It’s not every day you get to talk to a guy who has acted alongside such major Hollywood talents as Brad Pitt, Jonah Hill, Philip Seymour Hoffman, and Chris Pratt. It’s also not every day that this person is a former Lipscomb baseball player.
Moneyball actor Casey Bond came back to the place where he spent his senior year of college this week to talk about his role as Chad Bradford in the book-turned-movie blockbuster.
Casey Bond, former Lipscomb center fielder, recently acted in the new film Moneyball (based on the book by Michael Lewis). In the film, Bond’s character is a relief pitcher who played for the Oakland A’s during the 2002 season where the film gets its focus.
Bond said he always had dreams of being a baseball player. Ever since childhood, baseball has been his passion. He played college ball at Birmingham-Southern in Alabama for three years until the school dropped the division one program. Lipscomb coach Jeff Forehand arrived at the same time as Bond and offered him a position on the Lipscomb team as a captain and a center fielder. “I figured this was a great place to go for my senior year.” Bond remembers.
In 2007, Bond was drafted into the major leagues with the San Francisco Giants. During the off-seasons, Bond would return to Nashville to take acting classes with The Actor’s School in Cool Springs and finish up school. After his time in the Major Leagues, Bond decided to venture into the world of Hollywood acting.
“I loved movies, and I just decided it was something I wanted to do,” he said, “and when I was through with the Giants, I decided that this would be a great opportunity here. Things were just kind of presented in front of me, and I went with it.”
One of Bond’s first appearances was as a handsome handy man on KISS front man Gene Simmons’ show on A&E. Bond remembers the experience fondly. “It was pretty cool to get out there and film for that show.”
Bond landed his first major Hollywood role with the newly released film Moneyball. After a failed attempt by filmmaker Steven Soderbergh to get the film off the ground due to creative differences with Sony, Capote director Bennett Miller was signed on to direct. Bond moved to Los Angeles around a year and a half ago, and within six months, he read with Sony casting directors for the film. This led to a reading with Miller, and that led to a reading with Mr. Brad Pitt himself.
To prepare for the role, Bond actually got to talk with Chad Bradford.
Bond knows the game of baseball, of course, but he was not familiar with the “submarine” pitching style that Bradford used in real life. He actually had to read for the role before he had a chance to go out on the field and prove his baseball skills. Bond said that having Bradford’s assistance was a huge help. “Chad was definitely helpful in the sense that he mentally guided me through the kind of person he was and the kind of pitcher he was.”
Bond had nothing but great things to say about his fellow cast members.
“It was an all-star cast because you have Brad Pitt, who is the guy. Everyone knows who Brad Pitt is. Jonah Hill—he’s the king in comedy right now. Chris Pratt—another up-and-coming comedy guy. Robin Wright—she’s been around for such a long time and has been in some amazing films. And Philip Seymour Hoffman, who is just the legendary actor. He does it all.”
Bond said the set was very relaxed and he earned from Pitt and recounts a specific event that gave him a valuable lesson.
“We were filming a scene together in the locker room, and after we did our first take, I was heading over to look at the playback,” Bond said. Then Pitt stopped him and told him not to look at the first playback. Bond remembered someone from his acting classes teaching him the same thing, but he was glad that Pitt gave him a pointer in the situation, as well as other points of advice throughout the shoot.
Bond also said that Jonah Hill is just as funny in real life as he is on screen. Bond and Hill threw out the first pitch together at the Oakland A’s game the day before Moneyball was released.
“They’re all super friendly,” Bond said. “I couldn’t have asked for a better first major film experience.”
He also had the distinct honor of being in a film co-written by writing legends Aaron Sorkin and Steve Zaillain, an experience he was quick to call “surreal.”
He also gave high praise to director Bennett Miller and cinematographer Wally Pfister (The Dark Knight, Inception).
With his experience in Moneyball, Bond described the entire process of shooting as being back on a baseball team. Bond said the cast was very close like a baseball team would be, and that it was a laid-back atmosphere where everyone was having fun and making an awesome experience out of the shoot.
The film recently opened to great critical success and solid numbers at the box office, even to the point of having the all-time best box office opening of a baseball film, beating classics such as Bull Durham and The Natural.
Bond makes his experience on the film sound like a dream come true. “To be in that category, to lead that category, and to have been a former baseball player?” Bond said. “It just doesn’t get better.”
Bond had a word of advice for acting majors here at Lipscomb. He said the key to success is making connections and building relationships. He also said his Lipscomb background has been a tremendous help. He said people notice the kind of attitude that Lipscomb gives its students. Bond also said his faith has been important in his rise to fame.
“To be able to go through this university and have a Southern upbringing,” he said, “it keeps you grounded.”
Find out more about Casey on his website http://thecaseybond.com/ . Follow @CaseyBond to keep up with him on Twitter.