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Speaker 1: You know, people sometimes want to compliment me and say, wow, you,

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Speaker 1: how did you do that character? And I'm like, I

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Speaker 1: was doing you your How I did that character? You know,

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Speaker 1: it's it's not as crazy or complex as people would think.

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Speaker 1: If you can have the fearlessness and specificity to to

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Speaker 1: dive into those things that you've experienced. This is Paul

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Speaker 1: Walter Houser and I am a liberal and a Christian.

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Speaker 1: Hi again, listeners, and welcome to a brand new spanking

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Speaker 1: episode of Off the Beat. I'm your host, Brian Baumgartner.

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Speaker 1: As you just heard, Paul Walter Houser is on the

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Speaker 1: program today. I am so excited about this. I'm a huge,

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Speaker 1: huge fan of his work. Never had met him before,

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Speaker 1: but I think you're going to enjoy this deep dive

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Speaker 1: into his career. Now, to give you an idea of

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Speaker 1: Paul's range, let me just list some of the characters

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Speaker 1: he's taken on during his career so far. Bodyguard Sean

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Speaker 1: Eckert in I Tanya, a white supremacist in Black Klansman,

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Speaker 1: the unexpected and wrongfully accused hero in Richard Jewel, the

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Speaker 1: eccentric Stingray in Cobra Kai, one of Cruela's henchman in

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Speaker 1: Cruella and the incredibly creepy serial killer in a show.

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Speaker 1: I recently became a very, very big fan of Blackbird.

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Speaker 1: I admire Paul so much. He has this ability to

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Speaker 1: take on the physicality and the voices of the characters

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Speaker 1: he portrays. It's stunning and you never know what he's

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Speaker 1: gonna pull out of the bag next. So I was

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Speaker 1: excited to dive into his journey as an actor, as

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Speaker 1: a writer, and as an overall stand up guy. I'm

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Speaker 1: not gonna make you wait any longer. Are you excited?

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Speaker 1: I sure as hell am. Paul Walter Houser. Everybody, Bubble

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Speaker 1: and Squeak. I love it, Bubble and Squeak on Bubble

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Speaker 1: and Squeaker, cooking it every month, left over from the Nabole.

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Speaker 1: What's up, Paul? Bryan? How are you, dude? I'm all right.

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Speaker 1: How are you? I'm good, really good to see you.

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Speaker 1: I I my buddy Ryan Zachary, who I haven't seen

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Speaker 1: in a bit. Yeah. Yeah. He told me he was

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Speaker 1: doing your podcast and said you should come on. I

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Speaker 1: was like, are you kidding me? In two seconds, let's

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Speaker 1: do it. I appreciate it so much. I'm a huge

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Speaker 1: fan of yours and your work, particularly Blackbird, that comedy

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Speaker 1: I did Blackbird. Yeah, yeah, you're you're a You're a

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Speaker 1: real stand up comedian that somehow has totally changed the

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Speaker 1: course of your career, which I definitely want to talk about.

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Speaker 1: You grew up in a place I'm going this week,

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Speaker 1: Grand Rapids. I'm going this week. I think technically I

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Speaker 1: will end up in Big Rapids. Farrish State University, Farris

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Speaker 1: State University. I know it. Well. I almost went there,

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Speaker 1: you did, I almost went there. Yeah, I heard you

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Speaker 1: only went to college for like ten minutes though. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: I was not long for the university life. I never

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Speaker 1: liked school. I just liked extracurriculars and socializing. So I

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Speaker 1: went to a little parochial Christian college in River Forest,

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Speaker 1: Oak Park, Illinois, like near Chicago, and that that was

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Speaker 1: fun for two and a half semess years, and then

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Speaker 1: I dropped out and tried to do the Hollywood thing. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: you grew up in Michigan. When did you realize that

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Speaker 1: performing was something you want to do? I know you

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Speaker 1: started stand up very early, but when when? When? When

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Speaker 1: when did you first realize you may want to go

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Speaker 1: in that direction? I think I always liked performing, and

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Speaker 1: I had kind of a fearless social thing where I

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Speaker 1: I would get up in front of company at my

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Speaker 1: house and do impersonations of family members or recite Saturday

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Speaker 1: Night live sketches. Remember being like eight or nine years old,

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Speaker 1: ten years old doing impersonations of Jack Nicholson and Jimmy

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Speaker 1: Stewart in the mirror. And that was the beginning. And

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Speaker 1: then I did a bunch of theater and I think

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Speaker 1: I did ten plays in my four years of high school.

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Speaker 1: It was almost like being a two sport athlete, but

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Speaker 1: for artistic endeavors, you know. And then UH started doing

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Speaker 1: stand up comedy and writing screenplays at sixteen and its

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Speaker 1: bought a bunch of books on screenwriting from Barnes and

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Speaker 1: no Bole and devoured it. I wrote two features before

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Speaker 1: I graduated high school. I was doing local shows at

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Speaker 1: colleges and bars and churches in my hometown area. And

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Speaker 1: then it wasn't until I auditioned to be a background actor,

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Speaker 1: like an extra in this indie film with Jennifer Connelly

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Speaker 1: and Ed Harris called Virginia. And I went to be

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Speaker 1: an extra, but I saw the filmmaker, the writer director there,

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Speaker 1: this guy Dustin Lance Black, who won the Oscar for

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Speaker 1: writing the movie Milk, and I just said to him.

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Speaker 1: I was like, hey, man, you know, I loved your film.

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Speaker 1: It was really touching and moving, and loved your Oscar

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Speaker 1: speech when he said God doesn't hate the gay youth

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Speaker 1: of the world. Like I. I'm a professed Christian and

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Speaker 1: kind of conservative, but I'll tell you, I I think

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Speaker 1: more people need to say that and live that, and

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Speaker 1: and thank you for speaking up and saying that. So

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Speaker 1: it was like a minute conversation wasn't long. But whatever

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Speaker 1: I said or did, he brought me back for an audition,

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Speaker 1: and I booked number six on the call sheet, and

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Speaker 1: I'm doing scenes with Ed Harris and his wife Amy

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Speaker 1: Madigan and Jennifer Connelly. It was it was a crazy

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Speaker 1: first job to get and I got to move to

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Speaker 1: Hollywood with dollars and this really cool, you know thing

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Speaker 1: on my resume. That's awesome. I mean, you you said

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Speaker 1: you were writing. I hear you have dozens of scripts

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Speaker 1: that are written. Were you more focused early on on

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Speaker 1: the performing aspect of it or I mean it sounds

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Speaker 1: like you were interested in everything, was it performing or writing.

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Speaker 1: I loved all of it. Man, I really I was

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Speaker 1: fascinated by casting. I was fascinated by production design. I

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Speaker 1: loved directing short films and high school and college. I

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Speaker 1: even do it now. So I was just trying to

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Speaker 1: break into the business. I thought maybe if I do

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Speaker 1: all these things, one of them will hit. It's kind

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Speaker 1: of like playing Roulette, right. I was just like stand

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Speaker 1: up comedy, screenwriting, acting, acting in drama and comedy. You know,

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Speaker 1: at some point I would have just had a bake

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Speaker 1: sale outside of Warner Brothers. And because I was pretty

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Speaker 1: undeterred and pretty obsessed with trying to break in. You know, yeah,

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Speaker 1: that experience that you had in Virginia. Do you think

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Speaker 1: that that shaped you as at least a person in

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Speaker 1: the business later on? I mean it shaped me in

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Speaker 1: the sense that I knew that there were good people

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Speaker 1: in Hollywood. That was the vibe I got, because you know,

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Speaker 1: when you grow up in a ultra conservative setting and

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Speaker 1: you're highly religious, it's it's easy to fall into this

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Speaker 1: thing of believing that Hollywood is, uh, is this really

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Speaker 1: an awful place with all these awful people? And it's like,

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Speaker 1: I think it's a place full of a bunch of

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Speaker 1: real regular people. But it just so happens that egos

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Speaker 1: and greed and things play in a little bit more

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Speaker 1: aggressively in our business. Then say, people that work for

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Speaker 1: Turbo tax, you know, it's it just happens. Be an

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Speaker 1: environment that plays on the the generational, you know, cyclical

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Speaker 1: sins we as humans all incur and then sometimes rewards

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Speaker 1: them or doesn't slap risks for some of them, and

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Speaker 1: and that's its own thing. But yeah, no, I I

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Speaker 1: would say that I learned that you can work with

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Speaker 1: wonderful people in Hollywood. I learned to not be afraid

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Speaker 1: to improvise. My whole thing was I'm not gonna ask permission,

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Speaker 1: I'm gonna ask forgiveness. At that time especially, I was

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Speaker 1: obsessed with the Christopher Guests mockumentaries like Waiting for Goffman,

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Speaker 1: and my whole thing was, I'm gonna be one of

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Speaker 1: those actors. I'm not gonna try to be Robert de Niro.

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Speaker 1: I'll never be DeNiro. I can't be DeNiro, but you

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Speaker 1: bet your ass. I can be ed Begley Jr. You

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Speaker 1: bet your ass. I can be Fred Willard. And I

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Speaker 1: went into it like that, and I was rewarded for it.

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Speaker 1: Lance Black, who had an Oscar for writing is telling

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Speaker 1: me he loves my improv So like that gave me

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Speaker 1: a lot of confidence and let me know my my

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Speaker 1: true north as a performer will always be to go

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Speaker 1: with my gut instincts. I mean, you talked early on

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Speaker 1: about standing up and doing impressions of family members or

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Speaker 1: big movie stars of the day, Jack, etcetera. Do you

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Speaker 1: feel like that influenced you in terms of creating characters,

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Speaker 1: making vocal and physical choices. Is that something that was

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Speaker 1: always interesting to you? Yeah, I I was. I was

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Speaker 1: sitting a brunch today with our buddies. My wife and

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Speaker 1: I were sitting with Ray and deb Ji Ratana. They're

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Speaker 1: they're like a power couple of of they do everything

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Speaker 1: from visual effects to directing to their daughters and actress

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Speaker 1: like wonderful people. And we're talking and they said, how

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Speaker 1: did you pick up on all these weird characteristics and

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Speaker 1: choices to make for playing Larry Hall and Blackbird? You know?

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Speaker 1: The answer I gave him was just I love watching people.

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Speaker 1: If I'm in an airport and I have already five

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Speaker 1: minutes to wait around for my flight, I'm not really

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Speaker 1: begrudging or bemoaning it. It's an opportunity for me to

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Speaker 1: pause and watch total strangers. This guy pulls out his

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Speaker 1: sandwich from Arby's and he starts eating. Oh I noticed

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Speaker 1: he's eating with the rapper half on the sandwich because

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Speaker 1: he doesn't want to get his hands dirty. But then

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Speaker 1: he gets arb sauce on his fingers, licks his fingers

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Speaker 1: and wipes him on his pants. So clearly being sanitary

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Speaker 1: doesn't matter to him, you know. It's it's about finding

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Speaker 1: all the little things and all the little people and

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Speaker 1: making up stories in your head of that old improv rule.

