Draft Day

Director: Ivan Reitman (2014)

Cast: Kevin Costner, Jennifer Garner, Chadwick Boseman, Denis Leary

Draft Day is an entertaining and engaging Ivan Reitman film with excellent acting performances by Costner, Jennifer Garner, Denis Leary and the late great Chadwick Boseman. The plot twists are well executed and the fact that the NFL participated in the making of the film (allowing All Access) gives it credibility.

Sonny Weaver, Jr. (Kevin Costner) Is having a really bad day and his day really hasn't even started yet. The general manager of the Cleveland Browns has the first pick in the NFL draft and he can't decide whether to draft "Bo Callahan (Josh Pence)"a superstar quarterback-in-the-making or Vontae Mack (Chadwick Boseman) a soulful defensive superstar and a future team leader. Of course everyone from his mother (Ellen Burstyn) to his new head coach (Denis Leary) and the rest of the football world gathering in New York at the NFL Draft,wants to know too?!   

Fun Facts: In an unprecedented move, the National Football League allowed this movie all access to the 2013 NFL Draft in New York.

The character "Vontae Mack" was a graduating college senior in the film so his age in the film would have been 22 or 23. In real life actor Chadwick Boseman was 38 years old.  This was nothing new to Boseman. Two years earlier he portrayed a 26-year old Jackie Robinson in "42."

Draft Day was the last film directed by Ivan Reitman.

In his long career Kevin Costner has starred in 10 sports films.