WEBVTT - Adam Scott is as delightful as you think he is 0:00:00.080 --> 0:00:03.360 Hi, everyone. I'm Katie Couric and this is next question. 0:00:04.800 --> 0:00:07.200 You know, when I was getting ready to interview the 0:00:07.280 --> 0:00:10.680 actor Adam Scott, I wasn't sure what I was in for. 0:00:11.600 --> 0:00:13.560 I didn't know that much about him. Of course I 0:00:13.680 --> 0:00:17.599 recognized him from a lot of different roles, but I 0:00:17.640 --> 0:00:19.799 really didn't know what to expect, and I have to 0:00:19.880 --> 0:00:27.040 admit I ended up really really liking Adam Scott. Hello, Adam, Hi. Hi, 0:00:27.200 --> 0:00:30.720 it's Katie. Hi. I learned a lot about him during 0:00:30.760 --> 0:00:34.040 the course of our conversation. That I would have loved 0:00:34.159 --> 0:00:36.600 his mom, That he lives close to the house we've 0:00:36.600 --> 0:00:38.960 been riding in l A for the past couple of months. 0:00:39.360 --> 0:00:42.480 That he loves building forts. You're going to think it's 0:00:42.520 --> 0:00:45.280 really weird, but I'm doing this under a blanket because 0:00:45.320 --> 0:00:48.599 this room is super echoy. I don't mind. Let's just 0:00:48.640 --> 0:00:51.720 pretend like we're in a fort that we made as kids. 0:00:52.560 --> 0:00:56.720 I love it. I love forts, and I love coziness, 0:00:56.800 --> 0:01:00.040 and it's cozy, And and that nothing was going to 0:01:00.080 --> 0:01:03.120 stop him from becoming an actor, even though he may 0:01:03.240 --> 0:01:08.360 do with bit parts scraping a living together for fifteen years. Nevertheless, 0:01:08.680 --> 0:01:12.440 he persisted, you look back and you're like, oh, oh 0:01:12.920 --> 0:01:18.080 my god, I was nowhere. Ironically, after wanting to break 0:01:18.080 --> 0:01:21.679 into Hollywood for so long, the first big acting gig 0:01:21.720 --> 0:01:25.679 he got was playing a hollywould want to be stuck 0:01:25.720 --> 0:01:28.639 in a dead end catering job and the now cult 0:01:28.720 --> 0:01:34.360 favorite show Party Down. Were you were? You that guy? 0:01:34.720 --> 0:01:38.400 You were? You were totally that guy that is bananas? 0:01:38.520 --> 0:01:42.600 I remember that. I remember you? What are you doing 0:01:42.680 --> 0:01:48.800 working here? Will you remember me from anything else? Spoiler alert? 0:01:49.000 --> 0:01:51.640 It works out for our dear Adam. He has start 0:01:51.760 --> 0:01:55.360 in some truly vengebile TV, from Parks and Wreck to 0:01:55.480 --> 0:01:59.160 Big Little Lies to now front and center in a 0:01:59.200 --> 0:02:03.600 new series called Severance. Hello, my name is Mark S 0:02:05.600 --> 0:02:09.000 and I have of my own free accord, elected to 0:02:09.280 --> 0:02:17.240 undergo the procedure known as Severance. We get into the 0:02:17.280 --> 0:02:22.560 show Adams scrappy beginnings, that magnificent quoth, and much more. 0:02:23.160 --> 0:02:25.679 I hope you enjoy our chat as much as I did. 0:02:27.520 --> 0:02:31.760 I'm excited to talk about Severance because when I first 0:02:31.760 --> 0:02:37.280 saw billboards advertising your new show on Apple TV, I thought, Wow, 0:02:37.720 --> 0:02:41.160 that is really extraordinary timing. Here we are on the 0:02:41.200 --> 0:02:45.000 heels of the pandemic that has left so many people 0:02:45.200 --> 0:02:50.519 of all ages, rethinking the workplace, rethinking you know, what 0:02:50.600 --> 0:02:54.200 we want to do with our lives. There's the Great Resignation, 0:02:54.360 --> 0:02:59.280 which other people have called the Great Reset. But it 0:02:59.440 --> 0:03:04.040 seems almost uncanny that this show is coming out at 0:03:04.080 --> 0:03:08.079 this moment. Was it complete serendipity or was it Um 0:03:08.280 --> 0:03:14.160 did you foresee something happening in the culture. It was 0:03:15.440 --> 0:03:19.440 complete serendipity. I mean the show was written pre pandemic, 0:03:19.480 --> 0:03:23.480 and we were going to start shooting April of and 0:03:24.240 --> 0:03:28.679 had to delay, you know, obviously for seven months and 0:03:28.840 --> 0:03:31.920 started that. We started shooting the day after the election 0:03:32.120 --> 0:03:37.960 in November. Um, so we were shooting right in the 0:03:37.960 --> 0:03:43.800 heart of pre vaccine New York pandemic. It was, uh, 0:03:44.600 --> 0:03:48.400 as everyone knows, it was a crazy time. And so no, 0:03:48.720 --> 0:03:52.760 I think it was complete serendipity. But um, you know 0:03:52.840 --> 0:03:57.880 Dan Ericson the creator and writer, and Ben Stiller the 0:03:57.920 --> 0:04:01.680 director and executive producer, you know, kind of the creative 0:04:01.720 --> 0:04:07.560 forces really behind the show. Um, you know, serendipitous, But 0:04:07.600 --> 0:04:12.840 I think also the the kind of everything we're feeling 0:04:12.920 --> 0:04:15.920 right now and kind of the result of of everything 0:04:15.960 --> 0:04:19.240 that's happened the past couple of years. You know, you 0:04:19.360 --> 0:04:21.720 have to think that the seeds of this have been 0:04:21.800 --> 0:04:25.960 planted for some time. It's just we were accelerating for 0:04:26.040 --> 0:04:28.320 the past couple of years. That's so interesting. I think 0:04:28.320 --> 0:04:32.240 you're so right. I think millennials and now Gen Z 0:04:33.120 --> 0:04:37.080 of people I don't know, gen z ears Um. I 0:04:37.120 --> 0:04:41.880 think this sort of restlessness and this questioning of career 0:04:41.960 --> 0:04:45.400 tracks and the idea. Remember giving a commencement address and 0:04:45.480 --> 0:04:49.680 saying most millennials will change jobs and average of fourteen 0:04:49.760 --> 0:04:52.640 times in their lifetime, you know. And I think we've 0:04:52.680 --> 0:04:57.200 seen this slow shift from people who work for one 0:04:57.279 --> 0:05:00.559 company their entire lives, retire with the know of old 0:05:00.600 --> 0:05:04.440 watch a lunch and a pension, and this this very 0:05:04.560 --> 0:05:10.200 different view of work and priorities. So I think you're right. 0:05:10.279 --> 0:05:15.360 Everything accelerated. I think all these pre existing trends accelerated 0:05:15.440 --> 0:05:18.479 during the pandemic. But while you were shooting it, did 0:05:18.520 --> 0:05:23.000 you sort of feel like this feels very of the moment. 0:05:23.080 --> 0:05:25.840 We've kind of captured lightning in a bottle in terms 0:05:25.920 --> 0:05:31.000 of some of the themes that this show presents. You know, 0:05:31.200 --> 0:05:33.279 it was tough to see the forest for the trees 0:05:33.320 --> 0:05:37.680 while we were shooting, because, um, it was such a 0:05:37.800 --> 0:05:41.919 gargantuan task in front of us, in front of you. 0:05:41.960 --> 0:05:44.480 I remember Amy Poehler used to call it being at 0:05:44.520 --> 0:05:48.480 the bottom of show mountain when you're just starting a 0:05:48.560 --> 0:05:53.520 new show, that that that no one knows what it is, 0:05:53.560 --> 0:05:55.839 so there's no definition to it, and you're at the 0:05:55.880 --> 0:05:59.200 bottom of the mountain. H when you know, when you're 0:05:59.279 --> 0:06:03.560 at episode one of hopefully as many as possible, but 0:06:03.640 --> 0:06:06.760 you have to shoot the show, but you also have 0:06:06.920 --> 0:06:12.080 to construct and define it, find the tone, all of 0:06:12.120 --> 0:06:16.599 those things that make a show work. Um Uh, you 0:06:16.720 --> 0:06:19.320 have to sort of figure it out as you're doing it, 0:06:19.360 --> 0:06:22.920 because there's no really really knowing what it's going to be, 0:06:22.960 --> 0:06:26.200 what it's going to feel like until those cameras are rolling, 0:06:26.520 --> 0:06:28.640 when you have everyone in the room doing it, and 0:06:28.720 --> 0:06:32.960 so it is like being at the bottom of a mountain. 