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On February 3, 2002, Andrew Erwin prepared to shoot the first and only Super Bowl in his career. As a photographer for ESPN, he is ready to capture the duel between future NFL legends. On the sidelines was Tom Brady, who was 24 years old in the first of many championships. On the other hand: Kurt Warner. Two years ago, the latter became a topic in American sports. The rookie who had never been drafted, the grocery store clerk, the football star in the Midwestern Arena, and the Super Bowl MVP, became one of the best offenses in league history.

"(For) sports fans, it's always a bit like the Holy Grail," Irving said of Warner's incredible rise. "This is the epitome of any loser's story."

Now it is Warner. He has just finished his second MVP season and hopes to win his second Lombard trophy in three seasons. In the end, Brady achieved the best result in this duel. He denied that the Rams were the dynasty, but started with the Patriots. But by then, Warner's journey has been consolidated in sports legends. This is not even what Irvine impressed the most about that day.

"I was sitting on the sidelines," he said, "I remember looking at (Kurt) before the game, and seeing this beautiful, spiky, nail-hard woman sitting there—he 'S wife, Brenda. I'm always interested, like,'I want to learn more about that story.'"

Nineteen years later, this story is now on the big screen. Irvine and his brother Jon integrated the hobby of filmmaking into their careers, in exchange for a side job on the film set, and the Warner family was at the center of their biggest project to date: the "American Weak" in theaters on Christmas Day.

This movie was released by Lionsgate and produced by Mark Chardy ("Invincible", "Secretariat", "Road to Return"). For obvious reasons, the original subtitle was "Kurt Warner's story". No one is a Super Bowl star like a quarterback born in Iowa.

In the 1994 draft, no team was called Warner. After a training camp, the Packers fired him. He turned to the Hy-Vee shelf, and then in his four years in his 20s-theoretically the golden period of his career-pitched in the Arena Football League and the NFL European team, both of which are now No longer exists.

Then, just like that, he is the man. After starter Trent Green tore his ACL in the 1999 preseason and was forced to act with the Rams, Warner continued to be the title of "The Greatest Performance on the Grass", releasing historical data (4,353 Yards, 41 touchdowns, 13 interceptions) still looks elite in today's passing-happy game. He led the team to win the first Super Bowl championship in nearly 50 years, thus ending his breakthrough.

The "American Loser" certainly pays tribute to this grill fantasy in real life. The Owen brothers performed Warner’s AFL performance with appropriate absurdity; his stage debut was like a country circus, Kurt wandered past live farm animals on his way to the stadium while "being ready for this." It has always exuded the dance atmosphere of the 90s. At the same time, the climactic performance involving the premiere of Warner's famous Rams is cleverly intertwined with real game footage, reviving the unlikely bet on the Midwestern playoffs against Ray Lewis and the Ravens. Longtime Rams fans will appreciate cameos with familiar names such as Marshall Falk and Isaac Bruce, or remake CBS games from Gus Johnson.

"Oh my God, when I came in that day," an emotional Johnson told Irving when he came back to shoot the movie, "I am a young announcer, and I thought I got this gift, that's this one. Great game against Ray Lewis. Trent Green, Trent Green was injured... I thought it would be an old game. Then suddenly, the game became lively, I didn’t know one day It will be an important movie ending."

However, this is not a movie about football, but a movie about family. Why? Because this is Kurt Warner's story, remember. He said so. This is how he lives. This is his biopic. In his opinion, if there were no people around him, his story would never even exist.

"Kurt and Brenda let us go to their home in Phoenix," director Andrew Erwin explained. "We sat down and the first thing (co-director) Jon asked them was,'What do you think your story is? 'Kurt said, "I want people to know our struggle as a family and how we try to stay together. Brenda and I, this is our partnership, and this is really about (us) the relationship with my son Zac.'"

Kurt met Brenda while attending college in Northern Iowa and got married while he was playing for the Iowa Barnstroms in the AFL. Brenda divorced two children before, and after her ex-husband accidentally fell their son Zac, she was discharged from the Marine Corps, leaving the little boy blind due to a brain injury. Brenda also endured infidelity, and later her parents were tragically lost. Long before Kurt became a household name, this woman and her son became his truest teammates.

"We must have a lot of cool football elements in the movie," said Zachary Levi ("Shazam!"), the protagonist who plays Warner. "But I keep telling people that it’s like 25% of football, but it’s 75% of real life. Falling in love, it’s romance, and then: when a real family unit starts to build, what will this relationship look like? How did Kurt then become a member of the family who helped support this family and loved it? There were difficult years when they really squeezed a few cents for gas money. This is really the core of the story.. Simple The visual effect is, well, "American loser", that is Kurt. But the reality is that there are many losers in the movie. Kurt is one of them. Brenda is another."

Where's Zach? He is the most important of them.

