Trivia
Opened with a gross of $20.905m in the USA and stopped September 2000 from being one of the worst months for movies ever.The original script was full of profanity but Disney, in an effort to produce a good family film, asked producer, Jerry Bruckheimer, to remove all extreme profanity from the script.
The film is made more accessible to non-fans of the sport of football by careful music editing - whenever the Titans complete a key play or turn the game in their favor, the music changes to upbeat rock.
Ray Budds, Alan Bosley, Fred Bosley, and Coach Tyrell are just some of the many fictional characters created for the film to make it more conflicting and dramatic.
Tourists often went to the real T.C. Williams High School after the movie was released, according to Sports Illustrated, and were very surprised that the real school does not look like the one in the movie. The movie was not filmed in Alexandria; it was filmed in various locations in Georgia.
The school used for T.C. Williams is Druid Hills High School, in DeKalb County, Georgia. The school has no stadium or football field, though, so the football scenes were filled at Berry College and at other High Schools in the Atlanta area including Paulding County High School.
In T.C. Williams High School, there is a large trophy case in the main lobby across from the auditorium completely dedicated to Gary Bertier. There is another large trophy case on the opposite wall dedicated to the 1971 T.C. Titans.
The football camp that the players go to was filmed at Berry College in Mt. Berry, Georgia. Berry has never had a football team (save intermural flag football). The quadrangle of buildings in which the players stayed are really girl's dormitories. Many students can be seen in the background of these shots as classes were in session during filming.
The midnight run taken by the players while at camp would have taken them a long time to complete as the places they pass are not only all over the 28,000 acre Berry College campus, but are as much as 60 miles away in Chickamauga National Park.
The actual name of the High School opponent in the championship game was Andrew Lewis High School in Salem, Virginia.
Victory Stadium, where the actual championship game was played was demolished in July 2006. In the 1970s Victory Stadium was the home field for Jefferson, Patrick Henry, William Fleming, Addison & Roanoke Catholic High Schools.
The real Sheryl Yoast died in 1996.
In real life, Coach Bill Yoast has four daughters, not just Sheryl. Since two daughters were older and one a baby, Sheryl was with her father at most of the games and other events, and the filmmakers thought it would be confusing and distracting to depict the other three. The sisters were fine with it, and enjoyed the movie.
The state championship game was played at 12 o'clock noon on Saturday, not at night as portrayed in the movie.
As part of the director's efforts at authenticity, two of the referees in the film - E.Y. Coley and B. Keith Harmon, who played the crooked referee - are actual officials with the Atlanta Area Football Officials Association.
The Perry High School marching band from perry, Georgia portrayed the marching band of TC Williams HS. Perry was chosen because their uniforms were of the same colors as those of TC Williams HS. All of the band music in the film is actually played by them, and as thanks for their participation in the film, they were given a semi-truck trailer.
There is one scene in the film where a brick is thrown through Coach Boone's window. In real life it was an old toilet that was thrown, but film makers thought this would add humor to the serious situation.
Though in the movie Gary Bertier is paralyzed before the Titans win State, he actually played in that game and was in the car accident afterward.
The final score in the championship game was 27-0, won by T.C. Williams. Andrew Lewis totaled negative rushing yardage during the game.