WEBVTT - Severance’s Adam Scott Is Out of the Office, for Real 0:00:00.080 --> 0:00:03.320 Hi, everyone. I'm Katie Couric and this is next question. 0:00:04.840 --> 0:00:07.240 You know, when I was getting ready to interview the 0:00:07.320 --> 0:00:10.840 actor Adam Scott, I wasn't sure what I was in for. 0:00:11.640 --> 0:00:13.600 I didn't know that much about him. Of course I 0:00:13.760 --> 0:00:17.639 recognized him from a lot of different roles, but I 0:00:17.680 --> 0:00:19.840 really didn't know what to expect, and I have to 0:00:19.920 --> 0:00:27.120 admit I ended up really really liking Adam Scott. Hello, Adam, Hi. Hi, 0:00:27.240 --> 0:00:30.720 it's Katie. Hi. I learned a lot about him during 0:00:30.760 --> 0:00:34.080 the course of our conversation. That I would have loved 0:00:34.120 --> 0:00:36.599 his mom, That he lives close to the house we've 0:00:36.640 --> 0:00:39.120 been rinding in LA for the past couple of months. 0:00:39.400 --> 0:00:42.520 That he loves building forts. You're going to think it's 0:00:42.560 --> 0:00:45.320 really weird, but I'm doing this under a blanket because 0:00:45.320 --> 0:00:46.800 this room is super echoey. 0:00:47.400 --> 0:00:48.040 I don't mind. 0:00:48.240 --> 0:00:50.680 Let's just pretend like we're in a fort that we 0:00:50.800 --> 0:00:52.080 made as kids. 0:00:52.600 --> 0:00:56.840 I love it. I love forts, and I love cozy its, 0:00:56.840 --> 0:00:58.240 and it's cozy and fort like. 0:00:58.560 --> 0:01:01.240 And that nothing was going to stop him from becoming 0:01:01.280 --> 0:01:04.480 an actor, even though he may do with bit parts 0:01:04.520 --> 0:01:10.240 scraping a living together for fifteen years. Nevertheless, he persisted. 0:01:10.160 --> 0:01:13.720 You look back and you're like, oh my god, I 0:01:14.680 --> 0:01:15.360 was nowhere. 0:01:16.480 --> 0:01:19.759 Ironically, after wanting to break into Hollywood for so long, 0:01:20.240 --> 0:01:23.720 the first big acting gig he got was playing a 0:01:23.760 --> 0:01:27.000 Hollywood want to be stuck in a dead end catering 0:01:27.080 --> 0:01:31.520 job and the now cult favorite show Party Down. Were 0:01:31.560 --> 0:01:33.000 you were you that guy? 0:01:34.040 --> 0:01:35.520 Yes, it was you were You. 0:01:35.480 --> 0:01:38.440 Were totally that guy. That is bananas. 0:01:38.560 --> 0:01:42.399 I remember that. I remember you. Yeah, what are you 0:01:42.440 --> 0:01:45.119 doing working here? Well? 0:01:45.160 --> 0:01:49.400 You remember me from anything else? Spoiler alert. It works 0:01:49.480 --> 0:01:52.120 out for our dear Adam. He has starred in some 0:01:52.240 --> 0:01:56.080 truly vengeable TV, from Parks and rec to Big Little 0:01:56.120 --> 0:01:59.920 Eyes to now Front and Center in a new series 0:02:00.320 --> 0:02:01.200 called Severance. 0:02:01.720 --> 0:02:06.680 Hello, my name is Mark S and I have of 0:02:06.680 --> 0:02:11.680 my own free accord, elected to undergo the procedure known 0:02:11.720 --> 0:02:12.440 as Severance. 0:02:16.520 --> 0:02:21.320 We get into the show, Adam's scrappy beginnings, that magnificent quoth, 0:02:21.760 --> 0:02:24.880 and much more. I hope you enjoy our chat as 0:02:24.960 --> 0:02:30.360 much as I did. I'm excited to talk about Severance because, 0:02:30.560 --> 0:02:34.880 oh cool. When I first saw billboards advertising your new 0:02:34.919 --> 0:02:38.600 show on Apple TV, I thought, Wow, that is really 0:02:39.080 --> 0:02:41.959 extraordinary timing. Here we are on the heels of a 0:02:42.000 --> 0:02:46.080 pandemic that has left so many people of all ages 0:02:46.200 --> 0:02:51.120 rethinking the workplace, rethinking, you know, what we want to 0:02:51.160 --> 0:02:55.399 do with our lives. There's the Great Resignation, which other 0:02:55.480 --> 0:03:00.440 people have called the Great Reset. But it seems almost 0:03:00.520 --> 0:03:04.840 uncanny that this show is coming out at this moment. 