WEBVTT - Victor Garber on Stage and Screen 0:00:02.120 --> 0:00:05.040 This is Alec Baldwin, and you're listening to Here's the 0:00:05.080 --> 0:00:09.240 Thing from iHeart Radio, dumn my soul. 0:00:09.920 --> 0:00:14.720 If you must, let my body turn to dust. 0:00:15.080 --> 0:00:19.600 Let him mingle with the ashes of the country. 0:00:21.520 --> 0:00:24.200 Let them curse me to help. 0:00:24.560 --> 0:00:28.960 Leave it to his story to tell what I did. 0:00:29.600 --> 0:00:34.440 I did well, and I did it for my country. 0:00:34.720 --> 0:00:41.600 Let them cry dirty to rate emill understand it later. 0:00:44.320 --> 0:00:48.400 That's Victor Garber performing the Ballad of Booth from the 0:00:48.440 --> 0:00:53.160 original off Broadway cast recording of Stephen Sondheim's Assassins in 0:00:53.240 --> 0:00:58.920 nineteen ninety one. Victor Garber is a prolific actor and 0:00:58.960 --> 0:01:03.880 singer who originated roles in iconic musicals such as Sweeney 0:01:03.960 --> 0:01:07.959 Todd and Gotspell. You may recognize him as Jack Bristow 0:01:08.319 --> 0:01:12.000 in the Intrepid TV series Alias, or from his notable 0:01:12.080 --> 0:01:16.520 roles in Oscar winning films like Titanic, Argo, and Milk. 0:01:17.560 --> 0:01:21.880 A six time Emmy Award nominee, Garber found his love 0:01:21.920 --> 0:01:25.440 for the performing arts as a child, having grown up 0:01:25.480 --> 0:01:29.399 surrounded by music and theater in Ontario, Canada. I was 0:01:29.480 --> 0:01:32.640 curious to learn about his roots as a young performer. 0:01:33.760 --> 0:01:38.080 When I was thirteen or twelve, I went to children's 0:01:38.120 --> 0:01:40.959 theater at the Grand Theater, which still exists in London, Ontario, 0:01:41.040 --> 0:01:43.760 and it was like, it's beautiful, built in the early 0:01:43.840 --> 0:01:46.640 nineteen hundreds. And you know, I played Tom Sawyer when 0:01:46.640 --> 0:01:48.639 I was like eleven, and it was my first starring 0:01:48.720 --> 0:01:52.600 role in Boy. I just never stopped. I knew that 0:01:52.720 --> 0:01:55.280 it was so early that that's what I wanted to do. 0:01:55.360 --> 0:01:58.040 So I was fortunate and I was in a singing group. 0:01:58.080 --> 0:01:59.840 And then I moved to Toronto when I was sixteen 0:02:00.080 --> 0:02:03.080 and then started my life was just kind of went. 0:02:03.600 --> 0:02:05.000 Did you go to Juilliard? Where'd you go? 0:02:05.200 --> 0:02:05.280 No? 0:02:06.760 --> 0:02:08.640 I never studied. You never studied. 0:02:09.160 --> 0:02:11.120 What was saying this the other day that people who 0:02:11.120 --> 0:02:12.440 have an instinctual gift. 0:02:13.080 --> 0:02:15.680 You know, I copied really good actors, but I'm better 0:02:15.680 --> 0:02:17.400 on the first take. But anyway, yea. 0:02:19.360 --> 0:02:21.200 When you're working all the time and the cylinders you're 0:02:21.200 --> 0:02:23.440 firing all the time, that's when I found it easier 0:02:23.440 --> 0:02:24.160 to act because I. 0:02:24.160 --> 0:02:26.840 Was always those juices were flowing. 0:02:27.560 --> 0:02:29.960 And now I don't work that much and when I 0:02:29.960 --> 0:02:32.480 go to work, I'm literally People don't appreciate this, and 0:02:32.520 --> 0:02:34.440 you sound like maybe you're the same, which as I 0:02:34.480 --> 0:02:36.040 stand there, on the first thing, I go, what. 0:02:35.960 --> 0:02:38.360 Do you do again? Yeah? What do I do? I 0:02:38.360 --> 0:02:39.960 don't know what I do? And then you kind of 0:02:40.000 --> 0:02:42.000 get slowly heated up. Yeah. 0:02:42.520 --> 0:02:46.040 Yeah. I haven't done a place since Hello Dolly twenty eighteen. 0:02:46.919 --> 0:02:49.600 I saw this article that you did where you talked 0:02:49.600 --> 0:02:51.280 about you didn't want to sing anymore, you were going 0:02:51.320 --> 0:02:52.000 to give up singing. 