This Week at the Movies with D.B. Sweeney
AN INTERVIEW WITH D.B. SWEENEY, STAR OF “UNDERDOGS”
D.B. Sweeney’s career has spanned 30 years. He has had memorable roles in the films “Memphis Belle”, “Eight Men Out”, “Gardens of Stone” and “The Cutting Edge”, along with too many television appearances to even mention, including his recurring role on “@ And A Half Men”. He sits down with This Weekend At The Movies to discuss his new film, “Underdogs”.
Q: This movie is a wonderful tribute to small town American football. Tell us how you got involved in the project?
Director Doug Dearth is a guy I’ve known for years, he worked closely with another friend of mine for a long time and I got to see him in a variety of situations. He directed a documentary called “900 Needles” about his journey to find a medical miracle for his ailing brother…it was very good. It moved me.
Q: The title of the film not only pertains to the football team being underdogs, does it? There are several underdog stories here. Can you talk about that?
Well the quarterback’s Dad is trying to get an invention to market, he’s up against it. My character Vince is up against it and everybody’s burden is spelled out explicitly. But in any good movie the stakes and the tension come from people running out of time or opportunities.
Q: Reaction to the film from the Newport Beach, Cleveland and Phoenix Film Festivals has been very positive. What was it like taking the film to these sort of festivals?
It’s so hard to get an independent movie made. (I’m) very grateful to these and other fests and media outlets for supporting the film and people like Doug. Always fun to see it with a live audience for the first time. I took my young kids…not many of my movies I can do that with. And they loved it.
Q: I never thought I’d see a film whose cast included both recording artist Natalie Imbruglia and Broadway Joe Namath. How did the both of them become involved in “Underdogs”?
Natalie is a great singer and a cool gal and she wanted to try her hand. I’m not sure how she came to the project but she was flat out fantastic to work with. One of the “money” guys knew Joe and asked him to do a cameo. He and I were on Broadway together 30 years ago in “The Caine Mutiny”. It was great to see him again. A legend and a super nice man.
Q: I believe I read that you played a lot of sports when you were younger. Tell us about your desire to be a professional baseball player.
I have always loved the game, played as long as I could. While I prefer the pace of hockey, there are aspects of baseball that rightly make it the national pastime.
Q: So what’s next for you?
My recurring role on “Two and a Half Men”has been fun. I have a couple of things I’ve written in the pipeline. I just want to keep working with interesting people. It’s been a great ride.
