On starring as Terry Sawchuk in Goalie, he said, “It was great. It was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity since I’m a hockey fan and I’ve always wanted to do a hockey movie. To be able to work on it with my friends and my wife was really great. It was a dream come true.”
When asked how he prepared for the role, he said, “I played hockey my whole life, but I was never a goalie. I had a goalie coach show me the ropes since I had to play like Terry. I watched some of his old games, and what he did in between games gave me an idea of what type of person he was. We had a good research person working on the movie and that helped immensely.”
Goalie, directed and co-written by Adriana Maggs, earned a favorable review from Digital Journal. “Goalie is unlike anything I’ve ever seen before. I’ve never seen a movie about a goalie like this,” he said. “Hocked is one of the most skill-oriented sports, and especially for a goalie, it’s psychological warfare.”
On being an actor in the digital age, he said, “It’s awesome. There are more ways for people to see your content. I don’t think Marriage Story on Netflix would have gotten as many eyes as it did if it were in theaters.”
Speaking of Marriage Story, he described it as an “amazing” experience. “Noah Baumbach is one of my favorites. Just to be in that movie was a real treat. All of the film’s successes are well deserved,” he admitted.
For young and aspiring actors, he said, “It’s a really tough business but if you love it enough, give it everything you have and find out everything you can about it. Don’t expect anything to come your way. You need to pave your own way. The only way you’re not going to make it is if you’re not doing it. So just keep going.”
In other Mark O’Brien news, he revealed that he did a new movie entitled Blue Bayou with Alicia Vikander, which will be released in 2020. He praised Vikander for being “amazing.” “I also wrote and directed in a film that I starred in and we just finished shooting. Now, we are in post-production, and it will be released in 2020,” he said.
O’Brien defined the word success as “having a happy life, where you are surrounded by good people.”
Read More: Digital Journal’s Markos Papadatos chatted with Georgina Reilly about Goalie.
