Speaker 1: Hey guys, welcome to I've never said this before with
Speaker 1: me Tommy di Dario. One of the biggest movies of
Speaker 1: the year is Obsession. It is shattering box office numbers
Speaker 1: and even became the first movie since nineteen eighty two's
Speaker 1: et to have bigger second and third weekends than the first.
Speaker 1: That is so hard to achieve, and it just goes
Speaker 1: to show what a special film Obsession is. And today
Speaker 1: I have one of the insanely talented stars on my show.
Speaker 1: Now you may know him as Bear, but in real
Speaker 1: life he goes by Michael Johnston, and today he's answering
Speaker 1: all of our burning questions. And a big shout out
Speaker 1: to travel Guard, my personal sponsor for today's episode. Their
Speaker 1: mission is to make sure you and I safely say
Speaker 1: hello to our next destination, especially with summer travel here,
Speaker 1: so a vacation insurance planned from travel Guard will help
Speaker 1: to protect your trip investment with coverages like trip cancelation
Speaker 1: and interruption, medical expense, and evacuation, lost or delayed baggage,
Speaker 1: which absolutely sucks and so much more so let's enjoy
Speaker 1: our trips without all the headaches. Okay. You can visit
Speaker 1: travel guard dot com for more they seriously change the
Speaker 1: game when it comes to traveling peacefully. All right, let's
Speaker 1: see if today we can get Michael to say something
Speaker 1: that he has never said before. Michael Johnson, how are you,
Speaker 1: my man?
Speaker 2: I'm doing great.
Speaker 1: I am psyched that you are here. It's weird to
Speaker 1: see you in person because i feel like I've seen
Speaker 1: you all over my social media for like a month
Speaker 1: and a half NonStop. So I'm like, are you here?
Speaker 2: I'm here. You know I'm here.
Speaker 3: I'm real, Okay, I'm not not that guy.
Speaker 2: That you've been seeing.
Speaker 1: Has that been a distinction you've had to make for
Speaker 1: some fans? Yeah?
Speaker 2: A few times.
Speaker 3: Really, No, It's been really fun, but there are definitely
Speaker 3: some people that are kind of giving me that side eye,
Speaker 3: like what's.
Speaker 1: To deal with this guy?
Speaker 2: Yeah?
Speaker 1: Man, I mean congrats on all of it, possession. I
Speaker 1: just saw it surpassed now four hundred million. That's nuts,
Speaker 1: right on a seven hundred and fifty thousand dollars budget. Yeah,
Speaker 1: like this little indie film that just blew up in
Speaker 1: such a big way. Yeah. Was there any moment when
Speaker 1: you were filming this where you thought like, could could
Speaker 1: it turn into what it has?
Speaker 3: I definitely try not to have those expectations when I'm
Speaker 3: making a movie. But I would say no, I just
Speaker 3: I we all knew that we were working on a
Speaker 3: really special project, and you know, it was like, oh,
Speaker 3: this is really good. But I never imagined that we'd
Speaker 3: get a theatrical release, let alone break all these records.
Speaker 3: So it's pretty it's pretty wild.
Speaker 1: I don't even know where it began. It's it's it's
Speaker 1: one of those performances where you're like, wow, like you
Speaker 1: you felt what you were going through.
Speaker 3: Oh yeah, I felt that your body doesn't know that
Speaker 3: it's not real and this is kind of nuts. But
Speaker 3: there's a there's a scene at the end. If you've
Speaker 3: seen the film.
Speaker 1: We can do spoilers.
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, yeah, there's a scene at the end where
Speaker 3: bears in the bathroom, and I saw this clip of
Speaker 3: the composer Rocky talking about how like he could hear
Speaker 3: my heart beating like on my mic and he was
Speaker 3: kind of using that as like inspiration to the music
Speaker 3: as he was composing it for that scene. But that's
Speaker 3: just to say that when I was playing this character,
Speaker 3: I was really trying to go there.
Speaker 2: And felt it felt real.
Speaker 3: There were times where it'd be like cut and I'd
Speaker 3: be like and I have to go and kind of
Speaker 3: chill out and you know.
Speaker 2: Listen to some soothing music.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah, I imagine the whole shoot, which was for how.
Speaker 2: Long it was a twenty day shoot?
Speaker 1: Twenty day shoot?
Speaker 2: Too short?
Speaker 1: I mean, and you did that all in twenty days,
Speaker 1: which is crazy emotionally too. I mean, did you need
Speaker 1: time to come down after that?
Speaker 2: Yeah?
Speaker 3: Well so the first so if we're four weeks, the
Speaker 3: first two weeks of shooting were all in Bear's house.
Speaker 3: It's half the movie, so a lot of those scenes
Speaker 3: are really super intense. So that was definitely the more intense.
Speaker 2: Week two weeks. So the first week.
Speaker 3: I kind of went in and you know, I'm doing
Speaker 3: it all day, then you get home, and then you
Speaker 3: then I'm learning my lines for the next day, and
Speaker 3: so I'm pretty much don't get to turn it off.
Speaker 2: And I just thought, oh, no, this is good.
Speaker 3: I can do this. But it started to get it
Speaker 3: started to kind of wear down on me. And I
Speaker 3: remember this one time I walked by the mirror and
Speaker 3: I just looked in the mirror and I just like
Speaker 3: I looked like ten years older. Like I just felt like, oh,
Speaker 3: my God, and then.
Speaker 2: I'm like, oh wait, it's not none of this is real.
