After dropping 50 points on back-to-back opponents, Clay Matthews and a few other Packers are moving on to a new hobby: dropping beats.
The trailer for "Pitch Perfect 2" – the sequel to 2012's surprise smash a cappella comedy hit that made the world fall in love with Anna Kendrick, Rebel Wilson, and beating and flipping cups in rhythmic fashion – came out this morning, sending the Barden Bellas to a global singing smackdown.
Not surprisingly, the movie looks pretty much hilarious, with the deep cast of sharp comic actors all returning. Kendrick is always a feisty on-screen charmer (even back in her "Twilight" days!), Wilson is just as good with a snappy, goofy joke as she is throwing herself down some stairs with entertainingly reckless abandon and seeing John Michael Higgins is never a sad sight.
There are a few new faces as well, including David Cross and Hailee Steinfeld of "True Grit," playing one of the group's new young recruits. If you think she looks a full decade younger than her co-stars, that's because she is actually a full decade younger than her co-stars.
Among those new faces, however, is one very familiar to sports fans: Packers linebacker Clay Matthews, sans helmet (and sleeves). Matthews – flanked on both sides by fellow Packers TJ Lang, Josh Sitton, Don Barclay and David Bakhtiari – makes his appearance around the 1:06 mark in the trailer. Acute eyes may think they also spot Aaron Rodgers cheering in the background, but after going all Zapruder film on the a cappella clip, we've determined it's just a very tan, very convenient look-alike.
(Update: That's not just a look-alike; that's Aaron's brother and current Canadian Football League practice roster quarterback Jordan Rodgers.)
Bakhtiari was apparently the mastermind behind getting Clay and the offensive line – all fans of the first film – into "Pitch Perfect 2."
"David and his affinity for social media, reaching out to other people with weird direct messages and replies, was somehow able to get in touch with the right people and an opportunity like that," Matthews said to reporters in Green Bay this afternoon, "So I thank him for his creepiness. He had to do a lot of lobbying, but he came through and more power to him."
"When we went down and met the producers, they were just in love with the fact that we loved their first movie," TJ Lang said. "For us, obviously, most of us, being offensive linemen, we don't get exposure like that very often. To be a part of that – part of the big screen – it was a good time. We had a lot of fun filming it, and based off the success of the first movie, I think the second one will do just as good."
How will the Packers do in their bit part (according to Lang, singing and dancing will be involved)? God help us, will they do their own singing? Bakhtiari claimed Lang has the best voice on the team, and Matthews said he thinks they sound like professionals, with no Autotune needed.
"No way," Matthews said. "That's all natural; you'll see."
Most importantly, though, will they be better actors than Brett Favre was in his infamous cameo appearance in "There's Something About Mary"?
"I know I am," Matthews joked.
I guess we'll find out when the rest of "Pitch Perfect 2," directed by Elizabeth Banks – who plays Gail here, as well as Effie in the "Hunger Games" franchise – comes out next year on May 15. In the meanwhile, we can bide our time by coming up with names for a potential Packer a cappella group. The Frozen Tune-dra? The A Capackers?
Jim Owczarski contributed to this report.
As much as it is a gigantic cliché to say that one has always had a passion for film, Matt Mueller has always had a passion for film. Whether it was bringing in the latest movie reviews for his first grade show-and-tell or writing film reviews for the St. Norbert College Times as a high school student, Matt is way too obsessed with movies for his own good.
When he's not writing about the latest blockbuster or talking much too glowingly about "Piranha 3D," Matt can probably be found watching literally any sport (minus cricket) or working at - get this - a local movie theater. Or watching a movie. Yeah, he's probably watching a movie.