David Koechner in Fox Atomic's "The Comebacks"

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Peter Dimako:

Tell us about the Coach Fields character.

David Koechner:

“The character of Coach Fields is the losingest coach or most least-successful coach in the history of all sport, but he doesn’t seem to know. How he gets hired time after time is beyond me, but he certainly does. He’s always in prominent positions to make…always the right…he’s always at the right moment to make the worst call for the job!”

Peter Dimako:

What drew you to this project?

David Koechner:

“It was a job that would pay! No, I thought it was a funny script and then I met with Tom Brady the director and he and I got on really well and he was a lot of fun and we had a great time making the film together. And, we both see comedy the same way…kindred spirits of you will. So it was an easy ‘YES!’

Peter Dimako:


So this spoofs a lot of movies. It has “Invincible,” “Radio” “Friday Night Lights,” “Rocky” and “Dodgeball” in the trailer. What else?

David Koechner:

“’Miracle,’ ‘Remember the Titans,’ ‘Blue Crush.’ Shoot, I’m gonna forget some! ‘Longest Yard.’ Umm…hold it, hold it…I’m thinking! ‘Field of Dreams,’ ‘Glory Road’…I should have a list in front of me!”

Peter Dimako:

No that’s enough!

David Koechner:

“And them some actual real moments in sport: The ’86 World Series, the 2006 World Cup, the huge crash at NASCAR, the Stanford/Berkley Game of ’82….really innumerable.”

Question:

What did Carl Weathers think about the “Rocky” spoof?

David Koechner:

“You know, Carl’s got a great sense of humor and he laughed at it. He was in part of that spoof but since he was part of the picture, he shrugged his shoulders, why not? It’s all fair game; in for a penny in for a pound!”

Question:

Have you seen all of the movies that you spoofed? Or did you see any of them for research?

David Koechner:

“I think I’d seen probably over half of them and they had given me tape on some of the ones I hadn’t seen so I was very familiar with anything we were spoofing.”

Question:

You’ve certainly got a lot on your plate with over 68 credits to your name. How do you go about selecting your roles?

David Koechner:

*laughs*

“Like it was that easy! Like most actors in this town, I’m always looking for a job, so it would be great if I was in a position where I can just choose, but a lot of the times they just choose you which is what you hope for.”

Question:

Can you talk about working with director Tom Brady on this? What do you feel made him the right guy for this project and were you familiar with any of his work prior to this? Had you seen “The Hot Chick?”

David Koechner:

“I had not seen it but my conversations with Tom let me know immediately that he was the right guy. He had the, certainly the right touch and the right vision for the picture and was able to communicate that with me very easily. So I thought that we’d get along really well.”

Question:

How long did this shoot for?

David Koechner:

“35 Days.”

Question:

Most memorable moments?

David Koechner:

“Gosh, I don’t know, I worked every day! It’s hard to really choose one because there was really something every day we had fun doing. There’s an incident with a horse that I’ll say that will be memorable to me forever!”

Peter Dimako:

*laugh*
Ok, was there any sort of physical challenge to this? What posed the biggest challenge?

David Koechner:

“Well it looks like it but I’m gonna be honest with you, anything that looked like it was going to hurt me was the stunt man getting hurt. It would sound like a bigger deal if I say yeah I did all my own stunts so next time I see one of these stunt men they’ll punch me in the face.”

Question:

You’ve produced and written “The Naked Trucker and T-Bones Show,” any thoughts on producing anything else?

David Koechner:

“Oh yeah! I love control, ask my kids! Well, you know I conceived the project with my partner Dave Allen so, you know, when it’s the right situation you should be the producer or the executive producer in these things, so you get your chance to exercise your vision. If you have a vision you should be in control of it, if you don’t, why don’t you shut your mouth and do what you’re told!”

Question:

Can you talk a little about future projects? Can you talk a bit about “Walk Hard,” “Get Smart,” “Semi-Pro” and “The Perfect Game?” Also, you’ve just been cast in “The Goods: The Don Ready Story” with Ving Rhames, as well.

David Koechner:

“Right, right. I’m looking forward to that, we start shooting that in December. I also did a cameo in ‘Waiting’…umm…’Semi-Pro’ comes out in February, ‘Get Smart’ comes out in summer and ‘Walk Hard’…I forget when that’s slated. Boy we had a good time on that one! John C. Reilly and I are good friends and when John asked me to do the picture, sure why not. Jake Kasdan [director] and Apatow is in it…you know one of the producers. So, when you get called on, you say yes!”

October 9th, 2007 - 4:25 PM ET