0:03:05.080 --> 0:03:09.520 Was it complete serendipity or was it did you foresee 0:03:09.560 --> 0:03:11.600 something happening in the culture. 0:03:13.840 --> 0:03:17.760 It was complete serendipity. I mean the show was written 0:03:17.960 --> 0:03:21.960 pre pandemic, and we were going to start shooting April 0:03:22.000 --> 0:03:26.520 of twenty twenty and had to delay, you know, obviously 0:03:26.680 --> 0:03:30.600 for seven months and started that. We started shooting the 0:03:30.720 --> 0:03:36.280 day after the election in November twenty twenty, and so 0:03:36.400 --> 0:03:39.840 we were shooting right in the heart of pre vaccine 0:03:40.560 --> 0:03:45.960 New York pandemic. It was, as everyone knows, it was 0:03:45.960 --> 0:03:49.920 a crazy time. And so no, I think it was 0:03:50.040 --> 0:03:56.280 complete serendipity. But you know, Dan Ericson the creator and writer, 0:03:56.440 --> 0:04:00.200 and Ben Stiller, the director and executive producer, you know, 0:04:00.240 --> 0:04:06.560 kind of the creative forces really behind the show, you know, 0:04:06.600 --> 0:04:11.680 as serendipitous, but I think also the the kind of 0:04:11.800 --> 0:04:14.360 everything we're feeling right now and kind of the result 0:04:14.600 --> 0:04:18.560 of everything that's happened the past couple of years. You know, 0:04:19.160 --> 0:04:21.480 you have to think that the seeds of this have 0:04:21.560 --> 0:04:25.920 been planted for some time. It's just we were accelerated, Yeah, 0:04:25.960 --> 0:04:27.040 for the past couple of years. 0:04:27.120 --> 0:04:29.839 That's so interesting. I think you're so right. I think 0:04:30.480 --> 0:04:35.120 millennials and now gen z people, I don't know gen 0:04:35.279 --> 0:04:39.200 z ers. I think this sort of restlessness and this 0:04:39.360 --> 0:04:44.159 questioning of career tracks and the idea. I remember giving 0:04:44.200 --> 0:04:48.440 a commencement address and saying most millennials will change jobs 0:04:48.480 --> 0:04:51.719 and average of fourteen times in their lifetime, you know. 0:04:51.920 --> 0:04:55.760 And I think we've seen this slow shift from people 0:04:55.839 --> 0:04:59.720 who work for one company their entire lives, retire with 0:04:59.800 --> 0:05:03.280 the of old watch a lunch and a pension, and 0:05:03.360 --> 0:05:09.599 this very different view of work and priorities. So I 0:05:09.640 --> 0:05:13.520 think you're right. Everything accelerated. I think all these pre 0:05:13.640 --> 0:05:17.600 existing trends accelerated during the pandemic. But while you were 0:05:17.640 --> 0:05:21.640 shooting it, did you sort of feel like this feels 0:05:21.880 --> 0:05:24.760 very of the moment. We've kind of captured lightning in 0:05:24.839 --> 0:05:27.200 a bottle in terms of some of the themes that 0:05:27.240 --> 0:05:28.600 this show presents. 0:05:30.760 --> 0:05:32.800 You know, it was tough to see the forest for 0:05:32.839 --> 0:05:37.600 the trees while we were shooting because it was such 0:05:37.640 --> 0:05:41.960 a gargantuan task in front of us, in front of you. 0:05:42.000 --> 0:05:44.479 I remember Amy Poehler used to call it being at 0:05:44.520 --> 0:05:48.480 the bottom of show mountain when you're just starting a 0:05:48.600 --> 0:05:53.640 new show that no one knows what it is, so 0:05:53.680 --> 0:05:56.279 there's no definition to it, and you're at the bottom 0:05:56.279 --> 0:05:59.919 of the mountain when you know when you're at episode 0:06:00.160 --> 0:06:04.040 one of hopefully as many as possible, but you have 0:06:04.120 --> 0:06:08.760 to shoot the show, but you also have to construct 0:06:08.839 --> 0:06:12.760 and define it, find the tone, all of those things 0:06:12.800 --> 0:06:17.560 that make a show work. You have to sort of 0:06:17.640 --> 0:06:20.040 figure