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Speaker 1: If this is true, what else is true? And and

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Speaker 1: those characterists that speak the greater things, both about humanity

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Speaker 1: or the person in particular. So I, once again, that's me,

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Speaker 1: that's me kind of ranting, but also saying that being

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Speaker 1: analytical about the pieces that make up people. You know,

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Speaker 1: it's just being a journalist. If you could be a

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Speaker 1: journalist of humanity and then try to emulate those things,

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Speaker 1: you're a great actor. It doesn't mean you're Daniel day

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Speaker 1: Lewis or Violet Davis. It means that you pay attention,

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Speaker 1: and any of us have that ability. It's not like

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Speaker 1: it's a messing. It's it's a human thing. Yeah, that's

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Speaker 1: what I feel like a huge part of my job

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Speaker 1: is understanding and observing human behavior, and that being able

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Speaker 1: to unlock that behavior can very often unlock the physicality,

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Speaker 1: the voice, that everything of a character. There's something really

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Speaker 1: communal about the experience of watching film and TV. You know,

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Speaker 1: people sometimes want to compliment me and say, wow, you,

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Speaker 1: how did you do that character? And I'm like, I

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Speaker 1: was doing you your How I did that character? You know,

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Speaker 1: it's it's not as crazy or complex as people would think.

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Speaker 1: If you can have the fearlessness and specificity to to

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Speaker 1: dive into those things that you've experienced that role Tom

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Speaker 1: Cruise played and topic Thunder. People are obsessed with that,

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Speaker 1: you know, the man Tom Cruise, and it's like he's

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Speaker 1: really he's doing what Dwayne Johnson did in the w

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Speaker 1: w E, where he's taking some piece of him and

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Speaker 1: then amplifying it to a psychotic degree that makes it entertaining.

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Speaker 1: Tom Cruise, like many humans, has any ego. What if

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Speaker 1: you took that anger and ego and amplified it to

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Speaker 1: a billion you have less grossman. You know, doesn't mean

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Speaker 1: times a bad guy. It means that we all have

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Speaker 1: some ugly and some sin and some truth and reality

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Speaker 1: to us. And if we choose to go ninety on

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Speaker 1: a detour, that's what less Grossman looks like. You're going

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Speaker 1: ninety miles an hour on a curvy detour exit. You know. Yeah.

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Speaker 1: You bring up something else too that I think is

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Speaker 1: is especially true. I've talked to a bunch of people

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Speaker 1: about specificity and that unlocking the key to a character,

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Speaker 1: unlocking a believability. People think it's about being universal, right,

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Speaker 1: you create a universal character that more people will can

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Speaker 1: relate to, But ultimately it's about finding those specific things.

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Speaker 1: The guy who wraps the sandwich but then wipes it

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Speaker 1: licks and wipes on his pants. Those two things don't

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Speaker 1: go together, but they do because you saw it and

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Speaker 1: it exists within him. Right, Oh, you just said everything, dude.

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Speaker 1: It's it's that idea of I wrapped the sandwich as

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Speaker 1: to not get my hands dirty, and then I get

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Speaker 1: my hands dirty and I unconsciously I'm wiping them on

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Speaker 1: my clothing, which is the very thing I uh seemed

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Speaker 1: to protest or promulgate, you know. And that contradiction is

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Speaker 1: is man, is that everywhere I did the show Kingdom

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Speaker 1: with Frank Grillo about m M A Fighters and I

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Speaker 1: was just a recurring guest star. But man, there was

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Speaker 1: a day where I had seen with Matt Laurea in

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Speaker 1: season one, and while I'm doing it, I thought, wouldn't

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Speaker 1: it be funny if when I get at it Matt

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Speaker 1: Laura's character, if I say this is fucking BS, so

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Speaker 1: I'm abbreviating the word bullshit by saying BS, but then

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Speaker 1: I'm saying this is fucking bs. Um. I just thought

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Speaker 1: it was super funny, and I did it, and it

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Speaker 1: cracks me up to this day thinking about it, because

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Speaker 1: it's like the sandwich thing. I'm going to have the

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Speaker 1: wrap around, but I'm gonna wipe my hands and my pants.

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Speaker 1: And you know that that that's just sort of a

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Speaker 1: hallmark of behavior. Is contradiction, being hypocritical, you know. And

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Speaker 1: I think most things if you juxtapose and you bring

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Speaker 1: comedy to drama, or you bring drama to comedy, or

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Speaker 1: you bring calm and a horror film, or you bring

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Speaker 1: a horror in a calm film, It's like contradiction is

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Speaker 1: always going to be interesting, isn't it. That's right? Um.

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Speaker 1: You book a few other things after traveling to Hollywood,

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Speaker 1: including a show. You were allegedly a fan of Always

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Speaker 1: Sunny in Philadelphia. Uh, oh man, Yeah, you're a fan

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Speaker 1: of that show. I love that show. There's a big

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Speaker 1: deal for me to go from like to go from

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Speaker 1: watching It's Always Sunny in my underpants with four of

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Speaker 1: my guy friends in college drinking watered down natural light

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Speaker 1: type of beer cans to a year later getting the

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Speaker 1: part and hanging out with Charlie Day and Glenn and

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Speaker 1: Rob Like, that'surreal, man, that's like some weird, real life

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Speaker 1: magic stuff. It was a big deal for me. And

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Speaker 1: it's funny you bring that up because I had not

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Speaker 1: seen Glenn Howardson or Charlie Day since I shot the show,

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Speaker 1: like May June, And in the last week I have

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Speaker 1: run into Glenn Howardson and Charlie Day both for the

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Speaker 1: first time in twelve years. And it was such a funny, chummy,

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Speaker 1: cozy little reunion of like, it's so fun to get

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Speaker 1: to be giddy and catch each other up on our

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Speaker 1: lives and to thank them properly for giving me a

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Speaker 1: great gig. That meant a lot to me. And you know,

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Speaker 1: those residuals matter. Now are times where I was waiting

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Speaker 1: tables and had no money and all of a sudden

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Speaker 1: residual for your episode of Sonny and that helps you

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Speaker 1: pay your rent that month. I mean that I never

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Speaker 1: forget that stuff. Man. Yeah, as you just alluded to you, well,

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Speaker 1: the jobs dry up a little bit and you moved

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Speaker 1: back to Michigan. Is that right? That sucked? And what

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Speaker 1: was the decision there? You just you didn't have money

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Speaker 1: or or what? Oh dude, man, thank god I persevered

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Speaker 1: because that I couldn't easily given up, like given up

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Speaker 1: giving up. In my first year in Hollywood, I did

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Speaker 1: two independent films, an independent film with Aaron Paul and

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Speaker 1: Jeff Daniels. I did that indie with Jennifer Connelly and

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Speaker 1: Ed Harris. I had a lead role series Regular and

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Speaker 1: a pilot presentation at CBS with Larry Charles and Aunt Hines. Wow.

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Speaker 1: I had the guest star on It's Always Sunny and

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Speaker 1: I had a co star on Community. So I booked

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Speaker 1: five jobs in fourteen months, and I thought I was

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Speaker 1: Mr Cool. I thought I was the next Jonah Hill.

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Speaker 1: And true to form, you know, God humbled me and

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Speaker 1: I couldn't. I couldn't find a day job out there.

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Speaker 1: I applied to sixty seventy places on Craigslist. I couldn't

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Speaker 1: get a job at Subway McDonald's, but I could get

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Speaker 1: a guest star opposite Danny de Vito on It's Always Sunny.

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Speaker 1: I mean, this is the world I was living in.

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Speaker 1: I think I had a callbacker two for Bones. I

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Speaker 1: went out for a guest star in some episode of

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Speaker 1: Bones where I would play like a guy at a

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Speaker 1: bowling alley or something that would have saved my ass.

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Speaker 1: I needed that five hundred or five thousand dollar guest

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Speaker 1: star on Bones to stay in l A. I was

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Speaker 1: down to so I was sleeping on the floor of

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Speaker 1: my buddy Matt Ryan's apartment. So things were getting bad.

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Speaker 1: I remember I went on a date with a female

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Speaker 1: friend of mine and I had two fifty bucks left

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Speaker 1: in my name, I think, and I found out I

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Speaker 1: didn't get Bones, so I took her out on a

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Speaker 1: date to get sushi and go see this movie Source

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Speaker 1: Code with Jake Killenhal And as we're saying goodbye in

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Speaker 1: the arc Light parking lot area, she goes, let's go

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Speaker 1: get protein shakes and go for a walk or hang

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Speaker 1: on next week, and I I said her, I go,

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Speaker 1: I can't she goes, why. I go up, I'm broke.

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Speaker 1: I have to move home. And she goes, why did

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Speaker 1: you take me out on a date and spend all

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Speaker 1: that money. I go, I guess I wanted to go

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Speaker 1: out of the bank, and I hugged her goodbye. I

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Speaker 1: walked on Hollywood Boulevard. I walked past the Improv Olympic

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Speaker 1: Io Theater, which I was a big fan of, and

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Speaker 1: some guy sees me, this guy, Jeremy. He goes, Paul,

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Speaker 1: what are you doing. I go, hey man, I'm like

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Speaker 1: trying not to cry. I'm in a bad play emotionally.

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Speaker 1: And he looked at me. He goes, you're going the

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Speaker 1: wrong way, and he means, you're going the wrong way,

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Speaker 1: like in prov Olympic. You're walking away from the theater.

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Speaker 1: Come on in. But you know it's resonating with me,

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Speaker 1: like you're going the wrong way, like you're leaving town.

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Speaker 1: I crossed the street and I run into Tony Hawk

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Speaker 1: and I'm like crying. My face is all blotchy. Tony

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Speaker 1: Hawk is literally just walking side by side next to me.

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Speaker 1: I look over and see him and I go, hey, man,

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Speaker 1: I don't have anything to say about your skateboarding, but

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Speaker 1: I just saw a source code. It was pretty good.

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Speaker 1: He goes, Yeah, my nephew saw that. He said, that

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Speaker 1: was pretty good. I gotta see that. Like just I'm

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Speaker 1: talking the most surreal, weird moment of my life, crying

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Speaker 1: saying goodbye to a woman I have this like affection for,

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Speaker 1: and I'm saying goodbye to the city. I have a

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Speaker 1: hundred thirty bucks to my name, and I think I

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Speaker 1: flew home the next week, and I worked at a

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Speaker 1: bowling alley. I worked, by the way, that's funny. I

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Speaker 1: auditioned to play a guy in a bowling alley, and

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Speaker 1: six months later, I'm working at a bowling alley in

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Speaker 1: my hometown. And I worked at a grocery store in

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Speaker 1: a bowling alley. I moved to Detroit to become a

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Speaker 1: mortgage banker for seven weeks for Quicken Loans in one

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Speaker 1: reverse mortgage for Dan Gilbert, the owner of the Cleveland Cavaliers. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: so wait, you were given up, you were done. I

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Speaker 1: just went home. I didn't have any money and I

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Speaker 1: was sleeping on the floor, right, So it was just

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Speaker 1: it was an untenable situation, right right, right. I just

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Speaker 1: met being a mortgage broker that sounds like you're changing careers. No,

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Speaker 1: that was just to make some money. Just to make

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Speaker 1: some money, I thought, I'll do this for a year.

