WEBVTT - Jeff Meacham Tom Cruise Spectacular 0:00:00.200 --> 0:00:02.960 Welcome to Movie Crush, a production of I Heart Radio. 0:00:29.400 --> 0:00:32.120 Hey everybody, and welcome to Movie Crush. This is a 0:00:32.200 --> 0:00:35.960 very special Friday edition. We usually pick a guest and 0:00:36.040 --> 0:00:38.560 deep dive into a single favorite film, but this week 0:00:38.960 --> 0:00:42.120 I have Jeff Meetchum on the show from well from 0:00:42.159 --> 0:00:44.040 the world of podcasting, which we'll talk about, from the 0:00:44.080 --> 0:00:47.120 TV show Blackish, which we'll talk about. But this is 0:00:47.120 --> 0:00:50.240 a Tom Cruise special. Everyone. Hi there, Hey man, how 0:00:50.280 --> 0:00:53.000 are you. I couldn't be I couldn't be more excited 0:00:53.040 --> 0:00:56.240 to talk Cruise for a long time. Yeah, I mean 0:00:56.280 --> 0:00:59.640 maybe the first thing I had the podcast chat later on, 0:00:59.800 --> 0:01:01.560 but I think maybe we should get just go ahead 0:01:01.560 --> 0:01:03.760 and talk about your podcast now. Is that will help 0:01:03.800 --> 0:01:07.600 explain why we're talking about Tom Cruise. Thanks? Man. Uh, 0:01:07.720 --> 0:01:11.560 you have a show out all meeting Tom Cruise that 0:01:11.640 --> 0:01:14.800 you do along with your co host Joel john Stone. 0:01:15.760 --> 0:01:17.480 And why don't you just tell me a little bit 0:01:17.520 --> 0:01:20.560 about this project and what the deal is here. Yeah. 0:01:20.760 --> 0:01:24.360 So I am your you know, I'm your typical. I 0:01:24.400 --> 0:01:26.240 don't think that's the right word. I was. I grew 0:01:26.319 --> 0:01:30.840 up just obsessed with movies and and you know, and 0:01:30.959 --> 0:01:33.480 I'm I was born in seventy nine. So I and 0:01:33.520 --> 0:01:35.399 we've talked a lot about this on the pod, so 0:01:35.480 --> 0:01:37.319 I've I've kind of worked it out where there's this 0:01:37.400 --> 0:01:39.959 chunk of time where I was. I was basically I 0:01:40.000 --> 0:01:43.759 was ten by I was twenty, so I grew up 0:01:44.640 --> 0:01:47.600 where from a kid to an adult where Tom Cruise 0:01:47.680 --> 0:01:50.400 was the biggest movie star in the world. And you know, man, 0:01:50.440 --> 0:01:53.240 you remember that was the height of the cineplex, and 0:01:53.440 --> 0:01:55.560 you know, like there was nothing more exciting than going 0:01:55.600 --> 0:01:57.440 to the movies, at least for us movie nerds, and there, 0:01:57.520 --> 0:02:00.920 you know, on a Saturday night. So I I was 0:02:00.960 --> 0:02:03.520 just I was just obsessed with the guy, like he 0:02:03.560 --> 0:02:05.280 was he was the best. And then and then and 0:02:05.320 --> 0:02:07.120 then I went to a performing arts college and I 0:02:07.160 --> 0:02:10.760 think I kind of, I don't know, I'm I'm I'm 0:02:10.800 --> 0:02:14.200 a very exciting guy, excitable guy, get really pumped about stuff. 0:02:14.200 --> 0:02:16.359 So I think people just started to be like, oh yeah, 0:02:16.440 --> 0:02:19.320 Jeff's obsessed with Cruise, and it just kind of snowballed 0:02:19.360 --> 0:02:23.840 into this thing where I eventually started to come up 0:02:23.880 --> 0:02:26.640 with this idea one day. And this was in like 0:02:26.680 --> 0:02:28.480 you know, I don't know, somewhere in the mid two thousands, 0:02:28.480 --> 0:02:29.600 and I was like, what if I there was a 0:02:29.680 --> 0:02:33.800 show about two guys who thought Tom Cruise was going 0:02:33.840 --> 0:02:36.919 to retire and it had to go like tell him 0:02:37.000 --> 0:02:40.560 not to retire. Yeah, and then and they had the 0:02:40.560 --> 0:02:43.440 perfect script for him. You know, Cruise has just missed 0:02:43.480 --> 0:02:46.720 his Academy Awards a few times, so uh, you know 0:02:46.800 --> 0:02:49.040 there's always the big star. Brad Pitts now got one. 0:02:49.160 --> 0:02:50.880 You know, clue he got his. So it's like, when 0:02:50.880 --> 0:02:54.400 