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Warner Bros. Pictures1 of 7
In the Jackie Robinson biopic "42" (out on DVD and Blu-ray July 16th), John C. McGinley plays legendary Brooklyn Dodgers play-by-play man Red Barber, a role that required McGinley to ape Barber's folksy delivery. "The sound was so alien to my ear," McGinley admits, "I couldn't quite get it." Maybe it was the lack of expletives, because if there's anything McGinley's body of work shows, it's that the man has a knack for playing rapid-fire hardasses who never get tongue-tied. While he would eventually nail Barber, time will tell where the performance ranks among McGinley's finest. Here, the man himself gives his thoughts on a career built on put-downs, blow-ups, and general hilarity. Keep reading to hear McGinley pick his most memorable roles from a memorable career.
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Orion Pictures2 of 7
Sgt. O'Neill, Platoon
McGinley: "Platoon, playing Sgt. O'Neill with Oliver Stone in the Philippines was a big deal because it was my big break, and it was an intensely difficult film to do. And then the way Oliver put it together made us all really proud of being in the movie."
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Paramount Pictures3 of 7
Capt. Richard Schoenfield, Fat Man & Little Boy
McGinley: "There was a film that nobody saw called Fat Man & Little Boy that Johnny Cusack and I did with a British director named Roland Joffe that was a really big deal because it was the first time I was kind of like one of the co-leads-In a big Paramount movie with Paul Newman, who Johnny and I hero-worshipped. We called him the 'Big Dog. 'He was 'Grande Dog.' Every once in a while he'd invite us over to his casa and we'd be sipping on a cerveza with Paul Newman, the big dog. You wouldn't dare dream stuff like that, because it would be folly."
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20th Century Fox Pictures/Photofest4 of 7
Bob Slydell, Office Space
McGinley: "I'd say put Office Space up there. Not because it was necessarily the greatest shoot of all time, but just because of the way it turned out-I dunno, that thing is just a phenomenon. I mean, I thought the film was really funny, and I think Mike [Judge] is one of the more talented people I've ever met. But I was just down in Austin, Texas for five days and I didn't know anything was gonna happen with it. I just thought it was a funny movie. People go crazy for that movie. People quote it at me all the time. [They say] anything about Michael Bolton...'What exactly would you say you do here?"...I actually don't know my lines! People say them to me and I just assume I said them. I'm trying to remember the next script in front of me here."
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Twentieth Century Fox5 of 7
Marvin, Wall Street
McGinley: "I'd put Wall Street way up there, just because I saw it a year or so ago and it's such a love letter, such a postcard to the high 80s in New York and Oliver just nailed it. And Michael [Douglas] is so great in that and Charlie [Sheen] and I had just spent six months in the Philippines together-so there was a lot of history and the lens always knows when there's history. So that felt good. Oliver's like a thoroughbred at the Kentucky Derby with blinders on as far as his creative vision on set. If you can fit into the narrow scope of his vision, where those blinders are, it's nirvana, man. If you want to not fit into that, and be kind of counter, you want to go against something that Oliver wants to do on the set, it's a nightmare. And that's where people have nightmare experiences, but if you can find your way into Oliver's vision, it's as good as filmmaking gets."
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Twentieth Century Fox/Photofest6 of 7
Ben Harp, Point Break
McGinley: "Kathryn [Bigelow] put a lot of slack in the leash [regarding ad-libbing]. Oliver encouraged everyone to do it on Platoon, and so I just assumed that you were supposed to be bold and take poetic license with the text. On some sets that floats-with Red Barber, I left all that stuff way behind. There's not a syllable that comes out of my mouth in 42 that Red didn't say either directly in front of the microphone or in his autobiography - we didn't take any liberties with Red. Zero. And that felt right. It felt as pragmatic as he was."
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NBC/Photofest7 of 7Next: 10 Insane Movie Theories
Dr. Perry Cox, Scrubs
McGinley: "This is so silly, but at the first audition - even auditioning was silly and I'll tell you why. I'm not above auditioning because I do it all the time, but in the pilot script of Scrubs, in parenthesis next to Dr. Perry Cox it said, 'A John McGinley type.' So I went into the audition and I was like, 'Dude, I'm him! I'm the guy.' So then, of course, with TV, because there's so many chefs in the kitchen, you gotta audition - I auditioned for Scrubs FIVE times! Even though the guy was a 'John McGinley type.' Five times! But I thought Dr. Cox and the head of the hospital, Dr. Kelso, Ken Jenkins' character, were really redundant. They were too much of the same character in the pilot. And I said that at the first audition, which is just like shooting yourself in the foot. It's suicide. But I don't know why I felt entitled to say that, maybe because you put down the character as a 'John McGinley type' that I felt at liberty to give you my opinion, which is absurdly presumptuous. And so Dr. Cox changed from simply being a hardass to this great doctor who happened to teach with a spoonful of dirt, a spoonful of dirt, and a teaspoon of sugar. Bill Lawrence gave me a wide berth to bring as much flavor as I wanted to to Dr. Cox. What surprised me was that I would ever get to play someone as intelligent, SAT-wise, as smart as Dr. Cox. I'm like, 'Boy, I fooled you guys on that one!' That was the biggest surprise, because the guy is really, really bright and tortured - I'm not as bright and I'm not as tortured."