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Speaker 1: I'll save up twenty grand, thirty grand, I'll move back

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Speaker 1: to Alan, I'll be financially fiscally responsible, because you know,

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Speaker 1: I was also just bad with money, man, due to

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Speaker 1: regular day for me. I'd wake up at nine ten am,

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Speaker 1: walk down to Solar Dick Colanga or cafe etcetera, Kids

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Speaker 1: in four or Groundworks Coffee. It was like the Klanga strip,

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Speaker 1: and I would just sit around all day eating like

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Speaker 1: club sandwiches and drinking coffee and eating scones while like

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Speaker 1: writing screenplays and running into comedians and people I admired.

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Speaker 1: That was like every day in my life. I'm just

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Speaker 1: dropping fifty six on diner food and chilling, and then

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Speaker 1: at night I'm going to somebody's improv show and I'm

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Speaker 1: getting drinks after and we're getting in and out. Like

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Speaker 1: I was burning through money just being a slobby, you know, idiot,

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Speaker 1: And uh, it caught up with me and I had

359
00:21:38,560 --> 00:21:59,359
Speaker 1: to learn a hard lesson for sure. What brought you

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Speaker 1: back to Los Angeles? A friend of a friend said, Hey,

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Speaker 1: I read a pilot. He wrote, I watched your demo reel.

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Speaker 1: I think you're really talented. You want to come crash

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Speaker 1: on my couch for like a few hundred bucks. So

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Speaker 1: I took this guy up on that, and I moved

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Speaker 1: back to l A. I had done two levels of

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Speaker 1: io theater and stand up in Chicago for six months

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Speaker 1: while working at a Starbucks for like forty hours a week,

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Speaker 1: so I had a little bit of money. I moved

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Speaker 1: to l A January and I'll have been back ten

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Speaker 1: years this January. And I took a bunch of odd jobs.

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Speaker 1: I did everything from story producing for Food Network to

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Speaker 1: stand up comedy to uh waiting tables and working at

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Speaker 1: five Guys in Ventura Boulevard in Studio City. I mean,

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Speaker 1: I jumped all over the place. And then eventually Kingdom,

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Speaker 1: that show with Frank Grillo, that was my break. Season two.

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Speaker 1: They said, hey, we're gonna bring you back. Instead of

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Speaker 1: paying you a thousand bucks an episod, so we'll give you,

378
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Speaker 1: you know, or six thousand, and we'll give you like

379
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Speaker 1: ten or twelve episodes. And I was like, whoa, I

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Speaker 1: get to quit my day job. Holy crap, and I

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Speaker 1: I haven't had a day job since March of you

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Speaker 1: do seven episodes of Kingdom, and then shortly around that

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Speaker 1: time you book Tanya tell me about the audition. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: I had a fun little streak in the autumn of

385
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Speaker 1: where man, it's so fun to think about. I'm just

386
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Speaker 1: grateful to God that I got the opportunity. Yeah. Sorry,

387
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Speaker 1: Sometimes I just have a moment where I realized how

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Speaker 1: blessed I am, and it's absurd. It's humbling. Man. I

389
00:23:48,359 --> 00:23:52,159
Speaker 1: was running out of money fall of. I was wondering

390
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Speaker 1: if I needed to get another day job. I was

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Speaker 1: waiting on Kingdom to have me back for season four,

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Speaker 1: I think it was, And sure enough, around my birthday

393
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Speaker 1: October fifteen, I book an under five line on Superstore, UM,

394
00:24:08,320 --> 00:24:11,520
Speaker 1: a small role in super Troopers too because I had

395
00:24:11,560 --> 00:24:16,160
Speaker 1: become friendly with Kevin Heffernan. And then I book a pilot,

396
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Speaker 1: a series regular role in a pilot for Lifetime where

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Speaker 1: I'm playing opposite like legitimate actors like Eric Balfour and

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Speaker 1: Dominic Kamanahan and um all these wonderful people. So I

399
00:24:27,560 --> 00:24:30,280
Speaker 1: booked like three jobs in a month, and I was like, wow,

400
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Speaker 1: you know, thank God, I'm I'm back in it. And

401
00:24:33,320 --> 00:24:36,200
Speaker 1: I go shoot this pilot in Vancouver, and while I'm there,

402
00:24:37,680 --> 00:24:39,880
Speaker 1: must have been the last like three days of filming.

403
00:24:40,040 --> 00:24:44,320
Speaker 1: I was about to leave, like mid November, and I

404
00:24:44,359 --> 00:24:47,560
Speaker 1: get an email about Titania and they say the script

405
00:24:47,600 --> 00:24:51,480
Speaker 1: was on the Blacklist. It's a true story. They got Mario,

406
00:24:51,640 --> 00:24:55,040
Speaker 1: Robbie and Alison Janney and it's the guy who directed

407
00:24:55,080 --> 00:24:58,200
Speaker 1: Lars and the Real Girl. I'm like, dude, I'm used

408
00:24:58,200 --> 00:25:03,000
Speaker 1: to like going out for guests stars on Two Broke Girls,

409
00:25:03,040 --> 00:25:05,359
Speaker 1: and that's that's a good that's a good month for me. Like,

410
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Speaker 1: what the hell is this? So I read the script

411
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Speaker 1: and I'm laughing my ass off, and I'm like, this

412
00:25:13,240 --> 00:25:16,600
Speaker 1: is like David o' russell and Christopher guests had some

413
00:25:17,200 --> 00:25:20,520
Speaker 1: psychotic child. You know, this is so funny but heartbreaking

414
00:25:20,560 --> 00:25:24,600
Speaker 1: and crazy but true. And I look at a picture

415
00:25:24,640 --> 00:25:26,760
Speaker 1: of the real guy and I go, this is a

416
00:25:26,880 --> 00:25:29,879
Speaker 1: very specific looking guy. There are not many men in

417
00:25:29,960 --> 00:25:33,719
Speaker 1: Hollywood who can act at that level who looked like

418
00:25:33,800 --> 00:25:38,080
Speaker 1: this slavish dude. Right, So I already know. I'm like,

419
00:25:38,359 --> 00:25:41,160
Speaker 1: you know, if I if I grow the mustache out

420
00:25:41,200 --> 00:25:44,680
Speaker 1: a little bit and I and I drill this, maybe

421
00:25:44,720 --> 00:25:48,639
Speaker 1: I have a shot. So I go into audition, I

422
00:25:48,680 --> 00:25:53,080
Speaker 1: think just before Thanksgiving, and there's a lot of different

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00:25:53,119 --> 00:25:56,320
Speaker 1: guys in in the room. It's like Haley, Joel Osmond

424
00:25:56,600 --> 00:26:03,040
Speaker 1: and some massive pound dude and then Neil Casey from

425
00:26:03,119 --> 00:26:06,960
Speaker 1: Upgrade Citizens Brigade. So it's like it's a real Hodge positive,

426
00:26:07,080 --> 00:26:10,600
Speaker 1: just different looking white dudes. And I'm like, I don't

427
00:26:10,600 --> 00:26:12,399
Speaker 1: know that they even know what they want, and I

428
00:26:12,520 --> 00:26:15,520
Speaker 1: think they're kind of casting a big net. So I

429
00:26:15,640 --> 00:26:18,400
Speaker 1: go up and and I do the scene that goes well,

430
00:26:18,800 --> 00:26:20,800
Speaker 1: and I'm having a lot of fun. I'm not improvising.

431
00:26:20,840 --> 00:26:22,960
Speaker 1: I'm just really trying to honor what's there and make

432
00:26:23,000 --> 00:26:27,280
Speaker 1: everybody happy. And the next day my reps call me.

433
00:26:27,320 --> 00:26:30,359
Speaker 1: They go, hey, man, you have a callback on Tuesday.

434
00:26:30,560 --> 00:26:33,960
Speaker 1: And I always ask who the callback is with because

435
00:26:34,240 --> 00:26:36,239
Speaker 1: I figure it's down to me and two or three

436
00:26:36,280 --> 00:26:39,199
Speaker 1: other guys. That's what a callback is, right, And they

437
00:26:39,240 --> 00:26:42,480
Speaker 1: see to me, they go, it's just you. I said,

438
00:26:42,880 --> 00:26:45,480
Speaker 1: that doesn't sound like a callback. That sounds like something else.

439
00:26:46,200 --> 00:26:48,080
Speaker 1: They go, we think they have an offer out to

440
00:26:48,160 --> 00:26:51,000
Speaker 1: another actor. I go, oh, it's got to be like

441
00:26:51,080 --> 00:26:53,840
Speaker 1: Josh Gadd or somebody really reputable who's gonna get it.

442
00:26:54,920 --> 00:26:56,760
Speaker 1: That afternoon, they come back to me. They go, Hey,

443
00:26:56,800 --> 00:27:01,160
Speaker 1: it's Josh Gadden, and I'm like, you's no freaking way

444
00:27:01,200 --> 00:27:06,359
Speaker 1: I'm getting this. Josh has got frozen and he's worked

445
00:27:06,359 --> 00:27:09,639
Speaker 1: with Kevin Hart and all these big people and and uh.

446
00:27:09,760 --> 00:27:11,680
Speaker 1: Come to find out, it was like a scheduling thing.

447
00:27:11,680 --> 00:27:14,280
Speaker 1: They wanted Josh, but he was also doing Kenneth Brana's

448
00:27:14,560 --> 00:27:16,680
Speaker 1: murder on the Orient Express movie, I think, and it

449
00:27:16,840 --> 00:27:20,840
Speaker 1: was in the middle of that whole deal. So I'm

450
00:27:20,840 --> 00:27:24,040
Speaker 1: really nervous and I want the part so bad. The

451
00:27:24,160 --> 00:27:27,120
Speaker 1: night before, mind you, I'll be a year sober from

452
00:27:27,160 --> 00:27:31,120
Speaker 1: pot and alcohol October twenty six of this year. Don't

453
00:27:31,200 --> 00:27:33,160
Speaker 1: vilify it, but it wasn't for me. Had to get

454
00:27:33,200 --> 00:27:35,840
Speaker 1: away from it. So at this time I was smoking

455
00:27:35,880 --> 00:27:37,119
Speaker 1: a lot of weed, and I'm like, you know what,

456
00:27:37,160 --> 00:27:40,399
Speaker 1: I'm gonna get really high and I'm gonna get really stoned,

457
00:27:40,800 --> 00:27:43,320
Speaker 1: and I'm gonna chill out about this thing. But I

458
00:27:43,359 --> 00:27:46,000
Speaker 1: get really wickedly stoned the night before, and then the

459
00:27:46,040 --> 00:27:49,160
Speaker 1: next morning I have a residual high where I'm almost

460
00:27:49,280 --> 00:27:52,240
Speaker 1: high for the second audition, and I come in with

461
00:27:52,240 --> 00:27:55,399
Speaker 1: a cookie and a coffee in a track suit and

462
00:27:55,480 --> 00:27:57,840
Speaker 1: I'm literally sitting on the floor because there are no

463
00:27:57,920 --> 00:28:00,919
Speaker 1: seats in the lobby, and all the people around me

464
00:28:00,960 --> 00:28:04,360
Speaker 1: taking up the seats are little kids with dark hair

465
00:28:04,520 --> 00:28:08,240
Speaker 1: who are all cursing to their parents and guardians because

466
00:28:08,280 --> 00:28:13,920
Speaker 1: they're auditioning to play young Scarface. So I'm like borderline

467
00:28:14,000 --> 00:28:17,159
Speaker 1: high and I'm like, this is the weirdest thing in

468
00:28:17,200 --> 00:28:21,960
Speaker 1: the world, Like I'm just cracking up laughing. Uh. And

469
00:28:22,200 --> 00:28:27,840
Speaker 1: and I hear somebody upstairs screaming, like an angry guy screaming,

470
00:28:27,840 --> 00:28:30,720
Speaker 1: and I'm like, who the hell is that? And then

471
00:28:30,720 --> 00:28:34,199
Speaker 1: he walks down. That's Aaron Paul auditioning for Galulee. And

472
00:28:34,240 --> 00:28:37,040
Speaker 1: he walks past Billy Magnus and who's got a mustache

473
00:28:37,160 --> 00:28:39,800
Speaker 1: to play Galulee. And it, once again it adds to

474
00:28:39,840 --> 00:28:44,040
Speaker 1: the weirdness because I hadn't seen Aaron in years, and

475
00:28:44,080 --> 00:28:46,960
Speaker 1: he looks like he's ready to kill somebody. And this

476
00:28:47,040 --> 00:28:50,120
Speaker 1: other guy's got a mustache and looks exactly like Jeff Galulee.

