Interview: Patrick Renna Talks New Baseball Movie You Gotta Believe

ComingSoon Editor-in-Chief Tyler Treese spoke to You Gotta Believe star Patrick Renna spoke about his new film. Renna also discussed his iconic role in The Sandlot, his favorite baseball movies, and other roles in his wide-spanning career. Well Go USA will release You Gotta Believe in theaters on August 30.

“You Gotta Believe is based on the inspiring true story of one team’s transformational journey from district underdog to taking its place in the Little League record books. After dedicating the season to a teammate’s ailing father, a group of underestimated youth baseball players from Fort Worth, Texas, takes its Cinderella run all the way to the 2002 Little League World Series — culminating in a record-breaking showdown that became an instant ESPN classic,” says the synopsis.

It just feels right seeing you involved in a baseball movie. In You Gotta Believe, you’re playing Cliff Young. Tell our audience a bit about this role.

Patrick Renna: It’s a great movie. It’s based on an inspiring, true story. It’s kind of about a group of underdogs that definitely exceed expectations. My role, I’m kind of right there at that pivotal moment where I have to convince the coach to take on these guys and ask him to do something that he probably shouldn’t do. Because of where they stand and the hierarchy of talent. But it turns out to be a great move. As you’ll see, it’s inspirational, and they have some motivating power, and it’s a really cool story.

Yeah, it is a lovely story. The coach that you’re referring to in the movie is Greg Kinnear, and you two have some really strong scenes together. How was it working with him?

It was great. It was one of the reasons I wanted to do the movie, to be honest. I loved what the role meant to the whole picture, and the selling point, I think was him. Because I’ve been a huge fan of his for years. So to be able to work opposite him was kind of special.

The director, Ty Roberts, has done some really great sports movies in the past, too. Yeah. How is it working with him and his vision? It’s really nice to see somebody focusing on these really inspirational sports stories. I feel like we don’t get as many as we used to.

No, we get Marvel or bust. That’s it.

It was great. He worked with Luke Wilson on 12 Mighty Orphans. I’d seen that and it was great. That was another part of it because like you said, it’s just, it’s nice to see people investing time into films that you don’t see as much anymore. That was definitely my generation, the 90s, the early 2000s, there were a lot more stories like that. Especially now with where we’re at in the world, I think it’s important to have movies like this again, and we do need to make more of them. So that was a cool part of this too.

A neat connection here is you mentioned Luke Wilson, he’s your co-star in this film, and you were both guest stars in the same The X-Files episode. I know you don’t share a ton of scenes with Luke, but that’s pretty cool that you guys both popped up in extremely different projects 25 years apart.

Yeah, that was a fun X-Files episode. I think both of us were there about a month just to film one episode, and it was kinda one of their humorous ones, which there’s not many, so it kind of became a popular episode. So it was really cool. I wasn’t sure if he would’ve remembered, but we were on the baseball field, and he came up to me, and he is like, “Oh, man, we did that really cool X-Files together.” And I was like, oh, good. He remembered. So it was a cool reunion.

Like you mentioned, that X-Files episode is so beloved, I think, because it is different, and you play a vampire in that episode. There’s a really iconic shot of the teeth. How was it filming that?

Luke Wilson’s role on that is so great too because it’s from the perspective of Mulder and Scully. So Mulder sees it one way, Scully sees it another way. So in half of it, Luke Wilson’s this really handsome deputy, and then the other half is got buck teeth and he is ugly and, you know, ridiculous. So it’s just, it’s, they, they have that sort of juxtaposition throughout the whole film and it’s kind of fun. Um, but I, yeah, that was great. I mean, I, I went out there again, Vancouver, a month film, one episode. They had sort of, they filmed episodes kind of sporadically, so I had to come out for the beginning. There was that scene where I get stabbed by Mulder in the beginning, and, uh, so I had to get stabbed and then I just had to wait two weeks to shoot the rest of the episode. So I just got to hang out in Vancouver. It was great.

The Sandlot is obviously such an iconic film, and I, I feel like one of the, if I was doing a baseball movie, one of the first things I would think of is trying to get you involved, but I haven’t seen you in like, a ton of different baseball movies besides the Sandlot. Have there been other offers in the past of like small cameos and stuff like that, or how is that going?

I think so. I, you know, I sort of took a break. Um, I produce a lot now and I have a production company in la Um, but when I, I have a 7-year-old and a 4-year-old, so for that kind of four or five years through Covid, I kind of took a step back. And, um, so I hadn’t done a lot then, and then I got back into it and yeah, I just happened to do two movies in a row that have baseball themes, which is kind of fun. Um, but I don’t know, I don’t, I I don’t know why it never happened before.

