More of this Feature "SEABISCUIT" PREMIERE COVERAGE: • Tobey Maguire ('Red Pollard') • Jeff Bridges ('Charles Howard') • William H. Macy ('Tick Tock McGlaughlin') • Elizabeth Banks ('Marcela Howard') • Director Gary Ross and Race Designer Chris McCarron MORE INFORMATION ON "SEABISCUIT": • "Seabiscuit" Premiere Photo Gallery • "Seabiscuit" Photo Gallery • "Seabiscuit" News, Trailer, and Websites • "Seabiscuit" Credits

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Hall of Fame jockey Gary Stevens makes his feature film acting debut as George 'The Iceman' Woolf in "Seabiscuit." With more than 4,700 wins under his belt including eight Triple Crown victories and eight Breeders' Cup Classic wins, Stevens was more than qualified to portray 'The Iceman.'

Even without knowing whether or not Stevens could act, writer/director Gary Ross cast him in the critical role. "Sometimes you just get hit with an instinct," Ross explains. "He looks like a movie star, and there was a cocky bravado, a kind of confidence."

Gary Stevens downplays his acting ability but his director has nothing but praise for his performance. "Every scene Gary has done he has been prepared, he has totally understood what to do. I don't know where this came from, he just has a natural ability. It was one of the biggest surprises for me, how good an actor he turned out to be," says Ross.

GARY STEVENS ('George 'The Iceman' Woolf')

How difficult was the transition from racing to acting?
[There's] not a lot of difference. There are certainly parallels between the movie industry and the horse racing industry. There are a ton of people out there that want to be actors that are very worthy of certain roles; there are champion jockeys out there that will never get the opportunity that I've had. You're only as good as your last film, I'm only as good as my last ride. You tend to work so hard on the project that you're doing so that you can get the next job. Same with the acting, you better be ready, you better be prepared because there are 50 other people ready to take your place.

How difficult is it to get a horse to lose?
The horses were prepared for me when I came out to do a scene. That was not something that was required of me to prepare the horses. That was up to Chris McCarron, our wrangle Rusty Hendrickson, and our director of photography John Schwartzman to make sure the cameras were in place and ready for what we were going to do. The photographers were ready and our people had the horses ready for me so my job, in that sense, became a lot easier than it could have been.

Is this movie an accurate portrayal of your sport?
Absolutely. We did not want our sport to be portrayed in the way of old films, we wanted it to look realistic. In my view, I've never seen a film portray our sport as this one does. It's true life. I didn't want to be a part of anything that wasn't.

How does Tobey Maguire look on a horse?
Forget about how Tobey looks... Well, I'll say he looks great on a horse. But his devotion to his career of acting and the weight that he pulled and being able to keep up the high level of physical fitness and keep a sharp mental attitude, I think says a lot of his character, a lot of him as a human being. I'm more impressed with Tobey as a human being than I am as a jockey. He lived the life as a jockey for seven months and he would have been a hell of a jockey.