Mark Murphy, You're Our Only Hope

The interweb was abuzz this week, at least the small corner related to the Packers. Legendary actor, Robert DeNiro, star of Raging Bull, Taxi Driver, Deer Hunter, and The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle, will play legendary coach Vince Lombardi. Awesome. Seems like a good fit to me.

Following up on this, Packers President, Mark Murphy, indicated he had been in contact with the filmmakers and there was some talk of filming in Green Bay, a no-brainer if you ask me, and also….drum-roll please…holding the premiere at Lambeau Field. (Thanks, Brian)

I’ve only been to two film premieres in my life. One, on accident, was for Any Given Sunday in London. After a few too many pints down the pub, I stumbled into a crowd of people and just stood there for awhile, nothing draws a crowd, like a crowd as it were. To my enjoyment, I saw Cameron Diaz (yes, she is in fact hot), but soon got bored with the hoopla and left. The other premiere was for this (doyourself a favor and scroll down to the "Recommendations" section) Anyway, I watched the filming of Twister’s Revenge during the summer of 1987 while I was camping at Council Grounds State Park just outside of Merrill, Wisconsin. The film (term loosely used here) was shot in Merrill and nearby Gleason, and had a small premiere at Merrill’s Cosmo Theatre. The cast pulled up in the monster truck, Mister Twister…. did I forget to mention how glitzy and glamorous all of this was? The premiere was truly special indeed, and it harkened back to simpler time in moviemaking, back when product placement and cross-marketing didn’t drive scripts.

Getting back to Murphy’s comment about the premiere at Lambeau. Having been to a film premiere like Twister’s Revenge, I can tell you a premiere at Lambeau would be highly entertaining for both the film’s cast and crew, as well as Packer fans. Now, I’m not talking about a premiere with red carpet, paparazzi, Louis Vuitton, and champagne. I’m more of the opinion that this premiere should be tailgating, Packer fans, jerseys and a fedora or two, and Leinenkugel’s. Now, maybe Murphy and the filmmakers meant a small premiere consisting of VIPs, but I implore you, Mr. Murphy open this up to the people that made the Packers: the fans.
I want to be at Lambeau and watch this movie with a packed stadium. I want to cheer on Lombardi, Starr, Hornung, and Kramer, and get chills with other Packer fans hearing stuff like this: “There is no room for second place. There is only one place in my game and that is first place. I have finished second twice in my time at Green Bay, and I never want to finish second again” and this classic. Let's be honest, a movie is always better when you see it in a full theatre, what could be better than a full stadium?

Mark Murphy, please make this happen, or Mister Twister may become angry, and you won’t like him when he’s angry. Trust me, I’ve seen his revenge.