If you're like me, you're constantly writing to Paramount and TriStar demanding to know when the life of Ryan Leaf will be made into a movie. Put away that spec script, because it's already here. Filmmaker Tim Carr has made Leaf, an 82-minute film about the former Chargers quarterback, which, according to his MySpace page, is in "limited release." I guess that's true, because tonight it will be screened at the San Diego Library. OK, Deadspin Nation San Diego; time to mobilize. If anyone can get to this screening and give us a report, you will be handsomely rewarded.
Carr, a Woody Allen fan who has acted himself — he had the role of "Robert's friend" in Rocky Balboa — will not actually be at tonight's 6:30 p.m. screening. He's busy re-editing the ending of Leaf to incorporate his subject's resignation as an assistant coach at West Texas A&M. Yes, that West Texas A&M.
From the San Diego Union Tribune:
“I put myself in the San Diego fans' spot so many times because I'm a huge sports fan and I love my team like San Diego loves their team,” Carr, a diehard Philadelphia Eagles fan, said by phone from his home in Delaware. “I think when they see it, they might get on me for maybe taking it easy on him, although I assure you I didn't – we throw everything in – but the way we kind of left it was so people can kind of make their mind up: Maybe he redeemed himself; maybe he moved beyond this."
On the free screening:
"I insisted it be free for all the Chargers fans because it's their story," Carr said. "I was like, 'Chargers fans have been through enough — let them have this.'"
Is the actual Ryan Leaf in the movie? Um, no. Carr said that he had several phone conversations with him about appearing in a cameo, but that the conversations “got progressively less cordial.”
The screening is at 6:30 tonight at the San Diego Library, 820 E Street, third-floor auditorium. Best Deadspin reader report will win a bunch of stuff I have lying around my office, including a somewhat-official Ryan Leaf Chargers jersey.
Yes, It's True, Ryan Leaf's Life Has Been Turned Into A Movie. Tim Couch Is Now Waiting For His Big Screen Deal [The Play In California]
Leaf It To Hollywood [San Diego Union Tribune]
Tim Carr's MySpace Page