Speaker 1: Hi, I'm Kristin Davis, and I want to know are
Speaker 1: you a Charlotte?
Speaker 2: You guys, this is exciting. This is when we get
Speaker 2: to have a really interesting.
Speaker 3: Actor, Ron who was in an episode in two thousand
Speaker 3: and two.
Speaker 2: I guess that's where it aired. We probably filmed it
Speaker 2: in two thousand and two.
Speaker 4: Why and we actually shot it. It was the first
Speaker 4: episode you guys shot after nine to eleven happened?
Speaker 2: Got it?
Speaker 4: We can talk more about. But yes, it was significant,
Speaker 4: like there was a vibe.
Speaker 3: Yes, absolutely, this is Mark Declan. Everybody, he's great, he's here.
Speaker 3: I'm so excited. He is the longest resume in the world.
Speaker 3: But really, and I'm not going to name everything, but
Speaker 3: he was a very important part. He was a sailor
Speaker 3: in the fleet week episode called Anchors Away, which did
Speaker 3: air in two thousand and two but filmed in two
Speaker 3: thousand and one. So take me back, tell me about
Speaker 3: the Let's talk about nine to eleven first.
Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah, I mean, well, you know, I mean for anybody,
Speaker 4: any New Yorkers, right, we know what it felt like
Speaker 4: and it wasn't obviously it was sad and tragic and scary,
Speaker 4: but it was it was also beautiful. Remember that. Yeah,
Speaker 4: Like there was sense of like we're all in this together.
Speaker 4: People were friendlier, more helpful, kinder. It was like a
Speaker 4: beautiful time to be in New York. Yeah. In fact,
Speaker 4: I was in LA the day it happened. All my
Speaker 4: LA friends were like, oh, thank god you weren't there,
Speaker 4: and I was like, no, I feel weird. I should
Speaker 4: be there. Absolutely, not like I can do anything, but
Speaker 4: just like like it's like, my I have a sick
Speaker 4: relative in the hospital.
Speaker 2: I should visit, right, So how did you get back?
Speaker 2: What were you?
Speaker 4: So? I had just Yeah, I had just been I
Speaker 4: had just actually moved to LA. I had let my
Speaker 4: apartment in New York go and I got an offer
Speaker 4: to do a Broadway show and I turned it down.
Speaker 4: I was like, no, I've committed to LA for now.
Speaker 4: I'm going to stick with this. Two days later, September eleventh,
Speaker 4: Oh no, So I called back and said, is the
Speaker 4: job still available? I want to come home? So I did.
Speaker 2: Was it?
Speaker 4: So? It was the Lion King.
Speaker 3: Oh my god, amazing you were in the Lion care
Speaker 3: one of my most favorite life is.
Speaker 2: It's so great.
Speaker 4: It was fun. It was I mean, that's that's a
Speaker 4: whole other experience to talk about. Actually, story from our
Speaker 4: episode that I'll share with.
Speaker 3: Oh listen, I need all the funny stories from this episode.
Speaker 2: I just remember this episode.
Speaker 3: I had forgotten that it was the first one back,
Speaker 3: but that makes perfect sense because I think that we
Speaker 3: as a production really felt so strongly obviously we love
Speaker 3: the city, as we all know, it's the fifth character,
Speaker 3: et cetera. And it was such a such a trauma
Speaker 3: and such a you know, everyone was going through a
Speaker 3: collective trauma, the whole country obviously, but definitely the city,
Speaker 3: and everybody was pitching in and they were all everyone
Speaker 3: had a story and everybody was doing different things to contribute,
Speaker 3: and we felt as a show.
Speaker 2: Like our job was to get back at it, to
Speaker 2: celebrate the city, to like show that.
Speaker 3: We were okay, yeah, you know, like it was super
Speaker 3: important to get back out there.
Speaker 4: And that love letter to the city that your show
Speaker 4: always was came through so clearly in this episode, right.
Speaker 4: I mean, obviously Carrie talks about, you know, like your
Speaker 4: boyfriend the city.
Speaker 2: You know what, Yeah, it's it's beautiful.
Speaker 4: It's beautiful.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 4: And I think anybody who has a place in their
Speaker 4: heart for New York was really touched by.
Speaker 3: That, absolutely absolutely, And I feel like for Michael, he's
Speaker 3: trying to think of, well, what's a fun way to
Speaker 3: like he everything needs to be like have the depth
Speaker 3: that also be fun, and Fleet Week is such a.
Speaker 2: Perfect funny, crazy weird thing.
Speaker 3: I also remember, and I don't know why I hadn't
Speaker 3: placed this in my mind and that it was the
Speaker 3: first show back, but it makes perfect sense. I just
Speaker 3: remember that it was hard. There were hard things about
Speaker 3: this show. Like I remember standing on the island in
Speaker 3: Times Square because we could only start shooting at ten
Speaker 3: o'clock at night because because of the because we were
Speaker 3: trying to film in Times Square, right, you know, bonkers, right,
Speaker 3: like insane amounts of people, cars, whatever, and we're trying
Speaker 3: to shut down things, you know, as much as you can.
Speaker 3: And so they would only let us come at ten
Speaker 3: am ten pm. So we would start at ten pm
Speaker 3: and we would go all night long.
Speaker 2: And it was like hard. Yeah, that's what I remember.
Speaker 3: And they got his rooms in the w Hotel, which
Speaker 3: is right there, right there, and we just I felt
Speaker 3: like we lived there for a week, like I felt
Speaker 3: like we were just there.
Speaker 2: We all got the CDs.
Speaker 3: Remember how the w has like the party in the lobby.
Speaker 3: We had the CDs, like I could play all those songs.
Speaker 3: They take me right back to that time.
Speaker 4: Oh, it's such a moment.
Speaker 2: It was great, but it was also hard. There was
Speaker 2: hard emotional.
Speaker 4: I felt like I feel you really yeah, and laughing
Speaker 4: because I remember that shot of the four of you
Speaker 4: right before you guys shove SYNTHI next to the cab
Speaker 4: right yes, And there's there's an extra behind you, guys,
Speaker 4: a background player who apparently got the note don't look
Speaker 4: at the camera. Oh no, So he's literally doing this
Speaker 4: the whole time, like the whole time, but he's right
Speaker 4: behind you, like.
Speaker 2: Oh my god.
Speaker 3: Or maybe he thinks he's looking at the view right sure,
Speaker 3: maybe he thinks he has a team of you.
Speaker 2: He's a tourist. That is adorable. I'm going to look
Speaker 2: back and look at that. You'll see it.
Speaker 3: Sometimes when I, yeah, I feel so bad because the
Speaker 3: background people when they're in a big, big, big scene,
Speaker 3: it's hard.
Speaker 2: It is it's hard.
Speaker 3: It's a naturalness to do it so many times. And
Speaker 3: if I remember that we had to do that for
Speaker 3: a long time, then you know we had to do
Speaker 3: that a really long time. But I feel like we
Speaker 3: just stood on that street corner for just like I
Speaker 3: don't know, maybe twelve hours.
Speaker 2: I'm sure I'm wrong, but that's what I remember.
Speaker 4: And that's like all night long. I think that's the
Speaker 4: thing a lot of people don't get is like how
Speaker 4: often it's a slog, right. And I'm not saying oh boo,
Speaker 4: who poor me? No, of course, but you know, you
Speaker 4: get this glamour shot. You guys looked gorgeous. It looked gorgeous,
Speaker 4: but getting there.
