FILM · 2000
The Replacements
30 archived facts 4 topics 1 source Last reviewed Oct 2026
All facts (30)
- #001
The reason everyone talks about Shane Falco's meltdown in the 1996 Sugar Bowl is that there was no game in 1996. This made it easier to avoid problems with a real player or team. The Sugar Bowl was played on 12/31/95 after the 1995 season (Virginia Tech defense against Texas) and on 1/2/97 after the 1996 season (Florida defense against Florida State).
- #002
This was Jack Warden's last film. He retired from acting after this role.
- #003
Keanu Reeves gained 23 kilos for the role of quarterback Shane Falco.
- #004
Clifford Franklin (Orlando Jones) is repeatedly seen clutching the football tightly in many off-field scenes, including the cafeteria and the chalk-talk (swamp) scene. This is because of a deleted scene in which Coach McGinty (Gene Hackman) tells Franklin never to let go of the football, in the hope that it will help him drop fewer passes on the field, a mistake Franklin made with alarming frequency.
- #005
During filming, Keanu Reeves was offered a tryout with the Baltimore Ravens. The Baltimore Ravens would go on to win Super Bowl XXXV six months after the film's release.
- #006
Nigel Gruff kicks a 65-yard field goal to win one of the games. At the time the film was made, the longest field goal record in the NFL was 63 yards, meaning Gruff's kick could have set a league record at the time. The longest field goal record now belongs to Cam Little of the Jacksonville Jaguars, who kicked a 68-yard field goal against the Las Vegas Raiders in Week 9 of the 2025 season.
- #007
The football scenes were shot over a single weekend, and a group of Army interns from Aberdeen Proving Ground, MD were part of the crowd.
- #008
Archie L. Harris Jr., who plays Wilson Carr, was a real replacement player during the 1987 NFL strike. He ended up playing offensive line for the Denver Broncos, who lost to the Washington Redskins in Super Bowl XXII.
- #009
Earl Wilkinson is based on Tony Robinson, the Washington Redskins' replacement quarterback during the 1987 NFL strike in a game against the Dallas Cowboys. Robinson was a prisoner released from work duty and was allowed to play that single game, leading the Redskins to a 13-7 victory on Monday Night Football. It was one of the biggest upsets of the 1987 season. Robinson was eventually released from prison in 2012.
- #010
Keanu Reeves plays a former Ohio State quarterback. In Point Break (1991), Reeves's character was also a former Ohio State quarterback.
- #011
Although the film is not supposed to be connected to the real 1987 NFLPA strike, there are some similarities between the film's depiction of the Washington team and the real Redskins team: 1. The teams Washington plays in the film mirror the teams the Redskins played in their 1987 strike-breaker games (including a Dallas team in which all the regular starters crossed the picket line and returned); 2. Shane Falco wears number 16. The Redskins' replacement quarterback Ed Ruppert (who played college ball at Louisville) wore that number. Ruppert managed to spend three seasons as an Arena Football League quarterback in Albany; 3. The Redskins had a player named Tony Robinson who had just been released from prison before being added to the new team. The film is about a player who leaves prison to play for the team.
- #012
A sequel was planned to be made but never happened.
- #013
Wilkinson (Michael Jace) is temporarily released from prison to play for the Washington Sentinels. During the games he wears a jersey with the surname Smith, because having a convicted criminal on the team would probably attract too much unwanted attention/criticism. Coincidentally, Jace was found guilty of second-degree murder in 2016 and sentenced to 40 years to life in prison.
- #014
Training and practice took place at Glen Burnie High School in Glen Burnie, MD. The football coach worked with the players and coaching staff during the games.
- #015
Mark Robert Ellis and Allan Graf, who play the San Diego Head Coach and the Dallas Head Coach respectively, also served as football coordinators, designed plays, taught proper techniques and ran a full three-week football camp for the actors and real football players working on the film. Their intention was to make the film's football aspects as accurate and real as possible and to allow the actors to perform nearly all of the football action themselves.
- #016
After the offside kick, Falco tackles Bateman, and he regularly holds the ball for Gruff's kicks. A quarterback usually does not play on special teams because of the risk of easy injury, but the Sentinels only hired 22 replacement players, so the special teams were made up of both offensive and defensive players (and Gruff).
- #017
The film is set in Washington, D.C. but was shot in and around Baltimore, MD, including the Baltimore Ravens stadium.
- #018
Jack Warden played Sentinels owner Edward O'Neil. He also played Chicago Bears Head Coach/Owner George Halas in Brian's Song (1971) and Coach Max Corkel in Heaven Can Wait (1978).
- #019
Washington Sentinels running back Walter Cochran (Troy Winbush) not only wears the same number (34) as Chicago Bears legend and Hall of Famer Walter Payton, but also, when he first gets the ball, takes a single long high-stepping stride in the open field before starting to sprint, which was Payton's signature move.
- #020
As in the film, most of the Cowboys' regular players, including Tony Dorsett, Danny White, Ed "Too Tall" Jones and Randy White, crossed the picket line. Unlike the film, none of the regular Redskins crossed the picket line.
- #021
The Replacements was David Denman's first film.
- #022
The Japanese name Fumiko is actually a woman's name.
- #023
When the team raises a toast to Shane at the bar, Cochran's champagne glass is filled with milk. Since he is a very religious man, it is reasonable to assume he does not drink alcohol.
- #024
The dance the players perform to "I Will Survive" is the "Electric Slide," a popular party dance that is very easy to pick up.
- #025
The scene set at O'Neil's house was filmed in one of the buildings belonging to the publishing company Agora, Inc., located in Baltimore's historic Mt. Vernon district. Most of the scene was shot in the conference room.
- #026
The lunch scene during practice was filmed in the press room at PSINet Stadium.
- #027
Gary Glitter's song included on the soundtrack, Rock and Roll Part 2, is an instrumental version popular at sporting events and often referred to as "the Hey! song." In 2015, Glitter was found guilty of child sexual abuse and attempted rape and sentenced to 16 years in prison. Child advocacy groups have tried to stop the song from being played on television and at family-friendly professional events, because he still receives royalties every time it is broadcast. As of 2023, he remains in prison.
- #028
Clifford Franklin (Orlando Jones) has a scene in which he smears a sticky substance on his hands to help him catch the football. The same thing was done by Hanon, played by Troy Simmons, in Little Giants (1994).
- #029
Jon Favreau and Brooke Langton both appeared in Swingers (1996).
- #030
The cast includes one Oscar winner, Gene Hackman, and one Oscar nominee, Jack Warden.
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