'Friday Night Lights' film finally is made

The movie based on H.D. Bissinger's book premiered nationwide Friday.
By TRACEY MYERS
KNIGHT RIDDER NEWSPAPERS
FORT WORTH, Texas -- When H.G. Bissinger went to Odessa in the late 1980s, he wanted to write a story about the impact high school football had on American towns.
But Odessa's devotion to -- or obsession with -- its Permian Panthers was too strong to ignore and Bissinger's book, "Friday Night Lights," became one of the most popular sports stories ever. That feeling wasn't the same in Odessa, where Bissinger was considered a pariah for years.
But times have changed, and some Odessans are coming to terms with the book and the past. Now, the Hollywood spotlight turns to the West Texas town. The movie "Friday Night Lights" -- directed by Bissinger's cousin, Peter Berg -- premiered nationwide Friday.
How long has the film been in the works?
"It's been kicked around for 14 years since the book was published," Bissinger said. "Everyone wanted to make it, but nobody knew how to make it. I gave up after 10 years, figuring it wasn't going to happen. Then Pete, who's my cousin of all things, got involved in it, and that was serendipity. But even when he called me, I was like, 'Yeah, forget it; it won't happen.'
"But Pete had Billy Bob Thornton call me, and he said, 'Buzz, we're gonna take real good care of you.' Then I knew it was going to be made.
The situation
How tough was it knowing Odessa was so unhappy with you?
"It was excruciating in the sense that I had forged a lot of friendships out there and there were a lot of people I would've like to have seen," Bissinger said. "I obviously found their reaction extreme, but I also knew how seriously high school football was taken in that community.
"Then Permian was banned from the playoffs ... (turned in by an Odessa High coach, who filed a complaint that Permian had practiced illegally in the off-season), and people were blaming the book. Were those (death) threats (bogus)? Not to me. I didn't think anyone would shoot me, but I thought someone may throw a punch at me.
"I really had attacked a sacred cow."