Speaker 2: Is a slog, right, And I think it was cold
Speaker 2: really well because it's the.
Speaker 3: First episode back, and usually we'd start in February so
Speaker 3: that it could come on in June.
Speaker 2: Is that right, Let's see, let's see you.
Speaker 4: No, I mean you probably know better than I do.
Speaker 4: I funny my memory, well my memory which leads to
Speaker 4: my funny story story. But mine involved a lot of
Speaker 4: sweat and oh I'll tell you why. But so in
Speaker 4: my mind we shot in summer, but maybe we didn't.
Speaker 3: I mean, I think it looks like summer, because that's
Speaker 3: the whole, the whole point, right, But I don't think
Speaker 3: it was because we had to It aired July twenty first.
Speaker 4: Oh yeah, So we couldn't have shot it in the summer.
Speaker 2: That's weird.
Speaker 3: Yeah, but it's also interesting because usually we would come
Speaker 3: on in June. But I think everything is messed up
Speaker 3: because also this is the year. And I don't think
Speaker 3: this is related to nine to eleven. I think it
Speaker 3: was related to the Sopranos schedule because they started messing
Speaker 3: their schedule up. Cause sure, he wanted to write longer,
Speaker 3: so they took a little half of our episode of
Speaker 3: our season before and put it on in the winter.
Speaker 4: Got yeah, yeah, Yeah.
Speaker 3: Then they pushed our air date for the summer back
Speaker 3: to July twenty one, which is kind of weird.
Speaker 2: Is the end of the summer.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think everything goes haywire at this point and
Speaker 3: time in our collective lives.
Speaker 2: You know what I'm saying, Yeah, to go ahead, you're sweat?
Speaker 2: What sweat? It couldn't even hot, I don't know.
Speaker 4: No, So okay, So I was and I'm sure you
Speaker 4: weren't aware of this drama because you had bigger fish
Speaker 4: to fry, and I didn't want you to be aware
Speaker 4: of this, Okay. So we shot our scene on a Wednesday,
Speaker 4: which is Mattinee Day on body So I had to
Speaker 4: use one of my sick days to do our show,
Speaker 4: which is fine. We did that all the time, right,
Speaker 4: Like we used to say, don't waste your sick day
Speaker 4: being sick.
Speaker 2: Wow.
Speaker 4: So fine, and I made no secret of it. My
Speaker 4: stage manager was my friend. She was happy for me.
Speaker 4: And we had a whole string of talented understudies who
Speaker 4: could go on in my place. I wasn't putting the
Speaker 4: show in any danger except Murphy's Law came to town.
Speaker 4: So I report to Sex and the City. I think
Speaker 4: we were on forty seventh Street. Does that sound right, Yeah,
Speaker 4: something like that. So I'm in my trailer getting ready.
Speaker 4: Unknown to me, all hell's breaking whose back at my theater.
Speaker 4: Understudies are dropping like flies. Oh no, one gets sick,
Speaker 4: one gets hurt, one has to go on for somebody
Speaker 4: else who got sick or hurt, and so on. So
Speaker 4: we're down to the last guy who can go on
Speaker 4: in my place. So talented guy. He's in hair and makeup.
Speaker 4: As he's leaving, he turns to say thank you, as
Speaker 4: one should, and I guess in the act of turning
Speaker 4: while walking, he tripped. Oh no, fell on the steps, twisted.
Speaker 4: His anchor couldn't go on. What So now, if I
Speaker 4: don't go on.
Speaker 2: The show's on the day of you filming with us.
Speaker 4: I'm sitting in my trailer City Oh, and I get
Speaker 4: a call from my stage manager saying, you have to
Speaker 4: come to the matinee and I said, no, I can't.
Speaker 4: I'm about to shoot my scene. She said, I know,
Speaker 4: and I'm so sorry, but I know that you're able
Speaker 4: to do the show, and I have to protect the
Speaker 4: show because if you don't go on, the show won't
Speaker 4: go on, so you will probably get fired. You could
Speaker 4: even get sued. So I went, yeah, hold on a second,
Speaker 4: I put my phone down. I literally opened the door
Speaker 4: of my trailer and vomited on forty seven So, like,
Speaker 4: just no joke, like literally just that. So I shut
Speaker 4: the door. I was like, Okay, I have to figure
Speaker 4: this out. So I found Charles McDougall, who directed her,
Speaker 4: and understandably he was not happy with me, right, but
Speaker 4: he was cool and he kept his head and he
Speaker 4: looked at the schedule and he said, you know, you're
Speaker 4: in luck because we're shooting everything in the same location today.
Speaker 4: So I'm gonna switch the scene order. You're gonna run down,
Speaker 4: you're gonna do your matinee. The minute the curtain drops,
Speaker 4: you're gonna sprint back up here and shoot our scene.
Speaker 4: What So, yeah, you didn't know any of this, no,
Speaker 4: So I go, oh, thank you so much, thank you,
Speaker 4: thank you. Think I run down, I do the show.
Speaker 4: And this is actually one of my favorite showbiz memories
Speaker 4: because I guess word got around the theater of my situation.
Speaker 4: So when I took my bow and came into the wings,
Speaker 4: there was this NASCAR pit crew of like twenty people
Speaker 4: all there to like help me get ready. So literally,
Speaker 4: I'm in the wings and someone's pulling my wig off
Speaker 4: and the Bobby's beings out. Well, so they're pulling my gosh,
Speaker 4: I'm off, they're putting my street clothes on. They're wiping
Speaker 4: my makeup off. Wow, And I sprint right and I
Speaker 4: run up and I and I show up to your
Speaker 4: hair and makeup, and God bless them. So they're under
Speaker 4: the gun, right, They've got to have me camera ready
Speaker 4: in a couple of minutes. Oh my, it's like triage. Now,
Speaker 4: you know, stage makeup doesn't just wipe off.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's some thick stuff.
Speaker 4: Yeah, So I'm like half of it's still on and dripping.
Speaker 4: I'm dripping with sweat because I spra into the whole
Speaker 4: way and they made an executive decision. They were like,
Speaker 4: we can't restore you and start from scratch. So they
Speaker 4: made the decision to to just paint a layer of
Speaker 4: television makeup on top of the mess. What. Yeah, and
Speaker 4: they're so good that they made it. You didn't know.
Speaker 4: Nobody knew, but I knew when I watched the episode.
Speaker 4: Now I laugh because it's not my skin. It's I'm
Speaker 4: like a wax dummy of myself in the episode. Yeah.
Speaker 3: Incredible. Yeah, So then just curiosity. Were they ready for
Speaker 3: you or did you have to wait?
Speaker 4: Because right and as you know, we do a lot
Speaker 4: of waiting. It was no, no, I went right in
Speaker 4: like you and I jumped right in and and then
Speaker 4: I had to switch gears because this wasn't my moment,
Speaker 4: this was your moment. Right.
Speaker 2: Well, well, I was not that happy about it. I
Speaker 2: don't know, I did.
