17 replies to this topic

[Super B]

'Friday Night Lights' film crew rolling into Permian Basin

03:12 AM CST on Tuesday, March 2, 2004

Associated Press

ODESSA, Texas – The lights at Ratliff Stadium will be blazing – and it's not even football season yet.

Another cinematic view of the city's fabled Permian High School team is in the making.

The cast and crew of "Friday Night Lights" will move into Odessa on Wednesday night to begin shooting Thursday at the stadium at the start of a three-week stay in the city, says publicist Ernie Malik.

The best-selling book by H.G. "Buzz" Bissinger focuses on the 1988 Permian team that lost in the state semifinals. It also takes a harsh look at educational, economic and social problems in Odessa.

"We've got the opening season practice scenes in the stadium for the first few days," Malik told the Odessa American for Tuesday's editions.

She said the crew would then shoot at various locations around the city, including a scene in front of Permian High. Extras casting director Toni Cobb Brock said "a couple of hundred" locals have been called to be extras in the practice scenes this weekend and "thousands" will be called to fill Ratliff's 20,000 seats when the crew shoots the nighttime game scenes later this month.

"About two-thirds of the shoot will be out at Ratliff," said Malik.

Cast members Billy Bob Thornton and Tim McGraw have additional plans related to the film in Central Texas.

Thornton, McGraw and "Friday Night Lights" director Peter Berg will announce a concert featuring McGraw and Thornton at a noon news conference Tuesday at the film's base camp northeast of Austin, Malik said.

Thornton and McGraw will headline an April benefit concert in Austin, said Malik. Proceeds will go to "a statewide organization that helps injured football players," she said.

Permian's famed "Mojo" chant has accompanied a team that has won multiple state championships. MTV Films' production of "Varsity Blues" earlier gave another helping of West Texas high school football.

In the latest film, Thornton will play coach Gary Gaines. Garrett Hedlund plays fullback Don Billingsley and Lee Thompson Young is cast as sophomore running back Chris Comer. McGraw plays Don Billingsley's father, Charlie, a former all-state Permian player.

Derek Luke plays running back Boobie Miles in the movie, which features Lucas Black as quarterback Mike Winchell, Jay Hernandez as tight end Brian Chavez and first-time actor Lee Jackson as linebacker Ivory Christian.

[atalltexan]

I will definitely see this one when it comes out, but I am certain that "Hollywood" will look to expand on the negative side of Texas Football that the book already touched on. Look for a heavy injection of race issues as well. Nothing like the old "broad brush" of a subject.

[CoyotePlayer07]

Thats gonna be 2 great movies in the same year! The Passion and one about TEXAS HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL!!!

[atalltexan]

Thats gonna be 2 great movies in the same year! The Passion and one about TEXAS HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL!!!

You forgot to add "the Alamo" to that list as well.

[CoyotePlayer07]

Thats gonna be 2 great movies in the same year! The Passion and one about TEXAS HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL!!!

You forgot to add "the Alamo" to that list as well.

Oh yeah, I forgot about that...it just keeps getting better.

[CoyoteFootball]

If you'd like to check out another great footballl documentary, look up "Go Tigers." It's a complete documentary of the Massillon [OH] Tigers football squad. There are several resemblances between the two states and their hunger for high school football.

[Ennis'92]

I've seen "Go Tigers" and wasn't that impressed.

There were two parts that I couldn't believe, the boys being held back in the 8th grade for the sole purpose of being bigger, stronger, and more mature when they become seniors. Doesn't sound legal, but maybe it is.

Also, the one transfer RB. He says at one point that he transfered so he could play in the Masillon atmosphere, but then says he didn't transfer for athletic reasons. Contradicted himself on that one.

I couldn't tell you how it ended, I fell asleep.

[Super B]

Doesn't sound like A ringing endorsement to me.

:car1:

[warlok]

I've seen "Go Tigers" and wasn't that impressed.

There were two parts that I couldn't believe, the boys being held back in the 8th grade for the sole purpose of being bigger, stronger, and more mature when they become seniors. Doesn't sound legal, but maybe it is.

