Like the real Howard Cosell, John Turturro was raised in Brooklyn, New York. Unlike Cosell, however, Turturro was actually born in Brooklyn. Cosell was born in Winston-Salem, North Carolina before his parents moved up north.
John Turturro is the second actor to portray Howard Cosell on screen. Jon Voight also portrayed Cosell in Ali (2001), which was first released into theaters just over three weeks before Monday Night Mayhem (2002) debuted on TNT.
Monday Night Mayhem (2002) first debuted on TNT on January 14th, 2002, which happened to be a Monday night.