WEBVTT - Starring Kevin Kilner as Nick in “Smart House” 0:00:14.680 --> 0:00:17.160 Thank you once again for joining us on yet another 0:00:17.239 --> 0:00:19.239 park Opper episode. I don't know why I sound like 0:00:19.280 --> 0:00:21.120 this all of a sudden, I sound like a radio 0:00:21.160 --> 0:00:21.799 guy from like. 0:00:21.840 --> 0:00:24.159 Yeah, the forties. There's a hey, thanks so much for 0:00:24.239 --> 0:00:26.119 joining us. But we do thank you for joining us. 0:00:26.160 --> 0:00:28.200 We've got a very i'm gonna say it again, very 0:00:28.200 --> 0:00:31.600 special episode. Every episode of Magical Rewe is a very 0:00:31.600 --> 0:00:33.440 special episode, and I kind of like that, Sabrina. 0:00:33.720 --> 0:00:34.800 I do this one. 0:00:34.880 --> 0:00:36.959 We are gonna be talking to an actor that we've 0:00:36.960 --> 0:00:38.879 wanted to talk to for a while now because he 0:00:39.000 --> 0:00:41.360 was involved with Well, we want to talk to about 0:00:41.400 --> 0:00:46.040 this what is rated as the number one dcom of 0:00:46.080 --> 0:00:48.680 all time, and we certainly would like to know what 0:00:48.760 --> 0:00:51.320 he thinks about that, how he heard about the project, 0:00:51.560 --> 0:00:54.000 what drew him to it, all that good stuff he 0:00:54.040 --> 0:00:56.840 played of course, Nick Cooper, or as we like to 0:00:56.880 --> 0:00:58.480 call him, smart House Dad. 0:00:59.800 --> 0:01:00.560 On Smart House. 0:01:00.600 --> 0:01:07.240 So please help us welcome Kevin Kilmer, Thank you so 0:01:07.480 --> 0:01:09.000 much for joining us. 0:01:09.319 --> 0:01:11.600 William, You're welcome. It's really nice to meet you. 0:01:12.040 --> 0:01:14.399 Nice to meet you. Are you ready to talk all 0:01:14.520 --> 0:01:16.000 things Smart House? 0:01:17.440 --> 0:01:17.800 Sure? 0:01:20.080 --> 0:01:22.760 I wish I was paid a five dollars bill every 0:01:22.760 --> 0:01:25.240 time I talk about Smart House. I'd actually be very 0:01:25.280 --> 0:01:27.319 I'd be able to put a down payment on a house. 0:01:27.480 --> 0:01:31.200 I bet. I mean, we at the beginning of starting 0:01:31.240 --> 0:01:34.040 this show really posted a lot on our on our 0:01:34.080 --> 0:01:36.880 Instagram and asking fans what are the movies you guys 0:01:36.880 --> 0:01:39.319 want us to watch and talk about? And this is 0:01:39.600 --> 0:01:41.160 top five every. 0:01:40.959 --> 0:01:42.720 Single time, every list, every list. 0:01:43.240 --> 0:01:45.640 It is such a huge movie. 0:01:45.920 --> 0:01:49.200 Now, I thank you. I mean, that's always lovely to hear. 0:01:49.720 --> 0:01:52.480 I hear from so many people that I it's funny. 0:01:52.520 --> 0:01:55.320 Like I was just now going to IMDb going I 0:01:55.360 --> 0:01:57.559 wonder what they rated this, and it's like it's six 0:01:57.600 --> 0:01:59.960 point one out of ten. And I was like, all right, 0:02:00.040 --> 0:02:06.120 he's ready very stupidly idiotic, because so many people have passionately, 0:02:06.240 --> 0:02:10.000 passionately told me that it was so seminal to them 0:02:10.080 --> 0:02:16.320 growing up. I mean I've had many, many, many single 0:02:16.400 --> 0:02:19.080 parent kids who said, look, I was a latchkey kid 0:02:19.120 --> 0:02:23.040 and you were actually like my dad. And I'm like, 0:02:23.160 --> 0:02:24.880 you know, like I the first time there were the 0:02:24.880 --> 0:02:28.520 first few times I heard that, I was like, oh, well, thanks, 0:02:28.560 --> 0:02:31.519 I mean, that's nice to hear. But they were like, no, no, 0:02:31.720 --> 0:02:33.919 really like you were my dad, like my dad wasn't 0:02:33.919 --> 0:02:37.040 around so like, and so it it sort of like 0:02:37.120 --> 0:02:42.480 hit me, like how you know it's funny. I teach 0:02:42.520 --> 0:02:46.280 acting now. I just started teaching last week actually a 0:02:46.320 --> 0:02:48.600 couple to eighteen and nineteen and twenty year olds. And 0:02:49.800 --> 0:02:52.040 you know, I said to them in the first classs 0:02:52.200 --> 0:02:54.000 I said, you know, you really, you know, I thought 0:02:54.000 --> 0:02:56.280 this was like a Disney Channel movie that like would 0:02:56.360 --> 0:02:59.520 be here today and gone in two or three years. 