Greg Kinnear Says Getting Scripts as Interesting as "The Matador" is Hard Work: “Anybody who has wired the business of getting just great, interesting scripts, I wish I had their career. No, it's really hard. I mean, it takes work and diligence. The people that you work with are a big part of that. Reading is important. Trying to constantly look out there under the stones and stuff for good stuff is part of the job. But when you do find something that feels a little refreshing or a little different, it's wonderful to work on. Especially this kind of movie where this isn't a $40 million movie, which would have taken three times the time to do - and a lot of time sitting in your trailer twiddling your thumbs.
This was…it read like a play. I knew it like a play. So did Pierce. When we got down there, we were just off to the races. Day Two we were doing that bar scene. It was a couple of days doing that, but we were both kind off the script at that point.”
Greg Kinnear’s Next Projects: “I did a movie with Steve Carell, Toni Collette, Alan Arkin and some other actors that’s kind of a road picture that’ll coincidentally – it’s called ‘Little Miss Sunshine’ – be playing in exactly the same slot ‘The Matador’ debuted in a year ago at Sundance. Exactly the same slot, and on the same day that ‘The Matador’ opens wide. Hmmm…”
Kinnear said “Little Miss Sunshine” is a mix of comedy and drama, and he plays Steve Carell’s brother-in-law. “Unbeknownst to the family, and the family is struggling a little bit up in Albuquerque, my daughter has gotten into the Little Miss Sunshine pageant out in Orange County. We have to load up the VW Bug and get her to the big show.”
Kinnear also just wrapped production on “Unknown” with Jim Caviezel and Barry Pepper and is filming “Invincible” with Mark Wahlberg. “Invincible” is based on a true story and is set in the 1970s. Kinnear plays football coach Dick Vermeil. “I went up to football camp with him. He’s the oldest coach in the NFL. Back in the ‘70s, when he came to Philadelphia, he held open try-outs. That’s how desperate they were. He ends up bringing on this bartender who’d never played college or pro ball, a guy named Vince Papale who Wahlberg’s playing. He ends up making the team and they turn things around. It’s kind of a Rocky-esque story. It’s a good script.”
Kinnear says that Philadelphia still loves Papale. “It’s true. We’d be shooting these sequences and he’d walk out and a whole stadium of extras, thousands of them going, screaming for him. I thought they were screaming for me, which is the reason I remember this (laughing).”