Speaker 4: I know, So I'll address that, because you know, you
Speaker 4: were you. First of all, you were lovely. You were
Speaker 4: one of my favorite people I've worked with. You were
Speaker 4: gracious and I'm not just saying that because I'm on
Speaker 4: your podcast, but I remember, so I knew, like because
Speaker 4: we've all had to do some form of undress, and
Speaker 4: I think people think that like, oh, actors there, they
Speaker 4: have no shyness. They know it's very vulnerable and you
Speaker 4: feel very exposed, punintended. And so I was like, okay,
Speaker 4: I have responsibility. Kristen's gonna feel uncomfortable. Yeah, well, it's
Speaker 4: just real, right, And and we didn't know one another.
Speaker 4: It's not like we were old friends from school, so
Speaker 4: it was like I was a complete stranger. So I
Speaker 4: was like, Okay, I have to find this balance of
Speaker 4: like I want her to know that I'm not some
Speaker 4: creep who's ogling her, but at the same time, I'm
Speaker 4: a heterosexual man. And ge, you look great, you know
Speaker 4: what I mean, sweet balancing act And I just wanted
Speaker 4: to be there for you and make you feel And
Speaker 4: so the moment I knew that it was okay is
Speaker 4: you were nervous. The first two takes you were understandably
Speaker 4: very nervous. But I think the third or fourth take
Speaker 4: you turned to me and asked me. You probably don't
Speaker 4: remember this, You asked me if you had any bra
Speaker 4: lines on your boobs. And that was the moment when
Speaker 4: I said, I've done my job.
Speaker 2: She's come about so funny. That's so terrific.
Speaker 3: It's so funny the crazy things you worry about, like
Speaker 3: brawl lines.
Speaker 2: I cracked myself up, like on.
Speaker 4: Earth, I know, but it's totally real. I know.
Speaker 3: It's just so like, you know what, people have a
Speaker 3: lot of thoughts and feelings about intimacy supervisors whatever. They're
Speaker 3: called intimacy coaches, coordinators. Thank you, I knew there's a word.
Speaker 3: That's the thing that nowadays I would ask an intimacy coordinator,
Speaker 3: of course, because they're like your eyes, you know what
Speaker 3: I mean.
Speaker 4: It's such a different world after me too, and I
Speaker 4: think for the better. But there there were you know
Speaker 4: there it's such a weird thing scenes. So one of
Speaker 4: the ways we always dealt with it was to make
Speaker 4: a joke of it.
Speaker 2: Totally.
Speaker 4: If you can't, I look back. If you can't, right,
Speaker 4: that's just I look back and like, you know, I
Speaker 4: did a series where the woman played my wife. We
Speaker 4: were having a sex scene and we were just we
Speaker 4: were buddies and we were just saying the most inappropriate
Speaker 4: things to one another just to crack each other up
Speaker 4: and threw up. Yeah, you couldn't do that. Today they
Speaker 4: put up the blooperss reel and I was like, oh
Speaker 4: my god, I'd get fired for that.
Speaker 2: Oh they put it on the Bloopers reel.
Speaker 4: Yeah, because oh god, yeah, oh yeah, oh my, did
Speaker 4: you buy the DVD of that series? Like you'll see wow?
Speaker 4: And it's actually it's funny. Well that's lighthearted, right, but still.
Speaker 3: It would still not be okay with hr. Right, that's
Speaker 3: really interesting to think about. I mean, the thing that
Speaker 3: I think is interesting and.
Speaker 2: There is like a whole court case. I believe it
Speaker 2: was friends.
Speaker 3: There was a potential court case about them kind of
Speaker 3: making jokes in the writer's room.
Speaker 2: But because you know, there's a whole thing.
Speaker 3: About like if your show or your writing is if
Speaker 3: this is part of the show and the writing of
Speaker 3: the job, that there is a certain amount of leeway
Speaker 3: or whatever.
Speaker 2: Now I don't know if that would go for on set, right.
Speaker 3: And I mean like now when you go to work,
Speaker 3: there's a one eight hundred number on your call sheet
Speaker 3: that you can call if you're uncomfortable, and people call,
Speaker 3: which is interesting to me.
Speaker 4: It's interesting because it's many things, right, Like I think
Speaker 4: sometimes it's really legitimate, right, and it's a call. And
Speaker 4: you know, we've all been in those situations. I've been
Speaker 4: in situations where I was like, this isn't how it's done.
Speaker 4: There's there's a protocol here that you're not following. Now.
Speaker 3: Did you feel that way as an actor or did
Speaker 3: you feel worried about the women or was it directed
Speaker 3: at you?
Speaker 4: No, it's directed at me. I'm gonna be careful what
Speaker 4: I know because I don't know.
Speaker 2: Of course, I'm just so curious about the man experience.
Speaker 4: But it's it's lovely that you ask about that, because
Speaker 4: in the moment the men in the show I was,
Speaker 4: I was in I was as the script was being
Speaker 4: handed out. I said, they said, oh you're cool with nunity.
Speaker 2: Right, oh?
Speaker 4: And I went casual like that, oh lord, And I said,
Speaker 4: have you spoken to my agent?
Speaker 2: Yes, it's not Yeah, there's no.
Speaker 4: And so I held my guns and helped to my guns.
Speaker 4: I know, Amy, you know, I held my ground sure.
Speaker 4: And it was interesting because the guys in the show
Speaker 4: were all like, dud, just do it, just show your
Speaker 4: ass who cares and or whatever it was, and and
Speaker 4: the women were all very sympathetic. They were all like, no,
Speaker 4: you stand your ground. So, and that's because they've been
Speaker 4: put in that situation.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and I feel like agency is key, right, Like,
Speaker 3: if you're choosing to do it, yes, if you're being pushed.
Speaker 4: It's not okay, it's not okay.
Speaker 3: No, not for anyone. No, no, I agree totally. So
Speaker 3: did it work out?
Speaker 4: Yeah, it all worked out.
Speaker 2: You have to call your agent.
Speaker 4: No conversations happened, but it's fine. It all, it all
Speaker 4: worked out.
Speaker 3: It was also supposed to be like contractual agreements, that's
Speaker 3: just it.
Speaker 4: And you know the contracts are funny. Yeah, it'll be
Speaker 4: like like we'll show one quarter of an ass, cheek
Speaker 4: or whatever.
Speaker 2: The right rest is very specific. It's so hard, like
Speaker 2: nudity for some reason is so hard.
Speaker 4: It's vulnerable, it really really is. It's like, yeah, and I.
Speaker 3: Mean this was a flash, right, like I flashed my
Speaker 3: breast at you.
Speaker 4: It's not even it was just one as we negotiated.
Speaker 2: Exactly right, exactly. But I remember there were people like,
Speaker 2: we're in a restaurant. Yeah, you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 3: But I mean it wasn't even like a sex scene
Speaker 3: where they can close the sun.
Speaker 4: And they did have us cordoned off of it.
Speaker 3: They tried, right, But I mean there were people in
Speaker 3: a restaurant, right, and I was just like flat, like
Speaker 3: it was bizarre, and I just remembered like my body
Speaker 3: didn't want to do it, like I had to force myself.
Speaker 4: I feel all that you did. Yeah, I was so
Speaker 4: like I was. I was, I so felt you, and
Speaker 4: I was like trying to send you all.
Speaker 3: The that it may it matter so much in the moment, right,
Speaker 3: because like you're you're just doing something that you know
Speaker 3: you have to do, but you're not organically feeling it.
Speaker 3: And as an actress, right, Like, let's see, we were
Speaker 3: in a sex scene, which that's a different ball of ACXE.
Speaker 3: It's a different situation, right.
Speaker 4: Even more awkward and even more weird than.
