Seann William Scott plays the titular role in the much anticipated hockey film Goon, written by Jay Baruchel and Evan Goldberg, directed by Michael Dowse, and co-starring Liev Schreiber. Scott is Doug, the new goon, the young enforcer, the upstart hockey “minder” whose job isn’t necessarily to play hockey but to put down hot shots from the opposite team who might try to injure or obstruct his team’s hot shots. Schreiber plays an ageing goon just weeks away from retirement who sees what he used to be in Doug; his consuming passion for the game. Scott, best known as the obnoxious, inappropriate jerk Stifler from American Pie, gets to play Doug as a lovable, dim-witted goof, an overnight sensation on the rink thanks to a natural fighting ability. The six foot plus actor gained weight and muscle for the part, and then he had to learn a thing or two about hockey, which until recently, was just a distant childhood memory. Criticize This! spoke with Scott in Toronto’s hockey palace, the Air Canada Centre.
Look at those tattoos!
Sean William Scott: It didn’t really seem appropriate for my character to have tattoos but we didn’t have the budget to bring a makeup artist in to cover them up so the super sweet, quiet guy has tribal tattoos.
You pulled a Robert De Niro in your physical transformation.
SWS: I’ve been compared to Robert De Niro since day one so it was nice to finally hear about it. Now he’s getting my roles. If someone compares him to Stifler in American Pie then I know I really made it.
Doug is the exact opposite of Stifler. Is it harder to play the nice guy?
SWS: It was much easier to play Doug. I can explain it best because I did American Pie 4 [American Reunion] right after. It was a relief to play a really nice guy and also because the energy and disposition was completely different. I was never a funny kid growing up and when I moved to Los Angeles to pursue acting, I never anticipated doing comedy. I never had training. My dad and brother were funny which was the only experience I had other than watching comedy, so the movies I’ve done I’d get so anxious and distressed because I don’t know if I’m funny or what I’m doing. I’m playing these high energy guys, so playing Doug, he’s nice, he’s really nice and I think I’m smarter than this character! I hope I am! So we did American Pie afterwards, I was playing Stifler in his thirties, I had to drink 25 cups of coffee every day. I thought it was a great challenge to go back and play that crazy asshole.
Was hockey a part of your life in Minnesota?
SWS: All my best friends would play hockey in the winter. I tried at 5 or 6 and I was just terrible. My dad and I did baseball, basketball and football. We didn’t have anyone in our family that played hockey, but I grew up watching it and being envious because it seems like the best sport. And getting more experience, learning more about it, it is an awesome sport.
Don’t you find it so filled with ritual and superstition?
SWS: It is different. I remember my buddies who played hockey [in high school] had a better sense of humour and they were different with each other. When we were filming we started to feel like a team. The cast members were hockey players and that banter is different.
Did you have to learn to fight?
SWS: I had done fight training through the years for fun, but this was totally different. At first I was like, “Why don’t these guys try to protect themselves? Why don’t they block?” But they don’t do that man, they just go for it. Liev was telling me in Wolverine they had four months of rehearsals before they started shooting the fights. We had fourteen minutes. They’d be like, “We’re going to shoot this play, throw eight punches, throw an uppercut, he’s going to hit you five times and you’ll give him a head-butt and throw him up against the glass and you’re going to throw him five more times and he’ll get knocked out. Are you ready to shoot?” And I’m like “Wait!” What??” And it’s three in the morning, and we’ve been doing the hockey since midnight. To get the rink we had to shoot from 11 p.m. to 11 a.m. Oh, man. I learned.
Was there contact?
SWS: There was definitely some contact, but we had such a great crew there were no serious injuries. No animals died making this movie. I had such limited knowledge of the sport. I’m so fascinated that these guys are so polite and so sweet. The scene where my character smiles and La Rock is like, “Ya want to go?’ It doesn’t make any sense but its part of the sport, the history of the sport and respect for the game.
How was it working with Liev?
SWS: That was the easiest thing for me to do in my career. He is one of my favourite actors of all time, so it was very easy for me to be in awe of him. I prefer watching movies to acting to tell you the truth. I love films, so I watched his stuff. Salt, Wolverine, I watched them all. For me to have that awestruck vibe, we’re hanging out and laughing and I’m like “Hey, I made him laugh”. That scene in the diner I was sitting there, it’s a two shot, and I was watching him and thinking, “Man, he’s awesome”.
Do you foresee yourself sitting around watching hockey games now?
SWS: I better! When I have kids, I’ll tell them you’re going to get way more girls playing hockey than basketball.
Goon is so many genres. How was it pitched to you?
SWS: It’s a completely different experience from any roles I’d done. I was doing Role Models in 2008 and I was talking to Paul Rudd and he said he’d been talking to Evan Goldberg. I didn’t know who that was, I hadn’t met any Judd Apatow guys, and he said, “They really would like you for this film they’re doing”. Usually it’s me pursuing a role for a film. But they were still working on the script and thinking of me. That’s awesome! A hockey player, a fighter? Not a college frat guy?
And it was the chance to play a three dimensional role, do action and I get to kick ass. It’s my superhero film. And it’s a super cool film and character. The sports, the violence, the genres and the different elements. I wanted to work with that director, and I got to. You go with your instincts!
Goon opens across Canada on February 24. It will also premiere on VOD and iTunes in the U.S. on February 24 before opening in limited release on March 30.
Top image: Seann William Scott at the Toronto premiere of Goon. Photo credit: Brian McKechnie, Criticize This!
