Actor Josh Duhamel took on his biggest professional challenge directing and starring in his new comedy, Buddy Games. The R-rated male bonding comedy created a number of obstacles for first-time director, Duhamel.
Five Things You Need to Know:
- The film centers on a group of six friends that reunite after a five-year hiatus to engage in a challenging set of dares and games and help lift one of their own out of depression. They also have a shot of winning $150,000 while doing so. The cast includes Duhamel, Dax Shepard, Olivia Munn, Kevin Dillon, and Neal McDonough.
- Duhamel explain why he was drawn to the project, telling us: "There is definitely something primal about this and that is one of the underlying themes we were going for with this. I’m just speaking for my group of friends, it becomes primal, we revert back to our 16-year-old selves, but there is something competitive with all of us."
- Duhamel is a former fashion model who made his acting debut as Leo du Pres on the ABC daytime soap opera, All My Children and later starred as Danny McCoy on NBC's Las Vegas.
- Duhamel was one of the main protagonists in four of the Transformer films, most recently in the fifth entry, Transformers: The Last Knight. He has also appeared in When in Rome, Life as We Know It, New Year's Eve, Safe Haven, and You're Not You. In 2015, Duhamel co-starred on the short-lived CBS crime drama, Battle Creek. He also starred in two video games, most notably Call of Duty: WWII. In 2018, he appeared in the romantic comedy-drama film, Love, Simon.
- Duhamel met and began dating singer Stacy Ann Ferguson — better known by her stage name, 'Fergie' — in September 2004, after Ferguson appeared on Duhamel's show, Las Vegas with her band, The Black Eyed Peas. The couple wed on January 10, 2009, in a Roman Catholic ceremony at the Church Estate Vineyards in Malibu, California. They have a son born in August 2013. In September 2017, the couple announced that they had separated earlier in the year and in June 2019, the couple filed for divorce after two years of separation. It was finalized in late November, 2019.