Andy Roddick makes his acting debut playing himself in the new pickleball sports comedy The Dink.
The film’s star, Jake Johnson, and the tennis champion appeared on each other’s podcasts before the film was made.
“He’s always been funny, but he’s on another level in this movie,” Johnson told me at Monday’s premiere of “The Dink.” “We almost cast him like a comedic actor to pretend to be an athlete, so we took a gamble and cast Andy, and he nailed it.”
It was producer Ben Stiller’s idea to offer Roddick the role.
“The whole thing about (Roddick) was that he was very self-deprecating and had a ‘I promise, I’m not that guy’ kind of attitude,” Johnson said. “We were like, ‘You’re the guy, you’re the guy.’
It certainly was. “If he can compete at the level he competed at in the sport, I think he can withstand some pressure and deliver his lines,” Johnson said. “He was open. He was funny. He was supportive.”
Johnson leads “The Dink” as a former tennis pro who tries to gain his father’s respect by joining a pickleball club. Directed by Josh Greenbaum, the film also stars Ed Harris, Chloe Fineman, Mary Steenburgen, Aaron Chen, and Clio King.
Greenbaum said of Roddick, “I talked to him on Zoom and I thought this guy could pull off the role…Any actor would say you have to act, even if you’re playing a version of yourself, and he did a great job.”
“The Dink” is available to stream on Apple TV.
