Speaker 1: I felt like, either I'm going to find out now
Speaker 1: or I'm not going to find out. But it's I
Speaker 1: call it the American Idol audition where they go but
Speaker 1: my mom says, I'm really good, you know that type
Speaker 1: of vibe, and I'm like, am I that guy? Like
Speaker 1: if no one's telling me or I don't know? Hi,
Speaker 1: my name is Alex Panovic and I am legend with
Speaker 1: the legend. Hi.
Speaker 2: Everybody, welcome. I'm so happy to have you join me
Speaker 2: here in the land of Off the Beat. This is
Speaker 2: your host, Brian Baumgartner, my guest today. Well, let's just
Speaker 2: say he could totally beat you up and he could
Speaker 2: beat me up as well, but he's a supremely nice guy,
Speaker 2: so don't worry. I think that we're all safe. Yes,
Speaker 2: my guest Alex Ponovic, who you know for his fantastic
Speaker 2: acting career, but also he is a former amateur boxing
Speaker 2: champion and he comes from a long, long line of
Speaker 2: champion fighters, so don't cross him or anyone in his family.
Speaker 2: You may have seen him in Van Helsing, fou Bar,
Speaker 2: Zero Tolerance, Snow Piercer, and of course, my friend Dwight's
Speaker 2: favorite show, Battlestar Galactica. Did I mention that Alex is
Speaker 2: also in a heavy metal band? Yeah, so he really
Speaker 2: would be Dwight's favorite. Now that I've gotten to know him,
Speaker 2: guess what, He's becoming one of my favorite as well.
Speaker 2: Here he is, the powerful, the talented, the badass Alex Ponovic.
Speaker 3: Bubbolin, squeak, I love it, Bubble and squeak, Bubble and squeaker.
Speaker 3: Cook get every moleft over from the night before.
Speaker 2: What's up, Alex? Hey man, how are you.
Speaker 1: I'm doing great? How are you?
Speaker 2: Oh you know, I can't complain, No one would care anyway,
Speaker 2: So why why do that?
Speaker 1: Listen? You probably don't remember, but I met you with
Speaker 1: Caroline Ray at the Sutton in Vancouver.
Speaker 2: Oh yes, yeah, yeah, I do remember. Yeah, that has
Speaker 2: been a really long time ago.
Speaker 1: Yeah that that that was easily three four, maybe four
Speaker 1: years ago.
Speaker 2: Oh I think it may even go back further than that.
Speaker 1: It could it could.
Speaker 2: Well, how's it good to see you again?
Speaker 1: Man, Good to see you. I'm I'm stoked to talk
Speaker 1: to you. This is uh, this is exciting. I've been
Speaker 1: a fan of yours for a while.
Speaker 2: My man, Oh well, that's too kind. I am fascinated
Speaker 2: by your history and your life as well. I mean
Speaker 2: it is worth noting you're showing the guns here today
Speaker 2: early uh early early in the morning. I understand you
Speaker 2: your grandfather, your dad, your uncle. That's right, we're all
Speaker 2: boxers and you you dabbled in it a little bit
Speaker 2: as well, right.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I did. Uh well. I I've always had it
Speaker 1: in my life because of my family being such boxers,
Speaker 1: so growing up and getting in front of the TV
Speaker 1: to watch old Ali or actually live Ali fights at
Speaker 1: ABC where it would be like Saturday afternoon, those were
Speaker 1: the best, and and so I developed this, you know,
Speaker 1: love for boxing, but also just being around me so
Speaker 1: much and how much it's helped me outside of the
Speaker 1: ring is something that I've kind of carried with me
Speaker 1: through my whole life and not realizing that, not realizing
Speaker 1: that it would help me so much.
Speaker 2: Was there a time that you thought that was that
Speaker 2: you were going to join the family business, that you
Speaker 2: were going to do it, or did you just dabble?
