by Gary M. Kramer, Staff Writer

Heart of Champions is an inspirational sport drama about an Ivy League crew team in 1999. After they fail to beat Harvard in a regatta, the team gets a new coach, Jack Murphy (Michael Shannon), who helps the eight young men (all of whom look like they stepped out of an Abercrombie and Fitch catalog) find a sense of purpose and camaraderie. 

Alex (Alexander Ludwig) is the team captain whose domineering father (David James Elliott) wants him to get an Olympic seat. John (Andrew McNeil) is the nice guy who stole Alex’s girlfriend, Sara (Lilly Krug), and soon usurps his leadership position on the team. Chris (Charles Melton) is the newbie with a dark past, whose romance with Nisha (Ash Santos) forms another narrative thread. 

In the background is Lance (David Cade), a crew member who appears in many scenes but has only a few lines. Cade has appeared in various shorts, TV series and films, is slowly gaining some traction in Hollywood. Earlier this year, he appeared in Lansky as Ben “Bugsy” Siegel. Cade has some menacing scenes in that film (available on demand) dispatching guys like Jimmy the Bookie and Salvatore Maranzano. The actor also had a flinty supporting turn and Into the Ashes, a Frank Grillo crime thriller from 2019, and can next be seen in Shriver, a comedy featuring his Hearts of Champions costar, Michael Shannon. 

In a recent Zoom interview, Cade chatted with Movie Jawn about being a team player, his athletic prowess, and making Heart of Champions. 

The film is about teamwork. You appear in the ensemble cast. Can you talk about what it means to play a role that demands you to be on screen in many scenes but be peripheral to the action? You still need to give 100% which can perhaps be harder than acting with lines.

Unfortunately, with editing the part got whittled down a bit, but even so, I was never going to be one of the top four guys in the boat. It is harder. It is not easy to find a character with such limited time to make him really stand out. You have to make big choices and figure out what is going to play on the camera independent of you saying it. Little things like, how you row the boat. I thought Lance approached rowing like an MMA fighter. Same visceral competitiveness and aggression. I tried to have that be the mainstay of the film. He approaches rowing like a fighter. Yes, he’s charming and funny, and goes after the girls. I try to carve out a piece that stands out and hoping it lands in the edit.

How much crewing did you do in the film, and how much had you done prior to making Heart of Champions? Did you work with rowers to learn the sport?

There is a real craft to it. I was pretty arrogant coming into it. I thought I could handle it. I’m so glad I got a coach ahead of time to work with! I prepped about two months coming into the movie — learning the technique and what the sport was. It’s not just rowing a boat. Once you get that out of your head you really come to appreciate how talented these guys are. We had a week-long camp where we rowed 6-7 hours a day. We started at 8 am and had lunch break. And we had massage therapists and sports therapists, and then would go out in the afternoon. We worked with Linda Murray, a talented rowing coach who [trained] collegiate and Olympic-level athletes. She guided us. It was a learning experience, and the bonding experience that came from that camp solidified us as brothers throughout the film. This camaraderie was huge. A lot of those times, you can be competitive as young actors. The camp and team mentality — almost everyone was an athlete or former athlete — built love and camaraderie.

What was your sport? 

Wrestling. I did a lot of boxing. That was my primary sport. I had opportunities in college to wrestle, but I went to the theater. I was quite different. I had a moment where I had thoughts about MMA. I loved striking. I lived in Thailand when I was a kid. I did a lot of Muay Thai. But I knew that my physicality was a byproduct of my environment. It was not my passion. My passion was story — playing characters, writing, or making people laugh. Being physical didn’t hurt. But athletes are done at 40. Even if you are a champion, the beat downs are brutal. As much as I have respect for those athletes — and I watch them all, and I still love it — but as an actor you can even get started in your 40s. 

The crew is asked in the film by coach Murphy why they row. Why do you act? 

There are a lot of layers to it. I’ve always been a curious, interested person and have hobbies —  things I read about and think about — and acting was a way to participate in my interests without having to fully commit to the life. I can play Raging Bull, but I don’t have to spend 20 years getting knocked around like Jake LaMotta. As a kid, when I learned about Doc Holliday. I was fascinated by him and the idea to play a character like him. I was always kind of a goofy kid, and liked to make people laugh, but juxtapose that with wrestling and fighting. I’m passionate about acting because it allows me to explore all of those elements, and there is something similar to sports — something very alive in it. You can’t phone it in. You have to be present. It’s the immediacy and I’m kind of a thrill person. And I try to bring that into my performances. 

