Bob Golub got to do a scene with Academy Award winner Denzel Washington for writer-director John Lee Hancock.

The fact that most of the Sharon, Pa., native’s scene in “The Little Things” got cut is beyond his control.

“I made it in a film with a great director and writer,” Golub said during a telephone interview from his home in West Hollywood. “It’s a small part, but what does that matter? I’m there.”

In the movie, which opens Friday in theaters and on HBO Max, Golub plays a bum — that’s the character’s name in the credits. His methodical counting of change gets in the way of Denzel Washington’s sheriff’s deputy, who is trying to make a quick purchase in a convenience store and then return to a stakeout of a possible serial killer.

Washington is one of three Oscar winners in the cast, which also include Rami Malek (“Bohemian Rhapsody”) as a hotshot Los Angeles police detective and Jared Leto (“Dallas Buyers Club”) as that suspected serial killer in a film written and directed by Hancock, whose credits include “The Blind Side,” “The Alamo” and “The Rookie.”

Getting the gig was a fluke. Golub was in the middle of a roofing job at a neighbor’s house when his agent called about an audition. He usually gets one or two days of advance notice before an audition. This one was later that afternoon.

Since the role was for a bum, he decided not to clean up before heading to the casting call.

“I’m waiting outside, and some guy came by and gave me a dollar,” Golub said. “That’s the truth. You can’t make this up … I have tar on my hands, my face is filthy, I look like s—. The casting director looks at me and goes, ‘You really go for it, don’t you?”

Golub, who got his start as a standup comedian and still performs in clubs, got a chance to show off his improv skills during the audition, and he believes that helped him land the part.

He ended up getting paid for several weeks for what was supposed to be a one-day job. The initial shooting date in September 2019 was delayed, so the production company kept paying him to keep his schedule free. When he finally was called to the set in late October 2019, it was one of the last scenes to be shot.

Golub got to improv during the scene. The director kept telling him to count the change slower at the checkout counter — in part as a prank on Washington. When Washington started jabbing him in the back to get him to speed up, Golub tells him in character, “You jab me in the back again, you’re not going to get a hot dog.”

He was hoping that line would make it into the movie, but it doesn’t. Golub get a line, a close up and a quick exit.

Golub is no stranger to working with famous directors (one of his first screen credits was a scene in Martin Scorsese’s “GoodFellas”) or getting cut out of movies. He did 3 1/2 weeks on “Empire Records,” a 1995 film with a large cult following, only to have his entire storyline cut from the film.

COVID-19 restrictions changed the original release plan for the film. Instead of opening in 3,000 theaters this week, “The Little Things” will have a limited theatrical release while simultaneously being available for streaming to HBO Max subscribers. Those restrictions also mean no Hollywood premiere.

“It would have been very nice to go to the screening, get dressed up,” Golub said. “I’ve been to screenings before and they put the bigger actors up (away from everyone else). But at the afterparty, it’s all loose. That’s where I’m really good.”

That’s where Golub would have pitched his screenplay to Hancock for “Mac,” a film about Farrell (Pa.) High School basketball coaching legend Ed McCluskey. His teams won 11 league championships in his career, including coaching Farrell to a win in 1954 over an undefeated Philadelphia Overbrook High school team led by future NBA great Wilt Chamberlain.

“He (Hancock) has a football movie and a baseball movie,” Golub said. “He needs a basketball one.”