Scrubs star John C. McGinley reveals only reason he joined Battle of the Sexes with Steve Carell
John C. McGinley was happy to take on a "tiny role" in 2017's Battle of the Sexes, which starred Steve Carell and Emma Stone.
John C. McGinley took a "tiny role" in Battle of the Sexes just to work with Steve Carell.
The 66-year-old Scrubs star has always admired the 63-year-old actor and his ability to "turn a joke like" no other, and he was signed up the 2017 movie based on the 1973 tennis game between Billie Jean King (Emma Stone) and Bobby Riggs (Carell).
Speaking to PEOPLE magazine, he recalled: “I admire him so much. 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.”
The pair have now reunited in Bill Lawrence's show Rooster, and McGinley joked that Carell pretended to remember their previous meeting.
Asked if he brought it up, he added: "Of course. He acted like he remembered. He didn't. I was an extra."
Opening up on his appreciation for Carell, McGinley reflected on his "elegance and grace" as a performer.
He said: “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.
“And Steve could turn a joke like no one I've ever seen.”
Carell previously opened up on his approach to playing Riggs, and making him more than his misogynistic public persona in the build-up to the game.
He told Deadline back in 2017: "He was more than the sum of his parts. What he projected was character essentially and a way of drumming up interest in the match, and in himself.
"He was a businessman and a self-promoter. So, he kind of took a page from Muhammad Ali’s book and created this persona and definitely tapped into this zeitgeist of women’s lib.
"I think he saw an ‘in’ and a way to put himself inside of it.”
In Rooster, McGinley appears as college dean Walter Mann, who helps convince Carell's character - best selling author Greg Russo - to turn to teaching.
His decision also means he can help out his daughter Katie (Charly Clive), who is a professor at the school going through a personal crisis.
