Darryl Hammond`s Movie Memories
Charliy Nash
Monday October 25, 2004
CN: How strange is it doing totally scripted plays, then doing the same play again?
DH: Over and over. It was very strange at first, because your adrenaline is pumping like it`s a real play and then they say, "Cut!" and you`ve got to go back and do it again. It was weird at first, but the more and more I kept doing it I just realized I hade to psysch myself up, put myself in the moment. You know you have to do this scene, so you just say to yourself, "I`m not doing this to score a touchdown or to win a game; I`m doing this to make this scene look as realistic as possible."
CN: How hard is it to do when you know exactly when you`re going to get hit?
DH: It`s actually easier, because you know it`s all choreographed. You know where you`re going to get hit; you know at what point you`re going to get hit. It`s actually a lot easier, because the hardest part is taking the hit. I didn`t take many hits, but the hardest part is taking the hit because you know it`s coming. What I would do was just let my body go limp and you don`t even feel it. It`s hard to explain, but it`s true. If you`re catching a ball and you know you`re going to get hit and you tense up and get hit, it`s going to hurt more than if you just relax.
CN: When I talked to Connell Maynor about making Any Given Sunday he said the hardest part was taking a big hit that he knew was coming without making it look like he knew it was coming.
DH: I`m sure that`s hard to do as a quarterback because you`re like a sitting duck, but I`m on the move catching the ball so it`s a lot easier for me. I think it`s harder for a quarterback because you`re just sitting there waiting for somebody to hit you. With me I`m running, and I know this guy is going to hit me here, so it`s movement, it`s a flow.
CN: Is it as fun as playing real football? Is it as much work?
DH: No, it`s not as much work, and it`s not as much fun as playing real football, because in real football you have a purpose. Your purpose is different. Your purpose in the movie is to make this scene look realistic, but in a game your purpose is to win, to score touchdowns, to defeat the other team.
CN: How long would it typically take to film one play?
DH: I remember my first day we had a sequence where I caught a middle screen and ran fifteen yards and get hit. Then we had another play; I ran a skinny post and catch a touchdown. And we did that together; it was all one scene. It took us at least half a day. We started like at 9:00, we finished around 2:00 doing that scene.
CN: That`s for how long a scene?
DH: And that`s probably going to be about two or three minutes of the movie. It takes you about six hours to do three minutes of the movie. Pretty much.
CN: That`s a lot of work.
DH: That`s a lot of work, a lot of work. It was something eye opening, now when I watch movies - I kind of hate that I did it because now when I watch movies - I think of how they did this, how they did certain scenes. Even mysteries or thrillers, I think they probably did this, or they did this to make this scene look realistic. Before I didn`t think about how they made the movie, I just reacted to what was going on.
CN: Now that you`ve seen what`s behind, it a little of the magic is gone.
DH: It kind of ruins it for me now.
Charliy Nash has covered both incarnations of the Nashville Kats, and now has make the 2 hour drive to Huntsville for an Arena Football fix. He also covers the Tennessee Titans as a blogger for nfl.com and still hopes this will eventually lead to a paying gig.
