Oklahoma native Ryan Merriman brings inspirational football film “The 5th Quarter” to his home state
Ryan Merriman
From Friday’s Weekend Look section of The Oklahoman.
Ryan Merriman brings inspirational football film to his home state.
The Choctaw-born and bred actor stars in the fact-based family drama “The 5th Quarter” and will sign autographs as select screenings as the movie opens this weekend exclusively at AMC Quail Springs 24.
Conference loyalties aside, Ryan Merriman figures film fans in his home state can relate to a movie about faith, football and family.
So, the Choctaw-born and bred actor successfully lobbied to have his inspirational indie drama “The 5th Quarter” brought to Oklahoma City, where it will open this weekend exclusively at the AMC Quail Springs 24. Merriman will attend the 7 and 9:45 p.m. screenings Friday-Sunday and sign autographs for “The 5th Quarter” ticketholders.
“I told them, you know, Oklahomans, they take care of each other,” I was like, ‘we can sell out a theater if you get it there’ … and what do you know, they listened to me,” Merriman, 27, said by phone earlier this week. “Everybody here is so good about supporting me and sticking together, so I figured it would work out pretty well and hopefully it does.
“It’s a good family film, faith-based, it’s a triumphant story, it’s a true story, 100 percent true. And in the end, it’s a great football movie as well.”
“The 5th Quarter” is based on the true story of Wake Forest linebacker Jon Abbate (Merriman), whose younger brother Luke was killed in a February 2006 car accident. After the devastating loss, Jon struggles to cope and ultimately decides to honor his brother’s love for the game by “playing for two” during the 2006 football season. Jon switches his jersey number to Luke’s No. 5, and he and his family begin holding up five fingers during the fourth quarter as a tribute to Luke. Before long, the rest of the crowd and even rival teams adopt the practice.
With Jon and his teammates playing inspired football, the Demon Deacons, predicted to finish last in their division, embark on a record-setting winning season, culminating in an Atlantic Coast Conference championship.
“As an actor, it’s always nice to do something that you can be proud of, and this had such a good story. And I loved playing football when I was growing up,” said Merriman, who was enjoying a weeklong visit to his home state, where he was promoting the film, visiting friends and family and even helping a pal with his landscaping business.
The role also allowed Merriman to stretch his abilities as an actor, as he worked to believably convey his character’s struggle with grief, depression and alcohol.
“Some of the scenes were pretty heavy, you know. It was definitely a challenging role,” he said. “The shoot was definitely emotionally draining. You can’t really just go to work with a smile on your face, snapping you fingers and roll in and do like those hospital scenes. You gotta stay in it, and it definitely affected me for a while after the film.”
In February, he won the best actor prize at the 13th annual California Independent Film Festival. In addition, he has been nominated for the Donate Life Hollywood Person of the Year Award, given annually to honor people in the entertainment industry raising awareness about organ donation. The Abbates donated Luke’s organs upon his death.
Ryan Merriman plays Jon Abbate in "The 5th Quarter."
Although he has been acting since 1993, “The 5th Quarter” marked the first role in which Merriman made a marked physical transformation, packing on 15 pounds of muscle and getting hair extensions to portray the linebacker.
The Abbates were heavily involved in the production, but Merriman said he tried not to lean too heavily on Jon as a reference.
“It’s hard on them to relive those days and talk about those days. … I didn’t want to grill him. I didn’t want to make him relive every moment. I just wanted to kind of get his mannerisms and his tone of voice,” he said. “It was written really well, so a lot of the story just came out on the page. But it was definitely a pleasure having them on set.”
At the North Carolina premiere, Merriman watched the movie with the family, including Jon and his parents, Steve and Maryanne Abbate, who are played by Aidan Quinn and Andie MacDowell in the movie.
“When you tell a true story, you become a part of that. And “The family is such a loving family, they all welcomed all of us into their arms and their story. We definitely hit it off and I talk to Steve and Maryanne, and every time I see ‘em, I call ‘em Mom and Dad. It’s cool I kind of got a little family out of it,” he said.
The Abbates weren’t the only ones who helped make the low-budget movie. Some of Jon’s teammates, friends and acquaintances portrayed themselves, while Wake Forest opened its campus to the cast and crew and even loaned them the actual 2006 jerseys, helmets and pads.
“We shot during football season there, so we actually go to use the field like during football games at halftime,” he said.
“They opened their arms. You know they wanted the story to be told … and we couldn’t have done it without the school, obviously. They really stepped it up and made it look like a huge feature.”
Since the filmmakers only had about a $6 million budget, Merriman said writer/director/producer Rick Bieber got the rights to the actual NCAA TV footage of the 2006 Wake Forest games and incorporated it into the movie.
“It’s the real footage of people really going through the story,” Merriman said. “And it’s a great story— it’s a true story — about family, faith and football. And that’s just kind of what Oklahoma’s about I think. I think that message fits very well with a lot people here.”
-BAM
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