0:02:52.000 --> 0:02:52.680 It was painful. 0:02:52.760 --> 0:02:55.400 Yeah, and when what was the moment if that, if 0:02:55.400 --> 0:02:57.200 I can say there was a moment or two where 0:02:57.240 --> 0:02:59.160 you realize that your voice was changing. 0:02:59.720 --> 0:03:03.120 Well, well, you know, Hello Dolly wasn't you know? That 0:03:03.240 --> 0:03:06.839 role wasn't demanding vocally so much. Although A Penny in 0:03:06.880 --> 0:03:10.160 My Pocket is one of the trickiest, most difficult songs 0:03:10.200 --> 0:03:12.680 that seems like it shouldn't be, but it's really a 0:03:12.720 --> 0:03:16.359 hard song to sing. And I finally, the last day, 0:03:16.600 --> 0:03:19.800 last performance was the only time I felt like I 0:03:19.880 --> 0:03:22.960 had gotten where I wanted to be. And it's because 0:03:23.280 --> 0:03:25.720 if you don't really work on your voice every day, 0:03:26.160 --> 0:03:29.040 you know, singing is it's a muscle. So I'm actually 0:03:29.080 --> 0:03:31.920 trying to get my voice back because we're doing this 0:03:32.080 --> 0:03:35.760 documentary about God's Spell, the nineteen seventy two production that 0:03:36.040 --> 0:03:38.640 I did with all those people that became famous, and 0:03:38.680 --> 0:03:39.240 they're doing a. 0:03:39.440 --> 0:03:40.839 Chardina in that. Well. 0:03:41.560 --> 0:03:44.480 I got him that job because I was cast in 0:03:44.560 --> 0:03:48.320 the movie David Green. I played Jesus with David Green, 0:03:48.360 --> 0:03:50.200 and he one day called me and said, I'm now 0:03:50.240 --> 0:03:53.280 going to ask you to play another impossible part. You 0:03:53.320 --> 0:03:55.800 play Jesus, and now I want you to play Liberaci. 0:03:58.080 --> 0:04:02.240 That's that's too and I I will do it only 0:04:02.320 --> 0:04:06.080 because you're directing it anyway. But yeah, singing is it's 0:04:06.080 --> 0:04:08.960 so I want to sing at this Godspell kind of 0:04:09.040 --> 0:04:11.200 a dinner that we're going to have in January in 0:04:12.000 --> 0:04:14.560 La because Paul Schaeffer will be there at the piano, 0:04:14.840 --> 0:04:16.799 and I know he's going to start playing the intro 0:04:16.960 --> 0:04:19.480 to Save the People, which is the song I started 0:04:19.480 --> 0:04:22.440 the show with. And I want to be able to 0:04:22.480 --> 0:04:25.200 approximate something, you know, just to just to be able 0:04:25.200 --> 0:04:28.279 because everybody will want to sing, and my muscles have 0:04:28.360 --> 0:04:30.880 so atrophied. So I'm every day I get up and 0:04:30.960 --> 0:04:33.200 for about five minutes I tried, and I think, no, 0:04:33.320 --> 0:04:36.039 it's not going to work. So I'm still I'm still hopeful. 0:04:36.480 --> 0:04:38.839 Well let me then I won't talk about your current 0:04:38.880 --> 0:04:41.400 singing career. Because there is none. And we'll talk about 0:04:41.400 --> 0:04:45.719 your former singing career where I'm massively a massive singing Well, no, listen, 0:04:45.920 --> 0:04:48.640 So you originated the role in Assassins, you do. 0:04:48.680 --> 0:04:50.040 We're in the first production of Assassins. 0:04:50.440 --> 0:04:52.880 So in a world that you and I both I'm 0:04:53.000 --> 0:04:55.479 sure would recognize, is you know that just all the 0:04:55.520 --> 0:04:57.240 oxygen to get sucked out of the room where you're 0:04:57.240 --> 0:04:57.800 with Wideman. 