Speaker 3: Weird because you're simulating sex but you're not having sex.
Speaker 3: But then also you can usually joke through it, like
Speaker 3: you're saying, like, that's a really common thing that actors do, right,
Speaker 3: and hopefully you have a vibe with each other where
Speaker 3: you can trust each other and make it fun and
Speaker 3: funny or.
Speaker 2: Totally laughing at yourselves.
Speaker 3: But we were separated, physically separated, so I didn't even
Speaker 3: I couldn't really rely on you, like I could you
Speaker 3: were contributing in a positive way.
Speaker 4: But the beginning, yeah, it was.
Speaker 3: It wasn't like we were in an intimate, intimate scene, right,
Speaker 3: which in some ways would make it better, meaning like
Speaker 3: sometimes when you're being kind of silly, it's better. But
Speaker 3: I don't know why that day, I just didn't want
Speaker 3: to do it, Like I still feel that way talking
Speaker 3: about it.
Speaker 2: Like I didn't want to do it.
Speaker 3: But then if I can just separate myself from my
Speaker 3: own anxiety, I look back and I'm like, what is
Speaker 3: my problem? It's adorable and I'm young and beautiful and
Speaker 3: what is my problem?
Speaker 2: And I'm like old now? And I should feel that way.
Speaker 2: I still feel the anxiety when I think about it.
Speaker 4: I feel you, isn't that weird?
Speaker 2: Interesting? Is it not?
Speaker 4: Okay? Oh, it's human okay, And we're not. We're actors.
Speaker 4: We're not exhibitionists.
Speaker 2: It's true some of us are. No, But I mean
Speaker 2: that's a misconception, I think.
Speaker 4: A big miscuss. Yes, I think I think just the
Speaker 4: misconception that all actors are extroverts.
Speaker 2: Right, we're not respect You're not.
Speaker 4: I'm not either. I'm I'm gregarious. I like people. I
Speaker 4: don't have social anxiety. But I'm an introvert. I recharge
Speaker 4: my batteries alone, like and you know, I'm not like
Speaker 4: love me, love me love you know. We'll have a
Speaker 4: little bit of that, but for sure, but that's not
Speaker 4: that's not my go to place.
Speaker 2: No me neither.
Speaker 3: And I do think it's a really interesting thing and
Speaker 3: definitely like that weird. I think social media has fed
Speaker 3: the thing of like, oh, you all knew you wanted this, ye.
Speaker 4: You chased it right.
Speaker 3: No, for us, especially because we're not twenty, you know,
Speaker 3: it was a different world that we thought we were
Speaker 3: getting into, and it was like about.
Speaker 2: Acting and theater and not about fame, right. Yeah.
Speaker 4: In fact, a friend of mine years ago said, we
Speaker 4: also deal with fame in some way. But there are
Speaker 4: two types of actors. There are those who see fame
Speaker 4: as the prop and those who see fame as the price.
Speaker 2: Right. That's true for all of us.
Speaker 3: We never even I don't even think any of us,
Speaker 3: including Sarahjosca, ever thought about it, and then all of
Speaker 3: a sudden, there we were in it, and we were
Speaker 3: like whoa, whoa, mama, Well.
Speaker 4: Yeah, did you know, like when you joined the show,
Speaker 4: We're like, this is going to be a cultural phenomenon.
Speaker 2: Of course, of course not no, no, no, no, no.
Speaker 3: We thought it was going to be a tiny little
Speaker 3: cult thing if it went well.
Speaker 4: If it went well, you're lucky, it'll be a cult thing.
Speaker 2: Totally.
Speaker 3: Yes, if we're lucky, we'll get to keep doing it
Speaker 3: and it will have enough of a little audience that
Speaker 3: we will get to continue.
Speaker 2: And we did, we did.
Speaker 4: It's funny. I was thinking on the way over here
Speaker 4: about I was doing a series where I was playing
Speaker 4: a closeted gay guy and someone we hadn't aired yet,
Speaker 4: and some interviewer asked me, so are you Is your
Speaker 4: character like fabulous you get all the funny zingers and
Speaker 4: one liners. And I said no, no, no, And I
Speaker 4: gave this sort of long thoughtful answer about like, no,
Speaker 4: it's not like because he's in the closet, so he's
Speaker 4: not like out and fabulous, right, he's actually like, you know,
Speaker 4: kind of butching it up or whatever. Yeah, exactly, yea.
Speaker 4: And I said, so, no, I don't get to do
Speaker 4: like that that fun brilliant thing that like Eric stone
Speaker 4: Street gets to do on Modern Family, or you know
Speaker 4: that that Sean Hayes gets to do on Will and
Speaker 4: grace like, I'm not I'm not like that, and those
Speaker 4: guys do that so brilliantly, and that's you know, and
Speaker 4: I give and my answer was very complimentary to them
Speaker 4: because they're both fantastic actors and I know Sean well
Speaker 4: sure enough. Oh no, yeah, that all that long thoughtful
Speaker 4: answer gets taken, gets boiled down to one sentence, which
Speaker 4: is literally they quoted me as saying, I'm not playing
Speaker 4: a stereotype. I'm not Sean Hayes.
Speaker 2: Oh my god.
Speaker 4: I was like, are you That is not what I
Speaker 4: and so like fashionately, Sean and I have a mutual,
Speaker 4: very dear friend and I was able to get in
Speaker 4: touch with him and he was like, oh, don't worry
Speaker 4: about it. I know they do that all the time.
Speaker 4: Don't give it a second thought.
Speaker 3: But I thought, awful, you know what I think is
Speaker 3: interesting about that too, And I feel like it's the
Speaker 3: kind of thing of like you count when if you
Speaker 3: give a really long answer that's thoughtful, they can edit
Speaker 3: it down, which is then why you go like, oh, okay,
Speaker 3: I've got to give a short sound bite that cannot
Speaker 3: be misconstrued. Then people get upset when they see your interview,
Speaker 3: like why does she give such short answers? She needs
Speaker 3: to be more thoughtful, and you're.
Speaker 2: Just trying to exactly exactly right. They're like, he got
Speaker 2: media training whatever, God forbid, you know which, I've never
Speaker 2: had media training training.
Speaker 4: I know.
Speaker 2: I want to know who is getting media trading.
Speaker 3: Somebody is, someone is, but I don't know who, right,
Speaker 3: It's all of us just got thrown in and by example. Right, Okay,
Speaker 3: let's talk just for a second. I know, no, I'm
Speaker 3: loving this conversation in general, but I want to just
Speaker 3: talk a little bit about where were you in your
Speaker 3: career when this happened.
Speaker 2: You were on Broadway.
Speaker 3: Obviously you had just moved to LA and then you
Speaker 3: come back, But like, what what was it like for.
Speaker 2: You being on the show. What do you remember around
Speaker 2: the show?
Speaker 4: Well, so at that point the show was already a hit.
Speaker 2: Right, this is season four? Yeah? So wait season five,
Speaker 2: season five? Oh my god?
Speaker 4: So yeah, and I had auditioned for other parts before that.
Speaker 2: I hadn't got many of our I mean every New
Speaker 2: York stressful?
Speaker 4: Was what stressful? The audition process?
Speaker 2: The process?
Speaker 4: Yeah?
Speaker 2: Okay, okay, so you were just like it's going to
Speaker 2: work out. I'm going to keep going.
