You Won't Recognize The Remember The Titans Cast Now
Disney's Remember the Titans — the story of a football team that conquered racial divides — came out in September 2000 and grossed over $130 million worldwide. As for the cast, they continue to celebrate the film's legacy decades later.
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00:00Disney's Remember the Titans, the story of a football team that conquered racial divides,
00:04came out in September 2000 and grossed over $130 million worldwide. As for the cast,
00:10they continue to celebrate the film's legacy decades later.
00:14I'm Herman Boone. I'm the new assistant coach.
00:16Denzel Washington was the only choice to play Herman Boone, the black coach chosen to lead
00:20T.C. Williams High School's Titans following integration. But he was hesitant to do it,
00:25since he'd just finished the sports drama The Hurricane. And when his wife finally convinced
00:29him to sign on, it turned out that the real-life Coach Boone didn't want Washington to portray
00:33him on screen.
00:34You're the right man for the job, Coach.
00:36Washington recalled meeting Boone in an interview with Tampa Bay Times, saying,
00:40"...the first thing he tells me is that I'm all wrong for the part,
00:43mostly because I'm not handsome enough. I think he's kidding me. Then I realize he's
00:47dead serious."
00:48Washington remained undeterred, signing on and even taking a pay cut for the role.
00:52Once you get on that bus, you ain't got no mama no more. You got your brothers on the team,
00:57and you got your daddy.
00:59Washington still looks a lot like he did when making the movie, thanks to the actor's ability
01:03to remain ageless. After a member of the Titans, he went on to star in various critical hits,
01:08including The Book of Eli, Antoine Fisher, Training Day, Flight, Fences, Roman J. Israel,
01:14Esquire, and The Tragedy of Macbeth. Washington also picked up his second Oscar for Training Day.
01:19The award-winning star has become more involved with work behind the scenes, too,
01:22producing one of Chadwick Boseman's final films, Ma Rainey's Black Bottom.
01:27Just like Washington, Will Patton was an established Hollywood actor by the time
01:31Remember the Titans came along, having starred in Joel Schumacher's The Client,
01:34Michael Bay's Armageddon, and Dominic Senna's remake of Gone in 60 Seconds.
01:38Patton seemed perfect to play Bill Yost, the football coach who chooses to serve as an
01:42assistant coach to Herman Boone after he loses his head coaching job following the integration
01:47of the Alexandria school system. Patton has aged since starring in Remember the Titans.
01:51"...make sure they remember forever the night they played the Titans."
01:58But he's continued to make a big impression on the big screen.
02:01Following the Disney film, Patton starred in the 2002 horror drama The Mothman Prophecies,
02:06which also stars Richard Gere, Laura Linney, and Debra Messing. Years later,
02:10he joined the cast of the 2018 crime horror Halloween, the sequel to John Carpenter's
02:151978 Halloween movie as Officer Hawkins. Patton later reprised his role in the franchise film's
02:20Halloween Kills and Halloween Ends. In between his Halloween films, the actor appeared in the
02:25highly successful Purge franchise, playing ranch owner Caleb Tucker in The Forever Purge.
02:29In addition, Patton occasionally took on TV roles. He appeared as recurring character Mike Tassioni
02:35in the legal drama The Good Wife. Later on, he joined the cast of Yellowstone
02:38and the Apple TV Plus mystery drama Silo.
02:42Wood Harris played Remember the Titans' Julius Campbell, the high school football star who
02:45helped rally other players to come together after their team was integrated. When the
02:49Chicago native first heard about the film, 30-year-old Harris had no problem playing a
02:53teenager. But still, he had some reservations, telling GQ,
02:57"...it had a TV vibe to it. It was very sensitive. The cast really did some work with it."
03:01"...I'm supposed to wear myself out for the team? What team?"
03:05That said, the actor had a lot of admiration for the film's director, Boaz Joaquin,
03:09who is known for his 1994 film Fresh, and ultimately, that convinced Harris to sign on.
03:14Like most of the film's younger cast, Harris looks more mature since Remember the Titans.
03:18Throughout his career, the actor has gone to appear in big studio films such as Ant-Man,
03:229-11, Space Jam A New Legacy, the Creed franchise, and Blade Runner 2049,
03:28where he reunited with Ryan Gosling. He's also achieved success in television,
03:32landing regular roles in the critically acclaimed shows The Wire and Empire.
