Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: So I woke up this morning to a message from
Speaker 2: Danielle which was Instagram. Did you get this?
Speaker 3: Well, she's not going all of us, So I got sense.
Speaker 2: This Instagram which is a guy doing an impression of
Speaker 2: the ensemble in a musical, which.
Speaker 4: Is just him like clapping and do it like I
Speaker 4: wassing one line and he's and it's basically all theater
Speaker 4: kid energy.
Speaker 2: This is Danielle's least favorite thing. The essence of theater
Speaker 2: kid energy distilled. So I'm laughing. I'm literally in bed.
Speaker 2: This is the first thing I do this morning. I
Speaker 2: pulled this and I'm laughing at that. I put the
Speaker 2: down and my son bursts into the room, wrapped in
Speaker 2: a blanket like a cloak, and just comes at me
Speaker 2: with theater kid energy and what he's immediately riffing on.
Speaker 2: He's so excited to wake me up and riff on.
Speaker 2: We've got our new version of some friend you turned
Speaker 2: out to be Sebastian. Do you remember this some friend?
Speaker 2: What's that in the road? So the next is there's
Speaker 2: a sushi restaurant that we've gone to that's like a
Speaker 2: hand roll place. It's delicious and it's called you know me?
Speaker 2: Why oh n o am I. So maybe it's pronounced
Speaker 2: you know me, you know me, And we are now
Speaker 2: trying to just constantly come up with more riffs on
Speaker 2: different intonations interpretations of these three syllables. Would you would
Speaker 2: you like to take a stad either one of you.
Speaker 5: I already know mine, as you've forgotten. This was started
Speaker 5: by Yolanda Omi. So it's why Omi is what it is.
Speaker 5: That's that's the name.
Speaker 3: What the why is just an initial.
Speaker 2: What we're trying to do is just take the existing
Speaker 2: syllables you know me right, and that's the different variations
Speaker 2: on how to. So you could say, you know my,
Speaker 2: you know my me, you no me me right, So
Speaker 2: you just keep going, uh, you.
Speaker 6: Know me, you know me.
Speaker 3: Yes, that's a good one. Nice. Nice.
Speaker 2: So Andy's most brilliant one is you know.
Speaker 3: That's a good one.
Speaker 2: That's a good one. Anyway, theater kid energy, morning, guys.
Speaker 5: Well this is I don't know if you remember what
Speaker 5: I sent to everybody was I found Danielle's Ultimate Retreat
Speaker 5: and I sent it which was the you can go
Speaker 5: to an adult theater camp. And so it's everybody like
Speaker 5: you saw all these people in their thirties and forties, Dan,
Speaker 5: we're all in this.
Speaker 2: I would yeah so bad, and yet I would care
Speaker 2: so much. You will would think it's hysterical, but commit
Speaker 2: and actually like kill the actually win the camp whatever that.
Speaker 7: Is over stimulated whole time, and I would be like,
Speaker 7: oh my god, a.
Speaker 2: Great little documentary of us going on theater camp.
Speaker 6: It really would. It would be good.
Speaker 3: It would.
Speaker 5: Oh man, what I'm looking forward to is the drama,
Speaker 5: the theater kid camp drama.
Speaker 3: Oh god, I love it. Did you see how Becky
Speaker 3: looked at me. She doesn't deserve that part. Oh my god.
Speaker 3: It would be oh so so del among.
Speaker 2: Forty year olds. Yes, yes, it's way worse, absolutely because
Speaker 2: it's real.
Speaker 3: Rider It's real.
Speaker 6: Oh my god.
Speaker 7: Another thing that would just make me want to kill
Speaker 7: everyone and be like, are you kidding me?
Speaker 1: What?
Speaker 6: You You're over your talking, get your life together, your.
Speaker 7: Forty I would have no patience, But until day two
Speaker 7: when Danielle walks over and just starts talking about.
Speaker 2: Or when she doesn't get the lead part, She'll just
Speaker 2: be like, wait, hold on, hold on. I was on
Speaker 2: Dancing with the Stars.
Speaker 6: Yeah, I don't know this.
Speaker 8: But I came in eight.
Speaker 1: I came in eighth.
Speaker 6: Place on dancing.
Speaker 2: There was dancing component, which there probably would be at
Speaker 2: a theater camp.
Speaker 5: You kill it in that they give the role to
Speaker 5: Bonnie Morgan though unfortunately so but that would be amazing.
Speaker 3: That would be so funny.
Speaker 7: Oh my gosh, Yeah, we're going We're okay, okay, you
Speaker 7: know what. I God, I don't know why I like
Speaker 7: to do things that torture me, but with you guys,
Speaker 7: it somehow ends up being fun.
Speaker 2: If it was like a like a two day experience.
Speaker 2: But if we're talking like multiple weeks, I'm not committing
Speaker 2: to Yeah.
Speaker 6: No, we're not putting on it a go anywhere for
Speaker 6: a couple of weeks.
Speaker 3: No, not going on the road. But here's what we'll do.
Speaker 5: Well, we'll go a few days a weekend to the
Speaker 5: adult theater camp, and then to do something fun. For Danielle,
Speaker 5: we'll do a weekend at the Porsche racing school.
Speaker 6: Great, I like that. That's that would be fun.
Speaker 5: And then for me we'll do a weekend where we
Speaker 5: just smoke weed and watch movies.
Speaker 6: Honestly, I'm down for all of this.
Speaker 3: So there you go.
Speaker 6: Maybe not all in the same month.
Speaker 3: No, No, we'll break it up. We'll break it up.
Speaker 5: And the great part about my plan is I'm just
Speaker 5: going to keep pushing it off until eventually it's canceled.
Speaker 3: So that's the joy. Can't get on my couch this weekend, guys. Sorry,
Speaker 3: Oh my god.
Speaker 2: The three of us being super high would be a
Speaker 2: pretty good episode.
Speaker 6: That would be a pretty funny episode.
Speaker 7: I mean, that's somebody somebody's dream, blunt rotation or nightmare.
Speaker 3: Well, I just keep passing to myself.
Speaker 6: Welcome to pod meets World. I'm Daniel Official, I'm rather strong,
Speaker 6: and I'm Wilfred Dell.
Speaker 7: At the turn of the twenty first century, the end
Speaker 7: of human existence loomed. In the near future. The threat
Speaker 7: of a computer virus called Y two K would allegedly
Speaker 7: not only shut down all of our computers, but in
Speaker 7: turn erase your identity, crash every plane in the air
Speaker 7: at midnight, and turn your vacuum against you. An aura
Speaker 7: of paranoia and fear clouded what was meant to be
Speaker 7: a momentous occasion, But thankfully we did have one moment.
Speaker 7: In nineteen ninety nine, pop culture that America agreed to
Speaker 7: unanimously celebrate for its optimism, artistic merit, and promise for
Speaker 7: the future. That moment was Jason Biggs having sex with
Speaker 7: a Pie. The New Jersey Natives started acting at just
Speaker 7: five years old, a veteran of national commercials by.
Speaker 6: The time he booked his first TV gig at thirteen
Speaker 6: Fox's Drexels Class, a.
Speaker 7: Sitcom that received the common doomed fate of just one season.
Speaker 7: For the next few years, he'd jump around TV shows
Speaker 7: like As the World Turns and Total Security until he
Speaker 7: was given the script that changed everything. In the era
Speaker 7: of eminem shock Jocks and Celebrity Deathmatch, came the cinematic equivalent,
Speaker 7: the teen sex comedy to rule them all, American Pie.
Speaker 7: He'd quickly turned into an international superstar, not only for
Speaker 7: the multi movie franchise that American Pie would become, but
Speaker 7: for movies like Loser, Saving Silverman, and anything else he'd
Speaker 7: long outlive the success of hard R comedies, popping up
Speaker 7: on the Netflix, defining Orange is the New Black, voicing
Speaker 7: Leonardo on the animated teenage mutant Ninja Turtles TV show,
Speaker 7: and living within the Kevin Smith view Askewniverse. But now
Speaker 7: with rumors of a new American Pie movie swirling, he
Speaker 7: moved behind the camera to direct himself in the film
Speaker 7: untitled Home Invasion Romance, taking into his own hands and
Speaker 7: helming the projects he wants to make. And today he
Speaker 7: will sit down with us to talk about what the
Speaker 7: eye of the American pie Storm was like for him
Speaker 7: and what forty years in the business looks like In
Speaker 7: twenty twenty six, Welcome to Pod Meets World the legendary
Speaker 7: Jason biggs Hell.
Speaker 8: Hello, well, hello, hey everybody. How are you guys?
Speaker 7: We are great, Thank you so much for coming on.
Speaker 7: We are excited to talk to you about your new movie.
Speaker 7: But first I want to jump into some late nineties
Speaker 7: early aughts stardom because when in Rome.
Speaker 8: Right, sure, you know one does, yeah, of course.
Speaker 7: Now, growing up in New Jersey, how does a five
Speaker 7: year old start in the entertainment industry? I imagine you
Speaker 7: with like a little cigar looking for representation.
Speaker 6: How far off am I?
Speaker 8: Yeah? In a little suit.
Speaker 1: I my older sister, who's seven years my senior, he
Speaker 1: was in this little dance group in Jersey. We grew
Speaker 1: up about eight miles from Manhattan, so really close yet
Speaker 1: so far away. And and a lot of the girls though,
Speaker 1: they were really talented, and they would kind of travel
Speaker 1: around and they had some measure of success by you know,
Speaker 1: New Jersey dance group standards, I suppose.
Speaker 8: But because of.
Speaker 1: You know, New York being right there, a lot of
Speaker 1: these little precocious girls, their moms started taking them into
Speaker 1: the city to get agents and managers and try to
Speaker 1: you know, do Broadway or whatever it was, commercials, what
Speaker 1: have you, et cetera. And so my sister started doing that.
Speaker 1: She she had, you know, got an agent and manager
Speaker 1: and stuff, and my parents thought, you know, okay, this
Speaker 1: would be a good way to save money for college
Speaker 1: kind of thing, and so she started. And then I
Speaker 1: was five and got a call from the same manager,
Speaker 1: and you know, just started going out. And then at
Speaker 1: one point my younger sister was doing it as well,
Speaker 1: so it was the three of us, but but they
Speaker 1: kind of stopped as they got a little older, and
Speaker 1: and yeah, I just kept doing it.
Speaker 8: And you guys are all kid actors, right, you all are.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: I mean obviously you guys were at at minimum you
Speaker 1: guys even started before the show.
Speaker 8: I know you guys were doing it. Yeah, but actually
Speaker 8: we were, were you guys?
Speaker 5: I was in New York, So I'm guessing there were
Speaker 5: times were you and because you and I think are
Speaker 5: similar in age. So I'm guessing that you and I
Speaker 5: were probably at a whole bunch of the same places
Speaker 5: at the same time.
Speaker 8: I'm gonna throw a couple of names at you. Oh God,
Speaker 8: three of us studios.
Speaker 3: Oh God, of course, three of us.
Speaker 1: And Chelsea twelve floor oldest elevators wouldn't work, slowest elevators.
Speaker 3: They were great.
Speaker 5: Oh that was always the best when you booked something
Speaker 5: in New York and you had to go get a
Speaker 5: wardrobe fitting down at the docks at the time.
Speaker 3: Those were fun.
Speaker 5: And then shooting something at Unitel and Unitel Video at
Speaker 5: units six and nine. Yeah, so that's where I started too,
Speaker 5: was because I was from Connecticut, so it was that
Speaker 5: same yeah, that same Tri State area energy.
