-- Trivia; tidbits about
Friday Night Lights --
To gather research, producers visited real high school football games in Texas during the fall of 2003.
Frustrated with the authenticity of some actors playing assistant coaches, director Peter Berg turned to actual Permian High School coaches to deliver some lines during game sequences.
Buzz Bissinger, who wrote the book on which the movie is based, and director and co-writer Peter Berg are cousins.
Neither Derek Luke nor Lee Thompson Young had ever played football before.
There are only two title cards at the beginning of the movie. The first is “The following story is based on the 1988 West Texas football season.” The second is the movie title. The cast and crew are not shown until the end of the movie.
Richard Linklater was attached to this project before ‘Peter Berg’ but it was scraped due to budget difficulties.
Alan J. Pakula was originally set to direct this film before his death.
At the end of the movie where Permian is trying to score right before the last play you can see director ‘Peter Berg’ jumping up and down in the stands.
Live-action game sequences from the 2003 Permian High School football season are interspersed throughout the film. Director Peter Berg matched the uniforms and on-field jersey numbers for acted sequences so that the live clips would blend. Game sequences were shot on location at Ratliff Stadium in Odessa and the Astrodome in Houston.
Texan experimental post-rock band Explosions in the Sky scored the movie. The producer used small pieces of older songs by Explosions in the Sky as placeholders, but eventually grew so fond of the pieces that he licensed them along with the original score produced by the band.
The real James ‘Boobie’ Miles can be seen standing next to Derek Luke (playing Boobie Miles) several times throughout the film. He is wearing a black Permian jacket and hat.
Garrett Hedlund gained an about additional 20 lbs for this movie on top of the 30 lbs that he had gained for Troy (2004). He was up to 200 lbs when he’d usually been 155.
Derek Luke, who played high school player James ‘Boobie’ Miles, was actually 30 years old during filming. In the movie, he is portrayed as a teenager.
Roy Williams, wide receiver for the Detroit Lions, has a cameo as assistant coach to Odessa’s rival team. He played for Permian in high school.
The state trooper who pulls up next to Chavez and Billingsley outside of the 7-11 is driving a special police package Ford Mustang that was made from the early 1980s to 1993, and Texas DPS did indeed use these cars at the time.
The video clips used to show Dallas Carter playing the “Hays Rams” was actually a playoff game between the 02-03 Richardson Berkner Rams. One of the players captured from the Berkner highlights was Aqib Talib, who went on to become an All-American at Kansas and a first-round NFL Draft pick of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
-- Goofs; can you see the goofs for
Friday Night Lights --
Anachronisms: During one shot of the scoreboards, an advertisement for Bank of America is shown. The logo featured was not in use in the 1980’s.
Anachronisms: The artificial turf used in the scenes at Permian high was not in use in 1988. Fieldturf, a surface which uses a mixture of sand and ground rubber, wasn’t in use until 2001.
Anachronisms: Toward the beginning of the movie, a Dodge Durango is seen parked on the street in Odessa. This movie is set in 1988; Dodge did not begin making the Durango until 1997.
Anachronisms: Numerous players in the movie were seen wearing Under Armour accessories. Under Armour did not appear until 1997.
Continuity: In the first half of the state championship game, quarterback Winchell is seen being tackled with a large bloodstain on his jersey, and in subsequent shots the stain is removed. He later gets the injury that results in the stain during the last play of the first half.
Factual errors: “Boobie” is on his front porch watching the trash being picked up, Odessa has alleys and dumpsters for trash pickup, not curbside pickup.
Anachronisms: During scene, the camera shows the parking lot. The first 10 or 15 rows of cars in the WalMart parking lot are 80’s cars, but there’s a white 2000’s model Suburban along with other modern cars behind them.
Continuity: When Boobie gets hurt, we see a close up of his knee and hear a crack. The knee we see is his right knee. In later shots, it is his left knee that is hurt.
Anachronisms: At the first football game (against Marshall), the logo on the bass drum in the marching band is from the 2004 Rose Parade – you can make out the date and city on the bottom of the drum.
Anachronisms: In the games against Abilene and Abilene Cooper, the scoreboard in Shotwell Stadium shows an ad for Ambassador Suites, however, in 1988 it was Embassy Suites.
Anachronisms: In one of the first games, a Permian opponent is seen wearing a Riddell Revolution football helmet, a design that was not introduced until 2002.
Anachronisms: At the high school party, a bag of Lay’s potato chips is clearly shown. The design of that bag and the Lay’s logo is post-2000.
Anachronisms: The drums each high school’s band used were what’s called “free floating” drums. These keep the top head stretched over a separate metal hoop, away from the wood shell. They were designed when bands started using Kevlar drum heads which had to be stretched so tightly they were literally crushing the wood shells. These were not invented and used popularly until the mid-1990s.
