As Ham Porter in "The Sandlot," Patrick Renna had one of the most quotable movie lines of the '90s.
"My favorite scenes from the movie have to be the s'mores scene and 'You're killin' me, Smalls,' 'cause that's sort of become people's favorite line of mine," the actor told TODAY.
Renna, who spoke with us in honor of his recent role celebrating National S'mores Day as a spokesperson for WorldMark by Wyndham, shared some other favorite moments from the beloved film.
"There were two scenes, and they're back to back in the movie but they weren't back to back when we filmed 'em, which was the scene where Phillips, the bad guy, comes with his crony team to the sandlot and we have our sort of back-and-forth yelling match," he said.
"And then it cuts to me behind the batter's box and I'm yelling all the insults at 'em," he continued. "Those were my favorite scenes. The insult scene on the sandlot was written for Benny, but the director on the day said he wanted me to do it because I think Benny was becoming the hero and, you know, he didn't want his hero to trash talk. But he said, 'You know who could do it? Ham.' And then the next day was a lot of improv with me and the director (David Mickey Evans). He had a bullhorn and he was just yelling insults to me to say to the guys, you know, like, 'Is that your sister out there in left field?' or whatever the insults were. And I would kind of chuckle and then I would read 'em back. And it was a lot of fun."
Another memorable scene is the one in which Squints pretends to be drowning so that the lifeguard he has a crush on (Marley Shelton) will give him mouth-to-mouth.
"What I remember about the pool scene with Wendy Peffercorn is Wendy Peffercorn," Renna said. "I mean, how do you forget? We filmed that movie in Utah and it was 100 degrees for three months every day, 95 to 100 degrees, except one day. And that was the pool scene day. It was about 60 degrees. And you can see us all shivering in the pool in the movie. And Squints, you think he's nervous to go kiss the lifeguard, but he actually is just shivering from absolute chills."
So, which of the "Sandlot" characters was most — and least — like their character?
"I would say at least back then, when we filmed, the most like their character probably was me," said Renna. "I was sort of the loudmouth little punk — or big punk — but also the defender of the sandlot and that sorta thing. I would say the least like their character now is Marty York, who played 'Yeah-Yeah.' I don't know if you've seen recent pictures of him, but he's about 210 pounds of pure muscle. And back then he was a little shrimp. Probably back then, the least like their character was Squints. Chauncey Leopardi played — at least when he was kissing the lifeguard — he played a nervous, insecure, little boy and he was anything but. He was definitely the coolest of all of us filming that movie."
More than 25 years after its release, "The Sandlot" remains beloved both by viewers who grew up with the film and kids seeing it for the first time.
"I don't think any of us imagined that the movie would turn into what it has," Renna said. "We knew that it was good. But I don't think there's any way to know that it would mean this much to so many people as it does now."