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Football teams are always looking for an edge. This Oscar season, Paramount may have found one in David Corenswet.
The New York Giants took John Tuggle with the 335th pick of the 1983 NFL Draft and that’s how the running
back from California became “Mr. Irrelevant,” the nickname given to the final player selected each year. It’s also the title of a movie that could put Corenswet squarely in the awards conversation, if it becomes the kind of crowd-pleasing box-office hit that Hollywood can’t ignore.
Earlier this week, “Mr. Irrelevant” screened at the New York Sports Legend Tastemaker, hosted by former Giants quarterback Phil Simms. Giants icons Leonard Marshall, Bill Ard and Amani Toomer were in attendance, who all played alongside Tuggle, who spent one season in the NFL. Also on hand were director Jonathan Levine and cast members Corenswet, Isabel May, who plays Tuggle’s wife, Katie; David Krumholtz, who plays Tuggle’s driver, Whitey; and Michael Shannon, who portrays legendary Giants coach Bill Parcells. Simms moderated a post-screening Q&A with the filmmakers.
“Mr. Irrelevant” tells the true story of Tuggle (Corenswet), the last player selected in the 1983 NFL Draft, who fought his way onto the Giants’ roster and became a key special-teams contributor. Under first-year head coach Parcells (Shannon), Tuggle would inspire and go on to prove that being the last player picked didn’t mean doesn’t mean being the least important.
Levine, who already demonstrated with “50/50” that he can make a cancer story funny before breaking your heart, directs from a script by “Reacher” showrunner Nick Santora. It’s been reported that megastar Tom Cruise saw a cut of “Mr. Irrelevant” and was so impressed it held to Levine being hired for his “Days of Thunder” sequel, which is scheduled to release in 2028.
I went in bracing for a generic sports movie, but came out reaching for a tissue box. That emotional reaction is the film’s biggest Oscar asset.
Corenswet plays Tuggle from the draft’s aftermath through his unlikely rise to the Giants’ 53-man roster, where he played all 16 games and was named the team’s special teams player of the year. And then, during the 1984 offseason, Tuggle, only 23 at the time, learns that he has angiosarcoma, a rare cancer of the blood vessels. What Corenswet does with that arc is why we’re having an Oscar discussion.
The first half runs on pure swagger and charisma as Corenswet plays Tuggle as a kid who knows he belongs, even when everyone decides he doesn’t. Then that confidence is dismantled piece by piece when the body that got him onto the field begins to fail him. The way Corenswet plays the denial and the grief, along with the emotional progression, is painfully human. By the end, he is essentially going full-on Hilary Swank in “Million Dollar Baby” (2004), and the audience’s tear ducts won’t stand a chance.
The apt comparison everyone will reach for is “The Blind Side” (2009). Interestingly, John Lee Hancock’s 2009 hit opens with Lawrence Taylor snapping Joe Theismann’s leg on “Monday Night Football” in Nov. 1985. Taylor was one of Parcells’ linebackers, and Tuggle, who was still on the injured list that season while fighting for his life, was also a Parcells player.
“The Blind Side” went on to gross more than $255 million domestically and, against anyone’s expectations, earned a best picture nom. Sandra Bullock won best actress. The movie became a phenomenon at church groups, sports bars and families turning to the multiplex for a weekend outing. “Mr. Irrelevant” is built for that same audience.
The film was shot in Australia for roughly $30 million and marks the first theatrical release from Skydance Sports’ partnership with the NFL. That relationship gives an enormous built-in audience and an institution with a vested interest in getting people into theaters.
And in a year increasingly crowded with potential crowd-pleasers — from “Michael” to “I Play Rocky” — every studio is looking for this season’s “American Sniper.”
Clint Eastwood’s 2014 film opened in limited release on Christmas Day, went wide after Oscar nominations were announced and became the year’s top domestic grosser, earning roughly $350 million. It also landed six Oscar nominations, including best picture and Bradley Cooper’s third consecutive best actor nomination. Obviously, “Mr. Irrelevant” isn’t “American Sniper.” But when a movie becomes a cultural event, the Academy can suddenly see an awards contender where it might have otherwise simply have seen a commercial play.
