VALDOSTA — Valdosta State University Theatre & Dance graduate Joe Massingill has a funny story about his role in the baseball movie “The Trouble with the Curve.”

Recently filming in Turner Field, actor Matthew Lillard approached Massingill. Lillard played the man who cuckolded George Clooney’s character in “The Descendants,” but Lillard may be best known as the actor who brought Shaggy to life in the live-action “Scooby Doo” movies.

Before the cameras rolled, Lillard said to Massingill: Don't worry. You only have to hit a major league pitch on film in the Atlanta Braves stadium with Clint Eastwood watching. Yet, when Massingill nailed his lines on the first take, Lillard gave the VSU alum a fist bump of approval.

“The Trouble with the Curve” may be the dream bump for Massingill’s career. It is the first movie in which Clint Eastwood has starred, without directing, since “In the Line of Fire” nearly 20 years ago. Eastwood plays an aging scout making his last recruiting trip. This will reportedly be the 81-year-old Eastwood’s last acting performance. Amy Adams plays Eastwood’s daughter. In addition to Lillard, the remaining cast also reportedly includes Justin Timberlake, John Goodman, Robert Patrick and Massingill, who is the “Curve” in the title. He plays the baseball prospect whom Eastwood’s character hopes to recruit.

Baseball helped land Massingill the role. He played some high school and college ball a few years ago. “They weren’t looking for a baseball player to play a part,” Massingill says.

“They wanted an actor who could play some baseball.”

Though Lillard gave him a bit of a hard time, he says Robert Patrick, the actor who played the unstoppable T-1000 in “Terminator 2: Judgment Day” was the most encouraging.

And Eastwood, well, what can one say about an encouraging word from the multiple Oscar winner, director, composer, writer, and actor who brought to life the iconic Man with No Name and Dirty Harry Callahan?

“He’ll pat me on the back and tell me good job,” Massingill says during a recent phone interview with The Times. “It’s like the climax of my career. … Clint Eastwood is the pinnacle of everything a person could want from a career in film. He does it all.”

It is a place where Joe Massingill would one day like to be in his career, but he had a revelation that, like Eastwood, he may first have to concentrate on one facet of that career if he ever hopes to one day do it all.

A couple of years ago, Massingill wrote two plays, “Passing Proper” and “Passion and Precision.” He wrote them, cast them, directed and produced them in the Los Angeles area. The plays received critical acclaim. Massingill won the outstanding ensemble (intimate theatre) award from stagescenela.com

“Winning the award was great but, after that and all of the hard work, I had no money to show for it,” Massingill says. So, he opted to concentrate on his acting.

Like most VSU Theatre & Dance students, Massingill took a bevy of drama classes, ranging from backstage work to supporting and starring roles on stage.

In the middle years of the 2000s, Massingill appeared in VSU Theatre productions of “Sugar Babies,” “Equus,” “Shadowlands,” and George Bernard Shaw’s “Arms and the Man” as the hunted soldier Capt. Bluntschli.

At a solid 6-foot-2, Massingill had natural stage presence throughout the VSU productions. But his Valdosta stage works were marked by his ability to give strong, understated performances. Given his size, he did not need to use large or overly expressive gestures to portray a character on stage. Given his subtle performances, it would seem Massingill was preparing even then for a career before the cameras rather than in footlights.

From Noonan, Ga., Massingill arrived at VSU Theatre & Dance with plans to concentrate on musical theatre. Soon, Dr. Randy Wheeler, now retired from VSU Theatre, convinced Massingill to step away from the song and dance of musical theatre and concentrate on acting. Massingill says VSU Theatre provided him with the background and foundation to build his career.

The weekend after graduating from VSU in 2008, Massingill left for a dinner-theatre gig in Oregon. Following that work, he traveled to Los Angeles, where he’s lived ever since. After the epiphany that he could create award-winning plays but still need to eat, Massingill focused again on his acting. He found an agent who found him work.

Massingill has appeared in television series, such as “Glee,” but his most famous role, so far, especially to young Disney Channel viewers, may be as the bully Crowbar Plunk in the “Zeke and Luther” television series.

That is until possibly this fall. Director Robert Lorenz reportedly plans to wrap filming and prepare “The Trouble with the Curve” this summer so it’s ready for a Sept. 28 release. With Massingill’s shooting reportedly wrapping this past week, he may be back in L.A. by the time this story sees print.

Though Clint Eastwood has patted him on the back, Joe Massingill will be looking for his next acting job.

But who knows, come September, the release of the film, “The Trouble with the Curve,” may be Massingill’s fastball to his next project.