does when does Cruise get his Academy Awards? He know, 0:02:54.600 --> 0:02:56.679 he's been nominated three times, but he nuver won. He 0:02:56.720 --> 0:02:58.880 should have won for Magnolia. He should have one from 0:02:58.880 --> 0:03:02.400 men and we'll get to that for uh. Because I 0:03:02.440 --> 0:03:07.239 am pissed um so he anyway, So I kept having 0:03:07.240 --> 0:03:10.079 all these ideas, ideas ideas, but of course, being the 0:03:10.160 --> 0:03:14.040 a d D, you know, sometimes lazy, sometimes distracted actor 0:03:14.120 --> 0:03:16.639 I am, and kids and all whatever, I just never 0:03:16.680 --> 0:03:19.360 did anything about it until my buddy Alec Lev who's 0:03:19.400 --> 0:03:22.080 a total go getter, was like, dude, you and your 0:03:22.120 --> 0:03:25.679 friend Joel are ridiculous together. You know, we we've known it. 0:03:25.800 --> 0:03:28.200 Joel and I've known each other since ninety nine. And 0:03:28.400 --> 0:03:30.679 Joel is like he he reminds me of my best 0:03:30.680 --> 0:03:35.000 friend Seater anyway, and so he just has this crazy 0:03:35.040 --> 0:03:37.000 wild DestinE spot. I mean, he comes up to me 0:03:37.040 --> 0:03:40.160 one day he says, dude, dude, I know how excited 0:03:40.200 --> 0:03:42.240 you are about Cruise and loved him. I heard this 0:03:42.360 --> 0:03:45.920 story about him on the set of What Last Samurai 0:03:46.160 --> 0:03:48.760 and he's like and he's and he's pumping himself up 0:03:48.960 --> 0:03:51.440 on the set and he's just yelling the words Cruise 0:03:51.920 --> 0:03:56.760 is on fire. And I was like, that sounds like 0:03:56.800 --> 0:04:00.960 Tom Cruise does, right. So anyway, my my buddy Alec 0:04:01.080 --> 0:04:03.920 was like, you gotta make this into a podcast. Let's 0:04:03.960 --> 0:04:06.920 at least just record one we did. This was I 0:04:06.960 --> 0:04:11.080 don't know fourteen fifteen months ago and a buddy of 0:04:11.080 --> 0:04:16.640 mine who remained nameless, gave me the Cruise cake that 0:04:16.839 --> 0:04:19.000 particular Christmas. And do you know about this cruise cake? 0:04:19.000 --> 0:04:20.680 Have you hear about this? No? I don't know what 0:04:21.760 --> 0:04:26.359 you haven't heard? Chuck all right, Dom's Bakery in the 0:04:26.440 --> 0:04:29.640 valley here in Los Angeles. Tom Cruise went there one day, 0:04:29.720 --> 0:04:32.279 as Cruise would. Somebody or somebody brought one of the 0:04:32.279 --> 0:04:35.320 cakes from this bakery and Tom Cruise lost his freaking 0:04:35.320 --> 0:04:36.840 mind and was like, this is the best cake I've 0:04:36.839 --> 0:04:39.640 ever had before. But he's not a cake eater because 0:04:39.680 --> 0:04:42.080 he's keeping his body shredded all the time. So what 0:04:42.120 --> 0:04:45.840 he decided to do is every holiday send. We're not 0:04:45.880 --> 0:04:48.480 sure what the number is yet, thousands of these cakes. 0:04:48.839 --> 0:04:52.040 Two people. It's if you google right now Cruise cake 0:04:52.600 --> 0:04:55.240 and it'll pop up and you'll see Kirsten Dunns will 0:04:55.240 --> 0:04:58.080 tell the story. Anyway, So my buddy gives me the 0:04:58.080 --> 0:05:00.160 the official Cruise cake that's got a little Ora him 0:05:00.160 --> 0:05:02.080 in on it and it says, you know, happy holidays 0:05:02.080 --> 0:05:04.240 from Tom Cruise. And so we put it into the 0:05:04.240 --> 0:05:08.200 pilot podcast and sold it to my heart and it's amazing, 0:05:08.440 --> 0:05:11.800 what a story. I can't believe it. And you know, 0:05:12.160 --> 0:05:14.040 and we'll get to more Cruise later. I do want 0:05:14.040 --> 0:05:16.800 to know a little bit more about your your background 0:05:16.800 --> 0:05:19.039 in childhood. I mean, I guess you're you were born 0:05:19.040 --> 0:05:20.960 in seventy nine. Here, I'm I'm a bit older. I'm 0:05:20.960 --> 0:05:23.120 eight years older, but you know, sort of similar era 0:05:23.880 --> 0:05:28.800 of of cruisiness especially and uh, you were just a 0:05:28.880 --> 0:05:31.000 movie head as a kid, where it was it always 0:05:31.040 --> 0:05:34.479 just your thing. Yeah, so I was my you know, 0:05:34.520 --> 0:05:37.080 I'm your my parents splay I was born in Connecticut. 