Speaker 1: Hi, It's Sam Robarts. I played the chaptain in Gossip Girl.
Speaker 1: Welcome back, listeners to your one and only source into
Speaker 1: all things gossip Grow. You know you'll love it. X
Speaker 1: O x O. What's up everyone? Welcome back to x
Speaker 1: O x O. I'm Jessica's or and this week we're
Speaker 1: pausing our rewatch to catch up with someone I've wanted
Speaker 1: to bring on the podcast for a while now, and
Speaker 1: today it's finally happening. He plays a character who is
Speaker 1: kind of controversial. He punches his own son, He's committed
Speaker 1: a few crimes, and here's a hint our. Last episode,
Speaker 1: we saw him walk out in handcuffs. Today we have
Speaker 1: who else Howard the Captain Archibald himself an amazing actor,
Speaker 1: Sam Robarts. We're going to break down the first two
Speaker 1: Crazy seasons with Sam before the Captain heads off to jail.
Speaker 1: You don't want to miss this one. Here's Sam Hill.
Speaker 1: How are you? I'm doing so well? This is not
Speaker 1: to make it super awkward or weird right from the jump.
Speaker 1: Your voice is super, super sexy and wonderful. Why thank you?
Speaker 1: And now I'm all uncomfortable. I know I'm kidding, I'm kidding. Well,
Speaker 1: thank you for being here, or of course, thank you
Speaker 1: for asking me. I appreciate it for sure. So we've
Speaker 1: been doing like walk down memory lanes and rewatching and
Speaker 1: all the things. But I don't think i've seen you
Speaker 1: since we were filming Gossip Girl, which is over a
Speaker 1: decade ago. Oh my god, that's correct. Yeah. I also
Speaker 1: don't think we ever had a scene together. I know
Speaker 1: we were definitely would cross pass in the makeup room,
Speaker 1: or you know, you'd have a scene before me or
Speaker 1: something on the day, but I don't recall because I
Speaker 1: was always I like a lot of your work, so
Speaker 1: I was always very like happy to be like, oh
Speaker 1: Sam's here, like he's you're just I'm a big fan
Speaker 1: of a lot of your films and the first sweet
Speaker 1: of you. Yeah, I think I think our initial meeting
Speaker 1: was that that whatever that party was. I think I'm
Speaker 1: thinking season two or when I came Ember, when when
Speaker 1: we were on the East River and that hospital over
Speaker 1: right about the FDR. Yes, that's my memory of I
Speaker 1: think are one scene together along with other people, but right, yeah,
Speaker 1: let's okay. So this is Sam Robots who played the
Speaker 1: Captain Howard Archibald. Why don't you tell us about how
Speaker 1: Gossip Girl came about if you you know, knew you
Speaker 1: wanted to do it right away? Was was there an audition,
Speaker 1: wasn't an offer? Like kind of what was your experience
Speaker 1: with Gossip Girl like to be a part of it.
Speaker 1: I was living in Europe and I had just come
Speaker 1: back to the States into New York sort of the like.
Speaker 1: I think it was like February of oh seven, and
Speaker 1: I got a call from my agent and they were like, look,
Speaker 1: there's this new show and they want you to read
Speaker 1: for the show. I was like, okay, so I read it.
Speaker 1: And actually I initially had read for Matthew Settles role
Speaker 1: rufus Yeah, but I think I was too old or
Speaker 1: maybe I just was too much of the captain already
Speaker 1: no um and so anyway, so I went and I
Speaker 1: read for it, and they were like, okay, Mark. I
Speaker 1: think it was the guy who directed the pilot. I
Speaker 1: can remember his last day and he was like you
Speaker 1: know what he had to talk and I don't know whatever,
Speaker 1: and they were like, they want you to read for
Speaker 1: the Captain and I was like, okay, great, I'll read
Speaker 1: for the Captain. But in the pilot, I mean, I
Speaker 1: think it might have been seven words or seven not
Speaker 1: even seven lines, maybe seven lots. Like it was like
Speaker 1: over there, how you doing make it easy? Like that
Speaker 1: was it? And I was like, look, I'm happy to
Speaker 1: read this. I don't know what on earth how you're
Speaker 1: going to cast it because off of these three lines. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean, I'm happy to do it. And if I
Speaker 1: if I get the job, and I think they I
Speaker 1: feel like they wrote some bunk scene, you know, some
Speaker 1: phony Balogney scene just as an audition thing, and somehow
Speaker 1: I got it so and that's how that's how I
Speaker 1: got Yeah, well I love it, and you played it
Speaker 1: so well. And there's this character I mean, because I
Speaker 1: know I'm re watching it obviously with this podcast and
Speaker 1: all the things, but I didn't even know half the
Speaker 1: stuff that Howard the Captain was going through and what
Speaker 1: he pulls and what he does. I'm like, this motherfucker's nuts.
