Kevin James — yes, yes, I hear your Paul Blart, Mall Cop jokes, but he is the King of Queens and a very good and successful actor — is not the name I would have expected to play Sean Payton.
But that’s who’s been cast in a flick called Home Team, which — per Pro Football Talk’s Peter King — will be produced by Adam Sandler’s Happy Madison Productions.
The premise, according to King: “The plotline begins in 2012, when Payton is suspended for the season by commissioner Roger Goodell for the Saints’ bounty scandal, which gives Payton the chance to re-assess his life and put it in some perspective. As part of his new life, Payton becomes the offensive coach for his son Connor’s sixth-grade football team, the Warriors, in the Dallas area.”
The questions I have aren’t necessarily about James playing Payton. I kind of see a resemblance.
They’re about the fact that there’s a movie being made out of Payton’s year of suspension over the bounty scandal that rocked the New Orleans Saints — the NFL investigated and subsequently found evidence that then-defensive coordinator Gregg Williams had installed a bounty program that would pay players for certain plays, including many that injured opponents.
Payton’s role? From USA TODAY Sports: “NFL commissioner Roger Goodell punished him for not stopping the program run by former defensive coordinator Gregg Williams and then for allegedly trying to cover up the mess.”
So what kind of movie is this going to be? Given James’ and Sandler’s involvement and the premise of a decorated NFL coach spending a season with his son’s sixth-grade team — Wright Thompson wrote about it years ago in the pages of ESPN the Magazine — are we talking about a laugh-out-loud straight comedy here? The coach who has lost his way but finds that the child-like love of the game is what makes him whole again?
Because if that’s the case, it feels like it’s glossing over the fact that a head coach in the NFL allegedly tried to cover up a major scandal that involved his players getting extra pay for maiming opponents. Yes, it’ll be one of those “based on a true story” movies that puts a glossy sheen on whatever really happened, so no one’s expecting hard truths.
Kevin James will play New Orleans Saints head coach Sean Payton in ‘Home Team’, a film from Netflix covering Payton’s suspension in 2012 and the time he spent coaching his son’s sixth grade football team.
(via @peter_king) pic.twitter.com/a8kj1FVtc6
— Lights, Camera, Pod (@LightsCameraPod) April 12, 2021
But when you see that, per King, “Payton read the script recently [and] made some corrections,” it makes you think it’ll be some heartwarming PR for the coach, and we’ll all have a good laugh over James bumbling as he tries to teach the kids how to defend the single-wing and calls up Bill Parcells (he really did that! And who’s playing Bill?) to get advice.
Given that the movie will be filmed later this year, we’ll find out in 2022 if that’s what it’s like. But I really hope it’s not just a light-hearted comedy.
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