Speaker 3: Like I had to just remind myself. But I really
Speaker 3: enjoy that whole process. Like I'm not I'm not going
Speaker 3: method or anything, but I really do enjoy the process
Speaker 3: of like kind of carrying it around.
Speaker 2: Yeah, but I'd love to do a romantic comedy next.
Speaker 1: Something a little lighter. Yeah. Yeah, you beat yourself up
Speaker 1: enough for that, I think. So, I mean, I hope
Speaker 1: you have a good self care practice after.
Speaker 3: I had to figure that out while we were shooting,
Speaker 3: and it was usually taking a bath or just eating
Speaker 3: really good eating really good, clean food and finding my
Speaker 3: like cashew ice cream. So I'm upset my tummy, but
Speaker 3: I have my little things. But yeah, I had to
Speaker 3: figure that out because it got it got dark. Meanwhile,
Speaker 3: Indy she's you know, she's brilliant in the film, and
Speaker 3: she's playing this crazy character of this intense performance, but
Speaker 3: like she was having fun.
Speaker 2: She was just like laughing and having fun then.
Speaker 3: But you know, I find that when it's a more
Speaker 3: kind of crazy, intense, big performance, it tends to it
Speaker 3: tends to be more of a blast. But when you're
Speaker 3: sort of like the one that's the audience's way in
Speaker 3: like you're watching it through. Everything is about what Bear
Speaker 3: is experiencing, Like when when you're carrying that, the weight
Speaker 3: of that during the filming it in my experience, it it.
Speaker 2: Weighs on you a lot more emotionally.
Speaker 3: Yeah, but you know, I'm learning as I as I go. Oh,
Speaker 3: I'm excited to play all kinds of different.
Speaker 1: Roles and yeah, yeah, you definitely can check horror off, but.
Speaker 2: I want to do more horror.
Speaker 3: I really like I think if I the next villain,
Speaker 3: I would like to be maybe not as understated, like
Speaker 3: I want to be like that guy where you're like, oh, yeah,
Speaker 3: he's evil, no right away, but you know, I don't know.
Speaker 2: I'm open.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you'll have many options, I no doubt. Let's dive
Speaker 1: into the movie for a minute. There's so many questions
Speaker 1: I have. I guess to start, when Bear breaks the
Speaker 1: one wish Willow, what do you think is the moment
Speaker 1: that he realized something was wrong? Like when did it
Speaker 1: really kick in for him?
Speaker 3: Well, it's kind of hard to answer that question because
Speaker 3: I think Bear lives in a constant state of denial.
Speaker 3: He's definitely if you're up on your attachment theory. He's avoidant,
Speaker 3: extremely avoidant, and I just don't think he has the
Speaker 3: tools to well. He certainly can't take any kind of
Speaker 3: responsibility for anything that he's done.
Speaker 2: That's just the kind of person that he is.
Speaker 3: So I would but I think, I think where in
Speaker 3: the film does he realize maybe that something's wrong. I
Speaker 3: would say, right away, he knows that there's something wrong
Speaker 3: with Nikki, But where does he realize that, like.
Speaker 2: Oh my god, what have I done? I don't know if.
Speaker 3: I don't know if it fully kicks in until the
Speaker 3: middle of the film, and even when it does, it's
Speaker 3: it's too hard for him to face it. So I'd
Speaker 3: have to go back and watch again and see exactly where.
Speaker 3: But I have heard people debating on this.
Speaker 2: And kind of trying to figure out exactly what moment
Speaker 2: it was.
Speaker 3: But all I can say is he certainly didn't think
Speaker 3: that the wish was gonna work right. It was just
Speaker 3: kind of like one of those things you think in
Speaker 3: your head, like a thought. You never think, like, oh,
Speaker 3: I'm just gonna say something and I'm alone in the car,
Speaker 3: like I don't. You don't expect it, but it's you know,
Speaker 3: it's about what he did after.
Speaker 1: Right, right, And I mean watching you and Indie together
Speaker 1: was it was thrilling to say the least.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I just.
Speaker 1: Never knew where it was gonna go. Yeah. Yeah, And
Speaker 1: I know her facial expressions and her creepy smiling must
Speaker 1: have been a little freaky on set for sure. But
Speaker 1: was there something she like physically did where you were like,
Speaker 1: this is freaking me out? Yeah?
Speaker 2: A few times, yeah, you know.
Speaker 3: I mean, of course, I'd read the script and I
Speaker 3: knew mostly what was coming, but we workshop things on
Speaker 3: the day and they Curry the director, Curry Barker, and
Speaker 3: Indy would often leave the room and go work on
Speaker 3: it and then come back and I'd be like, what's.
Speaker 2: Up, guys, what are we doing?
Speaker 3: And they'd be like, you'll see. So I just had
Speaker 3: to be present and be in the moment. But you know,
Speaker 3: she threw some awesome stuff my way and we had fun.
Speaker 3: She's the best scene partner. It's cool because in the
Speaker 3: beginning of the film, when Bear first mixed the wish,
Speaker 3: there was a lot of conversation about like how sudden
Speaker 3: is the turn, and we sort of thought about kind
Speaker 3: of trying to make it really subtle, but then we
Speaker 3: try to take where it's like, oh no, she switches immediately,
Speaker 3: and we knew that was it right away. There was
Speaker 3: a moment, I think because we shot that on there
Speaker 3: was a moment where we huddled together after a take
Speaker 3: and I remember currying being like, guys, this.
Speaker 2: Movie's gonna work. You know, it's just crazy.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, oh my god, how fun. That must have
Speaker 1: been exhausting but fun.