"If you don't tell Zac's story, this movie will never be made," Kurt said. "With so many sports movies, I think the story is,'This young man is here and he wants his father to be proud of him.' It's like, we all try to make Dad proud of us. (But) I try to make me His son is proud of me. He is the one who taught me and inspired me. This is such a huge message to me because we think of ourselves, "I am in a leading position." I must lead. I must motivate. I must teach. "And, for me, we need to be taught, inspired, and learned from anyone and everyone that God has placed on our path. Zach did this for Brenda and myself."

"From day one, it's like we didn't make a movie to make a movie, we started from scratch (the story)," Kurt continued. "The right movie is the kind of relationship: Brenda and Zac, me and Zac, and how he brings us together in some unique ways."

No wonder the bond between Warner and his adopted son is the most touching section of "The Weak in America." The 11-year-old Hayden Zaller, who was also blind, played Zach in his big screen debut. At every important turning point of the Warner Stadium tour, the radiant innocence of the little boy was there. When Kurt married Brenda, as Zac sang directly to his new dad at the wedding prom, all concerns about QB's declining NFL prospects disappeared. When Kurt was about to step onto the big stage and share the last moments before the game with Brenda in the Rams locker room, Zach's handwritten text was louder than any stadium cheer: "I love you, Dad. You play your football game. I play my black truck."

Just because the "American Weak" prioritizes Warner's off-court growth does not mean that the film denies the role of football in the story. Kurt and Brenda served as executive producers of the production together, but he was too eager to restore his grill presence. As a result, during the location filming in Oklahoma City and Frisco, Texas, including the Dallas Cowboys' indoor venue at The Star, the 50-year-old Warner kept trying to put on the cushions.

"No temptation, I'm begging!" he said. "To get me out, let me throw a few passes in the middle of this movie!"

Jon Owen joked, "It boils down to an insurance issue" and does not allow "the real Kurt Warner to be attacked and hit", but it has never stopped Kurt from trying to really lend a hand.

"He begged us many times to make him a stand-in for Zachary Levi," Andrew Owen recalled. "We were like,'Come on, Kurt, we can't,' he kept saying,'I can still do it. I I can do better than that person. I can do better than that person.'"

In the end, Warner did stretch out his hand, and Owen inserted a photo of his hand in the scene where he signed the car contract. ("If people are watching, it's actually very obvious," Levi said. "You can see that because of all this, for example, his knuckles and everything, from the time when he was a quarterback.") Warner also Joined the production of football coordinators, including former AFL star Clint Dolezel, training Levi how to play QB.

Most importantly, he brought the humble spirit of his story to the set.

Director Jon Erwin recalled that the snowstorm hit Oklahoma during the production: "I woke up the next day and said,'Stay away from the scene next week', and then I received a call from the reception desk in the hotel lobby. They Said, "Uh, this guy is shoveling the snow in the hotel," After further investigation, it was found that it was NFL legend Kurt Warner, who was shoveling snow."

Warner "is there at every step," Irving added, as a living example of the man and family they are trying to portray. One of the director's favorite memories is the movie's entertainment of Wile E. Coyote's, the Iowa bar where Kurt and Brenda met for the first time.

Jon said: "When we wrapped up the place, Kurt asked if he could make the real Kurt and Brenda Warner dance on that dance floor. The whole staff gathered together and they danced here. The dramatic place where they fell in love for the first time, it was really special."

Warner's close and personal involvement helped Levi take the lead. The most famous is the polished and stupid lead of the unexpected superhero hit "Shazam!" (2019), he was Erwins' first choice, but only became available due to pandemic-related delays in other projects (including "Shazam!"). sequel.

"Obviously, learning how to throw a spiral at 40 is not ideal," Levi said with a smile. "At the end of the day, I was on that pitch with a large group of real football players, and I would pat him on the back, like,'Hey, man, good job!' That's what I want! All I hope is to make all real football players look like, "You know what? not bad. "And Kurt... I feel like I am bringing good resonance to Kurt."

Levi had a lot of success during the filming, but he also had two stunt doubles-once was "leveled by the linebacker"-he insisted that after playing the NFL idol, he still had no chance to participate in the NFL: "Oh, no , Absolutely not. No chance... if I can wear a little more-no, I can't. I'm 41 years old, what are we talking about? I will cheer for them, (for example),' Do you need some water?'"

But he thinks it is an honor to wear Warner's No. 13 jersey on the big screen. It's not just that wearing pads is more comfortable than superhero tights.

"I witnessed Kurt playing the cardinal role in the Super Bowl (2009) game against Ben Roethlisberger and the Steelers," Levi said. "Until today, I still give him s --- for this... I am in the game, I love Kurt Warner, because I even loved him before... I thought,' Oh my goodness, another Cinderella story (ongoing.'"

Not only that, Lewell also discovered the similarities between Kurt's journey and his own journey. He said that "the weak of the United States" is like a "love story for the working class and the American middle class," and it is also suitable for anyone who needs more confidence in themselves or gains higher power.

