Slugger Takes on Silver Screen

From his bleach-blond Mohawk to his six-shooter salute on the way to the penalty box, former Syracuse Crunch enforcer Brandon Sugden always enjoyed putting on a show.

Now, Sugden has a chance to blend his unique brand of hockey and entertainment like never before. If that means spilling his own blood or dropping trou in a locker room scene, well, that's the price of fame.

Welcome to his new world of fights, camera and action

Sugden is in training as a potential bit player in the upcoming Paramount Pictures movie, "The Love Guru."

He was one of 30 or so men hired out of 400 who auditioned for roles in a background cast of hockey players.

And what, in Sugden's opinion, gives him that decisive "it" quality?

"C'mon now. I'm really good-looking," he said. "And I'm a pretty good hockey player, too."

The movie, a comedy from Mike Myers, is tentatively scheduled for a June 2008 release. Sugden's "supporting cast" is an impressive one, including Myers, Justin Timberlake, Jessica Alba, Verne Troyer and Romany Malco.

Myers plays an American who was left at the gates of a religious retreat in India as a child and raised by gurus. He moves back to the United States to work in the world of self-help and spirituality. His skills are tested when he must settle a rift between Toronto Maple Leafs star Darren Roanoke (Malco) and his estranged wife.

Sugden, 29, left the Crunch last year and is now playing in the North American Hockey League in Montreal, where he has gained rock-star status as a slugger. A few weeks ago, a friend told Sugden about the auditions at a rink in Scarborough, Ontario, near Sugden's Toronto-area home.

Filming is scheduled to begin Friday, perhaps in Toronto's Air Canada Centre. The work to this point has involved the scripting and practice of dozens of hockey plays. Sugden is a defenseman who - Crunch fans, hold your jokes about whether it's acting or art imitating life - gets toasted a lot.

"Pretty much all the plays I'm in, I'm supposed to get beat. Some people would argue I've been doing that my whole career," he said. "It (letting an opponent past him) goes against everything in my body. And you have to make it look good."

Sugden and fellow minor-league brawler Dean Mayrand, another extra, have apparently impressed the director with their method acting when it comes to hard checks. The director nicknamed Mayrand (6-5, 225) and Sugden (6-4, 235) "The Big Uglies."

"I said, 'Call us the 'Big Sexies,' or 'The Big Good-Looking Guys.' Just because we're big doesn't mean we don't have feelings," Sugden said.

Sugden, who said he's making about $200 a day on the set, volunteered that, if needed, he and Mayrand would fight, throwing real punches and drawing real blood.

At least that would cut down on the special-effects budget.

"We'll fight for real. We'll cut each other open for real. They probably thought that was kind of weird," Sugden said.

"First of all, a lot of people over the years have wanted to see us fight," Mayrand said. "Although not now. I'd put him ahead of myself."

Sugden has met Malco ("The 40-Year-Old Virgin"), who is skating with the real players, and Troyer, Mini-Me in Myers' "Austin Powers" movies. Sugden said some of the "Love Guru" extras might get a line or two of dialogue, a possibility for which he gladly raised his hand.

"Who knows?" Mayrand said. "Maybe we could just grunt, which would be commonplace for us."

Sugden said he also let it be known that he's in for any locker room/shower scene.

For art's sake, you know.

"Of course. In a heartbeat. I wouldn't think twice," he said. "I think I'd look good in the shower."

Whatever the extent of Sugden's initial Tinseltown, uh, exposure, it will remain a tease for now. He's playing at least one more year in Montreal, and said he'd eventually like to come back to the Crunch.

Hollywood endings are nice, but he still prefers his hockey when the stakes are real.

"I always like to have possibilities of doing stuff, but I'm not going to tell myself I'm going to be in movies now," he said. "I'm being realistic. It (movies) is a different world. I don't know if I see myself as a leading man. I'm concentrating on hockey now."