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LOS ANGELES, April 11 (UPI) -- Actor Johnny Knoxville said his latest movie, Sweet Dreams, in theaters Friday, appealed to him for two reasons. Knoxville plays a recovering alcoholic. When their house is up for foreclosure, the Sweet Dreams sober living roommates start a softball team hoping to win a tournament for the prize money to save their house.
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Knoxville, 53, said he has had family members in recovery, and loves playing baseball.
"My father was an alcoholic and I get to play softball half the movie," Knoxville told UPI in a recent Zoom interview. "Baseball was the only thing I was ever good at."
Writer-director Lije Sarki, 46, said he has been sober for over 10 years. His experience showed him comedy could exist in the serious subject of recovery, Sarki said.
"There's a lot of lightness that comes with the heavy, and a lot of jabbing with each other," Sarki said. "People find the [humor] in the pain, which makes it all seem a lot easier."
In addition to his family, Knoxville's partner in the Jackass franchise, Steve-O, is also an advocate for sobriety. Knoxville said he witnessed Steve-O's struggle firsthand.
"I lived a lot of that with him," Knoxville said. "He did all the work, understandably, but I got everything in my head."
Knoxville added he is proud of Steve-O's focus and success. Lije said he also learned to laugh about the pain that comes with recovery, because he's been through it long enough to learn that the angst passes.
Sarki said he recalled people in recovery sharing "heart wrenching" personal stories, only to provoke an unexpected reaction.
"There's a guy across the room laughing about it, mainly because he had that happen to him 10 years ago and he knows it's all going to be fine," Sarki said.
Sarki said he cast Knoxville for "the unexpectedness" of a comedian balancing comedy with the drama of recovery. Knoxville said he likes "doing different things."
Sweet Dreams co-stars Kate Upton, Bobby Lee, Mo Amer, Theo Von, Jay Mohr, Brian Van Holt, Gata, Anderson .Paak, Jon Park, Adam Faison and more. Knoxville said he struggled to keep up with their improvisations.
"He had an extremely funny group of people, myself excluded," Knoxville said modestly. "It's kind of like herding cats sometimes."
During the softball scenes, Knoxville was the one obsessed with playing accurately on camera, adding that he was "irrationally" focused on making sure he executed the specific plays that were scripted.
Sarki said he did not require such accurate plays for the final cut. He said he had two cameras filming the field, so he could cut together the plays he needed for the story.
"He was the only one who cared so much about the result of the actual hit or the swing," Sarki said. "[For} everybody else, it is what you see."
Knoxville recently revived the Jackass franchise with the fourth film, Jackass Forever. The 2022 movie introduced a new generation of stuntmen and stuntwomen.
Knoxville said no plans exist for a fifth film. Should there be one, he said, he still would appear, but let younger cast members perform the more dangerous stunts.
"I can't have any more concussions," Knoxville said. "If you're on the set, you're part of the film."
Knoxville also starred on the Hulu comedy, Reboot, which was canceled after one season. Creator Steven Levitan was trying to shop around Reboot to a new network, but Knoxville has not heard any news.
"I would love to do it," Knoxville said of a Reboot revival.
Some of Knoxville's Sweet Dreams scenes hit the cutting room floor, too. Sarki said a few moments got too heavy and upset the comedy-drama balance.
"I blame poor writing on myself," Sarki said. "[I] just cut out some heavy stuff."
Sweet Dreams comes to digital video-on-demand Tuesday.