it out as you're doing it, because there's no 0:06:20.320 --> 0:06:23.440 really knowing what it's going to be, what it's going 0:06:23.520 --> 0:06:26.800 to feel like until those cameras are rolling and you 0:06:26.839 --> 0:06:29.920 have everyone in the room doing it, and so it 0:06:29.960 --> 0:06:33.080 is like being at the bottom of a mountain. And 0:06:33.400 --> 0:06:39.000 that's how it felt. And for me, never having been 0:06:39.680 --> 0:06:45.520 at the center of something quite so big and challenging, 0:06:46.960 --> 0:06:52.440 I just was, you know, day to going, trying to 0:06:52.520 --> 0:06:56.200 just jump from one lily pad to the next, keeping 0:06:56.279 --> 0:06:57.359 up with the work and. 0:06:58.960 --> 0:07:02.600 Under these extraordinary circumstances in the middle of COVID, where 0:07:02.640 --> 0:07:06.800 you guys were probably being tested on a regular basis, 0:07:06.880 --> 0:07:09.800 and having to keep your distance and wear masks when 0:07:09.800 --> 0:07:12.920 you're not you know, when they don't say action. I 0:07:12.960 --> 0:07:16.480 mean that that must have been really tough. 0:07:17.720 --> 0:07:22.800 It was really interesting. And the isolation of it what 0:07:22.880 --> 0:07:25.920 you just said, they you know, the moment they called cut, 0:07:26.440 --> 0:07:28.720 putting a mask and a shield up in front of 0:07:28.760 --> 0:07:31.400 your face. We never even saw the cruise faces for 0:07:31.440 --> 0:07:34.080 the ten months we're working on the show. And then 0:07:34.160 --> 0:07:38.240 also you go home, and I was away from my family. 0:07:38.280 --> 0:07:41.600 I was in New York, so I live in Los Angeles, 0:07:41.640 --> 0:07:44.360 so I was by myself in an apartment in New York. 0:07:44.560 --> 0:07:50.800 And pre vaccine, New York was, especially in the fall 0:07:50.840 --> 0:07:53.840 of twenty twenty, was pretty lockdown. It was pretty and 0:07:53.920 --> 0:07:54.880 it was pretty eary. 0:07:55.000 --> 0:07:57.480 As somebody who lives in the city too, you know, 0:07:57.560 --> 0:08:00.960 you would walk out on Park Avenue and in the 0:08:01.000 --> 0:08:05.840 middle of the day and there it was empty, no cars. 0:08:05.920 --> 0:08:07.880 I mean, honestly, it was like a movie. 0:08:08.760 --> 0:08:11.640 I know, it was crazy. It was like a mid 0:08:11.800 --> 0:08:16.760 nineties like Wolfgang Peterson movie or something. So so yeah, 0:08:16.360 --> 0:08:22.280 I would shoot the show for twelve hours or whatever, 0:08:22.360 --> 0:08:26.239 get in a van, go back to the apartment, eat, sleep, 0:08:27.000 --> 0:08:29.560 wake up, get in a van, go to the show, 0:08:29.600 --> 0:08:37.599 and the show was this kind of stark, isolated, strange environment, 0:08:37.840 --> 0:08:41.120 and so it was very severance, like my kind of 0:08:41.520 --> 0:08:44.559 existence parallel to the show. 0:08:44.679 --> 0:08:45.040 It was. 0:08:45.880 --> 0:08:49.800 It was very very strange, and I was, you know, 0:08:50.880 --> 0:08:54.680 grappling with a loss in my life and alone for 0:08:54.760 --> 0:09:00.520 the first time in six months after this intent time 0:09:00.600 --> 0:09:04.080 with family, you know, like we all did, we really 0:09:04.120 --> 0:09:06.400 buckled down. I buckled down with my two kids and 0:09:06.440 --> 0:09:10.240 my wife for six months and had this extraordinary time 0:09:10.320 --> 0:09:15.040 together and then to suddenly just be boom, You're by yourself, 0:09:15.480 --> 0:09:20.240 uh uh, in a in a in the city and working, 0:09:20.280 --> 0:09:23.720 and you know, it was a it was like slamming 0:09:23.760 --> 0:09:27.200 the brakes on and then getting into a car you've 0:09:27.240 --> 0:09:30.559 never driven before and trying to figure it out. That's 0:09:30.559 --> 0:09:33.160 a metaphor that I'm not going to keep following. 