A long run to the movie end zone
Author traces journey of 'Friday Night Lights' to screen
By Todd Leopold
CNN
ATLANTA, Georgia (CNN) -- If you think it's easy to turn a best-selling book into a movie, you might want to talk to H.G. "Buzz" Bissinger.
Bissinger's book "Friday Night Lights" was a big hit upon its release in 1990. The chronicle of an Odessa, Texas, high school football team's pursuit of a state title in the midst of the town's hard times earned critical raves and sold well. (It's considered one of the best sports books ever, according to a recent Sports Illustrated survey.)
But then it got derailed by the Hollywood merry-go-round.
"The rights were sold after it became a best seller, with [director] Alan Pakula attached," Bissinger recalled in an interview at CNN Center in Atlanta.
Pakula, who died in 1998, was the well-regarded principal behind "Klute," "All the President's Men" and "Sophie's Choice." "It took 1 1/2 years for a script, but then Alan didn't want to do it. Then began the painful process of churn."
Richard Linklater ("Dazed and Confused") was going to take over as director. Then Ted Demme ("The Ref"). There were several scripts and many years in between. Bissinger understood, to a point: "Lights" was so dense -- it was a football book, a sociological study, a biography, a history -- that there was almost too much material for one film.
"You could make five or six movies [from it]," Bissinger said.
Bissinger wasn't idle; he wrote another book, "A Prayer for the City" -- a look at then-Philadelphia Mayor Ed Rendell and the challenges of running his metropolis -- contributed to Vanity Fair and co-wrote the screenplay for "Shattered Glass."
But after a decade or so, he gave up on ever seeing a "Friday Night Lights" movie. Besides, football films weren't exactly a hot commodity; "Varsity Blues," which he terms a "veiled rip-off," came out and did poorly.
But then came "Remember the Titans," which was a smash, and then his cousin, Peter Berg ("Very Bad Things") -- a longtime fan of the book -- decided to try his hand.
But even after the script was written, the movie received a green light and filming was set for Odessa, Bissinger still wasn't quite convinced it was going to happen. Only when he got a call from star Billy Bob Thornton, who was playing the book's football coach, did he start to think differently.
"Thornton called me and said, 'Buzz, we just had our first scene. We're going to do you proud,' " Bissinger said.
Director: 'It's about football'
 Thornton plays a beleaguered football coach in "Friday Night Lights." |  |
Now -- even better for its creators -- "Friday Night Lights" is a hit, having debuted at No. 2 with better-than-expected numbers at the box office last weekend.
Berg decided to put the focus on football and allude to the other themes in Bissinger's book.
"It's not that we don't deal with the other issues Buzz hit in the book," the director said. "Odessa was a boomtown, and then the basin went bottoms up. It's an extremely depressed place. But, at the end of the day, it's about football."
Indeed, Bissinger earned the enmity of Odessa for his detailed look at the town through the football lens. Odessa doesn't just love its Permian High School Panthers, it idolizes them with zealous ferocity -- and this in a state where high school football approaches religion already.
At the same time, the town struggled with unemployment, racial divisions, living in the shadow of its neighbor, Midland (the town where President Bush grew up is home to the oil executives, while Odessa is home to its blue-collar workers), and the always tenuous balance between athletic and scholastic excellence.
Berg focused on the impact of all these issues on the town's teenagers -- maturing adults struggling with the outsize glory of being a Permian football player.
"This is a special time for young men, a special moment in life," Berg said. "It's very compelling."
A universal story
Berg overcame Odessa's resistance to film "Lights" on location, partly thanks to the financial largess a movie can shower on a small town. But he also won over locals by being true to their football team.
"There were some skeptics, but the bottom line was that if you spend time with football, just get it right. And I guaranteed we would," he said.
Berg said he sees the movie as a universal story about community.
"Hockey coaches in Chicago, basketball coaches in Indiana, football coaches in smaller programs in South Dakota can all relate," he told The Associated Press.
For his part, Bissinger said he is happy with the final result.
"It's true to the spirit of the book," he said.
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Associated Press contributed to this report.
