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Draft Day

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Draft Day
Theatrical release poster
Directed byIvan Reitman
Written by
Produced by
Starring
CinematographyEric Steelberg
Edited by
Music byJohn Debney
Production
companies
Distributed byLionsgate
Release dates
  • April 7, 2014 (2014-04-07) (Los Angeles)
  • April 11, 2014 (2014-04-11) (United States)
Running time
110 minutes[1]
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$25 million
Box office$29.8 million

Draft Day is a 2014 American sports drama film directed by Ivan Reitman and starring Kevin Costner and Jennifer Garner. The premise revolves around the fictional general manager of the Cleveland Browns (Costner) deciding what to do after his team acquires the number one draft pick in the upcoming National Football League Draft.

The film premiered in Los Angeles on April 7, 2014[2] and was released in the United States on April 11, 2014. It received mixed reviews from critics and was a box office failure grossing only $29 million against its $25 million budget. The film was Reitman's final directorial effort and Jim Brown's final acting role before their deaths in 2022 and 2023 respectively.

Plot

The movie opens in New York City, where it is almost 13 hours until the Draft officially begins. ESPN sports announcers talk about the future of potential picks on NFL teams who will have their lives forever changed. Directly followed by a shot to Seattle Washington where we see one of the Seattle Seahawk owners discuss with the general manager (Tom played by Patrick Esprit) the top pick for this year's draft. Directly after we head to Cleveland where the general manager (Sonny played by Kevin Costner) of the Cleveland Browns watches the tv which talks about Sonny's top picks for the draft. We then see Sonny and Ali (Sonny's love interest/intern) talk about family plans and a potential pregnancy. While watching ESPN reports on top prospects he writes down something on a yellow note, and then puts it in his pocket. Sonny then talks on the phone with Tom about their picks for the draft, potentially the option of trading picks. Bo Callahan (the top pick for the Seahawks) is considered against Sonny's top picks for the next year as well as his third for the third year, Sonny however turns down the offer. An overhead voice then talks about the history of football and how it came from Canton Ohio, like it is part of who Cleveland's identity is while simultaneously showing different locations of the city and historical clips of the Browns. We then see Sonny talking to Vontae Mack (one of the picks played by Chadwick Boseman) talking about the picks and pay rates as he is currently driving to Virginia with who we presume to be his kids. Sonny then talks to Earl Jennings (played by Terry Cruz), about his son Ray Jennings (played by Arian Foster) in getting him to be one of the top picks for the draft as Earl had previously played for the Browns. The scene then cuts to Tom and Anthony (owner of the Browns played by Frank Langella) at a waterpark discussing how to increase ticket sales and threatens to fire Sonny if he can't as well as one of his coaches who previously coached the Cowboys, as he hasn’t been doing the best as of recent. Tom then talks to Sonny about the previous deal but changes the last third pick to the first pick, Seeing as how Sonny is in a dilemma he decides to go with the deal. At the training facility of the Browns we see some of the scouts discussing Jennings, Sonny then breaks the news about the deal he made to everyone's dismay he sees his choice as the ideal one. Anthony then calls about his reaction to the pick and heads to the draft ecstatic.

9 hours till the draft Sonny talks to Cris Crawford (Bos agent played by Sean Comes) about his new pick Bo, and to Bo about how he feels about winning, he then says that ‘everyone says that’ and gives condolences on Sonny's father. Sonny and one of the coaches get in an argument about his past from coaching the Dallas Cowboys and Sonny's father which hits a nerve. Sonny later talks with Vontae about his Twitter tweet on Bo Callahan as well as the amount of sacks he took on Callahan, proving that he is a better candidate. We then see Sonny and one of the training coaches talking about the progress his players have made during the off season. Sonny's then tries to find flaws in Callahan as he describes other players that seemed weaker than they really were. Sonny and Tom talk again about their deal while some protesters are seen going on a tangent against Tom. Sonny addresses Ali about his faults as he wants their relationship to work as well as Allis flaws when it comes to parenting, but they both have a passion for football. Tom Welling (one of the players of the browns played by Brian Drew) argues about Sonny’s pick on Callahan as he has played for the team for 8 seasons. We then cut to Kansas City, home of the Kansas City Chiefs, and Pete Begler (general manager of the Chiefs played by Wallace Langham) about taking Brian Drew for the Chiefs quarterback position. Ali and Coach Penn talk about attempting to get the previous picks back since Ali can sway Sonny’s decision. Sonny talks to Ralph (a Browns background checker) about Callahan, he comes to find out that Callahan had a 21st Bday dinner and none of his teammates showed up to the dinner which had a robbery incident. Sonny's talks to coach Moore (University of Wisconsin where Bo was from) about his 21st Bday incident, and follows up with Bo Callahan doesn’t have any friends. We then head to Buffalo New York (home of the Buffalo Bills) where we see Max Stone (general manager of the Bills) about trading Callahan for their first two year picks and running back. Sonny argues with coach Penn about him going behind his back to talk to the bills coach.

