Chad Powers’ Glen Powell on channelling Mrs Doubtfire in Disney+’s sports underdog tale
Powell and co-creator Michael Waldron talk about fresh starts and disguise in this show about a shamed American football player’s redemption
For non-diehard American college football fans out there, here is a primer on Chad Powers, a new sports comedy drama co-created by screenwriter Michael Waldron and Glen Powell, who also stars in the titular role.
Streaming on Disney+, the Hulu series follows Powell as Russ Holliday, a troubled former college American football star, eight years after he made a fatal mistake on the field: celebrating a touchdown before reaching the end zone, leading to a turnover and eventual loss at the Rose Bowl stadium in Los Angeles.
Russ finds a second wind when he tries out for a college football team as a walk-on quarterback, wearing heavy prosthetics and assuming a fabricated identity: Chad Powers. He gets the idea after seeing a billboard for Mrs Doubtfire outside the Fox Studios lot and steals facial prosthetics from his father, who happens to be an Oscar-winning make-up artist.
He goes on to relive his glory days, this time as the starting quarterback for the fictional South Georgia Catfish.
That premise might sound familiar to those in the know because the series is based on a viral sketch featuring former NFL all-star Eli Manning, who goes undercover for walk-on quarterback tryouts at Pennsylvania State University.
In the clip, he dons prosthetics, a wig, an altered voice and a bizarre personality to pull off the high jinks. Chad Powers is born. The sketch was part of Eli’s Places, an ESPN+ series that was produced by NFL Films and Omaha Productions.