477
00:28:50,120 --> 00:28:52,360
Speaker 1: And I'm like, this is such a circus. So I

478
00:28:52,400 --> 00:28:55,320
Speaker 1: go upstairs and I literally I acted like I didn't

479
00:28:55,360 --> 00:28:58,160
Speaker 1: even care. I did the part really well, but like

480
00:28:58,240 --> 00:29:01,560
Speaker 1: I was very much like I think my parting words

481
00:29:01,600 --> 00:29:05,880
Speaker 1: were you. Guys, this project is awesome. Whether you choose

482
00:29:05,880 --> 00:29:07,400
Speaker 1: me or not, You're about to have a lot of fun.

483
00:29:07,440 --> 00:29:09,840
Speaker 1: I'm excited for you, guys. So if I don't see it,

484
00:29:10,200 --> 00:29:12,880
Speaker 1: if I don't see you enjoy the film. Man kind

485
00:29:12,880 --> 00:29:15,480
Speaker 1: of went out with one of those every time I've

486
00:29:15,520 --> 00:29:17,480
Speaker 1: said that in audition, I get the part. I don't

487
00:29:17,480 --> 00:29:20,400
Speaker 1: know what it is. There's something to it because it's

488
00:29:20,440 --> 00:29:23,160
Speaker 1: worked every time. And I got the part. And were

489
00:29:23,160 --> 00:29:25,280
Speaker 1: you proud of the movie when it when you saw it?

490
00:29:26,080 --> 00:29:28,760
Speaker 1: I I kind of loved the movie because it does

491
00:29:28,800 --> 00:29:32,200
Speaker 1: a lot of things I like in my entertainment that

492
00:29:32,280 --> 00:29:35,560
Speaker 1: I watch. I cared about the characters. I laughed out loud.

493
00:29:35,960 --> 00:29:39,240
Speaker 1: I felt like it handled dark comedy really well, kind

494
00:29:39,240 --> 00:29:41,440
Speaker 1: of like the Cohen Brothers do or David or Russell.

495
00:29:42,480 --> 00:29:44,440
Speaker 1: And I thought I did a good job. Like I

496
00:29:44,440 --> 00:29:46,840
Speaker 1: I enjoyed my own performance and thought like, way to go,

497
00:29:46,960 --> 00:29:49,920
Speaker 1: PAULI you did it, buddy. Yeah. I was just proud

498
00:29:50,000 --> 00:29:52,600
Speaker 1: to be coming off the bench and showing up with them.

499
00:29:52,640 --> 00:29:55,720
Speaker 1: And and it did provide a lot of new opportunities

500
00:29:55,760 --> 00:30:00,640
Speaker 1: and and new relationships which helped. Yeah, And once again,

501
00:30:00,680 --> 00:30:04,000
Speaker 1: it didn't change my life, right, away. It really didn't.

502
00:30:04,080 --> 00:30:06,880
Speaker 1: I I shot the film, and I had some money

503
00:30:06,920 --> 00:30:09,560
Speaker 1: in my pocket, but it wasn't a lot of money.

504
00:30:09,920 --> 00:30:12,680
Speaker 1: It got me through the year, and then you know,

505
00:30:13,160 --> 00:30:16,840
Speaker 1: Black Klansman was was a nice thing where I came

506
00:30:16,840 --> 00:30:19,360
Speaker 1: back from Tiff where IONI did really well, and I

507
00:30:19,440 --> 00:30:22,840
Speaker 1: auditioned for Black Clansmen, and I just I had a

508
00:30:22,840 --> 00:30:25,120
Speaker 1: lot of confidence because I Tany did so well at

509
00:30:25,160 --> 00:30:28,800
Speaker 1: Tiff that it kind of propelled my confidence to walk

510
00:30:28,840 --> 00:30:31,840
Speaker 1: in and do a director session with Spike Lee and

511
00:30:31,920 --> 00:30:35,840
Speaker 1: just be myself and improvised and do all the things

512
00:30:35,880 --> 00:30:38,760
Speaker 1: I do. And Spike asked for my cell phone number,

513
00:30:38,760 --> 00:30:41,360
Speaker 1: and he was like totally on board, Like I totally

514
00:30:41,400 --> 00:30:44,080
Speaker 1: get who you are. I totally get what you do.

515
00:30:44,400 --> 00:30:47,000
Speaker 1: Let's do this. He asked for your cell phone number

516
00:30:47,000 --> 00:30:49,920
Speaker 1: in the audition? Is that right? Yeah? Which is nuts?

517
00:30:50,000 --> 00:30:53,840
Speaker 1: I mean, who's That's never happened to me? And so

518
00:30:53,920 --> 00:30:57,760
Speaker 1: there I am with itania coming out Black Clansmen in

519
00:30:57,920 --> 00:31:01,240
Speaker 1: post production, but I still you know, I did New

520
00:31:01,360 --> 00:31:04,800
Speaker 1: New York local higher for Black Plans. I think I

521
00:31:04,840 --> 00:31:08,160
Speaker 1: made like ten grand and after I tied to my

522
00:31:08,360 --> 00:31:11,080
Speaker 1: church and I give to my agents and managers and

523
00:31:11,120 --> 00:31:15,160
Speaker 1: taxes or whatever. I probably only made like six grand

524
00:31:15,240 --> 00:31:19,440
Speaker 1: on Black Clansmen. So I borrowed ten grand from my

525
00:31:19,520 --> 00:31:25,120
Speaker 1: parents retirement fund January just to get by and not

526
00:31:25,200 --> 00:31:27,640
Speaker 1: have to get a day job again. And then I

527
00:31:27,680 --> 00:31:30,720
Speaker 1: signed up CIA and things started. The ball started rolling

528
00:31:30,760 --> 00:31:36,320
Speaker 1: between having great agents and having Spike in Margo in

529
00:31:36,360 --> 00:31:39,560
Speaker 1: my corner. You know that gets around, and and I

530
00:31:40,200 --> 00:31:43,800
Speaker 1: did like five jobs and it just spiraled and rolled,

531
00:31:43,840 --> 00:31:47,280
Speaker 1: and I started working and doing stuff I was really

532
00:31:47,320 --> 00:31:54,240
Speaker 1: proud of. Yeah, um, you finished two big movies and

533
00:31:54,280 --> 00:31:59,479
Speaker 1: then you are cast as the title character in Richard Jewel.

534
00:31:59,720 --> 00:32:01,760
Speaker 1: Now I have to tell you something I don't know.

535
00:32:02,360 --> 00:32:06,600
Speaker 1: I'm assuming you don't know this. I was in Centennial

536
00:32:06,720 --> 00:32:09,920
Speaker 1: Park when the bomb went off. Oh I did not

537
00:32:10,080 --> 00:32:13,479
Speaker 1: know that. Yeah, this is before cell phone, so this

538
00:32:13,560 --> 00:32:17,240
Speaker 1: is ninety s. And I went in the House of

539
00:32:17,240 --> 00:32:21,160
Speaker 1: Blues alone, had three buddies I was meeting and couldn't

540
00:32:21,200 --> 00:32:27,360
Speaker 1: find them, and I went outside to a pay phone

541
00:32:27,960 --> 00:32:34,880
Speaker 1: in Centennial Park, called my parents and said, hey, I'm

542
00:32:34,880 --> 00:32:38,400
Speaker 1: gonna get on. They call it Martha, the subway stop

543
00:32:38,520 --> 00:32:42,360
Speaker 1: that went out towards my parents house. But that I

544
00:32:42,440 --> 00:32:44,440
Speaker 1: was still going to need to be to be picked

545
00:32:44,560 --> 00:32:48,280
Speaker 1: up from there and I hung up the phone and

546
00:32:49,200 --> 00:32:53,959
Speaker 1: the bomb went off, and I still remember the sensation.

547
00:32:55,480 --> 00:32:59,840
Speaker 1: What I didn't experience was allowed sound like a bomb.

548
00:33:00,920 --> 00:33:05,600
Speaker 1: My overall experience was like it was devoid of sound,

549
00:33:06,200 --> 00:33:09,719
Speaker 1: Like it was like it went off, and then it

550
00:33:09,800 --> 00:33:13,040
Speaker 1: was that right afterward, it was almost like the sound

551
00:33:13,080 --> 00:33:16,400
Speaker 1: all of the sound got sucked out of everything. And

552
00:33:16,480 --> 00:33:20,800
Speaker 1: I just immediately went to the subway station to try

553
00:33:20,800 --> 00:33:22,640
Speaker 1: to get the hell out of there. It was very

554
00:33:22,720 --> 00:33:27,080
Speaker 1: clear what had happened. And I will never forget this

555
00:33:28,400 --> 00:33:31,360
Speaker 1: that I got to an escalator to go down to

556
00:33:31,400 --> 00:33:36,280
Speaker 1: get on the subway and I go through. I'm alone

557
00:33:36,520 --> 00:33:39,640
Speaker 1: to granted, with no cell phone. And by the way,

558
00:33:39,720 --> 00:33:43,200
Speaker 1: what are my parents doing at home? They're watching Olympic coverage,

559
00:33:43,800 --> 00:33:47,240
Speaker 1: so they see they know where I am, and they

560
00:33:47,320 --> 00:33:49,520
Speaker 1: see that this bomb has gone off, and there's no

561
00:33:49,560 --> 00:33:51,560
Speaker 1: way for me to communicate. I just had to get

562
00:33:51,600 --> 00:33:56,240
Speaker 1: out of there. Yeah, Ce, I go down the escalator

563
00:33:56,680 --> 00:34:00,640
Speaker 1: and they stopped the people right behind me, and in

564
00:34:00,760 --> 00:34:05,160
Speaker 1: conversations with some other police officers at the bottom. The

565
00:34:05,200 --> 00:34:07,400
Speaker 1: reason they did that is if you're really trying to

566
00:34:07,480 --> 00:34:09,640
Speaker 1: hurt people, I guess you put a bomb off and

567
00:34:09,680 --> 00:34:12,680
Speaker 1: then you put off bombs where people are going to

568
00:34:12,760 --> 00:34:18,160
Speaker 1: go shortly after that, and everything at that point, you know,

569
00:34:18,440 --> 00:34:21,719
Speaker 1: was fine. I met, but I had very nervous and

570
00:34:21,760 --> 00:34:24,520
Speaker 1: worried parents who for forty five minutes to an hour

