By: SindyThe third installment of the famous, hard-hitting comedy franchise, Slap Shot 3: The Junior League, features comic genius, Leslie Nielsen, and hockey greats, Mark Messier and Doug Gilmour. Kidzworld talks to the stars of the movie, Hunter Elliott and Ryan McDonnell.
Sindy:: Hi guys! Tell me about Slap Shot 3.
Ryan: We’ve got Leslie Nielsen as the team owner this time around, and the Hanson’s are still their good old selves so it should be really exciting—I think hockey fans will love the new, hard-hitting, fast-paced look at the franchise.
Sindy:: Who do you play?
Ryan: I play Kaine Fraizer, the goaltender for the rival team. I’m the son of the land developer who’s trying to take over the orphanage that the Chiefs live in. Yeah, I’m kind of the bad guy.
Sindy:: And Hunter, you play Henri?
Hunter: Yeah, Henri Miller is the womanizing, French-Canadian goalie for the Chiefs. I live in the orphanage with my teammates and try to stay positive about the landowner’s threats by keeping the hockey spirit alive.
Sindy:: How does it feel to be a part of the Slap Shot legacy?
Hunter: It’s fantastic—I grew up watching Slap Shot with my family and hockey has always been a big part of who I am—my dad went to school on a goalie scholarship—so it’s amazing to work on this movie.
Ryan: I played Triple A hockey in high school, but I was also involved in theatre, so the hockey guys would razz me about acting, but now I can laugh and say, “Look who’s doing both now!” Those Chiefs jerseys are a hot ticket to hockey fans around the world, so just to be a part of the word “Slap Shot” is amazing.
Sindy:: What’s your favourite hockey team?
Ryan: Vancouver Canucks all the way!
Hunter: We’re in Toronto right now trying to figure out if Sundin’s going to sign with Vancouver or Anaheim—it’s also impossible to find Canucks memorabilia here!
Sindy:: What was your favourite part of filming?
Hunter: On the last day of shooting we had a scene with a huge waterslide—it was absolute chaos. The director and the crew came in with water guns and started an epic water fight.
Ryan: During the final game, I get to skate out onto the rink with fire and smoke blowing around on the ice—I had such a big grin on my face. To do the things you dreamt about doing as a kid, and then acting it out, is pretty incredible.
Hunter: It’s their job to make us look cool. I’ve got some pretty awesome glove saves.!
Sindy:: Did you get to work with Doug Gilmour and Mark Messier?
Ryan: Mark Messier is a class act.—he comes in, knows all his lines and when the Hanson’s start making Lays jokes—“You want a chip?”—he just goes along with it, he was such a good sport. You see the Stanley Cup ring and consider his involvement with the NY Rangers—to have this guy in a scene, giving you a pep talk—it’s a special moment.
Hunter: The first time I saw Doug Gilmour on set was actually the scene where he was being introduced to the other players in the movie, so all that emotion on my face is completely real!
Sindy:: What about working with Leslie Nielsen?
Ryan: His character goes shaman and takes off to “be one with himself,” but while he’s gone, all this stuff unfolds with the team. Leslie Nielsen is such a classic, iconic figure and he just lights up the screen.
Hunter: But he’s goofy too—he showed up on set with a whoopee cushion. We were posing for a group photo, and right before the photographer took the picture, we heard this fart noise, and I was like, “Is that Leslie Nielsen?!”
Sindy:: Funny! Ryan, you’re in a band, right?
Ryan: Yeah, we’re called TV Heart Attack. The last couple years have been great—we did the Virgin Festival, played with the French Kicks and sold a lot of our songs to TV shows. We have a new CD coming out soon called Monsters—you can listen on our MySpace page. I also have a solo project going on that I’m really excited about too. The band has been lucky because we can use my film connections to get the music out there. We have three songs in the video game, NHL ’09. Sometimes it’s hard to balance the music and acting, but it’s all a part of entertaining so it’s great to be doing both.
Sindy:: Thanks so much, guys, and good luck with all your projects!
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