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Dennis Quaid on His New Football Movie
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
I met Dennis Quaid this morning at one of those generic Buckhead high rise hotels. With football on his mind, he’s in town to promote his latest movie, “The Express,” about the first African-American Heisman Trophy winner, Ernie Davis, and hard-driven Syracuse University coach Ben Schwartzwalder.
It’s set in the late 1950s and early ’60s. Quaid plays the coach, Rob Brown is Davis.
Later today Quaid will workout with the Falcons. He joked that growing up in Houston he was “too small for high school football, and that pushed me into the drama department.” Golf is his sport of choice these days.
Asked about the film, he said: “My character, Ben, was part of the status quo, and he followed those unwritten rules of a racist and segregationist society. But he also was one of the first coaches to actively recruit African-Americans in football, and ultimately Schwartzwalder and Davis developed almost a father-son relationship. It’s not a story you can wrap up neatly with a bowtie on top.”
Quaid first came onto my radar in “Breaking Away,” the bicycle racing movie where he was one of the “cutters” — the blue-collar townies who feel like second-class citizens in a college town. It’s a movie about class status and self-esteem and the triumph of the heroic individual. I also recall it as a pretty exciting sports flic.
What’s your favorite Dennis Quaid movie? What’s your all-time favorite football movie?
Permalink | Comments (7) | Post your comment | Categories: Talk about movies
Comments
By D rock
September 17, 2008 4:35 PM | Link to this
Jaws III
By John Jack and Jered
September 17, 2008 4:53 PM | Link to this
I fealt bad for him when he and Meg Ryan broke up, but after seeing her naked in “In the Cut” I think he may have gotten out at the right time.
By pine
September 18, 2008 8:45 AM | Link to this
Quaid was very good in his role as coach turned pro ball closer in the Rookie
By A.I.
September 19, 2008 8:19 AM | Link to this
Innerspace
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November 20, 2008 1:32 AM | Link to this
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By xqksziw namytj
November 20, 2008 1:33 AM | Link to this
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By xqksziw namytj
November 20, 2008 1:33 AM | Link to this
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