571
00:34:24,600 --> 00:34:26,759
Speaker 1: or whatever, had no idea where I was or what

572
00:34:27,040 --> 00:34:30,560
Speaker 1: actually had happened as they were watching it unfold. So

573
00:34:30,880 --> 00:34:34,760
Speaker 1: my point being, this movie I was very much looking

574
00:34:34,800 --> 00:34:41,920
Speaker 1: forward to because I lived it. Yeah, I was there. Um,

575
00:34:42,000 --> 00:34:46,560
Speaker 1: I'm told that your photo was on the board in

576
00:34:46,640 --> 00:34:49,880
Speaker 1: the production office and they said that they were looking

577
00:34:49,920 --> 00:34:55,120
Speaker 1: for someone that looked like this. Is that true? Yeah? Man,

578
00:34:55,280 --> 00:34:58,600
Speaker 1: it was so weird how that happened. So apparently Jeff

579
00:34:58,680 --> 00:35:02,279
Speaker 1: mcclad is the casting rector for Eastwood and they were

580
00:35:02,280 --> 00:35:05,520
Speaker 1: trying to figure out who could play Richard Jewel. Now,

581
00:35:05,560 --> 00:35:07,399
Speaker 1: mind you, at the time it was supposed to be

582
00:35:08,520 --> 00:35:12,160
Speaker 1: Leo and Jonah. They were hot off of Wolf Wall

583
00:35:12,200 --> 00:35:14,719
Speaker 1: Street and wanted to work together again, and Joan was

584
00:35:14,719 --> 00:35:18,520
Speaker 1: gonna play Richard, Leo was gonna play the attorney Watson Bryant,

585
00:35:18,840 --> 00:35:22,399
Speaker 1: and you know, Eastwood was considering like who else could

586
00:35:22,400 --> 00:35:27,320
Speaker 1: play it, I guess, and Jeff mcclatt and Jessica Meyer,

587
00:35:27,800 --> 00:35:29,799
Speaker 1: they showed him a photo of me that that they

588
00:35:29,920 --> 00:35:33,120
Speaker 1: put up as a sample, and Eastwood just looks at

589
00:35:33,120 --> 00:35:36,080
Speaker 1: the photo and he pauses. He goes, who is that guy?

590
00:35:36,160 --> 00:35:38,640
Speaker 1: And then he pauses and he goes, yeah, I think

591
00:35:38,680 --> 00:35:42,160
Speaker 1: that's the guy. And they're like, what do you what

592
00:35:42,200 --> 00:35:45,600
Speaker 1: do you mean you think that's the guy. He's like, yeah,

593
00:35:45,760 --> 00:35:47,960
Speaker 1: I think that's the guy. And they're like, well, we'll

594
00:35:48,000 --> 00:35:49,560
Speaker 1: bring you some tape on him, so you know what

595
00:35:49,600 --> 00:35:52,600
Speaker 1: you're getting. And they showed him my demo reel with

596
00:35:52,880 --> 00:35:56,919
Speaker 1: scenes from Kingdom and Ionia and Black Klansman, and he goes, yeah,

597
00:35:56,960 --> 00:35:59,759
Speaker 1: he could do it, and like said it nonchalantly, like

598
00:35:59,800 --> 00:36:02,960
Speaker 1: he can do it. That's the guy. So I'm in

599
00:36:03,000 --> 00:36:06,760
Speaker 1: Thailand shooting to five Bloods, this war film for Spike,

600
00:36:07,239 --> 00:36:09,880
Speaker 1: which would prove to be, you know, one of Chadwick

601
00:36:09,920 --> 00:36:12,680
Speaker 1: Boseman's last films and one of Spike's greatest. I think

602
00:36:13,040 --> 00:36:14,719
Speaker 1: I'm kind of going through a rough patch where I'm

603
00:36:14,760 --> 00:36:18,160
Speaker 1: alone in a country I've never been. I'm trying to

604
00:36:18,200 --> 00:36:21,840
Speaker 1: be sober and and I'm kind of depressed and not

605
00:36:21,880 --> 00:36:24,640
Speaker 1: in a good place. And I got offered the TV

606
00:36:24,920 --> 00:36:28,200
Speaker 1: version of Richard Jewell for a lot of money. More

607
00:36:28,239 --> 00:36:31,319
Speaker 1: than I had ever made, that's for sure. And then

608
00:36:31,360 --> 00:36:33,560
Speaker 1: three days later I get this call saying Cling Eastwood

609
00:36:33,560 --> 00:36:36,040
Speaker 1: wants to play Richard Jewel in the movie. I told

610
00:36:36,080 --> 00:36:39,920
Speaker 1: Cia and my manager Brian Walsh, I'm like, guys, am

611
00:36:39,960 --> 00:36:43,000
Speaker 1: I getting offered the same character and opposing projects seventy

612
00:36:43,000 --> 00:36:46,000
Speaker 1: two hours like between each other, Like what the hell

613
00:36:46,120 --> 00:36:50,400
Speaker 1: is going on? Ever ever happened in the history of Hollywood.

614
00:36:51,880 --> 00:36:54,080
Speaker 1: And it got to the point where the casting director

615
00:36:54,160 --> 00:36:56,719
Speaker 1: is like, well, now I heard Paul might do Eastwoods movie,

616
00:36:56,760 --> 00:36:58,879
Speaker 1: and I'm like, I don't even have an offer. I'm

617
00:36:58,920 --> 00:37:03,359
Speaker 1: just like getting a horrible confirmation from my reps. So

618
00:37:03,400 --> 00:37:05,279
Speaker 1: it got down to the wire and they're offering me

619
00:37:05,800 --> 00:37:08,480
Speaker 1: more money than any one of my family's ever made

620
00:37:08,680 --> 00:37:11,920
Speaker 1: in a year to do Richard Julu TV show. And

621
00:37:11,960 --> 00:37:16,080
Speaker 1: then verbally Clint goes, come to my movie. But Clint,

622
00:37:16,480 --> 00:37:20,840
Speaker 1: the project was at Fox, Disney bought Fox, and Clint

623
00:37:20,880 --> 00:37:24,000
Speaker 1: only works with Warner Brothers. So there's a whole fiasco

624
00:37:24,080 --> 00:37:26,360
Speaker 1: behind the scenes about getting the rights to the movie

625
00:37:26,680 --> 00:37:29,600
Speaker 1: that has not been ironed out yet. So it comes

626
00:37:29,600 --> 00:37:31,760
Speaker 1: down to the wire and my reps go, you gotta choose,

627
00:37:31,800 --> 00:37:34,400
Speaker 1: and I said, man, you can only operate out of

628
00:37:34,400 --> 00:37:38,360
Speaker 1: fear of love. The Bible talks about perfect love casting

629
00:37:38,480 --> 00:37:41,560
Speaker 1: fear out. Fear would tell me to take the paycheck

630
00:37:41,640 --> 00:37:43,680
Speaker 1: for the show. Love would tell me to work with

631
00:37:43,719 --> 00:37:47,279
Speaker 1: Clint Eastwood. Tell him I'm working with Clint Eastwood. So

632
00:37:47,680 --> 00:37:49,919
Speaker 1: my reps are ecstatic. And then I had to sit

633
00:37:49,960 --> 00:37:53,000
Speaker 1: with that decision for three more weeks in Thailand for

634
00:37:53,120 --> 00:37:54,799
Speaker 1: I get back to the States and hope to God

635
00:37:54,880 --> 00:37:58,240
Speaker 1: that the movie's happening. So I turned down like seven

636
00:37:58,239 --> 00:38:02,360
Speaker 1: eight hundred thousand dollars for a movie that might happen

637
00:38:02,440 --> 00:38:05,880
Speaker 1: with no offer on the table from Eastwood. Unbelie, I

638
00:38:05,920 --> 00:38:09,320
Speaker 1: go back to l A. I meet with Clint on

639
00:38:09,360 --> 00:38:12,359
Speaker 1: the Warner lot. Sure enough, he got the rights, and

640
00:38:12,440 --> 00:38:16,640
Speaker 1: that journey making that movie was the best job I've

641
00:38:16,640 --> 00:38:20,480
Speaker 1: ever had. I met my wife via a dating app

642
00:38:20,960 --> 00:38:23,680
Speaker 1: while I was filming the movie. We now have a

643
00:38:23,680 --> 00:38:27,840
Speaker 1: son together. Like that movie changed my life and and

644
00:38:27,920 --> 00:38:31,520
Speaker 1: I'm forever grateful that Clint took a chance on me,

645
00:38:31,560 --> 00:38:35,320
Speaker 1: because I think the studio wanted a movie start, and uh,

646
00:38:35,600 --> 00:38:38,920
Speaker 1: they got me instead. You know, well, I think you're

647
00:38:38,920 --> 00:38:41,520
Speaker 1: a movie start now, my friend. I'm just gonna I'm

648
00:38:41,560 --> 00:38:44,080
Speaker 1: just gonna point that out, So I think they ended

649
00:38:44,160 --> 00:38:47,160
Speaker 1: up getting you and a movie start. Did you spend

650
00:38:47,160 --> 00:38:50,560
Speaker 1: any time with Bobby richards mom? I met her on

651
00:38:50,680 --> 00:38:54,359
Speaker 1: the Warner lot with Watson Bryant, the attorney, and they

652
00:38:54,360 --> 00:38:57,680
Speaker 1: were so easy going, They were so supportive, both huge

653
00:38:57,719 --> 00:39:00,560
Speaker 1: fans of Clint, which it helps one the boss is

654
00:39:00,600 --> 00:39:04,040
Speaker 1: there to shake hands, kissed babies, take selfies. I asked

655
00:39:04,080 --> 00:39:06,440
Speaker 1: some questions about Richard. I said, what kind of food

656
00:39:06,480 --> 00:39:08,640
Speaker 1: did he eat? What kind of movies did he watch?

657
00:39:08,680 --> 00:39:11,840
Speaker 1: Like I wanted all the day to day particulars because

658
00:39:11,840 --> 00:39:13,799
Speaker 1: all the dramas in the script, I don't have to

659
00:39:13,840 --> 00:39:17,800
Speaker 1: ask them. Was Richard afraid when they pinned the bombing

660
00:39:17,800 --> 00:39:20,040
Speaker 1: on it? Like I don't need to ask about the bombing,

661
00:39:20,040 --> 00:39:21,920
Speaker 1: I need to ask about who he was as a man.