Speaker 1: But you also did it in such a way where
Speaker 1: you you still fight for him and care for him
Speaker 1: and root for him. You know. It's kind of like
Speaker 1: William H. Macy on Shameless, like he's like you you know,
Speaker 1: thank you? Well it is he does all this like
Speaker 1: crazy things to his family and put them in really
Speaker 1: really uncomfortable, wild positions. But yet you guys both play
Speaker 1: these roles so well that you you give us a
Speaker 1: reason to keep caring and fighting for you. But on paper,
Speaker 1: if you would like read what you know the Captain does,
Speaker 1: you'd be like, you hate this guy, but you, the
Speaker 1: way you play it is so wonderful than you. Yeah,
Speaker 1: a whiskey swelling, coke snorting, child beating and besler. I mean,
Speaker 1: come on, that's yeah, that exactly. Okay, So before we
Speaker 1: get into all the storylines and filming in New York
Speaker 1: and playing Chase his dad and being a part of
Speaker 1: you know, this crazy awesome show that now I always
Speaker 1: understood why it was a hit and why people liked
Speaker 1: it because of reading it, and you know, all the
Speaker 1: acting was so great and we all had such a
Speaker 1: fun time bringing these storylines and all the things to life,
Speaker 1: but really watching it and seeing it all put together,
Speaker 1: I'm like, okay, wow, this was really something. So it's
Speaker 1: really been fun for me because I just I just
Speaker 1: kind of did it and went on with you know,
Speaker 1: shooting and living my life there and and working without
Speaker 1: really going back and being like, oh my god. And
Speaker 1: it's been so fun. So but before we do that,
Speaker 1: you're you were born in New York, correct, Like your
Speaker 1: resume is insane, I'm serious, Like, what what got you
Speaker 1: into acting? What? What was I mean? I know you're
Speaker 1: both of your parents are Hollywood Royalty, Jason Robards and
Speaker 1: Lauren Bicall. Was it because you were born into it
Speaker 1: or was there something you watched or was it? Well, actually,
Speaker 1: my grandfather was an actor as well, amazing, and he
Speaker 1: had this sign because he was he was a theater
Speaker 1: actor before he moved out to Los Angeles in the
Speaker 1: twenties and he when they started going too talkies, but um,
Speaker 1: he was he was an actor on the on the
Speaker 1: road and you know, touring on all these shows. And
Speaker 1: my dad had a sign, a wooden sign from my
Speaker 1: grandfather because in those days, you know, actors were second
Speaker 1: class citizens. We were we were considered people of quote
Speaker 1: unquote low morals, that we were not trusted. And this
Speaker 1: sign said we do not lease rooms to theatricals. It
Speaker 1: was from a boarding house. And when my father went
Speaker 1: to begin his career in acting, my grandfather said to him,
Speaker 1: never forget an actor shot Lincoln, which is true. So
Speaker 1: that was sort of the world that my grandfather came from,
Speaker 1: which was then filtered down to my father's world. And
Speaker 1: then my mom came from a totally different place, which
Speaker 1: was you know, she was a fan, and then she
Speaker 1: married you know, the biggest movie star in the world, Bogie,
Speaker 1: and they had their their story. Yeah, that's wild, right,
Speaker 1: they had their their thing. And then you know, when
Speaker 1: I was in my parents it was when I was
Speaker 1: growing up, there were all these things that were sort
Speaker 1: of in the air, in the ether, and they would
Speaker 1: constantly be talking about, oh, this job and I want
Speaker 1: to do this, and someone else got it, but what
Speaker 1: about decision and that, and it was just always there.
Speaker 1: And then I would see them in shows on stage.
Speaker 1: I was also on a set, but as a kid
Speaker 1: a set, as you I'm sure you know, it's just
Speaker 1: deeply boring. Nobody's really quiet. You can't do and he's
Speaker 1: like going to church, you can't do anything unless you laugh,
Speaker 1: which then is hilarious. But but in the theater, you know,
Speaker 1: they'd be up there and I'd be in the audience,
Speaker 1: and or i'd be backstage where it was, which it
Speaker 1: was very different backstage. But when I was in the
Speaker 1: audience and they and the audience was grooving on and
Speaker 1: the play was going on, and this was happening, and
Speaker 1: that was happening, and it was my parents that were
Speaker 1: on stage, but it wasn't them, but it was them.
Speaker 1: They would appear briefly and then they would disappear into
Speaker 1: their character, and it was it was a little confusing
Speaker 1: for me as as a as a child. And then
Speaker 1: afterwards I'd go backstage and you know, all the glad
Speaker 1: handing and everyone's just you're the greatest nace and sliced bread,
Speaker 1: who were you? You know, all the the usual blah
Speaker 1: blah blah that you get. And then while all that
Speaker 1: was happening, I would go on stage after the audience
Speaker 1: had left, and I would look out at the at
Speaker 1: this empty theater, and I'd be like, okay, so it's
Speaker 1: okay for me to be on stage right now because
Speaker 1: nobody's here. But half an hour before I couldn't be
Speaker 1: on stage and everybody and so that whole weird thing
Speaker 1: of like yeah, and I was like, what is happening.
Speaker 1: There's something that's happening here. So that sort of started
Speaker 1: the German Nation in my brain and I went to,
Speaker 1: you know, tons of plays when I was a kid.
Speaker 1: I was dragged hither and yon and and went to
Speaker 1: see my parents shows many many times. Anyway, that's how
Speaker 1: I got started. I just was like, I got booted
Speaker 1: out of college, and I was like, you know what,
Speaker 1: I don't really want to go back to school. I mean,
Speaker 1: I guess I could get a bartending job or a
Speaker 1: waiter job, but I want to just give this a
Speaker 1: rip because I just don't want to wake up when
Speaker 1: I'm worthy and go well, should have tried it? Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: And so then I have. So I got a job
Speaker 1: as an understudy assistant stage manager, which is in a
Speaker 1: play at the Cherry Lane. It's a category that sadly
Speaker 1: doesn't exist anymore in equity. It should because you really
Speaker 1: do learn about the theater. You'll actually learned the nuts
Speaker 1: and bolts of being in a show and what it
Speaker 1: entails blah blah blah, which can be more more than
Speaker 1: a lot of other things that you that people think
Speaker 1: you need to do right but totally totally. Yeah, And
Speaker 1: then I got and then so that I got that job.
Speaker 1: You know, I made two sixty seven a week and change.
Speaker 1: But that was when you could live in New York
Speaker 1: and you know, a movie was four fifty and a
Speaker 1: ball game was four bucks. And you know, I mean
Speaker 1: you could rent was like three dollars and if you
Speaker 1: split it with somebody you could live in New York. Then,
Speaker 1: right you were really you really knew how to do it, right, Yeah,
Speaker 1: well that's how you live. So and then I got
Speaker 1: another job, like a big job and a movie job,
Speaker 1: and then I then it finally an Asian was like, yeah, okay,
Speaker 1: we'll we'll represent yeah. So and that's how that's sort
Speaker 1: of how I got started. I love this. And when
Speaker 1: you were nominated for a Tony for the man who
Speaker 1: had all the luck, how well, I mean, you put
Speaker 1: all this energy and time, and everyone's method is different
Speaker 1: or the way they get into roles. And I'm not sure.
Speaker 1: I've never done theater, but do you prepared differently than
Speaker 1: when you were preparing for the Captain or for a film?
Speaker 1: Is it completely different? Totally? Yeah? Yeah, Well, I mean
Speaker 1: it's I mean, because obviously you're rehearsing because on Broadway
Speaker 1: before we did that show on Broadway, we we were
Speaker 1: were the year before we put it up in Williamstown, Massachusetts,
Speaker 1: the Theater Festival there with virtually the same cast and
Speaker 1: It was very strange because Arthur Miller was in the
Speaker 1: rehearsal room, and my dad had worked with Arthur years
Speaker 1: before they would start helped to start Lincoln Center in
Speaker 1: the early sixties. That was the name of that senior moment.