Speaker 8: Yep, exactly exactly.
Speaker 1: And you were similar to me too, because I knew
Speaker 1: there was all these city kids right at the city
Speaker 1: kid actors that were like going to professional children's school,
Speaker 1: and they would take the subway with their buddies to
Speaker 1: the audition, and then you and me would come in
Speaker 1: on our parents minivan and we'd get dropped off and
Speaker 1: we'd go upstairs an audition, and then we get back down.
Speaker 8: And we wait on the curb for our mom to
Speaker 8: circle the block. Does this sound familiar?
Speaker 3: Well, I wish, I wish that's what it was. Both
Speaker 3: my parents worked so much.
Speaker 5: I was dropped off at the bus station in Connecticut
Speaker 5: and driven to Poort Authority on a three hour bus
Speaker 5: ride down and three hour bus ride back twice a week. Yeah, damn,
Speaker 5: yeah he was. You might have been in a limo, Jason, God.
Speaker 2: Love must have been.
Speaker 8: Must be nice, must be nice to be an outlier.
Speaker 8: It's a young age.
Speaker 3: Wait eight miles from Manhattan? Were you Hoboken?
Speaker 6: Oh gosh, drop, I can't believe. I mean, we were
Speaker 6: going to get out of dropping.
Speaker 1: I need to know where you were, so so Bergen County.
Speaker 1: So Hoboken is like one mile I mean that is
Speaker 1: right there. So just a little further in, like the
Speaker 1: town is called Hasbrook Heights. Okay, Giant Stadium, Giant Stadium
Speaker 1: in the shadows.
Speaker 2: Does this mean when you did Drexel's class, were you
Speaker 2: that the New York kid who came out for the
Speaker 2: network test because one one one one of flown out
Speaker 2: And you're like, oh, they flew him out from New York.
Speaker 2: He's going to get it. Yeah, guy, weren't you.
Speaker 1: Yep, I was that guy. Actually I was the guy
Speaker 1: and Britney Murphy was that girl.
Speaker 8: Ye I know. Yeah, so it was me and Britney.
Speaker 1: Brittany was from Edison, New Jersey, a couple of miles
Speaker 1: further south, and she and I that was both of
Speaker 1: our like first big l a job and we both
Speaker 1: came out. But yeah, I was the one New York
Speaker 1: guy and she was the one New York you know
Speaker 1: girl in the cast.
Speaker 8: And yeah, I.
Speaker 5: Remember Crexels Class was the show that like everybody our
Speaker 5: age wanted to audition for.
Speaker 6: It was that Matthew Lawrence that show.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and matt and Matthew Lawrence and and A. J.
Speaker 8: Langer who oh my god.
Speaker 5: Aj you know she's royalty now literally royalty. She married
Speaker 5: a prince, she did, she married like a prei or something.
Speaker 3: Yeah, account account.
Speaker 8: Yeah yeah yeah, yeah, that has.
Speaker 3: Like a title and all this kind of stuff.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, crazy, Yes, that's so funny. And actually Drexel's Class.
Speaker 1: So Drexel's Class was in ninety one and it shot
Speaker 1: on what was at the time, as you guys know,
Speaker 1: very well, Mary Tyler Moore CBS Mary Tyler Moore, because
Speaker 1: that's where you guys.
Speaker 3: Shot correct for two years?
Speaker 8: Yeah, only for two years?
Speaker 1: What was when I was doing Direct We did one
Speaker 1: season of that and it was canned. But but I
Speaker 1: remember Rider my parking space, not that I was driving,
Speaker 1: but me and my mom are van, our limo, minivan.
Speaker 8: It was either near you or I remember my park spot.
Speaker 2: You blocked it one day.
Speaker 8: Sure I blocked it.
Speaker 1: I'm sure I blocked it. But I remember walking past,
Speaker 1: and at this point, you guys were big hit and
Speaker 1: I remember like walking past and seeing you know how
Speaker 1: they used to have the the they used to slide
Speaker 1: the name plates in. I hit the black and white
Speaker 1: typing and I saw Ryder Strong and I was like, whoa, and.
Speaker 8: You must be are you maybe a couple of years
Speaker 8: older than me?
Speaker 2: How?
Speaker 8: Oh? No?
Speaker 6: Also, were you saying it was ninety one?
Speaker 8: So it couldn't have been because you guys, were you
Speaker 8: guys on in ninety one? No?
Speaker 3: Ninety three?
Speaker 6: Okay, okay, who was the celebrity I'm dying down there?
Speaker 8: Else it was Rider, so hold on, hold on, hold on.
Speaker 1: So let me think about what else I did on CBS,
Speaker 1: Mary Tyler Moore. It must have been a pilot that
Speaker 1: I did, Okay, so it wasn't Drexel's class, but it
Speaker 1: was in the later nineties.
Speaker 6: I would have been ninety five or ninety six.
Speaker 8: Okay, thank you.
Speaker 1: So I did a pilot and I came out and
Speaker 1: I walked past Riders parking space.
Speaker 8: Did you have a BMW Z four?
Speaker 2: Sure it was an M Roadster. It was an M
Speaker 2: roaster Z the M version of the Z three.
Speaker 8: Uh huh did you get into an accident?
Speaker 3: Perhaps, Oh no, you're talking about my M three.
Speaker 2: No, no, no, my did you show the car?
Speaker 3: It was a Z It was a cars.
Speaker 1: Some I remember walking past Dans parking space with the
Speaker 1: Z three Roadster were in in the parking space and
Speaker 1: seeing I believe on the front of the hood there
Speaker 1: being a big dent, and I remember thinking, God, drive.
Speaker 2: My car to a friend who totaled it, like, oh no, no,
Speaker 2: my buddy Sean wrecked my car.
Speaker 8: That is so it was. It was obvious it was you.
Speaker 8: So it wasn't one. It wasn't when I was in.
Speaker 8: It was another time I was on Mary telling.
Speaker 2: Moore whenever, whenever, I am a pretty driver. Though I'm
Speaker 2: not gonna lie.
Speaker 5: But copn just a cop magnet. It's so weird. They
Speaker 5: never carried drugs while driving with riders strong.
Speaker 3: It's a good, a good rule of thumb.
Speaker 6: Unless I'm with you, then you're fine to mag it gets.
Speaker 3: You out of all tickets.
Speaker 8: You're so funny. Yes, yeah, I remember it. I'm not
Speaker 8: clearly never forgotten son.
Speaker 1: Yeah, And I always.
Speaker 8: Wanted to tell you that story. And I thought I
Speaker 8: remember we went to a wedding together. We had a
Speaker 8: mutual friend Sasha. Yep.
Speaker 1: And maybe I didn't tell you then, but I've always
Speaker 1: been I've been carrying this nugget.
Speaker 3: It's so long, so exciting.
Speaker 7: I feel like I really just witnessed something good, Like
Speaker 7: I can tell you your your soul feels better cleansed
Speaker 7: having gotten that story.
Speaker 1: When Jensen asked me to do the show, I was like, oh,
Speaker 1: will I ever?
Speaker 3: I got a.
Speaker 2: Three story.
Speaker 8: For a while, I've been.
Speaker 1: Wondering when I was going to unleash this on the world.
Speaker 7: So you're twelve when you book Drexel's class. How big
Speaker 7: of a deal is this in the BIG's household?
Speaker 8: It was. It was a pretty big deal.
Speaker 1: I mean it was our first, it was my so
Speaker 1: so before that, you know, I had always.
Speaker 8: All the new York.
Speaker 1: Will you can relate all the New York act kid
Speaker 1: actors were always like, please take me out for pilot season. Mom, dad,
Speaker 1: please take me out. And my parents were like no, Like,
Speaker 1: if you're supposed to be on a show that shoots
Speaker 1: in LA, you'll audition for it here.
Speaker 8: And book it. And I was like, no, we got
Speaker 8: to be out there.
Speaker 1: We got to be out there, please, just you know,
Speaker 1: She's like, I'm not We're not taking a month off
Speaker 1: of work in school for you to go live in
Speaker 1: the oak Wood and we're not happening. Yeah, and and
Speaker 1: so I did book it out of New York. But
Speaker 1: it was like the biggest deal. So it was my
Speaker 1: first time coming to LA. That was my first time
Speaker 1: in LA and it was like the greatest thing. So
Speaker 1: my mom and I came out and and yeah, it.
Speaker 8: Was a it was a it was a big It
Speaker 8: was a big deal and it was super fun and
Speaker 8: it was you know, we we.
Speaker 1: Shot remember those three back the box studios in the
Speaker 1: back by the river.
Speaker 8: It was Seinfeld was in the middle.
Speaker 1: I believe we're on the on the wherever one Seinfeld
Speaker 1: was in Yep, we were next to Seinfeld for that
Speaker 1: one season and I wasn't yet a big Seinfeld fan.
Speaker 8: It was like their third season, early.
Speaker 3: Ear early days, the second or third season in ninety.
Speaker 1: One, and I was twelve. I didn't quite understand it,
Speaker 1: but I went in. Me and Matthew and Joey Lawrence
Speaker 1: went in. We like kind of walked in next door
Speaker 1: one day when they were filming and they kind of
Speaker 1: let us in, and it was it was the coolest things.
Speaker 1: I was like, Wow, this set is so cool. It's
Speaker 1: a giant parking garage. And years later, you know, I
Speaker 1: was like, oh my god, I saw the parking garage
Speaker 1: episode ye being filmed like, which is like one of
Speaker 1: the all time classics on It's actually.
Speaker 5: The one that they credit for becoming The first episode
Speaker 5: that really felt like Seinfeld to the whole cast was
Speaker 5: the part they all back to the parking garage.
Speaker 8: Yeah, Me, Joey and Matthew.
Speaker 3: Such a sneaking out of the Seinfeld set.
Speaker 5: It's such a young Hollywood story from the nineties, just
Speaker 5: the best.
Speaker 3: Oh god.
Speaker 8: Yeah. But anyway, yeah, Daniel, it was it was a
Speaker 8: big It was a.
Speaker 6: Big deal for you.
Speaker 8: Yeah.
Speaker 7: Well, and then unfortunately it's ends up on the receiving
Speaker 7: end of a first season cancelation. Do you remember feeling
Speaker 7: devastated or did you have some sort of understanding that
Speaker 7: this is just the business.
Speaker 8: Both.
Speaker 1: That's a really good question because I I my I
Speaker 1: certainly it was. My guy had books some national commercials
Speaker 1: right that were like, whoa, this is so cool, and
Speaker 1: so I'd seen myself on TV and my friends and
Speaker 1: like it felt like a like a big, big deal
Speaker 1: and they were, of course, you know, but this was
Speaker 1: like WHOA a TV show? This is, you know, on Fox,
Speaker 1: and there's commercials, and it's after the Simpsons and before
Speaker 1: nine oh two and oh, which, by the way, you
Speaker 1: have to really suck if you're put on after this
Speaker 1: between the Simpsons and nine O two one oh and
Speaker 1: you get canceled at the thirteen episodes.
Speaker 2: Have you watched it?
Speaker 8: Oh? Yeah, it's terrible.
Speaker 2: Yeah. It was.
Speaker 5: Was Dabney cool back then to work with because I
Speaker 5: worked with him not longer. Really he wasn't he was
Speaker 5: so nice to me, was he He's so.