0:05:37.200 --> 0:05:38.960 Parents split when I was quite young, and my mom 0:05:39.000 --> 0:05:41.760 and I moved to Florida in eighties six what part 0:05:42.200 --> 0:05:45.359 Sara Sota. We followed my grandparents, which you know is 0:05:45.720 --> 0:05:47.520 I can't tell you how many kids, even in my 0:05:47.520 --> 0:05:49.760 school were just like in the same boat. We're all snowbirds, 0:05:49.839 --> 0:05:52.480 right right. Came from New England and moved to Florida, 0:05:52.520 --> 0:05:55.240 and you know, I loved it, but I oh, and 0:05:55.279 --> 0:05:57.720 then my parents made this agreement and this actually did 0:05:57.800 --> 0:06:00.680 kind of looking back, shape my life where my um, 0:06:00.720 --> 0:06:02.480 I told my dad that as long as he saw 0:06:02.520 --> 0:06:04.760 me somehow once a month, that he didn't have to 0:06:04.760 --> 0:06:08.440 pay child support. So I saw my dad a lot, 0:06:08.480 --> 0:06:10.640 which was kind of crazy. Know, my construction worker father 0:06:10.680 --> 0:06:13.800 would fly down once a month from from Connecticut to 0:06:14.120 --> 0:06:16.440 Sarasota and we'd have a great weekend together. But then 0:06:16.480 --> 0:06:18.559 I'd go up and visit him for the whole summer 0:06:18.920 --> 0:06:22.960 nature holidays. So there, you know, I didn't have a 0:06:22.960 --> 0:06:26.840 ton of friends in Connecticut during those years, and especially 0:06:26.880 --> 0:06:31.039 in the late eighties, um, and that was the height 0:06:31.320 --> 0:06:35.600 of you know, blockbuster and I, dude, I was going 0:06:35.600 --> 0:06:38.280 crazy last night doing research. Even when you just said like, 0:06:38.320 --> 0:06:40.560 what were your favorite movies as a kid, because I 0:06:40.640 --> 0:06:43.200 this is how much I obsessed over movies. I think 0:06:43.240 --> 0:06:46.040 I just realized that, like in the summer of eighty nine, 0:06:46.720 --> 0:06:50.560 I must have watched every movie on the planet a 0:06:50.600 --> 0:06:52.640 thousand times. And we're not talking about the good ones either, 0:06:52.720 --> 0:06:55.640 you know, we're talking about you know, like Ghostbusters too. 0:06:55.680 --> 0:06:59.640 I probably saw you know, an uncomfortable number of times, 0:06:59.640 --> 0:07:02.640 but that just that's what I did. I was alone 0:07:02.839 --> 0:07:05.760 a lot, you know, I was a latch key kid 0:07:05.760 --> 0:07:08.240 in Sarasota because my mom was single and she was 0:07:08.279 --> 0:07:11.200 working a lot, and my my high school was I'm sorry, 0:07:11.240 --> 0:07:14.040 my my elementary school was right nearby, so I rode 0:07:14.040 --> 0:07:16.040 my bike there and then by, Like I said, by 0:07:16.040 --> 0:07:18.520 the summer of eighty nine, I'm you know, I'm able 0:07:18.520 --> 0:07:20.640 to ride my bike to the two local movie theaters 0:07:20.640 --> 0:07:23.440 that are right near me. And I still and I 0:07:23.880 --> 0:07:27.600 remember that summer of eighty nine. I was ten years old, 0:07:27.640 --> 0:07:29.640 and I bring it up like I'm saying that year 0:07:29.680 --> 0:07:32.240 because I think that was like that pinnacle, you know, 0:07:32.480 --> 0:07:34.640 you get a little independence, your mom doesn't mind you're 0:07:34.960 --> 0:07:37.360 leaving the house. And I still remember seeing the signs, 0:07:37.920 --> 0:07:40.800 the posters for Batman and Indiana Jones in the Last 0:07:40.840 --> 0:07:46.520 Crusade and being I still can feel, excuse me, I 0:07:46.560 --> 0:07:49.960 can still feel that visceral excitement of knowing that those 0:07:49.960 --> 0:07:54.080 two movies are coming out, and that feeling of I mean, remember, dude, 0:07:54.120 --> 0:07:56.240 