Also, the one transfer RB. He says at one point that he transfered so he could play in the Masillon atmosphere, but then says he didn't transfer for athletic reasons. Contradicted himself on that one.

I couldn't tell you how it ended, I fell asleep.

Holding Jr. High kids back is VERY common place and HAS been for over 20 years (that I know of, personally).

Trust me. That was an EXTREMELY accurate description of high school football.

[atalltexan]

I've seen "Go Tigers" and wasn't that impressed. 

There were two parts that I couldn't believe, the boys being held back in the 8th grade for the sole purpose of being bigger, stronger, and more mature when they become seniors.  Doesn't sound legal, but maybe it is.

Also, the one transfer RB.  He says at one point that he transfered so he could play in the Masillon atmosphere, but then says he didn't transfer for athletic reasons.  Contradicted himself on that one.

I couldn't tell you how it ended, I fell asleep.

Holding Jr. High kids back is VERY common place and HAS been for over 20 years (that I know of, personally).

Trust me. That was an EXTREMELY accurate description of high school football.

Ah yes, the "redshirting" of junior high kids.

[Super B]

This story was written in 1999.

Ten years later, Mojo hoping to erase 'Friday Night' memories

By Greg Garber
ESPN.com

EDITOR'S NOTE: The story of Odessa Permian's 1988 football season was told in the best-seller "Friday Night Lights." ESPN's Greg Garber takes a look at the ramifications of the book and whether Mojo is still religion 10 years later in a four-part series.

ODESSA, Texas -- The marching band is kicking ****, big-time. The cheerleaders are flying through the air as if they had bowls of Skittles for breakfast. Even the parents' section is rocking out.

You can feel the vibration in your chest.

There are 2,500 people squeezed into the gymnasium at Permian High School and, well, it feels like the roof is going to blow. It's incredibly hard to believe it's only 8:45 on a Friday morning.


Current Permian coach Randy Mayes hopes to someday put 'Friday Night Lights' behind him.

The principal, Mr. Rosson, is wearing jeans and a T-shirt rolled up to his shoulders. Many of the teachers are wearing poodle skirts and regulation white socks. The Permian Panther is strutting, directing the '50's-inspired pep rally. It's all too real to be 1998.

The football players? They're sitting in a long row of folding chairs, dressed in their varsity whites, soaking it all in with deep satisfaction. These are the moments they dream of growing up in this hard town in the desert.

Ten years ago, H.G. "Buzz" Bissinger came along and wrote "Friday Night Lights." He eloquently captured the fever Odessa had for the exalted thing called Mojo Football. In the process, he turned the town upside down. At parties, even the teenage beer blasts, the book would come up and fists would start crashing into faces.

After a decade, it is clear "Friday Night Lights" has had a cleansing effect. The book, a 357-page heap of pulp, has been an agent of social change.

"I give a lot of credit to Buzz," says Vicki Gomez, then a member of the school board. "He made us take a good, hard look at ourselves. He made us see how ugly we really looked. And we didn't like it.

"And so a lot of us started making an effort to change that ugliness. We're still not beautiful by any means, but we're kind of cute."

Bissinger says he's gratified.

"If it's true, it's a good thing," he says. "Those high school games when I was there 10 years ago, they lit up the night. It was like a rocket ship landing in the desert. They were liquid and exciting, but the priorities were skewed.

"If there has been a shift toward education, toward the realization that this was just a game and kids have to live their lives after they're 17 or 18 years old, that's a great thing."


Approaching a balance
Many people involved in the educational process in Odessa admit privately that football reigned supreme over academics in 1988. But, they hasten to add, it made a lot of money for the district. Now, they say there is more of a balance.

"Education-wise, 'Friday Night Lights' was maybe a sock in the face," says Brian Chavez, the starting tight end in 1988 and now a lawyer in Odessa. "It was like, 'Hey, we need to take education serious.' The school district made a lot of drastic changes."