Continuity: When Boobie Miles is having his MRI explained to him, he angrily grabs it off the display. But it’s back on there a few seconds later, and then it’s gone yet again.
Continuity: When Permian takes the field at the Astrodome, only a handful of the players’ jerseys have names on the back. However, during the halftime locker room speech, all the players have their last names on the back of their jerseys.
Anachronisms: The Dial-a-Down down markers used in the football games were not in use in 1988.
Anachronisms: At the beginning of the film as Mike is going over plays with his mother a prescription bottle is briefly shown with a fill date of December, 2003 yet the movie is set in 1988.
Errors made by characters (possibly deliberate errors by the filmmakers): In the State Championship game, when one of the Permian “Mojo” Panther players makes an interception the commentator says “He returns it inside the Mojo 5.” The “Mojo 5″ would have actually been the opposite side of the field. He should have said inside the Carter 5.
Crew or equipment visible: As Boobie enters his Uncles car, after saying goodbye to the team, you can see the transmitter and cable for his wireless microphone attached to his belt at his back.
Audio/visual unsynchronized: During the Midland Lee game, the game announcer in the Peach seat (Jeffrey Gibbs) can be seen talking out of sequence with the audio.
Continuity: When Booby Miles is cleaning out his locker, his knee brace is on his left leg in the first part of the scene, then it is on his right leg in the middle of the scene, then switches back to his left leg at the end of the scene.
Anachronisms: When Boobie is hurt, one of the fans standing behind L.V. in the stands is wearing a cap and jacket with a Texas Christian University logo that wasn’t in use in 1988.
Anachronisms: The Cooper cheerleaders are wearing fly away skirts, a design that did not come about until the early 1990s.
Continuity: After the final game, when Gaines is removing the seniors’ names from the board and dropping them in a desk drawer, Christian’s name tag can be seen already in the drawer. In the next shot, Christian’s name is the one removed.
Continuity: During one of the games, the scoreboard features a Bank of America sign. At the end of the same game, the sign is for a different bank.
Errors made by characters (possibly deliberate errors by the filmmakers): When the announcer of one of the regular season games claims its 2nd down, the scoreboard reveals it is 3rd down.
Anachronisms: In the beginning of the movie when the college scouts are looking at Boobie. They are all wearing the current revised logos of their respective universities. In 1988, the University of Miami’s logo was not that same as it is now.
Continuity: In the Championship game on the last play when Winchell is showed juking and spinning off defenders, the same defender #20 is showed attempting to tackle him 4 times after falling down and being knocked down many times before.
Factual errors: Late in the 4th quarter of the championship game, the quarterback Winchell throws an incomplete pass. Immediately thereafter, a cut-away shot shows the game clock still running. In football, the game clock stops after an incomplete pass.
Anachronisms: Post-1988 vehicles in overhead shot of campers at the beginning of the state playoffs montage.
Continuity: When Chavez and Billingsly are eating burritos in front of the convenient store and the police officer pulls up, Billingsly’s window is up/down/up between shots.
Anachronisms: American flag decals were first added to football helmets during the 1990s.
Errors made by characters (possibly deliberate errors by the filmmakers): When the trooper pulls up next to the football players outside of the 7-11, you can see he has a mustache. However, Texas DPS troopers aren’t allowed to have facial hair or show a white undershirt, as the trooper in the movie is doing.
Revealing mistakes: During the final seconds of one of the games, they complete a 1st down which should stop the clock but the clock keeps running down.
Continuity: In the final drive of the game against Midland Lee, Winchell completes a pass to the Lee 10 yard line. On the next play, Permian is back at the 40 and Winchell completes a pass that goes to the 20. On the following play, the same clip of a Permian player making a catch at the 10 yard line is used, only from a different angle.
Continuity: In the scene before day one of preseason in Coach Gaines’ office while he is watching film, they show the magnet depth chart behind him. Chris Comer is listed as second string directly behind Boobie Miles yet in the interview Comer claims he is third string.
Audio/visual unsynchronized: In the Permian vs. Cooper game. Comer catches the ball from Mike Winchell before his first touchdown after his first carry. As he runs down the field the radio announcer says “Comer crosses, the twenty, the thirty, the forty, the fifty.” After he says the fifty they show a shot of Comer and the numbers on the turf showed that he had only just crossed the thirty-yard line.
Anachronisms: In several scenes, players are clearly seen wearing “Cutters” brand receiver/running back gloves, which did not exist in the 1980s.
