Speaker 1: I am all in, Kiss you, I am all in
Speaker 1: with Scott Patterson and I Heart Radio podcast. Hey Everybody,
Speaker 1: Scott Patterson, I'm all in podcast UH one eleven productions,
Speaker 1: I Heart Radio. We have a very very very special
Speaker 1: guest today in Rusty Schwimmer. She appeared in Gilmore Girls
Speaker 1: for only two episodes of Complete Waste. Should have been
Speaker 1: so many more, but at least we had her for
Speaker 1: two as Suki's midwife Bruce. She first appeared in the
Speaker 1: season four episode seven, The Festival of Living Art, and
Speaker 1: her last appearance UH was season four episode eight, Died Jerk.
Speaker 1: She is a very very versatile actress. She's appeared in
Speaker 1: both dramas and comedies. After starting out in Chicago, Stay
Speaker 1: Age love Chicago actors, love them, you love them. You
Speaker 1: guys get beat up in New York a lot, but
Speaker 1: you don't deserve it. You don't deserve it. I mean,
Speaker 1: I remember, I remember when Malkovich marched in there with
Speaker 1: burn this and they just beat him up, man, And
Speaker 1: it was such such a great performance, you know, such
Speaker 1: a it was, wasn't it such a stunning performance? Um Uh,
Speaker 1: Chicago stage. You ventured to Hollywood, where you landed roles
Speaker 1: in various television series. In the early nineties, you appeared
Speaker 1: in films as such as Little Princess, Twister. You were
Speaker 1: in Twister, Wow, great film, Perfect Storm and other great film, Uh,
Speaker 1: Runaway Jury, North Country, The informant Um and The Sessions.
Speaker 1: But most recently, Russy has appeared on The Righteous Gemstones,
Speaker 1: which we're gonna get into a little bit, Chicago, mad
Speaker 1: better call Saul Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday special. You
Speaker 1: were in that, yes, sir, okay, So you know what
Speaker 1: that's that's tell us a little bit about that. That's fantastic. Well,
Speaker 1: a gentleman by the name of Seawan. There you go.
Speaker 1: Who was who? We became friends? I think actually in
Speaker 1: um he and I have a bunch of friends, including
Speaker 1: all of his brothers, and one of them is called
Speaker 1: James Gunn. And James Gunn likes to hire his friends
Speaker 1: whenever he can, so before he left the franchise of
Speaker 1: Guardians of the Galaxy, he wanted to have all of
Speaker 1: his friends and his relatives in the franchise. And so
Speaker 1: he called me up and said, hey, you want to play?
Speaker 1: And I said, oh sure, why not. I'll cancel my massage.
Speaker 1: I'll be right over. That's funny. That's really great, really
Speaker 1: really great. Um anyway, so let's get started. Let me
Speaker 1: let's start off with how did you get the role? Well,
Speaker 1: I had a really really um auditioned for Suki way back,
Speaker 1: and and then also uh rose Abdu's part also Gypsy. Yeah,
Speaker 1: they loved you. They they they had to have you.
Speaker 1: They loved what you did in the room. Did do
Speaker 1: you remember the Suki audition and it weren't really really
Speaker 1: well for you, and you're disappointed that you didn't get it. Yeah,
Speaker 1: a little bit. But then you know, when you see
Speaker 1: Melissa do it, you think, wow, well there it is,
Speaker 1: you know. So um So that's how it started. And
Speaker 1: then I just kept kind of coming in and doing
Speaker 1: my thing, and this one just felt more like I
Speaker 1: could do it just because of the uh huh, I
Speaker 1: don't know why, uh something about it because you're all
Speaker 1: such fast talkers and on screen, I'm not a fast talker,
Speaker 1: and I thought, oh my gosh, I don't know if
Speaker 1: I can do this, and the fact that mostly I'm
Speaker 1: hired for my reactions. I think that Bruce was probably
Speaker 1: the best role for me on that um so it
Speaker 1: was offered to you didn't have to come in and read.
Speaker 1: Oh no, no, no, I had to come So you
Speaker 1: had to come in and fight for it. Good and
Speaker 1: glad you got it. Glad you got it? Um, thank you.
