Blogcasting the National Football League, Blogcasting the NFL

You’ve read the Leatherheads review and Trey Moore interview. Hopefully, you’ve seen the movie. And you want more. Well, I can help you there. Fresh into the EMQB headquarters is a big box of swag from Universal Pictures. And I want to give this stuff to you. Leatherheads tees, sweatshirts, caps and calendars.

Here’s the deal. There will be 14 winners. To enter, simply comment on this post at EMQB or over at FilmGecko.com on or before April 26. Comment on both posts to double your chances of winning. Remember, you must have a valid email address in order for us to reach you. On April 26 (the first day of the NFL Draft), we’ll draw 14 names. Once we’ve drawn the names, we’ll contact you to choose the gift of your choice — the first name out of the hat gets the first pick of prizes and so on. Isn’t that exciting? Ok, go nuts. And if you haven’t seen the movie, what are you waiting for?

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Cool Free Stuff: ‘Leatherheads’ Giveaway

Blogcasting the National Football League, Blogcasting the NFL

The year is 2008 and pro football is the most popular sport in America. Tell that to the 1920s and you would get a look of disbelief. There were no JumboTron scoreboards. No FieldTurf. No cheerleaders. No multimillion-dollar paychecks. No staggering endorsements. And definitely no personal conduct policy. Not even close. Pro football was played by rough and tumble types whose only reason for participation was their love of the game. Or to find a good reason to get into a fight. They were WWI vets, farmers and coal miners in their real lives; drinking, swearing, smoking, fighting wild men with nicknames like Hardleg, Stump and Bug.

© 2008 Universal Studios

I was invited to an advance screening of the film Leatherheads this week and I walked away smiling and thoroughly entertained. Starring Academy Award winners George Clooney (who directed and also helped write) and Renée Zellweger, plus John Krasinski (The Office), Leatherheads is a quick-witted, romantic, screwball comedy depicting the beginnings of America’s pro football league in 1925. Written by Sports Illustrated reporters Duncan Brantley and Rick Reilly (and George Clooney, as I already mentioned), the dialogue is sharp and witty. It’s a throwback to the great old romantic comedies where the story is compelling and the characters full of personality. I loved the way Renée (Lexie Littleton), George (Dodge Connolly) and John (Carter “The Bullet” Rutherford) go at it without sounding over-rehearsed. It’s very natural. And very funny.

In the 1920s, college football was king, but that’s where it ended. After school, you went out and got a decent, respectable job. You didn’t play pro football unless you were a thug. Well, the Duluth Bulldogs were full of thugs. And when their league was on the verge of extinction, aging football star Dodge put it on himself to try and legitimize the organization and guide his team from bar brawls to packed stadiums. Princeton football star/war hero/golden-boy Carter is his proposed savior. And Lexie is the savvy, sexy, sophisticated Chicago Tribune cub-journalist trying to figure the whole thing out, coyly smitten while caught in a love triangle with both men. Eventually, Dodge and Carter “put ‘em up” to settle the matter old school. Love and football have a surprisingly similar playbook.

© 2008 Universal Studios

The film stays true to the ’20s throughout. I found myself wrapped up in the authenticity of the presentation as much as I was with the dialogue. On-the-field, the plays, formations and stances, as well as how the game was played — who to block and how to hold the football — were dead-on. The free-for-all nature of the game in the 1920s made for a brutal experience for players of that generation. The field had the same dimensions, but the philosophy and the rules were very different. George Clooney proves to be as much of a football historian as he is a filmmaker in Leatherheads. Swamps of mud, scratchy woolen uniforms, the advertisements lining the stadium, even the extras serving as fans in the stands were properly costumed and had their hair cut in 1920s styles. Off-the-field, it was clothing and fabrics from the era. And vintage products and graphics. One example — the muted tones, old mahogany furniture and even the wall murals providing the perfect backdrop to Lexie’s entrance in a knockout crimson-red dress.

I loved this movie. Leatherheads probably isn’t going to win an Oscar or set any box office records. But it does succeed in delivering a good, old fashioned love story amidst great actors, clever verbiage and lots of mud. It opens nationwide today. (LeatherheadsMovie.com, PG-13, 1 hour 54 minutes)

Check out my interview with actor Trey Moore, who plays a sports writer in Leatherheads. For movie reviews of all kinds, check out b5media’s FilmGecko.com.

Post from: Every Morning Quarterback

Movie Review: ‘Leatherheads’

Blogcasting the National Football League, Blogcasting the NFL

Continuing in the vein of James Dean or a young Marlon Brando, actor Trey Moore is a rare young talent. In just a few years, Trey has managed to carve a niche for himself on the stage — appearing as Oedipus Rex and Romeo — and on the big screen as a sports writer in the new football flick Leatherheads, which opens in theaters nationwide today. He’ll also star as the lead in upcoming movies Captive and Perennial. I caught up with Trey from his home in Spartanburg, South Carolina to talk about Leatherheads and his career.

