He’s Running Wild

Orlando Jones has such a wonderful laugh that someone should bottle it. It seems to begin from the tips of his toes and rush up his body until it erupts into a hearty gale. And it’s infectious. Over a vegan lunch at the Newsroom Cafe in Beverly Hills, the actor frequently breaks into laughter during an interview about his latest film, the football comedy “The Replacements,” and it’s hard not to join in.

In the Warner Bros. release, which opens today, Jones plays a slippery-fingered sprinter named Clifford Franklin who gets an opportunity to be a member of a pro football team after all the NFL players go on strike. Franklin is recruited by a legendary coach (Gene Hackman) to join the makeshift squad, which includes a once-famous college quarterback (Keanu Reeves), an excitable L.A. cop (Jon Favreau), a Welsh star kicker (Rhys Ifans), a Baltimore prison inmate (Michael Jace) and a Japanese sumo wrestler (Ace Yonamine).

Jones, 32, has appeared in several films in the past few years, including the forgettable “Office Space” and “Sour Grapes,” as well as a memorable dramatic turn as a menacing Baltimore hood in Barry Levinson’s “Liberty Heights.”

He also has several films set for release, including “Bedazzled,” “Chain of Fools” and “Say It Isn’t So.” Jones recently wrapped his first starring role in the action comedy “Double Take,” opposite Eddie Griffin.

The actor is best known, though, for his stint on Fox’s late-night sketch comedy show “Mad TV” and for his series of riotous 7-Up commercials (“Make 7-Up yours!”).

Jones was born in Mobile, Ala., and was raised in Greenville, S.C., and studied at the College of Charleston. He began acting in industrial films as a teenager and by age 19 was writing commercials and jokes. He got his start in Hollywood writing for the NBC comedy series “A Different World,” working his way up to producer of the short-lived Fox sitcom “The Sinbad Show.”

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Question: I know in “The Replacements” the strikebreakers are the good guys and the striking football players are the bad guys. But truth be told, you guys are crossing picket lines.

Answer: They really are. Not technically, because we [the replacement players] weren’t in the players’ union. But anybody who ever has had factory work knows what [crossing the picket lines] means. That was something we talked about a lot on set, even though the structure of the movie is that we are the good guys.

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Q: Had you played football before “The Replacements”?

A: I had played in high school. But we went to football camp for a month [for the movie].

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Q: What was that like?

A: I enjoyed it, but to be honest with you it’s murder. All you do is eat and lift weights and play football. We get hit a lot. They had the rule, don’t hit the actors, but that meant don’t hit Keanu. I was getting the [expletive] knocked out of me. I was actually OK. But I play a wide receiver, and they have to get hit. The last thing I wanted was to be unbelievable.

We were in Baltimore and it was hot, like 95 degrees. The humidity was really crazy. We were playing in Raven Stadium, and because the seats were usually empty [while we were filming], they were metal and they reflected. So on the field it was 110 degrees. You are out there 12 or 14 hours running plays.

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Q: Did the actors bond together just as the team does in the movie?

A: That kind of happened in football camp. Everyone was very different, so we sort of got a sense of how everyone was at football camp and it continued on after that. Keanu did something really cool. All of our trailers were lined up in the parking lot and they backed up this huge trailer [for Reeves]. He said, “Send it back. Give me a trailer like the guys have.” It was really funny because we were all like, “What is wrong with you? It is unbelievably hot. Take the one with the biggest AC so we can hang out in it.” We really felt like a unit.

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Q: Since you wrote for sitcoms, do you tend to work on your lines in movies?

A: I thought the script [for “The Replacements”] was really good. I played with lines here and there. Howard [director Howard Deutsch] was up for it. He would say, “Change it.” I felt like I had carte blanche. I made him [Clifford] my own.

To me, when the football strike happened, it was in 1987 and there was a wide receiver named Charlie Brown, who came from South Carolina State who was 5 [feet] 7--unbelievable. He could catch anything. I knew Charlie Brown. He became part of my template [for my character]. I got caught up watching him play because he was so exciting to me. So I kind of took a part of him and made him Clifford.

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Q: Did you have that same excitement with the thought of working with someone of the stature of Hackman?

A: Occasionally, yeah. I would walk onto the field and at one point I look up and I realize I am going to do a scene with Gene Hackman, and I said, “How did this happen? Three years ago I was on ‘Mad TV’--I didn’t think anybody was watching. I don’t know how I got here.”

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Q: You must be getting recognized these days with the 7-Up commercials and all of these movies.

A: It’s weird. I was just in Vegas this weekend for a charity event, and I was at the Hard Rock to have a drink. I didn’t think people would recognize me. So I am walking through the Hard Rock and then I am at the bar, and for three hours I am trying to get out of there. I’m doing pictures and signing autographs. I had no expectations for it. It was like, “Oh, you are the 7-Up man.” Or, “You were so funny on ‘Mad TV.’ I want to see your new movie.” I didn’t expect people to be able to do that because I always assumed I look so different. I was bald when I was on “Mad TV,” and that was 3 1/2 years ago.

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Q: How did the film roles come about?

A: I auditioned for a movie right after the second season of “Mad TV,” Larry David’s movie, “Sour Grapes.” That year I did three movies, and I have done three movies [a year] ever since. It’s funny. Every time I finish the movie, the producers and the directors [say to me], “Big star.” And then they fall apart. “Sour Grapes” didn’t happen [at the box office]. “Liberty Heights” was one of the greatest times ever, disappears essentially. “Office Space” came and went. I got cut out of “Magnolia.” And in between there, I shot these 7-Up commercials.

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Q: How long did you write for sitcoms?

A: I wrote for two seasons on “A Different World.” I left there and did the pilot of “Martin,” and then I did the live year of “Roc.” I was executive story editor. I didn’t get a producing title until “The Sinbad Show.”

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Q: Tell me about the scripts you have sold recently.

A: I have sold three. “The Reverend Pimp Daddy” was the first thing I sold. Columbia is very excited about it. It will probably go into production in November. Then I sold a big action comedy called “Sticky Fingers” to Universal--a buddy comedy about the queen of Swaziland and two thieves from New York who steal the crown jewels. And then last week I sold “Redneck” to Columbia. I am a black Jewish kid. My parents gave me up for adoption, and I was raised by a redneck family.