Diddy Couldn’t Land the Role Of Willie Beaman In ‘Any Given Sunday’ Because He Was So Bad At Throwing a Football That They Sent Him Home

Via- Complex Sports

Like all NFL training camps, players were also cut. “It was a full-on combine with people trying out,” remembers Andrew Bryniarski, who plays the offensive lineman Madman. “Oliver told everyone that they didn’t have a job yet.” Lawrence Taylor and the late Michael Clarke Duncan both arrived in camp thinking they were cast as Shark Lavay—each actor had the character’s name above their lockers. Duncan was eventually sent home, probably when Stone realized that Lawrence Taylor should play the Lawrence Taylor-like linebacker. Al Pacino, Cameron Diaz, LL Cool J, and James Woods filled out the lead roles. Finding an actor to play “Steamin’” Willie Beamen, the black QB who becomes a star in Cap Rooney’s absence, was a much tougher process.

Sean “Puff Daddy” Combs was Stone’s original choice for the part. Combs arrived at training camp and even took reps under center, but he was soon dismissed. “Puffy couldn’t throw a football properly and he came on set with a big entourage. Al Pacino was there, the ultimate pro, and he was offended. So was Oliver,” Eric Hamburg says. “Oliver views the movie set like a battlefield, and he is the general. No one can compete with his authority on that battlefield.”

Stone was more tactful regarding Combs, telling Premiere that Combs left Any Given Sunday because of the delays. Puffy echoed Stone’s take when I asked him about the film during a 2010 interview for XXL magazine. “I was the number one artist [at the time] and had to cancel my European tour,” Puffy told me. “They were pushing it back and pushing it back and it got to the point that I was losing so much money. I was like, ‘I can’t wait.’ The director was like, ‘Your tour doesn’t matter.’ But it does matter. I waited for a year. I want to be a committed actor, but at the same time, you can’t tell me that it doesn’t matter. I just made the decision. I can’t have my life controlled and not know when they are going to make the movie.”

Andrew Bryniarski, who was on set with Combs, is less diplomatic on Combs’s departure. “Puff Daddy threw like a girl so they put him on a plane.”

Check out the full story here. It’s TLDR, but it’s still a good read if you’re a fan of Any Given Sunday.

Yikes. I don’t care how much money you have or how many pop stars you’ve fucked or how many times you’ve been all up in the videos, all up on stage, if someone tells you that you throw like a girl that’s like the meanest thing in the entire world. Not “he’s got a small dick” or “you’re just like your father,” a good “you throw like a girl” is probably the meanest thing you can possibly ever say to a fellow man. The ability to throw a football correctly is like the one skill that every man should master. Fuck grilling or changing the oil in your own car and all that nonsense. I don’t know how to do any of that shit. I’ll never look down upon someone for not knowing how to correctly bait a hook, but if you can’t sling a tight spiral right into a receiver’s chest from a respectable arm angle I legitimately think less of you as a man. Nothing personal, but… Actually, yea, it’s personal. Learn how to throw a fucking pigskin, nerds. Ladies, let me leave with this one bit of parting advice: Never trust a guy who doesn’t know how to throw a football. It’ll serve you well in life.

PS- Not a chance in hell this ever happens to me. A.) Because I actually throw a great ball already, and b.) If I’m trying to get a starring role as a quarterback in a movie about professional football, I’m training my ass off to look like a quarterback in a movie about professional football. I’m talking about heading out west and training with QB guru George Whitfield for months on end. I’m talking living, eating, sleeping and breathing with my neighbor Andy Dalton. Dead ass serious, I might be so good by the time filming wrapped up NFL teams might even consider giving me a real look. It’s called method acting, Sean. Perhaps you’ve heard of it? If Leo can live inside of dead animals and eat raw livers to score an Oscar for The Revenant, then Diddy can fix his stroke. Hell, even Tim Tebow corrected his throwing motion-sort of.