Speaker 1: Well, you know what, here's the thing. So so, and
Speaker 1: this ties into Danielle's question a little bit. So. So,
Speaker 1: right before I booked Drexel's Class, I had done a
Speaker 1: play called conversations with my father at the Seattle Repertory
Speaker 1: Theater for a couple of months, and it was with
Speaker 1: Judd Hirsh and Tony Shalub and really cool cast, and
Speaker 1: that was kind of like a big deal job for me,
Speaker 1: and lived in Seattle for a couple of months, and
Speaker 1: they were talking about bringing it back to Broadway soon
Speaker 1: after that, and they wanted me to reprise my role.
Speaker 1: But then Drexel's Class happened, and it was this, you know,
Speaker 1: I wasn't sure if I was going to be available
Speaker 1: or not. And Judd Hirsch was doing his final season
Speaker 1: of Dear John on the Pyramoult Lot at the same
Speaker 1: time I was doing my first and last season of
Speaker 1: Drexel's Class, and his series ended and I left after
Speaker 1: thirteen episodes, and the timing worked out that he was like, Okay,
Speaker 1: I'm going to go do Broadway and I was able
Speaker 1: to go do it as well. So because of Drexel's
Speaker 1: Class being canceled, I was able to I was able
Speaker 1: to make my Broadway debut.
Speaker 8: So it was this bummer. It was a bummer.
Speaker 1: It was a hike, becoming a low but then becoming
Speaker 1: a high again, all in a.
Speaker 8: Matter of the Industry Week exactly right.
Speaker 1: And so to tie into Dabney, you know, Judd is
Speaker 1: like one of the greatest guys.
Speaker 3: Yeah, yea.
Speaker 1: And so I came from doing this show with Judd
Speaker 1: and having a real he was you know, he's very evunculary.
Speaker 1: Was kind of a second dad vibe to me, you know,
Speaker 1: I was twelve, you know, And and Dabney was again
Speaker 1: maybe I'm I just didn't get to know him that well.
Speaker 8: He was more standoffish. He kind of seemed.
Speaker 1: A bit like the role he played, this curmudgeonly kind
Speaker 1: of teacher who didn't want to be there. He just
Speaker 1: kind of was, I don't know, in hindsight, like he
Speaker 1: was the adult in the show, a bunch of snotty
Speaker 1: actor kids, you know what I mean. Like I probably
Speaker 1: would have been a curmudgeon as well, but.
Speaker 3: I don't know.
Speaker 8: I just got for me.
Speaker 1: I was just like, oh, he's no Judd hersh right,
Speaker 1: So I don't I don't want to speak.
Speaker 8: No.
Speaker 5: It wasn't warm and fuzzy, but it would be the
Speaker 5: equivalent on our set.
Speaker 3: Of Bill Daniels. It's what it was.
Speaker 5: Working with Dabney was like working with Bill, where if
Speaker 5: you took the time to go and like talk to him.
Speaker 5: Dabney was like a Virginia Military Institute guy and grew
Speaker 5: up very straight laced, but when you talk to him,
Speaker 5: especially about the industry, he would love to do that,
Speaker 5: like you know, remember when you would actually talk to
Speaker 5: Bill about stories and kind of open.
Speaker 2: If we only did thirteen episodes with Bill probably probably
Speaker 2: wouldn't have gotten that yet we had seven years and
Speaker 2: Crumpy Yeah, yeah, he was just ur grumpy guy. He
Speaker 2: was just soft underbelly enough at that point that we
Speaker 2: were like it's fine, you know, but it was.
Speaker 5: It was probably fifteen years later after I'd worked with
Speaker 5: Dabney that I was walking on Warner Brothers and I
Speaker 5: walked by a trailer and the door was open, and
Speaker 5: I saw him, and I was like I should I
Speaker 5: should say hi, Like he'll never remember me. We did
Speaker 5: a film together, but and I knocked in the trailers
Speaker 5: like mister Coleman, I don't any turn around, and went, well,
Speaker 5: no one, and I walked in it and I sat
Speaker 5: in his trailer for like an hour and we talked again.
Speaker 5: So it was like maybe it was that moment that
Speaker 5: cemented it for me more than actually working with him,
Speaker 5: but it was that's the best person to equate it
Speaker 5: to your right, if we had thirteen episodes with Bill Daniels,
Speaker 5: we probably walked walked away and been.
Speaker 3: Like he was just an old kind of app a
Speaker 3: little bit.
Speaker 5: Yeah, and so maybe if yeah, I had Drexel's class
Speaker 5: gone seven years, it might have been it.
Speaker 3: Yeah, you might have had you know what.
Speaker 1: I love I thank you for telling me that story,
Speaker 1: because it's like I've really spent you know, however, many
Speaker 1: years since ninety one.
Speaker 8: For the most part, if people ask.
Speaker 1: Going, yeah, he's not that great again, I just you know,
Speaker 1: got a you know, a little.
Speaker 8: Glimpse of him. So I certainly like hearing that.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's an interesting dude.
Speaker 7: So you make your Broadway debut as a I mean
Speaker 7: a teenager. You're thirteen years old right at this point.
Speaker 6: Yeah, what is it like now.
Speaker 7: Doing eight shows a week with the heavy hitters that
Speaker 7: you mentioned. Were you intimidated at all or did you
Speaker 7: have a lot of confidence?
Speaker 8: I think I was too young a naive to be
Speaker 8: like as intimidating, you know. I remember.
Speaker 1: I remember the opening night being kind of nervous, but
Speaker 1: not I don't know, maybe because I had also done
Speaker 1: it in Seattle prior, but ten years later I did
Speaker 1: the graduate on Broadway which rider.
Speaker 2: Yes, yep, I did the tour for Yeah.
Speaker 1: You did the tour, which we should talk about that.
Speaker 1: But I remember doing that ten years after conversations with
Speaker 1: my father and being so incredibly nervous and I don't know.
Speaker 1: I mean, look, you're stepping into it. It's obviously it's
Speaker 1: the Benjamin Bardic role. It's a different thing. I've now
Speaker 1: achieved some sort of fame. There's people actually there to
Speaker 1: see me.
Speaker 8: There's a different kind.
Speaker 1: Of pressure, and there's all this, but like, there is
Speaker 1: something to be said for when you're that, when you're young,
Speaker 1: just having no sense of You're like, oh whatever, I
Speaker 1: just really I just want to, you know, you know,
Speaker 1: do this thing and then you know, go home and
Speaker 1: you know, I recorded my favorite Saturday morning show that
Speaker 1: I want to watch.
Speaker 8: And just like your thing, You're just the things you
Speaker 8: think about are.
Speaker 3: Too You're too naive to be nervous. Isn't it the best? Yeah,
Speaker 3: you want to just go back to the time anxiety.
Speaker 2: Doesn't really exist. Yeah, if you're lucky. I mean, obviously
Speaker 2: not for every kid, but I feel like anxiety didn't
Speaker 2: enter my life until I was in my twenties. Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 2: It was like the idea of like sitting and stewing
Speaker 2: or worrying about somebody's like will you either do it
Speaker 2: or you don't, Like, yeah.
Speaker 8: You know, that's that's exactly right.
Speaker 1: But yeah, but it was definitely, I mean, I will
Speaker 1: say it was. It was a crazy schedule because I
Speaker 1: was still going to school and so so it was,
Speaker 1: you know, you do the eight shows from the you know,
Speaker 1: I'd wake up in the morning, I'd go to school
Speaker 1: right and then after school, come home, do homework, get
Speaker 1: in my mom's Limo mini van, drive through Lincoln Tunnel traffic,
Speaker 1: get to the city, do the play. It was a
Speaker 1: three hour player. I wasn't in the second act. I
Speaker 1: wasn't in the second act, but I had to stay
Speaker 1: for curtain call. So me and David Cromwell, who Dave
Speaker 1: wasn't in the Act one and I wasn't in Act two,
Speaker 1: so we would basically he would do his homework in
Speaker 1: Act one and I would do my homework in Act two,
Speaker 1: and then we'd do curtain call.
Speaker 8: Leaving the theater district at eleven.
Speaker 1: PM, getting home at like eleven thirty midnight, going to sleep,
Speaker 1: getting up and going to school Wednesdays. Wednesdays leave school
Speaker 1: early a little bit early to do the two show day.
Speaker 8: And then the weekends would come from school.
Speaker 1: But you know, would have four shows in the and
Speaker 1: then the weekend from the theater was Monday, and all
Speaker 1: the adults were like, oh, I'm so excited to have
Speaker 1: off tomorrow.
Speaker 6: And school full day.
Speaker 8: Yeah.
Speaker 1: And then the summer, you know, it was through the
Speaker 1: summer too, So even when all my friends were like.
Speaker 3: Off, how long did you do? How long did you
Speaker 3: make me?
Speaker 8: Oh?
Speaker 3: My god?
Speaker 1: It was it was basically it was basically all of
Speaker 1: eighth grade. So it was like the basically at the
Speaker 1: beginning of eighth grade, I was doing uh Drexel's class
Speaker 1: at that fall, and then I came back to Jersey
Speaker 1: and I did all of I did the play for
Speaker 1: almost basically a year, from like December to November the
Speaker 1: following year into freshman year.
Speaker 8: Into my freshman year, it was.
Speaker 1: It was crazy, but again, like there was no I
Speaker 1: was also just the I didn't have to, There was
Speaker 1: no other responsibility.
Speaker 5: Was there ever any talk of maybe pulling you out
Speaker 5: of school and getting like a three hour set school
Speaker 5: like a tutor or something or.
Speaker 3: Was that never even a question? You were just going
Speaker 3: to stay in school?
Speaker 8: It was never even a question.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think you know, in Seattle, we I had
Speaker 1: I had a tutor, but it was I mean the
Speaker 1: Washington State child whacked or laws or I don't know
Speaker 1: if they even existed. I think I literally had like
Speaker 1: a tutor for like two hours a week. I mean
Speaker 1: it was basically like nothing. And so yeah, we just said,
Speaker 1: you know what, I'm just going to stay in school
Speaker 1: as much as possible.
Speaker 8: And my teachers were really uh supportive.
Speaker 1: You know this town is it was you know, right
Speaker 1: there outside the city, very busy populated area. But the
Speaker 1: town itself that I was, that I grew up in
Speaker 1: was really small and had one high school in school,
Speaker 1: so it was like all my teachers were very excited.
Speaker 1: I was the only one who was doing this sort
Speaker 1: of thing, so they were happy to like fat me
Speaker 1: my assignments and give me extra time if I needed it.
Speaker 1: And I was a pretty smart kid, so it was
Speaker 1: like it wasn't you know, I didn't really fall behind.
Speaker 8: Also, it wasn't the hardest school.
Speaker 1: I mean it was I just managed you know, but
Speaker 1: but it.
Speaker 8: Was definitely a workload. I mean, I remember her.
Speaker 1: I mean when I tell this story now, I'm like,
Speaker 1: oh my god, I can't imagine doing something like that
Speaker 1: as an adult, Like there's no world.
Speaker 7: And that's what I wanted to ask you, Like, we're
Speaker 7: thinking about the schedule for you, and of course for
Speaker 7: you it's grueling.
Speaker 6: You're in school all day. But was it your mom
Speaker 6: was a nurse, right?
Speaker 8: How is she? How is she.
Speaker 7: Working and managing your eight shows a week and driving
Speaker 7: you in the limo van?
Speaker 8: Yeah?
Speaker 1: Well, first of all, when you own a limo van,
Speaker 1: it's very easy to drive.
Speaker 8: I mean, you want to drive.
Speaker 6: Over driving Tesla's now.
Speaker 1: Practically practically it's it's you know, it's not that hard
Speaker 1: to get her behind the wheels.
