LOS ANGELES – When he arrived in North Carolina to play Dale Earnhardt, Barry Pepper knew little about NASCAR racing. But the Canadian actor quickly recognized he was taking on an icon.

“I stepped out of the airport, and the first thing I saw was a bumper sticker that said, ‘My idol is Jesus Christ, but my No. 1 hero is Dale Earnhardt,”‘ the actor says. “I realized I was in for it, and people just started to come out of the woodwork.”

They handed him tapes of Earnhardt races. With deep emotion, a few gave him cassettes of the NASCAR legend’s last race, the Daytona 500 in which he was killed in 2001.

But the soft-spoken Pepper is not worried about how those fans will receive “3,” the Earnhardt film biography that will premiere Dec. 11 on ESPN.

“We knew that we had our work cut out for us, and we were going to be put under the microscope, no matter what,” Pepper tells TV critics.

“We worked our guts out on this film. And against all odds, I think it’s a pretty darn good film. I think at least the NASCAR nation will really enjoy it.”

The upcoming movies “3” and “Hustle,” about Pete Rose’s gambling, reflect ESPN’s move into the film business for the long term, says Ron Semiao, ESPN’s senior vice president of original entertainment. The Disney-owned channel plans to air several movies each year.

The title “3” represents the number of Earnhardt’s car. Semiao describes the film as “a true American dream, rags-to-riches rise of a person who is a legend in our time.”

Sports films have been very good to Pepper. The actor, 34, had supporting roles in “Saving Private Ryan” and “The Green Mile,” but the HBO film “61(ASTERISK)” raised his profile. Pepper played New York Yankee slugger Roger Maris so deftly that he earned Emmy and Golden Globe nominations.

He gained 20 to 30 pounds to portray Maris. Playing Earnhardt was more difficult because Pepper bore no physical likeness to the racer.

“With Dale, I had prosthetic noses,” he says. “I played Dale from 17 to 49. We’re covering almost four decades. I’m wearing different noses through the ages, different teeth, the mustaches.”

The makeup team helped transform the actor over several hours each morning. Pepper describes the experience as exciting and vital to his performance.

“You walk out of that trailer with that swagger and that grin, and the mustache really helps bring it to life,” he says.

Pepper went to North Carolina several weeks before filming to train on the racing.

“In the first day, you’re doing 110 miles an hour just as an introduction, getting used to the track, finding your groove,” he says. “By the second day, you’re reaching speeds up to 170 miles an hour.”

The actor says he wanted to know what Earnhardt was feeling when he was strapped into a car’s claustrophobic cockpit as it moved along the track.

“I needed to know what that sensation was to have that in my eyes,” he says.

Pepper studied tapes of Earnhardt’s interviews and the nuances of the way he spoke. Sound bites that the racer coined are spread through the film. The actor also met Dale Earnhardt Jr., who expressed support for 3.

“I certainly don’t want to let the Earnhardt family down, especially Dale Jr.,” Pepper says. “I feel I have a responsibility to tell his father’s story in a positive way. I was certainly nervous. I had a knot in my stomach the whole time we were filming because of that.”

The film concentrates on Dale’s relationship with his father, Ralph (J.K. Simmons of “Spider-Man”). Elizabeth Mitchell of “ER” plays Dale’s wife, Teresa. Pepper also serves as co-executive producer and is helping edit the film.

What will Earnhardt’s admirers learn from movie?

“I wonder if fans will learn anything,” Pepper says. “There’s such a fervent fan base. They probably know him as well or better than he knew himself. They read everything. They go to every single race.”

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But Pepper hopes fans appreciate the film’s attention to detail. Just talking to the press seems a bit difficult for the actor, who prefers to spend as much time as possible on his Canada farm with his wife and 4-year-old daughter.

He stresses that he’s not part of the Hollywood scene. “I can’t breathe when I’m here,” he says.

But the experience of making 3 has turned him into a self-described NASCAR junkie.

“I fell in love with it,” he says. “I’m not the kind of actor that just tries to sell a movie. That’s not by my bag. I fell in love with NASCAR.”

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(c) 2004, The Orlando Sentinel (Fla.).

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Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Information Services.

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Barry Pepper

AP-NY-07-30-04 0950EDT

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