Michael Chiklis, Mike Flynt discuss playing football at 59 in ‘The Senior’
It’s been a long journey for Mike Flynt to see his story go from the gridiron to the big screen.
Flynt was a linebacker at Sul Ross State University more than five decades ago in Alpine, Texas. In 1971, while going into his senior year, Flynt was kicked off the team for fighting.
At a college reunion in the summer of 2007, Flynt expressed regret to his fellow teammates about being kicked off the team. After his friends dared him to come back, Flynt soon learned that he was eligible to play and worked to make the Sul Ross roster at 59 years old.
After missing the first five games of the season because of groin and neck injuries, Flynt made his debut on Oct. 13, 2007. He went on to play in a few more games that season, primarily on special teams.
The following year, Flynt released a book about the experience called, “The Senior: My Amazing Year as a 59-Year-Old College Football Linebacker.”
Now, 18 years later, Flynt’s return to his alma mater is chronicled in “The Senior,” out in theaters Friday.
“The Shield” star Michael Chiklis portrays Flynt in the inspirational sports film that also stars Mary Stuart Masterson, Brandon Flynn and Rob Corddry. The project filmed in the Fort Worth area back in 2021 and 2022, and held a premiere in Bedford last week.
Ahead of the film’s release, Flynt and Chiklis spoke to the Star-Telegram together about how the film came to be.
This interview has been edited for clarity and length.
Star-Telegram: Mike, I wanted to start with you. You played this season at Sul Ross State University in 2007 and wrote the book the following year. I’m curious: When did you first hear about someone wanting to make a movie about your life?
Mike Flynt: In 2007, [producer] Mark Ciardi came back to Alpine, and that’s not the easiest place to get to. He came back to watch me play and introduce himself. Of course, I was aware of the success he’d had with [the 2002 baseball film] “The Rookie.” He had, at that time, a first look deal with Disney and that was pretty serious. William Morrison Company had sent a crew out, but I was not at all impressed with them. Mark Ciardi totally sold me. Then [Mark] brought in Robert Eisele, the script writer. It was those professional individuals and dealing with them that made it on paper, conceptually, a reality. Then I just kind of followed their lead.
S-T: Michael, Mike’s story is something of local legend here in Texas. Had you heard of his story before?
Michael Chiklis: I vaguely remembered. I was like, “Oh, yeah. I kind of remember seeing an ESPN story about that.” I hadn’t seen any follow up to it, so it was sort of vague in my memory, but I remembered hearing something of it. Also, at the time, thinking the same thing I thought the second time around, when the script came to me. I kind of skeptically looked at it almost like, “Nah, that’s horse pucky. That didn’t happen.”
Then I read the book, and I was like, “Holy cow, could this be?” Then I read the script and was like, “Oh, I got to do this. I’d love to do this.” I found out that Rod [Lurie] was directing it, and then Mark Ciardi was producing it. I was like, “Okay, that means it’s going to be made in a particular way.” Because these guys know how to make a good picture. It’s just such a wonderful, compelling story. I mean, yes, it’s a football movie, but it’s more than that. Much more than that. It’s a redemption tale, and it’s a story about second chances and making good on some of your past regrets. I just love that about this movie.
My canons as an actor have always been this. First and foremost, if I can entertain you, that’s my first job. But really, if I can make you think and feel some hope or go through an emotional sort of catharsis in something, then that’s the trifecta for me. This is that perfect movie where you’re going to be entertained. It’s very funny. There’s lots of laughs and entertainment in it and action. The football and everything, but it’s also going to touch your heart and it’s going to make you cry. It’s going to inspire you and make you leave the theater feeling your humanity. I mean, what better way to go to the theater? Go with a big group of people and see this movie as a collective, because you’re gonna leave feeling good about things.
S-T: Michael, when you get a project like this where you’re playing a real person, is it a different acting process for you than portraying a fictional character? Did you get to or want to meet Mike beforehand?
Chiklis: In ways it’s different, in that you know you’re dealing with a real person and that they’re living. That’s the most daunting part of it. If you’re any kind of a person, you want to do justice to their story. I did a bunch of reading and looking into Mike’s life. Like I said, I read the book and that was great source material for me. Then asking questions. Then I actually met Mike and spoke to him on the phone, and then met him [in person]. The thing that really became sort of almost upsetting and daunting at first is finding out that he and [his wife] Eileen intended to be on set every day. I was like, “Woah, ugh, that’s a bridge too far.” [Laughs]
But then it ended up being great, because then I had the resource right there. I could turn to him and say, “Hey, Mike, what do you think about this?” When I realized that he was as awestricken by the process as I was about his story and that he wasn’t there to sort of give me directions and be obtrusive, then he turned into my resource, which was great.
S-T: There’s a fun part in the end credits for the movie, showing you guys meeting on set. For you Mike, it’s been a long journey to get here. What do you think you’ll remember most from this entire process?
Flynt: In everyone’s life, if someone were to have the opportunity to have that played out in some form or fashion, there are going to be places and things in your life that have more meaning. That are more special than just the general things of life. In this movie, there are certain things that are really special to me. It really had nothing to do with any specific actor or scene as much as it was a specific item in my Bible.
The different parts of the movie, the football parts of the movie were outstanding. They were so well done. Then the personal interaction between Mary Stuart Masterson and Michael were so ... and, see, they had never hung out with me and Eileen to know how we interact. They were really not realizing how much in character they were [laughs]. That was enjoyable for me.
Chiklis: That was inherent in the page, though. I think Bob Eisele did such a great job of researching you and writing it, that it came off the page. That’s our job as actors. We feel from the words, from what’s written. The dynamic between these two. All these different context clues. Just a little bit of watching you and she, like there are a lot of tells. I’m also married myself, for 33 years. I got the feeling that there’s a lot in common between us in that way. I call my wife the “architect.” I might be the mouth and everything and the bluster and all that.
Flynt: Eileen’s the “engineer.”
“The Senior” opens in theaters on Sept. 19.
