Friday Night Lights (2004)

User Rating:

7.2/10   

Directors:

Peter Berg
Josh Pate

Writers (WGA):

Buzz Bissinger (book)
David Aaron Cohen (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

8 October 2004 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Drama | Sport

Tagline:

Hope comes alive

Plot:

Based on H.G. Bissinger's book, which profiled the economically depressed town of Odessa, Texas and their heroic high school football team, The Permian High Panthers.

Plot Keywords:

Texas | Coach | Odessa Texas | Small Town | Championship

Awards:

1 win & 4 nominations

Cast

Billy Bob Thornton	...	Coach Gary Gaines
Lucas Black	...	Mike Winchell
Garrett Hedlund	...	Don Billingsley
Derek Luke	...	Boobie Miles
Jay Hernandez	...	Brian Chavez
Lee Jackson	...	Ivory Christian
Lee Thompson Young	...	Chris Comer
Tim McGraw	...	Charles Billingsley
Grover Coulson	...	L.V. Miles
Connie Britton	...	Sharon Gaines
Connie Cooper	...	Mrs. Winchell
Kasey Stevens	...	Flippy
Ryanne Duzich	...	Melissa
Amber Heard	...	Maria
Morgan Farris	...	Jennifer Gaines

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for thematic issues, sexual content, language, some teen drinking and rough sports action.

Runtime:

118 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital | SDDS

Certification:

Iceland:LH | Canada:G (Quebec) | Canada:PG (Alberta/British Columbia/Manitoba/Nova Scotia/Ontario) | Australia:M (tv rating) | South Korea:12 | Malaysia:U | Ireland:12A | Singapore:NC-16 | UK:12A (original rating) | UK:12 (video rating) (2005) | USA:PG-13 | Argentina:13 | Finland:K-11 | Australia:PG

Filming Locations:

Abilene, Texas, USA

Company:

Friday Night Lights LLC

Trivia:

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.

Goofs:

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.

Quotes:

Radio Listener: There's too much learning going on at that school.

Movie Connections:

Featured in "HBO First Look: Friday Night Lights (#11.18)" (2004)

Soundtrack:

First Breath after Coma

Rack Focus is out of bounds

The reason Varsity Blues is so much like Friday Night Lights is b/c VB is a fictional story which was written 10 years after the true story of FNL took place in Odessa, TX in 1988.

The game faces worn by the players in FNL are genuine. The "Religion" of High School Football gave them no other choice. H.G. Bissinger spent almost an entire year with his family in 1988 in Odessa, TX. He essentially became a part of the community and team in documenting and then writing his book Friday Night Lights. He said that due to depressed economic conditions, lack of higher education, and good paying jobs, the communities in West Texas looked upon the high school football programs as saviors from reality.