you remember those days when you would you sneak into 0:07:56.240 --> 0:07:59.880 the R rated movies or double feature you know, you're you're, 0:08:00.000 --> 0:08:05.520 you're not exactly was terrible, terrible, not endorsing that, but 0:08:05.640 --> 0:08:07.400 we used to, uh yeah, we used to kind of 0:08:07.400 --> 0:08:09.280 sneak in and see as many movies as we could 0:08:09.280 --> 0:08:12.560 for that single admission price. Of course, of course, because 0:08:12.560 --> 0:08:14.160 no matter what year it was, it was still a 0:08:14.160 --> 0:08:16.480 lot of money to a kid, and man, I just 0:08:16.680 --> 0:08:20.320 that year, you know, it's like Major League and the Abyss. Yeah, 0:08:20.680 --> 0:08:22.560 you know, it's funny, like there were there were some 0:08:22.560 --> 0:08:25.640 truly great movies, but it was also like it sounds 0:08:25.640 --> 0:08:27.280 like you were like me, where you would be like, 0:08:27.440 --> 0:08:29.040 what are you guys gonna do? We're going to see 0:08:29.160 --> 0:08:31.440 Robin Hood Prints of Thieves, Like what else are we 0:08:31.480 --> 0:08:34.360 gonna do? Yeah, there was no other It wasn't even 0:08:35.200 --> 0:08:37.360 you know, there wasn't like that discussion like should we 0:08:37.360 --> 0:08:39.480 go to the movies or should we go do I 0:08:39.520 --> 0:08:42.120 can't even name what X was. It was just go 0:08:42.280 --> 0:08:44.280 to movies, like point break is out. What do you 0:08:44.280 --> 0:08:47.920 think we're doing on a Saturday afternoon? Exactly, Dude. I 0:08:48.040 --> 0:08:50.280 was such a nerd that even in my freshman year 0:08:50.360 --> 0:08:52.480 or movie nerd, at least my freshman year of college. 0:08:53.080 --> 0:08:57.360 My best friend Seater, this guy, we would this is 0:08:57.880 --> 0:09:00.240 this is so Florida. He would get on I would 0:09:00.240 --> 0:09:02.080 get on my bicycle. He would tie a rope to 0:09:02.080 --> 0:09:04.360 the back of my bicycle and roller blade off the 0:09:04.400 --> 0:09:07.160 back of my bicycle. We'd go to Subway. We'd get 0:09:07.160 --> 0:09:09.679 our sandwiches, our chips and cookies, and go to the 0:09:09.840 --> 0:09:12.000 go to the movie store, go to the you know, Blockbuster. 0:09:12.360 --> 0:09:15.960 I still remember renting what was the the Bruce Lee 0:09:16.080 --> 0:09:18.240 story one that his son was in. It was called 0:09:18.280 --> 0:09:21.760 like Oh Dragon, Dragon Dragon. I remember I was renting 0:09:21.840 --> 0:09:23.920 Dragon and then just kicking the ship out of each 0:09:23.960 --> 0:09:26.280 other for an hour, thinking that we were you know, 0:09:26.800 --> 0:09:29.760 Bruce Lee, and you know that those are my memories, 0:09:29.760 --> 0:09:32.560 my memories from my childhood and especially even my teen 0:09:32.640 --> 0:09:35.319 years where I went to performing art High school in Florida, 0:09:35.800 --> 0:09:37.760 already knowing that I kind of wanted to be an actor. 0:09:38.080 --> 0:09:39.720 That's all. It was, Like you said, it was movies. 0:09:39.800 --> 0:09:42.920 It was movies galore. Yeah, and you know I was 0:09:43.160 --> 0:09:46.840 um as as being a little older. My heyday earlier 0:09:46.880 --> 0:09:50.559 on was like et Raiders, goon Ease, Back to the Future. 0:09:50.800 --> 0:09:53.360 But you were just on the heels of that. So 0:09:53.400 --> 0:09:58.839 those were your VHS specials exactly, and you're like HBO specials, Um, 0:09:59.000 --> 0:10:02.000 those were those were big deal. Do you remember? Also, 0:10:02.200 --> 0:10:05.440 I loved keep my I had this uncle, Uncle Ray, 0:10:05.920 --> 0:10:09.160 and Uncle Ray was he was like the first person 0:10:09.200 --> 0:10:11.800 to dub every movie. You know, we all had that 0:10:11.880 --> 0:10:15.040 person in our life that just took the VHS day 0:10:15.160 --> 0:10:18.240 made SLP. So I had six hours worth the worst 0:10:18.240 --> 0:10:21.920 possible quality, the worst quality, and you'd have all three 0:10:22.000 --> 0:10:24.480 Rambos on there. You know, he'd fit on two tapes. 