Errors made by characters (possibly deliberate errors by the filmmakers): During the championship game, at the end of the second half, the announcer says the score is 26 to 7 but Dallas Carter has only scored 2 touchdowns with 2 extra points and a safety. Leaving them with a score of only 18, not 16.
Continuity: After the State Championship game Don Billingsley’s father Charlie approaches him. In the first shot Don has gloves on his hands. There is then a close up and his father then puts his state championship ring on Don’s finger and his hands are bare. The shot after that it shows Don with his father again and his gloves are once more.
Factual errors: Dallas Carter beat Converse Judson in the Texas 5A Championship Game, not Odessa Permian. However, their championship was later stripped from them because of eligibility rules violations.
Errors made by characters (possibly deliberate errors by the filmmakers): When they are previewing the state championship game, the TV announcer says, “It is rumored that six of their players have already signed Division 1 letter of intents.” It is against NCAA rules to sign a letter of intent before national letter of intent day. National letter of intent day is always on the first Tuesday in February.
Anachronisms: In the state championship game, several of the Dallas players have Oakley shields on their helmets. Oakley did not make helmet shields in 1988.
Errors made by characters (possibly deliberate errors by the filmmakers): When the two teams are entering the Astrodome, an announcer says “East Texas meets West Texas.” While Odessa is considered to be in West Texas, Dallas (where Dallas Carter H.S. is located) does not consider itself to be East Texas, but rather North Texas (or even north central Texas).
Factual errors: Boobie’s number in his Senior year was 35, not 45 as in the movie.
-- Quotes; relive your favorites quotes for
Friday Night Lights --
Brian Chavez: I’m gonna miss the heat.
Don Billingsley: I’m gonna miss the lights.
Brian Chavez: Yeah, me too. Stay low boys, keep those feet moving.
Don Billingsley: Hey Chavez! Be perfect.
Brian Chavez: You be perfect.
Don Billingsley: See you Mike.
Charles Billingsley: Can’t hold on to the lamp, can’t hold on to the football.
Don Billingsley: I can hold on to the football, Dad. Now get the hell out of here!
Don Billingsley: If I have anything to say about it tonight you’re going to get drunk and you’re going to get laid.
Mike Winchell: I’m not going out drunk and foolin’.
Reporter: Your dad played at Permian. What’s it like to be the son of a local legend?
Don Billingsley: Next question.
Brian Chavez: We got to lighten up. We’re 17.
Don Billingsley: Do you feel 17?
Mike Winchell: I don’t feel 17.
Don Billingsley: We’re gonna get drunk, we’re gonna get laid, and we’re gonna win state but not tonight.
Don Billingsley: What’s wrong with you?
[yelling at his father after he throws his State Championship ring out the car window]
Don Billingsley: What the hell is WRONG with you?
Brian Chavez: We will win State.
Don Billingsley: Chavez, you’re like a human pi”ata. You get your ass all beat more than anybody I know, and you just sit there and spit out candy.
Mike Winchell: That’s because he’s out of here. He’s got the grades. And no matter what we win or loose he knows he’s getting out. He’s got one foot out the door, man.
Brian Chavez: Give me the gun.
Don Billingsley: [making fun of Chavez] You’re going to be drinking martinis, eating lamb chops, getting manicures…
Brian Chavez: You’re just jealous.
Don Billingsley: …removing your freakin’ shoes.
Don Billingsley: Hey Chavo, be perfect.
Brian Chavez: You be perfect.
Mike Winchell: He designed his offense around one player. We’re dead.
Brian Chavez: We’re not dead. You just need to start throwing the ball.
Don Billingsley: We’re dead.
Mike Winchell: [Deleted Scene] Did you think is was going to be this big?
Brian Chavez: Yeah.
Mike Winchell: Bullsh*t man.
Brian Chavez: I do.
Mike Winchell: You act like that. You think it’s just a game. Something to check off on your list. Know what I think?
Brian Chavez: What’s that?
Mike Winchell: I think you’re scared just like the rest of us. But I think you’re smart enough to see that one day when you look back from whatever big job or big house, or whatever it is that you got, that when you look back at this time, I dare you to beat it. I dare you.
Brian Chavez: It’s just a game.
Don Billingsley: It doesn’t feel like just a game to me.
Brian Chavez: So what’s it feel like?
Don Billingsley: Feels like… feels like we’re going to war.
Cheerleader: Hi Don!
Don Billingsley: Hey Karen.
Cheerleader: I made this is for you
[Hands him a rice krispie treat]
Cheerleader: . Do you like it? Do you like it?
Don Billingsley: Yeah… I think so. What is it?
Cheerleader: It’s you as a rice krispie. Do you like it?
Don Billingsley: Yeah, I love it. Thanks.