Speaker 1: I mean it was hysterical you would play. Look, you
Speaker 1: had plenty of television experience from before alimbeel picket fence
Speaker 1: as you are. Well you talking about a little bit
Speaker 1: you touched on our PREVILEW what was it like joining
Speaker 1: our cast? Well, the thing that I remember probably the most,
Speaker 1: besides goofing around with Melissa Um, was at the table read.
Speaker 1: I was petrified, absolutely petrified. An intimidating room, isn't it?
Speaker 1: Incredibly And I'm not happy anyway about those table reads
Speaker 1: because there's always that fake laughter from the writers and
Speaker 1: you always know which writers said which line and rowe
Speaker 1: which line because they laugh the hardest. And Um, afterwards
Speaker 1: you came up to me and said, great job, great job.
Speaker 1: And I'll never forget because I thought, oh, bless his
Speaker 1: heart that he said that. Now I can feel so
Speaker 1: much better and not be fired before we even start felling.
Speaker 1: Just to add a little context that let me interject
Speaker 1: these rooms that that you won't it, I mean even
Speaker 1: for us. It was scary because you know, I don't
Speaker 1: know if you imagine walking into a conference room at
Speaker 1: the c I A or the Pentagon or the war Room.
Speaker 1: I mean, these are these are really expensive tables, that
Speaker 1: really large tables. Everything is just set out with name
Speaker 1: cards and the whole thing and bottle of water and
Speaker 1: pens and your scripted and then there's then there's another
Speaker 1: layer of chairs behind the table. So it's like that's
Speaker 1: where the executives and the writers and and and the
Speaker 1: head of departments sit, and it's very very intense. It's
Speaker 1: very intimidating. You really want to put on a good
Speaker 1: performance because really, even though they said you have the
Speaker 1: job and you are there and you have a signed contract,
Speaker 1: that's still an audition that is not you don't have
Speaker 1: it secured because if you blow that table read, they
Speaker 1: will recast. Yeah, it's it's over, man. So you got
Speaker 1: to deliver in that table read. And so you've got
Speaker 1: to be good enough to deliver the goods and the
Speaker 1: table read so that the writers don't go to to
Speaker 1: Amy and say, you know that these are great lines
Speaker 1: that actor really wontched it. You know we should. Yeah,
Speaker 1: so so good on your family Um, so was the
Speaker 1: original plan to have you on for two episodes that or?
Speaker 1: I think so, I'm pretty sure it us for two episodes,
Speaker 1: which was always fun because being a guest at somebody's party,
Speaker 1: which is what a guest star is. Um, you would
Speaker 1: like to you know, come back and be at the
Speaker 1: party a little bit longer. Um because sometimes, as as
Speaker 1: it was with Gilmore girls, you worked so fast that
Speaker 1: it would be one day and then you're out. And
Speaker 1: so I had two lovely days on the Warner Brothers
Speaker 1: lot with you guys, and everybody was lovely and um,
Speaker 1: but you work so fast, so fast that usually you
Speaker 1: have a you know, a wardrobe fitting beforehand. But Brenda,
Speaker 1: the costume designer, said I'll just come in before we
Speaker 1: got it taken care of. And I was out of
Speaker 1: my mind with that thought. Um. But she was amazing
Speaker 1: and everybody was amazing. But yeah, you guys worked fast.
Speaker 1: We had a lot of scenes to do every day,
Speaker 1: you know, so we had to get to him, man,
Speaker 1: we had to get to him. So so you were
Speaker 1: doing your scenes with Melissa McCarthy and Nick Offerman, who
Speaker 1: was also a guest star as well in your first episode.
Speaker 1: Was he I think so and Nick. Nick and I
Speaker 1: were friends before that, and so when we found out
Speaker 1: that we were cast together, we lost our minds because
Speaker 1: we thought, oh my gosh, we're gonna be able to
Speaker 1: play it again. And Nick and Melissa and I are
Speaker 1: from around the same area, is that right? Yeah? So
Speaker 1: while we were off screen, we were talking to Chicago
Speaker 1: doing the Chicago Now. One day the wind stopped blowing.
Speaker 1: We all fell down. Yeahs right, dish right, you know,
Speaker 1: two three wind guys, you know, and there you go.
Speaker 1: But uh so Nick and I were very, very excited.
Speaker 1: So when we were on we were on set, we
Speaker 1: were like kids in a candy store. It was nuts. Yeah.
