Michael Rothstein, ESPN Staff Writer
IT STARTED WHEN Bijan Robinson was in highschool, earlier than he performed a down of soccer on the University of Texas or turned a first-round decide of the Atlanta Falcons.
He was a junior at Salpointe Catholic in Tucson, Arizona, on a recruiting journey, a high-level operating again prospect visiting Austin, when he had a short, in-passing introduction with somebody who would change into a key determine in his life.
Robinson did not know he'd change into mates with Matthew McConaughey — the Oscar-winning actor, Texas superfan and Austin resident. They'd finally describe their relationship as being like brothers.
“My freshman year … one of the guys at Texas, he asked what I wanted to do,” Robinson stated. “I said, ‘One day I want to be an actor, like after football, or even during.'
Big day Bijan for 209 on the legs – Texas 34-27. @TexasLonghorns @TexasFootball pic.twitter.com/amamHrSThi
— Matthew McConaughey (@McConaughey) November 6, 2022
“He stated, ‘I ought to get you in contact with Matthew McConaughey.' I used to be like, ‘That could be cool.'”
By Robinson's final year at Texas in 2022, he would hang out at McConaughey's house when the actor was in Austin. They talked and texted regularly and were often seen around town together, to the point that it became, “There's McConaughey and Bijan. Right on. Of course,” McConaughey told ESPN.
As the friendship deepened, it also became a mentorship. When McConaughey realized how serious Robinson was about acting, he began offering advice about fame and life.
Robinson knew he wanted to give acting a shot by the time he reached the NFL. He'd already taken a class and had de facto mentors such as McConaughey, Glen Powell and Jonathan Daviss — all established actors at different stages of their careers.
“I advised him, ‘Yeah, man, you are able to do this,'” said director Jonas Pate, whose work includes the Netflix show “Outer Banks.” “‘And the earlier you deal with it such as you deal with soccer and you're taking it critically and it is an actual craft and also you do your greatest to be taught, you'll be able to utterly set your self up.'”
THE FIRST DAY of Barbara Chisholm's “Fundamentals of Acting” class at Texas, Robinson told her he signed up because he was considering transferring to the department to study acting. She'd had athletes in class before, but rarely freshmen, and she knew nothing about Robinson.
“It's a really uncomfortable class for lots of scholars who're non-majors. I feel some folks suppose it is gonna be one thing it isn't, nevertheless it's a really weak factor to be on this class,” Chisholm said. “And he was so open to it, and he was simply tremendous keen.”
Chisholm pushed her pupils to explore places they hadn't tried before, embodying a completely different person every time they stepped into a role. Not only memorize lines, but immerse themselves in the character. Learn how to be honest in imaginary circumstances — something Chisholm calls “a easy idea to know however a really tough factor to realize.”
In Robinson's case, he could play in front of 100,000 people but became nervous performing in front of 10.
Chisholm showed him similarities in the approaches. Focus on the performance, not anything else.
“This is not one thing you can simply give you off the cuff,” Robinson said. “You have to grasp that this can be a craft and simply the way you need to be good at that; you must do the identical factor for this.”
Throughout the class they collaborated on a variety of techniques and source material. This was important to Robinson because it allowed for genuine relationships with fellow aspiring actors.
The final exam was a monologue curated for each student. The students had been nervously messaging on the Canvas app in the days leading up to the final. Chisholm asked who wanted to go first, and Robinson's hand shot up. He still isn't sure why. Typically, he went last or close to it.
“You're so nervous, I used to be fascinated with not even doing it as a result of I used to be like, ‘What if you happen to mess up?' So it is the thoughts recreation,” Robinson said. “So you are saying, ‘Yes, you memorized it. But what if I stumble or what if I say the unsuitable factor?'
“Or what if when you're done, nobody says anything or you have Ms. Barbara like, ‘Well, you could have done…' There were just so many things going through my head.”
Chisholm and Robinson had already workshopped the scene as a part of the prep for the ultimate. In these classes, Chisholm challenged Robinson to consider an extremely tough state of affairs. What if he was speaking to his household, asking for permission to stop soccer. Judging from his response, Chisholm knew she hit on the mandatory emotion.
“It was wonderful,” Chisholm stated. “It was very, very honest.”
ROBINSON SAT IN the actors' trailer final summer season and watched his buddy, Daviss, go silent. For a minute, Robinson was involved.
Then they headed to the set of “Outer Banks.” Upon arrival, Daviss stepped in entrance of the digital camera whereas Robinson stood behind it and watched Pate name: “Action.”
Daviss set free a large scream. Robinson was just a little rattled.