Speaker 4: Not I didn't feel like, oh, Sex and the City
Speaker 4: is going to work out, right. I just felt like
Speaker 4: I auditioned a lot, something like I'm auditioning for this,
Speaker 4: and I'm auditioning for this commercial and this, you know,
Speaker 4: and uh and and but I remember it being a
Speaker 4: very pleasant audition and it wasn't grueling or long, and
Speaker 4: I felt good about it. But you know, uh so
Speaker 4: when I booked it, I was really happy. And I
Speaker 4: had just at the same time, I mean, my TV
Speaker 4: career hadn't really taken off yet, but I had just
Speaker 4: done a FedEx commercial with Steve Carell.
Speaker 2: Wow.
Speaker 4: And It's funny because so I had two very small
Speaker 4: things that I started getting recognized for. One was this
Speaker 4: FedEx guy. So one more, I was living on in
Speaker 4: Theipper West Side and I had ordered me tickage and
Speaker 4: it was early I think I was partying the night
Speaker 4: before and I answered the door and I'm bleary eyed
Speaker 4: and this I'm signing for the package. And the guy
Speaker 4: looks at me goes, hey, you're the fed Ex guy.
Speaker 4: And I looked up. I said, no, man, you're the
Speaker 4: fat guy. And we started laughing. And then same thing,
Speaker 4: like I you know, obviously this Sailor wasn't a huge role,
Speaker 4: but it was sort of an iconic moment, and to
Speaker 4: this day people will be like, no, way, you know
Speaker 4: you're the sailor or.
Speaker 2: Oh my god.
Speaker 4: They'll say, show me your tits, you know.
Speaker 2: How what do you say?
Speaker 4: Well, I don't show them my tits.
Speaker 2: And probably a good thing. Probably a good thing, So
Speaker 2: don't go round flash.
Speaker 4: And before me too, I would have but not really, no,
Speaker 4: not really no. And my kids roll their eyes. They
Speaker 4: hate when people recognize me.
Speaker 2: Mind you too, It's good, it's healthy.
Speaker 4: They should hate it.
Speaker 2: It's interesting, right right, yeah.
Speaker 4: And I always I try to be like sensitive to that.
Speaker 2: We too, so do I.
Speaker 3: I have a no picture rule when the kids around,
Speaker 3: and I feel so guilty about it.
Speaker 4: No, you shouldn't feel guilty. I'm no.
Speaker 3: I mean, it's just I don't want them to feel
Speaker 3: like that. The other work thing matters more.
Speaker 4: You want them to have a normal life.
Speaker 2: I did as much as I can, So go ahead,
Speaker 2: go ahead. I don't so.
Speaker 3: So you had the FedEx thing, which is crazy it
Speaker 3: love it.
Speaker 4: And uh so, yeah, but this was this was the first,
Speaker 4: the first TV thing that I started really getting recognized.
Speaker 2: Got it? Because you feel good.
Speaker 4: Sure you.
Speaker 3: Tell me.
Speaker 2: I love to hear other people's experience, you know.
Speaker 4: Okay, as an analogy, I'm going to tell you a story.
Speaker 4: I was doing a series with John Voight years ago,
Speaker 4: and he played my father and we, you know, we
Speaker 4: had a funny relationship. Politically we're not on the same team. Yeah,
Speaker 4: he's character, but he's got a good heart. And we
Speaker 4: became friends and I actually, I really love I have
Speaker 4: a place in my heart for John. I love. But
Speaker 4: and we would debate politics and it was we had
Speaker 4: a great respectful you know. But once one time he
Speaker 4: and I were walking through the Dallas Airport together and
Speaker 4: he couldn't go five feet without someone? Can I have
Speaker 4: a picture? Can I have an autograph?
Speaker 2: Sure?
Speaker 4: So he did. I'll never forget this, Christen. It was
Speaker 4: like a conductor, he said. I said. I said, does
Speaker 4: it bother you? And he said no, I'm used to it.
Speaker 4: He said, you want a little taste. That said, what
Speaker 4: do you mean? So this woman started walking toward us
Speaker 4: with her phone out, her camera whatever it was, and
Speaker 4: without missing a beat, he reached out, took the camera
Speaker 4: from her hands and said, of course you can have
Speaker 4: a picture with Mark Declan, and I saw her wheels going,
Speaker 4: like the hell is Mark Declan. She had no clue,
Speaker 4: but then I saw her decide I do want a
Speaker 4: picture with him, right because he must be important. Wow,
Speaker 4: So now she's hugging up on me. John is the photographer.
Speaker 4: I see someone else go, I don't know who that is,
Speaker 4: but I need a picture. Yeah, And within five minutes,
Speaker 4: I'm being mobbed. I can hear buzz, literally buzz, people
Speaker 4: going Mark Declan's in the airport. Oh my god, it's
Speaker 4: Mark Declan. They had no clue who I was. Interesting,
Speaker 4: And it went on for about five minutes and then
Speaker 4: John said if he had another and I was like, yeah,
Speaker 4: it's kind of weird. So he turned the camera back
Speaker 4: on himself and I was forgotten instantly, like I never existed.
Speaker 2: That's super interesting, but it was a great.
Speaker 4: Lesson in how smoke and mirrors it is. Yeah, right, yeah, anyway,
Speaker 4: I don't know if that answers your question.
Speaker 2: No, it's really interesting.
Speaker 4: It's a weird thing.
Speaker 3: So you've had this incredible career with like everyone and
Speaker 3: their brother, which is super interesting to me. But take
Speaker 3: me back again, because I'm trying to place like was our.
Speaker 2: Show and you're on a Broadway play. It's like a
Speaker 2: lot going on.
Speaker 3: Did you feel the momentum Was it like the momentum
Speaker 3: was picking up in your career?
Speaker 4: Yeah, definitely, because because I had you know, I was
Speaker 4: a theater kid, right, Like I was Shakespeare, Like that
Speaker 4: was really what I was mostly doing. And then I
Speaker 4: was doing a lot of off Broadway and regional and
Speaker 4: I was dabbling in film and TV. But I didn't
Speaker 4: really have a TV and film career, but things I
Speaker 4: had started going to La more and more and working
Speaker 4: in La more and more, and so that's why I
Speaker 4: had made the move, but it hadn't really gotten traction yet.
Speaker 4: And this was right around the time when I started
Speaker 4: to get traction and I started to Yeah, I started
Speaker 4: to feel like it's an interesting thing, right because these
Speaker 4: past few years, our industry has been in a weird place.
Speaker 2: Oh my gosh, it's a mess.
Speaker 4: It's a hot mess, and it's a mess, and we're
Speaker 4: all having to get creative about all right, what else
Speaker 4: do I do? How do I make a little dough?
Speaker 2: It's so sad. It makes me so sad.
Speaker 4: I mean, we could have a whole podcast about that. Yeah,
Speaker 4: crew members who aren't.
Speaker 2: There there was an apprenticeship.
Speaker 4: Right, like young young crew members coming up in the
Speaker 4: industry would would train with master older guys. That's just
Speaker 4: not happening anymore.
Speaker 2: Well, because there's not enough work for everybody.
Speaker 3: So, you know, I know, it's it's hard to know,
Speaker 3: how are the young people going to learn all the things?
Speaker 2: You know what I mean, It's just a different world.
