Kevin Smith’s newest film, The 4:30 Movie, boasts a stellar cast, and it nearly had a legendary wrestler as well. Actor Sam Richardson (Veep, I Think You Should Leave) does a fantastic job playing fictional wrestler Major Murder in the movie, which is now available to rent or own digitally, but Smith revealed exclusively to PopCulture.com that in “the first draft” of the film, the role was actually written for former WWE icon Sgt. Slaughter, whose real name is Robert Rudolph Remus.
“I see him at [conventions] all the time,” Smith told us, adding, “And also he had a house or a condo in our hometown when we were kids, (so) we all knew where Sgt. Slaughter lived.” Smith continued, “I saw him at a con and I said, ‘Hey man, I wrote a big part for you, like where you give the character, like the advice he needs to go forward.”
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Comparing the role to the Marvel Comics icon Stan Lee’s part in his second film, Mallrats, Smith then explained that Remus turned down the role in a “fair” and “sweet” way. “I’m not an actor,” Smith recalled Remus saying. “I’m a wrestler. So, if you need me to do speeches, I don’t think I’m your guy.”
Going back to the drawing board, Smith says he “altered the role and wrote it for Major Murder instead,” which is where Richardson came in, by way of Emmy-winning actor Paul Walter Hauser, who was also supposed to be in The 4:30 Movie.
“I met Paul Walter Hauser [at a comic convention] and we hit it off and we started texting and stuff and he had told me he was like, you know, who loves your stuff is Sam Richardson,” Smith recalled. “I was like, ‘I love Sam…’ That’s Richard Split from Veep, man, and plus he’s in Detroiters and he’s in [I Think You Should Leave], so I was like, ‘I love that guy.’”
After Hauser put Smith “in touch” with Richardson, the plan started to take shape. Richardson was set as Major Murder and Hauser as the promo guy who is in Major Murder’s first scene. Then Hauser became unavailable, as he was out of the country shooting a movie, so Smith brought in his old friend — and Hollywood Babble-On podcast co-host — Ralph Garman for the role.
Thankfully, he still had his Major Murder. “Sam was like, “I love wrestling, dude… I could knock this out of the park,” Kevin recalled Richardson saying, then adding that he’s clearly a “natural” when he appears on-screen.
“He did what I had on the page and then he went wherever he wanted with it,” Smith finally said of working with Richardson. “Sam came in and absolutely crushed it, man. He was so wonderful.”
The 4:30 Movie is said to be Smith’s “most personal film to date,” as it’s a “coming-of-age story — set in the summer of 1986 — that follows three sixteen-year-old friends (Austin Zajur, Nicholas Cirillo, and Reed Northrup) who spend their Saturdays sneaking into movies at the local cineplex,” per a synopsis.
“When one of the guys invites the girl of his dreams to see an R-rated film, all hilarity breaks loose,” the synopsis continues, “as a self-important theater manager (Ken Jeong) and teen rivalries interfere with his best-laid plans.” The 4:30 Movie is now available to rent or own Digitally from online streamers such as Apple TV and Amazon Prime Video.
