Indiana University Athletics
Taylor Appearing in Movie, Enjoying Time in AFL
10/16/2015 9:14:00 AM | Football
By: Sam Beishuizen | Twitter
IUHoosiers.com
Collin Taylor has always been willing to work.
When he was a high school standout in Carmel, Ind. without much interest, he decided to attend Indiana as a walk-on receiver. When IU's coaches asked him to switch from his natural receiver position to safety, he didn't bat an eye.
After his college career ended, he went to the Arena Football League. He bounced around a bit, wound up at the Indoor Football League briefly before making a name for himself back in the AFL with the Cleveland Gladiators. Whenever an opportunity presented itself, Taylor chased after it.
So when the chance came along to become an actor in football-based sports movies during his offseason away from the AFL, Taylor did what he always did—he took it.
Taylor's latest and most involved acting experience is set to debut Friday. He plays a football player in the film "Woodlawn", which tells the story of the Woodlawn High School football team during the racially-charged 1970's in Birmingham, Ala.
"I don't think I would have ever told you before I got into this that I would ever be an actor," Taylor said. "But I don't think people would have thought I'd be playing professional football either. It's a really neat career and something that was totally unexpected."
It's only natural for it to be that way. Nothing about Taylor's career has ever been done all that expected to begin with.
***
Taylor broke into the Arena Football League in 2010 as a member of the Oklahoma City Yard Dawgz.
That offseason, he was working as a bartender with his career mostly in limbo. He wanted to continue playing professionally in the Arena League as long as he could, but the pay required him to pick up side jobs like bartending whenever he wasn't playing.
A friend, who Taylor described as a "comic book nerd," found him one day and told him about a casting call that needed former football players. There was no description of what the movie was, where they'd be filming or really much of anything, Taylor said.
They just needed football players, and Taylor fit the bill.
"I honestly wasn't that interested in it," Taylor said. "But every few days my buddy would ask me about it and ask me about it. Eventually I just needed to get him off my back so I filled out the application."
A few weeks after submitting his application, Taylor was contacted by the film crew. He was one of 20 or so players they picked out of 20,000 applicants. They told him to come to Pittsburgh for a weekend so they could shoot the scene, but that's all the information they were allowed to give.
"I told my sister about it, and she told me I was crazy," Taylor said. "But I wasn't really doing anything else, and I figured it would be worth a shot."
Taylor went to Pittsburgh on a Friday night and had to be at Pittsburgh's Heinz Field by 5 a.m. on Saturday. When he walked into the locker room, a jersey for the fictional Gotham City Rogues was waiting for him.
"A soon as we saw that, we realized we were shooting a Batman movie," Taylor said. "It got really exciting after that."
That weekend, Taylor was part of the film crew that shot the football scene in the 2012 film "The Dark Knight Rises." In the film, villain Bane blew up Heinz Field at the beginning of a game while Taylor's character was running on a kickoff.
"It was absolutely insane," Taylor said. "All the special effects and all the camera work was wild."
The Batman movie essentially launched Taylor's acting career. A year later, he was casted in the movie "Focus," which starred Will Smith.
The more scenes they shot, the more Taylor got into it. He had taken an acting class in college to fill his schedule up as a senior, but actually being in the movies, even as an extra, was exciting.
"I really fell in love with it," Taylor said. "It was something that I figured if I had the opportunity to do, I'd do it."
***
About two months after filming "Focus," Taylor got another gig.
Game Changing Films, the company that casted Taylor in his previous roles as an extra, offered him an acting role in the movie "Woodlawn," which reaches national audiences today. Unlike his previous roles as an extra, Taylor's character in "Woodlawn" would be more involved both on and off the football field.
"The biggest difference with Woodlawn is we knew we could either make or break the movie because this was the first actual football movie we shot," Taylor said. "That was the coolest part because we knew what the impact is that we were going to have on the movie and telling the story that I think every high school team going into the playoffs will relate to. It's a 'Remember The Titans' type of movie."
The film was shot in Birmingham, Ala. over the course of three months. The football players-turned actors spent the first two weeks in "training camp" where they learned and practiced the plays from the actual movie scenes and spent the rest of the time filming.
The film's story is built around a racially-divided community that eventually leads to a cross-town rivalry game between high schools that draws a crowd of 42,000 fans. Based on a true story, it's considered to be one of the highest attended high school football games ever played, with several players on both teams later playing in the NFL.
"I think it's one of those movies people are going to remember," Taylor said.
