courtesy of the Chattanooga Times-Free Press

Maybe Cos DeMatteo’s mother-in-law will forgive him now.

Forgive him for showing up 20 pounds overweight to marry her daughter Ashley. Forgive him for the shaggy hair and beard that made him look, in his own words, "like a grizzly man" in the wedding photo.

Forgive him for leaving Ashley the morning after the wedding for a parttime job he just had to return to in Philadelphia.

Maybe even forgive him for having still not taken Ashley on that honeymoon 13 months and 14 days later (not that Ashley’s counting or anything), thanks to both the part-time job and a shoulder injury he later suffered in his real job playing football for the Arena League’s Arizona Rattlers.

Forgive him because, well, it’s not every day your son-in-law has a speaking role in the No. 1 box-office hit in America, which DeMatteo does in "Invincible."

"Oh, I don’t think she was ever really mad at me," the former University of Tennessee at Chattanooga star said Tuesday. "Maybe just a little upset the week of the wedding. But she’s great ? Ashley’s been great about the honeymoon ? and it’s all worked out OK."

This is actually the 27-year-old DeMatteo’s second time on the big screen ? he was a stunt double and extra in the remake of "The Longest Yard" ? and he’s clearly starting to get the feel of this Hollywood thing.

Asked where he was when his cell phone became fuzzy Tuesday, Cos replied, "I’m on Rodeo Drive walking out of Louis Vuitton. I’m about to climb into my Ferrari."

Really?

"No," he said with a laugh. "I’m in Nashville recovering from surgery. Ashley and I were supposed to go on our trip ? you could call it our honeymoon ? this week, but my shoulder isn’t ready, so maybe soon."

With "Invincible" gunning for its third straight week atop the box office, DeMatteo could eventually make enough off the cable reruns to own his own honeymoon island. The NFL’s version of "Rudy," the Disney-produced movie focuses on Vince Papale, a 30-year-old substitute teacher and part-time bartender who made the Philadelphia Eagles roster in the late 1970s despite having never played college football.

"It’s a terrific film, very uplifting," Cos said. "And it’s a great family film. There’s not a single curse word in the whole movie."

DeMatteo plays linebacker Dean German, a fictional character created for the film because several of the former Eagles who gave Papale the hardest time wouldn’t sign release forms to use their real names.

"I’m supposed to be from Nebraska," Cos said of his character. "I think that’s probably why I didn’t talk much. It’s hard to make a Tennessee hillbilly sound like he’s from Nebraska."

But he does have one memorable line when he tells Papale ? played by veteran actor Mark Wahlberg ? "She was right, ol’ man. You ain’t going nowhere."

"I’m really pretty mean in this movie," DeMatteo said. "That scene comes about because another player and I found some letters from his ex-wife in his locker. I’ve even had people tell me after seeing the movie, ?I really didn’t know you could look that mean.’ I guess you couldn’t tell how uncomfortable I was playing those scenes."

And playing the heavy meant becoming heavy.

"I started out saying I was going to gain the weight the right way, lifting weights and eating the right kind of food. But I was actually losing weight that way. So I went on the McDonald’s, Wendy’s, Sonic diet. I’d get a Big Mac and fries and wash it all down with a milkshake. You could hear my body asking, ?Who in the world are you?’" The movie director also required DeMatteo to grow his hair and a beard, since the film was set in the 1970s.

"I didn’t even know I could grow a beard," he said.

What grew on him the most was the craft of acting.

"You probably don’t have respect for what they do when you just watch a movie," DeMatteo said. "They make it look so easy. But it is really an art form. Those guys are very good at what they do. I might have been OK in this, but I don’t think I could do a romantic comedy or anything."

That doesn’t mean he didn’t enjoy hanging out with the actors, especially Wahlberg, with whom he played golf every weekend during filming.

"He’s a huge golfer, very generous. He always paid for golf," DeMatteo said.

Nor was DeMatteo the only ex-Moc on the set. His batterymate at UTC, quarterback Chris Sanders, can be seen in the film as a QB for the New York Giants.

So once he and Ashley finally go on their honeymoon, and his Arena League career winds down, could DeMatteo make his way to stage and screen?

"I have no idea," he said. "I don’t even have an agent. But I really enjoyed acting."

Then again, what red-blooded American male from Tennessee, Nebraska or any other state wouldn’t enjoy being paid to gain 20 pounds and grow a beard?