While Clint Eastwood may be the biggest star (and the biggest news magnet thanks to his recent speech at the Republican National Convention) of “Trouble with the Curve,” his co-stars Amy Adams and Matthew Lillard hold their own in this softhearted drama. As Mickey(the daughter of Eastwood’s talent scout Gus Lobel) and scheming corporate villain Phillip, the duo get plenty of screen time with the star, and while both have to be jerks to him on-screen, they have nothing but nice things to say about him off-screen.
When asked if it was tough to bully a living legend, Lillard said, “No, because he’s funny. The idea of looking at a legend and kind of being a jerk is awesome…he’s light hearted, it’s a fun set to be on. the script’s great, you know that you’re the bad guy. It’s fun to lean into that. And there’s something about the way he runs a set, or a Clint Eastwood movie. It’s one take, it’s a very quiet set, it’s a very fast working day. And that’s intimidating the first day, but when you get to know him, he’s an unbelievably caring and funny and gregarious man. So all of that washes away really quickly.”
As for Adams, she felt she learned from Eastwood, despite the fact she’s an experienced three-time Oscar nominee. “I did, I absolutely did. He has such a great group of people around him, and you never hear anyone say anything, anyone who’s ever worked with Clint has nothing bad to say about him, because he treats people with such respect, he’s so loyal and he creates an environment on his sets that’s productive, creative, and all of that is so informative to someone like me, who hopefully has years in front of her to let me know what I want my set experience to be like.”
But even working with Eastwood on this movie wasn’t enough to help Lillard become a fan of the sport at the center of the film. “I am a baseball fan-ish,” he said, before admitting, “I love sports, just not baseball.” Adams was a little more open-minded. Though she called learning how to throw and catch from a trainer “empowering,” she admitted she isn’t 100 percent taken with the idea of playing the sport. “I still have no strategy… [but] I would definitely play a game of catch and teach my daughter how to throw a ball.