John Krasinski trades in his Office attire for football pads in Leatherheads, directed by Oscar-winner George Clooney. Krasinski stars in the screwball romantic comedy as a good-looking war hero who's also a stand-out on the gridiron. But at the film's Los Angeles press junket, Krasinski confessed he actually thought he was at the center of a huge prank when he learned he'd been offered a starring role in Leatherheads alongside Clooney (who plays the leader of the team) and Oscar-winner Renee Zellweger (playing a reporter at the center of a love triangle). Fortunately for Krasinski, it wasn't a joke.
John Krasinski Press Conference
Was there any appreciable difference between George Clooney the actor and George Clooney the director?
John Krasinski: “Clooney the actor is way nicer. No, in both arenas, the similarities are that he’s incredibly focused and incredibly, just so good at what he does. He’s very well-composed; he’s very confident. It was funny watching Clooney the actor being directed by Clooney the director because one of the biggest differences, which he would hate, but I loved, was when he had to do a football scene where he got hit really hard and then he runs back to the screen to look at it and while he’s looking at it, he’s praying that it looks good so he doesn’t have to do it again. But he did. He had to go back into the throng of it, just like all of us.”
How much protection do those leather helmets actually give you?
John Krasinski: “Zero. I mean you wonder why it’s just on set - to be decoration. 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 you didn’t need protection.”
Could you describe shooting in South Carolina?
John Krasinski: “There was a lot of sports fans, a lot of ribs… No, we had a blast down there. I’ve got to say that it’s a totally different experience being down in the South. Everybody was extremely kind and really open to having a movie crew come and basically infiltrate everything about their small town. South Carolina and North Carolina, it was just fun to see a different way of life. I’ve got to say that the girls are very pretty down there.
It was funny also, the time pieces of the stadiums… The reason George decided to go down there was because of the baseball stadiums down there looked completely, totally period. You actually feel like you are back when sports were really fun, rather than being like more of a business. Back then it was to be there to see your heroes play out on the field, rather than the most expensive team playing out on the field.”
You got to the set late because you were filming The Office. You were kind of the new guy so did George Clooney pull any initiation pranks on you?
John Krasinski: “Luckily, George was very busy being a director and an actor, and it was sort of one of the bigger productions he’s ever done. But I will be dead honest, and this sounds crazy but it’s true, I called my manager one day and I thought, ‘Oh my God, this is it. This is George Clooney’s biggest prank ever,’ getting some kid from TV to believe he’s actually on a set with big movie stars, big crew, and he’s friends with Renee [Zellweger] so he got her in on it. After therapy, I realized that wasn’t true. No, I really did. I was terrified that this whole thing might be some weird prank. That’s how scared of him I was. Luckily, he was too busy to pull much of anything.”
So everyone was really nice to you when you got there?
John Krasinski: “Yeah, extremely nice. I expected some hazing. I thought that would be part of the team atmosphere. I’m still dressed like I’m on the traveling team. We’re traveling so you wear suits. But no, everybody was really nice.”
About the fighting scene with George, did you guys land any punches at all? Were there a lot of takes?
John Krasinski: “We only shot for like three hours. It was a blast. 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. He had a bruise, a pretty bad bruise, not that I saw it. That would be weird.”
Are you a natural athlete?
John Krasinski: “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.’”
Had you played football before?
John Krasinski: “I have. 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.”
Page 2: John Krasinski on Working with George Clooney and Renee Zellweger
