Caffeinated Clint
This might just be the most exciting news I’ve heard all year.
The late “Friday Night Lights”, NBC and DirecTV’s critically acclaimed sports drama, could be headed back to the big screen – where it, of course, all started for the Panthers.
Apparently Pete Berg, show shepherd (and cousin of the chap who wrote the original book on which “FNL” is based), wants to take the Taylor family to the multiplex.
My old mate Michael Ausiello has the exciting news :
I know what you’re thinking: There already was an FNL movie with Billy Bob Thornton in the lead. Well, this one would pick up where the small screen version left off and center on Coach Taylor and Tami, as played by Emmy nominees Kyle Chandler and Connie Britton (who portrayed the same role opposite Thornton in the original flick).
The twisty story all started to unravel itself Thursday, when Grantland.com editor in chief Bill Simmons tweeted that, “Peter Berg told us he wants to do an FNL movie with Chandler/Britton off the final episode.” After that, multiple sources told me it’s no pipe dream. Berg, who directed the original feature and shepherded the NBC series with exec producer Jason Katims, is working behind the scenes to make it a reality.
Of course, if you thought the road from TV to movie was complicated, that may be child’s play compared to going from the big screen to the small screen and back to the big screen. In addition to book rights, there are multiple production companies, Imagine and NBC’s production arm, Universal Media Studios, involved.
A rep for Universal Pictures, which produced the first movie and would oversee the reboot, tells TVLine, “We do not currently have a FNL project in development.” But obviously, I think the key word there is currently.
Would it… could it happen!? And how many greenbacks would Universal need to lure Taylor Kitsch back?
