Emmy winner Darin Brooks (“Days of Our Lives” and “The Bold and The Beautiful”) chatted about starring in the new sports film “The Roaring Game,” which was directed by Tom DeNucci.
Aside from Brooks, it stars Fivel Stewart, Eddie Kaye Thomas, William Forsythe, Vanessa Angel, Antwon Tanner, Rob “Gronk” Gronkowski, Justin Chatwin and Oscar nominee Mickey Rourke.
Brooks on being a part of ‘The Roaring Game’
The synopsis is: “The Roaring Game” is the underdog story of a down-on-his-luck janitor Rickey Rhodes (Darin Brooks) who recruits a curling team of misfits to win back the love of his life and sweep his way to glory.
On starring in “The Roaring Game,” Brooks shared, “It has been so much fun! We filmed it about a year and a half ago. So, we’ve been waiting to figure out who was distributing, when it was coming out, and how it’s coming out.”
“I think they were waiting to do it around the Olympics, so it could coincide with the curling events,” he added.
Playing his character Rickey Rhodes
On playing his character, Brooks remarked, “I’m starring in it as Rickey Rhodes, who is the ‘lovable loser,’ as I would like to say.
“Rickey was a hockey star back in the day, and then, unfortunately, he got into an accident and busted up his knee, so his career in hockey went down the drain,” Brooke said.
“So, he became a janitor at a college, and he has been beating himself up ever since; however, Rickey has been lying to his girlfriend for the past year about being a bounty hunter,” he elaborated.
“Then, she finds out about it… she gets really mad and dumps him,” Brooks said. “So, basically, he has to come up with this crazy scheme to try and win her back.”
“Rickey basically gets a band of misfit characters (his brother, uncle, and his dad who is fresh out of prison to be the coach) together to try out for the World Games of Olympic Curling in the United States, and they eventually make the team,” he explained.
Working with the director and the cast
On working with Tom DeNucci and the cast, Brooks said, “Everybody was so great! The production company that put this whole thing together is such a tight knit family. It is run by the family. They are the most wonderful, nicest and gracious people I’ve ever worked with.”
“The director, Tommy, actually wrote the film 16 years ago. Then, they bought it and it kind of just sat on the shelf for a little while,” he noted.
“A couple of years ago, they dusted it off and they called Tommy and asked if he wanted to shoot the film and he said, ‘heck yeah, let’s do it’,” he explained.
“Honestly, the cast was so great and everybody got along so well. We were laughing every day, and we didn’t have a bad day,” he said.
“It was a blast. I will never forget working with these people; they became brothers to me,” he added.
Lessons learned from ‘The Roaring Game’ screenplay
On the lessons learned from “The Roaring Game” screenplay, Brooks reflected, “I loved the script. Seriously, I was hooked from the first 10 pages. I knew I wanted to do this film. Then, I found out that Mickey Rourke was going to be in it.”
“I subsequently found out that Gronkowski was going to be in it, and Justin Chatwin was going to play the bad guy and Eddie Kaye Thomas from ‘American Pie’. Also, it is nice to have the great William Forsythe in this cast, who has been in everything,” Brooks elaborated.
“I just loved it. I fell in love with it. What I learned about myself is that it taught me that I can do a good job leading a film,” Brooks observed. “I also learned a lot about a boy becoming a man in this film, especially in regard to what the character goes through.”
“Everybody that is in this is incredible, and the script was so funny,” Brooks admitted.
Closing thoughts on ‘The Roaring Game’
For fans and viewers, he stated about “The Roaring Game,” “Honestly, I just want people to have fun with it.”
“There hasn’t been a curling comedy like this before. It’s a feel-good film that has a throwback vibe to such comedies as ‘Dodgeball’ and ‘Kingpin,” which has that slapstick that people love,” he elaborated.
“I think this is just this is so funny compared to those, and it’s got heart at the end of it,” he admitted. “Again, it’s about a boy becoming a man.”
“Hopefully, this movie will give people have a newfound appreciation for the sport of curling. It’s actually fun,” he concluded.
To learn more about Emmy winner Darin Brooks, follow him on Instagram.
