Keanu Reeves revisits "The Replacements" | New Heights Film Club

0:00I think you were one of the most convincing film quarterbacks of all time. One of my favorite movies to watch. Is it true that the Ravens wanted to give you a tryout after this movie? That's absolutely nonsense.

0:1892 %ers, welcome back to another edition of New Heights Film Club, brought to you by Reese's Pumpkins this time. God, man, it's Halloween time, and they got those things in stores. We are your hosts. I'm Travis Kelsey. This is my big brother, Jason Kelsey. We got a fun one for you. Subscribe on YouTube, One3Plus, or wherever you get your podcasts. And follow the show on all social media, at New Heights Show with one S. Jason, tell the people what we got coming up for this episode. Coming up, we got a little bit of that. New Heights Film Club. That's right. And it's a special edition because today we are joined by Keanu Reeves to revisit his 2000 classic film, The Replacements.

0:58Enjoy. This is a sports podcast. we do want to talk about one of your most iconic sports films as well. I mean, obviously, Good Fortune. Good Fortune, which is coming out October 17th for everybody watching. Everybody go check it out. But we also want to transition. We do this thing, Film Club at New Heights. Oh, cool. We wanted to break down a little bit of The Replacements, if you're comfortable with that. Does that sound good? Yeah, yeah. So for anybody who hasn't seen it, stop what you're doing, go watch it. The Replacements is one of the best movies of all time. Go crazy. here's why i love it i love any sports film that catches the underdog and the idea that they're going to climb the mountaintop and achieve their dreams and the replacements is that film right the the players have all gone on strike and now they have to introduce these scab players into the nfl and the pros are fighting them and they're they're trying to bond and put some together some type of product and team yeah and shane falco leads the whole thing so number six

2:02that's right yeah first of all i mean movie came out 25 years ago when's the last time you've seen it gosh probably a long time ago 20 at least 15 20 years yeah i feel like it's on it's on some uh it's on a cable channel near you every single week man it's one of my it's one of my favorites If I see it on the TV guy, I'm putting it on and watching it. One of the craziest things about the movie is, yeah, the players go on strike, so we need to find replacement players. But they loop in the fact that there needs to be replacement cheerleaders, too. And what better place to get dancers last minute than the strip club?

2:50Yeah, like they're part of the same union. You got to put their bodies on the line. That's right. That's right. That's right. You got to, man. How do you think you did playing a quarterback? How convincing do you think you were as a quarterback in that film? Well, you know, I, my, my movie quarterback journey started with a point break. That's right. Also an Ohio state quarterback. Yeah. So I'm playing an Ohio state Buckeye both times. Come on now, baby. I had nothing to do with. and so i worked with uh rick neuhaisel um on point break so he i got some fundamentals i got a lot of backyard street football experience but never any organized football and then i worked with an ex-nfl quarterback tj rubly um who was quarterbacking in the 90s and he kind of You know, Rick, I did some fundamental stuff.

3:44And then with TJ, doing a little more, a lot more footwork. And then we had a three-week camp. So offense, defense. No way. You guys did a whole camp? So we could run some plays. Then they had some ex-NFL guys, college guys. We're all, you know, playing football. And I'd never been in a football camp or warm-up or, you know, locker room. How was that experience? It was fun. It was fun. Nice, man. Hell yeah. He's a competitor. All the guys are fucking down in – can I swear? Yeah, of course. Hell yeah, you can. Very welcome, Jim. So they're fucking doing – fucking scooping creatine. Oh, protein shakes and creatine, baby.

4:31Yeah, that still works. I'm like, I'm going to keep her clean. And I'm like, ah! it was a fucking 50 and i'm like anyway um and then just you know doing two a days was in baltimore it was hot and then just getting used to like you know coming to the line and then you know what i didn't know about was the relationship between the quarterback and the center oh yeah baby you know that's a big one i think so i i kind of started getting um It was cool. He was really supportive. And he'd call me, hey, Shane, hey, Falco, don't worry about it.

5:11My first break in huddles, I was like, and one. And one. And one. And, like, trying to, like, get my count, you know, like, blue in. There it is. Here we go. There it is. Quick trick. And then, so I loved all of that walking up under center. been down there. There's nothing like it, baby. But it was cool. I mean, one of the things that was one of the coordinators, a guy named Mark Ellis, who had done some other football projects and Alan Graff, they had run some movie, TV movie stuff. They had done this before, taking actors, non-playing people, and integrating with pros, ex-pros. And so we're, you know, we're trying to get to a level where we can run plays and just so that they could fill me like coming up to center, you know, do a call cadence, whatever, break the, sorry, break the huddle, come up, you know, do it and run a play.