0:02:59.600 --> 0:03:04.160 And you know, I'm now sixty six, you know, and 0:03:04.560 --> 0:03:09.240 that the movie's been around for she's you know, going 0:03:09.240 --> 0:03:14.679 on twenty five years, and it's unbelievable. I mean, I 0:03:14.720 --> 0:03:17.440 would never have ever said. I mean, we worked hard 0:03:17.440 --> 0:03:21.440 on it, you know, sure ar worked. Really we had 0:03:21.480 --> 0:03:24.040 like a real handshake deal. Like I said, you know, 0:03:24.200 --> 0:03:26.160 like we got to make this script better. And he 0:03:26.240 --> 0:03:28.400 was very he said, listen, I'm going to have a 0:03:28.520 --> 0:03:31.400 killer some killer music. I've got a great idea for 0:03:31.480 --> 0:03:35.320 a line dance. You know, he created all that. So 0:03:35.360 --> 0:03:39.400 we trusted each other. But I'll be really honest, and 0:03:39.480 --> 0:03:41.400 this is not throwing shade at Disney or anything, but 0:03:41.440 --> 0:03:44.480 it was, you know, it was a little square kind 0:03:44.480 --> 0:03:47.240 of there was no nuances in it, and we added 0:03:47.280 --> 0:03:50.760 a lot of ambiguities and you know, acknowledging things like 0:03:51.000 --> 0:03:52.720 and I don't even think the scene like between the 0:03:52.720 --> 0:03:55.720 father and son was if it was written, it was 0:03:55.800 --> 0:03:59.400 very different, and then we completely rewrote it. You know, well, 0:03:59.440 --> 0:03:59.760 they were. 0:03:59.640 --> 0:04:00.640 Great, I mean, and that's one of the things. 0:04:00.800 --> 0:04:02.320 First of all, I should let you know why you 0:04:02.320 --> 0:04:05.320 said IMDb might rank it at six point one. Entertainment 0:04:05.320 --> 0:04:08.240 Weekly has it ranked the number one dcom of all 0:04:08.240 --> 0:04:10.920 timecom really of. 0:04:10.880 --> 0:04:15.040 All the time we're talking going against descendants everybody. 0:04:15.200 --> 0:04:16.800 Number one dcom of all time. 0:04:16.920 --> 0:04:19.359 Entertainment Weekly a smart house, and it's number three on 0:04:19.400 --> 0:04:24.360 Collider's list, So it is very highly rated. And one 0:04:24.360 --> 0:04:25.920 of the things we loved about it that we talked 0:04:25.920 --> 0:04:28.440 about is something that you had just mentioned, where it 0:04:28.520 --> 0:04:32.440 was a movie that while some most dcoms don't do, 0:04:32.640 --> 0:04:37.240 it embraced the quiet moments. It embraced the scenes of 0:04:37.360 --> 0:04:41.800 father and son actually having real conversations, which I think 0:04:41.839 --> 0:04:44.640 is one of the reasons why A it's endured and 0:04:44.720 --> 0:04:47.400 B people have loved it so much is because it 0:04:47.480 --> 0:04:50.800 did delve more into that than it did say a world. 0:04:50.600 --> 0:04:52.960 Of magic or something that dcoms would tend to do. 0:04:53.920 --> 0:04:56.560 So it's interesting to hear that you and LeVar Burton 0:04:56.600 --> 0:04:59.600 really worked on that and really sat down to make 0:04:59.600 --> 0:05:01.520 the script what it was. And speaking of that, when 0:05:01.640 --> 0:05:03.520 was the first time you heard about this project? Was 0:05:03.520 --> 0:05:06.159 this just another audition that came across your desk or 0:05:06.160 --> 0:05:07.440 how can you walk us through that? 0:05:07.640 --> 0:05:11.520 Yeah? Yeah, my my agency sent it over. And