When the real coaches visited the actor's football camp, Herman became so enthralled that he threatened to go back to coaching. He even had his hand in running some of the practice sessions and gave the actors some extra pointers during production.
One of the most difficult aspects of the football was finding extras to round out the Titan team and to act as their opponents. "We were shooting right in the middle of football season," explains Fishier. "Frankly, it was difficult to find the right mix of guys. We had to do several radio promotions to find players amid many of them were older than high school age, but we needed the experience."
Finding extras was always a challenge for the filmmakers. Because school was in session and almost half the scenes in the film necessitated a crowded hallway, locker room, stadium, or outdoor mob scene, the filmmakers were constantly on the lookout for available kids.
"This was an extras nightmare," says Yakin only half-joking. "Every day I was thankful to get through directing so many people, and then I'd realize the next day was the riot outside the school with 500 extras. Half way through the film I was praying to shoot two people in a small room talking!"
The extras also helped to establish the 1970s period of the film. "There are three areas that change with time," declares executive producer Flynn. "Hair, clothes and cars. These change when other things stay the same. We had to broom out parking meters amid certain outdoor signs that have crept in over time, but we were vigilant about that stuff."
Bruckheimer and Yakin credit production designer Deborah Evans with not only setting the period design, but also giving the sets life and color. "From the very beginning our approach was to give the film a classic feel," says Yakin. "It's easy to get into 70s kitsch but we tried to make it timeless while still being true to the period. We wanted the story to draw the viewer in so that it could be a story that was happening now."
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