Speaker 1: I can't remember the name of that play that he
Speaker 1: was in. Any way, it was so anyway, so like
Speaker 1: it was that was cool and intense. You know, like
Speaker 1: when you're working with somebody, it doesn't matter what kind
Speaker 1: of quote unquote method they use. It's just like, can
Speaker 1: you deliver the goods? That's all really. Everybody cares about that.
Speaker 1: Nobody cares about what your process is other than hey,
Speaker 1: we're ready to go. You're you're ready, right, yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: nobody cares. But theater obviously is very different because not
Speaker 1: only well yeah, but you have a little bit more
Speaker 1: time to find it. And you know, it starts in
Speaker 1: the rehearsal room where the director and obviously in this
Speaker 1: case Arthur Miller, they have an idea about what they
Speaker 1: want the show to be and they tell you that idea,
Speaker 1: and then as you go through the rehearsal process of
Speaker 1: a few weeks, it starts to become each of ours,
Speaker 1: all of us who are playing these different care it
Speaker 1: starts to become our show. We're using their template to
Speaker 1: discover how we can deliver it, right, and then they
Speaker 1: have to sort of let it go until you know,
Speaker 1: once the curtain goes up, it's ours, right, there's no cut,
Speaker 1: nobody's going to sounds bad and yeah, and you know,
Speaker 1: and in the theater it's very different. I mean, obviously
Speaker 1: in film and television it's totally collaborative. You need every
Speaker 1: single person. You need every rigging grip, every yeah, I mean,
Speaker 1: you need every electrician and crafty and just transport. You
Speaker 1: just need everybody all in collaborating. Yeah, you need every
Speaker 1: piece to that little putt. And in the theater that's
Speaker 1: true too, although if you were to strip away everything,
Speaker 1: you don't even really need a theater. You just need
Speaker 1: a space outdoors and you just need an author to
Speaker 1: write the words, right, an actor to interpret the words,
Speaker 1: and an audience to receive the words. And then and
Speaker 1: you've got yourself a play, right, and send back there
Speaker 1: their interpretation of what you're doing, which it changes because
Speaker 1: it's a live thing, right, it's a vertical thing. You
Speaker 1: throw these ideas up in the air and people take
Speaker 1: what they want as opposed to like this horizontal medium
Speaker 1: of the film where a director can speed up or
Speaker 1: slow down a scene or actor's reactions or take one
Speaker 1: out or whatever. So it's very it's a totally different discipline.
Speaker 1: But so that's that's the difference for me. And I mean,
Speaker 1: I love it just because it's as an actor, it's
Speaker 1: just so freeing and it's terrifying, which is great because
Speaker 1: I think you should always scare yourself. Yeah. See, to me,
Speaker 1: that's what I think would be one of the funniest
Speaker 1: things because of how yeah, scary and and challenging, probably
Speaker 1: for the first time to like, especially someone who's for me.
Speaker 1: So I used to doing TV. That's why I love
Speaker 1: going to place because it's they're just so fulfilling to me.
Speaker 1: You got to be in one, Jessica. I know. I
Speaker 1: we should do one together. Maybe it's maybe my first
Speaker 1: one will be with you. I'm in I love that.
Speaker 1: Oh my gosh. So when you got the call? Who
Speaker 1: called you? How did you know you were nominated for
Speaker 1: a Tony Let's let's just finish that and then we
Speaker 1: can get into some gossip girl stuff. But I'm like
Speaker 1: fascinated with this because I think theater even what isn't
Speaker 1: when you go to watch what you get from it.
Speaker 1: It's just such a different feeling than when you watch
Speaker 1: a film or television, Like just sitting in the theater
Speaker 1: watching this, being in the same room, watching the people
Speaker 1: deliver their lines in the same present, you know what
Speaker 1: I mean, Because you're right there. You know, you can't
Speaker 1: pause it, you can't say, hey, what did he say?
Speaker 1: Or you know you're crying like you're just in it
Speaker 1: with them, You're on this ride with them in real life.
Speaker 1: And I just find that so fascinating. So I think
Speaker 1: getting nominated for a Tony is like epic and like amazing.
Speaker 1: It was. It was I I couldn't believe it because
Speaker 1: there were there were so many other performances in our
Speaker 1: show that I thought were equally I mean, I don't know, honestly,
Speaker 1: I don't know what the greater is. I just and
Speaker 1: I was playing this sort of oddball part of an
Speaker 1: Austrian and guy and I had a mustache and glasses
Speaker 1: and I would just come out and I would hear
Speaker 1: this whispering in the audience, and I couldn't quite figure
Speaker 1: out what it was. I kept thinking, must be doing
Speaker 1: something wrong at my fly open. I don't know, like
Speaker 1: what was going on, and I realized later on that
Speaker 1: people were going because for some reason I nailed that
Speaker 1: Austrian accent with a lot of help from the dialect
Speaker 1: coach and other actors and everything and a lot of
Speaker 1: hard work. But I think people were confused who I was.
Speaker 1: They didn't know me right away, and I think that's
Speaker 1: what that whispering was. And I think that and it
Speaker 1: was also that part was the part that sort of
Speaker 1: was to do with the emotional arc of cryst O'donald's
Speaker 1: character of the main character, so that I think that
Speaker 1: that helped to get the Tony nod. I can't remember.
Speaker 1: I do know that I got a Drama Desk nomination
Speaker 1: first because those were the first ones, and then I
Speaker 1: can't remember. I think I got a ohne call from
Speaker 1: Kate Burton, who Richard Burton's daughter, amazing actress in her
Speaker 1: own right, and she had gotten nominated for Elephant Man,
Speaker 1: which was also on Broadway at that time. She and
Speaker 1: I have known each other for many many years as
Speaker 1: our parents were friends, and she was like, hey, we
Speaker 1: got nominated. I think that's how it it came down,
Speaker 1: as I recall, but twenty years ago, so I have
Speaker 1: no memory, right, I know, it's so wonderful though. That
Speaker 1: had to be a wonderful, wonderful feeling. Yeah. It was
Speaker 1: a little weird though, too, because then you have a
Speaker 1: month before the Tonys and everyone was coming to see
Speaker 1: the show even more so than they were before, Right,
Speaker 1: And I didn't necessarily quote unquote feel pressure. But it
Speaker 1: was the only Tony nomination that the whole show got.