0:06:33.000 --> 0:06:37.760 And and that's that's how it felt. And um for me, 0:06:37.920 --> 0:06:42.279 never having been at the center of something quite so 0:06:43.240 --> 0:06:50.640 big and challenging, um, I just was you know, day too, 0:06:50.960 --> 0:06:54.680 going trying to just jump from one lily pad to 0:06:54.760 --> 0:06:59.160 the next, keeping up with the work and and under 0:06:59.200 --> 0:07:03.080 these extraordinary circumstances in the middle of COVID where you guys, 0:07:03.440 --> 0:07:07.360 we're probably being tested on a regular basis and having 0:07:07.480 --> 0:07:10.160 to keep your distance and we're masks when you're not, 0:07:10.800 --> 0:07:14.200 you know, when they don't say action. I mean that 0:07:14.200 --> 0:07:20.120 that must have been really tough. It was really interesting. 0:07:20.280 --> 0:07:23.600 And the isolation of it what you just said, they 0:07:23.760 --> 0:07:27.200 you know, the moment they called cut, putting a mask 0:07:27.320 --> 0:07:29.400 and a shield up in front of your face. We 0:07:29.480 --> 0:07:32.200 never even saw the cruise faces for the ten months 0:07:32.280 --> 0:07:35.520 we're working on the show. And then also you go 0:07:35.640 --> 0:07:38.480 home and I was away from my family. I was 0:07:38.520 --> 0:07:41.680 in New York, so I live in Los Angeles, so 0:07:41.680 --> 0:07:44.320 I was by myself in an apartment in in New York. 0:07:44.520 --> 0:07:50.800 And pre vaccine, New York was, especially in the fall 0:07:50.840 --> 0:07:53.960 of was pretty locked down. It was pretty and it 0:07:54.040 --> 0:07:56.920 was pretty very As somebody who lives in the city too, 0:07:57.240 --> 0:07:59.800 you know, you would walk out on Park Avenue and 0:08:00.720 --> 0:08:04.520 in the middle of the day and there it was empty, 0:08:04.960 --> 0:08:08.000 no cars. I mean, honestly, it was like a movie. 0:08:08.720 --> 0:08:11.600 I know, it was crazy. It was like a mid 0:08:11.760 --> 0:08:16.240 nineties like Wolfgang Peterson movie or something. So um. So yeah, 0:08:16.320 --> 0:08:22.280 I I would shoot the show for twelve hours or whatever, 0:08:22.320 --> 0:08:26.200 get in a van, go back to the apartment, eat, sleep, 0:08:26.960 --> 0:08:29.559 wake up, get in a van go to the show, 0:08:29.600 --> 0:08:35.560 and the show was this kind of stark uh isolated, um, 0:08:35.960 --> 0:08:40.440 strange environment and so it was very severance, like my 0:08:40.720 --> 0:08:46.000 kind of existence parallel to the show. It was. It 0:08:46.080 --> 0:08:49.760 was very uh, very strange, and I was, you know, 0:08:50.840 --> 0:08:54.720 grappling with a loss in my life and alone for 0:08:54.760 --> 0:09:00.560 the first time in six months after this intent time 0:09:00.559 --> 0:09:03.640 with family. You know, we're like we all did we 0:09:03.760 --> 0:09:06.280 really buckled down. I buckled down with my two kids 0:09:06.280 --> 0:09:09.839 and my wife for six months and had this extraordinary 0:09:09.920 --> 0:09:14.120 time together. Um and then to suddenly just be boom, 0:09:14.160 --> 0:09:17.960 You're by yourself uh in uh in a in a 0:09:18.360 --> 0:09:20.800 in the city and and and working, and you know, 0:09:20.880 --> 0:09:24.439 it was a it was like slamming the brakes on 0:09:25.040 --> 0:09:28.960 and then getting into a car you've never driven before 0:09:29.040 --> 0:09:31.240 and trying to figure it out. That's a metaphor that 0:09:31.280 --> 0:09:35.200 I'm not going to keep following. I was so excited 0:09:35.280 --> 0:09:38.520 to see your your mug on the billboard and that 0:09:39.200 --> 0:09:41.840 pretty serious head of hair of yours, although it was 0:09:41.880 --> 0:09:45.160 kind of slicked down in the billboard. I'm not obsessed 0:09:45.200 --> 0:09:47.840 with hair. Your hair just happens to look lovely today 0:09:48.640 --> 0:09:53.880 and very much, very fresh and maybe just washed, but anyway, Um, 0:09:53.960 --> 0:09:57.360 you know, tell me about the plot, a little bit 0:09:57.400 --> 0:10:03.040 about your character m in the show and and how 0:10:03.640 --> 0:10:06.680 this whole idea was turned into I guess what I 0:10:06.679 --> 