The film “American Underdog” tells the triumphant story of NFL quarterback Kurt Warner.

Today, he’s considered the greatest undrafted player after being named NFL MVP, Super Bowl MVP, and Super Bowl champion.

What You Need To Know

  • Zachary Levi plays Kurt Warner in “American Underdog.”

  • Anna Paquin, who plays Warner's wife, had never heard of the Warners before the film “American Underdog.”

  • Kurt Warner is thrilled an unsung hero in his story is weaved into the film.

Warner said a movie about his life was new territory for him even though he’s used to the spotlight. 

“You know, when you play football, and that's what you do, it was so much easier to embrace that, because I knew that I could control a lot of that narrative,” said Warner. “The hardest part of this is letting go of your story. And trusting the process, trusting the actors that play you trusting the producers and the writers to do justice to the story.”

Actor Zachary Levi plays Warner in the film. He said Warner found success in football after discovering what was truly important in his life.

“His journey connects into this amazing woman, and the journey of their love and how that builds in her amazing children,” Levi said. “ And how that actually takes his dream and makes it almost better because he realizes that, 'Oh, that's great. And but I shouldn't find all my worth and identity in this thing, because this is far more valuable.'"

The amazing woman in Warner’s life is his wife, Brenda, played by Academy Award winner Anna Paquin.

She found the Warner’s true story hard to believe.

“I had never heard of either of them. So I was reading it completely in a, you know, in a vacuum, and just couldn't believe page after page,” said Paquin. “ And then, when I was done, there was like, OK, there's a few things I'm going to google because there's no way that happened. And it's all true. It's all real.”

The Warners say they’re thrilled an unsung hero, their son Zach, is part of the film. He was injured as a baby, but now, in his 30s, he has surpassed all doctors' expectations.

“I don't think there's any question who the bigger superstar is,” Warner said of his son Zach. “That is one of the things that I think is cool in the movie. And something I was very passionate about, from the get-go was to show Zach's role in all of this.”

“American Underdog” opens in theaters on Christmas day.