6:12And like week one, I had like a crossing route I had to hit because I also learned about the relationship with the tight end. Come on, there we go. Heck yeah. David Denham. It's the safety blanket, baby. Heck yeah. So I had the center tight end thing. So I had to hit him on a cross. I remember one of the things. It was like the first week I'm just missing. I'm just fucking off. And they're all like, all the players are like, don't worry about it. Don't worry. It's cool, man. It's fucking hot. Week two, week three, I remember we ran the same play. I was late, missed it. No one said a fucking word.

6:50We're coming back to the huddle. Like, go do it again. No one fucking said shit. Nobody was happy. No one said fucking shit. Son of a bitch, Falco. No one said shit. You could fuck up once. If you do it twice. He's like, what's up? He's like, they're treating you like a player now. And I'm like, what do you mean? He's like, don't fuck up. They're hot. They don't want to fucking do this anymore. You fuck up. You don't get any more free ties. You got the full feel of it. I love it. I didn't say a fucking word. That's too funny. Ice cold after incompletion is the worst. Got the full quarterback treatment right there, man.

7:29Yeah, but then I hit some stuff. And then we got to play at the Raven Stadium. It was kind of coming together. And we got to play during halftime. But we filmed in the stadium, which was cool. And then we filmed at halftime. So we got a feel of that. And the guy who was doubling me in quarterback who could actually play football, Christopher Robbins, he had to he had to fucking do you remember the scene where he has to like oh yeah yes do that live man he made the throw that's awesome you might learn how to like catch for the field goal that's a fucking talent right there holding the snap dude I was going to say I loved it that's awesome did you take any actual hits or was this mostly like body doubles and things?

8:21No. They were like, a couple like when we would run plays at full speed, you know, they would come in and basically they were all like, don't hit the guy for the reason that we're all have a job. Yeah, exactly. That's a good reason. I mean, that's very much like the NFL. It's very much like if you touch. That's exactly what it is in practice. don't hit the guy who's helping us get paid that's right that's how it works golden rule baby and then uh and so i i once ran into somebody i have a two-level fuse in my neck and i ran into somebody and got a stinger that's scary oh yeah yeah man nice man you got the full football nothing worse man the stingers are the worst you got a stinger oh man and i was like oh shit because i have a plate in my neck you thought it was like really messed up i was like oh shit that's not funny yeah and it was okay and then i did that dumb thing where you like they're always saying like when you fall with the football don't put it on your chest oh yeah knock the wind out of yourself yeah

9:34gasping for air i think you were you were one of the most convincing film quarterbacks of all time it's one of my favorite movies to watch is it true that the ravens wanted to give you a tryout after this that's absolutely nonsense my release would have obviously been lefty was like a i don't know why but we tend to have a lower release getting that ball was a little slow but i could hit like i mean it wasn't this on a rope but like yeah we do like 50 yard corner i could you know i could hit like hey man oh you're an athlete hell of a throw right then long seven and go but don't start believing you can really do it well listen i don't know if you saw those 2000 ravens but you didn't need to be that good i mean i think the opposing teams average like 11 points a game or something like that it was nine yeah we all needed defense what was it like working with gene hackman he's like one of the i mean obviously hoosier like just plays a great coach the temperament of him like comes off as this wise sage person loved his and your relationship in the film what was it like working with him uh such a gentleman and you know hero of mine when you look at his career the breadth of roles like comedy drama the filmmakers um it's just so special and he was really um nice to me he was generous and he was like we had a good chemistry and basically he was like no nonsense no bullshit came to work ready to go new lines knew what was going on and didn't really suffer people who weren't doing that yeah he had he had a look he had a look he was kind of but he would just be like sounds like a real coach man sounds like andy reed my coach gives you one look you already know you better tighten it up man get this thing rocking and rolling i remember he had some howard deutz was the director and um you know there was you know uh gene ackman was had a hat you know kind of doing that yes thing yeah the landry and he was like do you want the hat or off the hat do you want the hat and how he's like he was just like say it and i say it anyway but he was um yeah total pro total pro and a gentleman and sweet and you know another legend who i got to meet there was jack warden who played an owner of the team yes absolutely just a legend as well and i got to say hi to pat summerall and madden Nice.

