Actors who take on roles playing professional athletes often talk about the pressure. Most sporting events take place in front of live crowds, which means there are often key scenes in which something athletically dramatic happens in front of a large group of real people. That puts pressure on the actor to step up and do it in a short amount of takes to keep the crowd’s energy up and make their reaction as big as possible. Fortunately, Shooter McGavin actor Christopher McDonald apparently thrives under pressure, and one of Happy Gilmore’s best moments came out of that.
The fantastic character actor recently did an interview with US Weekly to promote The M&M’s Peanut Butter Championship, a New York City based mini-golf experience where people tried to win a year’s supply of Peanut Butter M&Ms. The outlet obviously asked him about his experiences shooting Happy Gilmore, and he dropped a behind the scenes story I’ve never heard before.
You know the film’s big finish where Happy and Shooter square off on the last hole? McGavin famously sinks a long putt to save par, but Gilmore winds up winning after making his putt using an improvised Rube Goldberg Machine. Well, apparently director Dennis Dugan told McDonald he could have five chances to sync the putt for real before he would change the set-up and use cuts so he didn’t have to make the putt for real. Sure enough, on the fifth attempt, McDonald stepped up and drained it, which led him to yell out an improvised “Choke on that, baby!” Here’s his version of the story…
I begged our director Dennis Dugan to let me make that final shot. Though it wasn’t a putting green, of course, it was a botanical garden because no one is gonna let you drop a tower and bring in a VW there. He gave me five tries. I think that was the fifth. And that was a really crazy ad-lib in response afterwards and it was very fun to do.
I think what makes Shooter McGavin such a memorable villain is that he has a ton of great lines and legitimately funny moments in the movie. He’s not some clown that Gilmore gets the better of repeatedly. He’s a douchey quote machine who’s good at golf and yells fun insults like “go back to your shanties.” He also sometimes has a valid point, like when he complains about how distracting it is to try and chip with fat naked bikers having sex in the woods next to you.
It also helps that McDonald is the guy playing him. He’s a fantastic character actor who has been in a ton of incredible movies and TV shows including Requiem For A Dream, Quiz Show and Boardwalk Empire. Recently, he was nominated for an Emmy for his work opposite Jean Smart in Hacks. By any definition, he’s had a terrific career, but there’s something about his portrayal of Shooter McGavin that just resonates with people. More than twenty-five years after the movie first hit theaters, it remains his defining role for millions of people, and it’s really refreshing to see how proud he is of the divot it left in so many people’s brains.
Fortunately, we may get to see some more of Shooter in the near future. Adam Sandler is working on Happy Gilmore 2, and McDonald has said he’s excited and willing to come back in any capacity, as he loves the first movie and feels privileged to have connected with so many fans over the years both on and off the golf course about it. Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce is also rumored to be making a cameo, but beyond that, details are scarce. Personally, I can’t wait to watch it and hope they do something special to honor all the great cast members we’ve lost over the years.
