'Draft Day' Co-stars Replay Their Most Intense Days
'Draft Day' Co-stars Replay Their Most Intense Days
If you’re unfamiliar with the high stakes intensity that revolves around the annual NFL Draft, Kevin Costner’s new movie “Draft Day" takes you right inside the Cleveland Browns’s "war room.”
The film follows Browns general manager Sonny Weaver Jr. (Costner) throughout the 12 hours leading up to the career and football season-changing annual event that finds amateur college players being picked by pro teams. As depicted in the Ivan Reitman-directed drama, draft day is an event unlike any other, which involves last-minute, pressure-filled, behind-the-scenes decision-making.
Well, almost any other. As it turns out, draft day can be a lot like movie making.
"I’ve had a lot of days like draft day, where I’ve had to pull things together when things weren’t going right at first," Costner told Yahoo Movies. "It’s been in my own profession directing, where things are not going right and I still have to get something done. Your total life trajectory is going to change on a whim and you have no control over it, it’s amazing."
Houston Texans running back (and no stranger to a real draft day) Arian Foster plays a blue chip draft prospect being considered by Weaver for the top pick. Foster also noted that you don’t have to be a potential professional football player to experience a draft day-like scenario.
"Anything that embodies an entire life-changing moment — getting married, having a kid — all of that is exactly like going through a draft day, because it’s going to change your life," he said.
When it comes to similarities between football players and actors, actor Tom Welling — who plays Browns incumbent quarterback Brian Drew — said it would be nice if Hollywood would adopt a draft day-like sense of urgency in making decisions.
"There’s such a pace to the day and it goes so quickly, and in our industry sometimes it’s the opposite," said Welling. "Where you wish it would just go faster as far as knowing whether you’re going to get the job or not."
"Draft Day," which features an ensemble cast that also includes Jennifer Garner, Denis Leary, Frank Langella, Chadwick Boseman, and Josh Pence, opens everywhere April 11.