Speaker 3: Yeah, but you know it was everything. It was exactly
Speaker 3: you know, it was a challenge. Every movie is a
Speaker 3: kind of a miracle, right, So we were all putting
Speaker 3: together this complicated puzzle and take the talent and you know,
Speaker 3: hard work and luck and plenty of things that were
Speaker 3: out of our control to kind of feel like we
Speaker 3: just kind of caught lightning in a bottle with this,
Speaker 3: you know, yeah, this whole this whole thing.
Speaker 2: You know, we made a great film.
Speaker 3: But also it came out at the perfect time, you know,
Speaker 3: like Focused Features got it, Like they did an incredible
Speaker 3: job with the marketing, Like shout out to the marketing campaign.
Speaker 2: It was brilliant.
Speaker 3: So yeah, I mean, I'm just so I'm so grateful
Speaker 3: to get to do that. Yeah, you know, yeah, it's
Speaker 3: a it's a it's a dream come true. It still
Speaker 3: doesn't feel real. It's very like what is.
Speaker 1: Happening right well?
Speaker 2: People coming up to me and stuff in public.
Speaker 1: Like, yeah, it's also new, it's also different. It's it's
Speaker 1: but it's deserved. Like I said, the performances were so great.
Speaker 1: You're pretty you're pretty adamant that Bear is a villain? Right?
Speaker 1: Did you? Did you always feel that way? No? His journey.
Speaker 2: Here's the thing. This is really funny because.
Speaker 3: There's a clip on the internet of like of a
Speaker 3: Q and A or something at one of the movie
Speaker 3: theaters and someone asked me, you know.
Speaker 2: Is he the villain? And I'm sort of like, I
Speaker 2: can't say yes or no.
Speaker 3: And then, you know, that ruffled some feathers because really,
Speaker 3: if you looking at it objectively, like, yeah, of course
Speaker 3: he makes some horrific decisions, and so that would.
Speaker 2: Be classified as a villain.
Speaker 3: But you know, one, I would sleep deprived because we
Speaker 3: just did our press junket. But two, what I realized
Speaker 3: is after I've watched the film a few more times,
Speaker 3: it kind of opened my eyes to like the process, Like,
Speaker 3: when I'm playing Bear, I'm not thinking about whether or
Speaker 3: not he's a villain, like, it's not my job to
Speaker 3: judge the character.
Speaker 2: That's all up to the audience and the script and
Speaker 2: the director. The director.
Speaker 3: For me, I have to actually be really careful not
Speaker 3: to put any judgment on what he's doing, because my
Speaker 3: job is only to bring humanity to his experience and.
Speaker 2: Make it real and believe it.
Speaker 3: And most villains don't think that they're villains, right, So
Speaker 3: I feel like, in my experience as an actor, you
Speaker 3: are really protective of your characters that you're playing because
Speaker 3: you're living in their head.
Speaker 2: You know, I didn't want to.
Speaker 3: I don't I'm not playing Bear and thinking, wow, I'm
Speaker 3: really a piece of shit, Like that wouldn't be fun.
Speaker 3: So but you know, so after that I kind of realized.
Speaker 3: I'm like, I'm watching that clip and I'm like, well, no,
Speaker 3: he's the villain.
Speaker 2: I think that.
Speaker 3: I just I didn't want to judge him while I
Speaker 3: was playing him because I'm sitting there trying to literally
Speaker 3: justify everything that he's doing. And the way that that
Speaker 3: kind of looked was in my opinion, Bear kind of
Speaker 3: has this tunnel vision and all he sees is what
Speaker 3: he wants, which is this girl, because he thinks that
Speaker 3: the idea of her is going to fix all the
Speaker 3: problems in his life, or at least make it so
Speaker 3: that he doesn't have to feel all the pain, because
Speaker 3: look at the film, he's like, he's like popping pills
Speaker 3: that belonged to his grandmother who recently passed away. He's
Speaker 3: lost his pet, he's very lonely.
Speaker 2: Like you know, I think.
Speaker 3: He's just like a sad little boy. You know, we
Speaker 3: don't really get to see a lot of what happened
Speaker 3: in their lives before, so I had to kind of
Speaker 3: come up with these ideas of what his life must
Speaker 3: have looked like.
Speaker 2: And I don't think.
Speaker 3: Bear ever wanted anyone to get hurt. He didn't intend
Speaker 3: to do anything bad. He didn't want his friend to
Speaker 3: be suffering. But I think that one pivotal moment in
Speaker 3: the film where he's sort of like, you know, what's
Speaker 3: so bad about being with me? Like, yeah, it's very villainous.
Speaker 3: But I think even in that moment, at least, the
Speaker 3: way that I played it and the way that it
Speaker 3: kind of the way that I had to justify the
Speaker 3: action came from a place of like, Okay, well, this
Speaker 3: guy thinks he's like in such a deep hole that
Speaker 3: there's just that there's no one watching, there's no one
Speaker 3: to be He's not going to be held accountable, and
Speaker 3: that is awful, it's truly awful. But when I'm in
Speaker 3: Bear's head, I'm sort of just kind of, Yeah, he's
Speaker 3: only thinking about himself.
Speaker 2: It's awful. It's really selfish.
Speaker 3: But he's not thinking like, oh, I want you to suffer.
Speaker 3: It's just he's a flawed guy. So yeah, if that
Speaker 3: kind of makes sense. It's like, I just to be
Speaker 3: able to play this character because I would never do
Speaker 3: the things that he's doing. I would never it's awful,
Speaker 3: but he doesn't see it that way. That's what I
Speaker 3: loved about the script.
