Movie Musings: Disney and More

Remember the Titans XX part 1! 

In honor of the fact that it’s Super Bowl LIV (54) and it’s the year 2020, I thought that today we could explore a football movie produced 20 years ago. The movie tells the story of two Football Coaches, one African-American and the other Caucasian, and how they join forces when their high school racially integrates the students. Their collaborative coaching skills guide the team to win the Virginia State Championship title. The movie is of course, none other, than Disney’s Remember the Titans (2000). Please feel free to comment on your favorite fact.

 

• The original script for the film was full of profanity, but Disney asked producer Jerry Bruckheimer to remove all profanity so that the film could be considered a decent family film. This was the first film that Bruckheimer produced under the Disney label, though Bruckheimer previously produced The Ref for Touchstone Pictures and Dangerous Minds (1995), Crimson Tide (1995), and The Rock (1996). “Crimson Tide,” also starred “Remember the Titans,” lead star, Denzel Washington.
• Before portraying the role of Sheryl Yoast in this film, Hayden Panettiere had previously made her Disney debut voicing the role of Dot in Disney/Pixar’s A Bug’s Life (1998). She also lent her voice to Disney’s Dinosaur, which like “Remember the Titans,” was also released in 2000.
• Several of the actors who appeared in this movie have since reunited with one another: Wood Harris and Donald Faison who play Julius Campbell and Petey Jones in the film, later reunited for Next Day Air (2009). Denzel Washington and Ethan Suplee, who portray Coach Herman Boone and Louie Lastik, starred together in the films John Q (2002) and Unstoppable (2010). And Burgess Jenkins, who played Ray Budds, appeared in three episodes of Nashville (2012-2018) in which Hayden Panettiere also appeared as a regular.
• When Boaz Yakin was hired to direct “Titans,” producer Jerry Bruckheimer found out that Yakin knew absolutely nothing about American Football. Bruckheimer arranged for him to attend a Football camp, and in just two weeks he learned everything he need to learn. Yakin later reunited with Bruckheimer on Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time (2010) which Yakin co-wrote and Bruckheimer co-produced, and this film was also released by Disney.
• Although the film takes place in Alexandria, VA, it was actually shot in various locations all throughout the state of Georgia. The school used for T.C. Williams High School is actually Druid Hills High School, in DelKab County, Georgia. However, the school has no stadium. That being the case, the football games were filmed at Berry College, and other high schools in the Atlanta area including Paulding County High School and Sprayberry High School in Marietta, GA.
• Ray Budds (Burgess Jenkins), Alan Bosley (Ryan Gosling), Fred Bosley (Tim Ware), and Coach Tyrell (Brett Rice) were all characters who were made up exclusively for the film. Brett Rice also played a fictional High School Football Coach in the movie Forrest Gump (1994) starring Tom Hanks.
• The real Virginia State Championship Football Game in 1971 was played at 12 o’clock noon, not at night as depicted in the movie. The real Gary Bertier also played in the game, and his unfortunate car accident occurred afterward.
• There is a scene in this film when Denzel Washington’s character, Coach Herman Boone, talks about the Civil War. Washington won his first Oscar in the category of Best Supporting Actor for playing the Civil War Soldier Private Silas Trip in Glory (1989) which was a film about the 54th Massachusetts, the first all-black regiment in the U.S. Army.
• Dermot Mulroney, who starred in My Best Friends Wedding (1997) with Julia Roberts, was born in Alexandria, VA, and attended T.C. Williams High School.
• Although Coach Bill Yoast is portrayed as the father of only one daughter (Sheryl) in the film, in reality Coach Bill Yoast has four daughters: Bonnie Jean, Angela “Angie” Mildred, Sheryl Elizabeth, and Dierdre “Dee Dee” Louise. Both Bonnie and Sheryl lived tragically short lives. Bonnie was born on January 17th, 1951 and died on November 10th, 2003, and Sheryl was born on February 5th, 1962 and died because of a heart malfunction on May 4th, 1996. Both Angela and Dierdre live in Springfield, VA with their husbands and children.

This is a great film and a favorite of “sports movie” fans everywhere. The inspirational nature of the story also resonates with non-sports fans, since it portrays many of the key issues that continue to plague today’s America. More to come in Part II of this blog.