Rob McElhenney reflects on ‘humiliating and terrible’ experience on Brad Pitt and Harrison Ford film

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Rob McElhenney has reflected on the “humiliating” experience of being cut from his first feature film.

The Always Sunny in Philadelphia star and co-creator has had a fair few setbacks when it comes to his film career, having been cut out of last year’s box office smash hit Deadpool & Wolverine.

According to McElhenney, however, that was far from the worst experience he has had.

In an interview on Sean Evans’ popular Hot Ones series, the actor, 47, shed some light on the low points of his career – naming his experience on The Devil’s Own as the worst.

Released in 1997, the thriller film starred Harrison Ford as an Irish-American policeman and Brad Pitt as an IRA extremist. McElhenney was around 18 years old at the time.

“Not even close, by a country mile: getting cut out of The Devil’s Own,” McElhenney said. “That was one of the most humiliating and terrible experiences of my life because it was my first acting job in a movie.

I got to do a scene with Harrison Ford, I got to do a scene with Brad Pitt, I got to do a scene with Julia Stiles, Rubén Blades – all these incredible actors.”

The actor went on to explain that he was not properly informed that his scenes had been cut, and only realised when he did not receive an invitation to the premiere.

“Then the movie is coming out, and I notice I don’t get an invite to the premiere or the friends and family screening, but I’m still just starting out – I’m like 19 or something, 18, I’m thinking, ‘Oh, it’ll be fine,’” he said.

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Rob McElhenney with his ‘It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia’ co-stars (Getty Images for Vulture Festiva)

“Of course, for a year, I’m telling everybody I got this movie; nobody believes me because I hadn’t worked at all doing anything else.

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“And then, we go to the movie – all my friends, everybody, my family buys tickets – and I’m just not in it at all.”

He continued: “They cut me completely out of the movie, didn’t give me a heads up, nothing. They were all A-players and I was a D-player on the ground. I wasn’t even a player, I was on the editing room floor.”

The Devil’s Own went on to receive mixed reviews from critics, with famed film critic Roger Ebert saying that it displayed “ignorance of the history of Northern Ireland”, though he praised the performances by Pitt and Ford.

The film has a paltry 37 per cent rating on the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes.

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Rob McElhenney and Ryan Reynolds at a ‘Welcome to Wrexham’ event in Los Angeles in April 2023 (Getty Images)

McElhenney went on to make his feature debut the next year, starring in 1998’s Oscar-nominated film A Civil Action with John Travolta.

He remains, however, best known for It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, which is due to return for its 17th season – making it the longest-running live-action US sitcom ever.

McElhenney is also the showrunner and star of Mythic Quest on Apple TV, and co-owner of the Wrexham football club with Ryan Reynolds – with whom he stars in the docuseries Welcome to Wrexham.

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