662
00:39:23,040 --> 00:39:25,080
Speaker 1: And you know, it seemed like he was a bit

663
00:39:25,120 --> 00:39:29,000
Speaker 1: of a teacher's pet to his own detriment, where he

664
00:39:29,040 --> 00:39:31,960
Speaker 1: wanted to people please and love people and serve people,

665
00:39:32,880 --> 00:39:36,880
Speaker 1: but um also felt undermined and underutilized and kind of

666
00:39:36,960 --> 00:39:39,279
Speaker 1: hurt by the comments and jokes of other people. And

667
00:39:40,239 --> 00:39:42,279
Speaker 1: I think it also made him an angry, sort of

668
00:39:42,680 --> 00:39:47,120
Speaker 1: unrestful creature. So that's what I last onto and getting

669
00:39:47,120 --> 00:39:50,000
Speaker 1: their sign off, you know, like I I tell people

670
00:39:50,360 --> 00:39:54,040
Speaker 1: in interviews, I say, I got on the red carpet

671
00:39:54,280 --> 00:39:57,360
Speaker 1: and was going to the premiere for Richard Jewel in November,

672
00:39:58,920 --> 00:40:02,600
Speaker 1: and Bobby Julian Watson Bryant told me watching you was

673
00:40:02,680 --> 00:40:05,560
Speaker 1: like having Richard back for two hours. And I was like,

674
00:40:05,680 --> 00:40:09,520
Speaker 1: That's how arrogant and ego filled and stupid would it

675
00:40:09,560 --> 00:40:13,839
Speaker 1: be to care about awards season or the tomato meter

676
00:40:13,960 --> 00:40:17,680
Speaker 1: on Rotten Tomatoes When the people who loved him and

677
00:40:17,760 --> 00:40:22,000
Speaker 1: knew him best felt they got to experience him again

678
00:40:22,920 --> 00:40:26,480
Speaker 1: through our story. We told like, nothing's better than that, Like,

679
00:40:26,560 --> 00:40:29,799
Speaker 1: are you kidding me? So I was really proud of

680
00:40:29,800 --> 00:40:31,880
Speaker 1: the film and it made me a better actor, and

681
00:40:31,920 --> 00:40:35,200
Speaker 1: it I made such great friends from it, where Sam

682
00:40:35,280 --> 00:40:39,120
Speaker 1: Rockwell and I now will text each other YouTube videos,

683
00:40:39,160 --> 00:40:42,640
Speaker 1: and you know, to think I got to work with

684
00:40:42,680 --> 00:40:45,319
Speaker 1: one of my heroes and I got to bring some

685
00:40:45,440 --> 00:40:50,360
Speaker 1: piece of even minute closure to the Jewel family in

686
00:40:50,360 --> 00:41:10,759
Speaker 1: that community that that means the world to me. It's

687
00:41:10,760 --> 00:41:14,840
Speaker 1: got to be like a Hollywood first. I don't know

688
00:41:14,880 --> 00:41:17,759
Speaker 1: if it's a first, but that you have played now

689
00:41:18,000 --> 00:41:23,839
Speaker 1: in your really young career. Three iconic roles where you're

690
00:41:23,880 --> 00:41:30,120
Speaker 1: playing real, live people, like people that existed before. I

691
00:41:30,160 --> 00:41:35,319
Speaker 1: was talking to um Kevin Pollock, who was amazing stand

692
00:41:35,400 --> 00:41:39,160
Speaker 1: up comedian. It was talking about finding the key and

693
00:41:39,200 --> 00:41:43,200
Speaker 1: that once you find the key to a person, then

694
00:41:43,239 --> 00:41:46,759
Speaker 1: the impersonation, if you will, becomes very simple. But it's

695
00:41:46,760 --> 00:41:50,719
Speaker 1: about finding that key. Are you looking for a key? Yeah?

696
00:41:50,800 --> 00:41:53,480
Speaker 1: I think I think the key is knowing who they

697
00:41:53,520 --> 00:41:57,160
Speaker 1: are as a person, rather than who they are as

698
00:41:57,200 --> 00:42:00,480
Speaker 1: some constructed life event. You know, when you go to

699
00:42:00,480 --> 00:42:04,160
Speaker 1: play a serial killer, you got to learn who they

700
00:42:04,160 --> 00:42:08,520
Speaker 1: are because if you're just watching serial killer documentaries or

701
00:42:08,680 --> 00:42:12,680
Speaker 1: YouTube clips that Charlie Manson, It's like that's like that's

702
00:42:12,680 --> 00:42:14,480
Speaker 1: like saying I'm gonna learn how to be a chef

703
00:42:14,520 --> 00:42:17,560
Speaker 1: because I spent a lot of time at restaurants, Like

704
00:42:17,600 --> 00:42:21,760
Speaker 1: they just doesn't really make sense. Uh So with Larry

705
00:42:21,760 --> 00:42:24,880
Speaker 1: Hall and Blackbird, it was all about what does he

706
00:42:25,000 --> 00:42:28,319
Speaker 1: want and what are his defects? With Sean Eckhart and

707
00:42:28,400 --> 00:42:31,399
Speaker 1: itonia same thing. Richard Jewel, It's like these guys are

708
00:42:31,440 --> 00:42:39,480
Speaker 1: broken people who have probably misconstrued the heart of masculinity,

709
00:42:39,520 --> 00:42:44,600
Speaker 1: which is responsibility, and they think that masculinity is something

710
00:42:44,640 --> 00:42:47,960
Speaker 1: where you you're in charge, or you're an authority, or

711
00:42:48,040 --> 00:42:51,600
Speaker 1: your exacting revenge on those who would hurt you, or

712
00:42:51,640 --> 00:42:55,120
Speaker 1: your ideology. And so I think I've gotten to explore

713
00:42:55,160 --> 00:42:58,240
Speaker 1: that and make it honest. And you know, if I'm saying,

714
00:42:58,239 --> 00:43:00,439
Speaker 1: what is the key to those guys, he to Shawan

715
00:43:00,480 --> 00:43:04,200
Speaker 1: Eckhard is the spirit of religion. He has bought into

716
00:43:04,239 --> 00:43:08,000
Speaker 1: this thing so much that if you showed him the

717
00:43:08,000 --> 00:43:11,560
Speaker 1: truth in plain sight, he wouldn't know it. With Richard Jewell,

718
00:43:11,680 --> 00:43:15,120
Speaker 1: it's all about duty. You're in a place of service

719
00:43:15,160 --> 00:43:17,560
Speaker 1: and duty. A lot of that duty was not breaking

720
00:43:17,640 --> 00:43:19,800
Speaker 1: down and crying all the time. You know. My greatest

721
00:43:19,880 --> 00:43:22,400
Speaker 1: joy with Richard Jewel was how do I try to

722
00:43:22,440 --> 00:43:25,160
Speaker 1: hold back the tears until the diner scene and then

723
00:43:25,320 --> 00:43:27,200
Speaker 1: let it all, let the damn break and let the

724
00:43:27,239 --> 00:43:30,719
Speaker 1: flood flow. So yeah, I think religion, duty. And then

725
00:43:30,719 --> 00:43:35,799
Speaker 1: with Blackbird Larry Hall, the key to him is deception.

726
00:43:36,160 --> 00:43:40,279
Speaker 1: I've always said that evil's highest honor is deception. You know,

727
00:43:40,520 --> 00:43:45,440
Speaker 1: It's it's this prank with dire consequences for the victim,

728
00:43:45,480 --> 00:43:48,200
Speaker 1: and my character had been deceived, and then he chose

729
00:43:48,239 --> 00:43:52,560
Speaker 1: to deceive. It's just a very sad, dark thing to

730
00:43:52,760 --> 00:43:54,840
Speaker 1: partake in. And you know, I'm glad there isn't a

731
00:43:54,880 --> 00:43:57,160
Speaker 1: season two of that show because I couldn't do it.

732
00:43:58,520 --> 00:44:01,520
Speaker 1: I couldn't play that guy another Even when people asked

733
00:44:01,520 --> 00:44:03,600
Speaker 1: me to do the voice to make them laugh and

734
00:44:04,280 --> 00:44:05,840
Speaker 1: can you do the high pitched voice, It's like, I

735
00:44:05,880 --> 00:44:07,759
Speaker 1: don't mind doing it for them for a second, but

736
00:44:07,880 --> 00:44:11,759
Speaker 1: it's like, I'm not looking to even joke about that guy.

737
00:44:11,760 --> 00:44:14,400
Speaker 1: I don't love joking about him because it it was

738
00:44:14,440 --> 00:44:18,520
Speaker 1: a real thing that happened. Yeah, I heard that you

739
00:44:18,560 --> 00:44:22,960
Speaker 1: actually lowered the octave of his voice because his was

740
00:44:23,000 --> 00:44:26,440
Speaker 1: even higher. Is that true? Oh my goodness. There was

741
00:44:26,560 --> 00:44:31,000
Speaker 1: nothing to research Brian. Like Richard Jewel and Sean Eckhart,

742
00:44:31,600 --> 00:44:34,160
Speaker 1: I had all his video footage. It was like cheating.

743
00:44:34,760 --> 00:44:37,279
Speaker 1: I literally felt like I was cheating where I could

744
00:44:37,280 --> 00:44:39,840
Speaker 1: just imitate and and try to live in those things

745
00:44:39,840 --> 00:44:42,360
Speaker 1: they were doing. But with Larry Hall, there was nothing

746
00:44:42,400 --> 00:44:47,040
Speaker 1: but a twelve second audio clip and some random news

747
00:44:47,120 --> 00:44:52,319
Speaker 1: documentary about the killings, and in it his voice was

748
00:44:52,480 --> 00:44:56,959
Speaker 1: slower and at times just like psychotically high. I thought

749
00:44:57,040 --> 00:44:59,480
Speaker 1: to myself, I'm like, well, if I do this for

750
00:44:59,600 --> 00:45:03,279
Speaker 1: six episodes, At some point the audience is going to

751
00:45:03,360 --> 00:45:06,440
Speaker 1: have some fatigue. Worst case scenario, it could turn into

752
00:45:06,520 --> 00:45:10,080
Speaker 1: like an SNL mad TV character, right, So I thought,

753
00:45:10,120 --> 00:45:13,640
Speaker 1: I'll lower the register, and then Dennis Lehane helped me

754
00:45:13,719 --> 00:45:16,560
Speaker 1: figure out that we can raise the register and make

755
00:45:16,600 --> 00:45:19,840
Speaker 1: it higher pitch when the character is lying or trying

756
00:45:19,880 --> 00:45:23,400
Speaker 1: to put on this character. I noticed that. That's amazing,

757
00:45:24,000 --> 00:45:26,359
Speaker 1: and you know, I couldn't have done that without Dennis's help.

758
00:45:26,400 --> 00:45:29,399
Speaker 1: We discovered that together, and he helped me play clean

759
00:45:29,520 --> 00:45:32,080
Speaker 1: up and find a way to use the voice to

760
00:45:32,080 --> 00:45:35,239
Speaker 1: to our advantage. And I really hope it's not distracting.

761
00:45:35,480 --> 00:45:38,239
Speaker 1: I apologize to people if it is. But you know,

762
00:45:38,480 --> 00:45:42,680
Speaker 1: mahrshe l Ali in Green Book The Real Guy, he

763
00:45:42,760 --> 00:45:46,240
Speaker 1: played that doctor and the musician. He apparently his voice

764
00:45:46,239 --> 00:45:49,319
Speaker 1: was cartoonishly distractingly high and he had to kind of

765
00:45:49,320 --> 00:45:53,080
Speaker 1: cut cut it down and dilute it. The best thing

766
00:45:53,120 --> 00:45:56,239
Speaker 1: to do for any actors listening is try to find

767
00:45:56,239 --> 00:45:59,279
Speaker 1: a real way to present that voice. And if you

768
00:45:59,360 --> 00:46:04,520
Speaker 1: end up and elating or imitating something cerebral or spiritual

769
00:46:04,560 --> 00:46:07,520
Speaker 1: about the person, it will come off as though you're

770
00:46:07,560 --> 00:46:10,920
Speaker 1: imitating them perfectly, rather than look at me raising my

771
00:46:10,960 --> 00:46:13,640
Speaker 1: eyebrow the way they raised their eyebrow. You know. It's

772
00:46:13,760 --> 00:46:16,400
Speaker 1: it's not always about the exactitude of a visual, it's

773
00:46:16,440 --> 00:46:21,160
Speaker 1: about the exactitude of the intention. If that makes sense. Yes,

774
00:46:21,760 --> 00:46:27,279
Speaker 1: if anyone hasn't seen it, Blackbird streaming now, Paul gives

775
00:46:27,320 --> 00:46:31,640
Speaker 1: just a brilliant performance. I'll call it brilliant. I I

776
00:46:31,719 --> 00:46:35,080
Speaker 1: was really taken with what we talked about before, the

777
00:46:35,120 --> 00:46:42,400
Speaker 1: dichotomy within the character, his level of I guess knowing.