You also have Monster Summer coming up. I saw you as the umpire in the trailer. Tell me a bit about that project. Did you work with Mel Gibson?

I mainly worked with the kids on that, which was cool too. I mean, kids in a baseball field, you know? What’s better than that? I guess now that I’m a dad, I can do that new role. I can play the adult.

Speaking of The Sandlot, it’s insane, but the line, “You’re killin’ me, Smalls,” basically influenced an entire generation of how people talk. That’s crazy. Obviously, it’s great writing, but also the delivery is such a huge part. How surreal was seeing that catch on? Because it’s not like The Sandlot was a huge overnight smash. It just kept growing and growing, and now it’s just completely invaded our culture.

Well, you said it perfectly. That’s it. It was that way for me too. It sort of was a slow burn. The movie did well in the theaters. It was a hit, but not Deadpool & Wolverine, that’s for sure. Then over the years, after 10 years, it kind of hit VHS, and then it hit DVD, and then people started buying it, and then the 20th anniversary came along, and you really started seeing, “Oh wow, this is passing on to another generation now,” and 25-30 [years] and it’s just snowballed. It’s crazy.

I like that the group of actors from that have really embraced the film too. I saw your great merch line, Hambino. How’s it been embracing that and having some fun with fashion as well?

I see the stuff out there all the time and so I thought, why not just kind of make my own here, you know? I teamed up with the creative director of The Mighty Company, which is a fashion line for women, a jacket line. So I wanted to make it kind of cool and something that is influenced by Sandlot but that maybe you’d wear on your own. Anyway, that’s sort of why we went with the Hambino because it’s kind of a fun name anyway. But yeah, we’re having fun doing it.

The Sandlot has definitely passed onto another generation after it just keeps connecting with people. Why do you think that it has really stood the test of time? I like revisiting it, and it’s a comfort film for a lot of people, too.

Yeah. I think that’s why I think You Gotta Believe has a lot of what Sandlot has in it too. Sandlot actually is kind of a true story, by the way. It’s loosely based around the director’s childhood. You have this true story element, but you also have this comradery, inclusion. Baseball, which is in itself just a nostalgic sport for some reason, it’s America’s pastime.

Then you add to that kids, and I think childhood is when everyone kind of searches to feel again, to be part of again, that’s when we’re all our happiest. We don’t have the worries. The more we can get back to that as adults, the happier we are, and then we have our own kids that we pass all this on to. So I think all those things make Sandlot what it is, and I think make You Gotta Believe really special too.

I feel like Sandlot is so universal and that younger kids can really grasp onto that too. You Gotta Believe is like a little step older where kids are willing to deal with some more complex, emotional issues. Luke Wilson’s character is going through cancer, and there’s some heaviness to it. So it is nice having that little step up. There are so many great baseball movies where you always have one that’s gonna connect with kids at just the right moment. I can definitely see that happening with You Gotta Believe as well.

Yeah, I agree. I suppose the kids are probably 15, something like that. 14-15, so they got me by a year on Sandlot. But yeah, I agree with everything you said. It’s really cool.

What’s your favorite baseball movie that you didn’t star in?

I think it’s between Major League and Field of Dreams now. Polar opposites, but Major League is for sure the funniest one that I could just watch on repeat. And I think Field of Dreams got me. That was really cool story and great actors.

The Sandlot was your first movie, correct?

First. I had done a small role on a Nickelodeon TV show before that, but other than that, it was the first thing I did.

That’s wild to have such an iconic film as your very first thing.

Patrick Renna: (11:49)
Yeah, I mean it was my second audition too. So, my first audition was the Nickelodeon thing. I went and did one day on it, so that was a pretty quick experience. Then I had an audition for Sandlot, and I’m off to Utah filming. Before I could even blink, I was filming movies. It was crazy.

You mentioned the anniversaries that pop up. I always enjoy seeing the whole cast together. It’s really nice that you guys have really formed a brotherhood, a true friendship. It is nice when that extends past just the movie screen as well. I think fans really get a kick out of that.

Yeah, we do too. We love seeing each other and we all share this experience together. We share this film that has stood the test of time and meant so much to so many people, and we’ve got to experience that together as well. So we have a brotherhood that will last forever as well.

I read that you had done some voice work for Spider-Man 3, the video game on PlayStation 2. Is that true?

Yeah, in the early 2000s, I kind of did a lot of voiceovers. It was before you had iPhone, so it was kind of a hidden gem of an extra career you could do. Now anyone can do it with an iPhone, so it’s the cat’s out of the box.

Thanks to Patrick Renna for discussing You Gotta Believe.

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