0:09:34.280 --> 0:09:37.520 I was so excited to see your your mug on 0:09:37.559 --> 0:09:41.199 the billboard and that pretty serious head of hair of yours, 0:09:41.360 --> 0:09:43.760 although it was kind of slicked down in the billboard. 0:09:44.440 --> 0:09:46.880 I'm not obsessed with hair. Your hair just happens to 0:09:46.880 --> 0:09:50.600 look lovely today, Oh, thank you very much, very fresh 0:09:50.640 --> 0:09:55.080 and maybe just washed. But anyway, you know, tell me 0:09:55.400 --> 0:10:00.280 about the plot a little bit about your character the 0:10:00.320 --> 0:10:05.720 show and how this whole idea was turned into I 0:10:05.760 --> 0:10:09.360 guess what I would describe as a psychological thriller of sorts. 0:10:10.720 --> 0:10:14.000 Yeah, I think I think I think that's right. I 0:10:14.000 --> 0:10:18.320 think it's a bunch of different things, kind of there's 0:10:18.559 --> 0:10:21.600 a few balls that are in the air with the show, 0:10:21.720 --> 0:10:28.559 and I think that's what really kind of got Ben 0:10:28.640 --> 0:10:31.120 really Ben still really interested in it. It is that 0:10:31.200 --> 0:10:35.160 it has this sort of this the entry into the 0:10:35.200 --> 0:10:41.520 story sort of feels workplace, like a fun workplace comedy 0:10:41.559 --> 0:10:45.959 in a way, like office space or the officer parks 0:10:45.960 --> 0:10:50.840 and rec even this sort of light, fun bantery way in, 0:10:51.000 --> 0:10:53.120 and then you sort of sense that there's something a 0:10:53.120 --> 0:10:57.480 little more sinister maybe lurking underneath, and then you kind 0:10:57.520 --> 0:11:03.920 of realize that this is this fun office vibe that 0:11:04.360 --> 0:11:07.880 involves people who have no idea what they're doing there 0:11:08.280 --> 0:11:11.920 or who they are. Yeah. I mean the conceit of 0:11:11.960 --> 0:11:15.000 the show is that we live in a time where 0:11:15.040 --> 0:11:18.160 there's this technology where you can get a chip inserted 0:11:18.200 --> 0:11:23.640 into your brain that bifurcates your memories. So when you 0:11:23.679 --> 0:11:26.880 go to work, once you cross the threshold of your workplace, 0:11:27.559 --> 0:11:30.440 you lose all of your memory of who you are 0:11:30.480 --> 0:11:34.920 in the outside world, and your entire life and perspective 0:11:34.960 --> 0:11:37.200 on your life is there at work, and so that 0:11:37.400 --> 0:11:39.200 is who you are. And then when you leave at 0:11:39.240 --> 0:11:41.760 the end of the day and cross that threshold once again, 0:11:42.320 --> 0:11:45.280 something is triggered in the chip in your brain and 0:11:45.360 --> 0:11:48.280 you have no access to the memories of what just 0:11:48.360 --> 0:11:51.880 happened at work, and you have no idea actually what 0:11:52.000 --> 0:11:55.840 your job even is. You just live in the outside world. 0:11:55.920 --> 0:12:00.679 So the idea is you can completely focus on your 0:12:00.679 --> 0:12:03.679 personal life and then you can completely focus on your 0:12:03.760 --> 0:12:06.360 job and never the twain shall meet. And so the 0:12:06.440 --> 0:12:12.960 work life balance is finally solved. There is a complete 0:12:13.000 --> 0:12:16.680 balance in the work life conundrum. 0:12:16.920 --> 0:12:18.000 So I'll never leave here. 0:12:19.520 --> 0:12:23.600 You'll leave it five well, actually they stagger exits, so 0:12:23.720 --> 0:12:26.680 five point fifteen. But it won't feel like it, not 0:12:26.720 --> 0:12:31.240 to this version of you anyway. Do you have a family, 0:12:32.840 --> 0:12:33.400 You'll never know. 0:12:35.840 --> 0:12:36.760 I have no choice. 0:12:38.760 --> 0:12:42.360 Well, every time you find yourself here, it's because you 0:12:42.480 --> 0:12:43.640 chose to come back. 0:12:44.200 --> 0:12:46.960 And tell us about the character you play. By the way, 0:12:47.200 --> 0:12:50.240 it sounds like Office Space meets Black Mirror. 