Speaker 3: But also the thing that really stresses me, and I
Speaker 3: don't know how much this is true in New York
Speaker 3: in LA. The people who are the you know, crew
Speaker 3: people that we would normally just like have such a
Speaker 3: wonderful picture.
Speaker 4: And work with them on many different projects, they're.
Speaker 2: All leaving town because there's no production. It's horrible.
Speaker 4: It's the saddest thing. And so so getting that sense
Speaker 4: like back in those days, yeah, you could get traction,
Speaker 4: you could get a sense of like I'm not where
Speaker 4: I want to be yet, but I feel a trajectory,
Speaker 4: I feel momentum. The industry the gross industry term was heat, right,
Speaker 4: like you got heat right now? Yeah? Yeah, yeah, yeah,
Speaker 4: but you don't it's hard to feel that these days.
Speaker 2: Well yeah, I don't know.
Speaker 3: I don't even know because I'm obviously in a different position, thankfully,
Speaker 3: but also like you're just for me. I'm always trying
Speaker 3: to figure out, like what do I want to do
Speaker 3: that makes me happy, because happiness is important, Whereas when
Speaker 3: you're young, you're just like hungry, hungry. I just felt
Speaker 3: hungry for anything.
Speaker 2: At that point. I had no kids.
Speaker 4: I was like whatever, and well, of course you change everything.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, yeah, it does.
Speaker 3: Yeah, but so take me back again for you because
Speaker 3: I'm so curious. So okay, so you've got the FedEx thing.
Speaker 2: You come do our show. People want you to flush
Speaker 2: flash your breast, but you're your breast, my breast. I
Speaker 2: don't know, but you know what I mean.
Speaker 4: They're like when you said the same thing, She's like,
Speaker 4: you were on Sex in the City and you took
Speaker 4: your shirt off for Charlotte and I said, no, she
Speaker 4: took her shirt off for me.
Speaker 2: Oh that's funny. Why were you talking to Wendy Williams
Speaker 2: Because I was.
Speaker 4: Doing a series at the time. This is like in
Speaker 4: these years later.
Speaker 2: Was on her show.
Speaker 4: Yeah, not personally and said, okay, god, we're having dinner
Speaker 4: as we on No, no, no, I was doing a
Speaker 4: series in twenty twelve or something, and I was on
Speaker 4: her show Got It, but she was like, I remember
Speaker 4: you from Sex and the City.
Speaker 5: Wow, Wow wow.
Speaker 3: So and then you've been on so many shows like Frasier,
Speaker 3: Love Frasier, My god, do you feel I was on
Speaker 3: some other sitcoms before and during kind of Sex and State,
Speaker 3: like I want to friends whatever. I felt like I
Speaker 3: learned so much being on all the different sets, because
Speaker 3: they're so so.
Speaker 4: Different, so different, and you want like, you know, it's funny.
Speaker 4: We just lost James Brooks, right, and so said I
Speaker 4: did a pilot with him, and you know people called
Speaker 4: him the comedy doctor. Yeah, and it's true. There was
Speaker 4: a moment in our pilot. I'll never forget this. I
Speaker 4: wasn't It wasn't my scene we were shooting. It was
Speaker 4: Seth Green, and I forget who he was in the
Speaker 4: scene with. But as he was talking, he was folding laudry.
Speaker 4: It took a place at a laudamat and and he
Speaker 4: wasn't getting to laugh. He wasn't landing the joke. But
Speaker 4: you know he's a that's a funny guy. Yeah, but
Speaker 4: it wasn't landing. And Jimmy just got up and he said, oh,
Speaker 4: it's because you're folding the towel the wrong way. Oh,
Speaker 4: and Seth went what and he said, yeah, you're folding
Speaker 4: it this way. You need to fold it this way.
Speaker 3: I mean, the man could a crazy Oh come on, no, no, no,
Speaker 3: And then he did it.
Speaker 4: He furled the towel the other way, and the audience
Speaker 4: went nuts.
Speaker 3: It was insane, insane. It was insane, imane. Will and
Speaker 3: Grace with him, and I was dying of nerves. I'm
Speaker 3: a nervous thing.
Speaker 2: Right, Like I look back, I'm like, why am I
Speaker 2: so nervous all the time? But we Yeah, can we
Speaker 2: just say that, like totally.
Speaker 4: I know so few people who really are that's a.
Speaker 2: Good point, like okay, and confident, right.
Speaker 4: Like I have. I have things about me that I'm
Speaker 4: that I'm confident.
Speaker 3: But we're all nervous, I know, right, and for me,
Speaker 3: and it's hard because I you know, obviously criticize myself
Speaker 3: for it, but also I'm nervous because I really want
Speaker 3: to be good and I want to contribute to whatever
Speaker 3: I'm doing, which of course I feel like it's good
Speaker 3: or I wouldn't be doing it, you know what I'm saying,
Speaker 3: Like it comes from a place that's good, that you
Speaker 3: want to have, right, Like you want that excitement, you.
Speaker 4: Want to be a team player, contribute to the team.
Speaker 2: Yes, yes, and I will and Grace.
Speaker 3: It's such a great, great show, right, and you know
Speaker 3: I wanted to be a part of it. But also
Speaker 3: sitcoms for me were meaning traditional three camera sitcoms, right,
Speaker 3: which we were not. They like to say that Sex
Speaker 3: and City is a sitcom, it's not really as a.
Speaker 4: Comp it's a comedy.
Speaker 3: Yes, it's a single camera comedy, yes, which is a
Speaker 3: little different.
Speaker 4: It's a different animal.
Speaker 3: It's a different animal as an actor, for sure. So
Speaker 3: this was you know, a traditional you know, multicam.
Speaker 4: Which we don't get enough of these days.
Speaker 2: I know they need to come back. There was a
Speaker 2: moment in time where they were like they're coming back,
Speaker 2: They're coming back. But anyway, so I go on the show.
Speaker 3: I knew Jimmy, I knew Eric, I knew Debora, I
Speaker 3: knew everybody, right, and Bobby Canavale was playing my gay
Speaker 3: best friend.
Speaker 2: We were like, uh, you know, weird couple.
Speaker 3: That was because he was dating his character was dating
Speaker 3: Eric's character, right, So it was it was I knew everybody,
Speaker 3: which was great, but yet the the actual physical element
Speaker 3: of walking out. You're doing this show. It's like a
Speaker 3: theater kind of but yeah, they're laughing, right, so so
Speaker 3: you're you're in this weird thing. But then they're filming,
Speaker 3: so like, I didn't know they would do this thing more.
Speaker 3: When I walked out, everyone would clap for so long
Speaker 3: that I would just be like, I don't.
Speaker 4: Know what the sorry. Before Sex and the City, I
Speaker 4: feel like, like, were you already, Kristen.
Speaker 2: Yes, I was. I was. I feel like it.
Speaker 3: Might have been after Okay, I feel like, yeah, which
Speaker 3: was adorable and so sweet, but I didn't know because
Speaker 3: it's going to ruin the joke right, like the next joke,
Speaker 3: like timing and everything exactly.
Speaker 6: And Jimmy was there, and Jimmy, you know, that man
Speaker 6: could just make you unbelievable feel I mean a wizard
Speaker 6: and a genius and a sweetheart sweet I mean just
Speaker 6: so supportive, you know. And he he told me a
Speaker 6: couple of things like like I think at one point
Speaker 6: he told me to count to five in my head
Speaker 6: before I delivered some line. And every time if you
Speaker 6: did exactly what that man said, you would get the
Speaker 6: biggest laugh you'd ever Doe music. It was insane, like
Speaker 6: his knowledge, his way of talking to you, like I
Speaker 6: don't it's so crazy, and we're so lucky to have
Speaker 6: had him and to have gotten to work with him,
Speaker 6: and you know, he's somewhere shining down on us.
