Denis Leary, who played Smalls’ stepdad Bill, had no concept what he was registering for– in an excellent way.
Demolition Man and Judgment Night– the greatest motion pictures he ‘d shot to date— had not come out yet when he got the call about “this little baseball movie,” the Rescue Me star remembered on The Rich Eisen Show in2021 “I got the script and I was like, ‘Wow, this is literally about a bunch of kids playing baseball.'”
But being a sports man who wept seeing Field of Dreams, Leary took the part versus his much better judgment. “They always tell you,” he broke, “you don’t work with dogs and kids, and I’m working with a giant dog and all kids.”
But these young stars were “truly wonderful, Leary remembered, though for him, satisfying screen legend James Earl Jones– who played not-so-scary sandlot next-door neighbor and previous ballplayerMr Mertle– took the cake. He was “the kindest, best, sweetest man,” Leary said. “And that voice …When I think about the voice of God I think about James Earl Jones.”
The kids, naturally, idea of Star Wars “When he showed up, we were like, “[Darth] Vader is here!” Guiry recalled of seeing Jones for the first time. And once again the elder actor won rave reviews for being ” such a good man.”
