As a lifelong football fan, I’ve been less than impressed with many films that involve the often brutal sport, due to their inadequacies in balancing the games within the plotline. And appreciation for football comedies is almost non-existent. The Longest Yard, Little Giants and a handful of others, but it’s a small playing field. Ivan Reitman’s upcoming NFL comedy Draft Day is certainly ramping up anticipation with a star-filled cast, so let’s hope it doesn’t drop the ball, get sacked, and every other football pun you can think of.
Draft Day’s cast has gained a thespian in Frank Langella, who will star in his third Reitman film, after the mostly stellar Dave and the mostly forgettable Junior. Deadline reports he’ll play Harvey Molina, the fictional owner of the Cleveland Browns. Kevin Costner will be playing his boss, the Browns’ general manager, as the coaching staff struggles to snag the #1 pick on Draft Day. Veep’s Timothy Simons recently signed on to play a scout within the draft day war room, and the film also stars Jennifer Garner, who will play Costner’s secretary. Denis Leary fits into it somewhere as well.
Langella, nominated for an Oscar for his role in Frost/Nixon, most recently played a petty thief with a robo-companion in the pleasing indie Robot and Frank, and will next be seen in the Princess Grace biopic Grace of Monaco, as well as Mike Newell’s biographical drama Reykjavik, which centers on the historic meeting between Reagan (Michael Douglas) and Gorbachev (Christoph Waltz).
Draft Day is quickly trying to come together so that it can begin its production at the actual NFL Draft, which will take place from April 25-27. I can’t imagine what kind of cameos this movie is going to have. Maybe they can get New York Jets quarterback Mark Sanchez to work as a boom mike operator.
