With his sights on a career in football, Freddie becomes disappointed when coaches from Division I colleges are unable to see past his build. But his high school coach helps him by sending the UT Austin coaching staff some footage of his playing. The coaches at the college ultimately decide to ask him to visit the school with his friend and teammate, Bobby Mitchell (Rett Terrell), who\u2019s initially considered a better prospect, for a meeting with the legendary Longhorn coach Darrell Royal (Aaron Eckhart).<\/p>\n
Seeing both students\u2019 potential, Coach Royal offers them both a spot on the team. Linda gets accepted to UT as well, and the three students head to Austin. But the boys\u2019 early days of football training turn out to be brutal. Freddie is once again forced to prove his abilities against larger, stronger athletes. Along the way, he strikes up a friendship with third string quarterback James Street (Juston Street), and the two, along with Bobby, work their hardest to endure the grueling practice schedule and survive the cuts.<\/p>\n
Their camaraderie off the field results in them rising up the depth charts, and giving the Longhorns a real chance to turn their season around. By Freddie\u2019s junior year, the team has become so esteemed that it plays in the celebrated NCAA conference championship game at Fayetteville, Arkansas. But just when the team is reveling in the success of the season, Freddie suffers an injury that leads to a shocking diagnosis and the biggest challenge he will ever face.<\/p>\n
Wittrock and Bolger generously took the time recently to sit down for separate roundtable interviews at The Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York City to talk about starring in \u2018My All American.\u2019 Among other things, the actor and actress discussed how they were drawn to chronicle Steinmark\u2019s inspirational story in the biopic, as he was a genuinely caring and sympathetic person who determinedly persevered in any situation he was put in; how they enjoyed collaborating together on the drama\u2019s set in Austin, as they were both so present in connecting with their respective characters and their journeys; and how they were humbled, and knew they were doing the football player\u2019s life justice, when people who knew Steinmark became emotional as they visited the set and watched the biopic being filmed.<\/p>\n
While both the strengths and flaws of protagonists are highlighted in many successful biopics, Wittrock initially discussed how it was difficult for him to portray Freddie as such a nuanced character who\u2019s known for being perfect in many aspects of his life. \u201cIt was great-I had met a lot of guys who knew him and played on the time with him. They all said, \u2018He was the best guy I ever knew. He was a perfect person,\u2019\u201d the actor revealed. \u201cSo I had to get under his skin, and what gave him such a perfect veneer.\u201d<\/p>\n
Wittrock then explained that Steinmark was perceived to be such a perfect person because he wanted to be so ideal. \u201cHe believed in what he believed in\u2026I think he tried to see the good in life, even in his darkest moments.\u201d The actor also respected the fact that the football player was always asking how Mitchell was doing, even when he wasn\u2019t feeling completely happy himself.<\/p>\n
Also speaking of how Steinmark was considered to be so perfect by those who knew him, Bolger said \u201cWhen you look at him, you think, there\u2019s no way he\u2019s that kind, nice, wholesome and good\u2026.But nothing bad seemed to happen to this guy\u201d for most of his life, the actress pointed out. \u201cEven as a freshman, he had this high position of a safety\u201d on the football team. \u201cLinda has said, \u2018I have never met anyone else in my life who\u2019s like this kid. Freddie was the best person I have ever met, and will probably ever know. He changed my life because of it.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
On the prospect of playing a real person herself, Bolger noted that portraying Wheeler in \u2018My All American\u2019 was a complete change for her. She changed the way she normally wears her hair and make-up, and exchanged her Dublin accent for an American one, while shooting the biographical drama. \u201cThere\u2019s this human who\u2019s in California who\u2019s going to see the film, and it scares me that she\u2019s going to call me afterward\u201d and discuss her transformation for her portrayal, the actress admitted. But she also noted how \u201cgood, wholesome, kind and supportive\u201d Wheeler is, which partially attracted her to the role.<\/p>\n
During filming of the biographical drama that focuses on Wheeler\u2019s high school and college love, Bolger was surprised that the woman she was playing took the time to talk to her on the phone. The actress wondered if Wheeler wanted to discuss her relationship with Steinmark withher. \u201cI would have completely understood if she didn\u2019t want to speak with me. This was a big moment in her life. The love of her life died, and I can\u2019t imagine that\u2019s an easy thing to go back to,\u201d Bolger explained. \u201cBut she did, and she was so helpful and lovely.\u201d<\/p>\n