Speaker 1: Isn't that wonderful when that happens? Yeah? Right? Yeah. So
Speaker 1: your character Bruce, first of all, the name is hysterical.
Speaker 1: Never cracked a smile during your scenes, and it was
Speaker 1: and it was hilarious the way you just say uh
Speaker 1: huh and you gave orders to everyone around you. Did
Speaker 1: you have a hard time keeping a straight face and
Speaker 1: keeping it so serious? The only time, to be honest,
Speaker 1: that I had a hard time keeping a straight face
Speaker 1: is when I had to look into Nick's eyes, and
Speaker 1: then I was I said, you know, don't don't make
Speaker 1: me laugh, right now, do it right? But for some reason,
Speaker 1: once I was in Bruce for the for the most part,
Speaker 1: I I kind of had that mindset that this was
Speaker 1: a very serious situation, very serious, right. Yeah. And also
Speaker 1: it helps that when my sisters and I used to
Speaker 1: play when we were younger, uh, we always talked about
Speaker 1: how we couldn't break, we could not break, So I
Speaker 1: had some experience with that. I mean, we dream, you know.
Speaker 1: The dream scenario is to work with people that you
Speaker 1: know well and that you love and who can just
Speaker 1: crack you up, you know, just by looking at you.
Speaker 1: But then that comes to bite you back in the
Speaker 1: in the ankles when you have to do a serious
Speaker 1: scene with them, and it's just very difficult to do it.
Speaker 1: Very very true, it is, it really is. Um. Have
Speaker 1: you ever come across a woman like Bruce? You know, Um,
Speaker 1: my mother was a nurse and I went to visit
Speaker 1: her one day while she was to her nurse stuff
Speaker 1: and she was Bruce when she was a nurse. And yeah,
Speaker 1: and so I just went to my mother was kind
Speaker 1: of like tyme daily in a way, you know, super serious,
Speaker 1: and you would just be so scared of her so intimidated,
Speaker 1: and um, so I kind of took a little bit
Speaker 1: from my mom. And yes, I definitely knew some people
Speaker 1: that were humorless because Bruce was humorless any kind of right.
Speaker 1: And and Lauren Graham is all about its all about humor, right, Yeah,
Speaker 1: so perfect. That was just a perfect I mean, you're
Speaker 1: so right. I mean, you put Lauren against Bruce and
Speaker 1: you're going to have like wonderful comedy produced from that. Um,
Speaker 1: how long has it been since you watched back the episode?
Speaker 1: Did watch it back last night? Or to give yourself
Speaker 1: a little refresher or I didn't. I'm horrible, aren't I Well,
Speaker 1: you don't need to. You remember very well what it
Speaker 1: was like, you know. Yeah, so you didn't need to.
Speaker 1: So it's been a while. So it's been since maybe
Speaker 1: you know, eighteen years or whatever. Okay, I got you,
Speaker 1: it's een. Well you're busy, you got other you know,
Speaker 1: you've got a lot of you know, you've got a
Speaker 1: lot of irons in the fire man, you know, you
Speaker 1: know who's got time. I mean, yeah, yeah, it's true.
Speaker 1: And and in life, you know, life does it to you, right? Yeah? Sure?
Speaker 1: And you know it's like you know, you're still on.
Speaker 1: Everybody's still on the hustle man. The business has changed.
Speaker 1: It's hard to get work, even though they're producing more shows.
Speaker 1: It's crazy. Um yeah, yeah, Uh. What do you remember
Speaker 1: about your time on set other than what you've already discussed.
Speaker 1: What I remember, besides joking with Melissa and and and
Speaker 1: Nick Um, I remember panicking that I was not going
Speaker 1: to be able to get my lines out fast enough.
Speaker 1: And before I started, I would say them as fast
Speaker 1: as I could, as fast as I could, as fast
Speaker 1: as I could. And I believe was Chris Long, the
Speaker 1: director on this episode, maybe maybe on your first one,
Speaker 1: on my first one, and then yeah, and so what
Speaker 1: was really tough is they basically would just come up
Speaker 1: to me and say, yeah, faster, yeah, And that's us too,
Speaker 1: every day all day. It's really good. Really go faster.
