Movie Knight (From Swindon Advertiser)

SWINDON WILDCATS: Movie Knight

6:00am Friday 6th January 2012 in Ice Hockey By Andy Warren

FORWARD James Knight will be looking to impress his teammates with his acting talent instead of his stick skills when he swaps the Link Centre ice for the big screen tonight.

The 26-year-old plays a cameo role in the new ice hockey comedy, Goon, which follows the fortunes of Doug Glatt and the underachieving Halifax Highlanders, who play in the fictional Canadian League.

American Pie star Seann William Scott plays the lead role alongside Jay Baruchel, who has appeared in Knocked Up, Million Dollar Baby and The Sorcerer’s Apprentice, and Liev Schreiber who played Wolverine in X-Men.

Knight appears throughout the film as a member of the Highlanders’ roster, and was also given the chance to do his own stunts which saw Schreiber barge him over the boards during filming in November 2010.

It is not his first experience of life in front of the camera, though, having also appeared in Capote starring Philip Seymour Hoffman and MTV’s Everybody’s Doing It while at high school in Canada.

“Where I was in Winnipeg is really close to the border with the United States, so a lot of films were made there because it was a lot cheaper than filming in America,” Knight told the Advertiser.

“I did some films when I was at high school because it was quite common to do extra work for a bit of money, and I think my name must have still been on their books because they called me up out of the blue because they knew I played hockey.

“I said I was up for it because it seemed like a good idea, and it was a lot of fun.

“Everyone on the set was really nice and helpful, especially with people like me who had not done much acting, and it was great to be able to some stunts too.

“The cast and crew were very kind and answered any questions you had for them, and it just goes to show that even though they have been in Hollywood they are still very approachable.”

Knight and a group of Wildcats players will be watching the film when it is released at the cinema this evening, and Knight hopes they will be impressed with his work.

“I don’t have any lines in the film, but I do have to do a fair bit of acting, in as much as I have to interact with the actors in the film,” he said.

“I am sure I will get a fair bit of stick from the boys for doing it, but I hope they will be impressed. It should be a good film, but I think I will stick with hockey in the future.”