DAVID: Trey, I loved the concept for this movie when I first heard about it at the Super Bowl earlier this year — a screwball romantic comedy about the early days of professional football. How did this opportunity come to you and what were your initial impressions of the idea behind Leatherheads?

TREY: I thought it was a really original piece. I feel like nowadays we’re getting a lot of remakes from the 70s and 80s. And ideas are also being stolen. With Leatherheads I was like, “Hey, this is really original.” It was a really cool concept and I wanted to be a part of it. I got the information from the casting director and everything, talked to a couple people and through my agent booked some interviews and ended up in the film. It was an honor to work with Clooney and Krasinski and Renée. It was really an honor to work with all of them.

DAVID: Was it easy for you to get into the character of a sports writer? Because I could’ve helped you there, Trey. You play one in this movie and I play one in real life (laughing).

TREY: (laughing) It was something I had to do a little research on but it was more about getting into the 1920s style as opposed to getting into an actual sports writer role. Any era film or period film is really tough because there are certain mannerisms that go along with each generation. So you have to eliminate certain mannerisms and develop new ones.

DAVID: What did you do to prepare for the role of a sports writer?

TREY: I looked more at the persona and the mannerisms. I watched some old YouTube videos and photos of what existed back in the 20s. It’s hard to find a lot of file footage from that far back. I read articles from old newspapers. The dialogue and the diction were completely different. It was cool, though. All those stories my grandparents and great grandparents told me growing up weren’t just made up stories (laughs). They were right. It was such a classic era — very refined.

DAVID: I was surprised the script had been around for quite a while before the wheels really started turning with this thing.

TREY: Yeah, it had been in the works for years. And with a script, it gets passed around from hand to hand to hand. Then Clooney got his hands on it and said, “Let’s do this. Let’s make it happen.” He played football in the film as well and as he’s getting older he’s like, “Ok, I need to do this now because if I wait any longer, it’s not gonna be believable.”

DAVID: You’ve probably been asked this a million times, but what was it like to work with George and Renée?

TREY: It was awesome. From Clooney I learned so much about developing yourself as an actor. I was telling someone earlier today who asked the same question — like you said, David — some actors go out on set and the slate comes up in front of the camera and 10 seconds before the camera actually starts rolling, they get into character. Clooney told me that to be a method actor at its finest, you have to be that character all the time. And it’s kind of funny because the last film I did, I played a guy who developed schizophrenia. So if you can imagine everyone who was around me — I’m walking around and in my head I’ve got schizophrenia the whole time (laughs). But that’s the way to really play and deliver a believable role. A believable performance is to be that character all the time because I think if you can convince yourself that you’re that person, you’ll be able to convince others.

DAVID: Is that easy for you?

TREY: Well, a 1920s sports writer — yeah, that one was kind of easy. A guy with schizophrenia — um, that was tougher. There was a lot of research behind that one. Anytime you portray a role that has any sort of mental of physical disability, I think those are the most challenging roles. But if you pull it off it’s also the most rewarding.

DAVID: Because you both play reporters, did you have more interaction with Renée?

TREY: Yes, I had more scenes with Renée than I did with Clooney or Krasinski. I had the least amount of scenes with Krasinski. So, yes a decent amount of interaction with Renée and she’s as sweet as she can be. She has a great sense of humor, too. You may hear stuff about high-maintenance or very to-the-point and all business, but when you have jokesters like Clooney running around, you have no choice but to have a great sense of humor. It was a great cast and crew to work with. Everyone had an awesome sense of humor and we were cutting up on set all the time.

DAVID: I loved the rapid-fire dialogue in this movie. I probably like that most about this film. It’s a throwback in that sense plus the story keeps your attention and the characters are just great.

TREY: It’s kind of like the History Channel has sucked you in and threw a plot line behind it. You are getting that history lesson but at the same time, the quick dialogue and rapid-fire back-and-forth. It really keeps your attention. It’s not something you can get bored with.

DAVID: It certainly succeeded in having the feel of a classic comedy with the colors of the period and vintage newspapers, the graphics, Renée’s sort of roaring 20s crimson red dress and even down to the hair styles of the extras who were sitting in the stands. It’s very authentic.