Speaker 8: Okay, okay, not a euphemism.
Speaker 1: So so, but she, you know, when I was I
Speaker 1: forget how old I was. It was before I did
Speaker 1: that play. So at some point when I was little,
Speaker 1: she decided to start working nights so that she could
Speaker 1: take me on auditions. Man if I had an audition,
Speaker 1: you know, so that she could be available, you know
Speaker 1: at three pm when I got out of school, if
Speaker 1: I had to go into the city for for audio.
Speaker 3: So I never put that together.
Speaker 5: You were the guy in the waiting room whose mom
Speaker 5: was sitting there in bloody scrubs.
Speaker 3: Now I get it, now, I know who it was.
Speaker 8: That's right, that's right.
Speaker 1: You thought she was auditioning, but no, that was actually yeah,
Speaker 1: no it listen, you know the fun I mean she
Speaker 1: didn't even this woman, she didn't even like get out
Speaker 1: of the car. I mean, I was, you know, seven
Speaker 1: years old. She dropped me off. And this is obviously
Speaker 1: before cell phones and stuff.
Speaker 2: So like I.
Speaker 1: Would come down be the elevator and go out to
Speaker 1: the curb and just kind of like look.
Speaker 8: And sort of wait because she would be circling the block.
Speaker 3: They don't understand it.
Speaker 5: I've tried to explain New York in the eighties and
Speaker 5: the nineties, like early nineties, auditioning and getting dropped off
Speaker 5: and walking the city, and these are California kids, Jason,
Speaker 5: They're just they don't get it.
Speaker 1: Yeah, And it was, by the way, California, I mean, sorry,
Speaker 1: New York in the eighties was also I mean.
Speaker 5: It was New York in the eighties, Yeah it was.
Speaker 5: It wasn't the Disney store in Times Square. It was
Speaker 5: there wasn't some hooker named Disney who.
Speaker 4: Didn't care that.
Speaker 8: You never heard it.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I wanted to take it to her store exactly.
Speaker 3: It was a different time.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, but but no, I mean, look, I my
Speaker 1: mom is uh look and my dad, I mean there
Speaker 1: she especially during when I was doing the play, they
Speaker 1: would kind of alternate taking me into the city and stuff.
Speaker 1: So it was, yeah, I'm forever indebted to them.
Speaker 7: It was a family sacrifice for Yeah, well, was your
Speaker 7: sister still dancing and doing other things at this time
Speaker 7: or was it mainly the focus on you at this point?
Speaker 8: So she was like seven years older.
Speaker 1: So so when I'm doing conversations with my father, I
Speaker 1: am in seventh grade, She's like, yeah, she's I think had.
Speaker 8: Gone to college. She had stopped. Yeah, yeah, she had.
Speaker 8: She had sort of stopped.
Speaker 1: I think she kind of stopped when she was like
Speaker 1: maybe fourteen or something like that. And I think it
Speaker 1: was a combination of her sort of wanting to and
Speaker 1: same for my younger sister, of them sort of wanting
Speaker 1: to stop, but also just they weren't working as much.
Speaker 1: And you know, I mean I wanted to stop at
Speaker 1: some points, and I remember there were like two distinct
Speaker 1: times when I thought, Okay, this is you know, I
Speaker 1: think I should stop this. I'm like, I can't hang
Speaker 1: out with friends because I'm going on some voiceover audition.
Speaker 8: That I'm not even booking, Like what am I doing?
Speaker 8: This is so lame? And then I would book the
Speaker 8: next thing, you know, and I mean, I'm back a golf.
Speaker 3: It's like playing golf.
Speaker 5: This is the thing in the world that you hit
Speaker 5: one shot, You're like, I'm coming back tomorrow.
Speaker 8: Yeah, I'm going pro yo.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 8: So anyway, it's yeah, it's a drug. I mean, it's
Speaker 8: a drug.
Speaker 2: But so when did you so this pulled you back
Speaker 2: to New York? When did you come back to LA
Speaker 2: and actually like move move to LA.
Speaker 1: Yeah, so that was in ninety seven then, so so
Speaker 1: that was yeah, so back to New York.
Speaker 8: This is ninety one ninety two, and then.
Speaker 1: Finished the play and then kind of had my rest
Speaker 1: of my freshman year, sophomore year in high school auditioning.
Speaker 1: This was one of the times when I was like,
Speaker 1: you know, I was still I was like, now I'm fourteen,
Speaker 1: fifteen years old, I'm still too young. I can't go
Speaker 1: into city on my own. So I'm still getting driven
Speaker 1: by my mom.
Speaker 8: But I'm like.
Speaker 1: Getting older and it feels a little and all of
Speaker 1: my friends, now, well, I really don't have friends because
Speaker 1: they've all this is the cue, the violent this is
Speaker 1: you know, all of my all the friends have kind
Speaker 1: of formed their groups early high school because you know,
Speaker 1: there were kind of middle school to two smaller elementary
Speaker 1: schools come together. In middle school, all the friends started
Speaker 1: forming I'm the kid on Broadway.
Speaker 3: You're describing by town. This is exactly how I grew up.
Speaker 3: It's the same thing, and this is like's so weird.
Speaker 1: I'm so happy to hear that, like this is yeah,
Speaker 1: because it's, uh, it's such a weird, unique childhood, Like
Speaker 1: it's the weirdest thing.
Speaker 8: And so yeah. So I was like spent freshman year,
Speaker 8: sophomore year just kind of going what am I doing?
Speaker 8: Like I'm getting driven into the city by my mom,
Speaker 8: and I'm.
Speaker 1: Not booking anything, and I have no friend and I
Speaker 1: can't play sports because.
Speaker 8: God forbid, I have an audition.
Speaker 1: So I'm like not doing anything and I had I
Speaker 1: got an audition for a soap opera, As the World
Speaker 1: Turns that filmed in New York, and I'm driving into
Speaker 1: the city, and I remember telling my mom in the
Speaker 1: Toyota Previa minivan driving in it was like a gray
Speaker 1: rainy I'll never forget this. It was like a gray
Speaker 1: rainy day. And oh and I also used to get
Speaker 1: like carsick to boot on the top of all of this.
Speaker 8: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Yeah, So I like had like a like a headache
Speaker 1: and I was like, oh God, I'm gonna throw up.
Speaker 1: And I'm like, I'm like, Mom, I like this. I
Speaker 1: don't think I can do I got it, you know what,
Speaker 1: Like I love it. I'll revisit, you know, after high school.
Speaker 1: You know. But I think I'm gonna tell let's tell
Speaker 1: the agent. Let's just like I just let's chill on
Speaker 1: this for a little bit. This is it's kind of embarrassing.
Speaker 1: I haven't worked in a year and a half. I
Speaker 1: like have no friends. I just like, screw this, I'm
Speaker 1: gonna throw up all over.
Speaker 8: Your limo again.
Speaker 1: And uh, She, to her credit, you know, was like
Speaker 1: because I think I was a little I was nervous
Speaker 1: to tell her, not that I thought she was going to.
Speaker 8: Not allow me.
Speaker 1: It was never that because I never felt she was
Speaker 1: never like that kind of stage mom. But But I
Speaker 1: don't know, I'm just nervous to say it, maybe because
Speaker 1: I was afraid of it becoming I don't know, I
Speaker 1: just was afraid to say. And her reaction was was
Speaker 1: she was like, okay, like fine, whatever you want. I
Speaker 1: mean now, in hindsight, I'm sure she was thinking, like
Speaker 1: I'm driving you every day she use my language, sorry,
Speaker 1: like this is crazy, like.
Speaker 8: And you're not even.
Speaker 9: Bookings a year and a half since you were on
Speaker 9: real that all this time and money on you.
Speaker 8: So anyway, so she was like okay.
Speaker 1: And and of course that audition was for this you know,
Speaker 1: soap opera, and I booked it. I ended up doing
Speaker 1: it and did it for a year and and uh
Speaker 1: and and was like, okay, the drug.
Speaker 3: Thatszy schedule either, it's a crazy schedule, dude. Don't you
Speaker 3: do like eleven episodes in a day?
Speaker 8: Yeah, pretty much.
Speaker 1: So it was literally a full hour episode today. They
Speaker 1: split it into an AM session and a PM session.
Speaker 1: They would usually give me the PM session so I
Speaker 1: could go in at like one. I'd still like leave
Speaker 1: school early, but again I was still only fifteen, so
Speaker 1: i'd have.
Speaker 8: To like get my mom to do But whatever, I
Speaker 8: was like, I was back. I actually started.
Speaker 1: I think it's at what at some point during that year,
Speaker 1: I think I started. She must have they must have
Speaker 1: like signed over some sort of guardian ship I believe
Speaker 1: to like one of the producers or something so that
Speaker 1: I could I took a started taking the bus. So
Speaker 1: this was also when I felt like I was starting
Speaker 1: to become a little independent as well, which was good,
Speaker 1: and so I did that for a year then was fired,
Speaker 1: but was the was the only actor I remember I
Speaker 1: was fired. So Danielle, you were asking like, was that
Speaker 1: crazy to like have that thing where like suddenly you
Speaker 1: had this high and it was low and uh. I
Speaker 1: remember getting called into the executive producer's office of As
Speaker 1: the World Turns and him firing me, and I'll and
Speaker 1: being like whoa and thinking am I bad?
Speaker 5: Do?
Speaker 1: I say, like, and he was saying, you know, no,
Speaker 1: it's storyline, it's this, We're going in a different direction, all.
Speaker 8: The things, you know. But I remember leaving there like whoa.
Speaker 1: Because now I'm also old enough truly to sort of process.
Speaker 1: And also my book detector is pretty good, and you know,
Speaker 1: you go, oh, maybe it is partly me, I don't
Speaker 1: you know, maybe there is something like it's funny there
Speaker 1: they brought they work because also earlier that season or
Speaker 1: that year, they had brought in a potential girlfriend character
Speaker 1: for me, or they they screen tested. This is actually
Speaker 1: a funny little aside. So they brought in four actresses
Speaker 1: for me to screen test to be my love and
Speaker 1: potential love interest.
Speaker 8: Can I tell you a little secret. I think I've.
Speaker 1: Mentioned this before, but I'll say it here. I had
Speaker 1: to kiss these girls in the screen test on camera.
Speaker 1: It was my first kids. Okay, so good pressure. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I think I can say this because she has Okay,
Speaker 1: you know what, I won't say her name.
Speaker 8: How about this.
Speaker 1: I won't say her name justin case, but I will
Speaker 1: say Okay, So I had I kissed these four actresses
Speaker 1: and they were it was my first kid. I never
Speaker 1: was so nervous, okay. And they ended up like never
Speaker 1: I think they hired one of them, but they never
Speaker 1: put us.
Speaker 8: Together like they kind of.
Speaker 1: It ended up not being a love interest for me.
Speaker 1: So I'm like, oh God, I m I must I
Speaker 1: must be a kisser or I must suck.
Speaker 2: You chemistry.
Speaker 1: Street, It's me, It's me. And then uh so they whatever.
Speaker 1: I was fired And then like a month after that,
Speaker 1: the Emmy nominations come out, and I was the only
Speaker 1: actor nominated from the shower, the.
Speaker 5: Only actor Best Kid, Best Kiss on a Soap Opera.
Speaker 10: Well, I would later go on through the Best Kiss,
Speaker 10: Best Kiss at the MTV Awards for My kiss with
Speaker 10: Shawn Williams Scott an American Pam.
Speaker 8: You know what, you know what.
