Former Arizona Cardinals quarterback Jake Plummer is set to portray an aging Canadian Football League QB in Kick, an upcoming film.
Plummer, who grew up watching Doug Flutie and is familiar with Warren Moon’s accomplishments in the CFL, is eager to bring more exposure to Canada’s version of American’s No. 1 sport.
Plummer will lead the Hamilton Tiger-Cats on an unlikely championship run in the movie, but he won’t be the main focus of the film.
“It’s going to be about four kids, 12-year-olds coming of age, kind of finding out who they are, and going on a real fun adventure together,” Plummer said during an interview with Broncos Wire. “So I think it’s going to be a great way to expose and bring to light a league that’s got a rich history, [and] has been going on for a long time.”
Plummer never played in Canada but he does have connections in the league. While he played for the Cardinals from 1997-2002, Plummer worked out in the offseason with CFL wide receiver Travis Moore in Arizona.
“He’s a really great receiver, one of the best to play the game up there,” Plummer said. “Now I think he’s coaching in Saskatchewan, so he and I were good buddies who worked out a lot, so I knew about it [the CFL] and tried to follow it as much as I could.”
A three-time CFL all-star and two-time Grey Cup champion, Moore totaled 9,930 receiving yards and scored 79 touchdowns in 11 seasons.
Moore’s probably not well known among NFL fans, but he’s the kind of CFL player Plummer admires.
“I think it’s really cool because it’s a game that’s played not for the multi-million dollar contracts and all that,” Plummer said of the CFL. “It’s more played by a lot of people that, a lot of athletes that love the game. They’re Canadians, mostly. You can only have, like, so many Americans on your roster — only a certain percentage of the roster can be American players.
“So it’s Canadians that are playing for the pride of their country. They’re not playing for $3.5 million a year, they’re playing for — I don’t even know what the average contract is, but I know it’s not like NFL. So they’re playing for the love of the game, which I really respect.”
The CFL’s roster rules have relaxed in recent years and teams can now have 14 American starters (compared to a minimum of seven Canadian starters), but Plummer’s point about the pay stands. The NFL’s minimum salary this season is $660,000, while the CFL’s minimum is about $52,563.
CFL players clearly aren’t in it for the money, and that “love of the game” mentality is an appealing role for Plummer, especially as a grizzled vet.
“I’m not being asked to play any weird role where I’ve got to like change who I am, I just have to go out and kind of be that guy I used to be,” he said.
Plummer has always had connections to the CFL, and he’ll now get an opportunity to add his name to the history of the league (in a fictional setting).
“Marc Trestman, my offensive coordinator in Arizona with the Cardinals in ’98 when we beat the Cowboys [in the Wild Card], he’s won a few Grey Cups up there also,” Plummer recalled. “So I’ve got connections up there. I’ve had them, I just don’t go to Canada a whole lot, but I’m going to have the opportunity to go now and it’s exciting.
“Who knows what it leads to – if anything – it’s just once you’re on film and the movie’s cut and it’s out, no one can take that away. You’re in a movie.”
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