3 hours till the draft we cut to New York where the owner of the Browns is seen entering the complex and seeing the commissioner. Sonny and Ali talk about the Bills trade deal and the fact that he only gets back draft picks, and can’t make a pick for the next year. They also talk about the 1989 super bowl between the San Francisco 49ers and Cincinnati Bengals about the play that made the 49ers win the super bowl, the importance of being how the great ones ‘find a way to slow down’. The next scene shows Sonny's and the others watching the footage between the Ohio State Buckeyes and Wisconsin to see what Vontae talked about earlier where he got the ball and won a touchdown, to later sign it and give it to a fan. Ali and Sonny discuss their affair and that Ali doesn’t want it to be a secret. Sonny and Ralph talk about Washington's playbook (where there is a 100 bill at the end to see if players read it) where Bo never read the whole playbook and lied about reading it. Brian Drew later sent the bill back hoping he'd win the super bowl. We then cut to Houston Texas (home of the Houston Texans) where general manager Bill Zoti (played by Patrick Breen) talks about Vontae as he wants him as a pick. Sonny's mother Angie (played by Ellen Burstyn) talks about his father where he wants his ashes spread on the 50 yard line. Sonny and Ali talk about Sonny firing his father, where it was really his mothers ideas as his doctors warned of his health.

An hour until the draft and Bo Callahan arrives in New York for the draft as well Ray Jennings. Backstage Sonny talks to Bo on the phone about whether or not Bo’s teammates came to his party, Bo responds with the fact that he doesn’t remember anything from that night, to which Sonny replies “to be honest, I don’t remember mine either”. Ali and Sonny talk about what feels right for the pick, bringing up that Tom Brady wasn’t on anyone's radar.

Finally the 2014 Draft season officially kicks off as everyone is watching, putting the Browns on a 10 minute timer where if they don’t pick who they want in time other teams can steal. Sonny decides to send the pick alone, without anyone's opinion or intervention. The commissioner then reads out Vontae Mack as the pick, as everyone is in shock we see him throw the paper he previously had stating, “Vontae Mack no matter what”. They then find out that Callahan is being rejected by other teams. We then cut to Jacksonville (home of the Jacksonville Jaguars) where Sonny talks to Jeff Carson (general manager of the Jaguars) about Arizona's pick, he then digs into Callahan being a bust and false character. Sonny wants to trade his 2nd pick for the next three years for Jeff's 6th pick, He decides to take the offer. Sonny then talks to Tom and flips the script where he wants to make an offer where he wants his number ones back, also brings up the fact that Seahawk fans were upset over Tom's decision. He also bargained for David Puttney (as a punt returner), the deal being set. Ray Jennings also gets drafted by the Browns. Cutting back to Cleveland everyone celebrates the results from the draft, Ray, Brian, and Vonate all hold hands and cheer. Sonny and his mother reunite as well as break the news that Sonny and Ali are going to become parents. We then cut to the season kickoff where the Browns the team gets ready for a super bowl winning season, the film ends with the newly formed team running onto the field.

Cast

As well, a number of NFL players, executives and sportscasters had cameo appearances as themselves, including: Chris Berman, Russ Brandon, Jim Brown, Rich Eisen, Roger Goodell, Jon Gruden, Bernie Kosar, Ray Lewis and Alex Marvez.

Production

Draft Day writers, Rajiv Joseph and Scott Rothman, met while attending graduate school at New York University. They bonded over their love of both writing and football and joked around about the idea of creating something together. It wasn’t until years later, a mutual friend of theirs mentioned that despite not being a fan of football, she found watching the NFL Draft enjoyable. This led Joseph and Scott to get into contact with the then general manager of the New York Jets, Mike Tannenbaum. They had a call with him and asked him many questions about what the environment of Draft Day was like for the managers. They quickly realized that despite their love of football, they had no idea the way that the Draft played out. They continued to think about a possible story they could tell and what characters or plots they could bring to a football movie. The two writers eventually wrote a very rushed first screenplay of Draft Day to submit to the Sundance Institute for a Screenwriter’s Lab in September of 2011. They were not accepted into the program, but were able to spend more time revising the script. [3]

