18 facts you might not know about "Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story"

Rawson Marshall Thurber both wrote and directed “Dodgeball.” It was his first movie on both fronts. In recent years, he’s been in the Dwayne Johnson business. Thurber wrote and directed “Central Intelligence,” “Skyscraper,” and “Red Notice.”

Thurber didn’t come out of nowhere and get to write and direct a movie, of course. Like many notable directors, such as Michael Bay and David Fincher, he worked in commercials. In fact, if you remember Reebok’s “Terry Tate: Office Linebacker” ads, Thurber wrote and directed the first of those. He tapped into his own history a bit there, as Thurber played wide receiver when he was at Union College.

When writing the script for “Dodgeball,” Thurber had a few actors in mind. He envisioned Vince Vaughn as Peter, Ben Stiller as White Goodman, and Justin Long as, well, Justin. Sure enough, all three of those guys ended up in those roles. While Long was not a big name at the time, Thurber had seen him in “Galaxy Quest” and thought that made him the right fit.

When it came to playing the arrogant, aggro Globo Gym owner White Goodman, Stiller saw some similarities to Tony Perkis, his character from “Heavyweights.” Having liked that performance and feeling like “Heavyweights” was a little-seen, forgotten movie, Stiller effectively just did his Tony Perkis performance again. Of course, as is seemingly the case with every movie, “Heavyweights” had a cult following, and that cult certainly noticed the similarities, so much so Stiller had to cop to it.

As was frequently the case, Stiller’s then-wife Taylor had a co-starring role in Dodgeball. During the shoot, Stiller and Taylor also had a year-and-a-half-old kid at home. With Taylor shouldering much of the child-rearing, she was so tired on set that she often dozed off between takes.

Comedian and actor Patton Oswalt would fit into a movie like “Dodgeball,” and actually he was involved in the film. Don’t rack your brain trying to remember when you saw his face. Oswalt lent his voice to the video store clerk and the cooking show host, and he did his work uncredited.

The dodgeball referee is played by Al Kaplon, and he was pretty much the perfect choice for that role. Kaplon had worked as a referee on “American Gladiators,” the closest thing to competitive dodgeball we’re ever seen, all things considered.

The cast members who played dodgeball in the movie spent about a month brushing up on their skills in the game. It also helped them learn to avoid flinching when they knew they were going to be hit by a ball, which was apparently tough. There was an injury involving a projectile, but it wasn’t a dodgeball. The wrenches that were thrown in the training section were rubber, but rubber isn’t exactly as soft as a cloud. One rubber wrench was particularly hard, and that one also happened to hit Long right above his eye, which split his eyebrow open.

Cole and Bateman play the dodgeball commentators, and they are seen on screen. However, they also do a lot of voiceover during the dodgeball matches, just like real sports play-by-play. For that, they had to head to the voiceover booth on multiple occasions. Due to rewrites of the screenplay, and the dodgeball scenes, Cole and Bateman found themselves having to re-record their dialog to match the new action.

One of the alterations to the screenplay? The ending. Originally, in classic “Rocky” or “Bad News Bears” fashion, the Average Joe’s lost to Globo Gym but got the moral victory. Unfortunately, test audiences weren’t interested in that at all. So, the ending was changed so that the Average Joe’s would win.

Remember when comedies could be big summer releases? Ah, what a time. Fox released “Dodgeball” on June 18, 2004, and it proved to be one of the biggest hits of that summer. Made on a budget of $20 million (also, remember mid-budget movies?) it made $114.3 million domestically, and $168.4 million worldwide.

While some critics were enthusiastic in ripping “Dodgeball,” it had its supporters. No less than Roger Ebert gave the movie three stars. On top of that, the silly comedy has a superfan you might not expect. Dame Helen Mirren is an Oscar winner and a prestige movie staple, but she has spoken in interviews of her love for “Dodgeball,” calling it one of her comfort movies.

We probably don’t need to note “Dodgeball” didn’t get any Oscar nominations. It was nominated for an ESPY Award for Best Sports Movie, though, but it lost. Additionally, the movie was nominated for three MTV Movie Awards, with Stiller winning for Best Villain. Speaking of Stiller, he was also nominated for Worst Actor by the Razzies, but “Dodgeball” was lumped in with four other 2004 movies that came out.

Sometimes it feels like it’s rarer for a movie to not generate at least one lawsuit. This one was no different. Two screenwriters, David Price and Ashoka Thomas, sued Thurber and Fox for copyright infringement based upon claimed similarities to their unproduced screenplay “Dodgeball: The Movie.” The lawyers for Thurber and Fox countered that the elements in question were simply common formulaic elements of sports movie screenplays. Ultimately, the suit was settled out of court.

When the “unrated” version of “Dodgeball” was released on DVD (“unrated” being studio speak for “cash grab”), at least they did have a bit of creative fun. An audio commentary featuring some of the actors as well as the director starts off normal, but then it devolves into fighting and chaos. About 40 minutes into the film, everybody storms out of the recording, and an audio commentary for “There’s Something About Mary” starts up. However, the real commentary is included on the DVD as an Easter egg.

In the film, a fake channel called ESPN8, aka The Ocho, is introduced as the sports channel dodgeball airs on. Looking to have a little fun, the real ESPN embraced the ethos of The Ocho. In 2017, ESPNU was turned into ESPN8 for a day, airing sports such as disc golf, roller derby, and, yes, dodgeball. The Ocho has returned a few times since, even migrating to ESPN2. Most recently, The Ocho returned in 2023.

A sequel to “Dodgeball” is officially in the “long-gestating” realm. Plans were first announced in 2013, but they fell through, and the idea sat fallow for years. Then, in 2023, attempts to produce a sequel perked up again. Vaughn is attached, but there is no mention of Stiller being involved, and he seems to be the one who nixed the idea the first time around.

Stiller did return to the realm of “Dodgeball” once, but it was for a good cause. His good cause, to be specific. Stiller produced a short film in 2017 called “Play Dodgeball with Ben Stiller” for The Stiller Foundation, which helps provide educational tools to kids around the world. The members of the Average Joe’s and Globo Gym reunited, and Thurber even wrote and directed the short.