EXCLUSIVE | 'Goalie' star Mark O'Brien says playing Terry Sawchuck was like being 'on an island' by himself
Ice Hockey player Terry Sawchuk was a legend. In his day, you couldn't get the puck past him. The man was the all-time leader among NHL goaltenders with 447 wins and with 103 shutouts. 'Goalie', based on his life, is one of those unusual biopics that's stirring and explosive at the same time.
Playing Sawchuk was an actor who had a stellar 2019. For Mark O'Brien, essaying the character meant using a lot more imagination than he did for his other roles.
In an exclusive with MEA WorldWide (MEAWW), the 'City on a Hill' star sheds ample light on 'Goalie', the exhaustive research to play Sawchuk and working with Georgina Reilly.
It all started with director Adriana Maggs who had been working on the project for eight years. "But really it went back even further than that because her father, a great poet named Randall mags, wrote a book of poetry based on Theresa Patrick's life."
"So I guess this was percolating for quite a long time for Adriana and her sister Jane, who co-wrote it with her," Mark explained.
"So it kinda is a family affair for those guys. I was actually in the co-writer Jane's first play. I was just close to them and we worked together well, and Adriana asked me to do it, and I was overjoyed," he shared.
Portraying a real-life character comes with its own challenges and for Mark, it was no different. It was evident that while talking to him, the actor had done his homework.
"Well, I read up everything I could and I watched a lot of footage of him playing. It's funny when you watch someone applying their trade, that's one thing, but I think it's the things in between," he explained.
"For example, I had a lot of footage of him in games, but it's the stuff in between... watching him in between whistles and when he's not making saves, and the way he carries himself. I actually found that really helpful because that's kind of a sneak peek into someone."
"It's like when you're taking a picture of someone and they're smiling and saying cheese, it's right after that you've taken the picture when you actually see what their demeanor looks like."
"Just to give an example. I actually found someone who was really just burdened and weathered and tired, from his career," he added.
"The work he put into it and what it gave back to him, just gave him a lot of sorrow. But at the same time, it also gave him a lot of joy. So I saw that determination in him, which I think I reflected onto myself of how I'm determined as well. So that's really how I kind of prepared," Mark shared.
Playing hockey his whole life also helped. "I had a goalie coach to help me with the actual goaltending aspect, which was really fun and enlightening to see what that position entails because it's unlike any position in sports and it's, you're kind of on an island by yourself."
'Goalie' was brutal. It wasn't funny when you have to get your mind and a battered body in the game. And playing that would be far more challenging and complicated. Mark seconds this. "I related to it as an actor," he observed.
"You can draw a parallel in many different walks of life, but all I know is my own perspective. And I know that you can work like a dog and it doesn't mean you're going to get the outcome that you want, so it can break your heart. Like the things you love can break your heart more than the things you don't love."
He continued, "And I've had my heart broken so many times just through work or something, not working out the way I want it to. Or your dreams not really coming true in the way you expected, but then great things happen along the way that you don't expect."
"But if you didn't work hard, you wouldn't have gotten those surprises. So I always kind of thought about it like that with everything that happens to him. Because otherwise it wouldn't have been solved for sorrowful if he wasn't determined," Mark reflected.
"So that's how I saw that. And it certainly is brutal, but I guess I kind of identified with it in my own way," he added.
Those who've seen 'Goalie' would know Sawchuk was a man of few words. He was extremely uncomfortable around the team, primarily because he was an introvert. "I think playing someone who wasn't an extrovert was a bigger challenge, Mark said.
"He was definitely more of an introverted person. When it comes to someone who wears their emotions on their sleeves... it is easier to play because their emotions are always just kind of right there. And they're really direct and they're kind of upfront."
"It's when someone has wheels turning inside that you can't place, you have to fill in the blanks yourself as the performer. So it required using more imagination than a lot of other roles, in a way," he shared.
"I had to find out why he was introverted because I didn't have an actual answer for it. So that's where I think, you become part and parcel with the part you're playing sometimes. And I think that's what happened here. I just felt like I understood him, even if I couldn't articulate it," he said.
His real-life wife, Georgina Reilly, plays his on-screen wife, and the question was how it affected the performance on screen and his relationship with Georgina. "That's a good question," he said.
"We have a very stable relationship. We're really in communication with each other all the time. And we're very happily married for seven years now. So I think, it made it easier to be honest because I trust her and she trusts me, and she's a hard worker. I know she's going to be a great scene partner."
He says in a matter-of-fact way: "Sometimes as actors, your biggest concern is always the script or it's like..is the other actor is going to be good? are they gonna bring the goods just as well? Because I'm only going to be as good as they are in the scene."
"They're the person giving it to you. So I actually felt really secure because I think she's a great actress. And we also could talk about it really openly and we understand each other's methods really well. And, I just felt comfortable," he added.
For Mark, the bigger learning from playing Sawchuk was the ability to let go. "I did learn something and that 's about letting go of things," he said.
"You really just got to let it go. Even if you love something so much. There have to be other things in your life. And I know Terry [Sawchuk] struggled with that and I think I certainly do sometimes."
"It's nice to have passions, obsessions and stuff like that and, and things you're willing to really work towards, but you have to open it up and let other things in as well," he reflected.
Every actor has that one moment they would be proud of and for Mark, this was the scene where Sawchuk was interviewed by the press after winning the game.
"He looks across and sees Jack Adams, the general manager of the team. He's just so soft-spoken and so humble...doesn't want to make a big deal out of it. He just makes it really calm and just as thank you, you know, and then just kind of walks off."
That struck a chord with Mark. "That's the essence of him."
"It isn't your typical biopic or sports movie," Mark says when asked about what the audiences can look forward to. "It's based on poetry, so it's just kind of beautiful and tragic."
"Kind of just look at a position, I think in a sports position in life that we don't normally see. And people seem to really relate to it. So that's the most important thing, that you strike a chord with people and, it's something different and challenging. I think the movie does that," he added.