0:10:12.480 would describe as a psychological thriller of sorts. Yeah, I think, Um, 0:10:12.520 --> 0:10:15.360 I think, I think that's right. I think it's a 0:10:15.400 --> 0:10:19.240 bunch of different things kind of there's a few balls 0:10:19.280 --> 0:10:21.719 that are in the air with with the show. And 0:10:22.240 --> 0:10:28.920 I think that's what really kind of got Ben really 0:10:29.120 --> 0:10:31.120 Ben still are really interested in and it is that 0:10:31.200 --> 0:10:35.120 it has this sort of this the entry into the 0:10:35.200 --> 0:10:41.000 story sort of feels uh workplace, like a fun workplace 0:10:41.040 --> 0:10:45.080 comedy in a way like office space or or the 0:10:45.200 --> 0:10:48.400 Officer parks and wreck even this sort of light, fun 0:10:48.679 --> 0:10:52.120 bantery um way in and then that you sort of 0:10:52.160 --> 0:10:56.640 sense that there's something a little more sinister maybe lurking underneath. 0:10:56.679 --> 0:10:59.800 And then you kind of realized that this is this 0:11:00.320 --> 0:11:06.720 fun office vibe that involves people who have no idea 0:11:06.800 --> 0:11:11.000 what they're doing there or who they are. Um. Yeah, 0:11:11.040 --> 0:11:14.080 I mean the conceit of the show is that we 0:11:14.280 --> 0:11:16.360 live in a time where there's this technology where you 0:11:16.360 --> 0:11:21.319 can get a chip inserted into your brain that bifurcates 0:11:21.440 --> 0:11:24.560 your memories. So when you go to work, once you 0:11:24.600 --> 0:11:29.240 cross the threshold of your workplace, you lose all of 0:11:29.280 --> 0:11:31.520 your memory of who you are in the outside world, 0:11:31.880 --> 0:11:35.680 and your entire life and perspective on your life is 0:11:35.720 --> 0:11:38.280 there at work, and so that is who you are. 0:11:38.320 --> 0:11:39.599 And then when you leave at the end of the 0:11:39.679 --> 0:11:43.480 day and cross that threshold once again, something is triggered 0:11:43.520 --> 0:11:46.360 in the chip in your brain and you have no 0:11:46.480 --> 0:11:49.160 access to the memories of what just happened at work, 0:11:49.440 --> 0:11:53.200 and you have no idea actually what your job even is. 0:11:53.360 --> 0:11:56.640 You just live in the outside world. So the the 0:11:56.760 --> 0:12:01.079 idea is, um, you can completely focus on your personal 0:12:01.120 --> 0:12:04.000 life and then you can completely focus on your job 0:12:04.160 --> 0:12:06.679 and never the twain shall meet. And so the work 0:12:06.679 --> 0:12:12.080 life balance is finally solved. Um. There there there is 0:12:12.160 --> 0:12:16.760 a complete balance in in in the work life conundrum. 0:12:16.880 --> 0:12:21.440 So I'll never leave here, You'll leave it five well, 0:12:21.480 --> 0:12:26.320 actually they stagger exit, so but it won't feel like 0:12:26.400 --> 0:12:30.600 it not to this version of you anyway. Do you 0:12:30.600 --> 0:12:39.040 have a family? You never know? I have no choice. Well, 0:12:39.080 --> 0:12:42.720 every time you find yourself here, it's because you chose 0:12:42.760 --> 0:12:46.440 to come back and tell us about the character you play. 0:12:46.520 --> 0:12:53.760 By the way, it sounds like Office Space meets Black Mirror. Yeah, yeah, sure, yeah, 0:12:53.800 --> 0:12:57.120 I think Twilight Zone and Black Mirror are certainly touchstones. 0:12:57.520 --> 0:13:01.120 Um uh, it's a certain as a fan. When I 0:13:01.200 --> 0:13:05.520 first read the scripts, that's the stuff that I love 0:13:05.920 --> 0:13:08.880 watching and have since. Twilight Zone was a huge thing 0:13:08.960 --> 0:13:11.000 for me as a kid, and so reading it, I 0:13:11.280 --> 0:13:13.240 you know, it was something that that I would want 0:13:13.280 --> 0:13:16.960 to watch as a as an audience member. Um yeah, 0:13:17.000 --> 0:13:20.959 my character Mark is in the outside world. A couple 0:13:20.960 --> 0:13:26.199 of years ago he lost his wife and you know too, 0:13:26.240 --> 0:13:28.160 and it's been