778
00:46:42,640 --> 00:46:44,120
Speaker 1: I don't know. I don't know how to say it,

779
00:46:44,520 --> 00:46:48,839
Speaker 1: his level of of um. Are you trying to get

780
00:46:48,880 --> 00:46:55,280
Speaker 1: at the cognizance the character was like self aware coming unaware. Yes, yes,

781
00:46:55,520 --> 00:46:59,000
Speaker 1: I think that's it. I think that that dichotomy between yes,

782
00:46:59,040 --> 00:47:02,080
Speaker 1: what he was aware of of, how he was perceived,

783
00:47:02,120 --> 00:47:08,880
Speaker 1: how he perceived himself, his deception. I mean, it's really

784
00:47:08,960 --> 00:47:12,120
Speaker 1: hard to play dumb, right, like they they say, that's

785
00:47:12,160 --> 00:47:14,480
Speaker 1: that's one of the most difficult things, is to play

786
00:47:14,560 --> 00:47:17,800
Speaker 1: dumb and not be dumb. You know, to what degree

787
00:47:18,040 --> 00:47:21,920
Speaker 1: as as you're watching the story unfold, how much he

788
00:47:22,120 --> 00:47:26,080
Speaker 1: is aware and his is not the puppet but the

789
00:47:26,080 --> 00:47:28,200
Speaker 1: puppet master. I don't know. I don't know if I'm

790
00:47:28,200 --> 00:47:32,200
Speaker 1: saying it in any articulate way, but no, you're you're

791
00:47:32,239 --> 00:47:35,359
Speaker 1: You're getting at all of it with the contextual clues here,

792
00:47:35,400 --> 00:47:42,720
Speaker 1: which is this idea of balancing um truth with fabrication,

793
00:47:44,040 --> 00:47:47,040
Speaker 1: knowing when to be truthful or fabricated based on who

794
00:47:47,040 --> 00:47:49,520
Speaker 1: you're around or what you're trying to get at, and

795
00:47:49,560 --> 00:47:53,279
Speaker 1: then also playing the character as someone who is kind of,

796
00:47:53,320 --> 00:47:57,840
Speaker 1: you know, in sort of a disease state where sometimes

797
00:47:57,920 --> 00:48:00,239
Speaker 1: you're not aware how sick you are. That is a

798
00:48:00,280 --> 00:48:03,600
Speaker 1: weird thing to play to try to balance that and

799
00:48:03,640 --> 00:48:07,120
Speaker 1: make decisions on what the characters thinking or how they're feeling,

800
00:48:07,160 --> 00:48:09,319
Speaker 1: you know. And I hope I encapsulated that with whatever

801
00:48:09,360 --> 00:48:13,560
Speaker 1: the hell I just said. Maybe I made it more. Yeah,

802
00:48:13,600 --> 00:48:16,719
Speaker 1: I might have been like, so I think I think

803
00:48:16,920 --> 00:48:18,440
Speaker 1: I was like, let me take you out of this

804
00:48:18,520 --> 00:48:21,640
Speaker 1: labyrinth and put you in a spider's web. I apologize, Um,

805
00:48:22,920 --> 00:48:25,640
Speaker 1: I think a lot of it, man is layering thoughts.

806
00:48:25,920 --> 00:48:29,200
Speaker 1: And I'll give you exactly what this is if you

807
00:48:29,239 --> 00:48:31,719
Speaker 1: and I go out to brunch, which I sure as

808
00:48:31,760 --> 00:48:33,880
Speaker 1: I'll hope we do sometimes. But when you and I,

809
00:48:33,920 --> 00:48:36,719
Speaker 1: when you and I go out to brunch, we can

810
00:48:36,800 --> 00:48:40,759
Speaker 1: hold the conversation while I still have these monitors up.

811
00:48:40,840 --> 00:48:43,120
Speaker 1: You know, Jay Moore talked about how he used to

812
00:48:43,120 --> 00:48:45,359
Speaker 1: go on stage and the word monitors. I'm looking at

813
00:48:45,840 --> 00:48:49,799
Speaker 1: her cleavage while clocking the fact that the air conditioning

814
00:48:49,880 --> 00:48:52,080
Speaker 1: is on way too high and I'm freezing cold. While

815
00:48:52,120 --> 00:48:56,879
Speaker 1: on stage someone's laughing with their laughter is distracting. It's

816
00:48:56,920 --> 00:49:00,880
Speaker 1: too loud. Are they mocking me? Like you and I

817
00:49:00,880 --> 00:49:03,440
Speaker 1: can have a conversation a brunch and I'm still thinking

818
00:49:03,480 --> 00:49:07,640
Speaker 1: of seventeen different things, not because I'm not listening to you,

819
00:49:08,239 --> 00:49:11,920
Speaker 1: because I'm a human. So I think with Larry it

820
00:49:12,080 --> 00:49:17,960
Speaker 1: was always about layering your thoughts, layering your intentions, and

821
00:49:18,080 --> 00:49:23,359
Speaker 1: sewing in joy or pain to every moment. Anybody can

822
00:49:23,360 --> 00:49:25,920
Speaker 1: do it. But it's also like it's kind of like

823
00:49:25,960 --> 00:49:29,720
Speaker 1: the drummer who sings with the microphone next to the symbol.

824
00:49:30,320 --> 00:49:33,400
Speaker 1: You know, you can do it. Anybody could if they practice,

825
00:49:33,480 --> 00:49:36,480
Speaker 1: but you are having to play two instruments at once.

826
00:49:37,160 --> 00:49:40,000
Speaker 1: For that type of character, you have to drum and

827
00:49:40,040 --> 00:49:43,319
Speaker 1: do the kick pedal and use your hands while singing. Not,

828
00:49:43,520 --> 00:49:46,120
Speaker 1: thank god, not every characters like that, or I'd probably

829
00:49:46,160 --> 00:49:48,839
Speaker 1: go nuts. But I can do it once a year,

830
00:49:48,960 --> 00:49:50,480
Speaker 1: once every year and a half where you gotta do

831
00:49:50,560 --> 00:49:53,560
Speaker 1: a character like that. I can't believe you just use

832
00:49:53,640 --> 00:49:56,640
Speaker 1: that example. I've said this before, but I'm going to

833
00:49:56,719 --> 00:50:01,520
Speaker 1: tell you, Um, the nerdiest writer room joke on the

834
00:50:01,600 --> 00:50:07,360
Speaker 1: office is what you just said. That they made Kevin

835
00:50:07,400 --> 00:50:12,880
Speaker 1: Malone the lead singer and drummer of a police cover

836
00:50:13,000 --> 00:50:19,279
Speaker 1: band because the singing is not on the beat of

837
00:50:19,360 --> 00:50:22,480
Speaker 1: the drums. So in order to be the lead singer

838
00:50:22,640 --> 00:50:25,520
Speaker 1: and drummer of a police cover band, you would have

839
00:50:25,560 --> 00:50:28,719
Speaker 1: to be a musical savant and a genius. But that's

840
00:50:28,760 --> 00:50:31,799
Speaker 1: why they that was there, like they thought that was hilarious.

841
00:50:32,160 --> 00:50:35,439
Speaker 1: That was their inside joke that nobody, of course ever got,

842
00:50:35,560 --> 00:50:38,879
Speaker 1: but that Kevin Malone was a musical genius. But that's

843
00:50:38,880 --> 00:50:41,480
Speaker 1: what you're talking about, Yes, having to do having to

844
00:50:41,520 --> 00:50:46,520
Speaker 1: do that. Um, what do you think that Larry's greatest

845
00:50:47,160 --> 00:50:52,320
Speaker 1: need was? Well, what a question. I've done so many interviews.

846
00:50:52,440 --> 00:50:55,520
Speaker 1: I don't think anybody's asked me that. Notice I'm usually

847
00:50:55,640 --> 00:50:58,319
Speaker 1: rocket fire and rant you with these answers. This is

848
00:50:58,320 --> 00:51:01,640
Speaker 1: clearly when I haven't been asked. Uh. I think his

849
00:51:01,800 --> 00:51:06,120
Speaker 1: greatest need is something we all need, which is um,

850
00:51:06,840 --> 00:51:10,960
Speaker 1: self love and self forgiveness. If he was really cutting

851
00:51:10,960 --> 00:51:14,680
Speaker 1: off fingers, to take rings off dead bodies and graveyards

852
00:51:15,080 --> 00:51:19,440
Speaker 1: as a child, Pretty sure you carry that into adulthood

853
00:51:19,480 --> 00:51:21,680
Speaker 1: and feel like there's something fundamentally wrong with you and

854
00:51:21,719 --> 00:51:26,480
Speaker 1: that you're bad. You pair that with some social awkwardness

855
00:51:27,080 --> 00:51:29,239
Speaker 1: and maybe even the medical issue of having been a

856
00:51:29,280 --> 00:51:32,160
Speaker 1: twin and having the other twin get more nutrients or

857
00:51:32,200 --> 00:51:36,280
Speaker 1: whatever they think might may have happened. That's a cocktail

858
00:51:36,360 --> 00:51:40,279
Speaker 1: for for disaster, not serial killer disaster. He had to

859
00:51:40,320 --> 00:51:43,760
Speaker 1: make choices to go down that route. But some people

860
00:51:43,760 --> 00:51:48,200
Speaker 1: are putting a disadvantage and he absolutely was. And had

861
00:51:48,239 --> 00:51:53,680
Speaker 1: he found God or found relationships that were purest and

862
00:51:53,840 --> 00:51:58,160
Speaker 1: found some acceptance for self and acceptance communally, had he

863
00:51:58,239 --> 00:52:01,279
Speaker 1: found self love and self forgiveness. Uh, And I in

864
00:52:01,360 --> 00:52:03,120
Speaker 1: no way think you would have been a serial killer.