Speaker 1: There was a I dabbled. I mean I didn't have
Speaker 1: a great relationship with my dad even though I love boxing,
Speaker 1: So if I did boxing, that means we would have
Speaker 1: to hang out together, which unbeknownst to me, was the
Speaker 1: reason why I got into playing music in bands, because
Speaker 1: that was something he wasn't interested in, and I was like, Oh,
Speaker 1: here's something I can do where he's not going to
Speaker 1: be on me. But the love of boxing was something
Speaker 1: that would was always there. So as time went on,
Speaker 1: I dabbled. When I would play in my band, I
Speaker 1: would kind of take off the boxing gyms and do
Speaker 1: it without the band knowing, because they gave me a
Speaker 1: little lecture saying, if you break your hand then we
Speaker 1: can't play anymore. So we can't get you. We can't
Speaker 1: get your hands, I'll bust it up. So I wou'd
Speaker 1: sneak out just because I loved it so much. And
Speaker 1: then later in life, I just wanted to reconnect with
Speaker 1: my dad and I just said, Hey, I'm going to
Speaker 1: this boxing gym. I kind of snuck them in and
Speaker 1: told the guys at the gym to say I've never
Speaker 1: been here because I wanted him to get out and
Speaker 1: just kind of feel it, because I think he would
Speaker 1: have been offended if I went boxing without him, right,
Speaker 1: And so we introduced him and myself to the gym
Speaker 1: and he ended up being there for over twenty five
Speaker 1: years training kids and helping out other kids, and it
Speaker 1: made us grow fond closer to each other. Our bond
Speaker 1: was tighter, and I saw more compassion from the man,
Speaker 1: and that was something that was cool. So I start.
Speaker 1: I competed late, even though I boxed my whole life.
Speaker 1: And when you're in a super heavyweight division in boxing,
Speaker 1: it's usually ex football or hockey players that can't do
Speaker 1: those sports anymore and want to go into something to
Speaker 1: be competitive, which makes sense. But I was lucky that
Speaker 1: I had the skill that I grew up with, so
Speaker 1: I didn't have to make weight, which was a great
Speaker 1: thing because I didn't have to put on the sweatsuits
Speaker 1: because anything two hundred and two pounds and up was
Speaker 1: super heavyweight and then and so competing was fun and
Speaker 1: I enjoyed it, and I went because I grew up
Speaker 1: in Canada. I went for provincials in four provinces, and
Speaker 1: on my way to the PanAm Games, I did the
Speaker 1: pre Pan American Tournament. But it was one of those
Speaker 1: things where the band was so important to me, and
Speaker 1: entertaining and creating music that was something that was I
Speaker 1: just felt like that called more of a passion and
Speaker 1: then going into acting, but the boxings would always kept
Speaker 1: me ground. It always gave me a piece of home.
Speaker 1: Wherever I went, it just felt comfortable in my skin
Speaker 1: and it felt confident for me.
Speaker 2: Right. Well, you mentioned getting into music in part because
Speaker 2: your dad was not How did you get in there?
Speaker 2: I mean, having an interest is one thing, but actually
Speaker 2: you know, like getting in there and doing it and
Speaker 2: ending up touring and having some success. What was that
Speaker 2: journey for you?
Speaker 1: Well, it was interesting. I'm a yes guy, and even
Speaker 1: before I knew I was a yes guy, I was
Speaker 1: a yes guy. I'd like trying different things. I like
Speaker 1: doing different things, and anytime anybody asked me to be
Speaker 1: involved in something, I'm that kind of personality that's going,
Speaker 1: let's do it. And so I would after school go
Speaker 1: watch my friends rehearse, okay, And so we would go
Speaker 1: to our buddy Tony's house or our buddy Trevor's house,
Speaker 1: and everyone will get together and we start playing old
Speaker 1: metal songs and Judas priest and I our maiden, and
Speaker 1: I would just watch. I was just the dude, just watching,
Speaker 1: enjoying it, okay. And then one day I was watching
Speaker 1: the band rehearse for the talent show for high school,
Speaker 1: and the bass player ended up quitting, and it was like, well,
Speaker 1: why don't we just get Alex to do it? Why
Speaker 1: don't you just get out.
