Kin help Kyle Chandler relate to his role

Kyle Chandler says one of the reasons he likes "Friday Night Lights" so much is that he can draw on his own life for inspiration.

"I get to bring so much of my own experience as a dad - the love, the anger, the conversation and cooperation, the knowing when to take the lead and when to give in - it's all there," Chandler says in an interview appearing in the February issue of Redbook magazine.

In the critically acclaimed NBC drama, Chandler plays the head coach of a high-school football team in a pigskin-crazed Texas town.

And, he's quick to note, it's all pretend.

"Oh, man, if in real life I was as cool and suave as Coach Taylor and had all the answers, things would be easier," Chandler says.

• 0 Comments

BEST DRAMA ACTOR
Kyle Chandler, "Friday Night Lights"
Patrick Dempsey, "Grey's Anatomy"
Matthew Fox, "Lost"
James Gandolfini, "The Sopranos"
Michael C. Hall, "Dexter"
Eddie Izzard, "The Riches"

• 1 Comments

Last week the producers and cast of Friday Night Lights took part in a Q&A for their acclaimed series. While some of the content was similar to another discussion they'd done a couple of months ago, there was one big difference: this time everyone knew they were definitely coming back for a second season, as the show was officially renewed last month. Executive Producers Jason Katims and Peter Berg were pretty tight lipped on details about Season 2, though Berg said he was incredibly excited about what Katims had told him were his plans for Episodes 1 - 8. The one detail Katims gave was that Season 2 would pick up eight months after Season 1 and immediately deal with the pregnancy of Tami Taylor (Connie Britton), which was revealed in the Season 1 finale.

Before the event began I was able to speak to many of the Friday Night Lights cast for exclusive interviews with IGN. Those I spoke to included Kyle Chandler ("Coach Eric Taylor"), Adrianne Palacki ("Tyra Collete"), Gaius Charles ("Brian 'Smash' Williams"), Aimee Teegarden ("Julie Taylor"), Minka Kelly ("Lyla Garrity"), Zach Gilford ("Matt Saracen"), and Connie Britton ("Tami Taylor").

• 0 Comments

Kyle Chandler doesn't need an S on his chest to feel the locomotive chugging inside him every time he addresses his young football charges on NBC's "Friday Night Lights."

But he says there is definitely some kind of transformation taking place in the moments it takes him to get out of his car and walk onto the set, when Kyle Chandler -- Georgia-raised actor with 20 years of experience in the TV trenches -- becomes Eric Taylor, Texas high school coach and maker of men.

"When I get to the set, I am Coach," Chandler explains in L.A. during hiatus from the series that shoots in Austin. "It's like Superman with the cape: All of a sudden, the accent pops up strong."

After a solid career with starring turns in "Homefront" and "Early Edition" (and a prominent guest role on "Grey's Anatomy"), Chandler says the ironic aspect of his "Friday Night Lights" role is that he wasn't at first convinced he was the right person for the part.

"Initially, I thought I was too young," he explains. "I had seen the movie, and it was Billy Bob Thornton who had such a big presence. And it wasn't so much the script that got to me, either, but rather, it was sitting with (exec producer) Pete Berg and telling me who Coach was. It was a no-brainer after that."

Grounded by his family -- supportive wife Tami (Connie Britton) and teenage daughter Julie (Aimee Teegarden) -- Taylor's the rare football coach who isn't so obsessed by wins and losses that he completely loses perspective on decisions that really matter in life -- what play to run on third-and-10 not being one of them.

Chandler calls Taylor a combination of "a mellow W.C. Fields, an Archie Bunker type and Donald Duck, who kicks a rock and then the rock kicks him in the head."

Read More...

Read more • 0 Comments

• 0 Comments