Speaker 2: When I read it.
Speaker 3: I was so excited that it didn't turn out to
Speaker 3: have that sort of redemption arc, because I think that's
Speaker 3: kind of a what do you call it, like a
Speaker 3: trope it So it happens a lot. It's like, we
Speaker 3: redeem our characters. We want to go home feeling nice
Speaker 3: and warm and fuzzy inside.
Speaker 2: None of this film, no way.
Speaker 1: Oh no, there's nothing mormon fuzzy, not at all. But
Speaker 1: it's it's it's captivating, and it's not how I thought
Speaker 1: it would end, which is what I appreciated. Truly. I'm like,
Speaker 1: oh wow, I didn't see that coming. I thought that
Speaker 1: was really really cool.
Speaker 3: You know.
Speaker 1: One of the most debated questions I feel like that
Speaker 1: I keep seeing is did Nikky ever at one point
Speaker 1: truly love Bear.
Speaker 3: That's a great question, And I never even asked myself
Speaker 3: that until way after we were done shooting, Like in
Speaker 3: my mind, like playing like again with that tunnel vision
Speaker 3: where I have to play Bear.
Speaker 2: My answer was.
Speaker 3: Always no way, she's going to reject me. That's how
Speaker 3: he lives his life. That's he There's no way he
Speaker 3: doesn't have confidence. Actually, then looking back and then hearing
Speaker 3: from the actor and the director's perspective, they were both like, yeah,
Speaker 3: she was kind of like dropping a couple hints. But
Speaker 3: then I think what happened in that same like following
Speaker 3: moment in that same scene was that she kind of
Speaker 3: like was turned off by his utter lack of confidence,
Speaker 3: Like she like threw him the ball, like here's your opening,
Speaker 3: tell me how you feel. And when he kind of
Speaker 3: didn't do it, she's like whatever, Like, but Indy told
Speaker 3: me that she she played it even a little bit disappointed,
Speaker 3: So you know, if he would have just like, that's
Speaker 3: the lesson, just like tell him how you feel, right, Yeah,
Speaker 3: but then we wouldn't have this movie right, and we
Speaker 3: wouldn't have all these arguments right.
Speaker 1: And also it's so human to feel something for someone
Speaker 1: and not say anything. I feel like we've all been
Speaker 1: there before.
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, absolutely, I was reliving a moment when I
Speaker 2: did that.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 3: Yeah, no, it felt very real, you know. And also
Speaker 3: like the movie's really funny too. I didn't know it
Speaker 3: was going to be funny like that. That was all
Speaker 3: on the editing. We played everything very straight straightforward with Bear.
Speaker 3: I was watching the movie for the first time in
Speaker 3: the theater with all these people and they're laughing.
Speaker 2: I felt embarrassed. I was like, geez, why you.
Speaker 1: Thought they were laughing at your performance?
Speaker 3: No, no, Like I didn't realize how awkward. Well, I
Speaker 3: knew it was awkward in the moment, but I didn't
Speaker 3: realize that that awkward tension would often translate into huge laughs,
Speaker 3: Like I just I had no idea.
Speaker 2: I was sort of in my mind.
Speaker 3: I think I was sort of playing like very serious,
Speaker 3: like everything that's happening is very very serious to Bear.
Speaker 2: Yeah, right, but you know, Curry is editing his comedy background.
Speaker 2: It was brilliant. Yeah, I love it. I'm glad. I'm
Speaker 2: glad that they found the balance of the humor because
Speaker 2: the movie's dark.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah, no, I feel we needed that.
Speaker 2: We needed that.
Speaker 1: Yeah, well, because you played it so straight during the
Speaker 1: entire duration of the filming and you didn't add in
Speaker 1: that humor purposefully. Right. Was there a scene or moment
Speaker 1: where you and Indie kept breaking like oh that you
Speaker 1: were just laughing so hard and you're like, wait, we
Speaker 1: got to get our shit together. Come on, what moment
Speaker 1: was that?
Speaker 2: Oh? Man? I mean there were so many moments. I mean,
Speaker 2: I would say that.
Speaker 3: With Horror, the scary moments, they're very technical, and you know,
Speaker 3: it's not dark, it's pretty lit when you're shooting it.
Speaker 3: They do that all in the editing, and you don't
Speaker 3: hear the music and you know the so it doesn't
Speaker 3: really tend to feel scary. It kind of feels really silly.
Speaker 3: And in those really technical moments, the scary moments, you
Speaker 3: are fully having to trust the director like is this
Speaker 3: really scary? Is this really working? You just have to
Speaker 3: trust that they know what they're doing and just kind
Speaker 3: of be their puppet like do exactly, okay, move yourhead,
Speaker 3: do this okay. Sure, So I think that for example,
Speaker 3: the head smashing scene in the car, I just remember
Speaker 3: we were cracking.
Speaker 2: Up, especially Indy.
Speaker 3: Indy had this like helmet on with a wig because
Speaker 3: she actually like smashed through the glass and we were
Speaker 3: all like wearing the wig and passing it around and
Speaker 3: like dancing around. I'm sure there's like videos on TikTok
Speaker 3: of it that that and oh yeah, and then a
Speaker 3: lot of the scary like I remember there's a scene
Speaker 3: that's where she says like I'm your freaking Nikki and
Speaker 3: smiles at me and the like near the kitchen or something.
Speaker 3: And the first time I saw.
Speaker 2: That, I went, oh, And I remember Curry was like, Michael,
Speaker 2: shut up, like because I.