03:35Harris later ventured into theater, playing Mitch in Broadway's A Streetcar Named Desire.
03:40When Donald Faison first auditioned to portray Titan legend P.D. Jones on screen,
03:44he was confident about nailing it, telling ESPN,
03:47"...I wore the tank top because I had been a football player, and I had been
03:50working out and stuff because it had been pretty much all I could do at the time."
03:53"'Why are you smiling?' "'Cause I love football.'
03:57"'Football's fun?' "'Fun, sir!'
03:59Then, Faison ran into fellow actor Anthony Anderson, who tried out for the role of Julius
04:03Campbell, but was told that he was too old. Faison recalled,
04:06"'He and I are about the same age. I remember thinking,
04:08Aw, man, I didn't get the part.'"
04:10And, decades later, Faison still looks a lot like he did when he shot Remember the Titans,
04:15although he sometimes appears a bit more mature. Soon after the movie,
04:18the actor went on to star in the critically acclaimed drama Felicity,
04:21then landed his signature role, Dr. Christopher Turk, in the hit comedy Scrubs.
04:25The actor went on to join the cast of the Emmy-nominated Showtime drama The L Word,
04:29Generation Q. Over the years, he also provided voiced roles in shows like Kim Possible,
04:34American Dad, Tron, Uprising, Robot Chicken, and The Boss Baby Back in the Crib.
04:39When they were casting Remember the Titans, Ryan Gosling wasn't yet Ryan Gosling. Back then,
04:44he was better known as Ryan the Mousketeer, not a two-time Oscar nominee no one can get
04:48knuff of. But even then, Gosling was a standout, especially when it was time to shoot the We Are
04:53the Titans scene where the team dances their way to the field. Speaking to The Washington Post,
04:57director Boaz Joaquin recalled,
04:59"...Ryan got up in front of everybody and just did the moves, like,
05:02so smooth."
05:03And while Gosling nailed that part of the role,
05:05co-star Washington kept him and the rest of the young cast on their toes.
05:08Gosling told Entertainment Tonight,
05:10"...there wasn't a whole lot of acting involved from us because, like,
05:13when Denzel is looking at you and he's yelling at you, you're scared."
05:16Since then, Gosling has become one of Hollywood's hottest A-listers,
05:20rising to fame after starring opposite Rachel McAdams in The Notebook.
05:23"...I can be whatever you want. You just tell me what you want and I'll be that for you."
05:28Years later, the actor also starred alongside George Clooney and Philip Seymour Hoffman
05:32in the Oscar-nominated thriller The Ides of March, which Clooney also directed.
05:36Throughout his career, Gosling would earn praise for his performance in films such as Drive,
05:40The Big Short, Blue Valentine, and, of course, Barbie.
05:44By the time Remember the Titans came along, Hayden Panettiere had already been the voice
05:48of the young Aunt Dot in the Disney-animated film A Bug's Life, but she was still an up-and-comer.
05:52In the movie, Panettiere's portrayal of Kochio's daughter Cheryl is intense,
05:56but the actor had one of the best auditions of her life.
05:59"...You can't just walk in here and take my daddy's job away!"
06:02During an interview with ESPN, she remembered,
06:05"...I walked out feeling like I had gotten the job. And in all my years in the business,
06:09that was one of the only times I had ever felt that sure of myself."
06:12Even football coordinator Mike Fisher saw a star in the making, saying,
06:15"...Obviously she didn't play football. But she was someone when we
06:18were filming the movie that I'm like, this girl is going to be a big star."
06:21"...Coach Boone, he did a good job up here. He ran a tough camp from what I can see."
06:29In the years that followed, fans watched Panettiere transform from child to adult on screen.
06:34Along the way, the actor landed several major TV projects,
06:37including Ally McBeal and Raising Helen. Years later,
06:40she played superhero Claire Bennett in Heroes, and soon after, she landed a lead in Nashville.
06:45At the same time, Panettiere made an impression on the big screen once more,
06:48landing the part of Kirby Reid in the late Wes Craven's Scream franchise.
06:52It was Ryan Hearst's dream to star in Remember the Titans. Speaking to GQ, Hearst said,
06:57"...I had this recurring dream that I was on a football field, running with a football,
07:01and then I ran up to the stands and I pointed at this Black man standing in the stands,
07:05and he pointed back to me."
