Sean Astin on Rudy

Rudy is the film with which I've been singularly identified -- a sort of signature role for me. A few nights ago I was in a Jamba Juice in Coeur D'Alene, Idaho, and the teenagers who were working behind the counter recognized me and asked me to sign an autograph for their health teacher. They told me he shows the movie to his students every year. 

The real-life Rudy (Daniel Ruettiger) and all of the people involved with the film, including director David Anspaugh and writer Angelo Pizzo, deserve to be proud of what we accomplished. I feel confident that it has taken its place in the pantheon of American Sports Movies. It is a story, well told, that connects on a deeply emotional level with many people who see it. 

The lasting impact of the movie Rudy is incalculable, but very real and very good. I have seen Rudy satirized (ridiculed maybe) on The Simpsons, a show that I love. The theme music by Jerry Goldsmith is very often used by Bob Costas and others;  I've heard it during the Super Bowl. When Good Will Hunting was being previewed in the theatres, the Rudy theme music was used as well. My co-stars Jon Favreau and Vince Vaughan (Swingers, Made) have had meteoric rises to success and continue to make their mark in the film and TV business long after appearing in Rudy.

Some time ago, I was invited to visit the home of a young boy who was terminally ill. He could no longer communicate well with his family, but they knew that he loved to watch Rudy and other movies. The day I got there, the family said he had been watching the film over and over again and that it made him feel better. My presence in this household was one of the most powerful moments I've experienced since I've been making movies.  I felt like I'd been hit on the head with a God-like stick and unwittingly inducted into the ranks of the Angels. All of a sudden, it had become my place to provide moments of happiness, reassurance and hope in a time of awesome and painful transition for good, hardworking people. Experiences like that are the lasting impact of the film on me. -- Sean Astin, August 2001