12:24John Madden? Yeah. That's awesome. They do commentators in the film. So I went to go see them filming one day, and it's cool to me. Oh, dude, what was that like? John Madden? I mean, that's my, like, hero, man. That guy, listening to him call football games my entire childhood. What was that like? He's a sweetie pie, too. Just, hey, how's it going? Huge head, hands. That's just a big old dude, man. thing and like he's kind of quiet and low-key you know but then he's there and you know it was just like you say when you meet those guys who you've grown up with and who did such amazing you know so cool you know our connection to watching them work you know yeah absolutely it was cool one of my favorite quotes from this movie probably one of the all-time quotes in sports movies history pain heals chicks dig scars glory lasts forever boys let's go i will say though sometimes pain doesn't heal i'm still dealing with these back issues i'm still struggling with it but yeah that stinger ever catch you when you yawn you're like roll over and yawn it just kind of fizzles a little bit i i just i do find i protect my head all the time.

13:40There you go. But how many years in do you? Yeah, I'm 13. Jason played 13. Yeah. Yeah. But we're feeling like we're 25 right now. Speaking of yourselves. We're winning. All things considered, we've done pretty good from the health. I mean, Trav is still going, so I'll knock on wood a little bit. Yeah. How was it going from – because I was looking up kind of like your history a bit, And I saw like early Eagles stuff. Like you centered with Vic, right? Yeah, Michael Vic. That was the first quarterback I ever played with, which is crazy. So, I mean, that's – you put the whole team, but like that's a modern quarterbacking.

14:22That's a whole other thing, right? He's a southpaw too now. Oh, yeah. He could sling it and you would hear that thing whiz. Like you could feel the spin on it coming past your head. Yes. It was crazy how much Mike, just like flicking his wrist, would put some spin on it. And that's the thing. He did it so effortless. It was like he had a whip on his arm. It was crazy how he could just sling the ball out there and he could throw it a mile and a half. Yeah, we had this question in here to ask you. It was something about the scab players. You were going to ask me, Trav, if I was going to be – oh, gosh, what was it?

14:57You guys had a strike 2-11 or something. Yes, so we had a strike in 2011, that same year. Yeah. And Travis, you know, would we be tipping the scab cars if, but I'm like, dude, I would have been one of the scabs. Are you kidding me? I was a rookie. I had student loans I'm trying to pay off. I would have been playing. I'm not showing on strike. I hadn't realized my dream yet. I was about to say, I'm still living my dream. I'm not holding out. Yeah. The Players Union would have fucking hated me. The movie is so wonderful because it captures a lot of guys. It's so relatable because so many people have tried to make it in sports.

15:31and when it came out I was still at that stage and like it's interesting now re-watching it as I'm an older player having already played in the NFL and looking at it from maybe that lens but growing up and watching it I mean this was like just beyond cool to to showcase that kind of mentality and like perseverance in particular with Shane Falco's character and like listen he had a very traumatic experience playing in college and he gets another opportunity yeah you know I I mean I don't know I mean I think the film actually I mean I'm never playing a game so I can't say but it seems like from the outside like maybe the cliches but also cliches are kind of created out of what actually happens often yeah they're cliches for a reason yeah crazy kicker the linebacker who's just fucking crazy yeah and the tight end and the linemen so I felt like it got some things in a, I'll say, Hollywood kind of way.

16:28Oh, yeah. Yeah, but that's what makes the movie fun is that they're all just exaggerated just a little bit to make the characters that more appealing. The Replacements, 2 ,025 years ago. Don, how crazy is that? Still going strong too, baby. And that was the first film I did after The Matrix. That was the first film. Talk about a switch-up. That's a switch-up of genres and feels for sure. I'm a movie from food to like. The rage is crazy, dude. God damn it. We forgot to get to that. Fuck. All right. We're going to do it right now. Travis, count to three. We're just going to name who we think is the best cop for Shane Fowler.

17:09There's only one. I'd be shocked if we don't say the same person. One, two, three. Gardner Minshew.

17:19Dude, this is the best. Art is one of my favorite teammates, man. Minshew mania, baby. You're talking about that, like, eco's just chill, laid back. Yes. Vibes are always high, like good vibes at that. Falco was living in a boat. Minshew freaking, like, redid like a bus, and he was living on a bus for a whole offseason one time. The hair. The hair. It feels like it's like reincarnation. Yeah. They're the same person. Yeah. It's perfect. Shout out to my guy, Guard, man. Let's go, baby. That wraps up another edition of New Heights Film Club brought to you by Reese's Pumpkins. Thank you to Keanu Reeves for joining us.

18:01Make sure you subscribe to the New Heights channel on YouTube and follow New Heights on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen to new episodes of New Heights ad-free right now by joining Wondery Plus on the Wondery app or on Apple Podcasts. Once again, New Heights, a Wondery show. Follow the show on all social media at New Heights Show with one S and thank you to the New Heights production team and to those 92 percenters appreciate you guys very much very much so much we'll see you guys next wednesday