865
00:52:03,560 --> 00:52:06,279
Speaker 1: I just don't think so. And it's been proven. You know,

866
00:52:06,320 --> 00:52:08,400
Speaker 1: I'm raising a son right now. I have a sixteen

867
00:52:08,400 --> 00:52:10,960
Speaker 1: and a half month old son named Harris. And you

868
00:52:11,040 --> 00:52:13,800
Speaker 1: gotta be careful. You raised boys, man, not just kids,

869
00:52:13,840 --> 00:52:18,160
Speaker 1: I mean boys. It is so easy to just let

870
00:52:18,200 --> 00:52:22,560
Speaker 1: them fall into this world of pornography and video game

871
00:52:23,239 --> 00:52:28,759
Speaker 1: marathons and junk food behavior and and suddenly they think

872
00:52:28,800 --> 00:52:32,440
Speaker 1: being a man is having freedom and being loud or

873
00:52:32,480 --> 00:52:35,759
Speaker 1: having secrets or whatever this is. And and I think

874
00:52:35,840 --> 00:52:40,640
Speaker 1: Larry Hall is just this completely fucked story of a

875
00:52:40,719 --> 00:52:44,319
Speaker 1: young man who never had a chance. And it's sad. Man,

876
00:52:44,440 --> 00:52:47,319
Speaker 1: he was a baby. He was a baby like the

877
00:52:47,320 --> 00:52:50,600
Speaker 1: rest of us. And then X amount of circumstances and

878
00:52:50,719 --> 00:52:53,239
Speaker 1: lack of guidance or two to ledge your love, you

879
00:52:53,320 --> 00:52:56,040
Speaker 1: got a serial killer. So it's a I think you

880
00:52:56,080 --> 00:52:58,919
Speaker 1: needed love and forgiveness, is my guest, which is something

881
00:52:58,960 --> 00:53:04,919
Speaker 1: we all need. Yeah, um, Cobra Kai, Yeah, let's bring

882
00:53:04,920 --> 00:53:07,640
Speaker 1: it up. Let's bring it back up. Cobra kai Is.

883
00:53:07,920 --> 00:53:11,359
Speaker 1: Season five is out and uh Stingray is alive and well,

884
00:53:11,440 --> 00:53:13,840
Speaker 1: I hope people watch him. I read that most people

885
00:53:13,880 --> 00:53:17,719
Speaker 1: stop you about the last couple of weeks. I've run

886
00:53:17,760 --> 00:53:21,680
Speaker 1: into producers like Brian Grazer and Jerry Bruckheimer. None of

887
00:53:21,719 --> 00:53:23,839
Speaker 1: them know who the hell I am. And I don't

888
00:53:23,880 --> 00:53:27,600
Speaker 1: say that like the grudgingly or negatively. I just like, factually,

889
00:53:28,200 --> 00:53:30,440
Speaker 1: there's a massive amount of people in Hollywood and our

890
00:53:30,480 --> 00:53:33,240
Speaker 1: industry who have no idea who I am. But people

891
00:53:33,280 --> 00:53:37,960
Speaker 1: on the street like freak out and yell stingray from

892
00:53:38,080 --> 00:53:42,439
Speaker 1: three blocks away, and like if I if I see.

893
00:53:42,480 --> 00:53:44,120
Speaker 1: I was at Santa Bar with my wife and my

894
00:53:44,160 --> 00:53:48,120
Speaker 1: son and we saw this this kid wearing a Cobra

895
00:53:48,160 --> 00:53:49,880
Speaker 1: Kai shirt, and I just walked up to him and

896
00:53:49,920 --> 00:53:53,000
Speaker 1: surprised him and said, hey, it's sting right, you know,

897
00:53:53,680 --> 00:53:56,560
Speaker 1: not because I'll feel good if I'm recognized. It's just

898
00:53:56,640 --> 00:53:59,080
Speaker 1: this thing of like if I were that kid, and

899
00:53:59,120 --> 00:54:02,400
Speaker 1: I were a Cobra Kai fan, and a cast member

900
00:54:02,440 --> 00:54:05,719
Speaker 1: from the show just showed up on my vacation and

901
00:54:05,800 --> 00:54:08,440
Speaker 1: took a photo of me and high five me like

902
00:54:08,480 --> 00:54:11,000
Speaker 1: I would, it would be like magic or something, you know.

903
00:54:11,920 --> 00:54:15,440
Speaker 1: And there's nothing I like more than giving people those moments.

904
00:54:15,600 --> 00:54:18,319
Speaker 1: And that's that's been the fun of all this is

905
00:54:18,360 --> 00:54:21,239
Speaker 1: I make a living being creative, and it's it's wonderful.

906
00:54:21,239 --> 00:54:25,760
Speaker 1: But it's also I get to give back in effortless ways.

907
00:54:25,800 --> 00:54:28,719
Speaker 1: It cost me nothing to take two minutes to make

908
00:54:28,760 --> 00:54:31,400
Speaker 1: a nine year old feel like a million dollars. You know.

909
00:54:31,880 --> 00:54:35,360
Speaker 1: That's really fun. That's awesome. People ask me, they're like,

910
00:54:35,360 --> 00:54:37,160
Speaker 1: why do you do you you were the star of

911
00:54:37,160 --> 00:54:39,120
Speaker 1: a Clue Eastwood movie. Why would you do Cobra Kai.

912
00:54:39,200 --> 00:54:42,719
Speaker 1: It's like, because it's fun, I need money, and it

913
00:54:42,760 --> 00:54:45,600
Speaker 1: makes people happy like that. Those are three very good

914
00:54:45,600 --> 00:54:48,080
Speaker 1: reasons to do something. You know, I might be in

915
00:54:48,120 --> 00:54:52,160
Speaker 1: Cobra Ki season twelve. I have no idea, but I

916
00:54:52,200 --> 00:54:54,480
Speaker 1: do know what pays. I have fun and it makes

917
00:54:54,480 --> 00:55:00,680
Speaker 1: people happy. That's awesome. Um, your favorite charity, serv l A.

918
00:55:01,040 --> 00:55:03,120
Speaker 1: Tell me a little bit about that and why it's

919
00:55:03,120 --> 00:55:05,960
Speaker 1: so important to you, dude. Thanks for bringing that up.

920
00:55:06,000 --> 00:55:09,000
Speaker 1: Serve l A is a wonderful organization in the heart

921
00:55:09,000 --> 00:55:12,160
Speaker 1: of Hollywood. What they do is they they serve and

922
00:55:12,239 --> 00:55:16,160
Speaker 1: feed the homeless community in Hollywood in particular, so they

923
00:55:16,200 --> 00:55:19,239
Speaker 1: serve two people a day. They do a breakfast in

924
00:55:19,280 --> 00:55:23,000
Speaker 1: a dinner. They give out free showers and free clothing

925
00:55:23,000 --> 00:55:26,799
Speaker 1: to people, and they learned their names and they greet them,

926
00:55:26,800 --> 00:55:30,319
Speaker 1: and they they have waiters and waitresses in a cafeteria

927
00:55:30,360 --> 00:55:33,240
Speaker 1: setting like they're at a restaurant, and they're given real

928
00:55:33,840 --> 00:55:37,600
Speaker 1: silverware like metal forks and spoons and knives and plates,

929
00:55:38,400 --> 00:55:41,840
Speaker 1: so that there's some dignity. They're not just being given

930
00:55:41,880 --> 00:55:44,880
Speaker 1: a cellophane wrap sandwich and sent on their way and

931
00:55:44,960 --> 00:55:48,200
Speaker 1: told they can't use the bathroom because of a COVID law.

932
00:55:48,880 --> 00:55:52,200
Speaker 1: That's what attracted me to them, and you know, I'm

933
00:55:52,239 --> 00:55:54,960
Speaker 1: just trying to raise awareness and hopefully raise some money.

934
00:55:55,000 --> 00:55:58,319
Speaker 1: My birthday is next month. I turned thirty six and

935
00:55:58,360 --> 00:56:01,560
Speaker 1: I'm also celebrating one year sobriety. So for my birthday,

936
00:56:01,560 --> 00:56:05,120
Speaker 1: I'm gonna put on a little fundraiser to raise awareness.

937
00:56:05,160 --> 00:56:07,560
Speaker 1: And normally people are like, can I buy you a

938
00:56:07,640 --> 00:56:09,560
Speaker 1: drink or buy a shot for your birthday? It's like

939
00:56:10,200 --> 00:56:12,480
Speaker 1: I have something else. I'd love people to give their

940
00:56:12,480 --> 00:56:14,799
Speaker 1: time or money or effort too, and I hope they'll

941
00:56:14,880 --> 00:56:16,800
Speaker 1: check it out and go to the website or something.

942
00:56:17,080 --> 00:56:21,239
Speaker 1: UM Serve l A is is doing grassroots loving on

943
00:56:21,320 --> 00:56:23,000
Speaker 1: the homeless community and they do it with a lot

944
00:56:23,000 --> 00:56:28,799
Speaker 1: of dignity. Dude, you're awesome. Yeah, I'm gonna I'm gonna

945
00:56:28,800 --> 00:56:32,239
Speaker 1: buy you a drink next month through UM through Serve

946
00:56:32,400 --> 00:56:36,360
Speaker 1: l A. Thanks man, that's awesome. Yeah, dude, you're awesome.

947
00:56:36,440 --> 00:56:39,759
Speaker 1: I'm such a big, big fan of yours and now

948
00:56:40,080 --> 00:56:43,920
Speaker 1: getting to chat with you, truly you're an even better person.

949
00:56:44,239 --> 00:56:47,560
Speaker 1: So God bless you, and thank you so much for

950
00:56:47,600 --> 00:56:50,799
Speaker 1: coming on and talk to me. I appreciate it so much.

951
00:56:50,920 --> 00:56:53,239
Speaker 1: Thanks for enteritaining me for so many years. Man, God

952
00:56:53,239 --> 00:57:08,640
Speaker 1: bless you. Thank you dude. Thanks Paul, it was so

953
00:57:08,840 --> 00:57:12,319
Speaker 1: great talking to you today. Thank you for swinging by

954
00:57:12,560 --> 00:57:16,480
Speaker 1: and having this conversation with me. I am a huge

955
00:57:16,480 --> 00:57:20,840
Speaker 1: fan and I will be watching anything and everything that

956
00:57:20,960 --> 00:57:24,720
Speaker 1: you come out with. Next to everyone else who came

957
00:57:24,760 --> 00:57:27,440
Speaker 1: along today's journey. Thank you as always, we couldn't do

958
00:57:27,480 --> 00:57:30,640
Speaker 1: it without you. Why would we make sure to follow

959
00:57:30,800 --> 00:57:34,040
Speaker 1: us on at Off the Beat, share some of your

960
00:57:34,080 --> 00:57:37,200
Speaker 1: ideas of who we should have on the pod, and

961
00:57:37,240 --> 00:57:40,320
Speaker 1: I will be back next Tuesday with another episode that

962
00:57:41,280 --> 00:57:43,960
Speaker 1: I think you might like. Yeah, yeah, I think you

963
00:57:44,080 --> 00:57:47,160
Speaker 1: might like it a lot. And that's all I'm gonna say.

964
00:57:47,760 --> 00:57:57,080
Speaker 1: Have a great week. Everybody. Off the Beat is hosted

965
00:57:57,120 --> 00:58:01,560
Speaker 1: an executive produced by me Brian Baumgartner, alongside our executive

966
00:58:01,600 --> 00:58:07,280
Speaker 1: producer Langley. Our producers are Diego Tapia, Liz Hayes, Hannah Harris,

967
00:58:07,360 --> 00:58:11,920
Speaker 1: and Emily Carr. Our talent producer is Ryan Papa Zachary,

968
00:58:12,160 --> 00:58:16,160
Speaker 1: and our intern is Sammy Cats. Our theme song Bubble

969
00:58:16,200 --> 00:58:19,720
Speaker 1: and Squeak, performed by my great friend Creed Bratton