Speaker 3: Was ruining the the take because I justly got this
Speaker 3: visceral reaction out of me.
Speaker 2: But and then you know, we're laughing.
Speaker 3: But we the whole time we were laughing, And it's
Speaker 3: really important, I think, to kind of keep it light
Speaker 3: when you're making a movie like this.
Speaker 2: Yeah, for sure, you got a laugh like that. People
Speaker 2: are like, oh, I don't want to.
Speaker 3: I remember people being really sensitive about like I don't
Speaker 3: want to take you out of them, like no, please, God.
Speaker 1: Please, it'skill me. A joke said, you're not method.
Speaker 2: I'm not going like it's okay, no, And I don't think.
Speaker 1: You should have gone method for a role like this
Speaker 1: that might be a little a little scary.
Speaker 2: Did you my God? Yeah?
Speaker 1: Film and alternate ending, Yeah.
Speaker 2: Yeah, we did.
Speaker 3: It was so there's a toward the end of the film,
Speaker 3: there were a couple different moments that we played with,
Speaker 3: Like the big one would be, you know, Nikki's about
Speaker 3: to make a decision at the end, and so the
Speaker 3: first thing we did was actually film the gun going
Speaker 3: off and the blood splatter, and it was practical and
Speaker 3: it was so gruesome and it was devastating. And then
Speaker 3: we decided to get the take where she lives.
Speaker 2: And thinking that the other one was going to.
Speaker 3: Be too intense, but actually it turned out that her performance,
Speaker 3: I think we only made done one take of that
Speaker 3: final one that made it, I think, and her her
Speaker 3: performance was so devastating to then like wake up and
Speaker 3: see all of her friends and then and then as an audience,
Speaker 3: you're left wondering, like how much of that did she
Speaker 3: actually see? Like because we don't quite know the experience
Speaker 3: that she was having exactly what it was like, so
Speaker 3: that ended up being even more devastating. So they went
Speaker 3: with that one, which I think was the right choice.
Speaker 3: And then another thing that we played around with was
Speaker 3: Bear's bathroom scene. Originally in the script, it was that
Speaker 3: he can't go through with it, and then he takes
Speaker 3: the pills and he's just kind of sitting there waiting
Speaker 3: and then she makes the wish.
Speaker 2: And he comes out.
Speaker 3: But I actually got the idea when we were filming
Speaker 3: that I think Bear would chick it out and try
Speaker 3: to get rid of the pills. And so I just said, hey, guys,
Speaker 3: we were moving on, and I said one more I
Speaker 3: have an idea, let me try it.
Speaker 2: And they're like, we can't. We're getting kicked out of here.
Speaker 2: We gotta go, and I'm like, no, trust me.
Speaker 3: They and I told them what it was, and I
Speaker 3: remember Curry was like, roll again, roll again, and we
Speaker 3: got it and it was so good. Also, like I'm
Speaker 3: swallowing these pills right, so they're like they're like twenty
Speaker 3: like sugar pills or something in this thing. Then all
Speaker 3: the other takes, I just put them in my mouth
Speaker 3: and held them there, and then when we were done,
Speaker 3: like spit them out. But on that take that made
Speaker 3: it into the film, like gag, I swallowed them, like
Speaker 3: like twenty pills.
Speaker 1: Oh god, I.
Speaker 2: Feel like I had striped throat afterwards. But I did it.
Speaker 2: I couldn't.
Speaker 3: I'd never thought I can't swallow one pill. You know,
Speaker 3: I'm like, I drink a whole glass of water trying
Speaker 3: to get one pill down, and somehow I got that down.
Speaker 2: So I was very proud of myself.
Speaker 1: You should be very proud. That should go on your image.
Speaker 2: Maybe not, Okay, probably not.
Speaker 1: That's wow, that's so cool. And the take they kept,
Speaker 1: the take of you trying to spit the pills.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, yeah when you thought made it?
Speaker 1: Yeah, which is so cool.
Speaker 2: No, it made it. And then you know, that just
Speaker 2: speaks to like the kind of environment that Curry.
Speaker 3: Allowed on set. He was he was very specific. He
Speaker 3: had a really very specific vision for everything that he wanted.
Speaker 3: But then we would get that and then we could
Speaker 3: play and he's like, hey, you know, we have time.
Speaker 3: You guys have an idea or whatever.
Speaker 2: He was very open to it, and I think that's
Speaker 2: how movies should be.
Speaker 1: Yeah, because we're all.
Speaker 3: Bringing our own experience and perspective, and you know, and
Speaker 3: he did. He was he was very open to like
Speaker 3: it was very much like a best idea win situation.
Speaker 3: But usually usually Curry had the best idea. It was
Speaker 3: just funny because that's a bad idea. Is the name
Speaker 3: of his you know channel for all their videos. So yeah,
Speaker 3: it was so much fun working with those guys.
Speaker 1: So obsession too.
Speaker 2: Everyone keeps asking are you throwing your name?
Speaker 1: And can you somehow bring me back? Can I resurrect?
Speaker 2: Look?
Speaker 1: And I mean it's a magical world. Anything can happen.
Speaker 2: I would love that. I will say, there's no plan
Speaker 2: for that. And also, I don't know how many people
Speaker 2: would want Bear. I think a lot.
Speaker 3: I think the general consensus is that he kind of
Speaker 3: got what he deserved.
Speaker 1: Unless Nikki gets to have her chance now ruining his.
Speaker 3: Life, well that could be interesting vigilante kind of thing,
Speaker 3: But I think that My.