Can you talk about any bonding or teambuilding games you did with your castmates to create a sense of unity or what the film calls swing? 

When you put yourself into the boat, everyone’s personality figures itself out. It has to. In order to move forward and win, and create “swing,” you need people to find where they fit in the pecking order and how each person’s individual personalities really play out. My character Lance is either 5th seat or 6th seat, which is a power rowing position. That’s the person who is going to be ferocious. The front seat must maintain their consistency. They must row in such a way that it sets everyone else up for success — because we’re all looking at the guy ahead of us and pacing ourselves off them. It was appropriate for Lance to be 5th and 6th seat, but also for me. There was something about my personality and how I interacted with some of the guys. I was older and had more authority, so it was perfect for me. Same with Alexander [Ludwig] and Alex [McNeil] in the front maintaining that cool, calm, composure and setting the pace. Finding swing is about each person coming to terms with their individual personalities and how they interact. 

Heart of Champions is an inspirational sports drama. Can you talk about a coach or teacher or person who inspired you? 

I had a point in my life where the odds of me getting out of high school were limited and I could have gone down a different path. I had a team that pulled me out of that. I had a great teacher who was like a second mom for me, making sure I was in school. I had a teacher who was the first guy who validated that I was smart, and that I think differently, and that’s OK. That made me realize I was more creative than I get credit for. Another [teacher] first cast me in a theater show. And finally, I had a wrestling coach who taught me about work ethic. Wrestling is hard, and I was relatively naturally talented when I started. I was in my chaos the first year and I showed up and I won the vast majority of matches. But I stopped showing up to pratices, and I didn’t commit myself the way I needed to commit. I earned my varsity letter and I was really proud, and took my family to get this letter, and at the banquet and the coach starts reading through the names, and he didn’t say my name. I thought, that must have been a mistake. I went up to him, and he said there was no mistake. You win, you’re talented, and you’re good, but you quit. You don’t show up and you do half as much work. That changed my life, I was so crippled and embarrassed. He was actually right. I didn’t give all of myself and thought I could skate by. Since then, I don’t skate by. It made my choices different. I was doing TV stuff and I took a step away from that to do indie film and characters and projects to work on. It’s 100% effort to do it.

There is a rivalry among some of the teammates, and there is certainly against the other crew teams. Are you competitive? Do you have jealousy when a friend gets a role you went for?
I don’t typically get jealous. Like every actor, I have moments when once I realize how someone got a job or what nepotism was in play, I don’t like that, but my general experience has been there’s space for all of us. There are some roles I missed out on that. I was up for The Spectacular Now. I wasn’t known at that time, and I really wanted it. I’m not sure I’m jealous of Miles Teller, but I’ve never watched it. It’s not Miles’ fault. That said, coming from a team background, I try to support people as much as I can.

Without giving too much away, there is a tragedy in Heart of Champions. What do you think of the film’s ethical situation that arises?

The thing about grief is that it is completely unpredictable. When I lost my father, I didn’t realize I was grieving until 2-3 years later. When people have shared a unity of purpose the way athletes do in the film, the only way you can reconcile a loss is to fulfill the purpose. The best way to mourn someone is to finish what you all started, and then take time to mourn appropriately. It can be really healing.  

From what I’ve seen of you on screen, you seem pretty versatile playing flinty bad guys. How do you want to be seen? 

I want to do leading man character types. I look up to Joel Edgerton, Hugh Jackman — I love Hugh’s range. I’ve done musical theater myself, but I play tough guys. But I do goofy comedy shows. I want to have the widest breath in my career and do things that interest me. And I want to be someone who is respected by their peers. Look at Christian Bale. That is what I want to age into. Doing Heart of a Champion, and a comedy Shriver, coming out later this year, and Bugsy in Lansky. These are all different ranges of people that interests me. Doing ensemble pieces, that will get me the picture. 

You have started writing and producing. What can you say about creating your own role and creating your own parts? 

I love it. I’m a creative. If I’m not working on a film where I am acting then I want to be making something, and I love story. I’ve been able to carve out a niche for myself script doctoring and getting my own screenplays out there and it’s starting to pay off. And I will act in those projects. But I love to broaden out, like Brad Pitt and Plan B. When I’m 55, I want to be doing that. I have a half hour [show] that we’ve been shopping around that has been getting interest. I have a feature we have talent looking at that I would love to play the title role in that has a great ensemble cast opportunity. I’m trying to care out that niche for myself. The more people get to know me through these other characters the more it will be possible for me to blow their minds when I do this other stuff.