0:12:51.000 --> 0:12:55.280 Yeah, yeah, sure, yeah, I think Twilight Zone and Black 0:12:55.320 --> 0:13:01.480 Mirror are certainly touchstones as a fan. When I first 0:13:01.520 --> 0:13:06.360 read the scripts, that's the stuff that I love watching 0:13:06.400 --> 0:13:09.040 and have since. Twilight Zone was a huge thing for 0:13:09.120 --> 0:13:11.520 me as a kid, and so reading it, I you know, 0:13:11.559 --> 0:13:14.160 it was something that I would want to watch as 0:13:14.200 --> 0:13:19.520 an audience member. Yeah, my character Mark is in the 0:13:19.559 --> 0:13:22.959 outside world. A couple of years ago he lost his 0:13:23.080 --> 0:13:27.360 wife and you know, two and it's been two and 0:13:27.360 --> 0:13:31.199 a half years and he is not doing well. He's 0:13:31.280 --> 0:13:36.640 not moving on, and a couple of years ago decided 0:13:36.679 --> 0:13:41.440 to get severed because he just didn't want to feel 0:13:41.520 --> 0:13:44.640 this pain twenty four hours a day so he can 0:13:44.679 --> 0:13:47.160 wake up in the morning, have breakfast, drive to work, 0:13:47.320 --> 0:13:51.000 and then boom, he's leaving work and getting his car, 0:13:51.080 --> 0:13:53.760 driving home, eating and going to sleep. That's his life. 0:13:53.760 --> 0:13:56.800 He doesn't have to feel anything for eight to ten 0:13:56.840 --> 0:14:01.719 hours a day. And I think also part of his 0:14:01.920 --> 0:14:08.520 reasoning for this is that this grief and this pain 0:14:09.440 --> 0:14:14.720 is in a way all he has left of his wife, 0:14:14.760 --> 0:14:18.240 and he's that's, you know, whether consciously or not, why 0:14:18.280 --> 0:14:20.640 he's grasping onto this and holding onto it, why he 0:14:20.640 --> 0:14:24.920 doesn't want to move on, is because this is what 0:14:25.000 --> 0:14:29.680 he has and being able to check out for most 0:14:29.720 --> 0:14:32.600 of most of the day is a way of holding 0:14:32.600 --> 0:14:35.880 on to it while not having to necessarily deal with 0:14:36.040 --> 0:14:36.760 or feel it. 0:14:37.280 --> 0:14:41.480 Interesting And do you think it's a metaphor for how 0:14:42.200 --> 0:14:48.360 sort of unhealthily entwined our personal lives have become with 0:14:48.440 --> 0:14:52.400 our work lives. In other words, the constant connectivity thanks 0:14:52.400 --> 0:14:57.560 to technology has made it really difficult for us to 0:14:58.760 --> 0:15:04.600 have what was for so long considered our two separate lives. 0:15:04.760 --> 0:15:07.000 You know, even for me when I started out in 0:15:07.040 --> 0:15:11.280 television news, I would go to work, I would come home, 0:15:11.960 --> 0:15:14.640 and that was time with my family. Now I had 0:15:14.640 --> 0:15:18.200 to do homework, you know, the night before, which was delivered. 0:15:18.560 --> 0:15:23.280 It sounds so quaint in an envelope with actual you know, 0:15:24.640 --> 0:15:29.000 papers and xeroxys and articles. Yeah, and Manila folders and 0:15:29.080 --> 0:15:33.240 all that jazz. But I still felt that when I 0:15:33.440 --> 0:15:38.320 was not physically at work, I wasn't thinking about work 0:15:38.360 --> 0:15:42.040 twenty four to seven. And now the lines have been 0:15:42.200 --> 0:15:46.560 so blurred. So it is sort of this part of 0:15:46.600 --> 0:15:53.440 the solution for that all encompassing professional side that we 0:15:53.600 --> 0:15:54.080 now have. 0:15:55.800 --> 0:16:00.280 Yeah, I guess, so, I guess that's the that's the idea. Yeah, 0:16:00.280 --> 0:16:05.120 I mean I know that it's it sounds great to 0:16:05.200 --> 0:16:09.680 be able to sever the two things because I always 0:16:09.920 --> 0:16:13.160 pictured that as well. I always pictured once my professional 0:16:13.200 --> 0:16:19.160 life got anywhere and I had any traction or any stability, 0:16:20.560 --> 0:16:24.600 and especially once I started we started a family that 0:16:25.280 --> 0:16:29.160 I would work and then come home and honey, I'm 0:16:29.200 --> 0:16:31.680 home and she has them. 0:16:31.560 --> 0:16:33.800 Martini and your bedroom slippers. 