Taylor said the film pays great attention to detail. The clothing, behaviors and actual plays are similar to what people would have seen in that decade of high school football.
They'd spend hours perfecting the fine details of every play filming in the middle of the night. A typical work day began around 4 p.m. and end around 4 a.m. because most of the high school football scenes took place at night.
"It was a lot of fun to shoot," Taylor said. "Did I expect to be a part of it? Not really. But I'm glad they gave me a call."
***
These days, it's hard to predict what will happen with Taylor when he picks up his phone.
One phone call led him to attending walk-on tryouts at Indiana. Another got him his first job playing in the AFL. Another earned him an acting job.
Taylor's "real job" has him in Cleveland, where he's a standout receiver for the Gladiators. Last season, he had 144 catches for 1,597 yards and 43 touchdowns. He also split time playing defense, picking up 15.5 tackles and one interception.
"I love playing in this league," Taylor said. "It takes a special skillset. I love the speed of it and I love that players like me can do pretty well in this league because of my experience on both sides of the ball. With these teams, the more you can do the better."
Taylor said the league is intense, but in a good way. He said there's not much politics involved in playing time or contracts and practically nothing is guaranteed.
Nobody is signed to long-term, lucrative deals. The best players play. If someone falls off, they're replaceable, Taylor said. It forces players like him to always bring their best to every practice knowing there's other players waiting to grab a spot.
"It's a crazy league, but the fans are what make it all worthwhile because they love this sport," Taylor said. "They're so close, I end up in the first row four or five time a game. One of these days, I'm going to fall into a pretty lady's arms and she's going to walk me out of the arena."
Taylor's become a highly sought after commodity in the Arena League considering the numbers he's putting up.
At 28, he said he wants to play as long as his career allows him. He still has dreams of playing in the NFL, but he said he's enjoying his time with Cleveland and splitting time as an actor during the offseason.
He's not sure where he sees himself in a few years. That'll sort itself out, Taylor said.
At this point, he's just waiting for the phone to ring to find out where he's going next.
"I'm at the point now where people are calling me," Taylor said. "I really enjoy playing football and acting has been great. I want to keep doing both… It's just been an incredible journey. It really has."
IUHoosiers.com
Collin Taylor has always been willing to work.
When he was a high school standout in Carmel, Ind. without much interest, he decided to attend Indiana as a walk-on receiver. When IU's coaches asked him to switch from his natural receiver position to safety, he didn't bat an eye.
After his college career ended, he went to the Arena Football League. He bounced around a bit, wound up at the Indoor Football League briefly before making a name for himself back in the AFL with the Cleveland Gladiators. Whenever an opportunity presented itself, Taylor chased after it.
So when the chance came along to become an actor in football-based sports movies during his offseason away from the AFL, Taylor did what he always did—he took it.
Taylor's latest and most involved acting experience is set to debut Friday. He plays a football player in the film "Woodlawn", which tells the story of the Woodlawn High School football team during the racially-charged 1970's in Birmingham, Ala.
"I don't think I would have ever told you before I got into this that I would ever be an actor," Taylor said. "But I don't think people would have thought I'd be playing professional football either. It's a really neat career and something that was totally unexpected."
It's only natural for it to be that way. Nothing about Taylor's career has ever been done all that expected to begin with.
***
Taylor broke into the Arena Football League in 2010 as a member of the Oklahoma City Yard Dawgz.
That offseason, he was working as a bartender with his career mostly in limbo. He wanted to continue playing professionally in the Arena League as long as he could, but the pay required him to pick up side jobs like bartending whenever he wasn't playing.
A friend, who Taylor described as a "comic book nerd," found him one day and told him about a casting call that needed former football players. There was no description of what the movie was, where they'd be filming or really much of anything, Taylor said.
They just needed football players, and Taylor fit the bill.
"I honestly wasn't that interested in it," Taylor said. "But every few days my buddy would ask me about it and ask me about it. Eventually I just needed to get him off my back so I filled out the application."
A few weeks after submitting his application, Taylor was contacted by the film crew. He was one of 20 or so players they picked out of 20,000 applicants. They told him to come to Pittsburgh for a weekend so they could shoot the scene, but that's all the information they were allowed to give.
"I told my sister about it, and she told me I was crazy," Taylor said. "But I wasn't really doing anything else, and I figured it would be worth a shot."
Taylor went to Pittsburgh on a Friday night and had to be at Pittsburgh's Heinz Field by 5 a.m. on Saturday. When he walked into the locker room, a jersey for the fictional Gotham City Rogues was waiting for him.