"Since I was 4 years old," Levi explained, "I really believe that God is like,'This is what you do.' I can feel this vision on my head and in my heart. I can feel it in my bones. Even if I would tell my parents, like, "Yes, I will grow up to be an actor," there will be a lot of people's heads, "Of course you will 'Because of the odds? (Together with Kurt), it's not just about entering the NFL and becoming the NFL's starting quarterback, but leading your team all the way to the Super Bowl and then winning the MVP. Make it Becoming a successful Hollywood actor, in fact I’m talking about how I became Kurt Warner in his biopic, it’s very thin air...(this movie is about) Kurt is there What he learned in the desert for a while, where he thought he failed."

"Faith, family, football" has become a cliché; there is no doubt that this mantra has appeared on the desk plaques of countless coaches or on the social media profiles of players. The "American Weak" did not completely avoid the decoration of small-scale romantic or inspirational sports dramas. For example, Warner’s NFL mentors are so sharp that his Rams coaches often feel that they are either best friends (Dennis Quaid plays the warm and furry Dickville Mel) or cold opponents (Chance Kelly Acts as offensive coordinator Mike Matz). At the same time, Levi has always looked 35 years old, the most obvious of which is his introduction as a university "child" in full physical form.

But here is the thing: despite being a little cheesy, it is still an interesting and worthwhile journey due to the truth behind it. The longer you spend with Kurt and his broken little family, the more you care about them. As a result, the football game-based on Warner's close-up shots from the cornfield to the bottom of the center of the NFL stadium-has only become a complementary change in rhythm.

This is why Warner and those who have witnessed the rise of his Hall of Fame believe that this is the correct restatement. Because when they saw his beautiful touch pass and key playoff stretches, they remember him more: his unwavering fighting, his attention to people, his father-like existence-by family members To shape and help them through the difficult beliefs use food stamps and live in the basement of their parents.

When Kurt first connected Erwin Brothers with Vermeil and Martz to accurately portray their characters, the 85-year-old coach Vermeil bluntly said: "Thank you for helping. Don't mess up this story now."

"I really saw a loser," Vermeil told the directors, "because I haven't participated in sports for 14 years-as a coach-everyone said I was too old and the game was over. (And) I I remember one day in the hallway, I took Kurtra aside and said,'Son, you have something special, I can't wait to know what it is.'"

That line appeared word by word in the movie. Later, when the movie was screened for the first time with his family, Vermeil was emotional. He exchanged text messages with Dennis Quaid and told him, "You are a better Vermeer coach than me." He approved.

Long-time NFL veteran Calais Campbell (Calais Campbell) now plays for the Ravens, and he expects him to do the same. The Pro Bowl winger didn't work with Warner until after he joined the Cardinals (and undeniably tried to lure Kurt out of retirement in 2014). But he is always moved by QB's humanity, humility and commitment to the "big picture".

"On my first day in the building, I thought he was a coach," Campbell said. "I'm trying to find my way, where to go, he has a beard and gray hair, so you think he must be a coach. He helped me anyway... Kurt is the one you went to have a problem with. Number one I was sitting next to him on the plane in 1970. I should be sitting behind all the young people. But when he saw that I was 6 feet 8 inches tall, I would feel uncomfortable, and then he let me sit next to him."

Campbell said that he and Warner were connected because of their Christian faith, and Kurt and Brenda fought against the Christian faith — and declared publicly for a long time — together. (Oscar winner Anna Paquin, who plays Warner’s wife, “is a tenacious bulldog who delves into what Brenda’s beliefs are,” said director Andrew Owen.) At the same time, Campbell has many reasons to watch Movies; he and his wife used to go to the theater every week ("I like popcorn, red vines, smoothies, I eat everything"), and he will go all out to make a film about the Warner Cardinals tenure The sequel (which Kurt happily endorsed). But there is only one reason he plans to go this Christmas: the real inspiration of the Warner family.

The Owens have a background in movies, the most famous of which is the music biopic "I Can Only Imagine", but they believe that "American Losers" is for the general public. Warner instructed them not to make his story "too beautiful", if only to preserve the truth: his incredible path to the NFL with Brenda may have been driven by finding an identity in Jesus rather than football, but it doesn’t It does not mean that this path is simple or traditional.

"Most people have their supermarket time," Kurt said. "We all know that the dream is,'I don't want that moment.' But real life is not like that."

Warner believes that in this way, the story of his overcoming difficulties can and should be told to everyone.

"For years people have been saying,'Where is this movie? Why is this movie not being made?'" he said. "There will be a lot of sports fans, but they will bring someone who doesn’t really care or know, or they will take their son to continue... When they sit in these seats for two hours, I don’t think they know what they will get from this movie."

Now imagine telling all this to those who were seated at the Trans World Dome on September 12, 1999, watching the Ravens play against someone from Iowa.

Watch an exclusive behind-the-scenes interview with Zachary Levi, Kurt Warner and Erwin Brothers here:

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