Canadian actor Michael Shanks, who played Dr. Daniel Jackson in the long-running sci-fi series Stargate SG-1, would trade his screen and stage career for a hockey stick and a Vancouver Canucks jersey in a heartbeat.
"I'd rather be a pro hockey player than an actor," said Shanks, a Vancouver fan. "I'd rather shoot a puck than shoot a movie."
Shanks, 42, got his chance to live his dream and still act.
"You might call it a case of, 'Be careful what you wish for,'" Shanks said. "Suddenly, I'm playing the greatest hockey player of all time, a towering legend of the game: Mr. Gordie Howe."
Shanks said he was shaking his head in disbelief after he was signed to play Howe, the Detroit Red Wings icon and oldest player to compete in the NHL, in the upcoming Hallmark Channel original movie Mr. Hockey: The Gordie Howe Story, which will premiere at 9 p.m. on Saturday.
"What a privilege. What an amazing thing, to play a champion hockey player in a hockey-based movie," Shanks said. "It's a dream come true."
The movie depicts Howe, now 85, at 45, retired from the NHL but with a chance to join sons Mark and Marty on the Houston Aeros of the newly formed World Hockey Association. It explores the challenges, the doubts, lessons learned and influence of family matriarch Colleen Howe (played by Kathleen Robertson) in brokering that 1973 return to the game.
When approached to play Gordie Howe, Shanks, a former junior hockey player, jumped at it and then thought, "I got to get back in shape. I got to get some ice time. I tried to watch all the footage of Gordie there was. I wanted to try to skate like him, which, of course, is almost impossible. He had such balance, matched with speed and power."
Shanks trained for four hours a day, on in-line skates and in the weight room.
"Gordie was heavier, bigger than me, much stronger," Shanks said. "His hands — well, I tried to hide mine. His were like baseball mitts. I've got fingers like a woman piano player."
But one thing Shanks said he felt OK about in trying to do justice to the role of Howe was the fighting.
"When the director talked to me about playing Gordie, he said, 'I hear you are a bit of an ass on the ice.' We know Howe never took any crap," Shanks said. "I never started fights on the ice as a young player, but I never backed down, either. I felt some affinity with Gordie."
Appearing alongside Shanks in "Mr. Hockey" is fellow Canadian actor Andrew Herr, who plays Howe's son, Mark, theHockey Hall of Famer and current director of pro scouting for the Red Wings.
"I've played hockey most of my life, and then I caught the acting bug," said Herr, 21, who grew up in London, Ontario, and also played junior hockey.
"I was blown away with Michael's performance as Gordie," Herr said. "I found out, too, that Michael has sharp elbows on the ice."
Herr said "Mr. Hockey" is as much about the Howe children and Colleen Howe as Gordie.
"It's a humbling, heartfelt and, in the end, an inspiring story," said Herr, who roots for the Ottawa Senators in the NHL. "Gordie struggled first in his transition to Houston, and then the family came together. "
Herr, who describes himself as "a grinder" when it comes to hockey, said he learned a lot about his character Mark Howe and his brother, Marty, during the filming of "Mr. Hockey."
"I spoke to Mark, and he seems to be a fun guy with great values," Herr said. "He was super accommodating. I found out how Mark and Marty at times lived in the shadow of their father but how much he meant to them."
Shanks said he felt Robertson did a wonderful job playing Colleen Howe, known as "Mrs. Hockey," who died in 2009 at 76 from Pick's disease.
"She owned the role," Shanks said of Robertson's performance. "I loved working with her."
Though he didn't meet Gordie Howe during the filming of "Mr. Hockey" in Winnipeg, Shanks said he learned a lot about Gordie's life and himself throughout the production.
"Gordie proved he could return to the ice, get back in shape and be a force," Shanks said. "He taught me as a person that if someone pisses you off, just clench your teeth and get on with it."
Making a film about the man who won four Stanley Cups with Detroit, six Hart Trophies and was named to the NHL All-Star team 23 times reminded him what a great thing it was and is to play and be around hockey, Shanks said.
"After we filmed some of the Houston Aeros on-ice scenes, we'd just sit in the dressing room, drink beer, act like a bunch of morons and generally have fun," Shanks said. "And they were paying us to do it."
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