The bigger story of Corenswet’s career is how quickly he has outgrown the box Hollywood initially built for him. The Juilliard graduate broke through in Ryan Murphy’s world as River Barkley, the golden-boy rival on Netflix’s “The Politician,” then played aspiring actor Jack Castello in Netflix’s “Hollywood.” Both roles leaned heavily into his movie-star looks. Director Ti West offered something different in the horror flick “Pearl,” casting him as the handsome projectionist around whom Mia Goth’s farm girl builds an escape fantasy. Then came “Superman,” which grossed more than $600 million worldwide and asked Corenswet to make an iconic character even more decent and heroic. Tuggle requires a similar quality but under radically different circumstances. Corenswet has to make us believe in a young man convinced that his life is just beginning, then make us feel the devastation when that life is suddenly put on hold.
And while he’ll return to the suit for “Man of Tomorrow,” due in July 2027, “Mr. Irrelevant” shows what Corenswet can do when he isn’t protected by a superhero costume.
Notably, the Academy has a complicated relationship with sports movies.
The Oscars love sprawling biopics, underdogs and triumphant stories in which seemingly insurmountable obstacles are eventually overcome. Those ingredients have powered the sports genre since cinema’s earliest days. But some of the best sports movies have been ignored entirely, including Penny Marshall’s delightful women’s baseball comedy “A League of Their Own” and Gina Prince-Bythewood’s criminally underappreciated debut “Love & Basketball.” Even Steve James’ “Hoop Dreams” was infamously overlooked in the documentary feature race, while “Hoosiers” somehow went completely unnoticed.
The acting in some of these sports films has been somewhat kinder.
Will Smith won best actor for the Serena and Venus Williams tennis origin tale “King Richard,” while Brad Pitt earned a nomination for the baseball drama “Moneyball.” However, Smith missed out for “Concussion,” another football movie and Pitt couldn’t break into the conversation for the racing action flick “F1.” Even Zac Efron was shut out for the devastating wrestling drama “The Iron Claw,” despite earning some of the strongest reviews of his career.
Corenswet will have to muscle his way into a field already overflowing with contenders, including Pedro Pascal’s cellist in “Behemoth!” and Yura Borisov’s Ilya Sutskever in “Artificial,” both of whom drew significant attention at the New York Film Festival. Then there are performers many have already penciled in such as John Malkovich for “Wild Horse Nine,” Matt Damon for “The Odyssey” and Andrew Scott for “Elsinore.” That will make the box office even more vital to the narrative.
It also helps that Shannon is terrific as Parcells during Tuggle’s rookie season. The two-time Oscar nominee, for “Revolutionary Road” and “Nocturnal Animals,” brings enough authority to make Parcells feel like a larger-than-life figure and not a caricature. Interestingly, Shannon previously played General Zod opposite Henry Cavill in “Man of Steel” and now he spends an entire movie with another Superman. May is equally impressive as Katie, Tuggle’s second wife. Viewers who know her as Elsa Dutton, the narrator of Taylor Sheridan’s Western drama “1883” or saw her earlier this year in “Scream 7,” will get a chance to see her in a dramatically different role.
“Mr. Irrelevant” will open on Christmas Day against an absurdly formidable lineup: “Avengers: Doomsday,” “Dune: Part Three” and a new “Jumanji.” That’s David (pun intended) taking on Goliath, Dr. Doom, Paul Atreides and the Rock. But if the movie becomes the film families choose to see over the holidays — and the one they tell their friends about afterward — its awards prospects could change quickly, especially with Oscar ballots going out soon after the holidays.
Tuggle spent one NFL season proving the league wrong about what he could contribute. Now Corenswet has until Oscar nominations morning to prove it to the industry.
(And for God’s sake, please put him in a “Star Wars” movie already.)
This week’s updated predictions are below.
See all Academy Awards predictions
Variety Awards Circuit: Oscars