Speaker 2: To do it?
Speaker 1: And then they're literally show like fit Alex, just put
Speaker 1: your finger here and hit the hit the top string
Speaker 1: as hard as you can. And I and I was
Speaker 1: an air bander, so that's how I really loved it.
Speaker 1: We had like airband competitions. So I love performing, okay,
Speaker 1: and so like within forty eight to seven, forty eight
Speaker 1: to yeah, about forty eight hours, I was on a
Speaker 1: stage in high schools playing and then I realized I
Speaker 1: got super nervous, so I turned the volume down on
Speaker 1: my base and pretended, like pretended there was something wrong
Speaker 1: with the monitor. And so I just airbanded through that
Speaker 1: whole like three songs set that we did at the
Speaker 1: talent show, and then I just got started learning after it.
Speaker 1: And I've never kind of I've never said I was
Speaker 1: a great bass player. I was a solid bass player,
Speaker 1: and I love being in the pocket, I love being
Speaker 1: with the drummer. But I was more of an entertainer.
Speaker 1: That was the thing that got me. I wanted people
Speaker 1: to watch the band and and if they weren't watching,
Speaker 1: I would jump off the stage and jump on their
Speaker 1: table and play bass so they would watch the band.
Speaker 1: And I was very lucky to have amazing musicians in
Speaker 1: the band. That kind of basically helped carry me. And
Speaker 1: I was very much a team player, so I loved
Speaker 1: the idea of keeping the band together.
Speaker 2: Well, that leads into my next question. So your earliest
Speaker 2: like performance it was this, but you you had a
Speaker 2: you were naturally gifted in this way, but you weren't
Speaker 2: were you doing theater or anything else.
Speaker 1: The only thing I did was to be able to
Speaker 1: graduate from my high school. They gave me two credits
Speaker 1: to be in the school play and that's that was
Speaker 1: the only that was the only thing that I did.
Speaker 1: We did Joseph and his Tech The Colored dream Coat, okay,
Speaker 1: and that was the first introduction into anything like that.
Speaker 1: And it's crazy because I still remember Joseph Sma though
Speaker 1: she was quite my favorite wife, like, I still remember
Speaker 1: that stuff. But that was my introduction to being on stage.
Speaker 1: So how I transferred over into acting was I was
Speaker 1: again playing with my band, I'm on stage and a
Speaker 1: casting director asked if I would audition for a film,
Speaker 1: and again I just said, yes.
Speaker 2: Now was this about Was this about your performing on stage?
Speaker 2: Was it about your look? Like did they ever share
Speaker 2: that with you? Like how do you get from A
Speaker 2: to B? There?
Speaker 1: I think it was my look. I had long, long
Speaker 1: hair and I'm six foot five. Yeah, and you know,
Speaker 1: and the casting director had a few drinks and we
Speaker 1: talked afterwards and she was like, you know, why don't
Speaker 1: you come in and audition for this? I was like, Okay, sure.
Speaker 1: And the craziest thing is I remember going to the audition,
Speaker 1: but my brain is totally music. This was just something
Speaker 1: fun to do. And there was like six dudes my
Speaker 1: size saying the same line over and over again. Built
Speaker 1: for comfort, built for comfort, different ways, and I'm going,
Speaker 1: these guys look ridiculous, this is hilarious. Unbeknownst to me,
Speaker 1: I'd be doing the same thing years later. But then
Speaker 1: when I got into the audition, I just had fun.
Speaker 1: I didn't have any nerves. I it was just a
Speaker 1: thing and I really bonded with the director, who coincidentally,
Speaker 1: years later, I was on a show in Canada called
Speaker 1: Arctic Air and he directed one of the episodes and
Speaker 1: I'm talking, I'm talking like over ten years later. I'm like,
Speaker 1: this is this the same guy? And so I had
Speaker 1: to look it up. I'm like, this is the guy
Speaker 1: that got me in my very first gig.
Speaker 2: Wow.
