In the Worst Casting in Movie History, Kevin James is Playing Sean Payton, and the Trailer Looks Worse Than You Could've Imagined

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So it would appear that the reports from last spring were not incorrect. That Netflix has, in fact, completed production on a film in which the man in the above photo, will play this man:

Mark J Terrill. Shutterstock Images.

The trailer for the movie "Home Team" is here at last:

We live in a time in our popular culture when entertainment is increasingly about representation. And where it was once considered laudable for an actor or actress to be able to portray a member of a demographic group they do not belong to, it's now often considered unfair or even unethical to do so. So, for example, Bryan Cranston gets criticized for playing a quadriplegic or Emma Stone gets castigated for playing a half-Hawaiian. 

We as a society have come a long way since Lawrence Olivier played "Othello." Still, no one is quite sure where the lines need to be drawn. Cate Blanchett is celebrated for playing Bob Dylan, but straight actors and actresses are apologizing for playing gay characters. Sometimes. But not always. That pendulum is swinging, and where it's going to settle is still anybody's guess. 

Well I for one think this will be a huge litmus test. 

Yes, Kevin James and Sean Payton are both male, Caucasian, and give or take a year, the same age. The question remains how the public will accept him in this role. An actor who's made a career out of playing blue collar Everyman doofuses with impossibly hot wives who lovingly tolerate their spouse's childlike misadventures, passing himself off as one of the great football minds of his or any other generation. And most especially, a jowly, thick-necked guy pushing 300 pounds trying to make us suspend disbelief long enough to accept him as the 5-11, 200 pound Payton. 

I have to admit, I'm struggling with it. My reflex response is that this is one of the all time worst casting jobs in movie history. Right up there with Kevin Costner playing Robin Hood like the Prince of Thieves just got done turning his corn farm into a ballfield or John Wayne playing Genghis Khan like he's … well, Duke Wayne. The only character he ever played. 

I could accept Gary Oldman in "Tip Toes" before I can buy Kevin James as Sean Payton:

But we shall see. I mean, it's hard not to like the idea of a movie about a successful pro coach getting suspended and spending a season coaching youth ball. In fact, it's such a great concept, it's surprising no one did it sooner. It's got Disney written all over it. Like a cross between "Mighty Ducks," "Little Giants," and "The Replacements," with a little "Hoosiers" thrown in. I just think I would've gone through virtually every available member of the Screen Actors Guild with a heartbeat before I gave the part to Paul Blart. But let's not dance around it and just say it was Frankie Muniz part for the taking:

Willy Sanjuan. Shutterstock Images.

And yet, James got it. And should he pull it off, it'll be one of the all time performances in Hollywood history and we might as well just give him, not just the Oscar, but the Nobel Prize for Acting. 

All that said, with Kristen Stewart getting to play Lady Diana and Robert Pattinson playing frigging Batman, it's good to see Taylor Lautner getting work again. It would've sucked for him to have to keep waiting for shirtless werewolf roles for the rest of his life.