Our friends at TBL went to see The Rock in his latest independent film, The Game Plan, and were inspired to come up with a list of actors who've done the best job portraying athletes on the big screen.
I totally agree that James Van Der Beek had excellent pocket presence as quarterback Jon Moxton in Varsity Blues, but he seemed lost in the halls of West Canaan (Texas) High School without his reliable and sulking sounding board, Joshua Jackson, who was off making Cruel Intentions.
And the main problem with asking someone from Cheshire, Connecticut to pull off a West Texas accent is that it's almost guaranteed he'll study the voice of Matthew McConaughey, who is actually from East Texas, and never talked like that until he fell deeply in love with his voice while making A Time To Kill in 1996.
Anyway, the only huge problem I have with TBL's list is the absence of Omar Epps as Darnell Jefferson in The Program. Epps' painfully poignant turn as the academically challenged Jefferson won the hearts of movie fans and a young Halle Berry, playing the role of lover/tutor Autumn Haley. Epps showed tremendous range while having to share a backfield with the poor man's Peter Sarsgaard, Craig Sheffer, who kept taking naps on crowded streets and railroad tracks.
Now, feel free to come up with your own list. I have to get back to hardcore football talk.
