New York, August 23, 2006 – Vince Papale, the ex-pro football player whose story is the basis of the movie Invincible, told us at the premiere that he was feeling “incredibly amazed”. “I mean, you’ve got Mark Wahlberg”, Papale said, nodding at the actor standing a few feet away, “the star of this movie that is about this guy that happens to be me.”

The actors in this movie about Papale’s inspirational underdog-makes-good story didn’t use doubles; they actually played contact football, shot scenes all night in the rain, and sustained injuries. “I got banged up pretty good”, Wahlberg said. “I mean, you know, I got knees, ankles, hip, back, shoulders, elbows, hands. Yeah, I got pretty banged up.”

But Disney put the film in good hands: director Ericson Core said that he knew nothing about football. “As a matter of fact, I was a little concerned and thought we got gypped because the balls were kind of oblong and flat. You know, I was really upset they weren’t round.” The film got finished – there’s probably another inspirational story in there somewhere.