'Big Shot': Why Marvyn Korn is unapologetic about fat-shaming girls he coaches in Disney+ show
Fat-shaming might have been big in early 2000s but clearly coach Marvyn Korn (John Stamos) hasn't got the memo. You wouldn't think that fat-shaming and Disney+ would ever be mentioned in the same breath, but Disney, as we know, is all about getting to discover the best in people, under their crabby exterior.
That seems to be the case in 'Big Shot' on Disney+ which focuses on a former NCAA coach Marvyn Korn who is forced to take up a job of coaching at a girls' high school, after a chair throwing outburst gets him fired. Coach Korn's approach certainly takes some getting used to, for both the students and faculty at Westbrook High. Coach Korn doesn't believe in going slow on his punches, and even tells a few girls on the team that they need to shed several pounds.
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But this wouldn't be a Disney project, if Coach Korn wasn't a softie under his tough shell. Coach Korn explains his approach to weight as nothing personal in the series. When apologizing to one of his students whose feelings he has wounded, with his 'weighty' comments, Coach Korn says, "I don't see people like that, fat or skinny. I don't even see them as people. I see athletes."
Coach Korn's rough edges get smoothened out, with a lot of help from other faculty at Westbrook, including principal Sherilyn Thomas (Yvette Nicole Brown) and Coach Korn's assistant coach Holly Barrett (Jessalyn Gilsig). Ultimately it seems that joining Westbrook High ends up being as much an education for Coach Korn, as it is for the girls he is there to teach. John Stamos makes it clear that he is nothing like the brusque Coach Korn. In an interview to 9Honey Celebrity Stamos says, "When I read [the script], it's like this guy's nothing like me because he's obsessed with sports, he's disciplined, he's not a people person. But after playing Marvyn, I realize I'm a little closer to him and I have learned a lot from him throughout."
Stamos goes on to add how relevant the show is. He says, "this is really a show of the moment. Over here women's basketball is very big and to have a show with all women and myself was great. I think the reality of my character realizing his assumptions — and that they're wrong — and connecting them with these girls, really breaks down stereotypes ... "
To catch John Stamos playing Coach Marvyn Korn and teaming up with mega-producer David E Kelley (this is Kelley's first youth-oriented series since 'Doogie Howser, MD') for the very first time, you can catch 'Big Shot' on Disney+ from April 16. Catch the trailer below.
