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10 Behind-the-Scenes Secrets About ‘Friday Night Lights’ and the Show’s Iconic Cast

Entertainment

Jun 11, 2024 5:00 pm·

By Samantha Agate

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We have Friday Night Lights to thank for helping launch the careers of several of Hollywood’s biggest stars. The sports drama ran from 2006 to 2011, earning critical acclaim and appeal from the masses. Behind the scenes of the series, things got pretty interesting.

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10 Behind-the-Scenes Secrets About the Friday Night Lights Cast

The Cast Remains Friends

Taylor Kitsch, who portrayed bad boy Tim Riggins, is still friends with several of his costars.

“Derek Phillips is still one of my close friends. He played my brother. Kyle [Chandler], of course. We’re still really close,” he told Us Weekly in October 2014. “[Jesse] Plemons, [Scott] Porter. A lot of those guys. I haven’t seen Porter since his wedding, but Derek and I ride motorcycles all the time together, so I see Derek a lot. I hang out with [executive producer] Peter Berg. He’s one of my best friends and we have done three movies together since.”

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Taylor Kept Stuff From Set

Saying goodbye to a show is never easy, and Taylor decided to take some mementos from the set — his character’s football jerseys.

“I actually gave one of them to my best friend,” he said. “I [also] have a piece of his locker that was gifted to me.”

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They Had a Hard Time Finding a Coach

Finding the show’s lead, Eric Taylor, was no easy job. Eventually, Kyle nabbed the role.

“I couldn’t find a coach. The only actor I liked was Dwight Yoakam. He seemed interesting — kind of a flawed, messed-up Southern boy who wanted to act,” show creator Peter Berg said. “I met with him a couple times, but then he started making demands. He would need eight weeks off to tour. He’d only be able to give us eight days of filming. And he wanted a ton of money. He made it impossible for us to say yes.”

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They Did Not Do Rehearsals

It may come as a surprise to some, but the Friday Night Lights cast rarely did rehearsals.

“We never did rehearsals, ever,” camera operator Ian Ellis spilled.

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The Riggins House Was Gross

The Riggins house was just as messy in real life as it looked on the show.

“It reeked. There was mold. The pool was filled with sludge,” Taylor revealed. “One of us got sick and we had a doctor come to set. He was like, ‘You guys shouldn’t be shooting in this house.’”

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Kyle’s Audition Was Memorable

Peter met Kyle for lunch to discuss the part of the football coach but things didn’t go as expected.

“He rode up on a motorcycle. He’d been drinking for two days with his buddies. He had a beard and bags under his eyes,” he recalled. “He was clearly hung-over as sh–t. I was really surprised, because I remembered him as this fresh-faced, boyish, charming young man.”

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Minka Kelly’s Job Before the Show

Before she gained recognition for playing Lyla Garrity, Minka Kelly had a completely different job.

“I was working as a scrub nurse,” she revealed. “I was an actor — I was auditioning — but I was always embarrassed to say I was an actor because that’s not how I was paying my bills.”

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Zach Gilford Also Had a Different Career Path

Zach Gilford worked in retail before landing the role of soft-spoken Matt Saracen.

“I was working at [a sporting goods store], folding clothes. I’d been out of school for a little under a year, and it was my first pilot season,” he explained. “My manager and agent said, “There’s this project, and this project, and this Friday Night Lights one, but we don’t know if you’d be into that.” I was like, “Wait, Friday Night Lights the movie? The book, Friday Night Lights? You don’t think I’d be into that? Do you know me?”

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Kyle Got Embarrassed From Kissing Scene

Kyle was married to wife Kathryn Chandler all throughout filming the show, which made for some awkward kissing scenes with fictional wife Connie Britton.

“Truthfully Kyle would get really embarrassed whenever we had to do any kissing at all,” Connie said during a Watch What Happens Live appearance. “The second episode ever they wrote us a big sex scene that opened the episode and he was so uncomfortable with it and it was so terrible that it was cut out of the show and we never had a sex scene again for the rest of the history of Friday Night Lights.”

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Michael B. Jordan Did His Own Stunts

Michael B. Jordan was brought on as Vince Howard in seasons 4 and 5. He actually did all of his own stunts for the show.

“The feeling that I had commanding those guys on the offense and being the quarterback and shooting everything myself and how everyone responded to me … to be Vince in that moment was something that I’ll never forget,” he told The Hollywood Reporter in July 2011. “That day we had a record number of extras for the show on the set and it was packed. I will never forget that moment … I felt like I was a gladiator in the Coliseum.”

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