Matthew Modine on the challenge of Hard Miles and a backstory for “Papa” [Video]

To younger audiences, he’s Papa in Stranger Things. To older cinemagoers, he’s Private Joker from Stanley Kubrick’s Full Metal Jacket. Matthew Modine has been an actor for nearly forty years and his latest film, Hard Miles, sees him take up road cycling in an inspirational coming of age story.

He plays real life youth instructor Greg Townsend who, during the course of his career, took thousands of students from correctional facilities on long distance bike rides. In the film, he’s about to ride the 762 arduous miles to the Grand Canyon by himself, but changes his plans so that four teenagers can join him. All inexperienced cyclists, they’re burdened by problems created by their upbringings – drugs, violence, gang culture, eating disorders – but, during the course of the ride, Townsend also finds he has to confront his own past, one where he “grew up on fear.”

In this exclusive interview, Modine explains how the film is about …