''Under the Stadium Lights'' is a 2021 sports drama film directed by Todd Randall and starring

Milo Gibson Milo Gibson (born November 16, 1990) is an Australian actor. He is the son of Mel Gibson. He is known for his roles in '' All the Devil's Men'', '' Breaking & Exiting'', '' Gangster Land'', and '' Hacksaw Ridge''. Biography Gibson was born in A ...

and

Laurence Fishburne Laurence John Fishburne III (born July 30, 1961) is an American actor. He is a three time Emmy Award and Tony Award winning actor known for his roles on stage and screen. He has been hailed for his forceful, militant, and authoritative charact ...

. It is based on the nonfiction book ''Brother's Keeper'' by Al Pickett and Chad Mitchell. The film follows the players, coach, and team chaplain of a high school football team in

Abilene, Texas Abilene ( ) is a city in Taylor and Jones Counties in Texas, United States. Its population was 125,182 at the 2020 census, making it the 27th-most populous city in the state of Texas. It is the principal city of the Abilene metropolitan statis ...

. It was released in select theaters and on video on demand in the United States on June 4, 2021 by

Saban Films Saban Capital Group LLC is an American investment firm based in Los Angeles, California focused on media, entertainment, and communications investments. Formed in 2010 by Haim Saban, Saban Capital Group owns Saban Films, part of Univision Commun ...

Cast

as Harold Christian, who was somewhat of a local celebrity in Abilene and owned a restaurant (Harold's BBQ) which fed the players each Thursday night during the season. *

as Chad Mitchell, the team chaplain and author of the novel this film is based on. *

Abigail Hawk Abigail Hawk (born Abigail Diane Gustafson; April 18, 1982) is an American actress known for playing Samantha Bonner in the 1995 television series '' Reality Check'', Detective Abigail Baker in '' Blue Bloods'' (2010–present), and Ellie in '' ...

as Ashley Mitchell, Chad's wife. *Adrian Favela as Anthony Carriola *Carter Redwood as Ronnell Sims *Acoryé White as Herschel Sims *Germain Arroyo as Augustine Barrientes *

Glenn Morshower Glenn Morshower is an American character actor. He is best known for playing United States Secret Service, Secret Service Agent Aaron Pierce (24 character), Aaron Pierce in ''24 (TV series), 24'' and Colonel (later General) Sharp Morshower in the ...

as Steve Warren *

Noel Gugliemi Noel Albert Gugliemi (also known as Noel G.) is an American actor best known for his portrayals of Southern Californian gangsters. Gugliemi has received some notoriety for having played characters named ''Hector'' in several movies and TV shows. ...

as Albert *

Eddie George Edward Nathan George Jr. (born September 24, 1973) is an American football coach and former player who is the current head coach at Tennessee State. He played as a running back in the National Football League (NFL) for nine seasons, primarily f ...

as Ronnell Sims Sr. *

Bucky Covington William Joel "Bucky" Covington III (born November 8, 1977) is an American country music singer. He placed eighth on the 5th season of the Fox Network's talent competition series ''American Idol''. In December 2006, he signed a recording contrac ...

*Ava Justin as Patron *Gwen Ruhoff as Patron *Bruce Purcell as Patron

Production

Principal photography wrapped before the

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...

pandemic and the film is now in post-production. Production began in Minnesota in 2018 and wrapped up filming in

in early 2019. While shooting in Abilene the crew filmed at popular local destinations such as

Abilene Zoological Gardens The Abilene Zoo is a zoo located in Abilene, Texas. The zoo has over 800 animals representing over 175 species. Attendance for 2021 was 255,000. Abilene zoo has been an accredited member of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA) since 198 ...

, Paramount Theatre, Abilene High School, and

Shotwell Stadium Shotwell Stadium is a stadium in Abilene, Texas. It was built in 1959, using Rice Stadium as a model. It was initially named the Public Schools Stadium. The first game played in the Stadium was in the fall of 1959. Shortly after the first season, ...

Release

In November 2020,

acquired North American and U.K. rights to the film and renamed ''Under the Stadium Lights''. It was released in select theaters and on digital June 4, 2021. It was released on DVD on August 3, 2021.

Reception

The film has a 12% rating on

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

based on seventeen reviews. Alan Ng of ''

Film Threat ''Film Threat'' is an online film review publication, and earlier, a national magazine that focused primarily on independent film, although it also reviewed videos and DVDs of mainstream films, as well as Hollywood movies in theaters. It first ...

'' rated the film a 7 out of 10.

Nell Minow Nell Minow is an American film reviewer and writer who writes and speaks frequently on film, media, and corporate governance and investing. Ms. Minow was named one of the 20 most influential people in corporate governance by Directorship magazine ...

of '' RogerEbert.com'' awarded the film two stars.

Ty Burr Ty Burr (born August 17, 1957) is an American film critic, columnist, and author who currently writes a film and popular culture newsletter "Ty Burr's Watchlist" on Substack. Burr previously served as film critic at ''The Boston Globe'' for two ...

of ''

The Boston Globe ''The Boston Globe'' is an American daily newspaper founded and based in Boston, Massachusetts. The newspaper has won a total of 27 Pulitzer Prizes, and has a total circulation of close to 300,000 print and digital subscribers. ''The Boston Glob ...

'' awarded the film one star.

References

External links

* {{IMDb title, 6384920 2021 films 2021 drama films American sports drama films Films based on non-fiction books Sports films based on actual events Saban Films films Films set in Texas Sports in Abilene, Texas Films shot in Texas Films shot in Minnesota 2020s English-language films 2020s American films