Caught in the act

“Balls Out,” a limited-release comedy garnering critical praise, features 2003 Lake Highlands High School grad and former Bell Boy Kirk Johnson Sure, you have to scan past a few bigger names on the movie poster before you find his — The Office’s Jake Lacy, Nikki Reed from Twilight and Saturday Night Live stars Kate McKinnon, Beck Bennett and Jay Pharoah, for instance. But there he is. You might remember him from his Big Red and Doritos commercials or his comedy website beefandsage. com. He also wrote and starred in the feature film “Austin High.” “Balls Out” originally was titled “Intramural,” but MGM studios picked it up and changed the name. The story centers on Caleb Fuller, a fifth-year senior. As he faces graduation, marriage and the uncertain real world, Fuller seeks to revive his former glory days by getting the old flag-football team back together. Johnson is on the rival team, with whom bad blood has been brewing since freshman year. From his new home in Austin, Johnson dishes about the movie experience, celebrity connections and plans for the future.

What is up with the movie’s name change from “Intramural” to “Balls Out”?

The film was indeed called “Intramural.” It did its festival run under that title, was an official selection of the Tribeca Film Festival, then got picked up by a distributor, who decided to change the name for marketing reasons. Luckily, that’s the only thing they changed about the movie. The cut is the exact same, and that’s the biggest thing. One of the stars of the film, Nick Kocher, wrote a blog post about the re-naming of the movie in which he noted, “The main audience for this movie is going to be high school boys, and leading research suggests that high school boys are much more likely to watch a movie with the word ‘balls’ in the title …” He also pointed out that those high school boys might be disappointed at the movie’s cleverness and lack of sex scenes and nudity.

So how offensive is the actual movie? How do you describe the movie’s humor? What’s the real target market?

Despite what the movie poster and trailer [things the studio also changed after Tribeca] may lead you to believe, it’s a very clever and funny film! It’s an absurd spoof of sports movies like “Rocky,” “Remember the Titans” and countless other underdog stories. As far as a target market goes, I wouldn’t shy from telling anyone to go see it. It’s hilarious. It’s “Anchorman” meets “Hot Rod” meets “Blazing Saddles” meets “Little Giants.” Bring the kids, but probably only kids who can cuss. It is rated R.

You do a lot of writing — some commercials and “Austin High,” for example. Did you do any writing for Balls Out?

My contribution to “Balls Out” was strictly as an actor. I’ve been friends with Bradley Jackson, the writer of the film, since college though. He showed me the first draft of the script when we were freshmen at University of Texas. It’s gone through many, many versions since. I don’t think that either of us thought that we’d be here some 10 years later with the film about to come out in theaters, but like they say, life is pain or something like that.

What makes you laugh? What are you watching?

I watch a lot of comedy TV shows. My favorites right now are “Tim & Eric,” “Last Man On Earth,” “Nathan For You,” “Silicon Valley,” “Kroll Show” and “Key & Peele.” Also, Internet memes are basically the highest form of comedic art right now.

You live in Austin now; how often do you get back to Lake Highlands? Where is your first stop?

I have a niece and nephew in Lake Highlands now [children of sister Courtney and her husband Mac Harrison, both

LHHS grads], so I try to get back as often as I can in order to imprint on them like a baby duckling. So that’s usually my first stop, followed soon after by reliving my high school glory days at Wingstop, Golden Chick and other fine eateries.

What are you working on now?

Right now I’m working on a feature script with my filmmaking partner, Will Elliott, and the aforementioned star of “Balls Out,” Jake Lacy. It’s a sci-fi comedy that we’re almost done writing and very excited about. I also acted in another feature comedy called “Lazer Team” that should be coming out very soon. In July I was part of a live, theatrical re-enactment of the film “Jaws” down in Austin. In the past we did a version of “Jurassic Park” in Dallas as well as 13 other cities around the US. Anyone looking for an excuse to eat barbecue and watch sweaty, grown men battle a giant, cardboard shark onstage are right at home with us.

Can you explain that Facebook photo of you with Matt Damon and Ben Affleck?

That photo was from the most recent it- eration of “Project Greenlight” on HBO, a docu-series where 10 filmmakers compete to direct a feature film. I was one of these top 10 finalists. I stand before ye a loser, but it was a great experience and if you tune into the show this summer, you’ll be able to watch me flounder through a pitch in front of Mattfleck as well as the Farrelly Brothers and a room full of HBO execs.

Anything else?

Yes! Please see “Balls Out.” I promise that if you have a pulse and enjoy comedy or sports films, you will find yourself smiling at least once. We are underdogs. We are a really small film going up against the giant marketing goliaths, and word of mouth is so dang important. If you see it and hate it, I will personally come to your house and mow your yard. Yea, that’s right. That’s the Kirk Johnson guarantee. —Carol Toler

Questions and answers have been edited for brevity.

MORE INFO Visit ballsoutthemovie.com for show times and listings, or watch on Amazon Instant, Google Play, iTunes or Xbox Video, to name a few options.