The actress added that Wheeler \u201cshared all of these images with me, as well as these private notes that she and Freddie shared. I also spoke to her on the phone as I walked around the UT campus. She said, \u2018There\u2019s a post box that we met by.\u2019 That made it real for me that I was walking in the footsteps that someone else did.\u201d<\/p>\n
While Bolger hoped to honor Wheeler and Steinmark\u2019s relationship and memories, she feels that as an actress, she has to infuse a part of herself into all of her characters. \u201cI was mirroring Linda more so than engulfing everything she said on the phone. I\u2019m sure she didn\u2019t want to watch an exact depiction of her. Since I never met her, it was hard to perfectly emulate her,\u201d the actress explained.<\/p>\n
Bolger also revealed that she\u2019s grateful that she gets \u201cabout a week in between my projects to dive in\u201d into her next role. \u201cI\u2019ve never had the problem of having to film two projects at the same time. So I get to fully develop my characters (on every project). They always require me to use a different accent from my own\u2026no project ever really wants an Irish girl, which is so sad,\u201d she divulged. \u201cBut I would love to do a project in Ireland, on which I get to be a Dublin girl, but it doesn\u2019t happen too often.\u201d<\/p>\n
Wittrock also revealed how the physicality of his roles helps form his emotional connections to his characters. \u201cI think sometimes people, especially younger actors, become obsessed with the physical aspect of their characters, like gaining or losing weight. That is a part of acting, but it\u2019s not all of acting,\u201d he revealed. While the physicality is \u201cthe way in\u201d to connecting with a character, acting \u201cis more about uncovering the character\u2019s mentality and soul. The physical stuff then tends to naturally follow.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Emmy Award-nominated performer added that for his turn as Steinmark in the biopic, he didn\u2019t need to try to connect with the character\u2019s physicality. \u201cI was working out every day on the set. I was also in this football boot camp, and was living like a football player,\u201d he revealed.<\/p>\n
Further discussing what the shoot for the movie, which was shot in Austin, was like, Wittrock revealed that it took place \u201cin mid-July. But these poor extras had to act like it was mid-November, so they had overcoats on. The older ladies were passing out. So it was brutal.\u201d<\/p>\n
The community where the movie was filmed was also \u201cso excited to have this story that had been so important to them for so many years was brought out into the world. So that\u2019s why we all felt lucky to be a part of that,\u201d Bolger revealed.<\/p>\n
\u2018My All American\u2019s lead actor added that while filming the scenes in which Steinmark was playing football, he received some \u201cbumps and bruises, as imagined. I remember on the first day, we did this exorcise that involved three guys lying on their stomachs, and they had to continuously roll and jump over each other. I got a cleat to the shins. I was like, \u2018Welcome to Texas!\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Despite the injury he sustained while filming the football scene with his co-stars, Wittrock insisted that he \u201chad a great community of actors around me. Aaron\u2019s total dedication to being the coach showed that he didn\u2019t have to act; he just became the coach. Sarah and Robin (Tunney, who played Freddie\u2019s mom, Gloria) were also so present.\u201d The performer also revealed that many of the supporting actors who portrayed the athletes on the football team hadn\u2019t acted much before signing onto their roles. \u201cFor a lot of them, this was the first movie they were in. So there was a lot of excitement to it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Besides building authentic bonds with the other up-and-coming actors in the cast, Wittrock also noted that collaborating with Pizzo was also a powerful experience. \u201cObviously, he\u2019s the tried and true sports guy. But as the director, he knew he was taking a big risk. So almost everyone was doing something new.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bolger also revealed what it was like collaborating with \u2018My All American\u2019s lead actor once they arrived on the set. \u201cIt was really important for us to be a close unit. You see Freddie and Linda almost instantly fall in love; there isn\u2019t any frivolousness to the romance,\u201d she explained. \u201cFinn and I got along so well together. He\u2019s such a good actor. I\u2019m watching him in \u2018American Horror Story\u2019 right now-he\u2019s so good!\u201d She added that she thinks it\u2019s great that her co-star has such natural talent that he can play such diverse characters as Steinmark in the biopic, as well as Dandy Mott and Tristan Duffy on the past two seasons of the acclaimed FX anthology series.<\/p>\n
