Robert Griffin III Offers His Hilarious Dream Cast for Jalen Hurts Movie
From relatively humble beginnings, Jalen Hurts’s football career has played out like something from a Hollywood script. So it makes sense that, after Hurts signed a five-year, $255 million contract with the Eagles on Monday to make him the league’s highest-paid player, he’s now getting the Hollywood treatment.
Well, sort of.
There’s no known script in the works about Hurts’s rise to football stardom quite yet, but that’s not stopping former quarterback-turned-ESPN analyst Robert Griffin III from playing the role of casting director. Following news of Hurts’s new deal with Philadelphia, Griffin lobbied for a movie to be made about the 24-year-old quarterback’s life, revealing who he’d like to see play other key figures in Hurts’s story.
The full thread is surprisingly extensive, as Griffin really sifted through a who’s-who of entertainment and football A-listers to find the best fits. Here’s a quick rundown of which stars Griffin wants to see in a yet-to-be-produced Hurts biopic.
In the starring role, we have Michael B. Jordan—a strong if unsurprising pick. Jordan is perhaps best known for the Creed franchise, in which he plays boxer Adonis Creed. Hurts and Jordan are about the same height, and Jordan clearly has what it takes to get in the right physical shape to convincingly embody Hurts’s tough running style.
The role of Nick Saban, Hurts’s Alabama coach, goes to Billy Bob Thornton, a clear callback to Thornton’s iconic turn as the head coach of Permian High School in 2004’s Friday Night Lights. Wide receivers DeVonta Smith and A.J. Brown would be played by YouTuber D.C. Young Fly and Idris Elba—perhaps the oddest pairing of actors you could ever come up with. Nick Sirianni would be portrayed by doppelganger Josh Lucas, while the role of Hurts’s Oklahoma coach, Lincoln Riley, went to country singer Scotty McCreery.
Finally, perhaps the biggest piece of stunt casting for the film? Kevin James as Jason Kelce.
Would all these pieces come together to make a credible film? Who knows, but if the powers that be in the movie business ever find a way to make it happen, it would certainly be a can’t-miss release.