Speaker 5: Were you just were you just not back on the
Speaker 5: show or did they give you? Were you like killed
Speaker 5: in a tragic blimp accident or you fail? Like did
Speaker 5: they get you the character killed off?
Speaker 1: Or not killed off? But something just as ridiculous. My
Speaker 1: the my mom in the show, and I found a
Speaker 1: suitcase of like five hundred thousand dollars of ransom money
Speaker 1: that we decided to keep ourselves and started spending on things.
Speaker 1: There's a whole episode where I am Ice skating because
Speaker 1: I decide to buy ice skates with the stolen ransom
Speaker 1: money and it's like.
Speaker 5: Every kid, kid, give me Ice skates.
Speaker 8: So I remember, so I got nominated and whatever. It's
Speaker 8: a daytime, and you know what I remember from my hugo.
Speaker 1: I know, I know, but for my ego, it was
Speaker 1: like such a like okay, you know what, like because
Speaker 1: your head, you go to the darkest places. I'm obviously terrible,
Speaker 1: Like that's I'm a horrible kiss her, I'm a horrible
Speaker 1: actor and all this suff But back to the actresses.
Speaker 1: So the four actresses, I end up one of them.
Speaker 1: Years later, I'm in New York and I'm down at
Speaker 1: fourteenth Street Ace station and I'm walking and I walked
Speaker 1: past this woman and we kind of make eye contact
Speaker 1: and we keep walking and then we turn around at
Speaker 1: the exact same time and we looked back and we're like,
Speaker 1: and she was one of the actresses that I had kissed.
Speaker 8: And she's like, Jason, you know, can I tell you
Speaker 8: something like what? She goes, She goes, you were my
Speaker 8: first kids.
Speaker 1: And I go and I said to her, and I go,
Speaker 1: you were my second, third, or fourth?
Speaker 8: You were either my first, second, third, or fourth?
Speaker 1: Yes, because I didn't remember who you went first. You
Speaker 1: were either you were my first year or second, third?
Speaker 8: Fourth? Yeah. Yeah, isn't that funny. You would know her,
Speaker 8: You would know this actor.
Speaker 1: She's the sweetest, best that.
Speaker 8: Anyway.
Speaker 7: So then nineteen ninety nine comes around and everything changes
Speaker 7: for you. Obviously the script has become a phenomenon. But
Speaker 7: when you first read American Pie. Were you like, holy,
Speaker 7: this is wild. What was your impression?
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, yeah, so yeah, I mean so I had
Speaker 1: gone out to LA then, actually in ninety seven, I
Speaker 1: had gone out. That's where I was trying to get
Speaker 1: to before. And I just love the sound of my
Speaker 1: own voice so much.
Speaker 8: Thanks. I am an Emmy nominated actor.
Speaker 6: Exactly.
Speaker 8: It's aime whatever day time is. Still only went from
Speaker 8: the show, no big deal. And I did not win.
Speaker 8: By the way, if you case you're wondering, and we.
Speaker 7: Knew you would have told us if you did, it
Speaker 7: would have been.
Speaker 8: So.
Speaker 1: So in ninety seven, I get it. I get a
Speaker 1: TV show also brings me out to LA. This time
Speaker 1: I'm like, I dropped out of two colleges and this
Speaker 1: time I'm like, I'm staying in LA the show. That
Speaker 1: show was canceled as well after thirteen episodes. You're sensing a.
Speaker 8: Pattern, and but I was like, I'm staying out in LA.
Speaker 1: And then a few months after that, I got an
Speaker 1: American Pie. But at that point, it was ninety seven
Speaker 1: ninety eight, and it was the you guys were all
Speaker 1: out there. It was like the greatest time to be
Speaker 1: a teen age.
Speaker 8: After in La, every movie, every I mean, it was
Speaker 8: just like insane. I was going out so much, it was.
Speaker 1: And so I'm reading all these scripts and uh going
Speaker 1: and auditioning for them and would have been psyched to
Speaker 1: have gotten any one of them, and got closed on
Speaker 1: quite a few. And then American Pie, which wasn't called
Speaker 1: American Pie at the time, that script comes to me
Speaker 1: and I read that and immediately, did you did any
Speaker 1: of you guys read it?
Speaker 8: Like read it?
Speaker 3: I don't think so, No, it.
Speaker 8: It.
Speaker 1: I mean it was like in a class of its own,
Speaker 1: you know. You just you read this thing and you go, oh, oh,
Speaker 1: oh that's.
Speaker 8: What this could be.
Speaker 1: This is what it is when you like when you
Speaker 1: a really go for it, but also like have characters
Speaker 1: that are kind of grounded and have poor you know, like,
Speaker 1: oh this is what this is what this should be,
Speaker 1: you know. And I just remember reading it like laughing
Speaker 1: my off in my little room in West la sleeping
Speaker 1: on my futon, just like laughing out loud, just like,
Speaker 1: oh wow, this is this would be really great if
Speaker 1: I could get this one. And I read the role
Speaker 1: in thinking like oh, I'm cold, this is totally my thing,
Speaker 1: you know. And yeah, and so then just went through
Speaker 1: the you know, went through the audition process, and they
Speaker 1: wanted Jonathan Taylor Thomas.
Speaker 8: Uh. Apparently at first that was the name. I can tearing, and.
Speaker 1: The directors were pushing for you know, sort of no
Speaker 1: name or sort of lesser named actors and uh, which
Speaker 1: was great and ultimately got their way.
Speaker 8: And I think because it.
Speaker 1: Was a smaller movie by studio standards, they had a
Speaker 1: little bit more you know, leeway and uh. And yeah,
Speaker 1: you know, after a couple of months, got the offer
Speaker 1: to to do it.
Speaker 5: It was such an ensemble were they were they kind
Speaker 5: of putting together different groups of actors to kind of
Speaker 5: do anything together or was it really one at a time?
Speaker 8: One at a time?
Speaker 6: Wow?
Speaker 5: And they got that chemistry that isn't amazing, But yeah, no.
Speaker 8: There were no chemistry. Reads. I did not read.
Speaker 1: I did not read with Alison, I did not read
Speaker 1: with Eugene.
Speaker 8: I did not I mean nobody.
Speaker 1: It was they piecemealed this thing and and like knocked
Speaker 1: it out of the park obviously. I mean I am
Speaker 1: Eddie K. Thomas, who played Finch, who was also a
Speaker 1: New York Kid actor, so I had known him forever.
Speaker 1: He was one of those PCs kids that took the
Speaker 1: subway and had his little friend the cool kids. And
Speaker 1: I would see him on all these auditions and we
Speaker 1: kind of like nod with recognition and I'd see his
Speaker 1: name on the sign, and but we never spoke more
Speaker 1: than two words to each other. And he actually at
Speaker 1: one point was an extra in a scene on As
Speaker 1: the World Turns where I like get where I get
Speaker 1: where I get beat up in in school, like I
Speaker 1: get like thrown against the locker, and he's like the
Speaker 1: bully's sidekick.
Speaker 8: And we still didn't talk to each other. He was
Speaker 8: just like looking at me like this as an extra,
Speaker 8: and we still weren't here.
Speaker 1: And then I get passed in American Pie and I
Speaker 1: go back to New York. There's like a month, you know,
Speaker 1: between me being cast and the start of filming. So
Speaker 1: I go home to New York to hang with my
Speaker 1: friends and stuff. And I'm in my agent's office in
Speaker 1: New York and I go up to her desk and
Speaker 1: she has a headshot of Eddie on her desk and
Speaker 1: I go, oh, my god, you do you you know
Speaker 1: what's up Eddie? She goes, yeah, I wrap him, and
Speaker 1: I go, I had no idea we even had this
Speaker 1: this crazy we have the same agent. And then she goes, yeah,
Speaker 1: and as a matter of fact, he just got cast
Speaker 1: in the movie.
Speaker 8: He's going to play Finch. And I'm like, get out
Speaker 8: of here. That's incredible.
Speaker 1: I've known this kid since we were this big without
Speaker 1: really knowing that.
Speaker 8: Yah.
Speaker 1: And so back in LA I go to the table
Speaker 1: read and I remember walking in and seeing Eddie and
Speaker 1: we just like had this like.
Speaker 8: You you fifteen.
Speaker 1: Years I've seen you and like immediate best friends, immediate chemistry.
Speaker 1: And he's my brother. I mean he's he's like, to
Speaker 1: this day, my best friend. And so so that chemistry
Speaker 1: was easy. And like after Eugene was cast, we we
Speaker 1: kind of had a rehearsal day where we went in
Speaker 1: and kind of like improvised all these scenes, and the
Speaker 1: chemistry there was immediate. But it was really just like
Speaker 1: a credit to the casting director and the directors, like.
Speaker 5: Yeah, right, I mean now when I was just I'm
Speaker 5: curious when when you're shooting. Because one of the things
Speaker 5: I remember distinctly about this movie was that it was
Speaker 5: one of the first times I saw that they had
Speaker 5: done it was like an under an unrated version. Yeah,
Speaker 5: and I'd never really seen that before. So did you
Speaker 5: know you were going to do that as you were shooting?
Speaker 5: Would you shoot one way? Because I know there are
Speaker 5: multiple scenes that you that were shot different ways for
Speaker 5: it was an R rating or no rating, and so
Speaker 5: did you know that going in where it's like, all right,
Speaker 5: we're shooting it this way, and then we're going to
Speaker 5: shoot it this way, and the we're gonna shoot this
Speaker 5: way and then we're gonna shoot this way. Or are
Speaker 5: you kind of just making it up as you go
Speaker 5: along with like let's try you on the desk now
Speaker 5: with the Pie or was that already planned?
Speaker 8: Great question?
Speaker 1: So, no, we had no idea there was going to
Speaker 1: be an unrated version. And this was right before DVD.
Speaker 1: Like the first American Pie I have on VHS, and
Speaker 1: then like by American Pie two, there were no VHS.
Speaker 1: So it was literally in that period where the unrated version.
Speaker 1: I feel like the unrated is kind of a DVD thing, right,
Speaker 1: like all the extras and the unrated and all that
Speaker 1: it seemed to me to coincide with.
Speaker 8: So the first American Pie, we just shot it.
Speaker 1: And what ended up we decided to do it two
Speaker 1: different ways, not because we thought a one way is
Speaker 1: going to be less scandalous, and we'll get us the
Speaker 1: R rating and this version will save you for an
Speaker 1: unrated that was not on our radar at all. It
Speaker 1: was simply which one of these is going to be funnier?
Speaker 1: Like it was scripted, I think, standing up, But we said,
Speaker 1: you know what, what if I was actually on the
Speaker 1: countertop as well, mounting the pie like that would be funny.
Speaker 1: Why don't we try that too? And so we did
Speaker 1: it that way, not because of any reason. And so
Speaker 1: I believe in an early cut the funnier I mean
Speaker 1: there was.
Speaker 8: They were both.
Speaker 1: Funny, right, But they put it in me on the
Speaker 1: countertop and uh, and that immediately got an NC seventeen.
Speaker 1: So then they go to they go to me standing
Speaker 1: up against the counter and then turning around, you know,
Speaker 1: holding the pie, and this is true story. They that
Speaker 1: also got an NC seventeen. And basically what it came
Speaker 1: down to, my understanding is that it came down the
Speaker 1: from an NC seven, we got multiple NC seventeens, and
Speaker 1: the way we got it down finally to an R
Speaker 1: rating was the number of thrusts.
Speaker 8: Into the pie.
Speaker 1: Okay, So ultimately that was the big fight It wasn't
Speaker 1: over f words.