In 1988, Permian boys who took the Scholastic Aptitude Test earned a combined score that was 19 points below the national average for boys.

In 1997, males averaged 511 in math -- matching the national average -- and scored 498 on the verbal portion, seven points lower than the national average.

"We've changed an awful lot," Chuck Hornung, a spokesman for the school district, told the Odessa American. "There's a lot more emphasis on academics. We're not the same district that's portrayed in that book."

And then there is the thorny issue of racism. Folks in Odessa say diversity has driven it back just below the surface.

In 1988, Permain's once almost exclusively white population had dwindled to 69 percent, with Hispanics at 23 percent and African-Americans at 6 percent. This year, the numbers are 60 percent for whites, 33 percent for Hispanics and the same 6 percent for African-Americans.

For the first time ever, the Ector County Independent School District is technically a minority school district. About 52 percent of the 28,000 students are minorities.

"We were a red-necked, little racist town, twenty years behind the times," Gomez says. "And nobody wanted to admit it was true. I'm not saying that racism is a thing of the past; unfortunately, we still have a lot of discrimination going on.

"I'm thinking that now maybe there's a little more subtlety to it. But I do think people are making an effort to try to understand the differences in cultures."

Perhaps more than anything, "Friday Night Lights" left the impression that Odessans were something south of fanatical regarding their cherished high school football team.

Maybe it's because the population is slipping away to more hospitable places. Maybe it's because the team was banned from the playoffs twice in four years for violating the rules. Maybe it's because coach Randy Mayes went 3-6 last year, only the third losing season in the school's four decades.

For whatever reason, attendance is down a bit, around 13,000 per game.

"Maybe it's because no one wants to be portrayed as being this rabid Mojo fan," says Brian Rosson, Permian's principal. "We're not as loud and as vocal as it might have been at one time. I don't know if it has anything to do with the book."

Says Mayes, "Maybe there were some members of the older generation that needed to take a look at their value system."

Somehow, Mojo football means a little bit less than it did 10 years ago. The moment of critical mass came last season, when Odessa High School beat Permian for the first time in 33 years.

"People thought if Odessa beat Permian, it would be the end of the world," says Gomez. "It used to be 'God, Country and Permian football.' Now, it's 'God, Country and football.' "

Permian's real rival remains Midland's Lee High School, where the Rebels' theme song is "Dixie."


Former Permian coach Gary Gaines faces his old school in the 1998 playoffs as the coach of San Angelo Central.

Two weeks ago, the two teams hooked up in one of their best, nastiest games ever. Permian trailed 14-0, but came back to tie it.

The Panthers took a 21-17 lead on Koefie Powell's 1-yard run with 4:51 left, but Midland came back down the field. The Rebels converted a fourth-and-seven pass, then scored a touchdown when quarterback Jon Rogers threw a perfect 14-yard fade to Eric Neatherlin with 30 seconds left.

Permian's 62-yard field goal attempt as time ran out was predictably short.

Midland-Lee 24, Permian 21.

Roy Williams, who averages an astounding 30 yards per catch, was the Panthers' star with two interceptions and a touchdown.

His older brother, Lloyd Hill, seemed crushed afterward. Hill's 1988 Permian team lost to Midland-Lee, 22-21.

The more things change, the more they stay the same.

Permian finished the regular season 8-2 after last Friday night's win over Odessa High. The Panthers were 4-1 in District 4-AAAAA play and qualified for the playoffs.

The opponent? San Angelo Central, coached by Gary Gaines, the Permian head coach in 1988.

The more things change ...

Ron Howard, the actor and director, came to town a few years ago to talk about making a movie about Odessa, but nothing came of it.

Somehow, that figured.

"As Odessans, we knew the book was something we had to overcome," says Mayes. "And whether that's a positive or a negative, we have. Let's go on with life."

[rowletteagle24]

this has to be the coolest thing ever..

My old coach who coached me last year at rowlett high school moved to have a coaching job at permia this last season.

Well he sent my coaching staff a letter saying that he is a coach in the movie friday night lights for oddessa.
He is a great coach. I say he is one of the best coaches ever.
He tought me alot and he is highly missed at rowlett high school.

