Directed by John Hyams and written by Timothy Brady, the indie drama All Square follows John Zbikowski (Michael Kelly), a down-on-his-luck small-town bookie who isn’t the best at collecting outstanding debts. When he strikes up a friendship with an ex’s (Pamela Adlon) 12-year-old son (Jesse Ray Sheps), he sees the possibilities in taking bets on his little league games, creating chaos in the community.

During this 1-on-1 phone interview with Collider, actor Michael Kelly (who is also a producer on the film) talked about the appeal of his friend’s script, getting All Square into production pretty quickly, enticing some of the House of Cards crew members to sign on, what it was like to say goodbye to the series and character that he’s played for six seasons, what it was like to watch Robin Wright take center stage for the final season, what he’ll miss most about playing Doug Stamper, what it’s been like to join the second season of the Amazon series Jack Ryan, and whether he’d like to direct, in the future.

Collider: I thought you were so great in this. It’s such an interesting story because we don’t get to see characters like this too often, and we definitely don’t get to see a friendship like the one between John and Brian.

MICHAEL KELLY: Yeah, what really struck me when my friend, Timmy [Brady], sent me the script – I had read many of Timmy’s things before and he’s a really good friend of mine – I was on the last page, dialing his number. I was like, “Dude, where did this come from? It’s so good. It’s such a throwback movie and script. It’s got heart. It has that older ‘70s style feel to it. I wanna do this, man.” And he was like, “Really?!” I was like, “Yeah, I wanna make this happen.” The director John Hyams, and I both agreed that this script was great, so we made a deal that, if he could get Sam Rockwell, I’d pull out of it, or if we could get some great director, he’d be out of there. We just knew that it had to be made.

When your friend sent you his script, did he say anything about it? Did he pitch it in any way, or did you read it without knowing what it would be?

KELLY: It was the latter. He does that, from time to time. He just says, “Hey, I wrote something and I’d love to have your two cents.” I was on House of Cards, at the time, and was super busy, so I was like, “I’ll probably get to it this week.” I never read anything unless I can read it from start to finish without any interruptions, so that’s what I did. I just waited a few days until I had that time, and I sat down not knowing what to expect. Even when I asked him, “Where did this come from?,” he said, “I just wrote something from my heart, instead of what I thought everyone wanted to read. I wrote what I wanted to write.” I said, “Well, keep doing that. You’ve really got something.”

One of the things that I loved most about this movie is the friendship between this man and this young boy because there’s something so interesting and compelling about it. There’s a definite age difference there and they’re not related to each other, so there’s no real obligation that ties them to each other, and yet they seem to have just found this odd friendship. What was the experience of working with that young actor like and developing a dynamic like that?

KELLY: Jesse Ray Sheps is such a talented kid. We went through the typical audition process, in finding him, and that was our biggest hurdle. We called a lot of friends to be in the movie, and I knew everyone except for Harris [Yulin] and Jesse. I was back and forth, doing House of Cards in Baltimore and New York. One of the trips home that I scheduled, with John and Timmy, who flew from L.A. to New York to meet the final few kids and have me read with them, it was down to a couple kids. This other kid was equally good, but there was just something about the ease at which Jesse was in the room, and that smile. You can’t not love that kid’s smile. We were like, “Yep, that’s the kid.” And his folks were so great. When we got together on set, he was a great young actor because he asked questions. He comes fully prepared, and he dives into a scene like an adult. It all happened really organically with him, and I couldn’t be more grateful for it.

It sounds like this got made fairly quickly, which is kind of unheard of. Did you have any moments, along the way, where it almost fell apart, or was it surprisingly smooth sailing?

KELLY: Every step of the way, when you’re producing and starring in something, you hit those roadblocks. You hit them every day, especially on an independent film of this budget. You’re going to just get smacked in the face, all the time, even going right up to within a week of starting principle photography. It went union on us, which is fine, but it was a very unexpected thing. We shaved it down from 21 to 18 shooting days, and we’d plot ahead to make our days, so we didn’t really ever go over time. To go back to your original question of how quickly it went together, I think that kind of stuff is possible. I don’t believe that it has to be so complicated. Granted, we had the director, we had the writer and we had the actor, in myself, and then we just called on every friend that we had and asked favors. I went to the House of Cards crew. The first person I gave it to was Lorenzo [Millan], our sound guy, and he was like, “Oh, my god, I love this. If you do this near Maryland, I’m in.” More and more, people came forward from the crew who were like, “Mike, whatever you’re doing, we got your back.” What I ended up doing was just taking those people on my crew, who I knew were completely competent of taking it to the next level, and just bumped them one position up and giving them that credit, as a favor, in return for their services. On an independent film, you don’t get paid a lot, so I just tried to make it as beneficial to everyone as I could. We had a crew that I knew, and I knew that they were really talented, so we were able to make a film for not a ton of money, in a short amount of time. The way it all came together, it blew us all away. It really came down to John Hyams, the director, and me, as the actor. We both had a window in which we were not working, and it was a short window, so we had to get it in there and we just did everything that we could to make it happen, in those days.

What did it mean to you to be able to give those crew members an opportunity that they might not have had another way?