Speaker 1: I don't think there were any actors that were that way,
Speaker 1: but I think there were some people who were who
Speaker 1: noses were a little out of joint, who thought that
Speaker 1: the show could should have gotten more nods because it
Speaker 1: was Arthur Miller's first play that he wrote as a
Speaker 1: young man, and it was the first time on Broadway
Speaker 1: and since nine and actually the guy who played the
Speaker 1: part that I played was one of my early acting teachers.
Speaker 1: That's awesome. Yeah, so there was a lot of a
Speaker 1: lot of connections, a lot of connections in that show. Wow,
Speaker 1: that's awesome. I wish I could go, like, watch you
Speaker 1: in that play. It's a great play and a lovely
Speaker 1: part of that's yeah. Yeah, well that's awesome. Okay, about
Speaker 1: another role you played. You know Howard the captain Archibald
Speaker 1: never heard of him jumping into this. This character gets
Speaker 1: arrested for cocaine fraud, embezzlement, please the country to escape
Speaker 1: his trial, returns to kidnap ann and Nate. Um is
Speaker 1: released from prison to live with Nate later on, and
Speaker 1: then you kind of just had one of a final appearance.
Speaker 1: It was in the last episode I watched you you
Speaker 1: turn Yourself in, which okay, I just that's a lot
Speaker 1: on the captain's plate, a lot going on so on
Speaker 1: paper when you were I don't know, it's been so long.
Speaker 1: I mean, what's the character breakdown for for the captain? Well,
Speaker 1: it was. It was funny because initially I got there
Speaker 1: and then the like, I think one of the first
Speaker 1: scenes we shot was me in my quote unquote office, right,
Speaker 1: and it was all this nautical stuff, like there was
Speaker 1: a you know, a sex stint and a ship's bell
Speaker 1: and a captain's hat, and and I was like, okay,
Speaker 1: and I said, like I came. I think Stephanie was
Speaker 1: there in their early days. Josh came a few times,
Speaker 1: but Stephanie was there definitely a few times. And I
Speaker 1: said to them and also to set deck and all
Speaker 1: those guy was like, you know, actually, I think I
Speaker 1: don't think it's a nautical thing. I think, actually, what
Speaker 1: this guy is, he's a working class guy from one
Speaker 1: of the outer boroughs who actually is a captain at
Speaker 1: a restaurant. And what he does is he tries to
Speaker 1: find rich, lonely Upper east Side women and bed them,
Speaker 1: and then he found one and married her and stole
Speaker 1: the money, which was which was a very different different
Speaker 1: vibe than I think that they were thinking initially, Yeah,
Speaker 1: and I don't know that, but that's my guess, and
Speaker 1: I think that they then sort of ran with that,
Speaker 1: which I liked because I you know, you hope that
Speaker 1: your character, especially in a show that goes on for
Speaker 1: a number of seas, and you know that Gossip Girl
Speaker 1: was like a big ass hit, so you know, you
Speaker 1: you hope that your character will find some redemption, which,
Speaker 1: in his roundabout completely idiotic way, the captain did by
Speaker 1: turning himself in because he tried to kill um No,
Speaker 1: but you know, you know um so that was where
Speaker 1: it started. So were you you were just sitting on
Speaker 1: the set and seeing all these like was like, it's
Speaker 1: not a captain's hat. It's not it's not that exactly. No,
Speaker 1: I like that more right because it autumn. Well, it
Speaker 1: just makes it a little bit more specific, well then
Speaker 1: it and it also makes a little it makes more
Speaker 1: sense where you're like, Okay, you kind of cannot understand
Speaker 1: where he's coming from in a way, do you know
Speaker 1: what I'm saying? Like Otherwise you're like, here's this you know,
Speaker 1: very wealthy man who chose to you know, as a
Speaker 1: dad and is choosing his addiction or all these things
Speaker 1: over like and it was all her money, right, That's
Speaker 1: what I'm saying. That's the whole thing. Yeah, it doesn't
Speaker 1: justify what he's doing, but it definitely makes you like, hmm, okay,
Speaker 1: that makes a little bit more sense, right exactly. So
Speaker 1: that was because I just didn't make it because then
Speaker 1: I was like, okay, so what's captain? And then what
Speaker 1: exactly I drive a barge? I don't understand. And you know,
Speaker 1: they sort of had the other parents like the basses
Speaker 1: and all that, we're all super uber rich and and
Speaker 1: it just it was just nice, nice to be a
Speaker 1: little flawed, right absolutely. Okay, So let's talk about the
Speaker 1: captain's relationship with Nate, because there were some things that
Speaker 1: like Nate have. He decides to sleep with the duchess
Speaker 1: for the family, basically for money to help the family.
Speaker 1: Which when when that happened, you know, I'm watching it
Speaker 1: and I'm like, I mean, he's between a rock and
Speaker 1: a hard place. Because I'm a very big family person.
Speaker 1: I'm very close to all my cousins and siblings, and
Speaker 1: everyone lived in the same town and everyone did everything
Speaker 1: with each other. So like, to me, you do anything
Speaker 1: for your family. So when they do that, like I
Speaker 1: can see it. But then I'm like, the captain puts
Speaker 1: them in some tough spots. Yeah, well it's because I mean,
Speaker 1: I think the captain was willing to do anything for
Speaker 1: money to hold on to what he had at the
Speaker 1: expense of his relationship with his son, with his wife,
Speaker 1: with himself. I mean, that was sort of the direction
Speaker 1: I was hoping that they would go. And then and
Speaker 1: you know, Stephanie and Josh really understood what was going on,
Speaker 1: and they really and everybody in the writer's room really
Speaker 1: cranked that up. And I think that it also helped
Speaker 1: chase his character. For Nate to I mean, to have
Speaker 1: that kind of pressure from from your parents, that's extremely
Speaker 1: especially when you have to violate something that you might
Speaker 1: believe in strongly and you have to go against yourself
Speaker 1: in order to assuage one or both of your parents Aszires,
Speaker 1: It's it's a deeply disturbing thing, I think for sure.
