Royce Clayton is playing Miguel Tejada in the Moneyball movie

Jerry Crasnick of ESPN.com has an interesting article about longtime big leaguer Royce Clayton, who after retiring in 2008 auditioned for a part in the upcoming “Moneyball” movie and was cast as Miguel Tejada. Seriously.

Clayton didn’t speak Spanish, but tried to learn enough to sound authentic for his scenes with Brad Pitt. And then when it came time to actually start filming director Bennett Miller told him to drop the accent and just speak naturally.

Clayton told Crasnick that he enjoyed the movie-making experience, but said it’s not quite as glamorous as you might think:

In my sport, you make a good play and see thousands of people go crazy. For actors, there’s very little fanfare when you’re shooting a movie. It’s tedious work. You sit around for long hours, and if you’re a main guy, you know the results of that movie pretty much hinge on your performance. It’s definitely not all glamour and glitz like people think it is. We’d have a 6 p.m. call time, and three days later you’d get a 6 a.m call time and totally switch your clock. It’s tough. I definitely have an appreciation now for what these guys do--their talent and their craft.

Also of note: Crasnick reports that Paul DePodesta “asked to have his name removed from the film,” so instead the “Moneyball” movie will have a character named “Peter Brand” as Billy Beane’s right-hand man. Perhaps he, like everyone else, thought it was absurd that Jonah Hill had been cast to portray him despite what is probably a 100-pound difference.