Dean Cain’s father gave his son valuable advice at the dawn of his Hollywood career.
“Don’t tell too much about yourself in interviews. Let them watch you on screen,” Cain recalls his father, veteran director Christopher Cain (“Young Guns,” “Pure Country”), sharing with him at the start of his Hollywood career.
‘My closest friends are teammates from Princeton,’ he says. ‘I know what they’re made of. … You learn so much about people by being teammates with them.’
Dean Cain heeded Dad’s wisdom … to a point.
Cain learned firsthand the inequities of the nation’s divorce laws while fighting for joint custody of his then-young son. Later, he traveled the globe and gained perspective on his home country’s woes.
It’s why he started speaking up on important issues and sharing his right-leaning views. It also explains his pivot to independent film projects over the past decade.
“I’m sure it affected my career,” Cain tells Align of his political views. It’s a risk he was willing to take. “Not speaking up is crazy to me. … If you have something to say, speak the truth and hopefully make the world a better place.”
From Superman to soccer coach
Cain continues to work steadily on film and TV projects, from faith-kissed stories (“God’s Not Dead: In God We Trust”) to his latest feature, an underdog sports story he wrote and directed.
“Little Angels” opened nationwide earlier this month and continues to expand to new theaters — thanks to a feature on its website allowing users to request a screening in their area.
The movie finds Cain playing a disgraced football coach forced to oversee a girls’ soccer team. It’s the ultimate indignity for his character until he sets his mind to turning this ragtag bunch of athletes into winners.
Cain’s fans may find his foray into screenwriting surprising, but he’s been telling stories ever since he was a boy. The “Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman” alum recalls his father nudging him to tap his creative side.
A writer at heart
“My dad started me as a writer,” Cain recalls, and he warmed to the task. “We’d go on vacation at our ranch house, and when it was raining, instead of watching TV I’d make up stories about our family.”
He later wrote episodes of “Lois & Clark,” but his bustling acting career took precedence. “The demands on my time were intense,” he recalls.
“Little Angels” allowed him to tap into that skill set, and along the way he leaned on the classic writing maxim.
Write what you know.
Pinnacle Peak Pictures
Team player
Cain was a first-team All-American and two-time first-team All-Ivy for Princeton in the late 1980s and had a brief NFL career with the Buffalo Bills before a knee injury ended his gridiron dreams. He also ran track at Princeton and was its volleyball captain.
He assembled his youthful cast amid pandemic restrictions, forcing him to skip chemistry reads and trust his instincts. The young girls bonded on the set, becoming faux teammates and real friends along the way.
Cain knows the feeling.
“My closest friends are teammates from Princeton,” he says. “I know what they’re made of, what they’re like in stressful situations. I know what their characters are like. You learn so much about people by being teammates with them.”
“It’s akin to what happens in the movie. They learn to stick up for each other,” he adds.
‘Truth, justice, and the American way’
Cain’s “Superman” days remain an indelible part of his legacy, and he remains invested in the character. He’s hoping James Gunn’s “Superman,” opening July 11, captures the Man of Steel he modeled his own performance on — the “aw, shucks” Christopher Reeve version seen in four films.
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“He’s my Superman,” he says of the late actor, who captured the essence of the DC Comics superhero, a fictional character who means plenty to Cain. “He is truth and justice and the American way. That is really important. Hard work. Dedication. Being honorable. … I know it’s cynical now, but it still plays and resonates with many.”
“Little Angels” marks Cain’s feature-length directorial debut, but he’s been soaking up information from film sets for decades.
“I watched [my dad] go through his process as a director. He’d have to make his movies on a shoestring budget,” he says, adding that family members helped flesh out scenes along the way. He recalls his uncle holding a boom mic to make some scenes possible.
“I’ve always been around it,” he says of the filmmaking craft. Now, he can’t wait to do it again.
“I’m hooked. I want to keep doing it,” he says. “I like the process. It didn’t feel much like work.”
Dean cain, Culture, Hollywood, Superman, The new adventures of lois and clark, God’s not dead, Little angels, Movie industry, Interview, Align interview