Speaker 1: And we've we've talked about this with like the adults
Speaker 1: quote unquote in the show, you know, like moms and
Speaker 1: dads of the show. Like they did a good job
Speaker 1: of showing the imperfections because I think a lot of
Speaker 1: times when when we grow up, our parents are heroes,
Speaker 1: but when you get older and you can see that
Speaker 1: they're not perfect, because no one is. They did a
Speaker 1: good job of showing that in the show. I mean
Speaker 1: they went real far on some of the stuff. But
Speaker 1: sure it's that, you know, there's not like these books
Speaker 1: that parents read that all of a sudden when they
Speaker 1: become a parent, like they do no wrong and they're
Speaker 1: you know, they're perfect, which is the truth. Even though
Speaker 1: a lot of parents will do anything for their kids
Speaker 1: and want them do you know, want to show them
Speaker 1: what's right and do the right things right. That was
Speaker 1: not the captain's case. That was not the captain, But
Speaker 1: I mean, like that kind of behavior of forcing. You know,
Speaker 1: in this case, the captain really pushing Nate to do
Speaker 1: things that he was not comfortable with. That can break
Speaker 1: a family relationship, that can break a father's son relationship,
Speaker 1: which sad to say, it did in a way. You know,
Speaker 1: it certainly broke the captain, and I think there was
Speaker 1: a piece of Nate that probably was broken in that,
Speaker 1: and obviously the marriage didn't survive. So yeah, I mean,
Speaker 1: there's do you remember the time. I'm like thinking about this,
Speaker 1: like all of your scenes with Nate right now while
Speaker 1: you're saying that, I'm like, oh my gosh. Then when
Speaker 1: you punched them, and then when when Anne finds the
Speaker 1: drugs and she thinks it's Nate and you're the three
Speaker 1: of you are sitting there, this is season one and
Speaker 1: she's like how could you and you kind of give
Speaker 1: him this look and Nate looks back at you and
Speaker 1: he takes one for the team. When I watched it
Speaker 1: this time going around, I couldn't remember what happens. I'm like, wait,
Speaker 1: there's no way he takes it, like, oh my gosh.
Speaker 1: And then it's death by a thousand cuts. You keep
Speaker 1: doing that to prop up this version of your father
Speaker 1: not only for yourself, but for the family, for your mom,
Speaker 1: until finally you can't handle anymore. And then you do
Speaker 1: what he had every right to do, which was to
Speaker 1: punch me. And when he had finally had enough. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and then when he talks and that's here's the thing.
Speaker 1: And then here's Nate still somehow trying to do the
Speaker 1: right thing, where he tells he's telling you you got
Speaker 1: to turn yourself in. That's the only way this is
Speaker 1: going to like kind of make something, okay, right now, Well,
Speaker 1: then he's the father, right right, Yeah, because his father
Speaker 1: can't be a father in any real sense of the word. Yeah.
Speaker 1: And then when we see you in the next couple
Speaker 1: of seasons, you're in jail. You're in prison. I thought
Speaker 1: I looked good in the orange. Not that I would
Speaker 1: do it as a life choice, but I thought was
Speaker 1: a good call because I know it's a very fashion
Speaker 1: forward show, right, but I like the orange. You did
Speaker 1: look at the orange? And was that at silver Cup? Yeah? Okay?
Speaker 1: And was that was that set specifically for Gossip Girl?
Speaker 1: Do you know? Or I think that, like, but jail
Speaker 1: cell that has been used many times. I don't, I
Speaker 1: don't know, but it felt like it was. I mean
Speaker 1: it may have been. It probably was. I can't imagine
Speaker 1: they built that just for that, but it was my
Speaker 1: home for a little while, that orange jumpsuit. And then
Speaker 1: I don't know if you remember this in the show,
Speaker 1: but then Nate ends up getting arrested for the same
Speaker 1: thing you did, which was like yeah, full circle, Like wow,
Speaker 1: they just keep it going on this show, don't they. Right,
Speaker 1: the apple doesn't fall far from the tree despite your
Speaker 1: best efforts. You know. That was part of my reason
Speaker 1: for becoming an actor too. It's because I thought, well,
Speaker 1: I could be closer to my parents, I might understand
Speaker 1: them better by being an actor, and then we would
Speaker 1: have something to talk about, or at least I would
Speaker 1: have some understanding of their thing, you know, because as
Speaker 1: a kid, you don't necessarily understand when your parents are
Speaker 1: there or not there, what's going on or you know
Speaker 1: what I mean? Right, absolutely, And I think that sometimes
Speaker 1: you just you do that stuff because you you want
Speaker 1: to get closer to you your parents, and then you
Speaker 1: end up sometimes doing the same stuff. Absolutely, it's the
Speaker 1: it's like ironic, right, you know what I mean, The
Speaker 1: irony of him knowing that that wasn't the right thing
Speaker 1: or you know, but good old Nate Archibald, good fellah,
Speaker 1: I know, and you and the family you guys are,
Speaker 1: It's like it's like Chase's family in real life. They're
Speaker 1: just all beautiful. The Archibalds are great. Yeah, Like when
Speaker 1: you see his mom and dad and sister, it's like
Speaker 1: Texas family, so beautiful, so sweet. It's it's great and
Speaker 1: it's literally I'm like Nate, it's kind of the same
Speaker 1: to such a beautiful, aesthetically looking family. Yeah, well, thank you. Yeah. Um.
Speaker 1: I have actually like a clip from Chase when I
Speaker 1: we did his episode. He loved, loved working with you.
Speaker 1: Oh god, he and I had the best time. He's
Speaker 1: just great, isn't he wonderful? Yeah? And we just really
Speaker 1: and and then with Francie Swift like just like it
Speaker 1: was just really it was a good vibe. I really like,
Speaker 1: I like that fake family. That Archibald family was wonder
Speaker 1: fall weight. I'm gonna play you Chase this clip quick,
Speaker 1: because we were talking about how serious the storylines were
Speaker 1: with everything that the Archibald like what you guys all
Speaker 1: had going on, And then He's like and then Sam
Speaker 1: and I would just be cracking up in between, He's like,
Speaker 1: sometimes I couldn't keep it together. Hold on, I'll play
Speaker 1: it for you. Sam Robarts played my dad. Yeah, he
Speaker 1: was so funny to his character had a drug problem
Speaker 1: and he would always like but he would always save
Speaker 1: it from my coverage when when the camera's on me,
Speaker 1: so it'll be done, and he'd be like, I'm you know,
Speaker 1: you like this thing, like you know and have the
Speaker 1: snipples and like way overact. I'm like, Sam, stop, I'm
Speaker 1: cracking up. What what do you do to not like?
