Classic Chevrolet Manager Lands Role in '42'

You can find Matt Dietz from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Classic Chevrolet on most days, but if that doesn't work for you, try the silver screen.

A used car manager at Classic, Dietz acts as a baseball player in "42," the Jackie Robinson biopic that had the best opening weekend ever for a movie about baseball.

Though Dietz was a little surprised about landing the small spot in the film, it wasn't as difficult as some might suspect nor was it his first time in a feature film.

Back in 1992, he was an extra in The Babe, which was shot in Cleveland. However, things picked up a few years ago when an agency in Columbus asked if his family would be interested in letting his young daughter, Lacey, try her hand at child modeling and acting. Lacey, 8, was an extra in two 2012 films, Fun Size and Avengers. In the latter, she is seen with her father during a bank-hostage scene. From there, he wound up in Columbus-based Modern Talent Management's database to be contacted for roles that might interest or fit him.

"(The agency) called me and said I could be a perfect fit for a new movie because they were looking for middle-aged, experienced baseball players," Dietz said, "but they wouldn't tell me what the movie was."

Still, he knew he fit, having played baseball at Cleveland State University and Coker College in South Carolina. He also operated a baseball school in Euclid for 10 years with help from former Indians manager Charlie Manuel and Joe Charboneau, who played for the team in the early '80s.

A few weeks after the initial call, he was on the phone with the casting director. Soon thereafter, he was selected to play one of Robinson's teammates on the Montreal Royals.

Dietz then cleared things up with Jim Brown, CEO of the Classic Automotive Group.

"I've got a really good job and it's good paying, so I couldn't take a chance at messing up my main job," Dietz said. "(Brown) said, 'this is a once-in-a-lifetime thing, so if you have a chance you've gotta do it."

Dietz would travel to Atlanta, Birmingham, Ala. and Chattanooga, Tenn. over the next few months to film his various scenes in "42," which details Robinson's tough path to breaking baseball's color barrier. In the movie, Dietz can be seen playing catch, running on the field, cheering from bench, calling for a taxi and leaving a train station with Chadwick Boseman, who plays Robinson. He plays some first and third base in the movie.

Though Dietz has been on camera with Harrison Ford — whom he described as "very, very focused" on the set — and traded text messages with Boseman, don't expect Dietz to go Hollywood.

"It's harder to just switch gears like that when you have kids," the father of three said. "I'm not actively looking to switch (careers), but the more you do it, the more you get those calls."

He has already helped Lacey submit materials for Captain America 2, and he won't shy away if a father-daughter scene exists like it did in Avengers.

"I've always had a taste for entertaining people and she's got a little of that," he said.