Brett Favre had a memorable cameo in the 1998 movie “There’s Something About Mary,” but he wasn’t supposed to.
The then-Green Bay Packers star quarterback was actually directors Peter and Bobby Farrelly’s third choice for the role of Cameron Diaz’s ex-boyfriend. The Farrelly Brothers, who are huge New England Patriots fans, had a different quarterback in mind.
“Our first choice was Drew Bledsoe,” Bobby Farrelly said on “The Rich Eisen Show” on Tuesday, per CBS Sports. “He was the stud at the time for the Patriots.”
But Bledsoe was trying to stay out of the news after a 1997 incident in which he accidentally injured a 23-year-old woman in a mosh pit at a Boston club, so he turned the role down.
“He called us up and said, ‘I can’t come do your movie in Miami because if they find out I did a movie after that they’re going to run me out of town,'” Peter Farrelly said.
“Then we went to (San Francisco 49ers quarterback) Steve Young. And Steve Young called one day and said ‘That’s the funniest script I’ve ever read. But I cannot do it, because if I do it, it’s R-rated, and I know all the Mormon kids will be sneaking in, and I wouldn’t feel good about that.'”
Favre ended up being a hit with audiences, but Bledsoe called into the show and said he could have done better.
“It’s one of my great regrets in life that I didn’t take that part,” Bledsoe said. “I know the movie would’ve had a successful run had I been in it. Had I taken that part instead of Brett, we’re talking Academy Awards and all those things.”
Photo via Harry How/Getty Images
