A scene within the opening scene of the soon-to-be-released movie “The Tomorrow War” may look familiar to Atlanta United supporters, or those who have come to the city to watch an MLS or international soccer game.
Within the movie, starring Chris Pratt and which will come out July 2 on Amazon Prime, Mercedes-Benz Stadium is used as the site of a 2022 World Cup final played between Brazil and France. The players may also look familiar. They are from Georgia Revolution, an NPSL team based in McDonough.
“I thought it was really cool for the guys to get the opportunity,” said Eric Morrison, the team’s general manager and who was contacted by Aimee McDaniel, who choreographed the soccer scene and co-founded Game Changing Films. “It was good for our guys to get the call.”
McDaniel, who has choreographed scenes in “Miracle” and “Pele: Birth of a Legend,” among others, needed a soccer team, and not just a player, which was unique in her experience.
So, she used Google to find a soccer team in the Atlanta area.
The Revolution kept coming up. Their schedule fit within the shoot’s schedule.
McDaniel emailed.
Morrison answered.
He sent head shots of 40 players. Twenty were selected.
The scene was shot in September 2019. There was one rehearsal session the day before near the stadium. It lasted an hour.
The shoot for the scene in the stadium took two hours, but the players were there all day.
The scene goes like this:
It’s December 2022.
Pratt is a former soldier who is now a researcher and high school biology teacher.
He, his wife and daughter are hosting a Christmas party at their home.
His daughter wants to watch the World Cup final between Brazil and a team that is supposed to be France (the movie didn’t get clearance in time to make it official) with him.
Pratt eventually sits with her and they watch the game.
There is a corner kick taken by France. It is cleared down the field by a Brazilian player, who uses a bicycle kick (that took a few players and tries), to another player, actor John Rodriguez, who begins dribbling down the field to the closed end of the stadium for a one-on-one with the goalkeeper.
“We worked on that corner kick for an hour, two hours on and off,” said Rob Kytan, one of the players used.
Suddenly, a group of soldiers materialize on the field.
One of them says, “We are you, 30 years in the future. We are fighting a war. Our enemy is not human. And we are losing. In 11 months time, all human beings in the future will be wiped from the face of the earth, unless you help us. We need you. Our fathers, mothers and grandparents, we need you to fight beside us if we stand a chance of winning this war. You are our last hope.”
And off we go.
The bicycle kick wasn’t originally part of the script.
The director was familiar with McDaniel’s work with the Pele movie and asked if it could be included.
McDaniel, who played basketball at Pepperdine, knew that executing a bicycle kick wasn’t as simple as saying let’s do a bicycle kick because it’s such an instinctual, reaction-based move that requires precise circumstances.
She asked the director, Chris McKay, if he was sure.
He said yes.
So different players tried. And they tried.
Finally, one of the Revolution players stepped up and said that he could do it.
He nailed it.
“That’s why we hire real players to do real action,” McDaniel said. “It’s harder to get actors or people who don’t play at a higher level to react so quickly. They were awesome.”
The rest of the acting took a simple direction, particularly when the players were supposed to react to the solders appearing out of thin air.
“Guys are coming down with guns; react how you would react,” McDaniel said she told them.
She said there were no issues shooting at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. She described the building as beautiful and the staff amazing to work with.
In addition to getting to be in a movie, Kytan said it was uplifting to get to play in Mercedes-Benz Stadium, something he said most of the Revolution players will likely never get to do in a professional game.
“While they weren’t filming, we were able to kick around,” he said. “It felt like you had made it.”
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