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Idahoan takes sumo to cinema

Kelly Gneiting, left, of Rigby, Idaho, competes against Koichi Kato, of Japan, at the sixth annual U.S. Sumo Open in Los Angeles. (Courtesy of the Post-Register / The Spokesman-Review)
Nick Dettmann (Idaho Falls) Post Register
Kelly Gneiting, left, of Rigby, Idaho, competes against Koichi Kato, of Japan, at the sixth annual U.S. Sumo Open in Los Angeles. (Courtesy of the Post-Register / The Spokesman-Review)

IDAHO FALLS – Kelly Gneiting is 36 years old, 6 feet tall, weighs 400 pounds and sumo wrestles for a living.

But the Rigby native can still feel somewhat like a kid and star-struck at times.

On Sept. 24, Gneiting was filming a scene in the coming movie “Ocean’s Thirteen” – the third of a series that started in 2001 with a remake of the 1960 movie “Ocean’s Eleven.”

The two-time U.S. National Heavyweight Champion in sumo wrestling had some interesting spectators: Al Pacino and George Clooney were ringside as he filmed the scene.

“I’ve never really seen a movie star before,” Gneiting said. “My first thought was, ‘My, oh my, this is a day I’ll never forget.’ I look in the front row and I see these good-looking women hovering around Al Pacino.”

“Ocean’s Thirteen,” starring Pacino and Clooney, along with Brad Pitt, Matt Damon and Bernie Mac, will hit theaters in 2007. The movie is directed by Steven Soderbergh.

In Gneiting’s scene, Pacino’s character, who owns a casino, is hosting a sumo wrestling tournament. And Gneiting did make one guarantee about the scene.

“It wasn’t acting,” he said.

“I wasn’t sure exactly what was going to happen,” he added. “It was fun, one of those once-in-a-lifetime experiences. I got caught up with everybody in the room. These movies stars were watching me sumo wrestle. That was a crazy experience.”

Gneiting said when the movie does come out, he will be in the credits and has a good chance of being invited to attend the premiere.

“That would be really cool,” he said.

So what does the new movie star do for an encore?

Well, he, along with fellow sumo wrestler Casey Burns, of Idaho Falls, put together and hosted an annual charity sumo wrestling event.

“We got about 25 wrestlers that are going to be there,” Gneiting said before the event. “There’s going to be a lot of competition – California, Georgia, North Carolina and a bunch from Idaho are going to be there. It’s going to be some good competition.

“I think (the spectators) are in for a nice little surprise if they come out and watch us.”

The fourth annual Idahoan Sumo Classic – formerly the Snake River Classic – was held at the SnowKing Resort on Saturday in Jackson Hole, Wyo., to benefit the Pearl House.

The Pearl House will be a local safe haven for youths who find themselves in bad situations, said Burns, who is the 2003 North American Sumo Heavyweight champion.

“We hope that people come out,” Burns said. “The last couple of years it was at Skyline High School. In the first year, we had some good competitors, but it was the first year, so people were kind of skeptical. Now some of the best competitors are coming.

“I just know that in my heart that this is going to help the kids who are going to be the future leaders of this country.”