Endorphins have their limits. By mid-afternoon of their recent SIFF press stop, Murderball stars Mark Zupan, Scott Hogsett, and Andy Cohn were clearly close to being fried out by the promotional process. Still, despite being caught between winds, the three awesomely fit American Paralympic athletes came off as admirably regular guys. Before devolving into a hellaciously off-the-record discussion about the quality of the local strip clubs, a few reprintable questions were asked.

How long did the filming take?

Zupan: Two and a half years, with another six months of editing. They [co-directors Henry-Alex Rubin and Dana Adam Shapiro] had over 200 hours of film and finally finished the edit two nights before Sundance. We kept calling them toward the end, and they’d have been up for three days straight.

How comfortable were you with the camera? It looked like you gave them a lot of access.

Zupan: In the beginning they said, “Okay, we’re going to roll the camera until you tell us not to roll.” We never told them not to roll. They just filmed and filmed and filmed. At times early on they knew, by our demeanor, when we didn’t want to be on camera. If you’re getting ready for a game, you could just like say, “fuck off for a few minutes,” and they respected it. You develop a relationship. In time they became your friends, and you didn’t realize that the cameras were around.

Hogsett: After two and a half years, you start to think, “nothing’s gonna come of this, they can film whatever they want.” [laughs] You know, it’s like, “Is there even still film in the camera?”

How did they keep tabs on both you and the Canadian team simultaneously?

Zupan: We would talk pretty frequently, and you’d give them a list of what’s coming up, and when there would be interesting tournaments. The remedial junk, that you think is nothing, they’d always want to come out and shoot. So they came and filmed at my class reunion, and a couple of barbecues, and just, home life.

After seeing [former teammate, now coaching arch-rival Team Canada] Joe Soares’s home life in the film, how did that change your perception of him?

Zupan: He’s still the same.

Cohn: People are always like, “Oh, he’s changed.” But nobody ever totally changes. I’m not buying it.

You’ve got a lot of strong personalities on the team. Are you all happy with the amount of time you’re in the film?

Hogsett: I think they did a good job with balancing the mix. Andy and I are sort of the comedians, and you’ve got Joe, who’s the ultra-serious one, and then Keith [Cavill, injured in a 2003 motocross accident] the new guy, who it was great to see because we’ve all been there at one point.

How did Keith get involved?

Zupan: The producers went to a rehab center in Jersey, and were talking to a real cool counselor who turned them on to him. When they first met him, he was wearing a CBGB shirt, which fit with our personalities. I think it’s really an instrumental part of the movie. You know, at the point we’re at, they show us pretty much functioning like machines. They can flash back to us telling our stories about how we got here, but to really see the struggles he’s going through helps the audience understand.

Have you guys kept in contact with him?

Cohn: Yeah, we just saw him in New York. He’s still a new injury, so it’ll take him a couple of years before he’s ready. Rugby’s really a sport where you have to start slow. I’ve played for 10 years, and I’m still learning.