0:10:24.520 --> 0:10:27.080 He'd fit like every key and you just go to 0:10:26.960 --> 0:10:29.600 town watching like you said, e t or any of 0:10:29.640 --> 0:10:32.640 the Indiana Jones. It was everything. Yeah, those home collections 0:10:32.720 --> 0:10:36.280 recording off of cable TV. I was an HBO kid 0:10:36.320 --> 0:10:38.120 to like and when h and I've talked about this 0:10:38.160 --> 0:10:41.000 on the show before I grew up on Initially it 0:10:41.040 --> 0:10:43.000 was a gravel road and then they eventually paved it, 0:10:43.040 --> 0:10:45.760 but it wasn't some big neighborhood with kids everywhere. It 0:10:45.800 --> 0:10:48.040 was just a street with like six houses sort of 0:10:48.040 --> 0:10:50.880 in the woods. And uh, it was great looking back. 0:10:50.920 --> 0:10:52.640 We had a creek behind her house and you know, 0:10:52.800 --> 0:10:54.720 lives on a couple of acres. But at the time 0:10:54.720 --> 0:10:57.880 I wanted to live in like the et neighborhood with 0:10:58.080 --> 0:11:01.480 kids everywhere. Last key, kids everywhere. Um. But what we 0:11:01.559 --> 0:11:04.040 did get finally, when I was like ten or eleven, 0:11:04.160 --> 0:11:08.400 was HBO and MTV cable came down our little dirt road, 0:11:08.960 --> 0:11:11.960 and those two things changed my life. I sat around 0:11:12.000 --> 0:11:15.240 and watch MTV constantly because I was a big still 0:11:15.320 --> 0:11:18.640 am big music guy, and and HBO. I would watch 0:11:18.720 --> 0:11:21.199 some of these movies. And my wife always kids me 0:11:21.240 --> 0:11:24.120 about my sort of weird, semi sophisticated taste as a kid. 0:11:24.800 --> 0:11:26.400 It was just because it was on HBO. Like I 0:11:26.440 --> 0:11:28.520 was the only twelve year old that would that had 0:11:28.559 --> 0:11:31.960 seen on Golden Pond nine times, or you know, these 0:11:31.960 --> 0:11:35.760 movies that were adult movies. But I just ate it 0:11:35.760 --> 0:11:39.760 all up. Man. Nobody nobody told us back then. You know, 0:11:39.800 --> 0:11:41.800 it doesn't seem like it was that long ago, but 0:11:41.840 --> 0:11:45.280 it is. Because nobody told us that you need to 0:11:45.400 --> 0:11:47.800 not let your kids watch these particular movies. Like no, 0:11:47.920 --> 0:11:50.000 you know, now I think about myself as a parent now. 0:11:50.520 --> 0:11:53.280 I just did another pod recently for somebody who wanted 0:11:53.320 --> 0:11:56.959 to talk about Cobra, and I thought Stollans Cobra as 0:11:56.960 --> 0:11:58.960 a kid was the coolest movie. I watched that movie 0:11:58.960 --> 0:12:04.920 again just recently. It is so horrifically violent and terrible 0:12:05.080 --> 0:12:09.360 for any child to watch. And then oh god, they 0:12:09.360 --> 0:12:15.040 were so violent. The killers were all very angry. You know, 0:12:15.240 --> 0:12:17.800 we watched movies we should not have been watching. Yeah, 0:12:17.840 --> 0:12:20.480 for sure. And and even like with the on Golden Ponds, 0:12:20.600 --> 0:12:23.839 these movies that are the content wasn't like something I 0:12:23.880 --> 0:12:26.120 shouldn't have been watching. But it's just what's a twelve 0:12:26.200 --> 0:12:29.040 year old kid watching a movie about aging, uh, you know, 0:12:29.040 --> 0:12:34.000 octogenarians and loving it? Yeah, of course, of course, remember 0:12:34.000 --> 0:12:36.839 the Remember just even the way the HBO symbol and 0:12:36.920 --> 0:12:40.000 the music would come. Remember that feeling you'd get every time, 0:12:40.200 --> 0:12:43.360 and sometimes when you didn't know what the movie was, 0:12:43.840 --> 0:12:46.240 you know, you turn it on and you didn't you know, 0:12:46.360 --> 0:12:48.640 you didn't flip over to the channel that had the 0:12:48.679 --> 0:12:50.959 scroll on it, so you were you were pumped. You 0:12:50.960 --> 0:12:54.200 