0:04:58.520 --> 0:05:02.120 Yeah, and sometime someunheim is why I came to New York. 0:05:02.600 --> 0:05:06.240 When I was a kid in Toronto, I heard Anyone 0:05:06.279 --> 0:05:09.839 Can Whistle, the first actual musical he wrote, well, he 0:05:09.880 --> 0:05:12.760 wrote the music and lyrics for and I used to 0:05:12.839 --> 0:05:16.120 play that to death, and we talked about this, and 0:05:16.160 --> 0:05:19.520 I'd actually written about it. It was like a siren call. 0:05:19.839 --> 0:05:24.520 That music and that sensibility was what brought me to 0:05:24.560 --> 0:05:27.239 New York. And then I ended up in Sweeney Todd. 0:05:27.440 --> 0:05:31.800 You know, I remember so distinctly, and my memory is spotty, 0:05:32.080 --> 0:05:34.559 but I do remember that first preview of Sweeney Todd 0:05:34.600 --> 0:05:36.880 when I came back to my dressing room, when I 0:05:36.920 --> 0:05:40.560 closed the door and I just stopped, and I thought, 0:05:41.200 --> 0:05:46.240 I have achieved my dream to be in a Sundei musical. 0:05:46.400 --> 0:05:48.200 Who were your cohorts and Sweeney Todd. 0:05:48.160 --> 0:05:51.560 Of Angela Lansbury and Lenn carry you now of course 0:05:51.680 --> 0:05:54.080 it was the original company, the original company. Yeah, so 0:05:54.120 --> 0:05:57.039 it's hard for me to you know, I see see, 0:05:57.120 --> 0:06:00.920 and there's been some wonderful productions, but nothing. I remember 0:06:01.000 --> 0:06:03.719 watching them from the wings every night singing you have 0:06:03.760 --> 0:06:06.960 a Little Priest, which is one of the sometimes masterpieces. 0:06:07.279 --> 0:06:12.000 And it will never be ever ever be done like that. Well, 0:06:12.040 --> 0:06:15.240 of course it won't because they were themselves. But it's 0:06:15.600 --> 0:06:18.760 when I say it's indelible, it really is. And who 0:06:18.760 --> 0:06:22.119 directed Sweeney Hal Prince know him? 0:06:22.279 --> 0:06:24.880 Yeah, But when you go on to do Assassin's I 0:06:25.000 --> 0:06:28.359 keep focusing on that because I can compare two productions. 0:06:28.360 --> 0:06:30.880 I've seen Sweeney with different people. I love the movie 0:06:30.880 --> 0:06:32.600 that Tim did I did yeah, and I know a 0:06:32.640 --> 0:06:33.720 lot of people didn't care for. 0:06:33.640 --> 0:06:35.720 It, you know, I really thought it was good. 0:06:35.960 --> 0:06:38.640 The best thing Johnny deb Ever did Yes and did 0:06:38.720 --> 0:06:40.919 the barber scene that they do with Sasha Baron. 0:06:41.839 --> 0:06:44.640 Oh my god. I really love that movie. My daughter 0:06:44.680 --> 0:06:46.600 Ireland and I my older daughter would watch that all 0:06:46.600 --> 0:06:47.880 the time. But it was something. 0:06:47.920 --> 0:06:51.640 But when I saw you do that and you sing 0:06:52.160 --> 0:06:54.960 that song, and that's when I fell in love with you. 0:06:55.200 --> 0:06:56.880 I would watch that show with you. 0:06:57.040 --> 0:07:00.599 Then there's the benefit you did with Patrick Cassidy first. 0:07:00.839 --> 0:07:03.080 As Carnegie Hall. Yeah, you did a concert for that 0:07:03.160 --> 0:07:06.080 was that was well, we just sang that song. It 0:07:06.080 --> 0:07:09.120 was a Songheim, yes good ellis it was like a tribute. 0:07:09.279 --> 0:07:11.400 Is a song Sondheim tribute And they asked us to 0:07:11.400 --> 0:07:13.640 do that, and I'll never forget it because I've never 0:07:13.680 --> 0:07:17.440 been I've never been more nervous in my life. I mean, 0:07:17.480 --> 0:07:20.960 I you know, Carnegie Hall, and some for some reason 0:07:22.000 --> 0:07:26.160 I was able to, I guess, just disassociate from the 0:07:26.760 --> 0:07:29.760 experience and just be in the moment. And I've never 0:07:30.200 --> 0:07:32.360 sung it better. And I'm so glad it's recorded. I 0:07:32.360 --> 0:07:34.680 think it is recorded beautiful. Well, thank you, but it 0:07:34.760 --> 0:07:37.160 was life changing to be a part of that. And 0:07:37.160 --> 0:07:39.080 then Nathan and I did Wise Guys and that was 0:07:39.120 --> 0:07:43.720 the end of Sondheim Love Affair. That one didn't go 0:07:43.760 --> 0:07:45.880 so well, thank go so well. You and Nathan did. 0:07:46.200 --> 0:07:49.120 Nathan Lane and I we were so excited about it, 0:07:49.200 --> 0:07:52.800 and the show evolved into I think it became road show. 0:07:52.880 --> 0:07:56.320 Eventually it's been done and that John Doyle did a 0:07:56.320 --> 0:07:58.240 production of it. I didn't go near it because I 0:07:58.560 --> 0:08:01.360 couldn't bear going to see it because it was so 0:08:01.480 --> 0:08:04.080 such a painful time for me, and for Nathan he 0:08:04.120 --> 0:08:06.960 saw it everything, because he sees everything. But anyway, that 0:08:07.040 --> 0:08:11.560 was an unfortunate you know, for many reasons when you go. 0:08:11.520 --> 0:08:15.680 Into something like that with armed with that crowds. Yeah, 0:08:16.040 --> 0:08:18.720 people who they have the highest expectations, quite frankly, and 0:08:18.760 --> 0:08:21.400 so did we you included, Yeah, when it doesn't, do 0:08:21.440 --> 0:08:23.160 you smell it a mile away? Do you guys are 0:08:23.280 --> 0:08:25.760 going along, You're going, I don't know what. You're on 0:08:25.800 --> 0:08:27.920 a phone with your friend and it doesn't, I don't know. 0:08:28.040 --> 0:08:30.880 Well, it was Nathan and I. We were that's just 0:08:30.920 --> 0:08:32.920 the two of us. I mean, we were sort of 0:08:32.920 --> 0:08:35.800 the main characters. So we were always like I don't 0:08:36.240 --> 0:08:37.480 I'm not sure. 0:08:37.480 --> 0:08:38.720 I mean, and I don't want to. 0:08:38.800 --> 0:08:43.560 You know. It was a combination of personalities and of creatives, 0:08:43.640 --> 0:08:47.040 you know, the side of it that weren't really working 0:08:47.040 --> 0:08:50.280 together as one would hope. And also I think the 0:08:50.360 --> 0:08:52.599 concept was kind of a misfire. I think it was 0:08:53.080 --> 0:08:55.040 they wanted to do it as this kind of Crosby 0:08:55.080 --> 0:08:58.520 Hope road show kind of thing, and it was much 0:08:58.559 --> 0:09:02.600 too dark and complicated, so that it never really gelled. 0:09:02.880 --> 0:09:05.120 And I don't know what it ended up being because 0:09:05.120 --> 0:09:07.840 I never saw it. But again, you guys were gone 0:09:07.840 --> 0:09:08.400 and went on with that. 0:09:08.559 --> 0:09:08.719 Yeah. 0:09:08.800 --> 0:09:11.000 No, it was many many versions. 0:09:10.679 --> 0:09:13.480 Of that show. Then who eventually opened, Well, they didn't 0:09:13.520 --> 0:09:14.760 do a Broadway they didn't. 0:09:14.880 --> 0:09:17.800 No, No, it wasn't on Broadway. It was it sort 0:09:17.840 --> 0:09:18.600 of toured around. 0:09:18.960 --> 0:09:21.920 Now people list you in Wikipedia or these really comment sights. 0:09:22.000 --> 0:09:25.000 This show was Canadian actor. Do you can view yourself 0:09:25.000 --> 0:09:27.319 as a Canadian actor? Do Canadians have to have it 0:09:27.400 --> 0:09:28.240 in there for their cred? 0:09:28.679 --> 0:09:28.920 Yeah? 0:09:29.280 --> 0:09:31.280 Yeah, I mean but I've just been you know, I'm 0:09:31.280 --> 0:09:33.079 about to get the Order of Canada, so I have. 0:09:33.040 --> 0:09:35.920 To well you careful. So I heard the Canadian actors 0:09:35.960 --> 0:09:36.240 this show. 0:09:36.480 --> 0:09:40.400 I normally wear my pin, yeah, jacket, your blazer, Marty Short, 0:09:40.400 --> 0:09:44.160 Eugene Levy, Paul Schaeffer, and I finally got mine and 0:09:44.240 --> 0:09:46.240 it was it's it's it's a great honor. It's sort 0:09:46.240 --> 0:09:47.920 of as big as you can get in Canada. It's 0:09:47.920 --> 0:09:50.800 like getting a knighthood or something, right, but nobody cares 0:09:50.840 --> 0:09:54.160 as much. It's an enormous honor and we're going to 0:09:54.200 --> 0:09:57.480 Ottawa next week, and I was honored at my hometown 0:09:57.920 --> 0:10:00.600 about month ago as a lifetime It's even a ward 0:10:01.160 --> 0:10:04.800 in London, Ontario, and they now have this film festival 0:10:04.800 --> 0:10:07.559 in London, Ontario. I know you'll be charming at the 0:10:07.559 --> 0:10:09.680 bit to get there, but I'll go if you go. 0:10:09.840 --> 0:10:11.920 Yeah, okay, you did two Shakespearean actors. 