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John Krasinski on Leatherheads
By Fred Topel | Images property of Universal Pictures
Whenever a comedian finds a defining role, they can make lots of money playing that character in lots of knock-off movies. John Krasinski could find easy money playing versions of Jim from The Office, but he branched out and played a 1920's football star in Leatherheads, complete with old Hollywood-style dialogue.
John Krasinski Talks Leatherheads
"I was given an amazing opportunity when I was on the show which is to play a character that is sometimes funny and sometimes dramatic," said Krasinski. "I think that’s the best gift you can get as an actor, especially for a first role, because it’s definitely how people see you. That allowed George [Clooney] to see me as a potential person who could play a romantic character. So I always say that The Office was the first place and the only place and I definitely owe everything to that. But playing this character was a blast, dressing up in actual costumes rather than a shirt and tie every day, having a haircut for the first time was a big change for me and really helped my acting I think."
The title comes from the leather helmets that old football players used to wear. There's a reason they gave way to plastic. "They really don’t give you any protection. Just to show you how little protection they give you, if you see the movie again you’ll notice that Keith Loneker who plays Big Gus, has sweat coming through the leather in almost all the shots and that’s his real sweat. We did not use an effect. It’s funny, the game was very different so, back then. It was more like wrestling so you didn’t actually hit each other. You sort of ran with each other, next to each other and slowly grabbed the other guy down in more of a wrestling move so didn’t need protection."
Leatherheads
Leatherheads
The physical aspect of Leatherheads gave Krasinski a chance to demonstrate his athletic prowess. "I think I believe I’m a natural athlete. It’s easy to believe that you’re a phenomenal athlete when you’re like, ‘Yeah, I’m an actor. That’s why I’m not in the pros.' I played once in Junior High School which some would argue is the most competitive of all the areas of football but this is true, I couldn’t get past the face mask. I couldn’t catch a ball with a face mask in front of me so, in this movie, problem solved."
Not many people get to fight their bosses, but when your boss is also your costar, it can happen. Director George Clooney staged a fight scene between his and Krasinski's character in Leatherheads.
"We did not land any punches but landing on railroad tracks, very painful! No joke. We’d hit railroad spikes and things like that so that was the hardest thing, getting up the courage to really fall backwards when he got hit, like in that first punch where he says, ‘Just hit me in the..’ and I hit him before he says ‘face’, he fell really hard and he had a bruise, a pretty bad bruise, not that I saw it. That would be weird."
Leatherheads opens to theaters April 4th.
For the trailer, stills and more movie info, go to the Leatherheads Movie Page.
Fred Topel
Sources: Images property of Universal Pictures
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