Based on the novel by Sports Illustrated icon Frank Deford—and not, as local folklore has it, on the life of storied LSU running back Billy Cannon—the screen adaptation of Everybody’s All-American by director Taylor Hackford makes football a framework for a darkly romantic, epic-sized tale of a man on the downside of fame, one facing the realities of life off the field as a fallen gridiron god who doesn’t know which way to turn when his adoring legions have turned away.
The glory of Gavin Grey fades in the film, but a rosy reverence for Everybody’s All-American has gathered in Baton Rouge, where much of the movie’s shooting took place in the fall of 1987.
Co-starring Jessica Lange, John Goodman and Timothy Hutton, the film sees Dennis Quaid take the snap as “The Grey Ghost,” a golden boy on the field who marries his sweetheart and scores as a college star only to stumble with external defeats and internal devastation in the pros and beyond.
“I’m special as long as I keep making touchdowns,” Quaid tells Lange in a sobering moment of grief-wracked confession.
The drama tackles the ups and downs of Grey’s career and the fiery tumult of his marriage. Along the way, we see the Country Club of Louisiana, the LSU campus, the State Capitol, Spanish Town, and several homes, bars and rural locales across the Capital Area.
“For a couple of years after the movie, I’d see [John] Goodman in the press box at home games,” says Dan Borné, Tiger Stadium’s announcer. “He really became a lifelong Tiger fan making the film.”
Hackford (read 225‘s exclusive interview with the director) consulted with LSU officials and Borné on the idea of staging football scenes during halftime of real games. Borné was tasked with hyping the LSU faithful for fictitious plays, and his voice can be heard rippling through the film. He also appears on screen as the emcee for a team reunion banquet shot in four days at Boudreaux’s event hall on Government Street.
“It was interesting,” Borné recalls. “You got your own mini-trailer, and they sprayed you with all sorts of makeup. We did so many takes I accidentally said ‘Dennis’ instead of ‘Gavin’ once. We all laughed about that.”
While many appeared as extras, one local owes his Hollywood career to Everybody’s All-American. A center fielder for LSU’s first College World Series appearance in 1986, Michael Papajohn caught the role of Quaid’s stunt double a year later. He became fast friends with Hackford, and the director encouraged Papajohn to move to Los Angeles and perform in movies. Twenty-five years and 71 productions later, the Baton Rougean remains a popular stuntman and character actor for major studio films like and The Dark Knight Rises.
“It was a life-changing moment for me because [Taylor Hackford’s] generosity gave me a start in the business,” says Papajohn, who received a trophy inscribed with “World’s Greatest Hitman” from the director. “He’s a man who likes authenticity, and I treated that job just like I treated playing ball for Skip Bertman. After taking a big hit from one of these NFL guys, I’d pop back up and say, ‘Let’s do it again.'”
The film often comes up in conversation around Papajohn, who recently moved his family back to Baton Rouge.
“There is so much passion for LSU football in that stadium on Saturday nights, and that can be difficult to express,” Papajohn says. “But with this movie, Taylor [Hackford] really caught the power of that and our desire for heroes.”
With that ethos in place, the city seems to have taken ownership of the film—unlike, perhaps, any other picture made here.
“I love that it is so incredibly connected with LSU now,” Borné says. “It’s truly become a cult classic among Tiger fans.”
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