0:10:11.960 --> 0:10:13.600 I did with Brian Bedford. 0:10:13.679 --> 0:10:14.120 Oh my god. 0:10:14.160 --> 0:10:16.600 When I saw you do that, you put a spell 0:10:16.640 --> 0:10:18.439 on me. I'm not just as an actor, you put 0:10:18.480 --> 0:10:20.040 a spell on me. So I've tried to do that 0:10:20.080 --> 0:10:22.480 play so many times and everybody said the same thing. 0:10:22.480 --> 0:10:23.920 After you guys did it, you don't see it in 0:10:23.960 --> 0:10:26.360 New York anymore. Why there's a big cast, many people, 0:10:26.480 --> 0:10:28.320 a lot of people. Ryan and I talked about this 0:10:28.400 --> 0:10:31.000 even then, that it should be a movie. And it 0:10:31.120 --> 0:10:33.640 was a life changing experience for me because I'd never 0:10:33.679 --> 0:10:36.840 really done Shakespeare, and now I'm suddenly doing all these 0:10:37.559 --> 0:10:42.040 scenes from Shakespeare. Were Forest, I was, Yes, Forest, were Forest, 0:10:42.080 --> 0:10:46.040 and he was the brit Yes McReady mcredy and Forrest, Yeah, 0:10:46.160 --> 0:10:47.240 who were rivals. 0:10:47.240 --> 0:10:48.400 And the story is so. 0:10:48.920 --> 0:10:50.880 It's one eight story. 0:10:51.000 --> 0:10:53.320 The biggest riode in New York in the highest death 0:10:53.400 --> 0:10:55.839 toll from a public ride and history up to that point, 0:10:56.080 --> 0:10:58.200 one hundred and forty people I think died or something. 0:10:58.360 --> 0:10:59.959 Yeah, it was you in Bedford. 0:11:00.080 --> 0:11:04.640 He was really great to work with. He really liked 0:11:04.679 --> 0:11:07.840 me and so he he was very generous with me. 0:11:07.880 --> 0:11:10.320 And also we had very little to do on stage 0:11:10.320 --> 0:11:12.560 to get yes. So that was probably the best thing 0:11:13.000 --> 0:11:15.520 because I could have gone very right. 0:11:15.840 --> 0:11:19.520 I like to act alone. Well, I like you over there. Yeah, yeah, 0:11:19.679 --> 0:11:22.280 I'm here, and I'm just fine on my own. 0:11:22.840 --> 0:11:26.320 He was remarkable and I loved doing that play. 0:11:26.360 --> 0:11:27.320 I loved doing it. 0:11:27.160 --> 0:11:28.920 But it's really hard, and I loved you in that 0:11:28.960 --> 0:11:31.719 play and that storyline when the boy wants to come 0:11:31.720 --> 0:11:34.160 with you, the young man come with you. 0:11:34.720 --> 0:11:37.880 It's such a compelling story and and also it could 0:11:37.920 --> 0:11:39.240 be so beautiful to look at. 0:11:39.480 --> 0:11:43.280 So once you come to New York, what year is that? 0:11:43.720 --> 0:11:45.680 It was in the seventies to do the movie of 0:11:45.679 --> 0:11:49.679 Godspell early seventies and then stay, well, you know, I 0:11:49.960 --> 0:11:52.160 had to get a green card. I knew that I 0:11:52.400 --> 0:11:55.200 always wanted to be on Broadway. That's that was always 0:11:55.200 --> 0:11:58.280 my dream, and to work with Somendheim, and so I 0:11:58.320 --> 0:12:02.560 actually worked illegally for a while because I didn't have 0:12:02.600 --> 0:12:06.040 a Social Security number, but I do now I've had 0:12:06.040 --> 0:12:09.600 a long time. I was just I had to live 0:12:09.640 --> 0:12:11.840 in New York City. The first job I did in 0:12:11.840 --> 0:12:15.160 New York was at the original Roundabout Theater, which was 0:12:15.600 --> 0:12:20.760 underneath the grocery store on twenty sixth and eighth Avenue Titanique, 0:12:21.000 --> 0:12:23.920 just before it moved to the new theater. That's where 0:12:23.960 --> 0:12:26.960 it opened, and I went back there for the first 0:12:26.960 --> 0:12:29.680 time to see it Titanique, and that was the first 0:12:29.720 --> 0:12:30.680 theater I'd ever worked in. 0:12:30.760 --> 0:12:33.120 It was still you know this, so the Roundabout is 0:12:33.160 --> 0:12:35.120 somewhere else, but that's what's what's the theater there? 