at 0:05:11.560 --> 0:05:15.920 the time, at the time, I finished Home Alone three, 0:05:16.240 --> 0:05:21.920 I'd finished Cinderella's Story, I'd finished Raising Helen, and I 0:05:21.960 --> 0:05:26.039 think I'd even done American Pie too then, and you know, 0:05:26.080 --> 0:05:27.640 I was like, you know, do I really want to 0:05:27.640 --> 0:05:29.760 do it? I mean, I'll just tell you and it's 0:05:29.920 --> 0:05:34.320 it sounds so it sounds so yiki right now that 0:05:34.440 --> 0:05:35.919 I was like, I really want to do a Disney 0:05:36.000 --> 0:05:36.680 Channel movie? Now? 0:05:36.839 --> 0:05:38.720 Oh no, we hear this all the time. We hear 0:05:38.760 --> 0:05:40.839 this all the time from actors. 0:05:41.120 --> 0:05:43.240 Yeah, I'm doing these feature films, you know, I'm like 0:05:43.279 --> 0:05:46.680 working for studios. Why do I want to do? And 0:05:46.720 --> 0:05:50.080 then they said, no, we really you know, like LeVar 0:05:50.120 --> 0:05:53.159 Burton actually I think you know either like you're on 0:05:53.160 --> 0:05:54.680 a very short list, and he would like, you know, 0:05:54.680 --> 0:05:56.360 would you like to take a meeting with him? Because 0:05:56.360 --> 0:05:58.760 he would love to meet with you, and I was like, okay, yeah, sure, 0:05:58.839 --> 0:06:02.360 let's do that. And when as soon as I met LeVar, 0:06:03.360 --> 0:06:08.960 who I'd never met before, the level of thought and 0:06:09.279 --> 0:06:12.240 sophistication and complexity about the way he was approaching it, 0:06:12.279 --> 0:06:13.960 I was like, Okay, this is not gonna be a 0:06:13.960 --> 0:06:19.039 Disney Channel movie. I mean like, yeah, whatever mold they've had, 0:06:19.600 --> 0:06:22.080 he's going to break it, He's going to break it. 0:06:22.160 --> 0:06:24.200 And I was and I was just in a phase 0:06:24.240 --> 0:06:26.240 in my life where I was like, let's bust up 0:06:26.279 --> 0:06:29.320 whatever we expect whenever we go to see a rom com, 0:06:29.360 --> 0:06:31.080 whenever we go to see an action movie, whatever, you know, 0:06:31.160 --> 0:06:37.919 like just change it up type thing. So LeVar, really 0:06:39.040 --> 0:06:41.120 I got really excited. And then I you know, and 0:06:41.120 --> 0:06:42.920 we ended the meeting with me saying, you know, look, 0:06:43.040 --> 0:06:46.719 I I'm willing to, you know, just come here on 0:06:46.760 --> 0:06:48.800 my own time and my own dime, but but can 0:06:48.800 --> 0:06:51.000 we just meet and kind of go page by page 0:06:51.000 --> 0:06:53.720 through this? And he was like absolutely, let's do that. 0:06:53.880 --> 0:06:59.560 So we did, and I think we much improved and 0:06:59.720 --> 0:07:03.200 add those kind of because you know, and this is true, 0:07:03.440 --> 0:07:06.719 like I knew enough and I hope I still know 0:07:06.839 --> 0:07:09.200 enough to know that, you know, if you're let's say, 0:07:09.279 --> 0:07:11.559 let's say you're doing a sci fi movie and there's 0:07:11.640 --> 0:07:15.600 all these effects and all this stuff, you still you're 0:07:15.640 --> 0:07:17.040 only going to remember that sci fi movie if you 0:07:17.080 --> 0:07:20.800 actually carry about the people. And you know, the converse 0:07:20.880 --> 0:07:22.720 is true too, in the sense that if you're doing 0:07:22.840 --> 0:07:26.920 like a low budget indie film that is really character driven, 0:07:27.600 --> 0:07:29.960 if you don't have an interesting way of shooting it, 0:07:30.000 --> 0:07:32.840 if you don't have a great DP, it can get 0:07:32.920 --> 0:07:35.320 sort of like lost in the shuffle as well. So 0:07:36.000 --> 0:07:39.760 we drilled down on the father's son, the father daughter 0:07:39.880 --> 0:07:42.840 even And the thing that's just so spooky about the 0:07:42.880 --> 0:07:46.280 movie