didn't know what you're about to watch, and all the 0:12:54.240 --> 0:12:58.080 surprise is gone, and I don't want to be, you know, krusty, 0:12:58.160 --> 0:13:02.920 old fifth year old guy. I know, but the and 0:13:02.960 --> 0:13:05.840 the ease of access is wonderful. It's all great, but 0:13:06.080 --> 0:13:08.520 there was something a little special when we've talked about 0:13:08.520 --> 0:13:12.679 it before about going to that blockbuster and not knowing 0:13:12.760 --> 0:13:15.480 if you can find your movie and looking at those 0:13:15.480 --> 0:13:18.280 people coming in and returning movies to that cart and 0:13:18.320 --> 0:13:20.360 they're like, is it in? Did did they just returned 0:13:21.200 --> 0:13:24.319 the Last Crusade? Because I really need to see that movie? Sorry, 0:13:24.320 --> 0:13:27.080 Like all twenty copies are out when they when they 0:13:27.120 --> 0:13:30.160 come in the return tonight at somebody, well where is 0:13:30.200 --> 0:13:34.160 that guy? Do you know his address? What when when 0:13:34.200 --> 0:13:36.120 he rented it? What time did he rent it? You know? 0:13:36.720 --> 0:13:39.320 All right, I means you probably watched it, okay, you know, yeah, 0:13:39.320 --> 0:13:41.160 it's not rewound. I don't care give it to me. 0:13:42.920 --> 0:13:45.880 Seeing the guy even turn around and and seeing that 0:13:46.000 --> 0:13:49.520 kind of avalanche of movies, you seeing kind of funnel 0:13:49.600 --> 0:13:52.880 through and hope that you see the copy or remember 0:13:52.880 --> 0:13:54.960 remember when you'd walk to the back shelf and you'd 0:13:54.960 --> 0:13:57.880 see the you'd look at the thickness of the movie. 0:13:57.960 --> 0:14:00.000 So if you knew that one was kind of sticky 0:14:00.080 --> 0:14:03.720 out three dimensionally, is there, Oh, there's one, there's one, 0:14:03.840 --> 0:14:06.120 you know, because they'd give the new re member, they'd 0:14:06.120 --> 0:14:09.040 give the new release, like the whole wall and yeah. 0:14:09.160 --> 0:14:12.680 The etiquette of someone is standing right in front of 0:14:12.720 --> 0:14:15.079 your movie and there's the only one copy and you're like, 0:14:15.160 --> 0:14:18.280 can I just just trying to reach this thing, but 0:14:18.320 --> 0:14:21.000 technically like no, I'm sorry, this is my zone. You 0:14:21.040 --> 0:14:24.120 need to wait your turn. When I would spend those 0:14:24.160 --> 0:14:26.880 summers with my dad, uh, there was this place and 0:14:26.920 --> 0:14:28.640 then and I remember there were the other movie places. 0:14:28.680 --> 0:14:31.240 So there were the independent places, which I've worked at 0:14:31.280 --> 0:14:33.480 some of those. I love those. Of course. Of course 0:14:33.480 --> 0:14:36.280 those were always the guys like you that would work there, 0:14:36.320 --> 0:14:38.680 that knew everything about movies, so you could ask him 0:14:38.720 --> 0:14:41.200 any questions. They'd be like, well, man, listen, you know, 0:14:41.600 --> 0:14:43.800 Cobra is good, but if you really want to watch 0:14:43.840 --> 0:14:46.520 over the Top and yeah, maybe they were smarter than 0:14:46.600 --> 0:14:48.960 still Loan films. But we had this place down the 0:14:48.960 --> 0:14:52.400 street called Eastern Video, and I remember it was at 0:14:52.400 --> 0:14:54.160 the bottom of a hill because man, that trunk back 0:14:54.240 --> 0:14:56.840 up that hill was tough on the bike, and they 0:14:56.840 --> 0:14:59.440 had a deal which was five movies for five dollars 0:14:59.480 --> 0:15:02.840 for five a's and you couldn't do new release though. 