Speaker 2: Idea was always that it'd be like.
Speaker 3: Bear's parents came back to town and walk in and they're like,
Speaker 3: what happened?
Speaker 2: And maybe they step on the willow.
Speaker 3: There's like one on the floor or something, and I
Speaker 3: don't know, I don't know, but you know, Curry's idea
Speaker 3: of having it as be an anthology series is really
Speaker 3: really cool, all different stories, and I'd love to see.
Speaker 2: A wish Gone right? Yeah, how fun would that be?
Speaker 2: Like a selfish wish gone.
Speaker 1: Right might be not the horror genre.
Speaker 2: Then well, it didn't all have to be horror.
Speaker 3: I think you just have to really be careful how
Speaker 3: you phrase it.
Speaker 1: Well, that's true, that's true. If you learned anything, it's
Speaker 1: definitely that. I can't believe that this movie, it's like
Speaker 1: the little engine that could have taken on the life
Speaker 1: that it's taken on. And you've been an actor for
Speaker 1: many years now, right, and this was your big break,
Speaker 1: but you've been you've been at it for a while.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 1: What is acting taught you about yourself over the years?
Speaker 3: I think, well, part of the reason why I always
Speaker 3: loved acting pretending to be someone else, because like when
Speaker 3: I was young, I felt very uncomfortable in my own skin.
Speaker 3: And then I think through pretending to be other people
Speaker 3: and my interest in watching people and trying to understand
Speaker 3: why they do the things they do, has helped me
Speaker 3: sort of form my own personality and opinions. And so
Speaker 3: it was just like my safe place like it was.
Speaker 2: It was easier and safer.
Speaker 3: And more fun for me to like do things I've
Speaker 3: never done and say things I've never said by playing
Speaker 3: it as someone else.
Speaker 2: It was like practice for me. And then I think.
Speaker 3: As I've grown and through my twenties, I've just become
Speaker 3: more confident as in who I.
Speaker 2: Am sort of. So yeah, it's it's been really cool.
Speaker 3: Also, I haven't always been an on camera actor, like
Speaker 3: I started with a voice overwork and that was really
Speaker 3: why I moved out to Los Angeles from a small
Speaker 3: town North Carolina. And then I met my manager and
Speaker 3: he's like, you gotta do.
Speaker 2: Film, And I was like, I don't know. I don't know.
Speaker 2: I don't know, I don't know.
Speaker 3: If I'll be good, Okay, let's go. I don't know,
Speaker 3: but I do love it, like I love all of it.
Speaker 2: And I'm so grateful for this film.
Speaker 3: The opportunities that it's bringing me now are insane. I
Speaker 3: can't I cannot believe some of the meetings I have
Speaker 3: in my calendar.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I was gonna say, you must be getting some fret.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, No, I feel like I'm gonna throw up.
Speaker 1: But you'll get to pick which you want to take.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, hey, it's really important. Now It's like, okay,
Speaker 2: I get to.
Speaker 3: Choose what I want to do, and it's a really
Speaker 3: important time. It's like all eyes on me. Let me,
Speaker 3: let me show other people that I can do so much,
Speaker 3: so many different things.
Speaker 2: I want to be one of those actors.
Speaker 3: It's sort of like a chameleon where you you don't
Speaker 3: even really you're like, wait, that was him. That's that's
Speaker 3: what I want to do.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you're going to play all sorts of roles. I
Speaker 1: have no doubt. One that you've you've talked about wanting
Speaker 1: to play is like an epic, powerful gay character. Why
Speaker 1: is that important to you?
Speaker 2: Oh my god, I don't know. I don't know. Besides
Speaker 2: I you know, my whole thing has been that.
Speaker 3: What the character's sexuality is, it doesn't matter to me.
Speaker 3: It's just like another part of who they are.
Speaker 2: And that's how I am. Like, it's just a part
Speaker 2: of who I am.
Speaker 3: But that being said, growing up in the Bible Belt
Speaker 3: can be problematic for a gay boy, and uh, you know,
Speaker 3: and that was a whole kind of experience and so
Speaker 3: I definitely am looking forward to playing really intentional queer
Speaker 3: role story that's really.
Speaker 2: Meaningful, and you know, because okay, well I'll say this.
Speaker 3: When I first moved out to LA I was terrified
Speaker 3: and everything was new for me. I never even really
Speaker 3: lived in a city before, so it was all very new.
Speaker 3: And one of the very first, one of the very
Speaker 3: first roles that I got was the gay character on
Speaker 3: Teen Wolf. And I still wasn't comfortable with my sexuality
Speaker 3: at the time, but I had no idea the impact
Speaker 3: that just being myself and playing this character authentically would have.
Speaker 3: I got thousands of messages from people thanking me and
Speaker 3: telling me how, you know, they feel better about themselves,
Speaker 3: they were able to come out of their parents, or
Speaker 3: they just appreciate me, and like the impact that I
Speaker 3: made just from doing something that scared me and being
Speaker 3: brave and like, not only was that really cool, but
Speaker 3: also it kind of helped me learn how to like
Speaker 3: accept myself. And so yeah, that's something I'm really looking
Speaker 3: forward to. I don't know, maybe I'll write it myself,
Speaker 3: you know, Yeah, I don't know.
Speaker 1: Isn't it amazing that through your work, through playing that
Speaker 1: role in Teen Wolf, you were able to better accept
Speaker 1: who you were and you are right, like not even
Speaker 1: knowing that that would happen. It was a job. You
Speaker 1: booked it, you got it. But the bonus of it
Speaker 1: all was like, oh wow, I actually feel like I
Speaker 1: am okay more with who I am.
