The faux heist movie trailer the Los Angeles Rams put out on their social channels Tuesday was remarkable not just for being a creative video, but for its involvement of a lot of actual Hollywood actors. And an interview actor Josh Holloway (who plays Rams’ GM Les Snead in the video) did with Jourdan Rodrigue of The Athletic illustrates just how much went into this Paul Hunter-directed and Ventureland-developed short. Holloway (whose credits include Lost, Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol, Yellowstone, and a very memorable Community appearance) told Rodrigue he doesn’t really follow football, and he wasn’t able to meet with Snead before filming, but he spent hours studying videos of Snead’s interviews to get the accent right, and was impressed by Snead’s analytical comments:
“I’m like, this is a good ol’ boy who wasn’t just an outsider; he was a player — and a badass player. He’s gonna work his way (up) all the way through that way.
“But he’s got a brain like a freakin’ mathematician. And I was noticing, I kept picking up on this, he would say (slips into Snead’s voice), “Well, it’s kind of a complex algorithm, really.” And he would say that, and I’m like, “This fucker’s done calculus.” So I used that. That was my in for any time I was looking at screens or anything (during) the commercial. All I was thinking was, “This guy is a calculus-like mathematician; he is calculating data instantaneously.” So that’s who I became when I was doing it. He’s a good ol’ boy, he’s tough, but he’s more of a mathematician.
And the way he kinda crossed his arms all the time, chewed on that straw (laughs), I liked that. Those were two of the main things. So that was my way into him. I thought: “He’s actually brilliant. More of a mad scientist, even.”
There definitely are some even in the football world who might describe the all-in approach Snead took last year (an approach summarized nicely by the “Fuck them picks” shirt he wore at the team’s Super Bowl parade) as mad scientist-inspired. But it certainly worked out for the Rams last year. And this whole interview (which goes into a lot of other areas) is a fascinating read. It gives an outsider, non-football fan’s perspective on what makes Snead tick; it also reveals some of the craft of acting, and how the film study sometimes compares to that done in the sports world. For those who haven’t yet seen the “trailer” here, here it is, featuring some of that great work from Holloway as Snead:
https://twitter.com/RamsNFL/status/1518925729676726273
And Holloway does note in here that he’s open to playing Snead again. So if anyone wants to do a Rams-centered Draft Day sequel, give him a call. We could use some better based-on-the-NFL movies than ones involving Kevin James.