is that, yes, there were articles this is like 0:07:46.400 --> 0:07:49.880 the mid nineties or maybe ninety seven, but like there 0:07:49.880 --> 0:07:53.480 were articles about technology going to give us smart houses 0:07:53.520 --> 0:07:55.520 and like that, but none of that existed. So in 0:07:55.520 --> 0:07:59.679 a way it was a good twenty years ahead, maybe 0:07:59.680 --> 0:08:04.080 twenty five years ahead of its time totally. And what 0:08:04.200 --> 0:08:08.600 that would mean to to us when everything is done 0:08:08.600 --> 0:08:10.800 for you and taken over in like how do you 0:08:11.000 --> 0:08:13.320 hang on to what it means to be a family 0:08:13.360 --> 0:08:15.480 and humanity? I mean, I don't want to get into too, 0:08:15.960 --> 0:08:18.240 but there are those like existential things sort of hanging 0:08:18.240 --> 0:08:21.080 out over it in a way that's not talked about. 0:08:21.080 --> 0:08:24.040 That that is sort of cool, you know. 0:08:24.120 --> 0:08:26.080 To me, Well, that was one of the things that 0:08:26.120 --> 0:08:28.840 we were finding over and over and over again as 0:08:28.840 --> 0:08:32.839 we're rewatching these films, is how on the cutting edge 0:08:32.880 --> 0:08:36.400 Disney actually was, not only when it comes to things 0:08:36.440 --> 0:08:39.160 like technology, but when it comes to things like gender equality, 0:08:39.240 --> 0:08:42.080 when it comes to things like sexuality. I mean, these 0:08:42.080 --> 0:08:45.480 were they were way ahead of the curve when it 0:08:45.520 --> 0:08:47.680 came to this stuff. And I'm just curious when you're 0:08:47.880 --> 0:08:51.480 on the set and you're reading these quote unquote inventions 0:08:51.880 --> 0:08:54.240 that have now become in everybody's house. 0:08:54.240 --> 0:08:56.760 I mean, this movie introduced essentially. 0:08:56.760 --> 0:09:01.720 Alexa, chat, GPT, golf, simula, the ring. 0:09:01.600 --> 0:09:04.680 Doorbell, doorbell. I mean, the list just goes on and 0:09:04.720 --> 0:09:05.160 on and on. 0:09:05.280 --> 0:09:07.600 Did you remember reading any of these things just kind 0:09:07.600 --> 0:09:10.800 of going like, well, this is this is ridiculous, this 0:09:10.840 --> 0:09:11.720 is never gonna happen. 0:09:13.280 --> 0:09:16.559 I mean, I actually, I know I didn't do that. 0:09:16.679 --> 0:09:18.880 I think what I did was I had a lot 0:09:18.880 --> 0:09:21.520 of said envy in the sense that, like you, I 0:09:21.559 --> 0:09:23.959 would say, geez, I wish I had this in my house. 0:09:24.000 --> 0:09:28.800 You like, cool if I had this, But I mean, 0:09:28.960 --> 0:09:31.880 you know, credit is and I'm forgetting who this script 0:09:31.920 --> 0:09:36.320 writer is, but credit him her for being ahead of it, 0:09:36.480 --> 0:09:40.280 you know what I mean. And credit Disney who you know, 0:09:40.760 --> 0:09:44.000 let's I have to say Disney's Disney for a reason, 0:09:44.120 --> 0:09:49.160 you know what I mean. They're tough. There's you know, 0:09:49.240 --> 0:09:51.280 in terms of like whether how you get paid and 0:09:51.320 --> 0:09:53.160 things like that. Salary is always a bit of a 0:09:53.800 --> 0:09:56.560 of a street fight with Disney. And you know, there's 0:09:56.600 --> 0:09:58.560 other things about Disney that are really tough. But on 0:09:58.600 --> 0:10:01.280 the other hand, they really run a really terrific company. 