Speaker 1: And you're thinking, I got a moment here, yeah no no,
Speaker 1: no no no, no, no moment. We don't care about
Speaker 1: the moment, just go ahead. Yeah. And I remember that.
Speaker 1: But I also remember I'm such a history fanatic, like
Speaker 1: Hollywood history attic, that I was so excited to be
Speaker 1: on that little street because I knew so many other
Speaker 1: things were being filmed there. I remember that very clearly.
Speaker 1: Isn't the history of Hollywood just fascinating? Fascinating? You probably
Speaker 1: know a heck of a lot more now, I but
Speaker 1: I I delved into it a little bit. I read,
Speaker 1: I don't know, I read a bunch of books about it.
Speaker 1: It's it's fascinating how it all began, why it began exactly,
Speaker 1: just fascinating. It really truly is um. And it all
Speaker 1: came about because you know, the Eastern European uh, Jewish
Speaker 1: immigrants were not um ascending into people, yeah, and not
Speaker 1: ascending into the upper rungs of high society in New
Speaker 1: York City. So they created their own royalty. It happens,
Speaker 1: It happens with yes, but what a wonder what a
Speaker 1: wonderful result. We'll go to the West coast. We'll get
Speaker 1: the best market and pr people from you know, I
Speaker 1: guess Lou Wasserman was from Cincinnati or Cleveland. Um. Oh wow,
Speaker 1: you know so much more than I. Oh no, no,
Speaker 1: I don't, I do not, I do not. I don't
Speaker 1: you know more than me? Um? And we'll go, you know,
Speaker 1: we'll go buy some land and build build some buildings
Speaker 1: and make some pictures. Fascinating. Absolutely. Do you get recognized
Speaker 1: a lot for this role? Um? I do, and I
Speaker 1: always know, you know, usually I can tell what a
Speaker 1: person recognizes me from just by their aid or their gender.
Speaker 1: So when I see women between the ages now of
Speaker 1: you know, Queen to about forty, I know it's going
Speaker 1: to be either Gilmore Girls or Little Princess one or
Speaker 1: the other. And but you know, if if, if, if, if,
Speaker 1: if a dude around your age comes up to me,
Speaker 1: I know it's not going to be Gilmark. Netflix has
Speaker 1: really changed the game for the show. And here's you know,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna brag a little bit because I'm so proud
Speaker 1: of this to be just a part of it. Um.
Speaker 1: You know, Gilmore Girls is the number five streaming show
Speaker 1: every single week on Netflix. I mean, I'm sorry, across
Speaker 1: all platforms and listen to this. They get a total
Speaker 1: Gilmore Girls averages seven hundred sixty million minutes streamed per week.
Speaker 1: That's twenty million episodes per week are consumed by the
Speaker 1: world of Gilmore Girls episodes, oh, every single week. So
Speaker 1: I do these fan conventions from time to time, and
Speaker 1: you know, seven year old girls stand in line and
Speaker 1: their parents and there's stays start shaking when and their
Speaker 1: parents say say something, it's Luke, and they just they're
Speaker 1: dressed like Luke and they you know, you know this
Speaker 1: kind and and it's just it's everybody's all. These newer
Speaker 1: generations are discovering the show doesn't matter whole they are. So, Yeah,
Speaker 1: babies recognize the characters. Babies because the Netflix, because their
Speaker 1: moms and dads are watching them all the time. Yeah. Absolutely,
Speaker 1: they don't know why. They're happy. They look at me
Speaker 1: and they their eyes light up and they recognize me.
Speaker 1: It's wild. It's wild. My niece, Uh made a game
Speaker 1: for all my other nieces to play, and it's Gilmore Girls.
Speaker 1: It's a game that he had with Gilmore Girls. And
Speaker 1: I said to her, am I on that, and she
Speaker 1: looked at me guiltily. No, you didn't make the cup.
Speaker 1: You didn't make the cup. Yeah, so, oh, I've heard
Speaker 1: that plenty of times in my life. You didn't make
Speaker 1: a cut. Oh man, Well you know what, what a
Speaker 1: what a great performance, What a great performance. Thank you.
Speaker 1: So you've worked on The Righteous Gemstones starring John Goodman.