Speaker 1: And I reminded him of it and we just laughed
Speaker 1: our heads off after and he goes, the only reason
Speaker 1: why I cast you is because you were You were
Speaker 1: just fun. You were like making me laugh and you
Speaker 1: just had this one line. But dude, this one line
Speaker 1: going back to my first thing. So it was with
Speaker 1: Roddy McDowell, Ed Asner, Jennifer Tillery, John Crier, all before
Speaker 1: John Cryer had his had his hit.
Speaker 2: What film was this? It was was this Heads?
Speaker 1: Yes? Yes, it was Heads? It was Heads? And uh yeah,
Speaker 1: you played butler exactly. And I remember going to make
Speaker 1: up and they started putting these these scratches on my face.
Speaker 1: I'm like, I wonder what that is. And this the
Speaker 1: only scene that I have lines in is when John
Speaker 1: Cryer is a detective. He comes in Roddy McDowell, I'm
Speaker 1: his butler, and and he's he has these beautiful greyhound
Speaker 1: dogs And as he's talking to John Cryer, he's he's mentioning,
Speaker 1: aren't these dogs beautiful? They're built for speed, They're built
Speaker 1: for comfort. Isn't that right, Roderick? And he says that
Speaker 1: my name is Roderick, and the line back is, yes,
Speaker 1: they're built for comfort. And then he wanted me to
Speaker 1: touch the scars and I'm like, I don't, I don't
Speaker 1: understand what that means. Oh, it's it's insinuated. You have
Speaker 1: sex with these greyhound dogs. I went, what are you
Speaker 1: kidding me? I just signed on to this that I'm
Speaker 1: gonna be screwed greyhound dogs. And then I swore, I
Speaker 1: swore I have to keep acting because I don't want
Speaker 1: to be known as just the dude that screwed greyhound dogs.
Speaker 1: I have to get something else on my resume. But
Speaker 1: after that, I just started getting I was fortunate to
Speaker 1: get in the stunt community in Winnipeg, and Winnipeg at
Speaker 1: that time had had one stunt team, which was a family,
Speaker 1: the Schemes. And he saw how big I was and
Speaker 1: he basically said, we have no big guys on our
Speaker 1: stunt team. Do you want to just kind of work?
Speaker 1: And I was all over it again. I said yes,
Speaker 1: but it was such it was such a move for me.
Speaker 1: I knew I loved the idea of acting. I wasn't
Speaker 1: crazy about the idea of stunts, but I saw how
Speaker 1: that got me in to basically every movie because they
Speaker 1: always needed stuff. And then it would be like, Okay,
Speaker 1: can you do a little acting because we need this
Speaker 1: bouncer to to throw some punches after he kind of
Speaker 1: scolds this guy. And and so that I started getting
Speaker 1: into the acting bit of it. And and but the
Speaker 1: stunt community, those stunt guys are just next level. And
Speaker 1: for me, it wasn't what I wanted to tell stories.
Speaker 1: So I just started working in film and Winnipeg, and
Speaker 1: I would be playing in my band in front of
Speaker 1: like three hundred people, having a blast, being a king,
Speaker 1: people looking up at me where I'm playing bass, and
Speaker 1: then right when we were done at two am, it
Speaker 1: transferred right into helping Rick on set and I would
Speaker 1: just be the gopher getting coffee, moving Max. Don't talk
Speaker 1: to actors, just stay in this corner. So I went
Speaker 1: from like this massive ego kind of high to them
Speaker 1: just being in in that in that place where I'm
Speaker 1: not anything right, you know what you know? So it
Speaker 1: was it was it was a it was an ego check,
Speaker 1: but there was my brain was unbeknownst to me, my
Speaker 1: brain was in this. I want to keep at this
Speaker 1: and learn as much as I can so I can
Speaker 1: get to that next level and just really hopefully enjoy
Speaker 1: this thing that I just started falling in love with.
Speaker 2: So I heard that in two thousand and one, Yeah,
Speaker 2: you were coming to Los Angeles. Yeah, And then the
Speaker 2: borders tightened after nine eleven. Tell me a little bit
Speaker 2: about that.
