That's Show Biz
"PEE-WEE'S PLAYHOUSE meets the NFL." That's how director Bryan Barber describes the soon-to-air ads for the new NFL Network show NFL Replay, which this fall will rebroadcast the top four games of each week on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. Shot last month on a soundstage in Culver City, Calif., the spots feature eight players (Tony Gonzalez, Chad Johnson, Keyshawn Johnson, Ray Lewis, Willis McGahee, Clinton Portis, Warren Sapp and Jeremy Shockey) lip-synching and dancing to an edgy version of the BusBoys' Did You See Me. "Some players were a little uncomfortable in front of the camera," said Barber, who directed OutKast's Hey Ya! video. "But Warren Sapp (above) loved it. He's a ham. You have to tear him away from the camera."
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Photographs by Robert Gallagher
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Photographs by Robert Gallagher
McGahee (left) was confident: "I sing in the shower, so ... I can make it happen on stage." The less-enthusiastic Shockey balked when a stylist offered a curling iron, saying, "Hey, I'm a football player."
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Photographs by Robert Gallagher
Lewis (left) learned the song's words moments before the shoot, yet finished in a swift half hour. Chad Johnson took longer, but didn't mind: "There were a lot of girls around, so everyone was happy."
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Photographs by Robert Gallagher
The chameleonlike Portis (top and middle) wore four outfits in a six-hour shoot (he'll appear next to himself in uniform), while Keyshawn Johnson broke his no-dancing-in-commercials rule. "The girls had such energy, I started rolling with it," he said--though he refused to sing.