Friday Night Lights (film)
| Friday Night Lights | |
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Theatrical release poster
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| Directed by | Peter Berg |
| Produced by | Brian Grazer |
| Screenplay by | David Aaron Cohen Peter Berg |
| Based on |
Friday Night Lights: A Town, a Team, and a Dream by H. G. Bissinger |
| Starring |
Billy Bob Thornton Derek Luke Jay Hernandez Lucas Black Garrett Hedlund Tim McGraw Lee Jackson Lee Thompson Young Connie Britton Amber Heard |
| Music by |
Brian Reitzell Explosions in the Sky David Torn |
| Cinematography | Tobias Schliessler |
| Edited by | Colby Parker Jr. David Rosenbloom Gabrielle Fasulo |
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Production
company |
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| Distributed by | Universal Pictures |
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Release date
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Running time
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118 min. |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $30 million |
| Box office | $62 million |
Friday Night Lights is a 2004 sports drama film, directed by Peter Berg, which documents the coach and players of a high school football team in the Texas city of Odessa that supports and is obsessed with them. The book on which it was based, Friday Night Lights: A Town, a Team, and a Dream (1990) by H. G. Bissinger, follows the story of the 1988 Permian High School Panthers football team as they made a run towards the state championship. A television series of the same name premiered on October 3, 2006 on NBC. The film won the Best Sports Movie ESPY Award and is ranked number 37 on Entertainment Weekly's list of the Best High School Movies.
Bissinger followed the team for the entire 1988 season. However, the book also deals with—or alludes to—a number of secondary political and social issues existing in Odessa, all of which share ties to the Permian Panthers football team. These include socioeconomic disparity; racism; segregation (and desegregation); and poverty.
The coach, Gary Gaines (Billy Bob Thornton), is constantly in the hot seat. Tied to the successes and failure of the coach and the team in general are the conflicts the players struggle with on and off the gridiron. The coach overuses his star player, running back James "Boobie" Miles (Derek Luke), who gets seriously injured (he tears his ACL, misses the playoffs, and has a limp for the rest of his life). When this happens, sports radios are flooded with calls for Gaines' resignation. Miles' once-arrogant attitude vanishes as he sees his once promising chance of playing big-time college football disappear, and he starts to question his future after he notices his not-so promising academic standing. While recuperating on his uncle's veranda he observes the garbage collectors doing their rounds and gets a glimpse of a somewhat different future he could now face and bursts into tears.
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