Speaker 8: You know, there's a standards like you're.
Speaker 6: Allowed how three or whatever?
Speaker 1: Yeah, whatever, It was the number of thrusts into the pie.
Speaker 1: And so it was started here and it ultimately came
Speaker 1: down to because I guess two thrusts is an R
Speaker 1: but three thrust is an EMT seventy, So amazing.
Speaker 3: How country to.
Speaker 2: A question that I that I've I have for a
Speaker 2: lot for actors in general, because this came up to me.
Speaker 2: I worked with Serena Vincent on a movie called Cabin
Speaker 2: Fever and she had just come off not another teen
Speaker 2: movie where she was naked the entire movie, like that
Speaker 2: was the joke. And then we were doing Cabin Fever
Speaker 2: and she was very nervous about partial nudity that we
Speaker 2: had to do in the movie and I was like, what,
Speaker 2: you were completely naked and she's like, that was for comedy. Yeah,
Speaker 2: that was totally fine. If I have to be sexy,
Speaker 2: that's a whole different type of pressure. And my brain
Speaker 2: just went, oh god, that makes so much sense. So
Speaker 2: how did you feel? Were you totally fine with all
Speaker 2: the nudity and sex stuff because it was pure comedy
Speaker 2: or was there part of you that was also kind
Speaker 2: of like, uh, uncomfortable or nervous about any of that.
Speaker 8: That's a great I love hearing that story because that's
Speaker 8: exactly how I've always sort of seen it. Yeah.
Speaker 1: I I always sort of thought like, oh, I'll do
Speaker 1: anything for a joke, like like you know what I mean,
Speaker 1: Like there's no sort of that being said. I do
Speaker 1: remember thinking the day that I showed, the day that
Speaker 1: we did the pie scene, being a little concerned because again,
Speaker 1: at this point, I mean, we had had this great past,
Speaker 1: the table we'd killed. We'd been shooting for about a
Speaker 1: week or two at that point, so we had had
Speaker 1: great footage, like the chemistry, everything was lining up the
Speaker 1: way it was supposed to line up. But there was
Speaker 1: still a part of me that thought, is this pornography?
Speaker 8: Is anyone going to see?
Speaker 2: This?
Speaker 5: Is?
Speaker 1: Just? Am I like going to make a complete to
Speaker 1: myself and never work again?
Speaker 8: Just you know those young like kid like I've got
Speaker 8: this opportunity, but am I gonna blow? Like just those
Speaker 8: kinds of thoughts. And I called my.
Speaker 1: Manager at the time that morning from my trailer. I
Speaker 1: remember calling him being like, is this I'm gonna go
Speaker 1: in there and I'm gonna do this right, like I'm
Speaker 1: gonna go and good pie. And he's like, yes, you
Speaker 1: are the one hundred percent are.
Speaker 3: Multiple times from multiple angles.
Speaker 1: That's what you are going to do it, and you
Speaker 1: were going to love it and you're going.
Speaker 2: To do it for more movies.
Speaker 8: But I remember, and then that was that. Then that
Speaker 8: was it.
Speaker 1: And and I'll tell you what really cemented the exact
Speaker 1: thing that Serena said, Serena, you said, right, Serena vin said, Yeah,
Speaker 1: the exact thing where it was totally cemented for me
Speaker 1: and I've lived by it to this day and I've
Speaker 1: never questioned it again.
Speaker 8: Was I shot the scene.
Speaker 1: We did one take and we cut and there was
Speaker 1: like a half second pause and then the entire crew
Speaker 1: burst out laughing. Yes and I and and that was
Speaker 1: the moment where so many things happened for me. One,
Speaker 1: the Serena Vincent school of comedy was planted in me forever.
Speaker 8: And two I thought, oh, I think this movie is
Speaker 8: gonna yeah it be something.
Speaker 1: Yeah. I was like, this is this is actually I
Speaker 1: think this is and not because of me. It wasn't
Speaker 1: about me. It was about it was about oh, this
Speaker 1: is we are doing something that that like is I've
Speaker 1: never seen this, And all sixty three people who were
Speaker 1: standing around me right now just went holy yeah, And I.
Speaker 8: Was like, this is okay. I think we I think
Speaker 8: we're cooking.
Speaker 5: With It did something in the It also did something
Speaker 5: for people our age in the industry, where it had
Speaker 5: been we'd gotten very wholesome.
Speaker 3: By that point again in Hollywood, and this brought.
Speaker 11: Us right back to those great early eighties movies, the
Speaker 11: Animal House and Meatballs and the stuff I grew up
Speaker 11: watching Fast Times at Ridgemont High where it was like there,
Speaker 11: it wasn't pornography. It was just kind of real how
Speaker 11: kids talked and were at parties and drank beer and
Speaker 11: and we got away. Especially when we're doing something like
Speaker 11: Boy Meets World, we were the very squeaky clean and
Speaker 11: we're also on a squeaky clean night and we've got
Speaker 11: other squeaky clean shows around us.
Speaker 3: So I know that myself as an actor.
Speaker 5: When I saw American Pie for the first time, it
Speaker 5: was like, oh, thank God, it's back, and I was like,
Speaker 5: there's more back like this, Like the things I grew
Speaker 5: up watching are coming back again, and it brought it.
Speaker 5: It started that entire new generation of what young actors
Speaker 5: were capable of again comedically, and so it was just
Speaker 5: wonderfully like, oh thank god, it was like a breath
Speaker 5: of fresh air again.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 8: Great.
Speaker 7: Do you think in twenty twenty six you would have
Speaker 7: an intimacy coordinator with the pie?
Speaker 8: I think the pie would request.
Speaker 6: It that I too.
Speaker 3: Yeah, well, you also have to look at the expiration date?
Speaker 3: How old is that pie?
Speaker 5: So it's also important.
Speaker 10: Well, I cannot believe I've made will I.
Speaker 2: Will, We'll just take it to the next level.
Speaker 3: Nice, Well, well I am.
Speaker 10: I am so happy and in the press right now
Speaker 10: because I have literally heard or made every pie joke
Speaker 10: possible in twenty seven years, and that is the expiration
Speaker 10: day age.
Speaker 8: Of the pie is when I have not heard that.
Speaker 3: Is no congratulations?
Speaker 1: Well, yeah, sure, I think we've gone that at the
Speaker 1: expiration data.
Speaker 6: Yeah, that's pretty great.
Speaker 7: How long does it take American pie comes out?
Speaker 6: Or not even maybe before even before it comes out?
Speaker 7: How long does it take to feel the difference in
Speaker 7: your everyday life? Like there has to be a before
Speaker 7: and an after for you? When does when does the
Speaker 7: after start?
Speaker 8: Yeah?
Speaker 1: Also a great questions kind of two times, I'd say,
Speaker 1: because actually the first real moment, I think again, putting aside,
Speaker 1: oh my god, the pipe we shot this, the crew last,
Speaker 1: Oh god, where we have something, you know, putting aside
Speaker 1: the table read that we hear for the first.
Speaker 8: Time and you go, oh, this is special.
Speaker 1: Putting aside all those moments, I'd say one that really
Speaker 1: stands out is when the Red Band trailer came out,
Speaker 1: so in like January or something. We shot in the
Speaker 1: summer and it came out in the summer. It was
Speaker 1: one year and in like that winter time they released
Speaker 1: a Red Band trailer, which, if you remember, Red Band
Speaker 1: trailers were a very big deal. Is awesome that you'd
Speaker 1: go to the movie theater and you'd see the previews
Speaker 1: and that it'd be like, you know, green giant, green screen.
Speaker 1: The following preview is rated PG, and you'd see the
Speaker 1: trailer and then very occasionally the screen would be all
Speaker 1: red and you'd be like, what is this? What's happening here?
Speaker 1: And the trailer itself was ed R and it could
Speaker 1: only be seen before other R rated movies, and that
Speaker 1: got sort of that became viral and the very beginning
Speaker 1: days of virality, and and what happened was the reason
Speaker 1: it was a Red Band was because they showed me
Speaker 1: in the Pie and I remember thinking they had sent
Speaker 1: me the trailer before it came out in the theaters,
Speaker 1: and I remember, you know, nineteen years old, going, guys,
Speaker 1: you're making a mistake here. You don't want to give
Speaker 1: away the pie scene.
Speaker 8: But you know, like like I knew anything, you know, but.
Speaker 1: I remember thinking, you don't want to. Why would you
Speaker 1: give away the pie? Isn't that the thing you want
Speaker 1: to And it turned out to be, of course, the
Speaker 1: most brilliant. It was a quick It was a quick thing,
Speaker 1: but enough to where the people in the audience were like,
Speaker 1: I'm sorry, did.
Speaker 8: He just did I just see him right this movie?
Speaker 8: Now I see the thing? Yeah?
Speaker 1: And it was brilliant and so so I started getting
Speaker 1: recognized from the trailer.
Speaker 8: Wow. So I remember that was the first for me.
Speaker 1: That was like the first time where I you know,
Speaker 1: it's like, oh, I think, yeah, this this this is
Speaker 1: not only something special and good, but actually could be
Speaker 1: something like beyond any of our sort of you know.
Speaker 1: And then of course that when the movie came out,
Speaker 1: like that weekend, I remember, you know, walking to get
Speaker 1: a bagel and being recognized and like, you know, well,
Speaker 1: crossing literally crossing the street and the car stopping and
Speaker 1: then rolling down their windows like Saturday morning, you know,
Speaker 1: and then rolling down the.
Speaker 8: Window and like going, hey, do the dance like that quick?
Speaker 8: You know. It was like literally, well.
Speaker 5: It's also it was written in such a way. The
Speaker 5: script is so wonderful that it's kind of one quotable
Speaker 5: moment after another, you know. I mean, it's it's in
Speaker 5: the zeitgeist where it's just it is you're you're all
Speaker 5: these little moments that that lasts forever.
Speaker 3: And it was every character. That was the thing that
Speaker 3: was so great about it was there wasn't one.
Speaker 5: I mean, obviously there's people that stood out a little more,
Speaker 5: but it was as a crew, it was cutting to
Speaker 5: these different storylines, and as an ensemble cast, it just
Speaker 5: everybody had their beats and it all worked so well.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 1: My favorite, My favorite thing that I would hear in
Speaker 1: the months and even years after is it was when
Speaker 1: people would tell me who they were in the friend group.
Speaker 8: Guys in particular, you know, but like, oh.
Speaker 1: I was odds, I'm oz in our friend group, you know,
Speaker 1: like people would I because people identified with with those friendships,
Speaker 1: those kinds of relationships it was very it was very cool. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and like you know, yeah, you know, look, I don't
Speaker 1: you can't make that movie today. It's obviously a time capsule.
Speaker 1: There's certain scenes you certainly couldn't couldn't do today, but
Speaker 1: as a time capsule and as a sort of reflection
Speaker 1: of the kinds of experiences that high school kids had
Speaker 1: in terms of being more authentic than just a sort
Speaker 1: of glossy kind of you know, clean kind kind of experience.
Speaker 1: Just you know, it's sort of hit in a way
Speaker 1: that other movies didn't.
Speaker 8: So yeah, I.
Speaker 7: Think one commonality between all of us who got famous
Speaker 7: in the nineties or the two thousands is that at
Speaker 7: some point we all found ourselves in completely insane situations
Speaker 7: as new celebrities. Whether it's Shaquille O'Neal deciding to hold
Speaker 7: me over his head, or Writer being on the Oprah
Speaker 7: Winfrey Show talking about fan Mail, or Will writing Tower
Speaker 7: of Terror with Bill ny the Science Guy, they all
Speaker 7: sound like mad libs. Is there any Is there any
Speaker 7: insane situation that you can specifically remember yourself being in
Speaker 7: after American Pie came out that you'd like to share
Speaker 7: with us, Well.
