Dylan Playfair – Odd Man Rush

By: Jamie Steinberg

Q) Please tell us the premise for Odd Man Rush.

A) It’s a true story. Bobby (Jack Mulhern) is overseas playing hockey in the “third league,” as they are called. It is really about his experiences of pursuing the dream and the places that the game of hockey can take you and the characters you run into. It is a quirky comedy. I think it’s really heartfelt. Hockey is the backdrop of the story, but I really feel it could be set in any transition time in someone’s life when you’re pursuing a goal or a craft or a job. Sometimes, especially in pro sports, there is a little bit of a time limit that you can chase those things for. There are not many industries where you are told at the age of thirty that you’re a veteran, you’re old and getting to the end of your career. And that happens in hockey and in pro sports in general. So, people have to make decisions of what they are going to do once hockey, college or football is over – whatever it may be. For this particular story, I thought it was really beautiful how it touched on the universal truths of those realizations and how people come to them and how different people feel with them and having a future. Being able to speak with Bill and Doug, the director, I was able to translate my experiences through that story, which is so common. SO many people have that same thing happen to them where they have to come to decide, “This is probably over for me and how do I handle that.” It was a special experience to bring that story to light knowing I had gone through such a similar process in my career.

Q) What is it about your character Dean Hunter that resonated with you?

A) I never had the opportunity to speak to the actual person who Dean Hunter was based on. There were people who their real names are used and some people whose names are changed. It was more about me speaking to Bill and bringing a level of authenticity from my experiences through Dean. So, we talked on the idea of having the character maybe be from Canada. But we ended up with going with a truer to life of the actual person Bill [Keenan] knew when he was playing overseas. They really wanted to make sure that I put my own personal stamp on Dean Hunter and it was really cool to be given that opportunity because I’m in a couple other shows where hockey is heavily featured and this one was probably actually the closest to who I actually was when I played hockey and that was a cool opportunity to bring that character to life.

Q) You were an avid hockey player, but how often had you been on the ice before filming this movie?

A) I learned to skate when I was two years old. My dad and both my brothers played professional hockey and I obviously played it until I was nineteen years old. So, hockey is something that I’ve always been around. I’ve played beer league and I try my absolute best to get back to it as often as I can. Obviously, with work the schedules sometimes don’t fit; however, I’m still on the ice probably thirty times a year – give or take. [chuckles] I’m sure that sounds like a lot, but when your whole life for literally seventeen years, six days a week of hockey. So, that seems like a pretty big step back. Yeah, I’m pretty comfortable being on skates. It was really nice.

Q) You and costar Jack Mulhern seem to have such a great onscreen bond. Did you spend much time together before filming to develop that connection?

A) Jack is this fantastic actor. He’s really, really gifted and original so working with him was a treat. Honestly, I’ve told him before if he had more time, he probably could have made a decision between professional hockey and acting. He’s that quick of a learner and truly an athletic person and a good guy. He was picking up the game really quickly. I came out early – two weeks early before the rest of the cast – to help Jack and I get our relationship off camera to a place where we both wanted it. That was really cool. That was something he and I felt was necessary for the film to have – a genuine sense of comradery off film before we got on screen because it’s such a big part of their relationship. They click right away and they both really help each other through this big period of transition in their lives. We really did get close on the movie. We hung out every day and talked a lot about the script and talked a lot about hockey and the parallels between the sport and the craft of acting. He’s a really, really intelligent person. We had some deep conversations about life, life after and art and I think that element of that really plays in the film and it was a real great opportunity to have an actor that was so generous with his time like Jack. So, credit to him.

Q) What advice did director Doug Dearth offer while filming that you took to heart?

A) Doug was incredible to collaborate with in the sense that he was very willing to let the actors bring their own energy into their characters. So, he really emphasized us sort of doing what we felt was right. Of course, he is there to catch you if you fall and not make you look bad but at the same time I hadn’t had an opportunity before Odd Man Rush to be involved in the pre-production process as I was. Doug and Bill and myself and Jack were having a lot of dinners up in Colgate working to figure out to make it the most authentic film as possible. Since hockey being such a unique sport where if you don’t play the game and know the game it can be very confusing – the environment, the rules of the game, the players and the characters you run into; they are all important. Doug knows film very well and Bill and I know hockey, so he really allowed us to weigh in on a lot of creative elements of the hockey side of it and that was a super cool opportunity.

Q) What were some of your favorite scenes to film?

A) I think easily my favorite scene was the moment where Bobby and Dean drive out and see the Northern Lights and are having a discussion about the transition from hockey to whatever is next. Dean is discussing about maybe becoming a police officer or an entrepreneur. I think the line is, “there is a certain point in your career where you go from a prospect to a suspect. And you want to make a decision before the Hockey Gods do.” And that just really resonated with me so strongly because I had almost the identical conversation with my dad when I was nineteen and decided to change careers. It’s really hard. It’s really hard to leave something that you know and have dreamt about your whole life and start on a new path. That scene was I thought a really beautiful snapshot of what I think a lot of people go through. I think a lot of people have that conversation of, “Now what? What’s next?” Hockey is over. School is over. This relationship is over. This job is over. Whatever it is, it’s something you have to go through. You have to have a certain mindset to come out and be better for it. That was a really, really special scene.

Q) How did you shake off a long day on set?

A) It was so cold in upstate New York. I was laughing with one of the production guys who was saying, “Oh, you’re Canadian! You should be used to this.” In Vancouver, we’re basically Seattle. We don’t get much snow. It’s quite nice and it rains a bit in the Winter time, but it never gets down to minus fifty, which it was the whole time we were filming. So, it was honest to God probably the coldest weather that I’ve ever experienced other than living in St. John New Brunswick. There wasn’t a whole ton of stuff to do when the weather was like that, but the cast was really close and we played a lot of board games. We were in the same hotel and we had a chance to really bond as a group of guys. And it felt like we were a hockey team in the middle of nowhere because we were out in the middle of nowhere. We took advantage of that and it showed up in the film.

Q) What do you hope viewers take away from watching Odd Man Rush?

A) I really hope people watch the film and relate to it, even if hockey is not a part of their lives. I think anyone who has (like I said before) who has gone through a transition – which I feel like the whole world is going through a big transition phase right now – and you’re presented with a choice: Does it make you or break you? Do you hold on to the past or do you take the new information and move into the future bravely and proudly and without regret? I think the ending scene of the film has a really beautiful moment that sort of highlights that realizing that your journey is what you have and all you have. If you set your sights on a place, a destination, a thing, a trophy or job or whatever it may be, that can be so fleeting that it can leave you feeling really empty inside if you expect something at the end of the rainbow. So, I hope people watch this and remember to look at what they have right in front of them and appreciate it. Love that. Express that love for what is real and good in your life at this moment. Because that’s all you have is this moment and I think that a lot of people forget that. I know I’m guilty of that. And I really appreciate chances like this where I have the opportunity to go, “Life is good.” With everything that is going on, there are still things to look forward to and be happy about. Remember, too. That’s my take away from the film and I hope people share that.