0:12:35.160 --> 0:12:39.520 Now it's not, it's gone. They Titanique was when it 0:12:39.559 --> 0:12:41.880 was a couple of years ago when they when they 0:12:41.920 --> 0:12:44.920 opened it before they moved to I think it's Darryl 0:12:44.960 --> 0:12:47.480 Roth's Theater or one of those theaters I remember seeing 0:12:47.480 --> 0:12:49.840 there on Union Square. Union Square, Yeah, but before that, 0:12:49.920 --> 0:12:53.720 the first place they did. It was the first job 0:12:53.760 --> 0:12:56.560 I ever had with Beatrice straight who you probably won't, 0:12:56.600 --> 0:12:58.080 do you remember Beatrice Strets I do. 0:12:58.200 --> 0:12:58.440 Yes. 0:12:58.559 --> 0:13:01.080 She wanted to, you know, an as for a seven 0:13:01.120 --> 0:13:08.000 minute scene in Network, and she was a very oh wealthy. 0:13:08.200 --> 0:13:11.680 That's the word. She was from a very famous family 0:13:11.720 --> 0:13:14.760 in England. They had a very fancy school over there. 0:13:15.040 --> 0:13:20.480 She was the most generous and kind of maternal. She 0:13:20.520 --> 0:13:23.080 was a fantastic woman and she took care of me. 0:13:23.400 --> 0:13:26.839 And I played Oswald and she played mother Mother. Give 0:13:26.880 --> 0:13:29.360 me the Sun and that changed my life. I got 0:13:29.400 --> 0:13:32.120 a Theater World Award. That was the beginning of everything 0:13:32.160 --> 0:13:34.640 for me. And also the fact that I sort of 0:13:34.720 --> 0:13:38.280 came into New York doing an Ibsen play saved me 0:13:38.440 --> 0:13:42.319 from being a musical theater actor, which is what I 0:13:42.640 --> 0:13:45.280 you know, I longed to do and did, but I 0:13:45.320 --> 0:13:47.720 didn't want to be typed. And that was kind of 0:13:47.720 --> 0:13:48.920 a great way of doing it. 0:13:49.800 --> 0:13:52.240 Once you have a beach head here and you're doing 0:13:52.240 --> 0:13:55.120 plays here, how quickly after that, like by what year 0:13:55.640 --> 0:13:58.559 do you pivot where you're making more films and TV? 0:13:58.760 --> 0:14:01.200 No movie, there was not a steady climb at all. 0:14:01.600 --> 0:14:04.679 I mean the first movie I did, Paul Schrader cast 0:14:04.760 --> 0:14:08.000 me in a movie called Light Sleeper, which came out 0:14:08.000 --> 0:14:12.160 of the book and Susan. Yeah, it's a really good movie. 0:14:12.240 --> 0:14:14.559 And he is a drug dealer, Yes, he's a Swiss 0:14:14.640 --> 0:14:17.400 drug dealer. And you know, like, who else but me 0:14:17.920 --> 0:14:20.280 to play that role. It's a Swiss touch and drug dealing, 0:14:20.640 --> 0:14:23.240 it's it's I don't come through them though exactly how 0:14:23.320 --> 0:14:27.280 I spoke that I was young. I was young, but 0:14:27.360 --> 0:14:30.720 I didn't really get movies were late in my life. 0:14:30.840 --> 0:14:34.040 I think by Titanic was I was in my forties already, 0:14:34.080 --> 0:14:38.120 and so yeah, my movie career was very spotty. First 0:14:38.160 --> 0:14:40.720 Wives Clubs I think was the first movie I did. 0:14:40.480 --> 0:14:41.920 I did, and that was a long time. 0:14:42.080 --> 0:14:45.040 But the thing is is that like when you before 0:14:45.120 --> 0:14:48.560 Alias obviously and after Alias, you know, when you have success, 0:14:48.960 --> 0:14:51.400 you're as long as you're successful, you're welcome out there. 