We’re getting close to Friday’s official release of road trip comedy 80 for Brady, a sports comedy featuring four girlfriends in their 80s traveling to 2017’s Super Bowl LI to see Tom Brady and the New England Patriots take on the Atlanta Falcons. The film features quite a cast of acting legends, including Sally Field, Jane Fonda, Rita Moreno, and Lily Tomlin. It also features Brady, who is a producer and has an on-screen role in it. And with the 80 for Brady release upcoming, the cast has been making the media rounds, and Tomlin had some notable things to say to Newsday’s Neil Best on working with Brady:
QUOTE: "He's a better actor than I am a ballplayer."
SPEAKER: @LilyTomlin
SETTING: #80forBrady movie interview with @sportswatch CONTEXT: https://t.co/jlzedtJsed— Newsday Sports (@NewsdaySports) January 31, 2023
Here’s more from that piece:
Tomlin and Brady have a scene together late in the film. She came away impressed.
“We were modestly enthusiastic [about meeting Brady], because we’re not going to go overboard,” Tomlin said. “Then we saw him and we kind of went overboard because he’s just such a darling guy.
“And he’s very sweet. He was very sweet to us and made it very easy to work with him. He’s a very good actor, a very natural actor. He’s a better actor than I am a ballplayer.”
Tomlin said Brady sought feedback on his acting work.
“He wanted to make sure that what he was doing was OK,” she said, “and we were doing fine together.”
This builds on previous good things Tomlin had to say about Brady in November:
The 83-year-old Tomlin told People she was especially excited to work on this movie considering it was inspired by a true story, but she also thoroughly enjoyed working alongside Brady, saying it felt “like he was my son” in a way.
“He looks like a big, beautiful 20-year-old whom I’m going to see play homecoming in his sophomore year,” Tomlin added. “He’s actually 40ish, which is a bit mind-boggling; he’s the quarterback, and he is my son.”
While a complete shift to acting seems unlikely for Brady (who hasn’t even announced his immediate NFL future yet), it does seem like he’ll have more in front of the camera projects ahead. He signed that 10-year, $375 million deal with Fox last year to take over as their lead NFL game analyst when he does retire (even if he won’t be on this year’s Super Bowl coverage), and that may come with some other responsibilities as well. He also has been doing the Let’s Go SiriusXM podcast with Jim Gray and Larry Fitzgerald, and he remains involved in some content with Religion of Sports (a company he co-founded with Gotham Chopra and Michael Strahan). And it’s interesting to hear such a prominent acting figure as Tomlin (who also has some interesting thoughts in that piece on the better roles available for older women today than in the past) have praise for Brady’s acting acumen.
[Newsday]