After some revising, the writer duo were able to meet with a producer in LA and were told that the script was not good and would never be made. However, things began looking up for Draft Day when director Ivan Reitman contacted the writers and told them he wanted to make their movie. Paramount Pictures was originally set to produce the film, but dropped out, leaving the team at a loss of what to do. Reitman was convinced the movie could be a major production, and eventually got Oddlot Entertainment and Summit Entertainment on board.[3]

When the idea was first made public, the film was to be centered on the Buffalo Bills, but the studio subsequently changed it to the Cleveland Browns because of cheaper production costs in Ohio.[4]

Typically, screenwriters are not needed after the movie goes into production, however Joseph and Scott were called to set nearly daily to meet with star Kevin Costnar to go over the script and make any needed adjustments. Because of this, the script was often changed on the fly during the shooting days.[3]

The first day of filming took place during the day of the actual 2013 NFL Draft at Radio City Music Hall. Actual SportCenter casters Chris Berman and Mel Kiper, as well as the NFL commissioner Roger Goodell read lines for the movie right before the actual draft started.[3] Crowd reactions of fans at the actual 2013 NFL Draft, as well as Cleveland Browns fans at local bars, were filmed. Cameos with real-life NFL figures such as league commissioner Roger Goodell and ESPN sportscaster Chris Berman were filmed before and after the draft took place. The rest of the film began filming on May 8, 2013.

2014 NFL Draft

As in the film, the Cleveland Browns made splashes at the draft, trading up to select quarterback Johnny Manziel with the 22nd pick. The team also made several deals, trading away their fourth pick to the Buffalo Bills for their ninth pick, as well as their 2015 first round pick. They later traded up to the eighth pick to draft Justin Gilbert. Finally, after watching Manziel drop farther than projected, they again traded up for the 22nd pick. Chris Berman, who played himself in the fictionalized draft, commented at the 2014 NFL Draft that the events surrounding the Cleveland Browns were more exciting than the film. Unlike the film, the Browns selected the much-hyped Heisman Trophy winning quarterback, as opposed to passing on Bo Callahan, the fictionalized first pick favorite.

Marketing

The first poster and trailer for the film were released on December 23, 2013.[5]

Reception

Critical response

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 60% of 160 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 5.8/10. The website's consensus reads: "It's perfectly pleasant for sports buffs and Costner fans, but overall, Draft Day lives down to its title by relying too heavily on the sort of by-the-numbers storytelling that only a statistician could love."[6] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 54 out of 100, based on 33 critics, indicating "mixed or average" reviews.[7]

Chicago Sun-Times critic Richard Roeper gave the film a "B", stating the film is "a sentimental, predictable, sometimes implausible but thoroughly entertaining, old-fashioned piece."

Ian Rapoport, an NFL Network Insider who held multiple brief cameos throughout the film, admitted that there are “plenty of things that aren’t exactly the way it goes” within the actual drafting process. And then goes on to praise the film on how NFL general managers “do talk about trades as they did during the movie,” and the honest discussions real people may have.[8]

On the contrary, Jack Hamilton of Slate was harshly critical. "The 'filmmaking' here consists of making sure the camera is pointed at people who are explaining the film's plot to one another, preferably while they are wearing logos and standing in front of more logos," he wrote. He suggested the NFL's involvement had made the film too upbeat. "[It] isn't so much a movie as a movielike infomercial for the kinder, gentler NFL ... In the wake of labor strife, off-field scandals, and the ongoing CTE concussions crisis, the NFL is doubling down on its fantasy of paternalism, and Draft Day is that fantasy's porn film."[9]

Former Green Bay Packers vice president Andrew Brandt criticized Draft Day as "lacking any true depiction of how an NFL team operates leading up to and during the draft", and less realistic about the business of sports than Jerry Maguire and Moneyball.[10] Riley McAtee, writing for The Ringer, noted that the Browns burdened themselves with an additional $7 million in annual salary (as stated by a Seahawks executive in the film) to the fictional Mack – a player who would have been lucky to be drafted 15th overall, compounded by the fact that the Browns have also deprived the fictional Callahan of $7 million in annual salary that he, not Mack, should be making: McAtee also notes the complete ineptness of the fictional executives of the Seahawks and Jaguars, making bad deal after bad deal, calling the latter the equivalent of "a kid who just wet his pants".[11]

The screenplay was the number one script on the 2012 Black List survey of unproduced screenplays. Writing for WhatCulture, David Hynes listed it as the 10th best script of the 2010s, arguing that it "follows one of the central tenets of screenwriting which is, 'thou shalt make things as hard as possible for your protagonist'". However, he was felt that the film's execution failed to deliver on a script that was "as good as it gets."[12]

