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thought the script handled their relationship really beautifully.”
Papale especially enjoyed Kinnear’s metamorphosis. “When I first saw him in the green pants, the
white belt and the long hair, I thought ,‘My God, it’s Dick,’” he recalls. “And when I heard him give Dick’s
speeches—it gave me goose bumps that he
had taken it that far.”
One of the biggest tests for Kinnear
came in the scene when Vermeil gives his
climactic speech before the pivotal game
against the Giants. It’s a vital moment in the
film, and putting even more pressure on
Kinnear was the fact that Dick Vermeil’s
son was on the set that day. Yet Kinnear was
able to step up his game when he needed to
do it. “Dick’s son said he got chills
watching Greg perform, it was so real,”
recalls Ericson Core. “Greg is such a
chameleon that I think he can make himself completely into someone else. He really shows how much
Dick and Vince had in common in that they were both guys who no one believed in yet proved themselves
to be inspirational people.”
AN IRRESISTIBLE GIANTS FAN:
ELIZABETH BANKS IS JANET CANTWELL
Into the mostly male, adrenaline-fueled world of INVINCIBLE comes Elizabeth Banks as Janet
Cantwell, the beautiful bar waitress who at first draws sparks from Vince Papale as a fan of the Eagles
rival N.Y. Giants but later inspires him when he is at his lowest ebb and ultimately becomes his greatest
love. Banks, who has previously charmed audiences with smaller roles in “Spider-Man,” “Catch Me If You
Can” and “Seabiscuit,” took the filmmakers by storm at her audition.
“We looked at a lot of different people for this role,” comments Core. “But Elizabeth was unbelievable.
In a film where she’s surrounded by male energy, she holds her
own and then some. She’s funny, sweet, smart and very sexy.
There was also incredible chemistry between Elizabeth and
Mark. They danced around each other in a beautiful way that
really shows onscreen. Their relationship is fascinating to me,
because it’s very real and it isn’t at all perfect. They both clearly
have been shaken up and injured in life and they have to juke and
jive around each other to get to know each other, but it’s truthful
to the way so many relationships really are.”
Banks attended the University of Pennsylvania so she was
thrilled to return to Philadelphia. Like nearly everyone who first
encounters Vince Papale’s story, she also was moved by its
underlying themes. “I think INVINCIBLE is about how anybody
can make their dreams come true if you really go after them
without ever giving up,” she says. “Vince obviously had some
natural talent, but he got his dream job mostly because he had a
lot of soul.”
Though the Massachusetts-born Banks admits to being a New
England Patriots fan, she also had a lot of personal experience in just how passionate people in
Pennsylvania are about football. “Philly is such a great sports town,” she says. “I went to Eagles games
when I lived in Philly and I adore the fans—they are demanding and committed, which makes seeing
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AN IRRESISTIBLE GIANTS FAN