0:14:51.480 --> 0:14:53.080 They all want you to come. Did you shoot Alias 0:14:53.080 --> 0:14:54.600 in the La Yes? 0:14:54.680 --> 0:14:57.520 Well, JJ Abrams you know, changed my life. You for 0:14:57.560 --> 0:15:00.600 that show, because that was how he saw me in 0:15:00.640 --> 0:15:03.800 that role. Was still I'm not sure how he did, 0:15:03.920 --> 0:15:06.520 but it worked. And Ron Rifkin, you know, two people, 0:15:06.680 --> 0:15:10.480 and we were both spies and we both were pinching 0:15:10.520 --> 0:15:13.080 ourselves that we were a part of this, and uh, 0:15:13.680 --> 0:15:16.280 you know, everything changed after that, but it was never 0:15:16.840 --> 0:15:19.680 I always felt like I was not really a. 0:15:19.640 --> 0:15:20.880 Part of the movie world. 0:15:21.400 --> 0:15:23.520 You felt that way, yeah, you know, I mean my friends, 0:15:23.920 --> 0:15:25.800 you know, Bill Hurt and Kevin Klein, and you know, 0:15:25.960 --> 0:15:28.200 because and they were straight and I wasn't. And I 0:15:28.240 --> 0:15:30.520 think that was a great you think so oh, I 0:15:31.000 --> 0:15:33.040 know so really yeah, so you know. 0:15:33.160 --> 0:15:35.440 And it was without getting into great detail. It was 0:15:35.440 --> 0:15:39.640 conveyed to you by other people's behavior, posture, tonality, like 0:15:39.680 --> 0:15:41.400 you around people who they weren't. 0:15:42.000 --> 0:15:44.320 Well, just that I wasn't being seen for roles that 0:15:44.360 --> 0:15:47.200 I could have been seen. Yes, you know, I may 0:15:47.200 --> 0:15:50.560 not have gotten. Ironically, the one show that I the 0:15:50.560 --> 0:15:52.440 movie that I was up for and nearly got was 0:15:52.520 --> 0:15:55.720 The World according to garb Right and John Lithgal me 0:15:56.360 --> 0:15:59.720 and a wonderful actor oddly enough too straight man and 0:15:59.800 --> 0:16:02.800 one gay man and the straight man both. Anyway, I 0:16:02.840 --> 0:16:03.560 didn't get it. 0:16:03.640 --> 0:16:06.440 Now, Abrams, there was none of that he wanted you, 0:16:06.480 --> 0:16:06.920 and that was I. 0:16:06.920 --> 0:16:08.560 He didn't really give a shit about no. 0:16:08.800 --> 0:16:12.840 He just he saw something in me, and I had it. 0:16:13.360 --> 0:16:15.600 You know, I didn't know I could do it, honestly. 0:16:15.840 --> 0:16:18.280 Well, I mean, I think anything with the guy smart 0:16:18.320 --> 0:16:23.480 and handsome and charming and urbane is in your field 0:16:23.480 --> 0:16:25.800 of gravity. But so she becomes a big star on 0:16:25.840 --> 0:16:28.760 that show, Jennifer and Jennifer. Jennifer Garner is that's her 0:16:28.760 --> 0:16:31.080 big breakout thing is doing what was the character name 0:16:31.080 --> 0:16:34.640 against Sidney Sydney, Sidney Bristol, Sidney Bristow. And nothing was 0:16:34.680 --> 0:16:37.840 more fun than watching Jennifer Garner and some karate tights 0:16:37.920 --> 0:16:39.600 kicking the shit out of somebody or whatever. 0:16:39.360 --> 0:16:40.120 She was to use. 0:16:40.640 --> 0:16:43.720 Masterful, I mean that change television, that show, I know, 0:16:43.840 --> 0:16:45.600 in what way do you well? Because there was nothing 0:16:45.640 --> 0:16:49.240 like it ever ever? I mean that that pilot is 0:16:49.480 --> 0:16:52.080 considered one of the great pilots. It's actually worth seeing 0:16:52.120 --> 0:16:54.560 the pilot again because it's just one of the great 0:16:54.600 --> 0:16:58.600 pilots ever done. And JJ directed it and he created it, 0:16:58.040 --> 0:17:00.880 and then everything you know, and then there were a 0:17:00.920 --> 0:17:05.080 lot of wannabes after that, but nothing ever, I guess 0:17:05.160 --> 0:17:08.080 I get stopped all the time about that show. You know, 0:17:08.440 --> 0:17:11.600 mothers and