Release

Domestic Box Office

$28.8 million was grossed domestically (United States and Canada) over 37 weeks. Draft Day grossed around $9.8 million during the film’s opening weekend, representing 34% of the $29.8 million worldwide total,[13] against a budget of $25 million.[14] It spent its first two weeks in the Top 10 at the domestic box office, before quickly dropping to the Top 58th nearing the end of its theatrical release cycle.[15]

Domestic Video Sales

Based on total market estimates collected by The Numbers, a film industry statistic site that utilizes data to provide real analytics, Draft Day is estimated to have earned $12.1 million in Domestic Video Sales.[13]

International Box Office

Close to $1 million was earned in international box offices, as Mexico and Venezuela are responsible for over half of these earnings. Even though American football is predominantly popular within the U.S., Vietnam released the movie on June 27, 2014, with just a few ticket sales amassing $878.[13]

Digital Release

Prime Video, Apple TV+[16], and HBO Max are all streaming platforms for the film, as well as free-with-ads on any Roku streaming service.[17]

Analysis

Regarding sports in the United States, the NFL draft is one of the most celebrated and anticipated cultural phenomena. Steve Persall from the Tampa Bay Times, remains very opinionated about the shortcomings of the film, claiming that “[t]his movie doesn’t even trust the viewers to know where teams play” as each city is introduced with their relative mascot.[18]

See also

References

  1. ^ "DRAFT DAY (15)". Lions Gate Entertainment. British Board of Film Classification. August 7, 2014. Retrieved August 7, 2014.
  2. ^ Burton, Danielle (April 8, 2014). "'Draft Day' Premiere: Kevin Costner, Jennifer Garner Cheered as Stars Take the Field-Like Carpet". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved April 13, 2014.
  3. ^ a b c d Joseph, Rajiv; Rothman, Scott (April 10, 2021). "» On the Clock: The Writing and Making of 'Draft Day'". Retrieved March 19, 2024.
  4. ^ "NFL Draft movie starring Kevin Costner moves from Bills to Browns". sbnation.com. March 6, 2013. Retrieved April 19, 2022.
  5. ^ "Check Out the Trailer and Poster for Draft Day, Starring Kevin Costner". comingsoon.net. December 23, 2013. Retrieved April 18, 2014.
  6. ^ "Draft Day". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media. Retrieved January 4, 2024. Edit this at Wikidata
  7. ^ "Draft Day". Metacritic. Fandom, Inc. Retrieved January 4, 2024.
  8. ^ Korpan, Andrew (August 29, 2023). "EXCL: NFL insider Ian Rapoport is a fan of Draft Day". ClutchPoints | Entertainment News. Retrieved March 17, 2024.
  9. ^ Hamilton, Jack (April 10, 2014). "Draft Day movie: Kevin Costner and Roger Goodell star in the NFL's version of Moneyball". Slate. Archived from the original on May 6, 2023. Retrieved April 11, 2014.
  10. ^ Brandt, Andrew (April 16, 2014). "'Draft Day' Reality Checks". Sports Illustrated. Archived from the original on April 7, 2023. Retrieved January 4, 2024.
  11. ^ McAtee, Riley (July 20, 2016). "Even in Fiction, the Browns Can't Get It Right". The Ringer. Archived from the original on February 7, 2023. Retrieved January 4, 2024.
  12. ^ Hynes, David (February 2, 2017). "10 Best Movie Screenplays Since 2010". WhatCulture. Archived from the original on April 11, 2023. Retrieved February 4, 2021.
  13. ^ a b c "Draft Day (2014) - Financial Information". The Numbers. Retrieved March 16, 2024.
  14. ^ McClintock, Pamela (April 13, 2014). "Box Office: 'Captain America: Winter Soldier' Trumps 'Rio 2' With $41.4 Million". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on April 29, 2023. Retrieved January 4, 2024.
  15. ^ "Draft Day | Domestic Weekly". Box Office Mojo. IMDb. Retrieved January 4, 2024.
  16. ^ "Draft Day | Rotten Tomatoes". www.rottentomatoes.com. April 11, 2014. Retrieved March 17, 2024.
  17. ^ Williams, Cody (April 26, 2023). "Is Draft Day streaming on Netflix, Hulu, HBO Max or anywhere?". FanSided. Retrieved March 16, 2024.
  18. ^ Persall, Steve. "Review: 'Draft Day' fumbles but recovers". Tampa Bay Times. Retrieved March 18, 2024.
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