Speaker 1: How is that it is? Heaven? I just did another episode? Uh,
Speaker 1: you know because Sriff Brenda has to come back into
Speaker 1: town once in a while. So uh, once again another
Speaker 1: tough broad. You know, tomte a dish. You know. But
Speaker 1: you're one of those genius, versatile character actors, aren't you.
Speaker 1: You can do anything, you can just do it any
Speaker 1: I can tell you, just do anything. Wow, got playing
Speaker 1: a lawyer with exposition. I'm not good at that, okay,
Speaker 1: But but Righteous gem Stones. That whole cast is amazing.
Speaker 1: That crew is amazing. They're tight, and but they were
Speaker 1: welcoming and lovely and I thought, I'm I'm gonna I'm
Speaker 1: gonna die. I'm so nervous, and uh, they were all
Speaker 1: so welcoming. And John Goodman watching him work is glorious.
Speaker 1: And he's so hard on himself though, and he could
Speaker 1: have just phoned it in and he refuses to phone
Speaker 1: it in. Amazing to watch. So he's so he's he's
Speaker 1: plumbing the depths he's bringing he's trying to get to
Speaker 1: the gold every take. If he doesn't get it, he
Speaker 1: wants another take, and it's like he wants to talk
Speaker 1: to the director, he wants to just he's not going
Speaker 1: to leave that scene until he's given it his his best.
Speaker 1: That is absolutely coz he's one of those guys he
Speaker 1: just digs in and fights, he fights. And if he's
Speaker 1: not him fighting, right, because because you're not feeling it
Speaker 1: every day, you can't possibly feel it every day, and
Speaker 1: some days it's not going to be there, right, you
Speaker 1: gotta fight and that means you got to fight for
Speaker 1: the time. And you know this as because I'm a
Speaker 1: sports fanatic, um, you know this as a ball player.
Speaker 1: This is something that you just have to keep fighting
Speaker 1: even if you're not feeling it. You know, you know
Speaker 1: you're gonna have to pitch that curveball as well as
Speaker 1: you can. But but sometimes it's not working, but you
Speaker 1: still have to keep going. In my case, most most
Speaker 1: of the time it wasn't working. So bringing back bad memories,
Speaker 1: I had to get my next scope because you know,
Speaker 1: I throw the curveball, you'd hear the crack of the
Speaker 1: bat and I go like that jerking to watch it
Speaker 1: fly away. So anyway I think I might hold the well,
Speaker 1: let's not go into it. Uh. I want to get
Speaker 1: into the I want to get into the baby. Okay,
Speaker 1: we have to talk about the baby. The baby. Now
Speaker 1: we have been bantering back and forth on the podcast
Speaker 1: ever since you appeared on screen, and and we you know,
Speaker 1: part of the discussion goes into is it a fake baby?
Speaker 1: Is it a real baby? What's going on? Is a
Speaker 1: rubber baby? Is in a plastic baby? We think it's
Speaker 1: a rubber baby. What's going on? Tell us the truth?
Speaker 1: Is it sometimes a real baby and then a rubber baby.
Speaker 1: And now I think it was if I am remembering
Speaker 1: correctly in my eighteen years, I believe it was a
Speaker 1: rubber baby the whole time, baby the whole time. I
Speaker 1: was right. I was right, And I was vilified for
Speaker 1: this opinion. I was vilified. I was castigated. Yes, yes,
Speaker 1: I was ridiculed. And look, how dare they? Some people
Speaker 1: said it was real. I said, it's not real. You're
Speaker 1: not gonna have a real baby on set. You're not
Speaker 1: gonna it takes hours and hours and hours to film
Speaker 1: a scene, right, they're not gonna do it, especially with
Speaker 1: your with your show. They didn't have time for that. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and I truly believe it was a rubber baby. I'm
Speaker 1: pretty sure it was. Was it? Did you remember how
Speaker 1: it felt? Was it cold to the touch? Was it
Speaker 1: sort of rubbery and cold? It was rubbery? Rubbery, rubbery,
Speaker 1: and to the point where it was just kind of
Speaker 1: like funky and it was a funky rubber baby. We're
Speaker 1: gonna add funky to the rubber baby. Yeah, it was
Speaker 1: a thinky, funky little rubber baby. Yeah, yeah, sure it was. Yeah,
Speaker 1: but you know, it looks real. It looked real. Yes,
Speaker 1: it's amazing. But I you know, I'm usually the baby whisperer.
