Tag Archives: Lucas Black

Friday Night Lights Cinema: FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS

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fridaynightlightsHigh school football returns tonight. In honor of that, each Friday in September will feature a movie about high school football.  Up first, the eponymously titled Friday Night Lights.

This 2004 film is based on Buzz Bissinger’s book of the same name.  The book is non-fiction, but the movie employs a mix of fact and Hollywood-ization.  It was directed by actor-director Peter Berg, a cousin of Bissinger’s.  It was originally slated to be directed by Alan J. Pakula, who died before filming started.

Billy Bob Thornton, Jay Hernandez and Connie Britton lead the cast.  Lucas Black, Garrett Hedlund, Derek Luke, Lee Jackson, Lee Thompson Young, Grover Coulson, and Tim McGraw also were in the cast.

The movie won the 2005 ESPY for Best Sports Movie.  It inspired a TV series which ran from 2006 to 2011.  Connie Britton was in the series playing a coach’s wife, as she had in the movie – but the names and aspects of the character were different.  Brad Leland played a team booster in both the movie and series.  It received 13 Emmy nominations and 3 Emmy awards during its run.

Wednesday Night Movie is FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS at Movies in the Park

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MitP10 FriNightLightThe weather in July has had some nights that have seemed apt for football.  And let’s face it, players from middle school up to the pros will be reporting soon for practice. To get everyone in the mood, Movies in the Park is screening the 2004 film FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS.

Central Arkansas native Billy Bob Thornton heads the cast which also features Connie Britton, Lucas Black, Jay Hernandez, Garrett Hedlund, Derek Luke, Lee Jackson, Lee Thompson Young, Grover Coulson, Connie Cooper, Kasey Stevens, Ryanne Duzich and Amber Heard. Award winning singer Tim McGraw also stars in the film.

The movie was directed by Peter Berg from a screen play he and David Aaron Cohen wrote.  It is based upon Buzz Bissinger’s non-fiction book Friday Night Lights: A Town, a Team, and a Dream.  The movie was adapted into a TV series which ran from 2006 to 2011.  Britton starred in that series too, but it was more fictionalized and her her character had a different name.

Now in its 10th season, Movies in the Park is a free outdoor film series at the First Security Amphitheater in Riverfront Park.  The move starts at dark (around 8:30).

Movies in the Park has grown to a season of eight films per year, on average, reaching audiences of up to 7,000 people. It’s a staple event in Central Arkansas. Communities from across the state, and the country, have reached out for guidance as they have tried to implement similar programs in the own communities.

Since 2008, the Little Rock Convention & Visitors Bureau has been managing Movies in the Park.