Dan Lanning picks Christian Bale, Ben Affleck as actors to play him in hypothetical movie
While he’s yet to the status or achievement of those who tend to get biopics made of their lives, Oregon head coach Dan Lanning was posed the age-old question: Who does he want to portray him on the silver screen? And the head coach came back with a pair of answers.
During an interview with Will Compton from “Bussin’ with the Boys,” Lanning shared the actor he’d want purely for their acting chops and who he’d pick based on likeness. And both were Hollywood A-listers: Christian Bale for the former, and Ben Affleck for the latter.
“This is a good question,” Lanning said. “Who’s Batman? Christian Bale. I think that guy just hits it out the park in like almost every role. I’d probably say Christian Bale would be — he’s a method actor, I’ve seen him get fat, I’ve seen him get skinny, get fit. He just does it all. Daniel Day Lewis is another guy I think about, like that, that just goes all-in on his roles. But I’d probably say, like Ben Affleck is someone I look a little bit closer to, I don’t know. He does a good job, too.”
As for what the title of the movie might be, Lanning and Compton didn’t come up with any suggestions yet. That can be his next task before making any more casting decisions.
Lanning reflected on interviewing for the Oregon job
Coming off a 12-win season and looking to reach the College Football Playoff in 2024 as the field expands, Lanning is doing a masterful job so far as Oregon‘s coach.
So far the fit between coach and program has been like a glove, with Lanning orchestrating a whole lot of winning in his two seasons in charge. The Ducks are 22-5, with a 15-3 mark in Pac-12 play.
But the current head coach wasn’t even entirely sure he’d get the job two years ago. In fact, it emerged somewhat out of the blue, without obvious connections or relationships what would have facilitated the hire in the first place.
“There were some opportunities to interview for head coaching jobs before, so it wasn’t my first interview. But they kind of come to you,” Dan Lanning explained on a recent episode of Bussin with the Boys. “You don’t know when it’s going to come.”
The head coach broke down when it was that he first learned of Oregon’s interest. He was serving as the defensive coordinator at Georgia at the time.
“On this one, I’m actually flying on a trip to Miami to do official visits, so I’m recruiting for Georgia and at the time really, really satisfied with my situation at Georgia,” Dan Lanning said. “We had just lost the SEC Championship, I’m kind of focused on the Orange Bowl. But I’m going down here to recruit a kid and I get a call saying, ‘Hey, these guys want to hop on a Zoom.’ So I do a Zoom in an airport, FBO, throw on kind of a suit coat and that was just kind of the start of it.
“It really escalated really fast after that night, after that initial Zoom with some more phone calls. It goes quick. You never know when it’s going to come. There were times where I thought I would get offered a head coaching job and I didn’t. And then this one was probably one that I didn’t think was necessarily (going to).”
Suffice it to say both sides are pretty pleased with how things have worked out so far. Connections or not Lanning has gotten the job done, both an excellent recruiter and a terrific on-field coach.