0:10:01.320 --> 0:10:04.240 They are ahead of the curve usually they they're bold. 0:10:04.520 --> 0:10:07.559 They're bold, so you got to, you know, you got 0:10:07.559 --> 0:10:11.040 to give them their flowers. Many they do it. Man, 0:10:11.120 --> 0:10:13.640 there's a reason it's been Disney for what what are 0:10:13.640 --> 0:10:15.160 we going on here? One hundred years now? 0:10:15.520 --> 0:10:16.360 Pretty close to it? 0:10:16.440 --> 0:10:19.880 Yeah, And I mean they know their target audience. They 0:10:19.960 --> 0:10:24.440 know how to do it so well and like put 0:10:24.520 --> 0:10:28.440 across their messaging in such a way that young kids 0:10:28.600 --> 0:10:31.440 absorb it and actually want to hear it and learn 0:10:31.480 --> 0:10:34.880 those lessons. And I mean they're just incredible and we're 0:10:34.920 --> 0:10:37.680 getting to see so much of it, and they just 0:10:37.720 --> 0:10:40.240 seem to be ahead and they're willing to talk about 0:10:40.320 --> 0:10:42.480 certain things that a lot of people get nervous to. 0:10:42.559 --> 0:10:44.680 I guess too, you know. I mean, this was the 0:10:44.679 --> 0:10:47.440 first one that talked about losing a parent and what 0:10:47.480 --> 0:10:50.160 it's like to go through and how to move forward 0:10:50.240 --> 0:10:51.200 as griefs. 0:10:51.559 --> 0:10:54.319 It's addressing grief in a way that Disney Channel. I 0:10:54.320 --> 0:10:54.880 don't think it'd. 0:10:54.760 --> 0:10:56.880 Ever done before, and not a lot of movies unless 0:10:56.880 --> 0:10:59.360 you're getting into the big you know, we're doing a 0:10:59.400 --> 0:11:01.080 Sophie's Voice kind of movie. 0:11:01.600 --> 0:11:01.720 Right. 0:11:01.880 --> 0:11:05.280 There wasn't a movie ever targeted at children that dealt 0:11:05.280 --> 0:11:09.079 with grief in a way that was natural. So they 0:11:09.120 --> 0:11:11.559 really were kind of on the cutting edge of all 0:11:11.640 --> 0:11:16.320 that stuff. And another question, so, now you've met with LeVar, 0:11:17.160 --> 0:11:20.400 you're going through the script. Did you have any influence 0:11:20.480 --> 0:11:22.600 over the rest of the casting. Were you able to 0:11:22.600 --> 0:11:25.199 meet some of the kids beforehand or no? 0:11:26.120 --> 0:11:28.200 We had a I think we had a table read. 0:11:28.400 --> 0:11:31.920 So I met Ryan, of course, and I met my Daty, 0:11:32.000 --> 0:11:35.120 my young daughter, well Katie Segall I didn't know. We 0:11:35.160 --> 0:11:39.960 didn't meet Katie. Katie only came for like two maybe 0:11:40.040 --> 0:11:42.760 three days of shooting. It took four weeks. We did 0:11:42.800 --> 0:11:47.480 it in those in those days, you got twenty shooting days. 0:11:47.480 --> 0:11:51.400 So that's five days a week, four weeks, which to 0:11:51.720 --> 0:11:55.520 these days is just stupid lovey, you know, like you 0:11:55.559 --> 0:11:57.360 have to shoot out, you have to shoot it. Like 0:11:57.440 --> 0:11:59.920 Hallmark movies they shoot him in twelve days or something. 0:12:00.080 --> 0:12:02.520 A full script. It's like ten days for a full script. 0:12:02.559 --> 0:12:03.720 It's insane. 0:12:03.760 --> 0:12:07.559 It's still on the DCOM level. Most of the actors 0:12:07.559 --> 0:12:10.200 we've talked to, it's like it ranges from like six 0:12:10.240 --> 0:12:12.680 to eight weeks that they get to work on these movies. 0:12:12.760 --> 0:12:15.920 So four weeks seems really fast for d coom. 0:12:16.720 --> 0:12:20.439 Yeah, although you know, I'm thinking of the early nineties 0:12:20.440 --> 0:12:23.800 when I so I I started my I went to 0:12:23.800 --> 0:12:25.840 New York in eighty five. I came to LA in 0:12:25.880 --> 0:12:30.520 eighty late eighty nine, I went back to New York 0:12:30.559 --> 0:12:32.240 ninety three to ninety five. But I was back and 0:12:32.280 --> 0:12:35.400 forth between the coasts then. But I could the television 0:12:35.440 --> 0:12:38.600 movies that were done in the late eighties early nineties, 0:12:39.559 --> 0:12:42.959 it was like a twenty to twenty two days whatever 0:12:42.960 --> 0:12:44.760 that movie was. I mean, I can tell you I've 0:12:44.800 --> 0:12:49.120 did too many of them to not remember. But that 0:12:49.240 --> 0:12:52.720 being said, even then, they were like, you know, just 0:12:52.800 --> 0:12:55.199 cutting days and cutting days and cutting days, and now 0:12:55.240 --> 0:12:57.400 it's like the come and you know, of course, like 0:12:57.400 --> 0:13:00.160 anything else that reaches the loss of diminishing returns, you 0:13:00.200 --> 0:13:01.559 know what what what do you? What are we turning 0:13:01.559 --> 0:13:02.439 out here? You know what I mean? 0:13:02.520 --> 0:13:05.240 And ted days? What can you turn out? I mean exactly? 