R.A. Dickey expands repertoire: He becomes author and actor

PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. -- Turns out that R.A. Dickey and Zach Galifianakis have more in common than just the beard. Both will be among the featured subjects in the Spotlight division of the Tribeca Film Festival, with a notable difference: Dickey figures to have a much bigger role.

Dickey's life and career is closely examined, along with retired Red Sox pitcher Tim Wakefield, in the upcoming movie "Knuckleball!" The title is self-explanatory. But the game footage and ultraslow dissection of the pitch -- shot with customized cameras and new video technology -- cannot be described adequately with words.

As for Galifianakis, he joins Paul Rudd, Will Arnett and Jason Bateman in "Mansome," a Morgan Spurlock documentary that takes "a look at contemporary male grooming," according to Variety. Among the other movies in the Spotlight division are "Struck by Lightning," which has Glee's Chris Colfer in a starring role, and a thriller, "Deadfall," with Olivia Wilde, Eric Bana and Kris Kristofferson.

Heady stuff for a pitcher that was the first one cut from Mets camp in 2010 and wound up starting the season in Buffalo. "Knuckleball!" opens on April 21 and will be shown outdoors in Battery Park with seating for 5,000. Ricki Stern and Annie Sundberg directed the documentary; those two, along with Christine Schomer, also wrote it.

Almost forgot. Dickey's autobiography, "Wherever I Wind Up: My Quest for Truth, Authenticity and the Perfect Knuckleball," will be available March 29.

Movie roles, book deals. It's a good thing Dickey pitches only every fifth day.

"I think what I'm anxious to see more than anything is just the end product," he said. "The culmination of putting in the time, dedicating yourself to an end and seeing what comes of that end."

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It's not that different from the start of any game, when Dickey stands on the mound, in the middle of a stadium with 30,000 people, and prepares to throw his first pitch. At that point, no one knows how it will end. Both the pitching side of Dickey's life and the creative process inside him leave him exposed as well.

"There are also things I have some anxiety about," Dickey said. "Any time you risk putting yourself out there in a very transparent way, you're opening yourself up for criticism or judgment, there's a little bit of anxiety there.

"But I knew when I did this that I had to be equipped to be able to deal with whatever that was going to be or I would never have done it. I would never have put my family or myself under a microscope in those two different places -- the documentary or the book -- unless I felt like I could handle it."

Which brings up the obvious question: With so much off-field attention scheduled for the coming months, will that have any effect on Dickey's performance for the Mets? Could it be a distraction from duties as the team's No. 2 starter?

Dickey is entering the walk year of his two-year, $7.8-million deal -- the first guaranteed contract of his 37-year-old life -- so there's plenty at stake. The Mets hold a $5-million club option for 2013, with a $300,000 buyout.

"It was much more difficult last year," Dickey said. "I was under a deadline to write the book, I was having to do interviews for the documentary. As far as a balancing act, or a distraction of any kind, if it didn't happen last year, then it's not happening."

Dickey finished 8-13 last season despite a 3.28 ERA -- the Braves' Tim Hudson won 16 games with a 3.22 -- and took injections for a plantar fascia tear. All the while writing 3,000 to 4,000 words a night for the book and being stalked by a movie camera. Often, they filmed him driving from his home to Citi Field. After a start against the Giants, the crew followed him as he walked from AT&T Park to the team hotel.

"I think it's cool for posterity's sake, and from a creative standpoint, I understand it, which is why I was accessible to do it," Dickey said. "But I really didn't feel like it was a distraction. If it would have become one, I feel like I'm old enough to be able to say, wait a second, this is interfering with what I need to do for a living and we need to back off. I think it was handled well all around.

"It probably, in all honesty, helped to steady my year. I think I would find it very cathartic to go back and write and invest time in something that wasn't necessarily wrapped up in the pressure of baseball. I think it helped really balance my year a little bit."

Even with two major projects about to be unveiled, and the aforementioned anxiety that comes with that, none of that compares to the feeling of his day job.

"Every time I take the mound, I feel like I have something to prove, you know?" Dickey said. "I have to prove myself all over again. That's part of my story, my family origin. That's just where I've come from. To know that I'm going to have some butterflies is OK. I can hold that. There was a time in my life that I didn't do that very well."