Veteran actor Daniel Roebuck (“Matlock” and “The Fugitive”) chatted about starring in the new movie “The Hail Mary,” and being a part of the digital age of entertainment.
How was your experience in “The Hail Mary”?
It’s been an incredible journey from beginning to end. Working alongside my family and our producer team and with some of the greatest actors out there has been perfect.
On top of that, being able to give opportunities to the 25 young actors who played the main football team was joyful.
I can’t even imagine if I was living in Lehigh Valley and a movie came to town and offered parts; I would’ve been beside myself. I always joke that I had to go to Hollywood to get discovered, but these amazing young men and women got to do it in their hometown.
We’re very lucky that the community is also behind us as we make these movies, but most importantly, I think there’s divine intervention throughout because we have never gone over budget or over schedule on one of these movies we’ve made for a faith audience.
What did you like most about your character?
See, that’s interesting. I’ve never thought of it like that because I created the guy out of whole cloth. There are a couple things I like about him. One that has never been mentioned, but I’ll mention now: his last name is the name of my grandmother’s second husband.
Her first husband died in World War II; her second husband, Mr. Bauer, whom I’ve never gotten to know because he died before I was born, is the father of my uncle and aunt. So, I like that I named him with a family name.
The character’s journey is the focal point of the movie and a great reminder that no matter how far you fall from grace, there’s a God who’s always ready to welcome you back into His embrace, and Jake Bauer epitomizes that journey.
What did this screenplay teach you about yourself?
Wow, these questions really are quite unique and some that I’ve never been asked before about anything, so I’m grateful for that. What did the screenplay teach me about myself?
Well, I guess it reminded me of my own failures and sins, my own fall from grace throughout my life, and my constant struggle to stay closer to God.
I do think, especially in a situation like this, where the guy writing the movie is also the guy directing the movie, that screenplays are often a mirror to the thoughts and heart of the writer.
This one is certainly that. It’s a love letter to the religious sister who raised me. It contains some of the music written by Sebastian Temple that served as a secondary foundation to my faith. The movie is also set in my hometown, at least the end of it.
In the movie, our fictional team, the Mary Immaculate Saints, play my alma mater, Bethlehem Catholic!
So, the process of writing the screenplay not only taught me things, but it consistently reminded me of how lucky and blessed I have been throughout my life.
How does it feel to be an actor in the digital age?
Being an actor at any age is hard. Being an actor in this world, although constantly told there are countless more opportunities, no actor I know sees that as a reality. I am lucky, however, that I work in not only every genre of film but also, at this point, every medium of entertainment.
I’m on TV and in movies, I do theater every chance I get, and I’m one of the lucky few who gets to star in the newest medium, which is video games. I’ve been in a few, but my favorites are the Star Wars games in which I’m lucky enough to act.
The other good news is, although it’s harder to be an actor in the digital age, it is much easier to be a director because the equipment and how we use it has made moviemaking so much easier over the last few decades.
How was your experience in “Matlock” and “The Fugitive”?
I like that you picked those two projects because both put me in direct contact with one of the biggest movie stars of my lifetime and one of the biggest TV stars of my lifetime.
In fact, I would say Andy Griffith was more than a TV star; I think he’s simply an American icon. He came at the perfect time and portrayed the ideal father, lawman, and community leader. To be able to play the guy everybody wants to know must’ve been extraordinary for him.
On “The Fugitive,” I got to work alongside the marvelous Tommy Lee Jones, but it was sitting next to Indiana Jones and Han Solo on a daily basis that sent me into giddy laughter, often.
On top of spending time with these dynamic people, I also got to work with the greatest television directors and, in the case of “The Fugitive,” one of the greatest movie directors I’ve ever met, Andy Davis.
What do you feel is the key to longevity in the entertainment industry?
You know, I think that answer is kind of simple: adaptability. I’ve lately used an analogy that my career and the 40+ years I’ve been doing it are not unlike being an actor at the turn of the century, from the 1800s to the 1900s.
If you were acting then, you would’ve had one place to perform, and that would’ve been on the stage. Then, 12 or 13 years later, there’s the invention of the movie camera, so now you could act on film as well.
Then 12 years after that, they started developing techniques to record sound, and by the 1930s there’s two-strip technicolor, so now you can actually be filmed in color.
The changes between the turn of the century and 1940 can be compared to the extraordinary changes from 1984 to now. We’ve gone from reel-to-reel video recording to video cassettes, to laser discs, to DVDs, to Blu-rays, to streaming.
On top of that, I work now in a medium—video games—that didn’t exist when I became an actor.
In 1984, you had either movies or television, and now we have movies, television, downloads, streaming, verticals, and whatever is going to be invented next. So adaptability really has been my greatest gift from God.
What is your advice for young and aspiring actors?
I’m definitely the right guy to ask this question because I’ve spent a lot of time mentoring actors over the last few decades.
There are so many people ready to jump and take advantage of actors in every way you can imagine—sexually, financially, emotionally.
People who have dreams and might consider doing nearly anything to achieve them are a very vulnerable class of people, and they’re easily manipulated and taken advantage of.
I’ve been writing a book for actors called “The Audition Is the Job and Other Truths That I’ve Learned in the Land of Make Believe.” In that book, which I hope to publish very soon, actors will be able to find those traits to which I can attribute my own success.
Simply, they are adaptability as mentioned above, graciousness, hard work, and most importantly, trusting in your own gut instinct, which, if you are in touch with a higher power, might be a Godly nudge.
What would you like to say to our readers about “The Hail Mary”?
It’s been an incredible journey from beginning to end. Working alongside my family and our producer team and with some of the greatest actors out there has been perfect.
On top of that, being able to give opportunities to the 25 young actors who played the main football team was joyful.
I can’t even imagine if I was living in Lehigh Valley and a movie came to town and offered parts; I would’ve been beside myself.
I always joke that I had to go to Hollywood to get discovered, but these amazing young men and women got to do it in their hometown.
We’re very lucky that the community is also behind us as we make these movies, but most importantly, I think there’s divine intervention throughout because we have never gone over budget or over schedule on one of these movies we’ve made for a faith audience.
To learn more about Daniel Roebuck, follow him on Instagram.
