Any Given Sunday

The Miami Sharks, a once-great American football team, are struggling to make the 1999 Associated Football Franchises of America (AFFA) playoffs. They are coached by thirty-year veteran Tony D'Amato (Al Pacino), who has fallen out of favor with young team owner Christina Pagniacci (Cameron Diaz) and offensive coordinator and D'Amato's expected successor Nick Crozier (Aaron Eckhart). In the thirteenth game of the season, both starting quarterback Jack "Cap" Rooney (Dennis Quaid) and second-string quarterback Tyler Cherubini (Pat O'Hara) are injured and forced to leave the field. The desperate Sharks call upon third-string quarterback Willie Beamen (Jamie Foxx) to replace them. While a nervous Beamen makes a number of errors and fails to win the game for the Sharks, he plays well and gains confidence. Rooney vows to make it back by the playoffs, with D'Amato promising to not give up on him.

The next day, D'Amato and Pagniacci argue about the direction of the team. Pagniacci favors Crozier and wants to eventually cut Rooney. D'Amato argues that Pagniacci's father, the previous owner, would never meddle in his coaching plans. During the next game, to D'Amato's chagrin, Beamen disregards the team's conservative offense and changes plays in the huddle. As the media hails Beamen as the next model of quarterback, the newfound success feeds his growing narcissism and leads to tension with teammates and coaches. During a confrontation with Beamen, D'Amato demotes him back to the bench. After Beamen gives an interview taking sole credit for the Sharks' winning streak, the other players refuse to perform for Beamen and consequently lose a home game. After Beamen gets into a brawl with Julian "J-Man" Washington (LL Cool J), an irate D'Amato expresses his embarrassment at his team before leaving. Beamen contemplates and amends his self-centered behavior.

As the playoffs come around, Sharks middle linebacker Luther Lavay (Lawrence Taylor) reminds Beamen how lucky he is to be in the league and to find a life outside of football; his words fall on deaf ears. D'Amato worsens his relationship with Pagniacci and berates Rooney for second-guessing his availability. Before the game, D'Amato gives a speech urging team unity that Beamen takes to heart. Rooney returns as starting quarterback, but is injured with a concussion after scoring a touchdown. Rooney and Pagniacci urge D'Amato to let Beamen finish the game, which after an argument he allows. Beamen apologizes to his teammates for his actions and leads the team to win. He dedicates the next game to Rooney.

The Sharks eventually lose the championship final known as Pantheon Cup to San Francisco. At D'Amato's final press conference as head coach, he is thanked by Pagniacci. D'Amato is expected to announce his retirement, but he instead drops a bombshell and announces that he has been hired as head coach and general manager of an expansion team in New Mexico, the Albuquerque Aztecs. He further infuriates Pagniacci by adding that he has signed Beamen to be his starting quarterback and franchise player.[2]

