Any Given Sunday

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For the Australian sports television show, see Any Given Sunday (television show).

Any Given Sunday

Directed by	Oliver Stone
Produced by	Richard Donner, Oliver Stone
Written by	Oliver Stone, Daniel Pyne, John Logan
Starring	Al Pacino Dennis Quaid Cameron Diaz James Woods Jamie Foxx LL Cool J
Distributed by	Warner Bros.
Release date(s)	December 22, 1999 (USA)
Running time	150 min / 156 min (director's cut)
Language	English
Budget	$55,000,000
IMDb profile

Any Given Sunday is a 1999 film directed by Oliver Stone starring Al Pacino, Cameron Diaz, Dennis Quaid, Jamie Foxx, James Woods, LL Cool J, Matthew Modine, John C. McGinley, Charlton Heston, Ann-Margret, Lauren Holly, Bill Bellamy, Lela Rochon, Aaron Eckhart, Elizabeth Berkley, and WWE wrestler Marty Wright (also known as the Boogeyman). The film also featured many real-life former football greats including Jim Brown, Lawrence Taylor, Dick Butkus, Y.A. Tittle, Pat Toomay, Warren Moon, Johnny Unitas, Ricky Watters, Barry Switzer, Emmitt Smith, and current football player Terrell Owens. NFL player agent Drew Rosenhaus also is featured in the film (coincidentally, Rosenhaus later became Owens's agent).

It was filmed in Miami, Florida and Dallas, Texas. The film disguises the Orange Bowl stadium as the home of a fictitious football team, the Miami Sharks, and disguises the Texas Stadium as the home of another fictitious team, the Dallas Knights. Both teams, along with many others created just for the film, belong to the fictitious sports league the Associated Football Franchises of America or AFFA (loosely based on the real-life USFL). Al Pacino plays the coach of the Miami Sharks and Cameron Diaz plays the team owner.

1 Plot
2 Fictional teams
3 Cast
4 Trivia
5 External links

[edit] Plot

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

The action is centered on four pivotal characters: coach Tony D'Amato (Pacino), quarterbacks Cap Rooney (Quaid) and Willie Beamen (Foxx), and the owner of the team Christina Pagniacci (Diaz). When starter Jack "Cap" Rooney is sacked and seriously injured in a game which the Sharks are losing, and backup QB Tyler Cherubini is injured, D'Amato is obliged to bring on third-stringer Beamen. Beamen makes a significant contribution to the team, and his spectacular progress reinvigorates the Sharks to the extent that they make the play-offs. However, Beamen's style antagonises D'Amato, not least because he deliberately ignores the plays which D'Amato calls.

Against this background, there is antagonism between D'Amato and Pagniacci, who is determined to modernize the team and progress; D'Amato, a traditionalist, resents her intrusion into aspects of the game which he considers to be his own domain as coach.

Spoilers end here.

Tagline: Life is a contact sport

Nearly all in this film are dynamic characters; that is, there is a significant change in their actions, beliefs, and priorities occurring over the course of the film. In a significant part of the film, when Willie dines with Coach D'Amato, he shares his views about how the game should be played, and how he is really just trying to win. The coach eventually buys into this philosophy. Similarly, Willie begins to trust his coach after his sincere pre-game speech (He had earlier said his halftime speeches were "Coaching bullshit"). The team quits antagonizing Willie, and even Julian buys into the team philosophy. Christina realizes that winning and money are not as important as trust and continuing her family legacy.

This film also depicts the dark side of professional football, including drug use, partying, sex, flaring tempers, and gambling.

The film is particularly notable for the quality of the photography and editing by Salvatore Totino.

[edit] Fictional teams

Other than the Miami Sharks, other teams in the fictitious AFFA that played a large part in the story were the:

Minnesota Americans
Chicago Rhinos
California Crusaders
New York Emperors
Dallas Knights

After the first game, we get a quick look at the entire Miami Sharks schedule for the season. Other teams included were the:

Seattle Prospects
Oregon Pioneers
Colorado Blizzard
Washington Lumbermen
Los Angeles Breakers
Kansas Twisters
Orlando Crushers
Texas Rattlers
Houston Cattlemen
Wisconsin Icemen

At the end of the film, D'Amato laments to gathered media about his team's loss to San Francisco but does not reference their mascot. On the team schedule, the San Francisco Knights are mentioned, but this is likely a mistake, since the Dallas team has that nickname. A team called the Pharaohs is mentioned during the Minnesota game without any city, so it is possible they are the San Francisco Pharaohs. At the same press conference, D'Amato states that he has been hired as head coach of the expansion Albuquerque Aztecs. He then causes more hysteria when he states that he has signed Willie Beamen as not only his starting quarterback, but as his franchise player as well. The gathered media can only stand in shock as he says good-bye and walks out of the building.