Speaker 3: Yeah, absolutely, I mean my I mean this is probably
Speaker 3: a really universal thing, but like for me, it was
Speaker 3: always my sort of struggle with my relationship to masculinity.
Speaker 3: What that meant, you know, just.
Speaker 2: It was a whole thing. It's a whole journey, and yeah,
Speaker 2: it just you know, that's a whole conversation.
Speaker 3: But I'm really, really, really really grave that everything happened
Speaker 3: the way that it did, and that that was one
Speaker 3: of my first roles because not only that, but being
Speaker 3: on a show like teen Wolf that so many people loved,
Speaker 3: and also like I sort of I only thought I
Speaker 3: was going to be in one episode, and they kept
Speaker 3: bringing me back.
Speaker 2: That was sort of my school.
Speaker 3: I learned how to how to get around on set
Speaker 3: and how things worked, and practiced my acting skills and
Speaker 3: like perfected it there and met all these different types
Speaker 3: of people and then and then I got to do
Speaker 3: the conventions and that took me all.
Speaker 2: Around the world, and.
Speaker 3: So that was sort of a really great place to
Speaker 3: start and and I still those fans, those teen Wolf
Speaker 3: fans are die hard. Yeah, I still actually may I've
Speaker 3: had friends.
Speaker 2: That I've made.
Speaker 3: That are you know, started as a fan and like
Speaker 3: we're genuinely friends. It's been Yeah, it's been really cool.
Speaker 3: I'm really grateful for that experience.
Speaker 1: Well, I think it's so cool that that held such
Speaker 1: weight for you personally too, and it, like I said,
Speaker 1: help shape you know who you are and how comfortable
Speaker 1: you are with yourself today, which is awesome. I have
Speaker 1: to also bring up X Men ninety seven.
Speaker 2: Oh okay, you know.
Speaker 1: Because you are a voice actor as well, you know,
Speaker 1: and it's out now. You play the Sun of Cyclops
Speaker 1: and Madeline Pryor.
Speaker 2: Yes, who is the clone of Jean Gray?
Speaker 1: Yes?
Speaker 2: Yes, and yes?
Speaker 1: Is that a pinch me moment job to be in
Speaker 1: the superhero space. You're not just a villain, see, you're
Speaker 1: a superhero. Yeah.
Speaker 3: No, he's a great he's a he's a good kid. Yeah,
Speaker 3: he's one of the good ones.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 3: You know, when I got the audition, I didn't know
Speaker 3: what show it was for at first, and then you know,
Speaker 3: figured it out and yeah it was great.
Speaker 1: So I love that that's also out so people can
Speaker 1: see you be in your villain era.
Speaker 3: But that shows really cool. That show's really cool. Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 3: they did.
Speaker 2: They did such a good they did such a great job.
Speaker 1: It's good you and it's cool that you get to
Speaker 1: exercise a different skill set.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, no, it's great.
Speaker 3: Honestly, I'm always gonna do voice over stuff, like I'm
Speaker 3: working on a bunch of video games right now that
Speaker 3: won't come out for many years, so one day.
Speaker 2: I'll be able to talk about all that stuff.
Speaker 3: But yeah, I have a special place in my heart
Speaker 3: for for vo and video games especially.
Speaker 2: I can't even play video games anymore.
Speaker 3: I will just if you I had to unplug all
Speaker 3: the consoles and put them away, I'll just I won't
Speaker 3: get anything done.
Speaker 1: Addicted, Yeah, I have an addiction. Well, we look forward
Speaker 1: to the video games. You also sing, I do the way.
Speaker 1: Gravity is a bop? Hey, thanks, Gravity is a bop.
Speaker 1: Are you going to pursue anymore singing?
Speaker 2: Yeah? Absolutely, you know. Right now, I'm definitely going to
Speaker 2: focus on acting.
Speaker 3: You know, strike while the iron is hot, and you
Speaker 3: know that is my number one focus overall. But hey,
Speaker 3: acting in a role where I get to sing, that's
Speaker 3: the goal.
Speaker 1: Musical.
Speaker 3: Yeah, but I have a ton of music. I have
Speaker 3: so many songs I've written and they're just kind of
Speaker 3: sitting there and.
Speaker 2: I just have to kind of like put a little
Speaker 2: polish on them and put them out. I'll do it.
Speaker 3: It'll It'll just be one random, one random Tuesday.
Speaker 2: I'll just like drop, drop another song.
Speaker 3: And yeah, I like me so, you know, with music,
Speaker 3: I have a lot of people that are very angry
Speaker 3: with me that they're like.
Speaker 2: You could you could do, Oh my god, release your music.
Speaker 2: It's amazing, it's amazing. I'm like, thank you, thank you.
Speaker 3: But I think for me, the music is such a
Speaker 3: personal thing and I like having something for me that
Speaker 3: is just for me, Like I make it, I do
Speaker 3: how I want it. No one's giving me instructions or directions.
Speaker 3: Are like kind of I'm trying not to let anyone
Speaker 3: criticize it while I'm in the creative process, because I
Speaker 3: think so much of the rest of what I do
Speaker 3: is reading other people's words and just following the direction
Speaker 3: of other people. And I love doing that, and I
Speaker 3: love when it's more collaborative and everything. But yeah, for me,
Speaker 3: that's that's kind of why the music has been I've
Speaker 3: been a little quiet on that front, but yes you will,
Speaker 3: there will be more music.