• Al Pacino as Anthony "Tony" D'Amato, head coach of the Miami Sharks. Having held his position for decades and been given much autonomy by the team's owner, "Tony D" is respected for great successes, including two Pantheon Cups, the championship for this (fictional) professional football league. He devoted so much time to the team, he became estranged from his wife and children. D'Amato's traditional methods have come under fire from management and the media for recent failures, including missing the playoffs. Bitter that he was never promoted to general manager, D'Amato resents the hands-on "interference" of Christina Pagniacci, who succeeded her father Arturo as team owner. D'Amato's character was partly inspired by Tom Landry, longtime coach of the Dallas Cowboys. His last name comes from boxing trainer Constantine "Cus" D'Amato.[3]
• Cameron Diaz as Christina Pagniacci, owner and general manager. She inherited the team from her father and boasts a Cornell MBA. She attributes the team's disappointments to Coach D'Amato's "old-school methods" and takes a more hands-on approach, bringing in innovative new offensive coordinator Nick Crozier as his eventual successor. She hints that D'Amato will not return after his contract expires, adding to his distractions. She also threatens to move the franchise if the city refuses to build a new stadium, causing a confrontation with the AFFA Commissioner and the Mayor of Miami.[3] Her character is based upon Jerry Jones and Georgia Frontiere.
• Dennis Quaid as Jack "Cap" Rooney, starting quarterback and team captain. Seen as being like a son to D'Amato, the two have been credited with the team's greatest on-field successes. Rooney is now an aging veteran who faces injuries and conflicts with team personnel. Pagniacci wants to dump him. Relations have soured between Rooney and wife Cindy (Lauren Holly), who goads him without sympathy for his physical or mental situation, mercilessly browbeating him when he even mentions retiring. He is injured during a game and is replaced, but is determined to make a comeback. Rooney recovers in time for the first round of the playoffs, wherein he plays well until suffering a hard hit while scoring a touchdown before halftime.[3] He is supposedly based on Dan Marino and John Elway.
• James Woods as Dr. Harvey Mandrake, the unscrupulous team physician. He risks serious injury to players to enable the team to have a better shot at winning, often at the direction of Pagniacci. He is later fired after his unethical methods are discovered by the conscientious team internist.[3]
• Jamie Foxx as "Steamin" Willie Beamen, the third-string quarterback. Beamen has a history that eventually led him to distrust his coaches. In particular, while playing for San Diego, Beamen was made into a defensive secondary player for having "fast feet" and was eventually injured while making a tackle. Beamen initially believes that racism played a major role in his history of being denied opportunities he desired, using an alternative of "placeism" to describe a lack of African-American quarterbacks and head coaches in pro football. He takes over as starter after injuries to Rooney and the backup quarterback. Though surprisingly successful, Beamen causes tension among staff and teammates. He frequently changes the plays the coach calls, or just calls his own. These acts create major tension with D'Amato. D'Amato respects Beamen's athletic ability and acknowledges his talents warrant him to be a quarterback, but heavily criticizes his lack of leadership skills and intangibles. He is granted his own music video and even asks owner Pagniacci for a date when she enters a postgame locker room full of naked or partly dressed players like himself. Beamen's antics on and off the field eventually get him demoted to the bench by D'Amato, who firmly believes that a quarterback's most important role is to lead the team and help keep them confident, both of which Beamen took a clear disregard for. Beamen later matures and is inspired by "Cap" Rooney's gutsy performance in the Sharks' first playoff game. He is based on Cincinnati Bengals QB Jeff Blake.
• LL Cool J as Julian "J-Man" Washington, starting running back. He is very good but becomes increasingly angry at Beamen for his cockiness and tendencies to take plays away from him. He is motivated by incentive clauses in his contract, and D'Amato refers to him as a "merc" (mercenary) "who will be gone before next season." Washington later redeems himself to the team by running out-of-bounds in order to stop the play clock while his team was attempting an offensive drive with little time left.
• Ann-Margret Olsson as Margaret Pagniacci, Christina's mother and the widow of the Sharks' original owner Arturo.
• Lauren Holly as Cindy Rooney, wife of Cap Rooney. It is heavily implied that she is no more than a trophy wife, caring more for her wealth and social status than for her husband's health and well being.
• Lawrence Taylor as Luther "Shark" Lavay, starting middle linebacker and the captain of the defense, with a cortisone addiction and is nearing the twilight of a very successful career. Held in high esteem by D'Amato for "revolutionizing" his position by being highly skilled in both pass rushing and defending against the run. Mandrake has concealed that "Shark" is suffering from a previous injury, a broken neck that did not heal properly. If he suffers a serious hit again, he may be killed or permanently disabled. The team's internist informs him and D'Amato of the situation, but "Shark" says he will lose over one million dollars if he does not make his incentive stats or retires as Powers suggests. He also has a confrontation with Beamen over the role of offense vs. defense (which culminates with him cutting Beamen's Chevrolet Suburban in half with a circular saw during a party). While making a hit, Shark gets knocked unconscious. He awakens and is hauled off on a stretcher, satisfied that he made his one million dollars incentive.
• Jim Brown as Monte Monroe, defensive coordinator. He is vocal and brings intensity to the defense and to the team in general. A longtime friend of D'Amato, who personally confides in Montezuma several times. Monroe states at one point he would like to return to high school coaching where the game is "pure."
• Aaron Eckhart as Nick Crozier, offensive coordinator. Nick is an offensive guru brought in from Minnesota by Christina Pagniacci. Young and tech-savvy (making use of a laptop computer while calling plays), he is highly critical of Tony's old-fashioned ways, as well as Beamen's changing the plays in the huddle and Julian's playing for contract incentives. Despite the tension, D'Amato recognizes Crozier's talent. He is named D'Amato's successor after the coach departs to lead an expansion franchise in New Mexico.
• Bill Bellamy as Jimmy Sanderson, the Wide Receiver who becomes Willie Beamen's first option on offense once he is moved into the starting Quarterback position, adding to the friction already building up between Willie and Julian.
• Matthew Modine as Dr. Oliver "Ollie" Powers, the team's internist. He discovers Dr. Mandrake covering for players who are suffering from near-career-ending injuries but are overdosing on painkillers, steroids and hormones to cover the pain. Powers faces his own dilemma in the need to relieve the players' pain vs. prescribing too much medication at the insistence of the addicted players.
• John C. McGinley as Jack Rose, an abrasive and prominent sports reporter. On his own cable show, Rose displays an incredible distaste for all things D'Amato. This leads to D'Amato physically assaulting Rose near the end of the regular season, but no charges are pressed after D'Amato makes a public apology. In spite of their rivalry (or even because of it) he confesses that he will miss D'Amato when he retires. Inspired by Jim Rome.
• Lela Rochon as Vanessa Struthers, Longtime girlfriend of Willie Beamen who unsuccessfully tries to pressure him into marriage after being humiliated by Cindy Rooney in front of the other Football wives.
• Elizabeth Berkley as Mandy Murphy, a high priced escort who provides Tony with a girlfriend experience (GFE) when he is feeling lonely.
• Clifton Davis as Mayor Tyrone Smalls, who is always a few steps ahead of Christina in her efforts to leverage him into using taxpayer money to build a new arena for the Sharks.
• Charlton Heston as AFFA Football Commissioner.

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