[edit] Cast

Tony D'Amato (Al Pacino) - The head coach of the Miami Sharks. He is a traditional coach and considers the team and its players under his rule. He is in constant conflict with team owner Christina Pagniacci (Diaz) who tries to control what happens on the field and in the locker room. He acts as the glue holding the team together.

Christina Pagniacci (Cameron Diaz) - The owner of the Miami Sharks. She attempts to take a more hands-on approach to the team than the former owner - her father. She tries to make the team more modern. In doing these things she comes into conflict with Coach D'Amato. She also begins political maneuvers that cause confrontation with the AFFA Commissioner and the Mayor of Miami.

Jack 'Cap' Rooney (Dennis Quaid) - The starting quarterback of the Miami Sharks. He is an aging veteran who faces conflicts with team personnel and his own family, especially his wife Cindy (Lauren Holly). He eventually is injured in a game and is replaced but tries to make a comeback later on. The character appears to be a composite of contemporary late career QBs Dan Marino (whose house is seen as Rooney's in the film) and John Elway (Rooney's mid-air spin while scoring is nearly identical to Elway's running TD in Super Bowl XXXIII.)

Dr. Harvey Mandrake (James Woods) - The team physician for the Miami Sharks. He is a crooked doctor who risks the injury of players to enable the team to have a better shot at winning. He is later fired after his practices are discovered by his intern.

Willie Beamen (Jamie Foxx) - The third-string quarterback for the Miami Sharks. He eventually becomes the starter for the team and is very successful. Because of his success, Beamen becomes very arrogant and actually changes plays the coach calls or calls his own plays. He begins a singing career and even ask the team owner for a date. He comes in conflict with other players on the team as well as coaches too. Although the movie was released before his career, Beamen and Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick are very similar in playing style.

Julian Washington (LL Cool J) - The starting running back for the Miami Sharks. He is a very good back but becomes increasingly angry at Beamen for his cockiness and tendencies to call plays away from him. He is alternately motivated by incentive clauses in his contract.

Luther 'Shark' Lavay (Lawrence Taylor) - The captain of the Miami Sharks' defense. Harvey has hidden that Shark is suffering from a previous injury. If he suffers a serious hit again, he may be killed or permanently disabled. The team's intern doctor informs him of the condition and Shark faces losing money from not making his incentive pay if he takes the doctor's advice. He also has a confrontation with Willie Beamen over the role of offense vs. defense in football.

Montezuma Monroe (Jim Brown) - The Defensive Coordinator of the Miami Sharks. He's vocal and brings high intensity to the defense and to the rest of the team in general. Tony D'Amato personally confides into Montezuma several times.

Nick Crozier (Aaron Eckhart) - The Offensive Coordinator of the Miami Sharks. Nick is an offensive guru brought in from Minnesota by Christina Pagniacci. He is highly critical of Tony's offensive play calling, Willie's changing the plays in the huddle, and Julian's playing for contract incentives. He is a bright, young coach who is handed the reins of the Miami team when Tony decides to leave for the expansion club in New Mexico.

Dr. Ollie Powers (Matthew Modine) - The intern doctor for the team and Harvey's nephew. He discovers Harvey covering for players who are suffering from near-career-ending injuries but are dosing on painkillers, steroids, and hormones to cover the pain. He faces his own dilemma in the need to relieve the players' pain vs. prescribing too much medication for the addicted players.

Phil Costigan (John C. McGinley) - A prominent sports reporter with his own cable show; a thinly disguised impression of Jim Rome. He shows an incredible distaste for all things D'Amato.

[edit] Trivia

Al Pacino and Jamie Foxx are the only two actors to be nominated for both Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor Oscar awards in the same year. Both won the former but not the latter.
The red jerseys of the fictitious Minnesota Americans are similar to that of the jerseys worn by the real-life New England Patriots, who wore red jerseys until 1993. The helmets of both of the teams are very similar to each other. Also both of the teams themes are similar as well. (Americans and Patriots)
Based in part on the book "You're Okay, It's Just a Bruise: A Doctor's Sideline Secrets" by Rob Huizenga. Huizenga was the intern doctor for the LA Raiders in their 1980s heyday, working under Dr Rosenfeld, who dismissed many players' injuries with the phrase "You’re okay, it's just a bruise" - James Woods' character was based on Rosenfield, and his first diagnosis of 'Cap' Rooney's career-ending injury at the beginning of the film is "you're okay, it's just a bruise". Huizenga left the Raiders in the early 1990´s, disgusted at the way the medical advice was kept from players and Rosenfield being allowed to continue treating them after several mishaps, one of which is closely mirrored in the film - Shark's neck injury and risk of sudden death.
According to IMDB, Oliver Stone wanted to use the music of Godspeed You! Black Emperor in the soundtrack, but the members of the band refused.