Just three years after retiring from arena football to be one of the assistant football coaches at Park Hill South High School, O.J. Keith Simpson laced up the cleats once again – this time on the big screen.
Park Hill South wide receiver coach O.J. Keith Simpson, above, was cast as former NFL running back Marshall Faulk in American Underdog: The Kurt Warner Story - which was released on Christmas Day.
Simpson, who is a former running back at Benedictine College and Missouri Western State University, accepted the opportunity of a lifetime – he took on the role of former NFL running back Marshall Faulk in American Underdog: The Kurt Warner Story. The heartwarming film that was released on Christmas Day tells the story about former L.A. Rams’ quarterback Kurt Warner’s journey from bagging groceries to playing in Super Bowl XXXIV.
Similarly, Simpson had quite a prolific journey from standing on the sidelines under Friday night lights at Park Hill District Stadium in Kansas City, MO, to standing beside the likes of actors Dennis Quaid, Zachary Levi and Anna Paquin in AT&T Stadium in Dallas, TX. His acting career began nine years ago in a commercial with former Green Bay Packer linebacker Clay Matthews through a sports’ content development company, Game Changing Films.
“What they do is they would have a tryout for these roles if you play professional football at any level,” Park Hill South wide receiver coach O.J. Keith Simpson said. “This all started in 2012 when I was playing with the Kansas City Command Arena Football Team and I originally signed up as an extra on the sideline, but what happened is the guy who was supposed to do the stunt cancelled last minute, so they chose me to be the running back in that commercial.”
The Truman High School graduate played for numerous arena football teams after graduating college in 2006. A large reason that Simpson was able to be in American Underdog: The Kurt Warner Story was because of his talent as a football player.
Before playing the 2011 Pro Football Hall of Fame Inductee in the film that posted a stellar two-day gross of $6.2 million on its opening weekend, Simpson had only been in two movies as a stunt performer – Brian Banks (2018) and Focus (2015). One day while in his special education classroom at Lakeview Middle School, Simpson was contacted by Mike Sheldon from Game Changing Films about playing Faulk.
“Mike texted me asked if I wanted to play Marshall Faulk and I said yes, but I was thinking it was for only stunt work. Then he calls me and says he wanted to cast me because I look like him and he knows that I can run like him,” Simpson said.
After talking to Lakeview Middle School Principal Kirsten Clemons to have permission to take time off work as a special education TA, Simpson also was informed by Sheldon that the directors gave him the green light to play Faulk. So the Kansas City resident packed his bags and took off to Oklahoma City, OK, to start shooting for a month and a half from early February to the middle of March in 2020.
“Oklahoma City is where we did most of the arena stuff - and this is the first time that arena football has ever been in a movie, so that was pretty awesome to be a part of that. Then we went to Jerry’s World in Dallas, and we shot the NFL scenes there,” Simpson said.
Jerry’s World – which is a nickname for AT&T Stadium – is where the Dallas Cowboys play and where Simpson had a chance to interact with multiple people who the film was based on, including Kurt Warner. Simpson never got a chance to meet the man who he was playing in the film, but Warner gave Faulk a call and shared tips with Simpson to help the actor have a better idea of how to portray the running back.
“I studied everything Marshall did pretty much from college in San Diego State and of course I watched him play growing up, so it was an honor to play him. I met Kurt and his wife and he’s the humblest Hall of Famer I’ve ever met; he threw the football with us and talked to us about his journey and about football,” Simpson said.
The Park Hill South wide receiver coach was a bit star struck from time-to-time while shooting the film and caught the attention of movie star Dennis Quaid – who was casted as former L.A. Rams head coach Dick Vermeil. Quaid has been in numerous sports’ films in his long acting career and was impressed with the way Simpson ran the football on set.
“After I did one of Marshall’s big plays, Mark Ellis – who is in charge of Game Changing Films – told me Dennis Quaid just asked who I was and where I played football. Dennis said, ‘That kid has some moves and that’s some of the best running I’ve seen in a long time.’ To get that compliment from someone who has played in so many movies and so many athletes, that’s something I would never forget,” Simpson said.
The premiere for American Underdog: The Kurt Warner Story was on December 15 at Los Angeles, CA, where Simpson was reunited with the cast and crew and met more celebrities, including Terry Crews. Simpson didn’t watch the movie at the premiere; he waited until Christmas Day to watch it with his family in Kansas City