FilmFifteen years ago, an SI colleague and friend named Duncan Brantley and I wrote a screenplay called "Leatherheads," about the wild-ass days of pro football before it became the NFL. The story centered around the derring-do's of Dodge Connelly, star of the Duluth Eskimos. Dodge's life was based loosely on an amalgamation of real-life players, including the great Ernie Nevers and Johnny (Blood) McNally. After more starts and stops than the crosstown Manhattan bus, Leatherheads was finally greenlit in 2006 after George Clooney spent a summer rewriting parts of it. It was filmed in North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee throughout the spring of 2007. It opened in April, 2008, and the DVD hit the stores in October, 2008. It was directed by Clooney and stars Clooney, Renee Zellwegger and John Krasinski. [ Read more about Leatherheads ]
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