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THE SCOOP] lifestyles continued from page 23
How did you get into acting? I started musicals when I was 8 years old. Being one of six kids, my mom dropped me off at the community center one day. I wandered out of my class and saw them doing the musical. I had already been singing musicals with my mom since I was a little kid — she was an Irish woman — and I was already in the choir at my school at the time. I started doing community center theatre that year. It gave me a different sense of accomplishment than lacrosse and football.
My senior year at Conard High in Connecticut, I was the captain of a 22-1 state semifinal lacrosse team. When we were playing Cheshire, I left to go sing in the national championship for the solo choir in Virginia Beach. My solo choir won a 10-foot trophy, bigger than any trophy I ever won in lacrosse or football. And I was the first tenor — the guys who sing really high — in that solo choir. I still sing and write music. I have songs on iTunes, and I have seven brand new songs out that I’m just finishing up. I’m going to be doing dates on the East Coast, live shows.
When you listen to some of my reggae originals, like “Strange Wilderness” and “New Bablyon,” you can feel where I’m coming from.
How did you meet Adam Sandler and get in his movies? At Garry Shandling’s house on the basketball court when I was a production assistant on “The Larry Sanders Show.” I was already playing a game, and Adam walks up with Frank Coraci, the director, and Alan Covert, who ended up being my boyfriend in “Big Daddy” and the lead in “Grandma’s Boy.” And I was like, “Hey dude, me and my lacrosse teammates used to sit in and watch your ‘SNL’ reruns. We worship you.” He’s like, “Oh really? You sound familiar. Where are you from?”
I told him I was from Connecticut. He said he was from New Hampshire, and I was like, “Oh dude, you shoveled more snow than I did.” He started laughing and said, “We should play 1-on-1 after this.” We played and we continue playing to this day. We love hoops. Since then, it’s been a true best friendship. Good buddies. He’s hired me for comedy records and so many movies. It has been a great run.
24 LACROSSE MAGAZINE March 2013 >>
What are your favorite memories of your acting career? There have been so many. First of all, Adam Sandler being nice enough to let me go down to Florida a couple weeks early to help pick all the football players, and help choose “The Waterboy” team. We had a combine, so all the kids would be real players, like former Miami Hurricanes, or former guys from Central Florida, or arena players who had good enough personalities to help with the comedy also. He sent me down there early to the Citrus Bowl where we shot the film, and he allowed me to do some of my own stuff playing quarterback. I worked out with my buddy Rodney Peete, who everybody knows from UFC and the Raiders and Eagles, and he helped me get ready for “The Waterboy,” because I did all my own stunts and ran the offense. In high school, I played quarterback a few times. I was the third- string backup. I loved throwing the ball around. I loved pursuing that role. “Durrrr, look at me, I’m wa-wa-wa- waterboy. I’ve got a wooden spoon!”
Dante with a young lacrosse player after an Adrenaline Lacrosse clinic (above left), LXM Pro Tour midfielder Sam Bradman (left) and Shaquille O’Neal (above) on the set of “Grown Ups 2.”
None of that was in the script. It was all freelancing. It was all improvisation. Adam’s cool like that, he lets you freelance and keep it loose. These guys were getting $1,000 stunt bumps to make the game look authentic, and we’re playing real football. Especially in the Bourbon Bowl, when we’re playing that game, the Cougars against the Mud Dogs, we’re all running full-tilt. “Big Daddy” was very memorable, because you go from playing quarterback to being a gay lawyer, which is a huge challenge. People think, “It’s easy. It’s comedy. Just go be funny.” But no, you’ve got to play a character that happens to be funny within what happens around you.
I was in musicals when I was younger, and I knew friends and teachers of mine who were gay. It was a big responsibility bestowed upon me, to play a gay lawyer, and portray him in a positive fashion. I loved that part.
— Matt Forman A Publication of US Lacrosse
COURTESY OF PETER DANTE (ALL)
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