Former Pitt football player Kellen McAlone earns part in movie '12 Mighty Orphans'

In five football seasons at Pitt, Kellen McAlone did anything coaches asked of him.

“He’ll come in here and mop the floors if we wanted,” coach Pat Narduzzi said after rewarding his former walk-on wide receiver a scholarship.

That was then (2018). Leave it to the movie industry to bring out the worst in a nice guy.

Hard work and determination will always take you places.

Congrats to @Mac_Daddy23 on your scholarship! Well EARNED. #LockTheGates #H2P pic.twitter.com/sPvEtjDogB

— Pat Narduzzi (@CoachDuzzPittFB) August 25, 2018

Local movie goers will get a chance to see that side of McAlone — albeit as an actor — on Thursday when the movie “12 Mighty Orphans”makes its Pittsburgh debut at the Waterfront AMC Loews theatre in West Homestead.

Believe in yourself. Believe in each other. ? Watch the trailer for #12MightyOrphans starring Luke Wilson, Vinessa Shaw, Wayne Knight, with Robert Duvall, and Martin Sheen. pic.twitter.com/rL3T24KnMu

— Sony Classics (@sonyclassics) April 16, 2021

McAlone, who earned four letters and played in 30 games at Pitt from 2015-18, made his film debut by playing a part that makes the most sense:

He’s a football player.

The movie is an adaptation of the book written by New York Times best-selling author Jim Dent (“The Junction Boys”). It tells the true story of a group of orphans in Fort Worth, Texas, who started from nothing and ended up playing for a state football championship.

McAlone appears on the credits with veteran actors Robert Duvall, Martin Sheen, Luke Wilson and Wayne Knight.

He is one of the players on the rival Poly Tech team that gets into occasional on-field and off-field altercations with the orphans.

Asked if he plays a bad guy, McAlone said, “Essentially, yes.”

He even has a snarky line in which the Poly Tech players meet the orphans in a movie theater and McAlone remarks, “I didn’t know they were playing Oliver Twist.”

“There are a lot of orphan-related jabs that you’ll hear throughout the movie,” he said.

McAlone, who attended Jesuit College Prep in Dallas, was approached by one of the film’s producers, family friend Houston Hill.

“He knew I played at Pitt and reached out when I was done,” McAlone said. “It was a thing from out of nowhere.”

Producers weren’t concerned with his football ability, but they were concerned with how he read his lines.

“They want to see what emotional range you can give, see just what you can do in general as an actor,” he said.

He auditioned by propping up his iPhone against a window and reading scripted lines sent to him by the producers. Pitt teammate Michael Vardzel also helped with the video taping.

Filming took place in Fort Worth and Weatherford, Texas, over 36 days in the fall of 2019. McAlone’s time on the set was nearly a week.

There are several football scenes where McAlone hits and gets hit. At one point, he gets knocked “unconscious.”

With plans to pursue acting as a career, McAlone didn’t mind when he couldn’t wear his Pitt No. 48. He’s No. 60. His character is nameless, and that didn’t matter to him, either.

“I was a little flustered, a little excited. It felt surreal,” he said. “I didn’t really care. (He told producers), ‘Give me whatever (number) you have.’ ”

Presently, McAlone is taking acting lessons from a teacher in Dallas, but he said “12 Mighty Orphans ” producers “were very, very pleased with how I did.”

“I still have a lot of work to do, though.”

Of course, he’s now a professional actor after receiving a paycheck.

“I made a little bit,” he said. “I was more excited to be working with people of that caliber than the money.”