Jeremy Sisto: ‘Break Point’ Presents ‘White Trash Version of Tennis’

The idea for “Break Point” came after star Jeremy Sisto and writer Gene Hong noticed there were no tennis movies from a blue collar perspective, while they were playing, what else, tennis.

“It was an idea that Gene and I had playing out on the court,” Sisto said at Broad Green’s special screening Thursday at the TCL Chinese Theatre. “There hasn’t been one about tennis — the white trash version of tennis. We tried to bring it down to the ground where people can relate to it even if they don’t know the sport.”

Sisto plays man-child Jimmy Price, whose crassness and reveling in making people uncomfortable pushes all his doubles partners away, forcing him to team up with his estranged brother Darren, played by David Walton, to make a run at a high-profile tennis tournament.

While none of the cast claimed to be bad at the sport in real life, they did admit to a wavering level of skill.

“It depends on the day,” Sisto said. “Tennis is one of those sports. On a good day I look like I’m really, really good, but consistency will always be an issue with me. It’s not as good as David Walton is.”

Walton said that although he has been playing tennis on and off for years, it took a bit of time to get back in the swing of things. “There was rustiness,” Walton said. “There’s always rustiness. I think I got better shooting the movie.”

The fun-loving movie had an equally fun-loving after-party at Dave and Buster’s. Partygoers filled up on bagel bites, hot wings and nachos. The also had free access to arcade games for the whole night.

As the attendees blasted away aliens, competed against one another in skee-ball or rocked out at Guitar Hero, Chris Parnell was seen hunting for a high score on a Pac-Man machine and Amy Smart was seen trying her luck at many different machines. Joshua Rush, who plays a unique 11-year-old named Barry, said he had a busy night ahead of him.

“We have unlimited games so I’m going to try and play everything,” Rush exclaimed before running into the thick of it.

“Break Point,” also starring J.K. Simmons and Adam DeVine, is currently available on video-on-demand and will be in theaters on Sept. 4.

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