Pretty soon, fans will be able to see Pat McAfee's acting debut in The Mosquito Bowl, a new football movie from Netflix. Luckily, he might've gotten some key advice from his buddy and fellow actor Tom Cruise.
Speaking to Variety on the red carpet of The Mosquito Bowl, the former NFL punter revealed that the Top Gun actor helped him out for his acting debut. When Cruise was on The Pat McAfee Show, he had just found out about his role in the Netflix movie. He sought advice from the star, and he got exactly that.
He pushed McAfee to research everything about the role and the time period of the movie, which in The Mosquito Bowl's case is World War II.
Sports analyst Pat McAfee on how Tom Cruise helped coach him for his first acting role in "The Mosquito Bowl": "He started laying it all out for me. I realized I was in very deep waters, but I had the blueprint on what I needed to do." pic.twitter.com/wyB50oMPe7
— Variety (@Variety) October 23, 2026
“He started laying it all out for me. I immediately realized I was in very, very deep waters, but I had the blueprint [of] what I needed to do.”
What is Pat McAfee's role in his first movie?
McAfee plays a drill instructor in The Mosquito Bowl. The movie was directed and co-written by Peter Berg and is based on Buzz Bissinger's book The Mosquito Bowl: A Game of Life and Death in World War II.
Article Continues BelowNicholas Galitzine leads the ensemble, which also features Bill Skarsgård, Ray Nicholson, Tom Francis, and Brent Comer. Dominic Bogart, Stacy Clausen, and Ella Newton also appear.
The Mosquito Bowl is being distributed by Netflix. It premiered at the AFI Festival on Thursday, Oct. 22, before its theatrical release on Friday, Oct. 30.
This year has been one of McAfee stepping out of his comfort zone. He started the year with a controversial return to WWE, playing a heel who teamed up with Randy Orton. He also released an album, The Diary of a Polarizing Figure, on Aug. 14. Now, he is dipping his toe into acting with The Mosquito Bowl.