0:15:02.880 --> 0:15:05.160 That was the only thing. And again there you go, like, 0:15:05.200 --> 0:15:08.560 that's that's my summer right there. I would I think 0:15:08.600 --> 0:15:11.000 there were days where I would by two days later, 0:15:11.040 --> 0:15:13.080 I'd go back and return all five because I burned 0:15:13.120 --> 0:15:15.840 through them so quickly, and get a new set of five. 0:15:15.920 --> 0:15:18.240 But it's not like at the time I was watching 0:15:18.360 --> 0:15:21.280 the highest level of films. I think, you know, Jean 0:15:21.360 --> 0:15:23.920 Claude Van Dam and stallone and so I think I 0:15:23.960 --> 0:15:27.560 watched Under Siege way too many times, you know, just 0:15:27.840 --> 0:15:30.280 an uncomfortable number of times. Yeah, I mean the video 0:15:30.280 --> 0:15:33.040 store experience is great. That certainly did all the Blockbuster. 0:15:33.880 --> 0:15:38.280 Uh you know, I supported Blockbuster, but the mom and 0:15:38.320 --> 0:15:40.560 pops were like they were still around. Like when I 0:15:40.600 --> 0:15:42.440 lived in l A, which doesn't seem like that long ago. 0:15:42.480 --> 0:15:45.000 I guess it's been like sixteen or seventeen years. But 0:15:45.560 --> 0:15:47.160 I lived in loose Felas and I went to Video 0:15:47.240 --> 0:15:50.520 Hut that was just right there across from House of Pies, 0:15:51.200 --> 0:15:53.480 and yeah, I know exactly what you're talking about. Yeah, 0:15:53.480 --> 0:15:55.000 there was a Video Hut there, and there was the 0:15:55.000 --> 0:15:57.080 Blockbuster down the street. But you went to Video Hut 0:15:57.120 --> 0:15:59.080 if you you know, if you lived in the Eric, 0:15:59.120 --> 0:16:01.480 because they had everything. Yeah. And as soon as you 0:16:01.600 --> 0:16:03.600 got as soon as we grew up in you know, 0:16:03.760 --> 0:16:06.720 college and young adult you, especially for those of us 0:16:06.720 --> 0:16:08.960 in the business, you started to learn about other films 0:16:08.960 --> 0:16:11.120 and you wanted to see those, and usually Blockbuster didn't 0:16:11.160 --> 0:16:12.880 have them or you know, so if you wanted to 0:16:12.880 --> 0:16:14.800 watch and I don't know in elikas and film you 0:16:14.840 --> 0:16:17.080 were like, I'll go to this other place and start 0:16:17.160 --> 0:16:19.480 to learn about these people. And again that person behind 0:16:19.520 --> 0:16:22.000 the desk nine times out of ten just had knowledge. 0:16:22.040 --> 0:16:25.320 Man had weird crazy knowledge or flicks. Yeah, the one 0:16:25.360 --> 0:16:27.440 I worked at in college was Vision Video. It was 0:16:27.600 --> 0:16:30.320 very much the cool indie one. And then there was 0:16:30.360 --> 0:16:33.640 one in Atlanta that was really great called Movies Worth Seeing, 0:16:34.440 --> 0:16:36.640 uh and Video Drum. And Video Drum is still around. 0:16:36.640 --> 0:16:39.160 It's like the only kind of one in Atlanta, still 0:16:39.160 --> 0:16:41.480 in the same little tiny building. And if you want 0:16:41.480 --> 0:16:45.240 to go find the first Jim Jarmish movie, then you 0:16:45.240 --> 0:16:47.360 can go in there and get it. I love that. 0:16:47.360 --> 0:16:50.240 That's that's something that God I missed that. I and 0:16:50.280 --> 0:16:52.560 Sarah so do we at a place where you could 0:16:52.560 --> 0:16:54.840 take a tag? It had a it had a little 0:16:54.880 --> 0:16:57.560 a little hook and tags underneath it, so you know, 0:16:57.680 --> 0:17:00.560 an he had a system. You know then the systems 0:17:00.560 --> 0:17:02.680 were the best. And and of course there was always 0:17:02.720 --> 0:17:04.959 that room in the back and most of these places 0:17:04.960 --> 0:17:07.840 you see it as a m you were like, oh, man, 0:17:07.920 --> 0:17:11.720 that's what's back there. I want to know what's in there? 0:17:12.119 --> 0:17:15.760 Right exactly? It's like, why is my the head dean 0:17:15.800 --> 0:17:17.640 of my deacon of my church coming out of that room? 0:17:17.680 --> 0:17:23.520 What's going on? Hey? Is that my third grade teacher? Mr? Johnson? Uh? 0:17:23.680 --> 0:17:27.000 When did um? When did you start acting in and 0:17:27.040 --> 0:17:29.320 when did Blackish come along for you? You were on 0:17:29.359 --> 0:17:32.080 from the very beginning, right, I was, Yeah, since the pilot. 