Caleb Castille And Tony Nathan On ‘Woodlawn,’ Racial Tensions & Jon Voight [EXCLUSIVE VIDEO]

In the beginning, it was frightening. You know, you’re just afraid of the unknown, trying to fit in as a youngster. It was nerve racking. But, you know, you just had to be yourself, and, you know, just take care of yourself at the time. They put you on the edge. You’re trying to protect yourself and make sure that nobody hurts you and you definitely weren’t going to look to hurt nobody else so, there was a lot of tension.

The first couple of practices when you line up to go, you get an opportunity to carry the football and nobody would block for you. So you’re getting ten people up front just, you know, having their way with you, and Coach Gerelds stepped in and said, “Well if this is the way it’s going to be we might as well dissolve the football team because he’s going to be here and play.” And from then on, a couple other players stepped up to the plate and started saying, “Hey, he’s human, give him a chance, let him do what he has to do, let’s see where he is,” and things started to change.

Tony: It’s amusing to see him do what he does and for him to bring out the character he did about myself, him playing the character. And you sit there and smile about it and you say, “Well he did it. He nailed it.” Caleb Castille: Well, I appreciate that.

Yes, that is very true. I was initially hired to be the body double because of my football experience. They just wanted a genuine football feel. And then, three days before production, they went back and said, “Hey, we think you have what it takes to be the lead.” And I kind of stepped up to the plate, and it’s been an incredible experience so far.

Yeah, I think… Well, initially they gave me a lot of research to do and then the first time we got on set… So, I talked to him and kind of got a good feel of his character and you know, I was like, “Alright, I’m getting it. He doesn’t say a lot.” [Laughs] It was a great experience though. We were both very wide-eyed about the whole experience.

I think, yeah, I think so. I mean, more so against me, I would say. I had experiences where we would go and play other teams. You know, there are incidences in school that I can remember, but that’s all about what a lot of people are learning at the dinner table and just bringing it out of their home. You have to just understand that they’re narrow-minded, and you have to react in a way that’s positive.

For me, it was an incredible experience as a young artist stepping into this industry to have two great veteran actors. I worked closer, I would say, with Nic Bishop, who played Coach Gerelds and gave an incredible performance. But for me to be around those people, it just taught me a lot as a young actor of how to trust, how to listen, because acting is simply reacting.