Speaker 1: I remember walking by Writer Strong's part, I have made it.
Speaker 8: Terrible. Yeah, driver, Oh my god, I mean.
Speaker 7: Yeah, I mean you must have gone to every Maxim
Speaker 7: party and every.
Speaker 1: Yes Maxim party, every Maxim party, every every time there
Speaker 1: was a new PlayStation.
Speaker 8: I was there because I want to.
Speaker 1: But yeah, oh my god, the Maxim Party of Jesus, yep, yeah,
Speaker 1: all the things.
Speaker 8: I mean.
Speaker 1: Look, I've yeah, in the late nineties, early two thousands, LA,
Speaker 1: you know, and I was, you know, I had I
Speaker 1: kind of made a group of friends out there who
Speaker 1: were you know, we all wanted to go out and
Speaker 1: hang and party, and I partied with crew. One member, well, Eddie.
Speaker 1: Eddie was part of my crew, but the rest were
Speaker 1: kind of not actors. One was like my my downstairs
Speaker 1: neighbor at the first apartment I lived in LA, who
Speaker 1: ended up we became roommates ourselves, and he was just
Speaker 1: like our bud and became friends with Eddie to so
Speaker 1: me Eddie. This guy and then another guy who I
Speaker 1: met on a blind date. I'm gonna tell you this
Speaker 1: story because it does have a payoff. Met this guy
Speaker 1: in a blind date. His brother was working at Warner
Speaker 1: Brothers at the time, and this was like in that
Speaker 1: year between filming American Pie and it coming out. Of course,
Speaker 1: I'm going out in all these generals, right, you.
Speaker 8: Know, like I got a new movie coming out, you know.
Speaker 1: And I met this guy at Warner Brothers Greg Silverman,
Speaker 1: and he and I was, you know, new to La,
Speaker 1: didn't have a lot of friends, and he said, you
Speaker 1: should meet my brother.
Speaker 8: You'd really like if you guys would really get along.
Speaker 1: So he put me and gave me a phone number
Speaker 1: and called this guy and he's like Jason. I was like, yeah, doron.
Speaker 1: He's like yeah, He's like, listen, come up to meet me.
Speaker 1: We have a house party going on in the hills
Speaker 1: on Saturday night. I got a bunch of girls coming
Speaker 1: up from San Diego. I'm like, yes, yes, yes. It
Speaker 1: was my first time going to the hills by the way,
Speaker 1: and I was like this is crazy. But anyway, he
Speaker 1: and I became best friends immediately. He ended up marrying
Speaker 1: my wife's sister, so we are now. I met my
Speaker 1: wife on a blind date. I met him on a
Speaker 1: blind date. We were friends for ten years. Then I
Speaker 1: meet my wife on a blind date and he's my
Speaker 1: best man. My wife's sister is her maid of honor.
Speaker 1: And then they end up getting married like two years later,
Speaker 1: and now they have three boys and we have two boys. Anyway,
Speaker 1: so yeah, so it's still kind of have my crew
Speaker 1: a little bit, you know, one related now and yeah, anyway,
Speaker 1: I'm not sure I answered, what's I don't know what?
Speaker 8: Oh yeah, that's yeah.
Speaker 1: The late the night that that that period in LA
Speaker 1: it was, yeah, it was, it was wild. It was wild,
Speaker 1: it was wild, it was and yeahs man, those.
Speaker 8: Nights, yes, oh my god. Absolutely, dublins on I mean
Speaker 8: there were.
Speaker 6: Dublin Yeah, who wasn't there.
Speaker 7: So after the success of American Pie, do you feel
Speaker 7: pigeonholed at all? I mean, here you are, daytime Emmy
Speaker 7: nominated actor, a Saison Broadway actor, and a Pulitzer Prize
Speaker 7: finalist play and now you're the king of sex comedy.
Speaker 6: Is there anything that you.
Speaker 7: Really wanted, like a role you really really wanted and
Speaker 7: you just feel like you missed out on because they
Speaker 7: couldn't see past it?
Speaker 1: Really good question, I mean, I I'm yeah, I mean,
Speaker 1: I'm sure, I mean I remember, like, yeah.
Speaker 8: I can't think of specifics.
Speaker 1: I mean I definitely there were like dramatic roles that
Speaker 1: I certainly was like, oh, this would be great, I
Speaker 1: could do this.
Speaker 8: And then just kind of, you know, not even really
Speaker 8: And but you.
Speaker 1: Know, I never sort of let it get to me,
Speaker 1: I think, because I always felt like it just really
Speaker 1: psyched to be able to get any of the roles
Speaker 1: that I know sounds so trite and weird, but like
Speaker 1: I truly I think because I had been fired from
Speaker 1: shows as a kid, I had gotten what I thought
Speaker 1: was my big break and then it gets canceled, and
Speaker 1: had that happened a few times, and like I had
Speaker 1: kind of seen that already that even with American Pie,
Speaker 1: even though it was clearly different and had set me
Speaker 1: up in a different way, I still kind of thought
Speaker 1: I was waiting for the other shoe to drop. But
Speaker 1: I think I just had a different appreciation for it.
Speaker 1: I never never took it for granted and still don't.
Speaker 1: So even though I would sort of think I think
Speaker 1: the answer is yes, you're one hundred percent, there are
Speaker 1: definitely roles I did not get and continue to not
Speaker 1: get because.
Speaker 8: I'm Jim and American Pie one million percent.
Speaker 1: But I wouldn't trade it for anything, Like I'm not
Speaker 1: ever going to complain about it. I will admit to
Speaker 1: it I'm fully aware of it, and it still happens, and.
Speaker 8: I'll get I will get like I will get.
Speaker 1: Bumped still, you know, because i know I'm still carrying
Speaker 1: some of that baggage with me.
Speaker 8: But it's also like.
Speaker 1: I'm happy to be carrying the bags too, Like I
Speaker 1: have these great.
Speaker 8: Full suitcases and I'm still here.
Speaker 1: Yeah, however, many years later and I'm still working enough,
Speaker 1: and I'm you know, I can pay.
Speaker 8: My mortgage and I'm I'm like, you know, like.
Speaker 1: It's and we all know the so many people who
Speaker 1: are not still here doing what they like to do,
Speaker 1: and like so so so honestly, like the answer is, yeah,
Speaker 1: there's tons of jobs that I wish I got and
Speaker 1: that I know I didn't get because I'm Jim in
Speaker 1: American Pie.
Speaker 8: Right, But there's also job that I got because I'm Jim.
Speaker 1: In America, more than the ones I didn't, you know.
Speaker 7: So we spoke to another one of our shared co stars,
Speaker 7: mit A Suvari on our podcast, and we chatted about
Speaker 7: a new American Pie movie, American Funeral.
Speaker 6: What do you know about it? Is?
Speaker 7: Is it?
Speaker 6: What do what can you tell us?
Speaker 1: I was going to ask you about America's VIP I don't.
Speaker 1: I don't, I have no I I honestly have no idea.
Speaker 8: I mean that's been sort of floated. I thought more
Speaker 8: like a joke. I've never seen anything like that.
Speaker 1: But the idea that actually feels like it has had
Speaker 1: some legs, uh is, and it's and also because I
Speaker 1: think it's fairly obvious and I'm not going to take
Speaker 1: credit for it.
Speaker 8: I think Sean's talked about it. I've talked about it.
Speaker 1: I feel like an everyone's kind of thought about it,
Speaker 1: which is we're now at the age because in the
Speaker 1: last American Pie, I had like a three year old
Speaker 1: I think son. Now, if we made the movie, they
Speaker 1: would be that kid would be high school age, so
Speaker 1: be yeah, so so so I think the sort of
Speaker 1: if we were to do one right now, you know,
Speaker 1: I think it would be I'm Eugene, Eugene is the
Speaker 1: grandfather of my son, and then you kind of pass
Speaker 1: it off to the next generation.
Speaker 8: And that's kind of the idea.
Speaker 1: I mean, we talked about Sean maybe having a daughter,
Speaker 1: you know, and he's got to deal with his own
Speaker 1: you know, like, uh, his from the past. Right, there's
Speaker 1: so many factors that need to you know, it's a
Speaker 1: no brainer.
Speaker 5: It would do really well, which is why they'll never
Speaker 5: ever make it. You know, well, so smart, so smart,
Speaker 5: it makes total sense, So let's not do it.
Speaker 3: It's it's such a weird business right now.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, the only question that I can answer
Speaker 1: with full confidence is you know, would I do it?
Speaker 8: And the answers yeah, like.
Speaker 1: Of course, yeah, you know, And not because it's any
Speaker 1: reflection of sort of like career or what it's like.
Speaker 1: I want to do it because I think people would
Speaker 1: like it. I think people ask me about it daily,
Speaker 1: and so I know there's an appetite for these to
Speaker 1: see these characters and to see where they are now.
Speaker 8: And because it's the most.
Speaker 1: Fun I've ever had working, Like of course I would
Speaker 1: do it, you know, like forget about all the other stuff,
Speaker 1: Like I just it would be so much fun. So
Speaker 1: I mean, I hope, I hope one day it kind
Speaker 1: of all the ducks line up and we'll see.
Speaker 7: Let's talk about untitled home Invasion romance you've produced in
Speaker 7: the past. But what made you want to direct and
Speaker 7: how did the script get to you?
Speaker 8: Yeah, So the script came to me just to act in.
Speaker 1: It was sent as an offer to you know, this
Speaker 1: little indie which you know, we've all gotten the indie offer.
Speaker 1: And you know, those conversations can go one of two ways,
Speaker 1: usually the one way, which is, you.
Speaker 8: Know, we have an offer. It's a it's it's no
Speaker 8: you can read it or not. I'm like, okay, thanks
Speaker 8: for getting me from my agent. You know, like I'm
Speaker 8: really excited.
Speaker 6: I'm excited.
Speaker 8: I read it. What a glowing.
Speaker 1: Yeah, please send it, send it to Yeah, Jesus, this
Speaker 1: is what my ego needs right now.
Speaker 8: And but this one, you know, my age.
Speaker 1: So I've been looking in earnest for something to direct.
Speaker 8: Probably for the last like five years or so.
Speaker 1: And and I think ever since I was a little kid,
Speaker 1: just being on sets and stuff, I've always kind of
Speaker 1: thought that would be fun, you know, that'd be cool
Speaker 1: and and and also just sort of you know, being
Speaker 1: a set kid and just kind of being around all
Speaker 1: these directors all these years and you just kind of
Speaker 1: learned and you just kind of get set savvy. And
Speaker 1: I kind of feel like, you know, I even go
Speaker 1: to film school, so admittedly I knew that on the
Speaker 1: photographic side of things, the technical side of things, I
Speaker 1: had a lot to learn. But I always felt like
Speaker 1: I could work with actors like I know what I
Speaker 1: want from a director, I know how I want to
Speaker 1: be talked to from a director, Like I feel like
Speaker 1: I could contribute there if the actors trust me.
Speaker 8: And but I'd say yeah.
Speaker 1: It was like the last five years or so, I've
Speaker 1: really been looking and I was attached to something that
Speaker 1: was more American pie ish for a while, really funny script.
Speaker 1: Thought I could maybe do something with it, but ultimately
Speaker 1: decided that it was maybe a little too much.
Speaker 8: Like American Pie.