two and a half years and he 0:13:28.280 --> 0:13:34.559 is not doing well. He's not moving on UM and 0:13:35.280 --> 0:13:38.719 a couple of years ago decided to get severed because 0:13:39.320 --> 0:13:42.839 he just didn't want to feel this Paine twenty four 0:13:42.880 --> 0:13:45.560 hours a day so he can wake up in the morning, 0:13:45.640 --> 0:13:50.000 have breakfast, drive to work, and then boom, he's leaving 0:13:50.000 --> 0:13:52.320 work and getting his car, driving home, eating and going 0:13:52.360 --> 0:13:54.960 to sleep. That's his life. He doesn't have to feel 0:13:55.360 --> 0:13:58.720 anything for eight to ten hours a day. And I 0:13:58.760 --> 0:14:05.360 think also part of his reasoning for this UM is 0:14:05.440 --> 0:14:10.280 that this grief and this pain is in a way 0:14:10.360 --> 0:14:14.960 all he has left of his of his wife, and 0:14:15.080 --> 0:14:18.600 he's that's you know, whether consciously or not, why he's 0:14:18.679 --> 0:14:20.920 grasping onto this and holding onto it, why he doesn't 0:14:20.920 --> 0:14:24.480 want to move on, is because this is this is 0:14:24.720 --> 0:14:27.800 what he has, and and being able to check out 0:14:28.520 --> 0:14:32.080 for most of most of the day is a way 0:14:32.120 --> 0:14:35.640 of holding onto it while not having to necessarily deal 0:14:35.760 --> 0:14:39.000 with or feel it. Interesting and do you think it's 0:14:39.000 --> 0:14:45.600 a metaphor for how sort of unhealthily entwined our personal 0:14:45.640 --> 0:14:50.160 lives have become with our work lives. In other words, 0:14:50.320 --> 0:14:55.400 the constant connectivity thanks to technology has made it really 0:14:55.440 --> 0:15:00.840 difficult for us to have what was for so long 0:15:01.600 --> 0:15:05.880 considered our two separate lives. You know, even for me, 0:15:05.960 --> 0:15:08.400 when I started out in television news, I would go 0:15:08.440 --> 0:15:13.200 to work, I would come home and that was time 0:15:13.240 --> 0:15:15.920 with my family. Now I had to do homework, you know, 0:15:16.120 --> 0:15:19.720 the night before, which was delivered. It sounds so quaint 0:15:19.840 --> 0:15:25.160 in an envelope with with actual you know, uh, papers 0:15:25.200 --> 0:15:29.240 and zeros and articles, yeah, and Manila folders and all 0:15:29.240 --> 0:15:33.480 that jazz. But I still felt that when I was 0:15:33.840 --> 0:15:39.320 not physically at work, I wasn't thinking about work seven 0:15:39.560 --> 0:15:44.600 and now the lines have been so blurred, So it 0:15:44.640 --> 0:15:48.160 is sort of this part of the solution for that, 0:15:49.120 --> 0:15:56.080 um all encompassing professional side that we now have. Yeah, 0:15:56.440 --> 0:16:00.280 I guess so, I guess that's the that's the idea. Yeah, 0:16:00.280 --> 0:16:05.040 I mean I know that. It's it sounds great to 0:16:05.160 --> 0:16:09.080 be able to sever the two things because I I 0:16:09.200 --> 0:16:12.400 always pictured that as well. I always pictured once my 0:16:12.520 --> 0:16:18.040 professional life, god anywhere, and I had any traction or 0:16:18.080 --> 0:16:23.320 any stability it, especially once I started we started a 0:16:23.400 --> 0:16:28.920 family that I would work and then come home and honey, 0:16:28.960 --> 0:16:33.480 I'm home and the martini in your bedroom, slippers and 0:16:33.880 --> 0:16:37.040 exactly like Madman or something. You know, that's sort of 0:16:37.080 --> 0:16:41.880 what you always picture. But by the time it happened 0:16:42.760 --> 0:16:45.440 for me, there was no you know, you walk through 0:16:45.440 --> 0:16:47.600 the door and there's a buzzing in your pocket and 0:16:47.680 --> 0:16:52.280 you know it's seven. There really is no stopping no 0:16:52.320 --> 0:16:55.360 matter what you're doing for a living. Um, you have 0:16:55.480 --> 0:17:00.160 to really draw the line for yourself and and if 0:17:00.200 --> 0:17:02.640 you want that separation, you have to put it in 0:17:02.680 --> 0:17:07.080 