0:16:33.360 --> 0:16:36.680 And exactly like mad Men or something. You know, that's 0:16:36.720 --> 0:16:40.000 sort of what you always picture. But by the time 0:16:40.560 --> 0:16:45.000 it happened for me, there was no you know, you 0:16:45.040 --> 0:16:46.960 walk through the door and there's a buzzing in your 0:16:47.000 --> 0:16:50.200 pocket and you know it's twenty four seven. There really 0:16:50.280 --> 0:16:54.120 is no stopping. No matter what you're doing for a living, 0:16:55.040 --> 0:16:58.720 you have to really draw the line for yourself and 0:17:00.040 --> 0:17:02.560 if you want that separation, you have to put it 0:17:02.600 --> 0:17:07.080 in a drawer. But then, you know, if you're not 0:17:07.240 --> 0:17:12.760 reachable for two hours, uh, you know, people think there's 0:17:12.960 --> 0:17:17.000 something going on, there's something wrong, and it's it's now 0:17:17.119 --> 0:17:21.240 unusual to just be unresponsive for a certain amount of time. 0:17:21.840 --> 0:17:28.160 It is a strange a strange, strange time. And certainly, 0:17:29.840 --> 0:17:32.080 you know, like you were saying earlier, how it almost 0:17:32.119 --> 0:17:35.399 feels like the pandemic or lockdown or whatever sort of 0:17:35.440 --> 0:17:39.920 accelerated what what what was already happening with the gig 0:17:39.960 --> 0:17:45.280 economy and and and and all of that. Yeah, it's 0:17:45.320 --> 0:17:48.040 a strange I mean what you were talking about with 0:17:48.359 --> 0:17:51.119 I would assume with the Today Show when you would 0:17:51.800 --> 0:17:54.760 come home and get to be with your family and 0:17:54.800 --> 0:17:58.040 then get that that big packet of homework that must 0:17:58.040 --> 0:18:01.560 have been you know, it's it's sounds like it sounds exhausting, 0:18:01.600 --> 0:18:04.880 but there is something really comforting about it now and 0:18:04.920 --> 0:18:07.760 sort of straightforward about this is what you have to 0:18:07.800 --> 0:18:12.440 do for tomorrow and that's what it is, and you're 0:18:12.480 --> 0:18:14.800 not going to be bothered and this is this isn't 0:18:14.840 --> 0:18:17.359 all going to be turned upside down and changed right 0:18:17.400 --> 0:18:20.320 and changed, I mean, unless there's some big worries right. 0:18:20.600 --> 0:18:23.080 Right, there's a big news story. But it's funny because 0:18:23.119 --> 0:18:26.800 you know, I always remind myself that iPhones didn't come 0:18:26.800 --> 0:18:29.320 out till two thousand and eight, and so all through 0:18:29.359 --> 0:18:33.760 the nineties and the early two thousands, you know, I 0:18:33.960 --> 0:18:37.520 could be with my kids at the park without an eruption. 0:18:37.720 --> 0:18:42.320 I wasn't looking at my phone, you know, Flip phones 0:18:42.320 --> 0:18:45.520 were just kind of coming out then, and I could 0:18:45.520 --> 0:18:48.640 be so much more present. And I remember reading that 0:18:48.680 --> 0:18:52.040 Susan Sarandon and Tim Robbins, when they were married, had 0:18:52.080 --> 0:18:55.760 a house rule that they wouldn't answer the phone between 0:18:55.880 --> 0:18:59.760 five and eight, which is so funny now when you 0:18:59.760 --> 0:19:03.200 think about it, because people don't even have landlines anymore, 0:19:03.760 --> 0:19:06.679 and now we're all addicted to our phones and to 0:19:06.720 --> 0:19:09.760 be able to be away from it for three hours 0:19:09.920 --> 0:19:14.040 is almost a herculean feet So it's just crazy how 0:19:14.119 --> 0:19:19.439 it's it's almost how much this new way of living 0:19:19.680 --> 0:19:25.120 has slowly, and I would say