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With film career, Warren native keeps pitching
Jonathan Eldell will throw out the first pitch at tonight’s Mahoning Valley Scrappers game at Eastwood Field in Niles. It’s Negro League Appreciation Night and Eldell was given the honor by the baseball club.
But while the actor and Warren native admits that his baseball career ended after Little League, Eldell has lately been finding the strike zone in his movie career.
He has a small speaking role in “Warrior,” which stars Nick Nolte, Tom Hardy (“Rocknrolla,” “Layer Cake”) and Joel Edgerton (“King Arthur,” “Smokin’ Aces”). The film, directed by Gavin O’Connor (“Miracle,” “Pride and Glory”), is being shot in Pittsburgh.
Nolte plays an ex-Vietnam veteran and boxer-turned-steelworker whose family was torn apart by his alcoholism.
The now-sober and remorseful dad welcomes back his youngest son (Hardy) and trains him to compete in a Mixed Martial Arts tournament.
Eldell plays one of Nolte’s MMA students. He finished shooting two weeks ago — the climactic battle scene that was filmed inside Pittsburgh’s Petersen Events Center.
“Warrior” is due for a 2010 release.
“I filmed a lot of different scenes,” said Eldell, “but one never knows how much of it will make the film.”
The 25-year-old also has a small speaking role in “She’s Out of My League,” which was shot in Pittsburgh in 2008.
The film, directed by Jim Field Smith, is about an average Joe who meets the perfect woman, but his lack of confidence and the influence of his friends and family begin to pick away at the relationship.
It’s also slated for a 2010 release.
Eldell is in two scenes in the movie. “I’m a person in a movie theater in one, and in the other I talk to the lead character as we walk down an airport corridor,” he said.
Eldell also can be seen in “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen,” which is shaping up as the highest-grossing film of the summer. “I have a very, very small role as an extra,” he said. The scene was shot in Cleveland.
When not working in Pittsburgh or Cleveland, Eldell stays busy locally. He is in a TV commercial for Turning Point Counseling which is airing in the Youngstown area, and also can be seen in The Zou’s new music video.
Local filmmaker Chris Rutushin (“Fine-Tune”) directed the video for the rock song “When the Ink Dries.”
Eldell, who graduated from Warren JFK High School and now lives in Hubbard, is also working with local filmmaker Art Byrd on a project to put classical dramas on audio CDs.
The former Youngstown State University student also has started Echo Entertainment, a video production company.