Conrad Goode – From Football to Filmmaker | 057 - Actors Talk - Come Inside The Acting Business

WATERCOLOR POSTCARDS
WATERCOLOR POSTCARDS aka HOME IS WHERE THE HEART IS, is now available on DVD at AMAZON.COM or for streaming or digital download on AMAZON.COM and on iTUNES

Don't miss this film which features a top-notch cast headed by: Bailee Madison, Jonathan Banks, John C. McGinley, Laura Bell Bundy, and Conrad Goode. as Butch. Director is Rajeev Dassani.

Conrad Goode - A Change In Plans
Conrad Goode, unlike a lot of the prior guests on Actors Talk, did not grow up dreaming of becoming an actor, writer or filmmaker. He had other dreams and aspirations.

Conrad Goode's father and step-father were both accomplished football players. That's American football. College and Professional football to be more precise. Conrad's father was an All-American football player for the University of Missouri and went on to play professionally for a time in the Canadian football league. Conrad's step-father, Irv Goode had a long career in the NFL with the then, St. Louis Cardinals and the Miami Dolphins.

It is not surprising, given this background, that Conrad grew up wanting to excel in sports. And excel he did. He was highly recruited out of high school and considered powerhouse schools such as Ohio State and Notre Dame before deciding to stay closer to home and attend the University of Missouri.

Watercolor Postcards Trailer 1 from Rajeev Dassani on Vimeo.

There he, like his father before him, won All-American honors and like his step-father, transitioned from college into the pros. He was drafted as the 87th overall pick by the New York Giants in 1984. His dream of playing professional football had become a reality.

But...yes there is a 'but'... it didn't take long for the life in professional football to lose its luster. There is a scene in WATERCOLOR POSTCARDS where BUTCH, a former pro football player, played by Conrad Goode, talks about how he wound up in this small Texas town selling watercolor postcards on the side of the road.

I had to break down years of brainwashing from all the football coaches to show any type of vulnerability...
 

He, Butch, had become disillusioned with football and simply walked away. And when he did, he found freedom from expectations but lost the relationships of those who could only see him as 'Butch the football player.'

Conrad Goode tells me in our interview that this scene is definitely autobiographical. One day during preseason he realized his love for the game was gone. Football no longer made any sense to him. He was with the Chicago Bears at the time and simply went into Mike Ditka's office and told him the passion for football was gone and so was he.
Conrad Goode The Actor
When Conrad Goode was still with the Giants he had received a call rather 'out of the blue' from a talent agent who helped him get cast in a beer commercial. Somehow something as pedestrian sounding as a beer commercial proved to be the key that unlocked a new passion for Conrad Goode.

After retiring from professional football, he would spend a decade studying to develop his craft as an actor.

I had suggested in our discussion that there were many athletes, many professional football players who have toyed with acting and the movie business.

As Conrad Goode said to me,

 
"A Lot of football players have tried to get into the film business, but a lot of them don't want to do the work...I stayed in classes for ten years...Meisner for two years, scene study for five years...different types of classes working on my craft so when I got the opportunity, I knew I wasn't going to lock up when standing next to Jack Nicholson or something like that...."
 

Obviously this transition or transformation from football player to dedicated actor was not an overnight thing, not easy. His first acting teacher had some advice that he took to heart:

 
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