The Replacements
All team (30)
Short description
When the professional football players of the Washington Sentinels go on strike, the team's owner brings former coach Jimmy McGinty out of retirement to assemble a replacement squad. McGinty agrees on the condition that he alone chooses the players and runs the team without interference. Rather than signing semi-professionals or former pros, he recruits a mismatched group of outsiders, led by Shane Falco, a one-time college quarterback whose career stalled years earlier. To keep the Sentinels in playoff contention, the substitutes must win three of the season's last four games before the strike ends.
Howard Deutch directed The Replacements, which came in 2000, after The Odd Couple II (1998) and before Gleason (2002), the eighth film in the directing credits listed for him. Vince McKewin wrote the screenplay, and Dylan Sellers produced it for Warner Bros. Pictures, Dylan Sellers Productions and Bel Air Entertainment. Keanu Reeves plays Shane Falco opposite Gene Hackman as Jimmy McGinty, with Brooke Langton, Orlando Jones, Faizon Love and Jon Favreau among the credited cast of 31.
The film runs 118 minutes and was released on August 11, 2000. Made for a budget of 50 million USD, it took in the same amount worldwide, so it roughly broke even at the box office. Audiences rate it moderately: 6.6 out of 10 on IMDb from around 74,000 votes, and 6.7 out of 10 on TMDB from over a thousand votes. A film critics' score of 5.6 out of 10 from 106 reviews sits somewhat below those viewer figures.
What's left behind the scenes
- For his role in this film, Keanu Reeves gained 23 pounds.
- Reeves' character is a former quarterback from Ohio. In 'Point Break' (1991), Reeves' character was also once a quarterback in Ohio.
- The film is set in Washington, D.C., although the filming actually took place in Baltimore.
- John Favreau's character, prone to outbursts of anger and cruelty, bears the surname Bateman, which was also the surname of the main character in "American Psycho" (2000).
- All the teams shown in the film are fictional.
- Keanu Reeves waived part of his fee for the film in order to secure the participation of Gene Hackman.
- All the actors who played coaches of opposing teams were film consultants involved in staging the football match scenes.
- Some of the film's actors directed parts of the scenes. For example, Orlando Jones directed the dance scene in prison, and Gene Hackman staged several scenes featuring himself.
- The scenes showing the audition of candidates for the role of amateur cheerleaders are recordings from the actual casting for the film. The director selected the funniest takes, and they made it into the film.
- During filming, Keanu Reeves was offered the opportunity to try out for the professional team "Baltimore Ravens".
- Scenes for the American football matches were filmed during the Baltimore Ravens' preseason games, during halftime breaks.
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