Wittrock also revealed that he would have liked to have lived during the era in which Steinmark\u2019s story is set. \u201cI would have loved to have seen Austin in the \u201860s. I fell in love with the city, even just being there for two months (during the shoot). But there\u2019s still a hippie vibe lurking around the corners.\u201d That atmosphere contrasted with Steinmark, who was clean-cut and the perfect example of what life was like in the \u201850s, the actor noted. \u201cHe was the all-American guy, and I would have probably been the long-haired hippie.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bolger also chimed in on whether she would have liked to live during the era that Wheeler and Steinmark dated. \u201cI would be lying if I said I didn\u2019t use Facebook and other social media; it\u2019s a tool as much as anything else nowadays,\u201d she admitted. \u201cBut I do think that their lives were so innocent and pure because of a lack of all of these things that make it so easy for people to have a wandering eye. Would I want to go back to that time? I\u2019m not sure. But I loved living in that moment while we were making the movie.\u201d<\/p>\n
The lead actor also embraced how people who knew and were close to Steinmark, including his brother Sammy, were on the set as the drama was being filmed, and how emotional they became. \u201cThese tough ex-football players were weeping, which is when we knew we were onto something,\u201d Wittrock admitted.<\/p>\n
Bolger added that the people who knew the football player were \u201cso emotional when they visited the set.\u201d Seeing how sensitive everyone still was about Steinmark\u2019s death, even decades later, made the actress feel humbled to help tell his story on screen.<\/p>\n
The lead actress also said that representing Steinmark and Wheeler\u2019s true story in a biopic, during which people who knew them both visited the set and collaborated on the story, added pressure of doing right by the couple. Many of the real-life counterparts of the film\u2019s characters attended the shoots of UT\u2019s football games. \u201cThere was a moment when Finn was on the field and Finn stumbled. I remember Sammy, Freddie\u2019s brother, was there, and I thought, that\u2019s so much pressure,\u201d the actress revealed. She also divulged that \u201cWe wanted to respect the truth of what happened, but we also want to be creative as actors, and put our own spin on it\u2026It was a huge responsibility.\u201d<\/p>\n
While Wittrock noted how he appreciates the opportunity he was given to portray such an icon as Steinmark in \u2018My All American,\u2019 he\u2019s also values the chance to star as Tristan, a male model, in the current season of \u2018American Horror Story: Hotel.\u2019 Working with Lady Gaga, who plays The Countess, \u201cis awesome; she\u2019s a real work horse, which is something people may not know. She\u2019ll be here in New York, accepting an award over the weekend, and then be on set (in L.A.) at 7am on Monday. But you\u2019ll never have known that she had gone anywhere.\u201d<\/p>\n
The actor added that the six-time Grammy Award-winning singer-turned-actress \u201creally went out of her way to show the cast that she\u2019s a member of the ensemble\u2026I think she did a lot to break the mystique about her. She hangs out with the crew and sings songs on set. She\u2019s very approachable.\u201d<\/p>\n
Wittrock has received acclaim for his roles on the past two seasons of \u2018American Horror Story,\u2019 \u2018Hotel\u2019 and \u2018Freak Show,\u2019 and has also relentlessly and powerfully worked to translate that praise into his portrayal of his film characters. His roles on the hit thriller show are fictitious and are largely created within his own mind and through his collaborations with his fellow actors and the crew. However, the characters in some of his recent movies, including \u2018My All American\u2019 and last year\u2019s fellow biographical sports drama, \u2018Unbroken,\u2019 are based on real people, so the characters\u2019 fates are already mapped out.<\/p>\n
The actor humbly admitted that \u201cThere are challenges to playing a real person who\u2019s a legend. While the process is daunting, the good thing is that you do have references, because you have real people who really knew (the character). I also had the benefit of having two really great books\u201d that both films are based on. \u2018My All American\u2019 was inspired by \u2018Courage Beyond the Game: The Freddie Steinmark Story\u2019 by Jim Dent, while \u2018Unbroken\u2019 is based on Laura Hillenbrand\u2019s bestselling 2010 book of the same name.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you\u2019re playing a character that was created by Ryan Murphy in his weirdest nightmares,\u201d Wittrock laughed as he then started discussing his \u2018American Horror Story\u2019 roles, \u201cyou have to imagine that work. You still have to be as thorough about the person as you can, but it has to be done entirely through your imagination.\u201d<\/p>\n
With his current role of Tristan, \u201cI decided that even though the story is modern, he\u2019s a punk-rock guy from the \u201880s,\u201d Wittrock explained. \u201cSo I immersed myself in bands like The Sex Pistols, who were popular when punk was starting. I listened that music every day. So you create a history if there isn\u2019t one.\u201d The actor added that he\u2019s excited for devoted viewers of the show to witness his transformation throughout the rest of \u2018American Horror Story: Hotel,\u2019 which he described as something he\u2019s never done before. <\/p>\n![\"Interview:](\"http:\/\/www.shockya.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/Interview-Finn-Wittrock-and-Sarah-Bolger-Talk-My-All-American.png\")
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Photo Credit: Clarius Entertainment<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n