"A soon as we saw that, we realized we were shooting a Batman movie," Taylor said. "It got really exciting after that."
That weekend, Taylor was part of the film crew that shot the football scene in the 2012 film "The Dark Knight Rises." In the film, villain Bane blew up Heinz Field at the beginning of a game while Taylor's character was running on a kickoff.
"It was absolutely insane," Taylor said. "All the special effects and all the camera work was wild."
The Batman movie essentially launched Taylor's acting career. A year later, he was casted in the movie "Focus," which starred Will Smith.
The more scenes they shot, the more Taylor got into it. He had taken an acting class in college to fill his schedule up as a senior, but actually being in the movies, even as an extra, was exciting.
"I really fell in love with it," Taylor said. "It was something that I figured if I had the opportunity to do, I'd do it."
***
About two months after filming "Focus," Taylor got another gig.
Game Changing Films, the company that casted Taylor in his previous roles as an extra, offered him an acting role in the movie "Woodlawn," which reaches national audiences today. Unlike his previous roles as an extra, Taylor's character in "Woodlawn" would be more involved both on and off the football field.
"The biggest difference with Woodlawn is we knew we could either make or break the movie because this was the first actual football movie we shot," Taylor said. "That was the coolest part because we knew what the impact is that we were going to have on the movie and telling the story that I think every high school team going into the playoffs will relate to. It's a 'Remember The Titans' type of movie."
The film was shot in Birmingham, Ala. over the course of three months. The football players-turned actors spent the first two weeks in "training camp" where they learned and practiced the plays from the actual movie scenes and spent the rest of the time filming.
The film's story is built around a racially-divided community that eventually leads to a cross-town rivalry game between high schools that draws a crowd of 42,000 fans. Based on a true story, it's considered to be one of the highest attended high school football games ever played, with several players on both teams later playing in the NFL.
"I think it's one of those movies people are going to remember," Taylor said.
Taylor said the film pays great attention to detail. The clothing, behaviors and actual plays are similar to what people would have seen in that decade of high school football.
They'd spend hours perfecting the fine details of every play filming in the middle of the night. A typical work day began around 4 p.m. and end around 4 a.m. because most of the high school football scenes took place at night.
"It was a lot of fun to shoot," Taylor said. "Did I expect to be a part of it? Not really. But I'm glad they gave me a call."
***
These days, it's hard to predict what will happen with Taylor when he picks up his phone.
One phone call led him to attending walk-on tryouts at Indiana. Another got him his first job playing in the AFL. Another earned him an acting job.
Taylor's "real job" has him in Cleveland, where he's a standout receiver for the Gladiators. Last season, he had 144 catches for 1,597 yards and 43 touchdowns. He also split time playing defense, picking up 15.5 tackles and one interception.
"I love playing in this league," Taylor said. "It takes a special skillset. I love the speed of it and I love that players like me can do pretty well in this league because of my experience on both sides of the ball. With these teams, the more you can do the better."
Taylor said the league is intense, but in a good way. He said there's not much politics involved in playing time or contracts and practically nothing is guaranteed.
Nobody is signed to long-term, lucrative deals. The best players play. If someone falls off, they're replaceable, Taylor said. It forces players like him to always bring their best to every practice knowing there's other players waiting to grab a spot.
"It's a crazy league, but the fans are what make it all worthwhile because they love this sport," Taylor said. "They're so close, I end up in the first row four or five time a game. One of these days, I'm going to fall into a pretty lady's arms and she's going to walk me out of the arena."
Taylor's become a highly sought after commodity in the Arena League considering the numbers he's putting up.
At 28, he said he wants to play as long as his career allows him. He still has dreams of playing in the NFL, but he said he's enjoying his time with Cleveland and splitting time as an actor during the offseason.
He's not sure where he sees himself in a few years. That'll sort itself out, Taylor said.
At this point, he's just waiting for the phone to ring to find out where he's going next.
"I'm at the point now where people are calling me," Taylor said. "I really enjoy playing football and acting has been great. I want to keep doing both… It's just been an incredible journey. It really has."
FB: Spring Game - Postgame Press Conference
Thursday, April 23
FB: Bray Lynch - Spring Practice No. 11
Tuesday, April 21
FB: Drew Evans - Spring Practice No. 11
Tuesday, April 21
FB: Nico Radicic - Spring Practice No. 11
Tuesday, April 21