Speaker 2: You know. He was such a sweet sweet Did you
Speaker 2: watch the Comeback?
Speaker 4: I didn't.
Speaker 3: He's in it, he's playing I know, I need so
Speaker 3: many credible.
Speaker 4: Especially with the whole AI thing that's happening, like so
Speaker 4: many people have been like, if you watch the I've.
Speaker 3: Got to see it's so good. Michael Patrick and Lisa
Speaker 3: did just a tremendous job. And the fact that Jimmy's
Speaker 3: there playing himself and I didn't know that he was sick.
Speaker 3: I think a lot of us didn't know that he
Speaker 3: was sick.
Speaker 2: So it's because he.
Speaker 4: Wasn't the kind of guy who'd be like.
Speaker 2: No no, no, no no no.
Speaker 3: But he is just lovely to see him and he's
Speaker 3: himself but and so sweet, and he gives this beautiful
Speaker 3: ending talk to Lisa's character about AI, and it's it's great.
Speaker 3: It's so great, and I love that Michael created that
Speaker 3: so that we have it, you know, on film.
Speaker 2: But anyway, back to your career.
Speaker 4: Michael's writing.
Speaker 2: Michael back to that.
Speaker 4: Too, because did he write this episode. He did write this.
Speaker 2: Yes, that's actually splash.
Speaker 4: The dubbing thing. We welcome back to this. But you well, you.
Speaker 2: Know, I don't know.
Speaker 4: Well, do you remember when when it was TBS that
Speaker 4: acquired the show, right, yes, and so we all had
Speaker 4: to go back into the recording studio and re record
Speaker 4: our lines to dub out the profanity.
Speaker 2: You had to do this too, of course, everybody wow,
Speaker 2: And so.
Speaker 4: I remember, and this is what this is what uh,
Speaker 4: this is what Kim and I were laughing about a
Speaker 4: couple years ago because in this episode stop you were
Speaker 4: on I was on with Kim Cattrell Netflix on Netflix.
Speaker 2: It got it many many years later.
Speaker 4: Many years later. It was in twenty twenty.
Speaker 2: Two, got it, got it, got it?
Speaker 4: Okay, So in this episode, you guys have that scene
Speaker 4: in the diner where she's trying to say pussy, but
Speaker 4: you guys don't want to say in front of the baby.
Speaker 4: Well Charlotte doesn't, right, Yes, yes, I don't know if
Speaker 4: carry yeah, maybe maybe they didn't care as much.
Speaker 2: They didn't look like that.
Speaker 4: One of you comes up and obviously this is Michael
Speaker 4: Pater King's writing, you come up with soush ye, which
Speaker 4: is very clever phonetically right, because the words are kind
Speaker 4: of similar, right. And so what Kim and I were
Speaker 4: laughing about was I didn't get so lucky when I
Speaker 4: had to go in and dub my line. My famous
Speaker 4: line was show me your tits, and they of course
Speaker 4: change it to boobs. And if you think about the
Speaker 4: mouth shape, those two words are nothing like.
Speaker 2: Also, isn't that weird? Though? That one's okay? And when
Speaker 2: is it like what?
Speaker 4: Of course it's random and arbitrary, but you know, I'm
Speaker 4: pretty good in the booth like lip sync. I can
Speaker 4: tell you I could not make that work.
Speaker 2: Well, no one could. I'm sorry.
Speaker 4: No one watching it will ever believe that sailor said
Speaker 4: show me your boobs, but I.
Speaker 3: Do think and not everyone listening is going to remember this.
Speaker 3: So basically, so the show was on HBO and we
Speaker 3: could say whatever we wanted and that was part of
Speaker 3: the whole joy of it. Then when we end, TBS
Speaker 3: gets it, everyone just remembers it on eat right, they
Speaker 3: don't even remember that TBS like did things like this.
Speaker 3: So TBS, who's also in the Warner Brothers. You know,
Speaker 3: TV World syndicates it, but we had to clean it up,
Speaker 3: and I think whole storylines were cut, Like you remember that,
Speaker 3: it was like very so I had one line.
Speaker 4: I'm sure you guys must have been in the booth.
Speaker 3: For but I think what had happened back in the day,
Speaker 3: and I totally could be wrong. I would love someone
Speaker 3: to fill me in on this. I remember going and
Speaker 3: looping stuff as it was happening, just in case someday
Speaker 3: we might get syndicated.
Speaker 4: Do you mean that was forethoughts?
Speaker 3: Yeah, but I don't know if we really could have
Speaker 3: imagined that it would be what it is, right, So
Speaker 3: I don't know for sure, and I just remember its
Speaker 3: going like how is this going to work?
Speaker 2: Whatever? But also we're so happy because we got paid more,
Speaker 2: you know what I'm.
Speaker 4: Saying, paid more and you get a wider audience, like
Speaker 4: it's right, which I.
Speaker 2: Don't think we really. Yeah, I mean, nothing's wrong with it.
Speaker 2: I think the only thing wrong with.
Speaker 3: It would be like does the show hold up because
Speaker 3: we weren't making the show for that, right.
Speaker 4: Well, the show's called Sex and the City exactly.
Speaker 3: Right, right, So what sad sad version is going to
Speaker 3: be on TVs, and I do think it was exactly.
Speaker 3: I think it was kind of sad, but then E
Speaker 3: gets it as things are loosening up, I guess, and
Speaker 3: I think E also it was like dubbed, meaning some
Speaker 3: of the words, and then I think some of the
Speaker 3: storylines still weren't on in it. And then time goes
Speaker 3: on and eventually Netflix gets it as it originally was,
Speaker 3: which is kind of amazing. And now, sadly, like last week,
Speaker 3: it's off Netflix, I know, and it's only on HBO
Speaker 3: that I know of, because I think that we're in
Speaker 3: this crazy holding pattern, not knowing if the merger is
Speaker 3: going to happen, and so I don't know what the
Speaker 3: plan is. No one really tells us what the plan is,
Speaker 3: which is kind of frustrating.
Speaker 4: Because does anybody tell us what any of the plans are?
Speaker 3: Never?
Speaker 2: It's so hard and there are.
Speaker 4: I mean, at the DJ right now, they're fast tracking
Speaker 4: some mergers that probably violate antitrust laws, but they're sliding
Speaker 4: them through.
Speaker 2: So I know. But all of the states are going
Speaker 2: to sue.
Speaker 3: They're suing, right, So it's a whole big fight about
Speaker 3: Paramount Brothers, and I just want HBO.
Speaker 2: To be okay. That's where I care about. I care
Speaker 2: about HBO being okay.
Speaker 3: And I want people to be making shows at making
Speaker 3: movies so all of us can work and the crew
Speaker 3: can get paid.
Speaker 2: You know what I mean, Right, that's what we all want. Yeah, yeah, I.
Speaker 4: Mean I posted something during the strike and I was like, look,
Speaker 4: I know there's a perception that reactors are spoiled brats
Speaker 4: and we're all rich, and it's not true, and we
Speaker 4: all want to get back to work. Nobody's happy that
Speaker 4: we're on strike, and nobody's happy with the current state
Speaker 4: of the industry. We all want to get back to work.
