Exclusive Interview With Casey Bond. We Talk About His Upcoming Film MoneyBall & Breaking Into Hollywood
We finally got a chance to talk this week and here goes nothing.
Sorry it's taken us so long to finally get a chance to do this interview.
No worries man! I completely understand, I feel like my life is in a whirlwind right now, haha...but at least its a good one.
I see you've been hanging out with my buddy Michael Papajohn. He's a great guy. We had the pleasure of hanging out with him a few nights at Comic-Con this year.
Yes, Papajohn is a great guy, I actually was just with him in Santa Monica today. Stand up guy, and love being around him. I know he said that ya'll had a great time at Comic-Con, and that its just straight fun madness there. Would love to check it out next year.
I asked Casey if he could give the fans out there some history of himself?:
For a little history on myself, I grew up in the south in the town Peachtree City, GA, which is a golfing community about 30 minutes south of Atlanta. As a kid, all I ever wanted to do was play baseball and other sports, and to someday play professionally. Although I always had an interest in movies, I kind of put that interest to the side to concentrate on my athletic abilities. I was a multi sport athlete in high school, and went on to play Division 1 baseball for both Birmingham Southern College (Birmingham, AL), and Lipscomb University (Nashville, TN). My first dream eventually came true, and I was drafted by the San Francisco Giants in the 25th round as an outfielder from Lipscomb University in 2007. I played for the Giants Organization for two season.
At the end of my time with the Giants, a very unique opportunity arose for me in the acting world. I began to take acting classes in Nashville, TN, as this was always something that I had an interest in, and felt like I had to at least pursue it to some degree. I told my great aunt, who lives in Santa Monica, CA, that I had begun to dive into acting a little bit. The reason I told her was purely for conversation because she used to be an actress back in the day. She was in some things here and there, and I thought she would appreciate my effort. Well, she told her friend, who told his agent, about myself. I knew she was going to do this, but thought nothing of it because after all, I was still living in Nashville. For whatever reason, this agent decided he would call me up and tell me that he had an audition he could get me in. Being as fresh and naive about this entire acting and auditioning process, I didnt realize that there were thousands of auditions happening every day in L.A.
So, I asked him what I needed to do to audition for this role in a national commercial. He told me that I had to be in L.A. tomorrow, and that he would get me into the audition. I took that as a great opportunity, and because I was so naive, I actually flew out to L.A. and went to the audition, and then flew back the same day. A week after this, the agent calls me again and tell me that they want to have me back to a callback, and that I had to be there the next day. So, I hopped on another plane to go to this audition, thinking how lucky I was to have an opportunity to even have an audition in L.A. I met with the casting director and producers, did the audition, and then literally flew home again the same day. Needless to say, my friends thought this was pretty cool stuff, and so did I because I really had no idea that this was happening constantly every single day in L.A. However, thanks to my foolishness, and perhaps drive to succeed when given a chance to do something special, I ended up booking the commercial, and flew out about a week later to film it.
This commercial was a national commercial, it got me into SAG immediately, which is such a hurdle to many actors in itself, and it basically gave me the opportunity to have this agent take me on full time, move to L.A., and pursue acting with a full passion and pursuit. Long and crazy story, I know, but it is entirely the truth...
Why did you want to become an actor? What inspired you?
The inspiration to act was within me from the time I was little, but it wouldn't reveal itself to me fully until I was done pursuing my first dream of playing professional baseball. Once I moved to L.A., I very quickly learned about the in's and out's of industry, and through my love of meeting new people and building relationships, I have so far been able to surround myself with some wonderful people which I have gotten to work with and learn from (a.k.a. Papajohn among others).
Now, I am working with the legendary acting coach Larry Moss, which in itself is an inspiring thing to be a part of. I am fully committed and involved in everything I can do to continue to be the best actor I can be, and I know that my past with professional sports and athletics has directly related to the carry over into the entertainment industry. Hard work and passion has paid off, and will continue to.
How was filming Money Ball? And give us some insite into your character in the moive. Did you have to do any kind of training for the roll?
All of this led to Moneyball. First off, I auditioned at Sony a few times with the director (Bennett Miller) and the casting director. They liked me read both times, so they decided to have me go out to a baseball field to see if I could actually perform there as well. My character, Chad Bradford, was a submarine pitcher for the Oakland Athletics from Jackson, Mississippi who was a big Christian. You may already know, but if not, a submarine pitcher is one who nearly scrapes his knuckles on the ground when he is delivering the ball to home plate from the mound. I played outfield, so this was not something that I regularly did by any means. I had to go out to a field and work on this for hours before perfecting it. Needless to say, I went out and performed for Bennett Miller, and others who were there to help determine if I was the guy.
I passed the "baseball test", which I was hoping to considering that was such a large part of my past. Bennett then wanted me to come over to Sony for one last meeting. That meeting was a personal meeting with Brad Pitt. When I arrived, Brad immediately came up to me and shook my hand, and we went into conversation that lasted a long while. We didn't even read through the script but once. We just needed to get together and hang out, make sure we were a good fit, which was no problem at all since he is such a stand up guy. He was truly a wonderful person to be around, and an absolute mentor on set while we filmed our scenes with one another.
Working with great actors like Brad Pitt, Jonah Hill, and Philip Seymour Hoffman did they give you any advice? Did you learn anything from them?
Brad gave me advice during our scene, which you wouldn't necessarily expect from him with the position he is in. However, he was truly a mentor, and I very much learned from him. He is a master at his craft. To work with guys like Brad, Jonah, Philip, and Chris Pratt was definitely a game changer for myself as far as knowing that I could act on their level, and continue to develop and hone my skills as an actor.
I see that your friends with Papajohn, he is also a friend of mine personally. Has he given you any advice on acting?
Papajohn is a great friend, and also another great mentor. We met through another friend, and he has truly been a great help to me in the sense that if I have a question, he is there for me. In return, I help him with social media stuff and cell phones...haha. But seriously, he is one of, if not the best guy I have met and really gelled with in Hollywood. We are both from the South, so we have similar ideals and can really build off of one another. I hope I get to kill him one day in a film, as that is his niche! I would even be open to him killing me in a film, haha.
What or where should we be on the look out for you? Any upcoming projects?
First and foremost, be on the lookout for the film, which is going to be released September 23rd. The world premiere is at the Toronto Film Festival on September 8th. As for myself lately, I have been studying with Larry Moss, and have been doing quite a bit of print work lately for companies like A.D.I.D.A.S. and Muscletech. There are also some other things in the works right now, which I hope I can divulge in the near future.
Make sure to check out Casey's website for all you up dates on whats going on with his career. And he will be CONSTANTLY providing personal behinds the scenes photos, videos, etc. of upcoming events I will be a part of such as Red Carpets and premieres, as well as Moneyball media when the film comes closer to the release!
Also follow him on Twitter and make sure to LIKE his Facebook page.
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