malevolently, seeped into our 0:19:25.920 --> 0:19:30.159 our very beans, you know, and I don't think for 0:19:30.240 --> 0:19:36.440 the better. Coming up, Adam's aha moment, done du dun 0:19:36.600 --> 0:19:41.000 dune done du duh. Oh that sounded bad. Right after this, 0:19:51.560 --> 0:19:53.280 I wanted to take a moment because I know you're 0:19:53.280 --> 0:19:56.480 from Santa Cruz, Adam, and I'm just curious. I always 0:19:56.520 --> 0:20:00.280 love to hear people's origin stories, and I'm curious how 0:20:00.280 --> 0:20:03.280 you got bitten by the acting bug in the first place, 0:20:03.320 --> 0:20:09.040 and how you found yourself on this Thespian road, if 0:20:09.040 --> 0:20:09.680 you will. 0:20:09.600 --> 0:20:17.439 Yeah, the Thespian Avenue actor lane. Yeah, yeah, you know. 0:20:17.640 --> 0:20:25.040 I think it was really pretty simple. And maybe shallow 0:20:25.760 --> 0:20:31.040 but or not shallow. But I think it was pretty simple, 0:20:31.119 --> 0:20:35.000 which was I was always sort of interested. But then 0:20:36.520 --> 0:20:42.040 I saw Raiders of the Lost Art, and I think 0:20:42.080 --> 0:20:44.120 it was right at the age because it came out 0:20:44.119 --> 0:20:48.439 in what eighty one eighty two, and so I was 0:20:48.760 --> 0:20:52.239 eight nine years old. I remember seeing that movie. I 0:20:52.280 --> 0:20:56.240 remember getting back to my friend's house and rushing to 0:20:56.960 --> 0:21:00.359 a phone, to a landline and calling my mom because 0:21:00.400 --> 0:21:06.360 I had to unload all these feelings because I had 0:21:06.440 --> 0:21:10.080 just seen something and nothing would ever be the same again. 0:21:10.400 --> 0:21:17.359 This movie didn't stop. It was just fun all the 0:21:17.400 --> 0:21:20.520 way through, and it was hilarious. And you know, you 0:21:20.600 --> 0:21:23.800 watch that movie now and there are jokes, not just 0:21:23.880 --> 0:21:28.080 like funny as sides, there are jokes and good ones 0:21:30.800 --> 0:21:35.120 and and I just it just blew my mind. And 0:21:36.200 --> 0:21:38.760 you know, you know back then, you know, I went 0:21:38.800 --> 0:21:42.919 to see that movie so so many times, and I 0:21:43.080 --> 0:21:45.680 still love it and have to watch it a couple 0:21:45.760 --> 0:21:49.720 times a year. But I think that was the beginning 0:21:49.760 --> 0:21:53.080 of I say simple because it was as simple as 0:21:54.160 --> 0:21:59.159 I want to do that, that looks like, there's what 0:21:59.320 --> 0:22:02.000 else would you could you possibly want to do the 0:22:02.440 --> 0:22:03.360 other than that? 0:22:03.560 --> 0:22:04.960 Then the Harrison Ford. 0:22:05.760 --> 0:22:08.240 Jesus, that looks great. 0:22:08.760 --> 0:22:11.879 I mean talk about getting the girls. 0:22:11.760 --> 0:22:17.360 Yeah, getting the girls, getting to Jesus dirty. You're jumping 0:22:17.400 --> 0:22:20.760 from one thing to the other, smarter than everyone else, 0:22:20.920 --> 0:22:24.400 making mistakes but then making up for it. He's a 0:22:24.440 --> 0:22:28.080 flawed guy. He also was a professor. My dad was 0:22:28.080 --> 0:22:30.040 a professor, so there was a lot of that too. 0:22:30.240 --> 0:22:32.480 Like I saw my dad and him. I still do 0:22:32.640 --> 0:22:36.760 when I watch any Harrison Ford thing, I feel I 0:22:36.840 --> 0:22:39.280 kind of see my dad in that. But the professor, 0:22:39.600 --> 0:22:43.840 the college professor, which is what my dad was before 0:22:43.840 --> 0:22:49.920 he retired. And so so it was just the perfect 0:22:50.000 --> 0:22:52.440 recipe for me and millions of others. I mean, obviously 0:22:52.520 --> 0:22:57.240 it was this phenomenon and then Temple of Doom. Maybe 0:22:57.640 --> 0:23:00.199 I may even like that more. I just love of 0:23:00.240 --> 0:23:03.359 that too. So that was kind of the start of it. 0:23:03.440 --> 0:23:06.960 And it was just like the secret I harbored for 0:23:07.119 --> 0:23:10.040 years and years that this is what I wanted to do, 0:23:10.119 --> 0:23:12.080 but I was embarrassed by it, so I never really 0:23:12.119 --> 0:23:15.040 told anyone that this is what I planned on doing 0:23:16.920 --> 0:23:20.919 until years and years later. But that was the that 0:23:21.080 --> 0:23:24.520 was kind of the start of it. It was Raiders. 