see it revived on DVD. Still, he has uploaded headshots to his Internet Movie Database page, and he welcomes the idea of playing another role.
"I would love the opportunity," said Pollard, who played defensive back at UF from 1995-1998. "I would love to do something with Denzel Washington."
Reporter Andy Staples can be reached at (352) 262-3719 or astaples@tampatrib.com.
