Director of wild ‘NFL 100’ Super Bowl commercial shares behind-the-scenes stories
Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes may have thrown a no-look pass during the “NFL 100” commercial that aired during the Super Bowl. But Giants receiver Odell Beckham Jr., didn’t catch that pass, even though it appeared to happen that way in the ad.
Director Peter Berg revealed that nugget and a few other fun details during a visit Tuesday to “The Rich Eisen Show.”
Berg said the commercial was shot three weeks before it aired and everyone was on hand for filming except for the Saints’ Drew Brees and Alvin Kamara, Patriots quarterback Tom Brady and Browns quarterback Baker Mayfield.
All the other stars, including Mahomes, were on a sound stage in Los Angeles, and Berg got shots with the other four in New Orleans (after the NFC Championship Game loss!) and Boston.
As for that Mahomes-to-Beckham pass, Mahomes did throw a ball, but the catch required a different shot. Berg said a stunt man was throwing passes to Beckham, but things weren’t working out.
“We couldn’t get the throw right,” Berg said. “It’s interesting to see, some of these players are such fascinating guys. Larry Fitzgerald ... sat right by me for hours and he wanted to understand how we do what we do, and he asked a thousand questions. We were trying to get the throw right for Odell and our guy couldn’t do it.
“We went like 15 takes and Larry is like, ‘I got this.’ He just walked in, looked at Odell, told Odell the pattern and hit it one take perfectly. Odell fully extended and Larry just came back and sat down with me. Such a nice guy.”
Here is Berg talking about making the commercial:
This story was originally published February 20, 2019 at 1:24 PM.
