Patrick Renna dropped The Sandlot virtual reunion trailer earlier this week. Additionally, he sat down for an interview where he discussed the upcoming Disney+ series based on the iconic family baseball movie. For this reunion, Renna was able to get more members of the cast than in 2018 when the movie was celebrating its 25th anniversary, including actress Marley Shelton, who played Wendy Peffercorn. When putting the virtual reunion together, Renna says he was a bit lost. He explains.
“I never realized how much technical expertise goes into these things. We started with Secrets Of The Sandlot just to get a feel for how it works one on one. Still going from one guest to 19 that, we didn’t know what we had in store for ourselves.”
While The Sandlot crew were fast friends on the set, much of them lost contact in the years after. However, that all changed when the cast got together for the 25th reunion. Original cast members Tom Guiry (Scotty Smalls), Patrick Renna (Hamilton “Ham” Porter), Chauncey Leopardi (Michael “Squints” Palledorous), Marty York (Alan “Yeah-Yeah” McClennan), Brandon Quintin Adams (Kenny DeNunez), Grant Gelt (Bertram Weeks), Victor DiMattia (Timmy Timmons), and Shane Obedzinski (Tommy “Repeat” Timmons) have all gotten together over the years. Renna had this to say.
“We’re such great friends again, all of us, and it reminds me of what it was like filming the movie. We were such fast friends and they worked so hard to create that atmosphere. One of the deciding factors on casting any of us was that they would bring us out to make sure that we got along with the other guys. And because we were all such good friends in real life it showed through on the screen, and it’s just funny even 25 years later, we fell right back into it.”
In addition to Marley Shelton, Wil Horneff, who played Phillips, and Art LaFleur, who played The Babe came on board for The Sandlot virtual reunion. Mike Vitar, who played Benny “The Jet” Rodriguez decided not to take part, just like he did in 2018. Renna says that they still keep in touch though. “Anytime we do something I’ll send him an email and ask him and he’s usually like, ‘No, I’m gonna step back on this one,’ but he’s always really cool about it.”
As for the upcoming Disney+ series based on The Sandlot, Patrick Renna had some interesting information to reveal. For fans of the 1993 movie, this show sounds like it will be something to look forward to. He says, “We all met on it, and all the guys are interested in it. The concept is we’re grown up and we have our own kids. And so it’s, there’s some cool angles to it.” But, the time setting sounds like it might be the best part. You can read what Renna had to say about the Disney+ series below.
“The TV show would take place in the late 80s, which talk about an amazing era to do a TV show. I mean, you got Stranger Things and all these little fun 80s throwback TV shows and things like that. So I think that would just be a blast for Ham Porter to don his most fashionable 80s garb.”
LA Dodger Justin Turner and his wife Kourtney are the ones responsible for The Sandlot reunion idea and they both appear in the special, along with several other Major League Baseball players. Proceeds from the special will be going to the Justin Turner Foundation, which serves “homeless veterans, children (and their families) battling life-altering illnesses and diseases, as well as various youth baseball organizations.” All in all, this is for a great cause and it looks like everybody involved had a lot of fun. You can check out the trailer above, thanks to the You’re Killing Me with Patrick Renna YouTube channel.