Speaker 1: I don't? I don't. I just laugh and I lose
Speaker 1: it and everyone's mad at me the whole time. He
Speaker 1: was like, we just had the best time. But when
Speaker 1: you have a relationship like that with another actor that
Speaker 1: you work with so much, especially with how intense, like
Speaker 1: Nate stuff was with the Captain, it's so nice to
Speaker 1: have like a little it of light in between, and
Speaker 1: like and Chase, the sense of humor is so funny.
Speaker 1: He's one of the funniest people I know. Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: And I think that's why we got on because we
Speaker 1: both had a good sense of humor with each other.
Speaker 1: And you know, and as you say, all the stuff
Speaker 1: was so serious, you can't take it so serious all
Speaker 1: the time. I have to you have to give yourself
Speaker 1: a break, totally. What do you think the Captain is doing? Now? Well,
Speaker 1: it's funny that you should ask that, because I was
Speaker 1: just in New York in April and I was walking
Speaker 1: around and what do I see. I'm walking by Bryant
Speaker 1: Park to south of Briant Park, and there's gossip Girl
Speaker 1: one of the I think it's a I think it
Speaker 1: was the food truck for the New One. Yeah, lunch
Speaker 1: was over, and I was like, I should totally go
Speaker 1: up and find the show runner because I had this big,
Speaker 1: big gas beard, and I was like, guys, here's what
Speaker 1: you need to do the ultimate crossover. The new guys
Speaker 1: are walking down the street and there's the Captain homeless.
Speaker 1: Oh my gosh, I really hope you did that. You
Speaker 1: can't actually tell us that it happened. But I didn't.
Speaker 1: I didn't do that, but because I was like, because
Speaker 1: I just saw the food truck, God knows where they
Speaker 1: were shooting, I was like, well, I gotta be somewhere.
Speaker 1: I'm not going to go spend my whole day going hey,
Speaker 1: God tracking them down. Yeah exactly, But I just thought
Speaker 1: it would have been a really funny like they're just
Speaker 1: walking by, just like who's that Guy's just some homeless
Speaker 1: guy and then just keep walking. But it was the
Speaker 1: captain Dad. It's Dad is just like a man, I
Speaker 1: need somebody eat? Why Lie? I want a beer? Why Lie?
Speaker 1: I want to beer? The first time I saw that
Speaker 1: I was leaving, it was like coming off the one
Speaker 1: on one in l A in Hollywood, too, Yes, and
Speaker 1: the guy said, I'm not going to lie, I'm homeless
Speaker 1: and I want a beer, And I'm like, I honestly,
Speaker 1: I wish I had cash on me because I apreciate
Speaker 1: the honesty. And I was like, here you go. It's
Speaker 1: your last name, March, your ball. Do you have any
Speaker 1: other problems? Yeah? Exactly amazing. Um, what was your experience
Speaker 1: filming in New York? After speaking of the food trucks
Speaker 1: and all that, like filming Gossip Girl in New York
Speaker 1: That's the only thing I did one other indie which
Speaker 1: was a very whole different experience, different areas of New
Speaker 1: York that we didn't really film in with the show.
Speaker 1: But how did you enjoy it? Was it too hectic?
Speaker 1: How do you feel about it? It was great? I
Speaker 1: mean you know, I've shot a bunch of stuff in
Speaker 1: New York, and I mean, I like it just because
Speaker 1: it's you know, I actually knew quite a few of
Speaker 1: the drivers. I used to play a lot of softball
Speaker 1: in Central Park and one of the drivers, this guy Ritchie,
Speaker 1: he was he played. Yeah. Yeah, So like, I know,
Speaker 1: there's a bunch of guys that I sort of knew
Speaker 1: from and from other jobs because you know, it's a
Speaker 1: small shop in New York for everybody, so you sort
Speaker 1: of get to know everybody. So I really like did
Speaker 1: I mean, the one thing I didn't like is when
Speaker 1: we were shooting on the Upper east Side and then
Speaker 1: we break for lunch and then they'd be like, Okay,
Speaker 1: it's a walk away lunch. I'm like, what do you
Speaker 1: mean it's a walk away lunch. We're on Madison Avenue
Speaker 1: and set I can't get a piece of bread for
Speaker 1: less than eighty five dollars walk away? I don't want
Speaker 1: to is there? No? But it was not going to
Speaker 1: eat today. But it was early on, yeah, before they
Speaker 1: knew it was going to be a big, big thing.
Speaker 1: And then once it, once it hit, then they were cool.
Speaker 1: And that that sort of cracked me up. I was like,
Speaker 1: I don't want to walk around, I want to food,
Speaker 1: So I became an listen, I love love a lunch, right, yeah,
Speaker 1: totally yeah. So was do you feel like filming on
Speaker 1: the Upper east Side other than an eighty five dollar
Speaker 1: piece of bread? Which you were not wrong. I always
Speaker 1: felt like because not a ton of my scenes were
Speaker 1: at Silver Cup and I wasn't. My character was on
Speaker 1: the Upper east Side more than she probably should have been,
Speaker 1: with the way she didn't like it up there. She
Speaker 1: I always found Vanessa's up there, I'm like, why are
Speaker 1: you still up here? Go back to exactly. But when
Speaker 1: we would film up there, I just remember, I'm like
Speaker 1: some of the kids that went to actual school up there,
Speaker 1: I'm like, are they all skipping school right now? And
Speaker 1: then screaming in between the scenes, like if any parents
Speaker 1: or teachers need to know where their kids are, they'll
Speaker 1: just follow the screams, because these kids would literally come
Speaker 1: and just be there all day watching, which I found
Speaker 1: so wild to me, because I'm like, it's definitely a
Speaker 1: school day, and you're definitely here since seven this morning,
Speaker 1: right yeah? And then you know, I mean I and
Speaker 1: God knows, I was beyond the west side and then
Speaker 1: you would like, you know, ten thirteen year old girls
Speaker 1: would come out and scream and go, you have a cap? Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: I know it's okay. I'm just trying to cross the street.
