When it comes to playing “John C. McGinley types”, few are as capable as John C. McGinley. And so the veteran actor is heading back into the McGinley bullpen for Rounding Third. According to Deadline, he’ll be playing the intense “win-at-all-costs” John C. McGinley-type coach of his son’s baseball team, exactly the sort of coach every parent prays will wind up screaming at their children for a 12-game season. McGinley will clash with his assistant coach, whose approach to youth sports doesn’t involve snapping his shark-like teeth at children in fits of animated exasperation and patronizing disgust.
Oscar-winning producer Fred Roos was inspired by a rare unMcGinleyesque performance as Dodgers announcer Red Barber. “I have been a fan of John C. McGinley’s work for many years,” said Roos. “The idea of John for Rounding Third struck me when I saw his great work in another baseball-oriented film, 42.” Given the description of the character, the second thing that must have struck Roos was McGinley’s comically intense, scene-stealing performances in Platoon, Wall Street, Point Break, On Deadly Ground, Get Carter, Office Space, and of course, as the perpetually perturbed Dr. Cox on Scrubs.
Rounding Third will be directed by Robert Deaton and George Flanigen from a script by Richard Dresser, who wrote the original 2002 stage version. McGinley also recently signed onto the James Gunn-written horror film, The Belko Experiments.