'Draft Day' Gets Inside the NFL Like No Movie Has Before

Matt McDaniel
·Managing Editor
Updated

The Miami Sharks. The Boston Rebels. The North Dallas Bulls. Usually, when you sit down to watch a movie about professional football, you are required to suspend your disbelief and accept the clearly fake team names. Because the NFL hardly ever cooperates with Hollywood productions, films have to fictionalize all of the teams, players, and associated figures. But that’s not the case with “Draft Day.”

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To tell the story of the Cleveland Browns’ general manager (played by Kevin Costner) as he goes into the most important draft of his career, director Ivan Reitman knew it was essential to get more than just the expressed written consent of the National Football League. He wanted to get access to the real NFL draft broadcast from inside Radio City Musical Hall. Reitman said that the league liked the script, but “their real concern was that we use everything accurately.” After fine-tuning the screenplay, the league granted permission to not only allow film cameras inside the 2013 draft for the first time, but also to put the film’s actors in the mix with the real team owners and officials as they conducted business.

Due to scheduling, the crew filmed the climactic draft scenes first during the three-day event last April, and then shot the earlier scenes of the film later. This also required another unprecedented level of access, with the cast and crew working inside the Browns’ training complex and team offices. The filmmakers were also able to consult with the real GM of the team, dropping by his office whenever questions arose.

[Related: Kevin Costner and His ‘Draft Day’ Co-Stars Replay Their Most Intense Days]

Dennis Leary, who plays the Browns’ coach, said relished the chance to work in the Cleveland compound. “Shooting at the training facility, those days were great, with the Browns football players around us and the real Browns staff in the background watching us,” he said. “It was kind of crazy.”

“Draft Day" opens nationwide on Friday (and the real NFL draft starts on May 8).