07:06After that, Hearst believed he was meant to portray Bertier.
07:09"...I'm Gary Bertier. The only all-American you got on this team."
07:13Meanwhile, Hearst has undergone a huge transformation on screen since making the film.
07:18After the movie, the actor booked several film and television roles before eventually landing
07:22his breakout role of Harry Opie Winston in the FX crime drama Sons of Anarchy.
07:26Hearst later starred as Chick Hogan in the A&E horror drama Bates Motel,
07:30before starring as Beta in The Walking Dead. And he eventually made his way back to Disney,
07:34joining the cast of the Disney Plus action-adventure show The Mysterious Benedict Society.
07:40Kate Bosworth doesn't get much screentime as Gary Bertier's girlfriend Emma Hoyt,
07:44but back in 2009, the actor took to Instagram to celebrate the movie's anniversary, writing,
07:49"...the cast and crew were like family."
07:51"...Look at them, Gary. They hate us."
07:54And Bosworth gushed about working with a much younger Ryan Gosling. Since Remember the Titans,
07:59Bosworth looks like she's barely aged. Soon after the film, the actor went on to land her
08:03breakout role as surfer Annie Marie Chadwick in Blue Crush. They'd been looking for an experienced
08:08surfer for the part, but Bosworth, with the help of her surfing instructor, convinced the casting
08:12director she was the right fit. Bosworth then devoted herself to nailing the surfing, telling
08:17InStyle,
08:17"...I committed myself for the three to four weeks. I really thought that I was going to
08:20have this quintessential heroic moment that I've learned, I've mastered it, and the role is mine."
08:25Later on, Bosworth went on to star in When a Date with Tad Hamilton,
08:28before landing the role of Lois Lane in the 2006 film Superman Returns.
08:33Years later, the actor took a break from acting to produce. She's since returned
08:37for the drama Bring on the Dancing Horses, where she also serves as executive producer.
08:42In Remember the Titans, Nicole Ari Parker played Carol, Coach Boone's wife. The actor already had
08:47several Hollywood credits, having made her on-screen debut back in the early 90s. Parker
08:51seemed to know right away that the Disney movie would be something special, telling ESPN,
08:55"...it's like you jump up and down. You call your parents."
08:58"...Whatever kind of ambition it took to do what you did around here,
09:03this world could use a lot more of it, Herman."
09:06And while Parker didn't get much screen time in the movie, she soon landed her breakout role,
09:10taking over for Vanessa Williams to play Terry Joseph in the Emmy-nominated drama Soul Food.
09:14She went on to star in films such as Repentance and Almost Christmas.
09:17She also scored a regular TV gig as Giselle in the Emmy-nominated music drama Empire.
09:22Parker then joined the cast of the Sex and the City reboot and Just Like That,
09:26where she played Lisa Todd Wexley. Sex and the City had taken steps to include women of color
09:30in its regular cast, something they'd failed to do in the past. And the significance of the moment
09:35wasn't lost on Parker when she was considering the project. She told Allure,
09:38"...what I was waiting for was the script, so I could see how that would really translate."
09:42Meanwhile, just like her co-star Kate Bosworth, Parker has barely aged since The Titans days.
09:47By the time Brett Rice got cast in Remember the Titans as Coach Yost's assistant and friend,
09:52Coach Herb Tyrell, he already had several Hollywood credits to his name.
09:56After making his screen debut in the 1982 series The Catelins,
09:59Rice went on to land roles in films such as Edward Scissorhands, Forrest Gump,
10:03Fled, The Waterboy, and All Shook Up. Meanwhile, since working on Remember the Titans,
10:08Rice has matured. He's gone on to star in several other hit movies,
10:11including the sports drama The Blind Side, the Kevin Spacey dramedy Father of Invention,
10:16the Kate Hudson film A Little Bit of Heaven, J.J. Abrams' sci-fi mystery Super 8,
10:20and Clint Eastwood's biopic Sully. Years later, Rice also joined the cast of the inspirational
10:25prime video drama feature On a Wing and a Prayer. At the same time, Rice has been quite a television
10:30regular, landing various guest roles in hit shows such as Transparent, Ballers, Angie Tribeca,
10:35True Blood, Suburgatory, NCIS Los Angeles, The Good Doctor, Insatiable, and 911 Lone Star.