0:13:05.559 --> 0:13:09.200 And it's I told tell you it's frustrating because I like, 0:13:09.200 --> 0:13:12.679 for example, I've done both Hallmark Channels and I did 0:13:12.960 --> 0:13:16.280 I did one Hallmark hall of Fame with James R. 0:13:16.400 --> 0:13:21.640 Jones and a very u a place call. It was 0:13:21.679 --> 0:13:26.679 called time Piece and Ellen Burst and and you know 0:13:27.960 --> 0:13:30.719 the Hallmark's got you know, kind of like Disney they 0:13:30.720 --> 0:13:34.080 have there that formula. And you know, I did like 0:13:34.280 --> 0:13:35.600 I don't know, I want to say, three or four 0:13:35.640 --> 0:13:38.040 other Hallmark Channel movies. But like after the last one 0:13:38.080 --> 0:13:39.840 I finished, I was like, really, I don't want to 0:13:39.840 --> 0:13:44.880 do this anymore because there's no it can't possibly be good. 0:13:45.040 --> 0:13:47.719 If it is good, hopefully you have a supporting role 0:13:47.720 --> 0:13:50.800 where you're doing so much work before you shoot that 0:13:50.920 --> 0:13:52.880 what you're turning out on the days. But if you're 0:13:52.960 --> 0:13:55.840 the lead and you're there every day, it's sort of 0:13:55.880 --> 0:13:58.200 like hard to get your prep in As an actor. 0:13:58.240 --> 0:13:59.640 It's hard to you know, you do to do your 0:13:59.640 --> 0:14:01.920 research and get it and really get the rehearsals in. 0:14:02.520 --> 0:14:04.959 So you're just shooting super fast and you're not doing 0:14:04.960 --> 0:14:06.920 a lot of takes. You're doing a master in your makeut. 0:14:06.960 --> 0:14:08.920 You might get too you know, you may get a 0:14:09.000 --> 0:14:11.600 meeting or too shot, and then you get like over over. 0:14:11.920 --> 0:14:13.920 You might get two takes in each of your close 0:14:14.000 --> 0:14:17.600 up over overs and that's it. You're done. Yeah, And 0:14:17.679 --> 0:14:21.240 so you know there's a point and and again this 0:14:21.400 --> 0:14:24.520 goes back to crediting Disney that and look, let's give 0:14:24.560 --> 0:14:27.800 me even more flowers. You know, LeVar Burton, African American man, 0:14:28.160 --> 0:14:30.560 gave the director reins too, gave a lot of leeway 0:14:30.600 --> 0:14:33.680 to a lot of leeway creatively. Yeah, and you know, 0:14:33.960 --> 0:14:37.320 to Levar's great credit, he know, he friggin delivered big time. 0:14:37.360 --> 0:14:38.200 Yeah, very much. 0:14:38.240 --> 0:14:41.440 So it's also it's a it's a it's a especially 0:14:41.480 --> 0:14:44.160 in the mid nineties, it's a special effects heavy movie 0:14:44.560 --> 0:14:47.920 with no budget. So I mean it's it's one of 0:14:47.960 --> 0:14:50.800 those things where that easily could have been driven off 0:14:50.800 --> 0:14:53.080 a cliff. I mean, you've got you've got a movie 0:14:53.120 --> 0:14:54.800 that you know is let's put it together. 0:14:54.840 --> 0:14:55.920 We're going to do twenty days. 0:14:56.120 --> 0:14:58.920 We've got special effects in a house that we are 0:14:59.120 --> 0:15:00.800 kind of creating on the fly as we go. 0:15:01.240 --> 0:15:02.680 That really could have been a train wreck. 