Hope comes alive on Friday nights. Amber Heard as: Maria Additional Cast: Billy Bob Thornton, Lucas Black Production Status: On DVD (R1) Release Date: October 8, 2004 (USA) Directed By: Peter Berg, Josh Pate, Mark Piznarski Screenwriters: David Aaron Cohen, Peter Berg + Genre: Drama, Sport, Action MPAA Rating: PG-13 Odessa, Texas, is a small, town in Texas. Racially divided and economically dying, there is one night that gives the town something to live for: Friday Night. The Permian Panthers have a big winning tradition in Texas high school football, led by QB Mike Winchell and superstar tailback Boobie Miles, but all is not well, as Boobie suffers a career-ending injury in the first game of the season. Hope is lost among citizens in Odessa, and for the team, but Coach Gary Gaines, who believes that "Perfection is being able to look your friends in the eye and know you did everything you could not to let them down", is somehow able to help the team rise up from the ashes and make a huge season comeback. Now on their way to state, the Panthers must go out and be perfect, because they may never matter this much for the rest of their lives.

Filming Locations:
Texas, USA

- 1 win & 4 nominations (view)

- Amber plays Maria, she has one scene in which she co-stars with Garrett Hedlund and Tim McGraw.

- To gather research, producers visited real high school football games in Texas during the fall of 2003.

- Frustrated with the authenticity of some actors playing assistant coaches, director Peter Berg turned to actual Permian High School coaches to deliver some lines during game sequences.

- Neither Derek Luke nor Lee Thompson Young had ever played football before.

- Richard Linklater was attached to this project before Peter Berg but it was scraped due to budget difficulties.

- At the end of the movie where Permian is trying to score right before the last play you can see director Peter Berg jumping up and down in the stands.

Brian Chavez: "I'm gonna miss the heat."
Don Billingsley: "I'm gonna miss the lights."

Coach Gary Gaines: "Being perfect is being able to look your friends in the eye and know you did everything you could not to let them down."

Brian Chavez: "After this it's just babies and memories."

Coach Gary Gaines: "I've seen you fight. I've seen you not quit. Can you give me a great effort and just a little bit more. Can you be perfect?"

Coach Gary Gaines: "You have the responsibility of protecting this team and this school and this town"

Coming soon!

Friday Night Lights does also work like a traditional sports movie, and there's enormous tension and excitement at the end, when everything comes down to the last play in the state finals. The movie demonstrates the power of sports to involve us; we don't live in Odessa and are watching a game played 16 years ago, and we get all wound up. - Roger Ebert

Overall, however, Friday Night Lights is a compelling and stirring film, sharply observed and thrilling to watch. For Berg, coming off The Rundown, it represents a huge artistic leap forward as a filmmaker. Go Panthers! - Reel.com

What Berg's film doesn't do is get you inside the heads of the characters. That was the strength of Bissinger's book. Onscreen, quarterback Mike Winchell (Lucas Black), tight end Brian Chavez (Jay Hernandez) and running back Chris Comer (Lee Thompson Young), who plays in the state-championship game for Boobie at the Houston Astrodome, are mere sketches. Garrett Hedlund registers more forcefully as tailback Don Billingsley because Berg spends time detailing the kid's relationship with his abusive dad, played by country star Tim McGraw, who proves a natural in the acting game. "After football, it's just babies and memories," says father to son. A little more of that personal touch and Friday Night Lights might have scored a touchdown. - Rolling Stone