There are certain actors you immediately associate with sports. Kevin Costner and Adam Sandler are two of the most well-known. Michael Chiklis hasn’t reached that level, but he clearly enjoys the genre, especially when it comes to portraying real-life people.
After being Red Auerbach in Winning Time, Chiklis tackled another sports figure. This one you might not be aware of. The Emmy winner stars as Mike Flynt in The Senior, set to premiere in theaters on Sept. 19. Flynt’s unbelievable story went viral before “viral” had pop culture relevance.
At the age of 59, Flynt went back to college in 2007 as a senior to play football at Division III Sul Ross State in Alpine, Texas. The linebacker became a national sensation because he was a grandfather who was eight years older than his coach.
Flynt appeared on ESPN, and now his life is getting the Hollywood treatment. Chiklis hopes that audiences will show up to the theatres with big-game energy.
“Go with a bunch of people because it’s a collective,” the 62-year-old Emmy-award-winning actor said in an interview with Awful Announcing via Zoom. “You wouldn’t want to go to a football game by yourself. You want to go with a crowd of people and see it, and scream for your team and everything. It really evokes that.”
For Chiklis, portraying the late Auerbach seemed like a natural transition for a Boston-area native and Boston University alum. Becoming Flynt was a different journey. First, he had direct access to Flynt and his wife, Eileen, who were both on the set during filming. Second, there wasn’t a mythology he needed to live up to, as was the case with the cigar-chomping Auerbach, who won nine championships as a coach with the Celtics and seven more as a general manager.
While researching the role, somewhat surprisingly, Chiklis and Flynt did not communicate often beforehand.
“We didn’t spend that much time together before filming,” Flynt said. “Actually, we met on set that first day. We did talk in a couple of conference calls. That’s it. But for the most part, no. Michael knew what he needed to do.”
Playing a real-life character has its challenges. You want to create a relatable persona while also maintaining some creative freedoms. Michael Chiklis said having Flynt on set took a moment to get used to.
“I had the benefit of reading (the) book, and reading the script and speaking at length with (producer) Mark Ciardi,” said Chiklis, a former high school fullback and linebacker. “Then I got to speak to (Flynt) a couple of times. When we met, Mike and Eileen were on set every day. And at first, that was really daunting and a little intimidating. But then it ended up being the greatest gift in the world because there was such a wonderful resource for me.”
A lead actor is often only as good as their supporting cast. In The Senior, Chiklis works with Mary Stuart Masterson (Eileen) and Rob Corddry (Sul Ross coach Sam Weston).
Masterson is featured prominently in one of the movie’s key scenes when her character gets into an argument with Chiklis’ Flynt.
“As a couple, Mike and Eileen were always very on the same page about their values, parenting, and all the sort of big life challenges, questions, whatever,” Masterson told AA. “They just took for granted that they were on the same page. And he, Mike, decides to do something for his own need to finish what he started, to have a second chance to redeem himself for something he’s felt guilty about. And so Eileen has to speak up and say, ‘Yeah, but you’re not just only doing this to you, you’re doing this to your family.'”
As for Corddry, he’s best known for his comedic roles (Hot Tub Time Machine, Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay, and The Unicorn). In The Senior, he’s a no-nonsense coach.
“I based this guy loosely on all my coaches growing up in Boston,” Corddry told AA. “These frowny scowlers. I never remember any of those guys smiling.”
Corddry found it easy to work with Michael Chiklis because they share a common background.
“Michael’s also from Boston, and so every coach he’s ever had has been basically the same guy,” he said. “Michael and I had an instant rapport because when you meet somebody from Boston, you feel like you have a secret. You’re immediately friends because you grew up in the same hell.”
The Senior will be in theatres on Sept. 19.
About Michael Grant
Born in Jamaica. Grew up in New York City. Lives in Louisville, Ky. Sports writer. Not related to Ulysses S. Grant.