daughters and people, and there are people just 0:17:11.640 --> 0:17:14.520 discovering it. And it's thrilling because it meant a lot 0:17:14.560 --> 0:17:17.919 to me, of course, but I'm always assuming and it 0:17:18.000 --> 0:17:21.639 sounds to me like you. It was also partly a 0:17:21.720 --> 0:17:24.840 lack of interest other than being viewed a certain way, 0:17:24.960 --> 0:17:28.440 and that is that you know, before Alias and certainly 0:17:28.520 --> 0:17:30.640 after alias. Didn't you want to park yourself up there 0:17:30.640 --> 0:17:32.879 and just reap the benefits, the benefits in the town, 0:17:33.400 --> 0:17:35.560 you know, I always find that town there's a success 0:17:35.800 --> 0:17:38.080 begets success that you go into a big hit show 0:17:38.240 --> 0:17:40.879 and you're lining up your next show as that show's rapping. 0:17:41.040 --> 0:17:43.840 I mean, was like stepping on stones over a pond 0:17:43.960 --> 0:17:44.320 or something. 0:17:44.359 --> 0:17:46.960 You know. Well, I never live out there. 0:17:49.600 --> 0:17:53.440 What happened exactly is what you're saying. I did two 0:17:53.680 --> 0:17:58.359 more pilots. They were interesting, not quite good enough, obviously. 0:17:59.000 --> 0:18:03.000 The one I did love was Eli Stone. Greg Borlante 0:18:03.000 --> 0:18:05.480 did and that was That was the first, I think 0:18:05.520 --> 0:18:09.800 the first series that included music because Johnny Lee Miller 0:18:10.080 --> 0:18:12.960 played he had an aneurysm and he would go into 0:18:13.040 --> 0:18:16.960 a fit and everything would be sung. And George Michael 0:18:17.080 --> 0:18:20.080 was actually on that show. It's actually, it's actually worth seeing. 0:18:20.119 --> 0:18:23.920 It's really interesting. Eli Stone, it's really that's the name 0:18:23.960 --> 0:18:26.000 of the episode. That's the name of the show. And 0:18:26.080 --> 0:18:29.000 we did twelve episodes and I said to Reiner, I 0:18:29.119 --> 0:18:32.680 remember then, I said, I can't live in la looking 0:18:32.720 --> 0:18:35.679 for work. I knew I would fall into a very 0:18:35.800 --> 0:18:39.040 dark hole. And we left. We moved back to New York. 0:18:39.320 --> 0:18:41.080 He didn't want to leave because he loves the beach. 0:18:41.160 --> 0:18:43.359 But we're now, we're in you know, Sag Garber, So 0:18:43.440 --> 0:18:46.760 he's very happy. 0:18:47.920 --> 0:18:52.920 Actor and singer Victor Garber. If you enjoy conversations about 0:18:52.960 --> 0:18:56.800 acting in musical theater, check out my episode with Richard Kind. 0:18:57.520 --> 0:19:00.840 I know I should be much wealthier. I do everything. 0:19:01.200 --> 0:19:04.359 I have said this before. I am the costco of acting. 0:19:04.880 --> 0:19:07.840 I come a quantity and I come cheap. And that's 0:19:07.840 --> 0:19:10.840 why the toilet paper like toilet paper. Yes, instead of 0:19:10.840 --> 0:19:14.160 buying twelve rolls at the CBS, you got twenty six 0:19:14.200 --> 0:19:16.240 for the same price. Yes, that's me. 0:19:17.960 --> 0:19:21.800 To hear more of my conversation with Richard Kind, go 0:19:21.840 --> 0:19:26.840 to Here's Thething dot org. After the break, Victor Garber 0:19:26.920 --> 0:19:32.440 discusses Stephen Sondheim's controversial musical Assassins and originating the role 0:19:32.520 --> 0:19:44.720 of John Wilkes Booth. I'm Alec Baldwin and you're listening 0:19:44.720 --> 0:19:48.840 to Here's the Thing. Victor Garber originated the role of 0:19:48.920 --> 0:19:52.120 John Wilkes Booth in the nineteen ninety one off Broadway 0:19:52.160 --> 0:19:57.960 production of Stephen Sondheim's Assassins. Despite the powerhouse writing and 0:19:58.080 --> 0:20:02.520 acting talent, the show was initially not well received by audiences. 0:20:03.800 --> 0:20:05.919