Steve Young turned down a cameo role in “There’s Something About Mary” because of religious reasons, the movie’s creators revealed on Wednesday.
The Farrelly brothers, who wrote and directed the movie (along with numerous other comedies before and since), were guests on “The Rich Eisen Show” and said that former quarterback Brett Favre, who ultimately appeared in the film, was actually their third choice.
The Farrelly brothers were raised in Rhode Island and are big Patriots fans, so Drew Bledsoe, who was New England’s starting QB at the time, was their first choice. Bledsoe declined because he had just been involved in a controversy after jumping off stage at a 1997 Everclear concert, and he thought it would reflect poorly on him if he appeared in the movie.
Young, who was the starting quarterback for the San Francisco 49ers at the time, was their second choice. Young was interested, but he thought it would set a bad example for the Mormon community.
“[After Bledsoe turned it down] we went to Steve Young. And Steve Young called one day and said ‘That’s the funniest script I’ve ever read. But I cannot do it, because if I do it, it’s R-rated, and I know all the Mormon kids will be sneaking in and I wouldn’t feel good about that,'” the brothers recalled. “Stand up guy … then we went to Favre.”
Bledsoe also appeared on Eisen’s show and said he regretted not participating in the movie.
“It’s one of my great regrets in life that I didn’t take that part,” Bledsoe told the show “I know the movie would’ve had a successful run had I been in it. Had I taken that part instead of Brett, we’re talking Academy Awards and all those things.”
Favre also was invited onto the show and joked that had he known he was the third choice, he would have turned it down.
I dunno, I’m pretty happy about how things went down. I mean if Favre weren’t in the movie, we wouldn’t have gotten to hear him say that fantastic, “I’m in town to play the Dolphins you dumbass,” line.
We know one quarterback who would not have let religious reasons get in his way of an appearance on the show, and that is Jim McMahon.
Helmet smack to Eye on Football
