Peter Berg is directing the show opens for all four of Netflixโs NFL gameday livestreams this season โ and for the first one, debuting Thursday, he drafted Kyle Chandler, star of the โFriday Night Lightsโ TV series, for an assist on the play.
Berg directed the 2004 movie โFriday Night Lights,โ about a high school football team in Texas, and Chandler portrayed Coach Taylor in the TV series adaptation that first aired on NBC.
The first of Bergโs NFL pregame teasers debuts Sept. 10 during Netflixโs broadcast from Melbourne, Australia, featuring the Los Angeles Rams vs. the San Francisco 49ers (coverage begins at 3:30 p.m. PT). Heโll also direct openers for Netflixโs other NFL gamedays (Green Bay Packers vs. Rams on Thanksgiving Eve; Packers vs. Chicago Bears and Buffalo Bills vs. Denver Broncos on Christmas Day; and a Week 18 game on Jan. 9, 2027, with the teams TBA).
Bergโs Sept. 10 opener, โFor the Love of Football,โ runs 2 minutes and intercuts scenes of kidsโ football teams (and their coaches) with footage from NFL games โ giving it an overt โFriday Night Lightsโ vibe.
โAnd so it begins. Right here, right now. Today,โ Chandler says at the beginning of the clip. โYou are going to win. Youโll use your eyes to win. Your eyes will show you the truth. Youโll recognize it whether you like it or not.โ
Later, Chandler says in the voiceover, โYouโll play with your eyes clear and your heart full. If you can do that and then do it again and again, I assure you, you cannot loseโฆ Clear eyes, full hearts. Canโt lose.โ
Apart from the NFL gameday teasers, Berg was already in business with Netflix. He directed, wrote and produced the movie โThe Mosquito Bowl,โ bowing in theaters on Oct. 30 ahead of its Nov. 25 release on Netflix. The sports drama is based on the bestselling novel of the same name by Pulitzer Prize winner Buzz Bissinger, based on the true story of four top American top college football stars who set aside their fame to enlist in the Marines following the attack on Pearl Harbor during World War II.
Watch Bergโs โFor the Love of Football,โ which opens the Rams-49ers game on Sept. 10:
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