USA TODAY International Edition
Chandler has a new day job in ‘Game Night’
And his comic side gets a chance to shine
LOS ANGELES – Kyle Chandler isn’t shy about acknowledging he campaigned hard for a chance to show his comic chops onscreen.
The Emmy-winning actor, known for five indelible seasons as earnest Coach Taylor from TV’s Friday Night Lights and three seasons as responsible cop John Rayburn in Netflix’s thriller/drama Bloodline, used to end interviews with a not-subtle reminder.
“I would always say, ‘The last thing I want you to know about me is I am funny.’ I figured that would get me a job one day,” says Chandler, 52, laughing. “That speech finally paid off. Some sucker believed it.”
Two suckers, actually. Directors John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein knew Chandler was perfect as the mysterious Brooks — the alphamale brother to Jason Bateman’s Max in Game Night (in theaters Friday).
Chandler brought his typical intensity to Brooks, whose shady business dealings make his murder-mystery game night seem as if it might lead to real death. In a full-on brawl scene with kidnappers (which Brooks loses), Chandler padded himself for stunts and tackled in ways that would have made Coach Taylor proud.
“I smacked my ankle and almost cracked it diving through a fireplace. And at one point, I grabbed a guy against the wall, my finger got caught in his sweater, and I broke it.”
Sure enough, one of Chandler’s fingers on the hand holding his drink at London Bar veers dramatically.
“I was waiting for it to straighten out. But a week later the doctor goes, ‘It’s a little too late now.’ So I have a hooked finger now,” he says. “Football players call them a jersey tear.”
But no injury stopped Chandler from going for the laughs, even when they weren’t called for. For a dramatic moment when Brooks jumps from a moving car, Chandler improvised a highpitched scream before leaping out the door. The directors put the kibosh on it.
But his eagerness to let out the world’s most unmacho shriek demonstrates that Chandler is more than willing to give up his pride for a laugh.
“I’m ready to make a fool out of myself. I’m sure people won’t say: ‘We need someone funny in this role. Let’s get Kyle Chandler.’ But hopefully they say, ‘Oh, he’s funny also. We can use him.’ It’s another color in my palette.”
Chandler’s comedy has roots in Friday Night Lights — especially in domestic scenes with Connie Britton.
“It’s understated, but they were really funny together in Friday Night Lights,” says Jesse Plemons, who starred as Landry, one of Coach Taylor’s players, and reunites with Chandler in Game Nights. “Kyle has an interesting sense of humor. It was fun to go full-circle with him.”
Chandler, who gruffly shakes his head “no” when asked about a Friday Night Lights reunion, isn’t finished spinning out new projects. He’s stepping into a long-term action role as Mark Russell (playing Millie Bobby Brown’s father) in Godzilla: King of the Monsters, out in 2019, with a third Godzilla about to begin production.
He just completed his role as Deke Slayton, NASA’s first chief astronaut, overseeing Ryan Gosling’s Neil Armstrong in director Damien Chazelle’s First Man (Oct. 12), about the mission to put a man on the moon.
He’d be less likely to jump at a chance to work with Chazelle on a La La Landstyle musical. “I’m no song-and-dance guy,” he says.
“But I feel like I’ve hit the trifecta. I finally get a comedy, then I’m an action hero in Godzilla. And Damien Chazelle calls up and asks if I want to be part of the greatest adventure story ever told . ... It’s fantastic. This has been a pretty great year.”
“I’m ready to make a fool of myself . ... (being funny is) another color in my palette.” Kyle Chandler’s black comedy is out Friday. DAN MACMEDAN/USA TODAY