Speaker 5: Yeah.
Speaker 3: Well, I think AI is just a huge, huge threat,
Speaker 3: and that is the one good thing that I think
Speaker 3: happened from the strike was people becoming more aware of
Speaker 3: the kind of existential right. But do you remember they
Speaker 3: almost settled the strike early, Yes, and they said, oh,
Speaker 3: we're not going to negotiate AI now, we're going to
Speaker 3: hold it till later.
Speaker 4: H No, were you personally aware of what a threat
Speaker 4: it was at that point, because it wasn't. No, like
Speaker 4: like I was aware of it. I was like, I
Speaker 4: was like, oh, yeah, that could be a threat, right,
Speaker 4: but it was not during the strike, Yeah, because it
Speaker 4: was an ancillary issue, and all of a sudden, you
Speaker 4: know what it was? They one of the contracts they
Speaker 4: brought back. The language was essentially, I'm badly paraphrasing, but
Speaker 4: it was essentially like, if you work for us, we
Speaker 4: own your image in perpetuity and.
Speaker 3: We can do whatever we want to do with that.
Speaker 3: And that's the moment a studio. Right then you would
Speaker 3: all of your your self would be gone because they
Speaker 3: would have it and they could pull it out whenever
Speaker 3: they wanted, and you were insane.
Speaker 2: It's insane, I know.
Speaker 3: So now, the last job I did in Toronto that
Speaker 3: I was telling you about, there's a whole addendum, like
Speaker 3: an added on contra about the AI.
Speaker 2: But then what was great in.
Speaker 3: This particular job, which I'm probably not supposed to talk about,
Speaker 3: but we so you had to sign the thing and
Speaker 3: I was so scared. It was the first time I've
Speaker 3: had to sign it. And the lawyer's involved, and luckily
Speaker 3: because our union negotiated all this stuff, there's a lot
Speaker 3: of things that SAG negotiated that are like controls and
Speaker 3: you know, controlling the situation. Right, So I signed the
Speaker 3: thing but I'm still really nervous about it. And I
Speaker 3: get to the set and the special effects director is there,
Speaker 3: and I said, what are we doing? Are we doing
Speaker 3: the AI? Because I had to sign this very scary document.
Speaker 3: He was like, absolutely not. I do not believe in it.
Speaker 2: Everything at all.
Speaker 4: Everything was practical, yes, wow.
Speaker 2: Well special effects practical right, So special effects but practical
Speaker 2: not AI.
Speaker 4: Right.
Speaker 3: So the artists, the special effects artists that we're doing
Speaker 3: their work because we also want them to continue to
Speaker 3: have a job, right.
Speaker 4: And it's it's about more of the job security. It
Speaker 4: is about that, right. But it like I would say,
Speaker 4: look at look at like the Lord of the Rings
Speaker 4: movies versus the Hobbit movies.
Speaker 2: Yeah, big.
Speaker 4: I mean there are a number of differences why one
Speaker 4: worked and one didn't. But one of the big ones
Speaker 4: that the Hobbit relied so much on digital technology, whereas
Speaker 4: Lord of the Rings it was all practical, right, Like
Speaker 4: they were making glassware, Gondrian glassware, and they were there
Speaker 4: were there were there was chain mail under tunics that
Speaker 4: you never saw, but you felt it. Yeah. Bernard Hill
Speaker 4: talked about who played Theodore when they brought him his breastplate.
Speaker 4: The designers had made a whole heraldic story inside the
Speaker 4: breastplate of the history of his ancestors. Incredible that no
Speaker 4: one ever saw. Bernard Hill said, when I saw that
Speaker 4: coming toward me, that was the moment that I became
Speaker 4: theodoin Wow, Like it just did it for me.
Speaker 2: That's some deep lore.
Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah and deep right, And.
Speaker 2: I can peek out and I can tell very impressed.
Speaker 4: But as a film lover, yes, I'm also a token lover.
Speaker 4: But but aside from that, as a film lover, I
Speaker 4: love when you can feel the depth of yeah, yeah,
Speaker 4: craft and.
Speaker 3: Absolutely, And I think that's something where because of what
Speaker 3: we were talking about earlier, we were trained for theater,
Speaker 3: as I was.
Speaker 2: I though I don't get to.
Speaker 3: Use it very often, but whatever, I mean, I'm using it,
Speaker 3: but not the whole thing, right, because like we.
Speaker 2: Have training and then we use like a little section.
Speaker 3: But that's okay because that's what we love, right, and
Speaker 3: that's what we wanted to do. So we were like,
Speaker 3: you know, slaving ourselves a way to learn like voice movement,
Speaker 3: like you also did fight choreography. Incredible do you still
Speaker 3: do it?
Speaker 4: Like how? Yeah, it's funny. I fell into it a
Speaker 4: little bit by accident, but it's you know, we were
Speaker 4: talking on the elevator about it being a small world.
Speaker 4: So one of my favorite gigs was I when Kevin
Speaker 4: Klein did sirr no Oh incredible. I choreographed this sword.
Speaker 3: Fi Daniel Sinjatas in this episode he's the other sailor.
Speaker 4: Yeah, he's a great guy. And he was also in
Speaker 4: Uh oh, my god. I love it with Jennifer Garner,
Speaker 4: and it was an incredible experion. But I fell into
Speaker 4: it like I had trained, you know, I had I
Speaker 4: had conservatory classical training, and you know, I'm an athlete,
Speaker 4: like I was pretty good at that sort of thing.
Speaker 4: And so I certified with the Society of American Fight
Speaker 4: Director and I was off in the Fight Captain and
Speaker 4: you know, like I was. I would play Timbolton, that
Speaker 4: would and I was doing a production of Romeo and
Speaker 4: Juliet and Terrence Man, big Broadway star and God bless
Speaker 4: him for this. He so I was playing Tibolt and
Speaker 4: I was the fight Captain and then we went to
Speaker 4: the next incarnation of that show. He said, I want
Speaker 4: you to take over the fights, and I want you
Speaker 4: to make it bigger and better. And I said Terry,
Speaker 4: I'm not a fight director. He said you are, and
Speaker 4: it was like it was great, so and then I
Speaker 4: kind of got a reputation for being good at it.
Speaker 4: A girl I was dating at the time was doing
Speaker 4: a pre Broadway workshop and there was a moment where
Speaker 4: there was a moment of violence that happened, and Nick
Speaker 4: kit Enner, the director, was like, does anybody know a
Speaker 4: good fight director? My girlfriend said, oh, I do. So
Speaker 4: I came in next thing I knew. Now I'm a
Speaker 4: Broadway fight director and just sort of like it just
Speaker 4: sort of like unfolded in an.
Speaker 2: Organic that's amazing.
Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah, I love it. It's it's it's fun stuff.
Speaker 2: That is fun.
Speaker 4: I got you a pilot for George Lucas.
Speaker 2: I got to, oh my god, George Lucas.
Speaker 4: I got to like play a Jedi and have a thing.
Speaker 2: It never went incredible, but still you had.
Speaker 4: But it was a fun experience.
Speaker 2: That's amazing.
Speaker 1: You guys, this is so much fun that we're going
Speaker 1: to have to have a part two. So join us
Speaker 1: later in the week on Are You a Charlotte