His name is coach washburn and we miss him terribly..

He put in the email he sent us that they are paying him every hour that he works more money than he ever made in a days work as a coach.

Thats around $100 an hour. Crazy.

[Super B]

Odessans hopeful movie won't be like book

BETSY BLANEY

Associated Press

ODESSA, Texas - The 1990 book about Permian High School's storied football program stirred angry emotions in this West Texas city with its allegations of racism and a win-at-all-costs mindset.

People were so mad that a local bookstore canceled a book signing by author H.G. "Buzz" Bissinger, and "Buzz off, Bissinger" T-shirts popped up all over town.

Nearly 15 years later, as "Friday Night Lights" is being made into a movie, some folks are feeling apprehensive.

"We're just praying for a different light with the movie," said Marca Washburn, a senior at Permian during the 1988 season chronicled in the book who is now a general manager at an Odessa hotel. "I want to believe the best. It's still Hollywood, but I feel pretty good about the movie."

Filming for the movie, which features Billy Bob Thornton as Permian's coach, wrapped up in Odessa on Thursday. It's expected to hit theaters in October.

Bissinger's book - known by some at the time as "The Book" - came out a few years after the release of "The Secret of the Mojo," an upbeat tribute to the Permian program and traditions.

Bissinger said his book is larger than Permian.

"The book is about the greatness, exuberance, pageantry and also the real darkness that can be high school football in Texas," he said. "The question is, how faithful will they be to the book? And I can't know that until I see it."

The book is still a point of discussion among former players.

James "Boobie" Miles, a black running back featured in the book, said it was realistic in its descriptions of racism. But he said Odessa is much different now.

"At that point in time that's the way it was," said Miles, now working in the home renovation business. "Since then, this town has changed a lot because you live and you learn. You hear what I'm saying? I'm talking everyone. Blacks, Hispanics, whites."

Brian Chavez, a tight end and linebacker, recalled pressure to dislike the book.

But what a difference a few years can make, said Chavez, now a criminal defense attorney in Odessa.

"I think it's done a 180-degree turn," he said. "Everyone is real excited. I don't know if that's Hollywood or just a change of the times, a change in attitudes. It's 15 years later. It's a different generation."

One difference former players may like about the movie is how the season ended.

Permian finished the 1988 season 12-3, losing 14-9 to Dallas Carter in the semifinals of the state tournament. In the movie, Permian makes it to the title game before losing to Carter. Filming of that final game begins Monday in the Astrodome in Houston.

Another thing Odessans already like is the money the film pumped into the local economy. Actors and crew members occupied 200 hotel rooms, ate hundreds of meals and bought plenty of goods. City officials estimate the three-week shoot brought $3.4 million into the economy.

"This is certainly not going to hurt us," Odessa Mayor Larry Melton said. "Odessa is being spotlighted across the nation. These young people who worked hard are getting recognition. I think people are sort of excited to have stars in town and the telling of a great legend, our football team."

Whether that legend comes out the way Odessans want remains to be seen.

"There's a chance the movie will cast a good light on the town; you never know," said Tim "Trapper" O'Connell the team's trainer in 1988 and trainer for the actor-players in the movie.

O'Connell has knocked the book as sensationalism, but he's eager to see the film.

"From what I've seen and what I've been around, it's going to be a very good movie," he said.

[pied]

The fact that they have them losing to Carter in the Astrodome in the championship game has me a little worried. I am still hopeful though.

[Super B]

Leave it to Hollywood to turn a true story into a partially true story.

[pied]

Saw The Alamo this weekend, and understand what you mean. Overall pretty good movie, but some things were left out. Then I thought about what they would have had to do to add them(haracter development, time, etc.), figured they'd do a good job.

As far as ending in the championship game, I guess it makes it a little more interesting and does not affect the story that much. Not sure why they would have it in the Astrodome vs. Memorial Stadium. The story of how it ended up in Austin was pretty interesting, and I wonder if they'll include that,