0:23:24.840 --> 0:23:28.520 It's amazing isn't it how one film can be so transformative? 0:23:28.800 --> 0:23:32.760 And yeah, which is I think the beauty of all 0:23:32.800 --> 0:23:36.520 different kinds of art forms, whether it's a book or 0:23:36.880 --> 0:23:40.680 a movie or a piece of art anyway. But so, yeah, 0:23:40.760 --> 0:23:47.040 when did you start for real pursuing this career. Did 0:23:47.080 --> 0:23:48.000 you do dinner theater? 0:23:48.119 --> 0:23:52.960 Adam, No, but I've been to the dinner theater and 0:23:54.200 --> 0:23:59.359 that's an experience actually getting like, you know, baked Alaska 0:23:59.440 --> 0:24:03.320 while you're watching Dames at Sea? Like what else? What 0:24:03.400 --> 0:24:09.800 else could you ask for? I I did the you know, 0:24:09.960 --> 0:24:12.480 theater in high school and and all of that, and 0:24:12.520 --> 0:24:17.800 then and then went to acting school after that. You know, 0:24:17.840 --> 0:24:19.520 when I was like a junior in high school, I 0:24:19.560 --> 0:24:22.520 finally kind of said I think I can do this. 0:24:22.720 --> 0:24:25.879 And there was sort of a social stigma of being 0:24:25.920 --> 0:24:28.720 a theater person at my high school, so I didn't 0:24:28.760 --> 0:24:32.680 really want to commit fully, but but then did and 0:24:33.600 --> 0:24:35.440 and sort of let it out there that this is 0:24:35.440 --> 0:24:39.080 something I want to pursue. And went to acting school 0:24:39.119 --> 0:24:43.080 after high school and in Pasadena, California is where the 0:24:43.240 --> 0:24:46.359 acting school was, and I was in ninety one. I 0:24:46.400 --> 0:24:49.320 came down here and went to the school for a 0:24:49.359 --> 0:24:52.439 couple of years and then came here to Hollywood in 0:24:52.600 --> 0:24:56.080 ninety fall of ninety three and just started, you know, 0:24:56.520 --> 0:25:03.679 doing extra work and our background and scrounging around for auditions, 0:25:03.720 --> 0:25:05.280 just doing anything I could, you know. 0:25:05.560 --> 0:25:07.440 Yeah, well, you know, I've been in LA for a 0:25:07.520 --> 0:25:10.000 couple of months and it's made me think of, you know, 0:25:10.040 --> 0:25:14.720 the entertainment industry a lot, and being an actor must 0:25:14.760 --> 0:25:19.560 prey on every insecurity you have. And it no wonder 0:25:19.640 --> 0:25:22.879 so many of the kids who who have fame early 0:25:22.960 --> 0:25:27.040 on in their lives are so screwed up later. I mean, 0:25:27.119 --> 0:25:30.960 it is, It is really destabilizing. How do you handle 0:25:31.560 --> 0:25:37.520 kind of the uncertainty and the really I guess capriciousness. I'm, 0:25:37.560 --> 0:25:40.159 by the way, very impressed by my vocabulary during this 0:25:40.200 --> 0:25:41.000 podcast me. 0:25:41.000 --> 0:25:44.960 Too, excellent, Thank you, But I wouldn't expect anything less. 0:25:45.080 --> 0:25:47.520 I'm pulling out all the I'm pulling out all the 0:25:47.680 --> 0:25:50.720 saft words today for some reason. But you know, how 0:25:50.720 --> 0:25:55.320 do you handle the uncertainty of being an actor? And 0:25:56.240 --> 0:25:59.320 you know, always kind of now that I've made you 0:25:59.359 --> 0:26:03.000 probably start getting pitted out by even discussing this, but 0:26:03.080 --> 0:26:05.200 the uncertainty of where your next role is going to 0:26:05.280 --> 0:26:05.760 come from? 0:26:07.040 --> 0:26:09.320