Mary Steenburgen Does Not Feel Bad if You Lost Your Tennis Court to Pickleball
Time · LC · trust 23/100
Pickleball, as you might have heard , has in recent years been considered the fastest-growing sport in America . So the combination of the sport’s name, how it’s played—on a tiny court, with a ping-pongish racket, and a wiffle-ish plastic ball—and surging popularity makes it ripe for parody.
Enter The Dink, a new comedy directed by Josh Greenbaum ( Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar , Will & Harper ), co-produced by Ben Stiller, and starring Mary Steenburgen, Ed Harris, and Jake Johnson. The film, which debuts on Apple TV on July 24, serves as a sweet ode to this burgeoning pastime, while still poking fun at its foibles. For example, the cast, which also includes Stiller, the late Lynne Marie Stewart, Aaron Chen, Chloe Fineman, and Cleo King, offers intentionally corny, and thus amusing, jokes about “the kitchen,” the pickleball zone in front of the net that participants absolutely cannot enter to hit volleys.
TIME caught up with Steenburgen, the Oscar winner and comedy stalwart—and real-life pickleball enthusiast—to talk about the sport, The Dink, and a humanitarian cause dear to her heart.
When and why did you start playing pickleball?
About two months before I knew anything about The Dink , my son Charlie McDowell gave me a paddle and said, "Mom, I've had women even older than you whip my ass.” I said, “That's such a sweet thing to say.” He gave me some lessons. He's been my encouragement. And I started taking lessons on Martha's Vineyard by a woman named Connie McHugh , who's an incredible coach and teacher, and she helped me to just fall in love with it. I saw in it something that I could do at this age that I could get good at–maybe not great at or world-class, but good at–and go have fun with friends, and feel like I had a sport, which I hadn't had since my 40s, when I did start swimming competitively. I've missed having that feeling. So I started feeling that feeling again, of learning something with my body. I like puzzles a lot. Pickleball has a lot of puzzle aspects to it. Because it's not just about power. It's about finesse. It's about angles. It's about remembering all the little ways that you can trip yourself up. So I love what it does to how I think in my brain. And then I've made friends that I never would have known, people I never would have met, through this sport.
About two months into this happy journey, when I was about to close a deal on a different project, my agents and managers called and said, "Well, there's one more offer for you, and we should probably tell you about it.” And I said, "What is it?” And they said, "Well, it shoots in L.A.” I go, "OK.” And they go, "It's with Josh Greenbaum and Jake Johnson and Ben Stiller.” And I went, "You're kidding.” So obviously it's a comedy, and it's a lead. And it's about pickleball. I went, “That's the one I'm gonna do.” “No, you have to read it first.” And I go, “I'll read it, but that's the one I'm gonna do.” It honestly felt like somebody in heaven just designed it for me.
Why do you think pickleball has gotten so popular in the last five, six years or so?
Because it's sort of egalitarian. All ages can play. Any body type can play. You don't have to be one of these extraordinary athletes. You can be a regular person and play at a level that will bring you pleasure and joy. And the hardest part is learning all the byzantine scoring and the rules and stuff. Also in my case, it was really finding people that were at a great level for me to play. That were hopefully a little bit better than me, so I would grow, but not so much better that they'd be bored playing with me. And I've found that now. So it's really fun for me.
The movie plays on a real conflict that's happened across the country: the fight over space. Pickleball’s expansion has required the need, for example, for the sport to take over tennis courts in some places, ruffling feathers. Full disclosure: I’ve felt this firsthand. I play tennis recreationally and basketball recreationally with my son, and pickleball's encroached on our space a little bit. Do you have sympathy for us folks on the other side of this conflict?
Not really. [ Laughs. ] I don't think we're trying to do this for no reason. We're trying to do this because of the best reason, which is it's really fun. Do I want the sport of tennis, or God forbid, the sport of basketball to ever go away? No. Tennis is elegant. And basketball is, oh my God, a magical sport full of heart and brilliance. And there's room for all of it. Do we all have to keep fighting over things when all of it is actually quite holy because it gives people something to do that's good for them and brings them joy? In the case of basketball, it's you and your son out there. I played pickleball with both my granddaughters last week and learned something about both of them. There is a holy thing to that. I don't think we have to choose between things that are fun.
One of the film’s comedic bits is your character and Jake Johnson’s character playing against a team in which both players grunt loudly on the court. Are there really pickleball grunters?
I've heard it in pickleball. And it amuses me even more in pickleball than tennis because in tennis, legitimately it's a long way from one side to the other. But with pickleball, it's not that far. You don't have to grunt.
Did you need a pickleball double for the film?
They had a double for me, and she's since become a friend of mine. And she's quite an extraordinary double because she was the No. 1 player in the world over 50. And her name is Beth Bellamy . Her son Roscoe i s the No. 6 singles player in the world. My son and I have played with them. I played with Roscoe Bellamy, and he played with Beth Bellamy. And the funniest thing was watching the mother and son smash it at each other. I mean, so hard. And my son and I were looking at each other like, “I wouldn't dare do that.” They're high-level athletes. They're amazing, and it was hilarious to watch them.
They…
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