Speaker 1: But I mean, that was sort of the thing where
Speaker 1: like I remember when Chase and I were shooting that scene.
Speaker 1: I think it was on I want to say it
Speaker 1: was like ninety five and fifth Avenue. It was, you know,
Speaker 1: it was a classic Faturday and it was late. It
Speaker 1: was like midnight or something. In the scene where where
Speaker 1: I punched him and it's midnight, it's two thousand and seven,
Speaker 1: and I look across the street and there's probably at
Speaker 1: least a hundred kids with their sidekicks and their droids
Speaker 1: and maybe a razor, all sort of filming or taking
Speaker 1: pictures of us. And that was like episode five or
Speaker 1: something like that. And I said to Chase at the time,
Speaker 1: I said, dude, you better get ready for the ride.
Speaker 1: And he was like, what do you mean. And I
Speaker 1: was like, Okay, there's a hundred kids across the street.
Speaker 1: It's a Friday night at midnight in the city, and
Speaker 1: they're not out partying. They're taking pictures of you because
Speaker 1: they ain't taking pictures of me, brother taking pictures about
Speaker 1: of you. But no, no, I know, but I was like,
Speaker 1: you better get like I knew it then. I was like, right,
Speaker 1: this thing's gonna this thing is gonna blow up. Buckle up, buddy. Yeah, yeah, exactly. Yeah.
Speaker 1: I feel like the way Chase played Nate to with
Speaker 1: you know, trying to cover up and hide these things
Speaker 1: and still you know, being a teenager and you know,
Speaker 1: fighting the emotions with the girls and and what's going
Speaker 1: on at home. I think he liked I thought he
Speaker 1: was fantastic and also just and you know, this is
Speaker 1: beyond the let's not beyond the purview of the show.
Speaker 1: I think it's part of the show. Is like when
Speaker 1: I came back to the second season, all of a sudden,
Speaker 1: now there's security all over the place in front of
Speaker 1: all their trailers and everything because girls are going in there.
Speaker 1: And I think that I think for you know a
Speaker 1: lot of the young guys, all those guys, it must
Speaker 1: have been in addition to trying to actually just do
Speaker 1: your work on the show, you know, with that just
Speaker 1: punishing schedule and everybody's shooting twelve shows at once, and
Speaker 1: you finish one location outside and then you got to
Speaker 1: go to Silver Cup and then you can go home.
Speaker 1: You got to get up at four in the morning,
Speaker 1: and all this craziness that was going on at that time.
Speaker 1: Just the external of having to deal with the fandom
Speaker 1: of it must have been really difficult for them, you know,
Speaker 1: and and still be able to do your work. I
Speaker 1: think that must have been very challenging. It was really
Speaker 1: all of our first jobs, so no one knew. We
Speaker 1: were all trying to figure out how to handle it.
Speaker 1: Everyone obviously to each their own however they do it.
Speaker 1: But I remember being like, this is weird that people
Speaker 1: want to know what everyone's doing outside of work. You know.
Speaker 1: It was just a very odd, strange thing. Yeah for
Speaker 1: all of you. Yeah, that must have been brutal. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it was. It was insane. And then like all the places,
Speaker 1: like when they did this started making a tour, like
Speaker 1: they did the Sex and City tour, and then they
Speaker 1: did where they would come and see where the Archibalds
Speaker 1: lived and the you know, the met stairs where the
Speaker 1: girls sat, the galleries, and you know, they made drinks
Speaker 1: of our characters at the Empire Hotel. I'm like, this
Speaker 1: is really funny and cute that people enjoyed it that much,
Speaker 1: you know, that's awesome. Yeah, it's yeah, it was nuts.
Speaker 1: I mean I happily didn't have to deal with any
Speaker 1: of that, but it was that was nuts. Do you
Speaker 1: feel like when you are traveling or going about do
Speaker 1: people recognize you more from gossip l than other stuff? Hilariously? Yes? Uh.
Speaker 1: Usually what happens is people like, did you go to
Speaker 1: college with my sister? And I'm like, yes, how is she?
Speaker 1: I have not seen her forever and they're like no, no, no,
Speaker 1: or like people will like people be like we've met
Speaker 1: before because they can't place it. Yeah, well that's and
Speaker 1: that's what you want, right, you don't want. Yes. A
Speaker 1: buddy of mine was working on a movie many many
Speaker 1: years ago with the famous actor Shall Remained the Most
Speaker 1: And they were in this small town in North Carolina
Speaker 1: and they were working, uh, and they had the night
Speaker 1: off and they went out and they got some food
Speaker 1: and they're sitting in a banquette in a window and
Speaker 1: some small North Carolina town and they're eating dinner and
Speaker 1: they're talking. And then he's sitting there and he turns
Speaker 1: and he looks to his right and there's this window
Speaker 1: there and there's a ton of people with their faces
Speaker 1: mashed against the window looking at this other actors taking pictures.
Speaker 1: And he turns to this other actor and he's like,
Speaker 1: how do you how can you do this? I couldn't
Speaker 1: do this, And they were like, uh, you know, just
Speaker 1: ignore it. Yeah, I mean like I would not want
Speaker 1: that personally. Yeah, it seems invasive and so much right
Speaker 1: and also for us it's like if if we're in
Speaker 1: another part, you know, the hope is is that people
Speaker 1: aren't going to go, oh, that's Vanessa or that's the
Speaker 1: captain that actually you'll be able to play the part,
Speaker 1: and they're like, oh, wow, that that person was just
Speaker 1: that person, you know what I mean. Yeah, so that
Speaker 1: because I think sometimes like a larger dollarp of fame
Speaker 1: doesn't always work in your favor. I mean obviously unless
Speaker 1: there's some big movie star or something like that, but
Speaker 1: you know what I mean, like you're able to actually
Speaker 1: play the character without the baggage from other parts that
Speaker 1: you might have played. You know, absolutely, it's so interesting
Speaker 1: what we do. Hey, Like just the industry, entertainment, all
Speaker 1: the all the things. I mean, even just like when
Speaker 1: you were telling me about going to the theater and
Speaker 1: standing on there and then growing up with you know,
Speaker 1: classic Hollywood royalty, and then having the career you've had,
Speaker 1: and then also how much has changed even from when
Speaker 1: we met on Gossip Girl. Like I remember when when
Speaker 1: I was doing Gossip Girl, it was like you either
Speaker 1: did film or you did TV. You couldn't you You
Speaker 1: could still be like a theater actor and do film,
Speaker 1: but you either did theater and did film or theater
Speaker 1: and TV. I mean not just there were the few,
Speaker 1: but it wasn't like now it's like all across the board.
