[Deb]

Coming Soon...The Ryan Leaf Story
NFL's biggest bust coming to the big screen

LINK
Wilmington actor/filmmaker couldn't pass on Leaf's story

By KEVIN NOONAN, The News Journal
Posted Tuesday, June 19, 2007

Tim Carr could have made a movie about Peyton Manning, but that would have been too easy. It would have been too much like a typical sports movie, where the handsome hero overcomes adversity and ends up winning the big game, and usually the gorgeous girl, as well.

"That's been done to death," Carr said. "I was looking for something different, and I think I found it."

What he found was the story of the anti- Peyton. Carr, an actor and independent filmmaker from Wilmington, decided to make a movie about Ryan Leaf.

In case you don't know who Ryan Leaf is -- in 1998, the Indianapolis Colts chose Manning with the No. 1 pick in the NFL draft and the San Diego Chargers took Leaf with the No. 2 pick, and there was serious debate at the time about which quarterback would become the bigger star in the NFL.

That's hard to believe now, since Manning just won a Super Bowl and is regarded by some observers as perhaps the best quarterback in NFL history.

And Leaf? Well, he's regarded today as perhaps the biggest bust in NFL history. He played for four teams in five years before he and the game gave up on each other. And his failures on the field, combined with his off-the-field antics -- including a nasty encounter with a San Diego sportswriter that was captured on tape and replayed a million times -- stamped Leaf as a bad player and a bad person.

Carr isn't disputing any of that, and he said his film will show how Leaf succumbed to the dark side of the force.

"But, like with anything, there's more than one side to the story," Carr said. "Ryan Leaf also has a good side to his personality, and I wanted to make sure we presented a true picture of who this guy is. And the more I looked into his story and the more layers I was able to peel away, the more I became convinced that this is a story that should be told."

Carr, 30, wrote and directs the film and also plays Leaf. The film is tentatively titled "Leaf: An Almost True Story" and is scheduled for an October release. Carr describes it as a pseudo-documentary.

Carr even got in touch with Leaf, now an assistant football coach and head golf coach at West Texas A&M. Though Leaf wasn't enthusiastic about the idea, Carr said, he didn't try to talk him out of it, either.

"Once I convinced him that this wasn't just going to be a hatchet job, he didn't seem to mind me telling his story," Carr said. "And he really has gotten his life together, so he has a different perspective on things now."

Carr got some former players to play themselves, including Hugh Douglas of the Eagles. And he also went for realism in the scene for which Leaf is still most infamous, the screaming fit directed at San Diego sportswriter Jay Posner. That will be recreated frame by frame, and Posner will play himself in the film.

Carr also recruited some local talent, including friend Kierin McAnally, of Newark, who plays quarterback Trent Dilfer for the simple reason "that I look just like Trent Dilfer," McAnally said with a laugh.

His scene was shot recently at the Newark Country Club. McAnally/Dilfer is interviewed about his relationship with Leaf, which was good.

"I acted in college and high school plays and things like that, but I had no idea what to expect from all of this," McAnally said. "I had about 20 lines and I think I did OK. At least, I knew my lines.

"I was really impressed with how professional Tim is when it comes to making films," McAnally added. "And I know Tim was very, very concerned about the football scenes and making sure everything looked as realistic as possible."

That includes a day of filming that Carr calls "sack day." He spent an entire day as Leaf, in different uniforms, getting sacked.

"I was black and blue and all beat up after that," he said with a laugh. "But we got some great film from it, so it was worth it."

Carr is a veteran actor in television (with guest roles in the soap opera "One Life to Live" and the prime-time drama "Law & Order") and movies (most recently in "Rocky Balboa," in which he plays a friend of Rocky's son).

He also writes, produces and usually stars in his own independent productions. His first was a romantic comedy, "The Wrong Fortune Cookie," and he directed another comedy, "A Deeper Shade of Soul."

Those aren't the kinds of blockbusters you see paired with "Spider-Man 3" at the cineplex, but Carr is convinced that if his film about Leaf is good enough, enough people will pay to see it.

"Like all good sports movies, it's not really about sports," Carr said. "More than anything, this is very much a story about redemption, and I think everybody can identify with that."

Contact columnist Kevin Noonan at knoonan@delawareonline.com.

[Mike]

I heard about this months ago and I'm very interested in seeing it.

Ryan Leaf