Speaker 1: I've worked with lots of babies and doggies and stuff
Speaker 1: like that on screen, and I thought, I'm ready for this,
Speaker 1: but I didn't have to be because it was a
Speaker 1: rubber baby and they had no time thinky, funky rubber baby.
Speaker 1: Oh god, oh man, we are. Let me tell you something.
Speaker 1: You have immemorialized yourself in this podcast with that comment.
Speaker 1: I'm telling you, all right, we're gonna a little game
Speaker 1: called rapid fire. Okay, well, I'm gonna I'm gonna fire
Speaker 1: a bunch of questions out you gotta and unfortunately you
Speaker 1: still we just faster is better? Okay, Yeah, I know
Speaker 1: it's it's you're back in Gilmoreland. How many coups of
Speaker 1: coffee if you had today? Probably about four? Are you
Speaker 1: team Wow? Are you team Logan? Jess or Dean? Oh
Speaker 1: uh Dean. Um, because he's gentle. He was gentle. Who
Speaker 1: was your favorite Gilmore Girl's character? Um? I you don't
Speaker 1: have to be pressured into saying that actually was Loue. Okay,
Speaker 1: thank you it Actually what would you What would you
Speaker 1: order at Luke's Diner? Well, absolutely coffee, and I would
Speaker 1: have to say eggs and bacon. There you go. I'm
Speaker 1: an exit and bacon guy too. Would you rather go
Speaker 1: on the road with Taylor or Michelle? Oh? Michelle, Michelle, Okay,
Speaker 1: finish the lyric and where you lead, I will follow
Speaker 1: dot dot dot everywhere, damn it, close, very close. Where
Speaker 1: you lead, I will follow uh Donna, Uh damn it.
Speaker 1: I'm bad. I'm so bad. I'm gonna be honest with you.
Speaker 1: Just like full disclosure. I don't watch a lot of
Speaker 1: TV and watch sports. I watch sports. Um, it's anywhere
Speaker 1: that you tell me to which is which is not
Speaker 1: a line I would ever remember because I don't like
Speaker 1: doing things that people tell me to do. It's still
Speaker 1: that way. Jackson's Vegetables or Suki's baked goods, Jackson's Vegetables.
Speaker 1: Would you rather listen to Drella's harp or the Troubadours
Speaker 1: cover songs. Oh gosh, Troubadors cover songs. There you go,
Speaker 1: um children Prep or stars Hollow Hi, Stars Hollow Hi
Speaker 1: go Public School all the way. Um, Rusty, thank you
Speaker 1: so much for joining us. It was a pleasure. Hope
Speaker 1: you come back on and and and that's what you do?
Speaker 1: You have you don't you don't have any more episodes?
Speaker 1: Do you? Thank you? Scott? I don't what a what
Speaker 1: a what a wasted opportunity to bring somebody of your
Speaker 1: skill level? Oh your lovely darn it? All right, So
Speaker 1: that's gonna do it, Rusty. Look, we're gonna stick or
Speaker 1: you're gonna stick around. I'm gonna do the intro with
Speaker 1: you here. I just wanted to get to the interview
Speaker 1: right away. But don't go away, don't click off. And
Speaker 1: thanks for joining us. That's gonna do it. Uh, Rusty Swimmer,
Speaker 1: any relation to David No? But we are friends. Okay, Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: there you go. Um. Yeah, the the the monumental talent
Speaker 1: of Rusty Swimmer graced Our Our Love series for two episodes.
Speaker 1: Should have been twenty, should have been two hundred. For
Speaker 1: god's sake, why not a series regular? Um? But thank
Speaker 1: you so much for joining us and be well, happy holidays,
Speaker 1: all the best. Thank you, you sweet man, thank you,
Speaker 1: and you're too very very welcome. Hey everybody, and don't
Speaker 1: forget follow us on Instagram at I Am all In
Speaker 1: podcast and email us at Gilmore at I heart radio
Speaker 1: dot com. Oh you Gilmore fans. If you're looking for
Speaker 1: the best cup of coffee in the world, go to
Speaker 1: my website for my company scott ep dot com, s
Speaker 1: C O T T y P dot com, Scott e
Speaker 1: P dot com Grade one Specialty Coffee. Yeah.