Speaker 1: You can go do your film, but you can also
Speaker 1: go to a series. It just wasn't. It was so
Speaker 1: one or the other, wasn't. Don't you feel like, oh yeah, yeah?
Speaker 1: Well And even when I was growing up, my parents
Speaker 1: wouldn't even dream of doing television, right, You couldn't do
Speaker 1: TV because then you were a TV you know what
Speaker 1: I mean? You were in a movie star right right,
Speaker 1: It's like whatever, I like, is there a check? Where
Speaker 1: am I standing? Am I talking to? Dress? Fine? Perfect?
Speaker 1: So yeah, whatever you need exactly. And even now, like
Speaker 1: when you were saying you were just saw that they
Speaker 1: were filming Gossip Girl, I'm like, I haven't watched the
Speaker 1: new one, and I'm I haven't either excited to go
Speaker 1: see what it what it's all about in the sense
Speaker 1: of when we were doing it, it was a show
Speaker 1: about a blog when blogs didn't really exist. So I'm
Speaker 1: very excited to see what they're doing with it, do
Speaker 1: you know what I'm saying? Because it was the whole
Speaker 1: point of gossip growth. To me with ours, it was
Speaker 1: interesting because we didn't have all these platforms and now
Speaker 1: we do, so I'm really excited to see how they're
Speaker 1: playing with that. Yeah, it's totally different rent to Yeah, absolutely,
Speaker 1: I do think that it would have been different back
Speaker 1: then at the time if we would have had more
Speaker 1: social media, Like I don't think our show would have
Speaker 1: people would have responded to it the way they did
Speaker 1: then if we had all of it, like the first
Speaker 1: time around, I feel like it would have been challenging
Speaker 1: to um have all that in the show and off
Speaker 1: the show, both of it. But yeah, well that's the
Speaker 1: social media is a whole other thing. Man. That's now
Speaker 1: a metric for you know, whether or not you get
Speaker 1: hired and all this stuff. That's whole so crazy. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's a lot. Yeah, That's why I'm not on it. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I've really that's awesome, very refreshing to hear too well,
Speaker 1: because it's like irony does not play in the digital
Speaker 1: ag You can't be ionic because you can't read tone
Speaker 1: from a tweet because it's just although there's hilarious stuff
Speaker 1: on Twitter, but it's just it's just information. Yeah, so
Speaker 1: if you don't have context, it's hard to figure it out.
Speaker 1: It's the whole thing man. Yeah, absolutely, I mean, you
Speaker 1: hit it right on the nose. Anyways, that was I mean,
Speaker 1: we I basically just wanted to kind of talk to
Speaker 1: you about the Captain and and how you got into
Speaker 1: acting and living in New York and all that kind
Speaker 1: of stuff. I feel like we covered a lot of fun,
Speaker 1: fun stuff I really loved. I didn't really know that
Speaker 1: about you being on set with that. That's like a
Speaker 1: fun fact that I don't think a bunch of the fans.
Speaker 1: I think I'll love hearing that too because I didn't
Speaker 1: know that, and it really makes me feel different about
Speaker 1: the Captain a little bit. Yeah. Well, I think, I mean,
Speaker 1: obviously I think they probably were going I think they
Speaker 1: probably obviously knew as well that it wasn't just couldn't
Speaker 1: just be like, you know, I wasn't like Captain Stubing
Speaker 1: from the Love Book, although I could have done that too,
Speaker 1: could have maybe in the new one, we'll get him
Speaker 1: a job. No, homeless, No, it's gotta be. Do you
Speaker 1: have any any projects coming up that you can talk about? No? Actually,
Speaker 1: I've been Actually I've been writing a lot, and i've
Speaker 1: been directing some theater. And that's so that's one thing.
Speaker 1: The pandemic. I've been able to sort of slow down
Speaker 1: and pick and choose a little bit. So that's that's
Speaker 1: sort of where I've been at. Yeah, And how do
Speaker 1: you do you like directing? I do? I do. It's
Speaker 1: I mean, I I much prefer acting because I don't know,
Speaker 1: I just I like acting on stage. It's fun, it's
Speaker 1: it's challenging and fun and and what you get is
Speaker 1: sort of immediate. And my my dad said something about it.
Speaker 1: I think he was quoting Ralph Richardson, was an English
Speaker 1: actor of great note in which like, if you're doing
Speaker 1: something that's not of this time period, you're sort of
Speaker 1: breaking time and it's like our our time to dream.
Speaker 1: Like you can go to the theater and see something
Speaker 1: and it's not and it's a little bit of a
Speaker 1: dream time and then you come back into the world,
Speaker 1: and I think that's we need that, and that's one
Speaker 1: of the great values of the theater. Yeah. I love that. Wow,
Speaker 1: I need that. You're making me like have all these
Speaker 1: fields of coming and just going and watching theater for
Speaker 1: weeks in New York now, but good New York for sure.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna definitely be coming and going and seeing some theater.
Speaker 1: You got me all fired up about that. And I
Speaker 1: hope that we like Cross Paths soon and I can't
Speaker 1: wait to tell Chase that we did an episode. He'll
Speaker 1: love it. He'll be super pumped. Please do Yeah, I hope.
Speaker 1: I hope we do as well. Yeah you Wow. It
Speaker 1: was so good to talk to you Sam and hear
Speaker 1: all of your thoughts on such a complicated character like
Speaker 1: the Captain. I loved getting to chat with you today.
Speaker 1: So thanks again for joining me. For everyone else, make
Speaker 1: sure to subscribe to the show wherever you get your
Speaker 1: podcast and leave a review. I can't wait to see
Speaker 1: you back here next week. Until next time, x O
Speaker 1: x O x O XO is produced by Propagate Content
Speaker 1: and Met Jessica's Or. Our show is executive produced by Langley.
Speaker 1: Our producers are Diego Tapia, Christin Vermilia, Emily Carr and
Speaker 1: Hannah Harris. Original music by Moxie and Lune, and the
Speaker 1: episode was mixed by Sethel Landsky