0:15:02.760 --> 0:15:06.440 Instead, it's Man Entertainment Weekly number one d comm of 0:15:06.480 --> 0:15:07.720 all time, and a lot. 0:15:07.520 --> 0:15:09.840 Of it rides on the connection that you have with 0:15:10.360 --> 0:15:14.240 your two kids. What was it like creating that bond 0:15:14.480 --> 0:15:17.520 and working for you as an adult actor working with 0:15:17.600 --> 0:15:21.040 these young actors, How was that connection and what was 0:15:21.040 --> 0:15:22.320 the relationship like there? 0:15:23.400 --> 0:15:26.000 Well, I think you know this is the part where 0:15:27.160 --> 0:15:30.880 in terms of both Katie and Ryan, is that you 0:15:30.920 --> 0:15:33.800 know this is where I give I always give lots 0:15:33.800 --> 0:15:37.840 of credit to my mom. My mom taught for thirty 0:15:37.920 --> 0:15:41.720 years kindergarten and my sister and I when we didn't 0:15:41.760 --> 0:15:44.120 have a sport we were playing, we would walk to 0:15:44.160 --> 0:15:46.280 her elementary school and we would help her in the 0:15:46.320 --> 0:15:49.240 classroom and she my mom had a master's cree in 0:15:49.320 --> 0:15:53.080 early childhood. She had real strict rules about never condescending 0:15:53.080 --> 0:15:55.120 to a child, never talk baby talk to a child, 0:15:55.600 --> 0:15:58.760 Always ask questions, always give them two choices, use the 0:15:58.800 --> 0:16:01.840 Socratic method, and they learned how to wire their brains 0:16:01.840 --> 0:16:03.120 by saying, do you want the red coat or the 0:16:03.120 --> 0:16:05.800 blue coat. You can choose. But you know, no, no, 0:16:05.840 --> 0:16:07.720 not when I talk about the other coat, that's a 0:16:07.840 --> 0:16:10.200 ring thring. It's the red of the blue because it's 0:16:10.240 --> 0:16:11.600 a winter day. And you know what I mean, like 0:16:11.600 --> 0:16:16.360 you talk about it. So my wife always laughs, She's like, 0:16:16.440 --> 0:16:19.200 you know, animals and children friggin love you. I don't 0:16:19.240 --> 0:16:22.360 know what the energy thing I said, Well, really, I 0:16:22.560 --> 0:16:24.360 just really goes back to my mom. It's like I 0:16:24.400 --> 0:16:26.920 worked all those years in my mom's classroom. I was 0:16:26.960 --> 0:16:29.400 a big brother my senior year of high school for 0:16:29.480 --> 0:16:32.400 a little boy who was this you know, latchkey kid 0:16:32.400 --> 0:16:35.640 who had just a mom and he was really missing. 0:16:35.760 --> 0:16:37.760 You know. I would get together with him privately once 0:16:37.800 --> 0:16:39.600 a week, you know, and we would just play play 0:16:39.640 --> 0:16:42.480 games literally, or go somewhere and hang out, go to 0:16:42.480 --> 0:16:45.400 the playground whatever, you know, just talk about stuff, you know, 0:16:45.480 --> 0:16:48.440 get an ice cream together. Then I would you know, 0:16:48.760 --> 0:16:50.720 meet him with his mom at a certain time, you know, 0:16:50.800 --> 0:16:54.440 And so I you know, whether it was I mean, 0:16:54.560 --> 0:16:56.720 I was just as my wife says, you're the Dean 0:16:56.800 --> 0:16:59.760 jan of Dean Joan of dads in the nineties and 0:16:59.800 --> 0:17:02.840 the odds. It's like Dean Jones, who was the Dad 0:17:02.840 --> 0:17:05.320 and all the Disney movies and the sixties. Yeah, you're 0:17:05.359 --> 0:17:09.520 that version. It's like kids love you. They you never 0:17:09.920 --> 0:17:11.919 you know. I just talked straight to them. And so 0:17:11.960 --> 0:17:14.000 when I met, you know, the two of them, I 0:17:14.000 --> 0:17:16.000 said what I've always said any children I worked with, 0:17:16.040 --> 0:17:18.440 whether it was Home Alone three or Raising Hill or whatever, 0:17:18.680 --> 0:17:21.800 I just said, listen, you know we're we're all professionals here. 0:17:21.960 --> 0:17:24.280 You know, I'm going to treat you with complete and 0:17:24.359 --> 0:17:27.360 utter