You’re never too old to pick up a new outdoor sport. Just ask actor Matthew Modine.
Modine, of Full Metal Jacket ԻStranger Things fame, recently began road cycling in his mid-sixties. This was no accidental hobby: he started biking for his starring role in a new Hard Miles, which is in theaters now.
The film follows the true story of a Colorado social worker named Greg Townsend, played by Modine, who works with troubled teenagers at a medium-security correctional school. Townsend has an idea: take a select group of kids on a 1,000-mile bike ride from Denver to the Grand Canyon, and let the punishing journey teach them lessons on personal strength and toughness. The film is inspired by a written by ܳٲcontributor Tracy Ross.
To truly capture Townsend’s character, Modine had to transform himself into a Spandex-wearing, clipless pedals-using, hardcore cyclist. The transition had plenty of bumps and bruises. We caught up with Modine to talk about becoming what he calls a “Lycra bicyclist” for the role.
OUTSIDE: It sounds like you were not a hardcore cyclist before this film.
MATTHEW MODINE: I wasn’t what you’d call a “Lycra bicyclist.” The biggest ride I would do is from Greenwich Village to Yankee Stadium. It’s about seven miles and you go through Central Park into Harlem and through the Bronx, and after a game on a nice summer night after you’ve had some beers you get to ride home. It’s magical. So no, the peloton and Lycra and helmet stuff—I wasn’t familiar with that until I made this film. The biggest challenge was locking your feet into the pedals. That was terrifying to me. But you have to learn to become one with the bicycle. You don’t just push down on the pedals, you pull up on them as well. It was a different experience.
Tell us about your first experiences as a “Lycra bicyclist” on the shoot.
The best example of this being a painful transition happened on day one of filming our ride. We were leaving the school to begin the journey from Denver to the Grand Canyon and I was clipped into my bicycle and was riding in circles. I couldn’t yet balance in a stationary position, and the director asked me a question. I stopped and couldn’t get my foot out of the clip and fell over and landed on a metal rail. I hit my forearm and thought I broke it. I had a black and blue arm for the rest of the shoot. The black sleeves I’m wearing in the filmi are covering up huge bruises. If I had broken my arm it would have required a major rewrite to the script.
What elements of this story appealed to you and attracted you to the film?
The film’s central ideas appealed to me because we live in this day and age of cancel culture. Troubled youth—kids between 14 and 17 years old—sometimes make stupid mistakes and get in a lot of trouble, and sometimes they end up in reform school. I had a brother—I’m the youngest of seven—and he ended up in reform school. The way society is today is people continue to be punished, even though they’ve tried to reform themselves. The root of the word penitentiary is penance—you serve your penance and you rehabilitate yourself and you get on with your life. So, what Greg Townsend is doing is helping these kids realize that they’ve made mistakes and realize that they can move on from the setbacks. They learn to build their own bicycle and take pride in what they’ve created, and then they ride from Denver to the Grand Canyon. Greg pulls the blinders off of them so they can see that the world is bigger than the troubled home they grew up in or the gang they came from. They can get on with their lives through a difficult period of the teenaged years. There but for the grace of God go I, as the saying goes. We all made stupid mistakes—just some of us got caught and others of us didn’t. I think it’s important for us to help those who have slipped and to give them an opportunity to return to society.
You spent time with the real Greg Townsend. What about his personality appealed to you?
The real Greg Townsend was with us every step of the way, and I appreciated his sense of humor and optimism. I made this film about wrestling called Vision Quest in 1985 that he loves. Every wrestler learns that you’re only as good as you’re willing to push yourself. I think that when you go on those long bicycle ride, pushing yourself up a mountain, the demons are exposed. And that’s what happened to these kids—the big rides helped them overcome the monsters inside of them to realize their strength. That is super important, and it was something Greg and I talked about.
So, did you fully convert to becoming a Lycra-wearing bicyclist?
Let’s just say I have an appreciation for the sport that I didn’t have before. I don’t see pelotons in my future, but I do have respect for those who do the sport.
This interview was edited for length.