“Having to get yourself mentally in that space in preparation of anything that could happen that day, it was pretty intense,” Robinson stated. “And having seen him do all types of things like that, I mean, I was like, ‘Man.'
“I imply, that is what I need to do.”
After they left the set, Robinson inundated Daviss with questions. What was he thinking about? Where was he headed mentally? How long did it take to get there? How does he get back?
“He acquired to see that methodology of the way you drop into one thing,” Daviss said. “There are many alternative methods to do it, and everyone has a unique methodology of it.”
Daviss realized Robinson's passion for acting. Robinson cared about process, not parts, and what Daviss used as motivation. Robinson wanted to ask the 10 questions after the obvious ones to get deeper answers.
Sometimes, Daviss told him, he knew exactly what he was going to do beforehand. Other times, it's a reaction in the moment or worked out through multiple takes. Daviss equated it to Robinson practicing a cut or spin in football, not knowing how those skills would be deployed in a game.
Robinson understood. He had heard it in Chisholm's class and conversations with McConaughey, who stressed being comfortable in front of the camera to create authenticity.
Robinson got home from his “Outer Banks” experience and looked in the mirror in the weeks and months after. He started thinking about the worst things that happened to him or could happen to him.
He envisioned how he would react if he saw his mother beat up in the street. Or if people he cared about were hurt. Robinson started sweating. Shaking.
“And then,” Robinson said, “like, simply tears began popping out.
“And I was really happy in that moment.”
Robinson bawled. Taking himself to a spot he did not know he may attain. He discovered the method draining, attention-grabbing and enlightening.
Robinson discovered an essential appearing lesson. He may channel feelings. He may cry on command.
McCONAUGHEY COMPARES ACTING to soccer. Every scene is sort of a playcall. Can you navigate the problems which could come up? What if somebody will get caught?
“Great acting is when you have a plan, and you have obstacles giving you resistance,” McConaughey stated. “And you have to figure out a way, either by fight, flight or by pulling out the lucky key to unlock that door to get through it to get where you're going.
“That's once you see life occur. That's what occurs in life. That's what occurs on daily basis.”
One specific piece of advice from McConaughey resonated with Robinson. It has helped in acting, in interviews he gives in football and how he approaches different situations in life.
“How I'm doing issues in actual life, think about a digital camera in entrance of you,” McConaughey said. “Can you do the very same factor in actual life, however with a digital camera in entrance of you. … I really feel like we're all actors in actual life, however we simply haven't got a digital camera on in life.
“If there was a camera in front of us and we are talking right now, can we talk the exact same way while somebody's looking at us pointing a camera?”
McConaughey, listening to the recommendation caught, defined why he shared it with Robinson.
“You got one take. Action was called the day we were born. Cut's called the day we die and leave this life,” McConaughey stated. “What are we doing in that one take? As men, as people, as a player, as a performer, that's what you got.
“Yeah, in appearing and in movies, you and I right here, we are able to get take two. May even be capable to enhance it in take two. But that is like bonus spherical stuff. You do not get that. You get some do-overs. You get forgiven. You screw up and you can also make amends and a take two in life. But it is nonetheless all a part of the identical first take.”
IT'S MID-APRIL AND a smiling Robinson is sitting inside the Falcons' facility in Flowery Branch, Georgia. There are potential parts, he said, that he can't discuss yet.
Two months earlier, he filmed a role — playing himself in an episode of the Disney Channel show “Bunk'd.” This was progress beyond commercials for his Bijan Mustardson condiment line.
Two months later, Robinson was supposed to move to set for a task on “Outer Banks,” a task which had been conceived a yr earlier when Robinson visited Daviss on set and met Pate, a diehard Falcons fan.
“First it was like, ‘Hey man, we'll throw you in. We'll shoot this,'” Pate stated. “And I could tell he was gonna be good. And so as the scripts kept going, we started to consider writing to him. And so we did.
“And then we needed to give it to another person finally. But principally like several good younger actor, he was dealing himself in.”
Last year on set, Pate saw Robinson processing and learning. The combination of the writers' strike last fall, football and the filming schedule turned a speaking role this season with clear lines into a lesser, non-speaking one.
If there's a fifth season, Pate said, he has a plan for Robinson. He also continues to think of roles for Robinson and encourages him to audition in the offseason. Pate insists Robinson can learn from the audition process, too.
“I've my principal factor right here, and my love and pleasure is soccer,” Robinson said. “But I really feel prefer it's essential for an athlete, or anyone, to have a Plan B of their life that they like to take pleasure in, too.
“And I feel like that would be a cool Plan B for me.”
