This week’s weird sports rumor from the world of tabloids comes from Star Magazine and a report of a possible post-NFL Hollywood acting career for New England Patriots QB Tom Brady.
Whether Brady’s Hollywood dreams are real or not, he wouldn’t be the first NFL player to transcend pop-culture categories and act. There have been plenty of athletes who have gone on to act when their career in the sports world ended, from cameos to full-length films. There’s also college football stars whose dreams of playing professional ball turned into them pretending to on the screen as stunt-doubles and stand-ins. Think, the guy who wanted to play football, but instead earns a living by getting tackled over and over during the filming of a commercial so that the star QB doesn’t have to.
The relationship between the NFL and Hollywood is so tightly knit that there is an NFL Pro Hollywood Boot Camp, a filmmaking workshop for players who aspire to make a career in the movies. The workshop includes classroom and hands-on instruction in moviemaking and the film industry. The players work directly with industry professionals to learn the ins and outs of filmmaking and what it takes to be a Hollywood actor. Tom Brady didn’t participate in the last Hollywood boot camp – maybe because he’s already so confident in his acting skills. Plenty of NFL players go on to become actors, turning their on-field stardom into on-camera stardom, but what’s more impressive is the players whose careers inspire films about them. Notably, Michael Ohr’s zero to hero story inspired The Blind Side, Vince Papale inspired Invincible, and the friendship of Brian Piccolo and Gale Sayers which inspired the tearjerker Brian’s Song. On a less-serious note we also have Marshawn Lynch’s budget “biopic” to look forward to.
As far as Tom Brady’s acting career is concerned, The Boston Herald picked up the story, which claims that Brady, who “knows he only has a few seasons left before retirement,” has his sights on becoming a movie star. Brady has already dipped his feet into acting, appearing in The Entourage and Ted 2, set to premier next summer.
He has at least one fan in Mark Wahlberg, who said, “we have an amazing performance from none other than the greatest quarterback of all time. He plays himself, but he does an amazing job. Funny, funny moment.” Tom Brady’s bromance with Wahlberg could continue to be his gateway to Hollywood superstardom. Only In Boston published a list of four movies in 2015 that Tom Brady should star in. What a great time to be alive.
While a Tom Brady acting career would be pretty awesome to witness, I’d definitely pay the $12 to go to Showcase Deluxe at Patriots Place to watch a film about the Bob Kraft/Bill Belichick/Tom Brady legacy.