a drawer. But then, um, you know, if you're not 0:17:07.200 --> 0:17:12.760 reachable for two hours, uh, you know, people think there's 0:17:12.920 --> 0:17:16.760 something going on, there's something wrong, and um, it's it's 0:17:16.800 --> 0:17:20.920 now unusual to just be unresponsive for a certain amount 0:17:20.960 --> 0:17:27.200 of time. It is a strange a strange uh strange time. 0:17:27.240 --> 0:17:31.360 And certainly, um, you know, like you were saying earlier, 0:17:31.440 --> 0:17:34.639 how it almost feels like the pandemic or lockdown or 0:17:34.680 --> 0:17:39.280 whatever sort of accelerated what what what was already happening 0:17:39.320 --> 0:17:43.440 with the gig economy and and uh and and all 0:17:43.480 --> 0:17:46.960 of that. Yeah, it's uh strange. I mean what you 0:17:47.040 --> 0:17:49.600 were talking about with I would assume with the Today 0:17:49.640 --> 0:17:53.680 Show when you would come home and get to be 0:17:53.840 --> 0:17:56.960 with your family and then get that that big packet 0:17:56.960 --> 0:17:59.880 of homework that must have been you know, it's it's 0:18:00.000 --> 0:18:02.800 sounds like it sounds exhausting, but there is something really 0:18:02.840 --> 0:18:07.080 comforting about it now and sort of straightforward about this 0:18:07.160 --> 0:18:09.920 is what you have to do for tomorrow and that's 0:18:10.000 --> 0:18:12.760 what it is, and and and you're not going to 0:18:12.840 --> 0:18:15.159 be bothered and this is this isn't all going to 0:18:15.240 --> 0:18:18.960 be turned upside down and changed and changed. I mean, 0:18:19.040 --> 0:18:21.920 unless there's some big words, there's a big news story. 0:18:21.960 --> 0:18:25.600 But it's funny because you know, I always remind myself 0:18:25.640 --> 0:18:28.560 that iPhones didn't come out till two eight and so 0:18:28.880 --> 0:18:32.959 all through the nineties, in the early two thousand's, Um, 0:18:33.000 --> 0:18:36.320 you know, I could be with my kids at the 0:18:36.320 --> 0:18:39.399 park without an eruption. I wasn't looking at my phone. 0:18:39.840 --> 0:18:43.040 Uh uh, you know, flip bones were just kind of 0:18:43.080 --> 0:18:46.760 coming out then, and I could be so much more present. 0:18:46.920 --> 0:18:50.400 And I remember reading that Susan Surrandon and Tim Robbins, 0:18:50.400 --> 0:18:53.919 when they were married, had a house rule that they 0:18:53.960 --> 0:18:57.879 wouldn't answer the phone between five and eight, which is 0:18:57.920 --> 0:19:01.160 so funny now when you think about it, because people 0:19:01.200 --> 0:19:05.040 don't even have landlines anymore, and now we're all addicted 0:19:05.080 --> 0:19:07.800 to our phones, and to be able to be away 0:19:07.840 --> 0:19:11.720 from it for three hours, it's almost a herculean feet 0:19:11.920 --> 0:19:16.920 So it's just crazy how it's it's almost um, how 0:19:17.040 --> 0:19:21.960 much this new way of living has slowly, and I 0:19:22.000 --> 0:19:28.880 would say malevolently, seeped into our our very beans, you know. Um. 0:19:28.880 --> 0:19:34.040 And I don't think for the better coming up Adam's 0:19:34.160 --> 0:19:40.040 Aha moment, done dunune done done dunda. Oh that sounded bad. 0:19:40.359 --> 0:19:52.880 Right after this, I wanted to take a moment because 0:19:52.880 --> 0:19:55.960 I know you're from Santa Cruz, Adam, and I'm just curious. 0:19:56.000 --> 0:19:59.520 I always love to hear people's origin stories, and I'm 0:19:59.560 --> 0:20:02.359 curious how you got bitten by the acting bug in 0:20:02.400 --> 0:20:06.080 the first place, and and and how you found yourself 0:20:06.200 --> 0:20:12.480 on on this Thespian road if you will, Yeah, the 0:20:12.480 --> 0:20:17.760 the Thespian Avenue actor Lane. Um. Yeah, you know, I 0:20:17.800 --> 0:20:25.840 think it was really pretty simple and maybe shallow, but 0:20:27.280 --> 0:20:31.000 or not shallow, but I think it was pretty simple, 0:20:31.119 --> 0:20:36.360 which was I was always sort