Speaker 1: You talk about acting and like how I've you know,
Speaker 1: you get sort of pigeonholed, and that's I felt different.
Speaker 1: I felt like for my first directing thing, I did
Speaker 1: want to try to like hold out for something maybe
Speaker 1: a little a little different, you know.
Speaker 8: I don't know I saw it as as different.
Speaker 1: I just thought I wanted to do something a little
Speaker 1: more unexpected on that front if I.
Speaker 8: Had the opportunity.
Speaker 1: That's the other thing, is like what you know what
Speaker 1: I mean, It's like it's all about luck and timing
Speaker 1: and opportunity as well. And you know, I get a
Speaker 1: call from my agent and he's like, I got this
Speaker 1: Indian I'm right, and he said no, no, no, hold on,
Speaker 1: hold on, it's actually, uh, I think it's you'll like it.
Speaker 1: It's a really cool script, it's a fun role, and
Speaker 1: I think this might be the one you want to direct.
Speaker 8: And I was like, really okay, and I read it
Speaker 8: and he was right. I like, I fully agreed, and.
Speaker 1: And so we just kind of went back to the
Speaker 1: one producer who was attached at the time and kind
Speaker 1: of we all sort of agreed that, you know, I could,
Speaker 1: I could pursue it as as the director, and I
Speaker 1: went to some people I had worked with in the past,
Speaker 1: and we were able to raise the money and get
Speaker 1: it into production. Yeah, So it was just kind of
Speaker 1: and and and and yeah, I just felt like, you know, it, comedically,
Speaker 1: I feel like lines up a bit more with my
Speaker 1: sensibilities as they stand right now, you know. I mean,
Speaker 1: I love all comedy and I'm a I just you know,
Speaker 1: but this felt a little darker and weirder and kind
Speaker 1: of quirkier. And it's just more of my speed, I think. Now,
Speaker 1: you know the movies that I like to watch now,
Speaker 1: you know, the sort of the the Coen Brothers type
Speaker 1: that I am not. I am not a Coen brother,
Speaker 1: but this was. It felt to me like, oh, this
Speaker 1: lives in that sort of world. I like this, you know,
Speaker 1: this was kind of fun. So yeah, I'm just and
Speaker 1: then yeah, just luck that I'm able was able to
Speaker 1: like find a producer with a checkbook that was willing
Speaker 1: to back me with.
Speaker 8: No directing experience. No, you know, I don't have a
Speaker 8: short film.
Speaker 3: I didn't have.
Speaker 8: Anything to show for it.
Speaker 1: I happened to work with him on a movie that
Speaker 1: there were a bunch of kid actors in and the
Speaker 1: director was having a hard time. I shouldn't say that
Speaker 1: she she she's wonderful, but she, by her own admission,
Speaker 1: she was basically look wanted me to help her with
Speaker 1: these kid actors because she knew that I was a
Speaker 1: kid actor. So I was helping direct these kids, like
Speaker 1: giving them kind of notes in a language that I
Speaker 1: had already that I was fluent in.
Speaker 8: Right, And the producer was like, do you want to direct?
Speaker 8: Like you know? And I was like, yeah, I do
Speaker 8: as a matter of fact. And so it was that
Speaker 8: producer that I went back to and.
Speaker 1: Said listen, man, because he was like, come to me
Speaker 1: if you you know, if you have anything, and I said, hey.
Speaker 8: Man, remember months back.
Speaker 1: I said, I got something for you if you really
Speaker 1: and he was like, great, let's do it.
Speaker 8: And so to his credit, you know, he he he
Speaker 8: backed me.
Speaker 1: So so yeah, and now I've you know, I'm sure
Speaker 1: I've lost all his money, but you know, whatever.
Speaker 8: I have, I have a real.
Speaker 3: Well.
Speaker 7: I mean, I really do feel like through talking to
Speaker 7: you that you there's like a really strong theme through
Speaker 7: your life which is like a real go big or
Speaker 7: go home, diving into the deep end. And now you're
Speaker 7: doing it by directing and starring in your own project.
Speaker 7: So you should be very very proud of yourself. You've
Speaker 7: worked with some real heavy hitter directors in your career.
Speaker 7: Do you feel like there was anything in particular you
Speaker 7: took from any one of them that helped you in
Speaker 7: this process? Any shout outs you want to give?
Speaker 1: Sure? Yeah, I mean, excuse me, the that's a great question.
Speaker 1: Thank you for asking that. I think the Weiss brothers
Speaker 1: for sure, who directed the First American Pie. I think
Speaker 1: about them a lot because that was their first movie directing.
Speaker 1: And so I've actually worked with a lot of first
Speaker 1: time directors, as I'm sure you guys have, and some
Speaker 1: of them are able to come in and sort of
Speaker 1: you know, do it and do it well, and you go, oh,
Speaker 1: they belong here, and some of them you go, oh,
Speaker 1: maybe I would do this differently or not. And the
Speaker 1: thing about the White's brothers that I'll never forget, in
Speaker 1: addition to them just being so smart and so funny
Speaker 1: and yeah, justlli and the fact that they worked so
Speaker 1: well together, was their openness and their eagerness to collaborate.
Speaker 8: They were never like we got this moving on here.
Speaker 1: There was a confidence, of course, but there was never
Speaker 1: a cockiness. There was never a They always had the
Speaker 1: attitude from what I sensed of. You are the production
Speaker 1: designer because you production design better than I production design.
Speaker 1: You are the cinematographer because you know how to shoot
Speaker 1: and I do not.
Speaker 8: And I'm going to oversee.
Speaker 1: All of this and I'm gonna but I'm inviting all
Speaker 1: of you to teach me and show me.
Speaker 8: And I'm but and so, and that's.
Speaker 1: I think huge, you know, like, because I didn't.
Speaker 8: I had a lot to learn, a lot to learn, and.
Speaker 1: So I didn't come into this going you know, I
Speaker 1: got this and or even like I mean, I definitely
Speaker 1: wanted to show a certain amount of confidence and I
Speaker 1: had confidence in some areas more than others. Like I said,
Speaker 1: talking to the actors, I felt like I had some confidence,
Speaker 1: But I also didn't want to like fake it till
Speaker 1: you make it either, because I don't think that for me.
Speaker 1: For me, I didn't think that would apply here. I
Speaker 1: would rather come into it and say, there's things I
Speaker 1: don't know, and I need you guys to teach me,
Speaker 1: and I'm going to have opinions on those things, and
Speaker 1: I'm going to ultimately make decisions based on what you
Speaker 1: teach me. But I'm not going to pretend to know
Speaker 1: what I don't know. And that was the Whites Brothers
Speaker 1: for me, like I just remember them. And also trusting
Speaker 1: the actors, like really like you know, they they trusted
Speaker 1: their casting decisions and so they were and then once
Speaker 1: the actors were sort of comfortable, they trusted them to
Speaker 1: contribute in the way that they you know, and so yeah,
Speaker 1: I don't know, they really stand out for me, I'm
Speaker 1: indebted to them for sure. Kevin Smith someone who I've
Speaker 1: worked with a bonch and just like he, you know,
Speaker 1: he everyone wants to be there. Everyone who's on a
Speaker 1: Kevin Smith set wants to be there because they like
Speaker 1: working for him. They think it's fun, they think they're
Speaker 1: making something special, you know, you know, I, uh, this
Speaker 1: is a name that I'll be very specific about, you
Speaker 1: know what I took from it. But like I worked
Speaker 1: with Woody Allen and I that's where I fell in
Speaker 1: love with the one one shot with the woner, you know,
Speaker 1: like I.
Speaker 8: Had never I in American Pile.
Speaker 1: We had done one or two sort of long wonner
Speaker 1: shots that I remember thinking, Wow, this is really really cool.
Speaker 8: Very theatrical.
Speaker 1: But then when I did the Woody Allen movie, I
Speaker 1: mean we were we did almost like there were so
Speaker 1: many wonners like constantly, and I just remember feeling so
Speaker 1: incredibly engaged as a performer because it was very theatrical.
Speaker 8: It was very you know in the pressure.
Speaker 1: Now, it was also very traumatic for me, I you know,
Speaker 1: like what he can be was very it was very nervous.
Speaker 8: It was very nerve wracking.
Speaker 1: It's a whole nother story we could get into. I'm
Speaker 1: sure I bought trauma around it.
Speaker 8: But but.
Speaker 1: More I should talk about his cinematographer that I work with,
Speaker 1: just how he put these shots together. And so I
Speaker 1: always thought if I ever direct, like I have to
Speaker 1: find space for one, I have to like find at
Speaker 1: least one you know, won Er in this and the
Speaker 1: movie untitled Invasion Romance is not very conducive.
Speaker 8: To that style of filmmaking.
Speaker 1: It's much more kinetic, and so it's the it just
Speaker 1: but we found one scene. We found one scene my
Speaker 1: DP and I that we both agreed, We're like, oh, yeah,
Speaker 1: it's this one, right, Yes, it's this one, and so
Speaker 1: we were able to do that and that was always
Speaker 1: I look forward to shooting that from day one.
Speaker 8: So that was really cool. But yeah, I don't know, man, I.
Speaker 1: Just feel like I've just tried to pay attention, you know, right,
Speaker 1: guys like you guys just been you just like even
Speaker 1: if you're not intentionally actively paying attention, you've just been
Speaker 1: on sets for so long, Like I would trust any
Speaker 1: one of you guys to direct me because you know
Speaker 1: what's up.
Speaker 8: You know you just like you know it.
Speaker 1: You've worked with people who you know not that you
Speaker 1: don't want to do that, and you've worked with the
Speaker 1: people who you go, oh that's what I should do.
Speaker 7: Yeah, you know, Jason, you are so fascinating. This has
Speaker 7: been such a wonderful conversation. Thank you so much for
Speaker 7: joining us, and for all of you listening. You can
Speaker 7: watch untitled Home Invasion Romance, directed by and starring Jason
Speaker 7: Biggs right now on demand, rent, or purchase it on
Speaker 7: Amazon Prime, Apple TV, Google Play, or YouTube.
Speaker 6: Thank you again for being here with us.
Speaker 8: It was so fun.
Speaker 1: You guys are awesome. Thank you so much for having me.
Speaker 1: You guys are great.
Speaker 3: Thank you, it's great.
Speaker 8: Thank you.
Speaker 6: Joy the rest of your day.
Speaker 8: Well, do love to Jensen, take care of guys, Bye,
Speaker 8: take care bye.
Speaker 6: What a career I know.
Speaker 2: I love that we only covered up to ninety nine though.
Speaker 5: Guys, we still have another to bring him back because
Speaker 5: that was one of my favorite interviews we've done.
Speaker 7: I I agree, so fascinating, so interesting.
Speaker 6: So fun.
Speaker 7: Yeah, just I mean yeah, and there were I could
Speaker 7: tell there were endless more things I could have asked
Speaker 7: him about and stories he could have shared.
Speaker 6: We've got twenty five years still to cover.
Speaker 7: Yeah, So thank you all for joining us for this
Speaker 7: episode of Pod Meets World. As always, you can follow
Speaker 7: us on Instagram pod meets World Show. You can send
Speaker 7: us your emails pod meets World Show at gmail dot com.
Speaker 7: And we've got merch.
Speaker 3: This one time at bandcamp. I bought a whole bunch
Speaker 3: of merch.
Speaker 7: Podmeets worldshow dot com will send us out.
Speaker 3: We love you all, pod dismissed.
Speaker 5: Pod Meets World is n iHeart podcast producer and hosted
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