TREY: It’s extremely authentic. I went around for two months with a 1920s hair style and I was wearing a baseball cap everywhere and people were like, “So, what happened to your hair? Let’s see your hair.” I had it shaved on the side and they just told me to put my hat back on (laughing). There’s stuff you wouldn’t even notice just by watching the film that’s very authentic. For instance, my character was a smoker in the film and I’m not a smoker in real life. So it’s like, ok, I’m gonna smoke a couple cigarettes and that’ll be that. I’m sitting there talking to the director and I’m like, “Oh my God. They didn’t have filters in the 1920s.” So, of course I’m hacking and everything by the end of the day but the movie is extremely authentic. You have to respect everyone’s work — the set designers and the production and all the thought that was behind making every single thing authentic.

DAVID: This was an interesting era, the 1920s — because college football was really popular but professional football wasn’t at all. In fact, it was kind of scandalous to even play it and I think that comes out quite clearly with the personalities on the Bulldogs (laughs).

TREY: Obviously, I wasn’t around back in the 20s, but nowadays, it seems college and pro football has the same amount of media attention. It was a history lesson for me. I had no clue that professional football was almost frowned upon and college football was so big. And how everything developed over time.

DAVID: Trey, tell me about Captive, the film you’re working on right now. This is not a remake of the 1998 movie, is it?

TREY: No, it’s an original screenplay. It’s a psychological thriller. I play a newly married guy, 25-years-old, and I’m new to the police squad. I’ll warn you, it’s one of those films you have to pay very, very close attention to. Otherwise, you get to the end and wonder what just happened. I had to read the original script three times. The first time I thought it was terrible. I didn’t get it. But when I read it again, I realized how awesome it is. I don’t want to spoil the movie, but my character develops schizophrenia throughout the film. There’s a bank robbery in this small town he’s a police officer in. His partner is executed and that really triggers the different personalities. There are three or four just mind-blowing plot twists throughout the movie. It’ll keep you on the edge of your seat. I’m really excited about it.

DAVID: It’s obviously quite different from Leatherheads. Is there a particular type of movie or a particular genre you’re most interested in?

TREY: I wouldn’t say there’s a specific type of movie I like being a part of. I like any role that challenges me as an actor. A lot of times when you first start out acting, a lot of casting directors are wary to cast you in anything that might be especially challenging because they think it won’t be played convincingly. I was typecast as “the college guy” or “the guy next door” or “the college football player.” That’s awesome and everything but — challenge me. Once you get that breakout role to prove yourself as an actor and as a talent, then you start to get those more challenging roles.

DAVID: Outside of acting, you’re also doing some modeling and I see you won South Carolina’s Bachelor-of-the-Year from Cosmopolitan Magazine. That’s pretty good, dude.

TREY: (laughs) That is correct. I turn bright red everytime I hear that.

DAVID: You’re still a very young actor. What are your goals for your career?

TREY: To be the next George Clooney. Every single day is a new step. It’s funny because when you start out, it’s like once a month something develops. Then once every couple weeks. Now it’s to the point where everyday something new is going on. It’s really taking off. Acting is what I’ve wanted to do forever. It’s an honor to be able to do this, to do film and evoke emotion is awesome. It’s definitely an adventure and I love it.

Just in case you think Trey’s all caught up in himself, think again. He’s active in his community, volunteering for charities and organizations like Animal Allies, Greenville Junior Chamber Foundation, the Rape Crisis Center, The Soup Kitchen and The Salvation Army in his hometown. In order to be a good actor, one needs to live in order to communicate the breadth of human emotions and experience. And while only in his early 20s, Trey has lived and accomplished quite a bit. The world waits to see what’s next for Trey Moore. Check out his Web site at www.TheTreyMoore.com.

Check out my review of Leatherheads. For movie reviews of all kinds, check out b5media’s FilmGecko.com.

Post from: Every Morning Quarterback

‘Leatherheads’ Interview: Trey Moore

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‘Leatherheads’ Interview: Renée Zellweger

Post from: Every Morning Quarterback

‘Leatherheads’ Interview: George Clooney

Blogcasting the National Football League, Blogcasting the NFL

I’ll be attending an advance screening of the new football flick Leatherheads this week. The film opens April 4 and stars Academy Award winners George Clooney and Renée Zellweger, who match wits in a romantic comedy inspired by the stranger-than-fiction beginnings of America’s pro football league in 1925. Long before the days of jumbotrons, Astroturf and cheerleaders; multimillion-dollar paychecks and staggering endorsements; some men played football only for the love of the game. They were rough and crass. They were foul-mouthed and hardheaded. They were “leatherheads.”

In addition to the screening, I’ll be interviewing Trey Moore, who plays a Chicago reporter in the movie. The interview and review will post on August 4. And, I’ll have some promo items to giveaway to some lucky EMQB readers. In the meantime, here’s the official trailer. I’ll be posting more video clips throughout the week. Enjoy.

Post from: Every Morning Quarterback

‘Leatherheads’ Movie Trailer