Cuba Gooding Jr., Leigh Steinberg & Tom Cruise
Technology can be a good thing. After a 60 minutes report that mentioned sports agent Drew Rosenhaus as a main inspiration for Jerry Maguire, CNBC sports business reporter Darren Rovell had a Twitter chat with Cameron to discusse some of the inspirations behind the titular character. Here’s an excerpt from Darren’s SportsBiz column from a weeks ago:
“Original idea was inspired by a magazine photo (of late agent Gary) Wichard and The Boz (Brian Bosworth),” Crowe responded.
I then asked him who he had in mind when shaping who Jerry Maguire became.
“Leigh (Steinberg), (San Francisco 49ers safety) Tim McDonald, Drew & Mac Bledsoe, Jim Ursay and so many others opened doors,” Crowe wrote. “But Maguire was pure fiction, as was (his nemesis Bob) Sugar.
Many in the sports biz industry think Jerry Maguire was good for the industry, others think it was bad. The good is it showed how ruthless the industry was, how hard it was. The bad was it made everyone want to be a sports agent. Your thoughts?
Crowe: Great question. I think anything that shows the real human struggles behind the scenes of any institution is ultimately a good thing. Hopefully the movie showed the giddy highs and brutal lows of the industry and how it always comes down to personal relationships — wife, agent, family — all are together living and dying on every play.
Was there ever an interest in a Jerry Maguire 2?
Crowe: Nope, don’t really believe in sequels. As for the future, I have an idea on where Jerry might be now, but I’ll leave it at this. Jerry and Marcee Tidwell always exchange the best Christmas cards of the season. I always thought those two understood each other.