respect. And you got any great ideas, I want 0:17:27.400 --> 0:17:29.640 to hear them. Any ideas, you got any concerns, I'll 0:17:29.640 --> 0:17:32.080 help you with them. You got anything that you're afraid 0:17:32.080 --> 0:17:34.080 of on the set, talk to me. I'll get I'll 0:17:34.080 --> 0:17:36.040 talk to the director. But you know, we got to 0:17:36.080 --> 0:17:38.080 do this together, you know what I mean. And we 0:17:38.119 --> 0:17:41.119 would talk about scenes like and I would say to them, 0:17:41.160 --> 0:17:43.760 I'd say, listen, you know all sorts of things like 0:17:43.800 --> 0:17:45.600 if we're going to get physical, I would I would 0:17:45.640 --> 0:17:47.679 always say to them as early as I could, like 0:17:47.840 --> 0:17:49.240 we're going to be shooting a scene in a couple 0:17:49.240 --> 0:17:51.119 of weeks where like you were wrestling and stuff like that. 0:17:51.320 --> 0:17:54.640 Just know that other than my eyes and a couple 0:17:54.760 --> 0:17:57.400 other parts. You can just wrestle with me however you want. 0:17:57.440 --> 0:17:59.159 You know, you can. You want to punch me in 0:17:59.200 --> 0:18:01.040 the arm, that's fine, and you want to you know, 0:18:01.080 --> 0:18:02.919 you want to like come up behind me, lift my 0:18:02.960 --> 0:18:05.480 hair up, you know, have at it, like you know, 0:18:05.600 --> 0:18:09.720 have feel free to act impulsively in the moment and 0:18:09.920 --> 0:18:12.600 let's let's, you know, help each other. But I think 0:18:12.640 --> 0:18:16.000 that you know, again, all credit to my to my 0:18:16.080 --> 0:18:18.160 mom and my dad, you know who always just said, 0:18:18.160 --> 0:18:20.800 you know, treat everybody with respect, including young people who 0:18:21.440 --> 0:18:24.560 you know there's you don't know better. And frankly that 0:18:24.920 --> 0:18:26.960 you know, as we all know, the best actors in 0:18:27.000 --> 0:18:31.840 the world are animals and small children. There they're completely free, 0:18:31.880 --> 0:18:36.760 they have no fat, no filter, and you know, a 0:18:36.760 --> 0:18:39.320 lot of times they make the scenes. I've been a 0:18:39.359 --> 0:18:41.600 hell of a lot better because of who they are. 0:18:43.119 --> 0:18:47.760 And I it's all about making, as Jimmy Cagney said, 0:18:47.920 --> 0:18:50.159 you know, making the audience never forget you because you 0:18:50.200 --> 0:18:53.399 create something very memorable. So you just for all, you know, 0:18:53.440 --> 0:18:56.320 you try and sit all these little fishhooks. I would 0:18:56.320 --> 0:18:57.760 say to them, you know what, if we tried this, 0:18:57.880 --> 0:19:00.679 take doing doing this. If you have me the prompt 0:19:00.720 --> 0:19:03.160 just like one line later on that and maybe I'll 0:19:03.160 --> 0:19:04.640 look at it and do you want to like, maybe 0:19:04.640 --> 0:19:06.920 we can improvise the line. You think it's goofy looking 0:19:06.960 --> 0:19:08.800 or it's silly color, maybe you want to say something 0:19:08.840 --> 0:19:11.040 about that, and we would get these like little magical 0:19:11.080 --> 0:19:13.240 things out of it. You know that whole seat shot 0:19:13.280 --> 0:19:16.439 with the oranges shooting orange. Yeah, oh my god. We 0:19:16.480 --> 0:19:18.400 had so much fun. All of us were like at 0:19:18.440 --> 0:19:19.880 times we were like on the floor and we were 0:19:19.880 --> 0:19:22.639 like whipping oranges around. Of course you guys like stop that, 0:19:22.800 --> 0:19:26.840 you know, like but and of course the thing that 0:19:27.000 --> 0:19:29.960 slid up it was some guy down below, poor guy, 0:19:30.040 --> 0:19:35.560 and like push it up right, like it's like you'd 0:19:35.600 --> 0:19:38.880 never want to know how the cake is made. 0:19:39.200 --> 0:19:41.360