Speaker 1: Okay, good forward to that. Yeah, that would be great.
Speaker 1: I have so many more questions and we're going to
Speaker 1: get some of the rapid fire around. But to wrap
Speaker 1: up this portion of today's interview, the name of the shows.
Speaker 1: I've never said this before, and I got the idea
Speaker 1: because I cover a lot of red carpets and junkets
Speaker 1: and another job that I do, and you know, sometimes
Speaker 1: I walk away from those nights and days being like,
Speaker 1: do we all really even talk about anything? I feel
Speaker 1: like you guys say a lot of the same bites
Speaker 1: to all the different outlets. Every outlet has to get
Speaker 1: their own bite, and it's just so quick that I
Speaker 1: wanted to invite fan favorite artists on the show and
Speaker 1: kind of breathe and have the space to talk about
Speaker 1: things that matter to you guys, and to maybe say
Speaker 1: something that you've never had the chance to say before
Speaker 1: on a quick carpet or a quick junket that would
Speaker 1: feel kind of out of place to say. So I
Speaker 1: always done the interview with is there anything that you've
Speaker 1: never said before that you want to share it today?
Speaker 2: Yeah?
Speaker 3: I've never said this before, but I am so grateful
Speaker 3: for all of the rejection and the struggle that I've
Speaker 3: gone through in my life in general and in the
Speaker 3: pursuit of being an actor, because I've been going at this,
Speaker 3: like on camera acting like I've been going at it
Speaker 3: really hard, committed to it every single day for ten
Speaker 3: years or maybe even.
Speaker 2: A little bit longer.
Speaker 3: At this point, I've done more than a thousand audition tapes,
Speaker 3: and you know, rejection is part of the job as
Speaker 3: an actor. But honestly, I mean, I feel like that's
Speaker 3: something anyone could relate to. I think that I've sort
Speaker 3: of changed my mindset on it to be from like
Speaker 3: this feels so horrible in this moment to like, Okay,
Speaker 3: if I'm feeling that sort of like a failure, I
Speaker 3: know that it's just leading me to the right thing
Speaker 3: and making me stronger. And yeah, I think that's what
Speaker 3: I would say. So you know, it's not, like not
Speaker 3: Eyven groundbreaking, but I think it's just a good reminder,
Speaker 3: like look at like, I'm just so proud of what
Speaker 3: we did with this movie, and I'm so glad that
Speaker 3: it came. Now I got to get some like build
Speaker 3: some character, you know, get knocked down a few times
Speaker 3: and pick up some real life experience too, you know,
Speaker 3: in everything and love and all this stuff that I
Speaker 3: got to go through.
Speaker 2: And then I put it into this work that I
Speaker 2: did and made it art.
Speaker 1: Yeah you know.
Speaker 2: So I'm just I wouldn't change anything.
Speaker 1: Hmmm. Yeah, that must be a good feeling.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it is. I That's that's the whole idea.
Speaker 3: Is that, like a really horrible, really painful feeling in
Speaker 3: a moment that you feel like you just can't get past,
Speaker 3: can all of a sudden later turn into one of
Speaker 3: the best things that you ever went through, either because
Speaker 3: it led you to the right place where you have
Speaker 3: to learn a really hard lesson too.
Speaker 2: Yeah, so my little therapy.
Speaker 1: I love that. I really love that. I think it's
Speaker 1: a reminder for all of us. And I'm kind of
Speaker 1: from the same train of thought where I feel like
Speaker 1: even things that a few years ago where I would
Speaker 1: look back on and be like, oh that was a
Speaker 1: waste of time or why did I have to go
Speaker 1: through that, it's like, oh, wait, like I had to
Speaker 1: go through all Yeah, because I wouldn't a appreciate where
Speaker 1: I am today or be maybe not even be where
Speaker 1: I am today.
Speaker 2: Yes, yeah, you got to learn what you like, Yeah,
Speaker 2: learn what you don't.
Speaker 3: You got to you gotta waste some time to to
Speaker 3: really value your time.
Speaker 2: Mm hmm.
Speaker 1: Right, so yeah, well Michael, you're not wasting any time. Well,
Speaker 1: you're killing it, right.
Speaker 2: I still waste plenty of time I've never done now.
Speaker 1: I can't wait to see what you do next. I'm
Speaker 1: so curious about these meetings. I'm sure you'll either be
Speaker 1: the next James Bond or some Marvel superhero in person
Speaker 1: and human form, not just be oh sure, Like we're
Speaker 1: gonna throw it all out there, and.
Speaker 2: I can't wait to see.
Speaker 1: It at all than having it's been such a pleasure. Yeah,
Speaker 1: And everyone can watch Obsession on.
Speaker 3: Video on demand where you can rent it, you can
Speaker 3: buy it. You can watch it at home, still in
Speaker 3: the theater for a little while and know when this
Speaker 3: is area right right, everybody.
Speaker 1: Can watch check it out. Yeah, thank you, man, man,
Speaker 1: appreciate you, thank you. I've never said this before. Is
Speaker 1: hosted by Me Tommy Dedario. This podcast is executive produced
Speaker 1: by Andrew Puglisi at iHeartRadio and by Me Tommy, with
Speaker 1: editing by Joshua Colaudney. I've never said this before. Is
Speaker 1: part of the Elvis Duran podcast network on iHeart Podcasts
Speaker 1: for more, rate, review and subscribe to our show. And
Speaker 1: if you liked this episode, tell your friends. Until next time,
Speaker 1: I'm Tommy de Dario