KELLY: It meant the world. These are all people who are incredibly talented at what they do, and they’re people that I’ve known for, at that time, six years. I knew they were all capable. It meant a lot because they’re my family. I love those people so much. One of the hardest things about House of Cards ending was saying goodbye to the family that I had there. To be able to go and do this with them was incredible. It was really neat, and I’m grateful to them.

You’ve said that both you and Robin Wright had asked to be in the last scene, on the last day, of House of Cards because you wanted to be there with the crew. Did you actually get to do that, and what was that experience like? Was it just a whole bunch of people crying?

KELLY: Yeah. When they said, “That’s a wrap on Michael-fucking-Kelly,” which is what I was sometimes called there, the whole crew was in the room and they just wouldn’t stop clapping. I was like, “Guys, all right, let me talk because I know I’m gonna start crying.” I literally got up and was like, “I love and thank you so much, from the bottom of my heart,” and I was bawling. I was like, “Okay, Robin, you can talk.” It was really tough.

What was it like to say goodbye to that character, and what do you think you’ll miss most about Doug Stamper?

KELLY: It was incredibly hard to say goodbye, after living with it for six years. I was very fortunate to live with that character for six years. I think what I’ll miss most, other than the obvious things, like the crew and the city of Baltimore and my apartment there, was that solitude that I had to go to, to live in his head. I’m not just saying that I’m method, all the way. I’d go out to bars and I would have dinner. Derek Cecil and I would have dinner. We would go over to each other’s houses and study and be ourselves. But it was the three-hour drive, from New York to Baltimore, that I would drive at least once a week, that would help me fall into that character’s head. I kept the apartment very minimal and everything was very simple, and I had a lot of quiet time, which I don’t allow myself, in my real life, which is unfortunate. I was able to allow myself to live in that quiet, by myself. The solitude for many hours, every day, is what I’ll miss because it was a very calming experience, in many ways, that I don’t have in my real life, with a 6-year-old and a nine-year-old. Not to say that I’d trade it, but I’m just saying that there’s something about getting into that guy’s headspace that brought a certain sense of serenity to my life.

You’ve been a part of House of Cards since the beginning, and that show has taken quite a journey to get to where it is for the final season. What was it like to shoot the last season and get to see Robin Wright really take center stage?

KELLY: It was incredible. She is so effortlessly talented. It would amaze me sometimes, how quickly she could turn it on and off. To see her use her skills and be this powerful woman and just command the screen, especially in today’s age, was a beautiful thing to witness. It’s interesting because you saw it happening, over the seasons. From Season 1 to 6, there’s a big difference in that character and her presence on the show. It’s much like it was with Rachel Brosnahan, who came on to do a couple of scenes and ended up having an incredible, Emmy-nominated role in the show, that lasted for seasons. If you did good work on that show, they would write for it. So, Robin’s evolution on the show was, in a large part, to do with her performance and just how damn compelling she is on the screen. We were really fortunate that the show ended with her as President, last season. We still would have found a way, but it’s funny how life work sometimes. You could see it happening.

You’ve also joined the second season of Jack Ryan. What made you want to sign on for that series?

KELLY: I’m just a big fan of John Krasinski. I had known Emily [Blunt] before, and I had met John just once, but I was like, “I really like that guy.” When they offered me the role, and then I had a video chat with (show creators) Carlton [Cuse] and Graham [Roland], I said, “What I don’t want to do is play him like a normal CIA hard-ass.” He was written with a slight sense of humor, and I thought that was interesting. But it really was John and the material, and there’s a lot of action in it. For me, it was a one-season commitment, and it happened right on the heels of House of Cards, so it was like this beautiful little Band-Aid. It was tough leaving House of Cards, and I didn’t know that I was ready to make a commitment to another show that could potentially put me on a show until my late 50s, so I thought it would be cool. I said, “As long as I get to have my family come for some of it, I’m cool with it.” We did two and a half months in Colombia, South America, so the family got to come for a month of that, which made it all okay.

What was it like to walk onto a set like that and join in the second season, and jump in as the new guy? Does that take a little bit of adjustment?

KELLY: I met John and his whole team at the restaurant at the hotel where we were staying, the night before my first day, and I’ll admit that I was nervous, like I am at the start of any job. But John and his whole team put me at such ease, the night before. We got on so well, so quickly, that it was like, “All right, this is gonna be fun.”

Obviously, as a producer, you were more involved with this film. Did it give you any desire to try your hand at directing?

KELLY: I was gonna direct [an episode] of House of Cards this season, when Kevin [Spacey] was still a part of it and we were going to do 13 episodes. I was signed on as one of the directors, and I was really excited about being able to direct, for the first time since college. So, I will say that yes, I’d like to do that, but in producing this, I found that my strengths lie more in that than directing. Not to say that I’m not gonna direct something one day, if I find a piece of material that I feel like I have to direct, or if I write something. But for right now, I really enjoyed producing and putting all of the pieces together, bringing that family from House of Cards, helping secure half of the financing, and putting the cast together. That, to me, was a thrilling part of it.

All Square is in select theaters and on-demand.