CHICAGO — Chicago Bears All-Pro cornerback Charles Tillman is such a movie buff, he could change his nickname from "Peanut" to "Popcorn."
"It's a gift to tell a story by acting. I've always liked that," Tillman said.
So Tillman, who was a dominant Bears defender last season, forcing a league-high 10 fumbles, shared his love of film by creating a movie-quote contest on his Twitter account — @peanuttillman, which has more than 54,000 followers.
Since late March, Tillman has been tweeting movie quotes, and the first few fans to reply with a correct answer receive autographed "Peanut Punch" T-shirts — so named for Tillman's ability to punch the ball from the opposition's grasp.
"My wife [Jackie] thought it would be a great way to interact with the fans," Tillman said. "I'm not huge on documenting what I'm doing on [Twitter] like most people, so she thought it would be a good way for me to tweet more, especially since I love movies."
Some of the movie quotes so far have been easier lines like "It puts the lotion in the basket" from "Silence of the Lambs" to the more obscure "What would you maniacs like to do first" from "Weird Science."
Tillman said he and his wife choose the lines, and it's becoming more difficult to find good quotes "because you can Google the more common ones," Tillman said.
Tillman said the contest will continue for the foreseeable future, with one caveat:
"As long as people don't complain!" he said.
