“I wanted to be with Steve,” McGinley tells of wanting to meet him on the set of the movie about Billie Jean King and Bobby Riggs
NEED TO KNOW
- John C. McGinley stars alongside Steve Carell in their new HBO show, Rooster, which premiered on March 8
- The two actors met on the set of 2017’s Battle of the Sexes
- “I only did [Battle of the Sexes] because I wanted to work with him,” McGinley told of working with Carell
John C. McGinley has nothing but praise for his Rooster costar Steve Carell.
The Scrubs actor, 66, described Carell, 63, as “Superman” in an exclusive interview with at theRooster premiere in New York City on Tuesday, March 3.
“He’s the most cerebrally agile and nimble actor I’ve ever worked with — and capable of pivoting on a dime with such elegance and grace you can’t even believe what just happened,” McGinley said. “And Steve could turn a joke like no one I’ve ever seen.”
McGinley looks up to The Office alum so much that he wanted to be on the cast of 2017’s Battle of the Sexes just for the chance to work together. The film was loosely based on the 1973 tennis match between Billie Jean King (played by Emma Stone) and Bobby Riggs (Carell).
“I admire him so much,” McGinley said. “I took a tiny role in the Billie Jean King movie, the Bobby Riggs movie. So we had met on that, and I only did it because I wanted to work with him. And I was practically an extra, and I didn’t care. I wanted to be with Steve.”
“Of course. He acted like he remembered,” McGinley added when asked if he told Carell about their first meeting on the sports film years ago. “He didn’t. I was an extra.”
In Rooster, McGinley plays Walter Mann, a college dean who encourages Carell’s character, a best-selling author named Greg Russo, to pursue teaching. Greg also takes the job to help out his daughter, Katie (Charly Clive), a professor at the school, who is going through a tough time.
In the show’s trailer, Greg leans into the traditional college experience while making new friends along the way.
The rest of the Rooster cast includes Danielle Deadwyler, Alan Ruck, Phil Dunster, Lauren Tsai and more. Bill Lawrence and Matt Tarses serve as the showrunners.
McGinley and Lawrence, 57, are also working together on the Scrubs revival, which premiered on Feb. 25, as the former reprised his role as Dr. Perry Cox.
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“I thought it was really brave of Bill Lawrence to explore exhaustion and fatigue and burnout in a real way for a guy who traded on alpha and being a lion,” McGinley previously told about his character deciding to leave his role as the chief of medicine. In the revival, Perry asks John “J.D.” Dorian (Zach Braff) to fill his place.
Rooster premieres on HBO on March 8 at 10 p.m. ET.
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