0:17:33.080 --> 0:17:36.199 In short, I started acting at a I guess a 0:17:36.240 --> 0:17:39.000 fairly young age. I found out quickly that I was 0:17:39.040 --> 0:17:41.920 a terrible student and my mother was having trouble keeping 0:17:41.920 --> 0:17:45.280 me uh in school, So she sent me to kind 0:17:45.280 --> 0:17:49.800 of a delinquent middle school. And in that school, the 0:17:49.840 --> 0:17:51.960 head of this school just I mean there was literally 0:17:52.000 --> 0:17:53.919 eight of us that were in eighth grade and I 0:17:53.920 --> 0:17:57.040 had gone to like this other private, delinquent school before that, 0:17:57.119 --> 0:18:00.480 and finally she was fed up and she sent me 0:18:00.520 --> 0:18:03.320 to this weird school in the middle of nowhere in Sarasota. Anyway, 0:18:03.600 --> 0:18:07.040 they the teacher, they're just saw it in me. She 0:18:07.160 --> 0:18:10.080 was like, you're you're you're a performer, and that's your thing, man, 0:18:10.200 --> 0:18:12.240 you you love to perform. So they put on a 0:18:12.240 --> 0:18:15.160 play and she told my mom, she was like, listen, Jeff, 0:18:15.240 --> 0:18:17.160 jeff'son actor. This is what he's gonna do. And there's 0:18:17.200 --> 0:18:20.879 this performing arts high school in Sarasota called Booker, and 0:18:21.000 --> 0:18:23.680 you should have him audition and and and send him there. 0:18:24.359 --> 0:18:26.399 And I did, and I did. I auditioned for it. 0:18:26.480 --> 0:18:29.199 I I still remember my mom telling me, you know, 0:18:29.280 --> 0:18:30.879 to do the interview as a fourteen year old. She 0:18:30.920 --> 0:18:32.719 was like, please tell them that your favorite actors are 0:18:32.960 --> 0:18:37.560 in your own pacino and you know, stallone and and uh. 0:18:37.680 --> 0:18:41.440 And I was like and uh. And I got in 0:18:41.600 --> 0:18:44.440 and and and it kind of was, you know, there's 0:18:44.520 --> 0:18:47.840 history right there. I went to that school and it 0:18:47.960 --> 0:18:50.480 was amazing. You know, I started high school in ninety three, 0:18:50.560 --> 0:18:52.399 so we just had a great group of people and 0:18:52.520 --> 0:18:54.919 back in those days, it was a big deal to 0:18:54.960 --> 0:18:57.320 go to a conservatory for college. So you know, people 0:18:57.359 --> 0:19:00.040 were going to n y U and Carnegie Mellon and 0:19:00.200 --> 0:19:02.600 Juilliard and and n c I, s A and all 0:19:02.640 --> 0:19:05.800 these like you know, big, big performing arts schools, and 0:19:05.800 --> 0:19:07.640 you heard about the famous actors that went there. And 0:19:08.080 --> 0:19:11.439 I got a pamphlet for a school called Sunny Purchase 0:19:11.520 --> 0:19:13.760 that my friend Brandon showed me and on the cover 0:19:14.000 --> 0:19:17.280 was Wesley Snipes and I was like, what that guy 0:19:17.359 --> 0:19:20.320 is awesome. I'm coming to Blade University. I want to 0:19:20.320 --> 0:19:23.639 go to Blades University. That is so exactly. I'm like 0:19:23.640 --> 0:19:26.320 the dude from White Man Can Jump Sure, and uh. 0:19:26.359 --> 0:19:29.000 I auditioned for Sunny Purchase and I was for some 0:19:29.160 --> 0:19:31.760 reason obsessed over the school, and it was you know what. 0:19:31.840 --> 0:19:33.639 It was also just outside of New York's. It is 0:19:33.720 --> 0:19:35.440 just outside of New York City. So it was this 0:19:35.920 --> 0:19:39.560 great tie between being able to go into the city anytime, 0:19:39.600 --> 0:19:41.560 but not actually lived there because I was still a 0:19:41.560 --> 0:19:45.040 little intimidated by New York. And and then my dad 0:19:45.119 --> 0:19:46.840 was close by. You know, my dad lived in Connecticut, 0:19:46.880 --> 0:19:48.320 so I was able to kind of move back up 0:19:48.320 --> 0:19:55.080 there at eighteen, go there, I I graduate, I'm your 0:19:55.880 --> 0:19:59.000 very just this is I just love to like, I 0:19:59.040 --> 0:20:02.000