of interested. But then, um, 0:20:36.520 --> 0:20:42.080 I saw Raiders of the Lost Art and I think 0:20:42.080 --> 0:20:44.080 it was right at the age because it came out 0:20:44.119 --> 0:20:48.399 in what eighty one eighty two, and so I was 0:20:48.760 --> 0:20:52.199 eight nine years old. I remember seeing that movie. I 0:20:52.280 --> 0:20:56.199 remember getting back to my friend's house and rushing to 0:20:56.960 --> 0:21:00.359 a phone, to a landline and calling my mom because 0:21:00.400 --> 0:21:06.320 I had to unload all these feelings because I had 0:21:06.359 --> 0:21:10.080 just seemed something and nothing would ever be the same again. 0:21:10.400 --> 0:21:17.359 This movie didn't stop. It was just fun all the 0:21:17.400 --> 0:21:20.480 way through. And it was hilarious. And you know, you 0:21:20.560 --> 0:21:23.719 watch that movie now and there are jokes, not just 0:21:23.840 --> 0:21:30.320 like funny asides, there are jokes and good ones. Um 0:21:30.400 --> 0:21:34.760 uh and uh, and I just it just blew my mind. 0:21:34.920 --> 0:21:38.439 And you know something, you know back then, you know, 0:21:38.480 --> 0:21:41.600 I went to see that movie so so many times. Uh, 0:21:41.640 --> 0:21:45.359 And I still love it and have to watch it 0:21:45.400 --> 0:21:47.200 a couple of times a year. But I think that 0:21:47.359 --> 0:21:52.240 was the beginning of I say simple because it was 0:21:52.280 --> 0:21:57.760 as simple as I want to do that. That looks like, 0:21:58.200 --> 0:22:01.560 there's what else would you could you possibly want to 0:22:01.600 --> 0:22:06.480 do the other than that than the Harrison Ford. Jesus, 0:22:07.160 --> 0:22:10.720 that looks great. I mean, talk about getting the girls 0:22:11.760 --> 0:22:17.320 yet getting the girls getting to Jesus dirty. You're jumping 0:22:17.400 --> 0:22:20.760 from one thing to the other, smarter than everyone else, 0:22:20.920 --> 0:22:24.360 making mistakes but then making up for it. He's a 0:22:24.400 --> 0:22:28.040 flawed guy. He also was a professor. My dad was 0:22:28.080 --> 0:22:30.080 a professor, so there was a lot of that too. 0:22:30.160 --> 0:22:32.520 Like I saw my dad and him, I still do 0:22:32.600 --> 0:22:35.720 when I watch any Harrison Ford thing, I feel I 0:22:35.720 --> 0:22:38.199 feel my kind of see my dad in that. But 0:22:38.480 --> 0:22:41.679 the professor, the college professor, which is what my my 0:22:41.800 --> 0:22:48.600 dad was before he retired, and so uh so it 0:22:48.680 --> 0:22:51.640 was just the perfect recipe for me and millions of others. 0:22:51.680 --> 0:22:55.880 I mean, obviously it was this phenomenon and and then 0:22:55.920 --> 0:22:59.080 Temple of Doom. Maybe I may even like that more. 0:22:59.400 --> 0:23:02.560 I just of that too, So that was kind of 0:23:02.600 --> 0:23:04.840 the start of it. And it was just like the 0:23:04.960 --> 0:23:08.399 secret I harbored for years and years that this is 0:23:08.480 --> 0:23:11.320 what I wanted to do, but I was embarrassed by it, 0:23:11.359 --> 0:23:13.840 so I never really told anyone that this is what 0:23:13.920 --> 0:23:18.400 I planned on doing, um until years and years later. 0:23:18.560 --> 0:23:21.800 But that was the Uh, that was kind of the 0:23:22.240 --> 0:23:25.919 start of it. It was Raiders. It's amazing, isn't it 0:23:25.960 --> 0:23:30.239 how one film can be so transformative? And which is 0:23:30.400 --> 0:23:34.720 I think the beauty of all different kinds of art forms, 0:23:34.720 --> 0:23:38.359 whether it's a book or a movie or a piece 0:23:38.359 --> 0:23:42.159 of art anyway. But so when did you start for 0:23:42.280 --> 0:23:49.960 real pursuing this career? Um? Did you do dinner theater? Adam? No, 0:23:50.119 --> 0:23:53.840 but I I've been to the dinner theater, and uh, 0:23:54.160 --> 0:23:58.760 that's an experience, uh, actually getting like, you know, baked 0:23:58.800 --> 0:24:02.080 Alaska while you're watching Dames at Sea? Like what else? 0:24:03.200 --> 0:24:09.360 What else could you ask for? Um? I I did 0:24:09.359 --> 0:24:12.000 the you know, theater in high school and and all 0:24:12.040 --> 0:24:15.760 of that, and then um, and then uh went to 0:24:15.880 --> 0:24:18.320 acting school after that. You know, when I was like 0:24:18.320 --> 0:24:20.720 a junior in high school, I finally kind of said 0:24:21.000 --> 0:24:24.000 I think I can do this and and and there 0:24:24.040 --> 0:24:26.840 was sort of a social stigma of being a theater 0:24:27.000 --> 0:24:29.240 person at my high school, so I didn't really want 0:24:29.240 --> 0:24:33.280 to commit fully. But but then uh, did and and 0:24:33.280 --> 0:24:35.320 and and sort of let it out there that this 0:24:35.359 --> 0:24:38.280 is something I want to pursue. And and went to 0:24:38.400 --> 0:24:42.920 acting school after high school and in Pasadena, California's where 0:24:42.960 --> 0:24:46.120 the acting school was, and I was in nine one. 0:24:46.240 --> 0:24:49.160 I came down here and I went to the school 0:24:49.200 --> 0:24:51.399 for a couple of years, and then came here to 0:24:51.680 --> 0:24:55.760 Hollywood and nine fall of ninety three and just started, 0:24:55.840 --> 0:25:01.560 you know, doing extra work and our background and uh, 0:25:02.080 --> 0:25:06.040 scrounging around for auditions, just doing anything I could, you know. Yeah, well, 0:25:06.040 --> 0:25:07.760 you know, I've been in l A for a couple 0:25:07.760 --> 0:25:09.959 of months and it's made me think of, you know, 0:25:10.040 --> 0:25:14.640 the entertainment industry a lot, and being an actor must 0:25:14.720 --> 0:25:19.520 prey on every insecurity you have. And it no wonder 0:25:19.600 --> 0:25:22.879 so many of the kids who who have fame early 0:25:22.920 --> 0:25:26.800 on in their lives are so screwed up later. I 0:25:26.840 --> 0:25:30.399 mean it is. It is really destabilizing. How do you 0:25:30.520 --> 0:25:37.480 handle kind of the uncertainty and the really I guess capriciousness. I'm, 0:25:37.560 --> 0:25:40.680 by the way, very impressed by my vocabulary during this podcast, 0:25:40.960 --> 0:25:45.200 too excellent. Thank you. I wouldn't expect anything less. I'm 0:25:45.200 --> 0:25:48.120 pulling out all the I'm pulling out all the safety 0:25:48.200 --> 0:25:50.760 words today for some reason. But you know, how do 0:25:50.840 --> 0:25:56.479 you handle the uncertainty of being an actor? And you know, 0:25:56.720 --> 0:26:00.280 always kind of now that I've made you probably start 0:26:00.640 --> 0:26:03.800 getting pitted out by even discussing this, But the uncertainty 0:26:03.800 --> 0:26:07.240 of where your next role is going to come from. Yeah, 0:26:07.520 --> 0:26:09.760 that sort of thing never goes away. I mean, I 0:26:09.760 --> 0:26:12.480 I think, you know, I think back to starting out, 0:26:12.760 --> 0:26:17.000 you know, kind of hustling for roles and stuff, trying 0:26:17.000 --> 0:26:20.440 to piece something together and Fall of ninety three, so 0:26:20.560 --> 0:26:25.679 I was, I was, um, you know, I auditioned for 0:26:25.840 --> 0:26:28.440 Scream and Scream too, and I know what you did 0:26:28.520 --> 0:26:31.200 last summer and all of that. I was around for 0:26:31.240 --> 0:26:34.000 all of that stuff and didn't get any of it. 0:26:34.280 --> 0:26:40.000 And uh, like I was, you know, went on thousands 0:26:40.000 --> 0:26:45.520 of auditions and was rejected thousands of times, and uh 0:26:45.960 --> 0:26:48.720 made my living doing like guest spots and stuff and 0:26:48.800 --> 0:26:54.359 cobbling something together. But it wasn't until fifteen years in 0:26:54.560 --> 0:26:58.680 that I even started to get real traction. But had 0:26:58.760 --> 0:27:01.399 kind of deluded myself into thinking that I was getting 0:27:01.440 --> 0:27:04.920 traction all the way, just keep going, and but then 0:27:05.000 --> 0:27:08.919 once you actually get traction, you look back and you're like, oh, oh, 0:27:09.200 --> 0:27:14.480