Speaker 1: So I was playing in my band and then it
Speaker 1: was one of it was the time where the band dissolved.
Speaker 1: It was like we were we were done to me.
Speaker 1: To me, it was really tough because I had the
Speaker 1: blinders on and we were all high school boys and
Speaker 1: we toured for over ten years, and then everyone just
Speaker 1: started kind of separating and I had the blinders on.
Speaker 1: Then it all opened up and the acting things. I
Speaker 1: really started getting serious about that. And one of my
Speaker 1: best friends rest in peace, who passed his name was Scully,
Speaker 1: one of the most creative guys I've ever met to
Speaker 1: this day. And he moved to Vancouver and I'm in Winnipeg,
Speaker 1: and then I just started. I jumped in on a
Speaker 1: cover band because I didn't want a tour anymore, and
Speaker 1: I started I went to the National Institute of Broadcasts
Speaker 1: because I wanted to learn everything behind the camera, because
Speaker 1: if I didn't make it in front of the camera,
Speaker 1: I wanted to know what was going on behind so
Speaker 1: maybe I can find.
Speaker 2: A place there.
Speaker 1: So I learned about camera work and editing, and in
Speaker 1: that time and again the yes happens. I got approached
Speaker 1: to do a show called Destinations Manitoba, which was on
Speaker 1: ABC affiliates. So we would get the ABC affiliates so
Speaker 1: the American audience would see what Winnipeg has to offer.
Speaker 1: So it would be we would air in North Dakota,
Speaker 1: or we would air in Seattle for Vancouver. When we
Speaker 1: did Destinations and so Destinations Manitoba was basically, you know,
Speaker 1: it was twenty one years to go into a bar,
Speaker 1: it was eighteen and wanna pey. So it was about
Speaker 1: getting everyone over to the bars, to the restaurants, to
Speaker 1: the hotels. So we sold half an hour advertising space
Speaker 1: and we would sell them in fifteen seconds, thirty seconds
Speaker 1: and minute chunks to hotels, restaurants and condos or establishments,
Speaker 1: and we made it look like a TV show. So
Speaker 1: we would go into all these places and I ended
Speaker 1: up being a co host director and editor. So I
Speaker 1: would come home from playing in the band and put
Speaker 1: in about We probably had about nine hours of footage
Speaker 1: for a thirty minute show, and I would put the
Speaker 1: because we could didn't have the money, we had VHS,
Speaker 1: so I would put everything on a VHS in the
Speaker 1: studio and then I would do the time, write the
Speaker 1: time codes of what I think the scenes would be
Speaker 1: till like five o'clock in the morning. Then I would
Speaker 1: sleep play at night and then do the same thing.
Speaker 1: So kind of was getting my feet wet and everything
Speaker 1: doing this show with a producer that got me in
Speaker 1: on it, Shelley, and so I was really enjoying that,
Speaker 1: and I was enjoying being part of the stunt community
Speaker 1: and going to auditions. And then I decided to make
Speaker 1: the move to LA But I'm going to stop in
Speaker 1: Vancouver and see my boy Scully and hang out with him.
Speaker 1: We were doing a writing project and so I was
Speaker 1: going to be there and basically live with him and
Speaker 1: his roommate for a little while. And it was only
Speaker 1: a two bedroom, so I had no money. There was
Speaker 1: at the point where I had no money, so I'm
Speaker 1: sleeping on their floor. My rent was like cleaning the house,
Speaker 1: scrubbing the toilets, doing the dishes. That's what I was doing,
Speaker 1: and then on my way to go to Los Angeles,
Speaker 1: and then nine to eleven happened. So like if I
Speaker 1: would have went when I landed in Vancouver, stayed about
Speaker 1: a month and then went to LA it would have
Speaker 1: been easier. But I stayed for about six months, writing,
Speaker 1: enjoying it, ready to make my move, and then nine
Speaker 1: to eleven happened, which kept me in Vancouver, which personally,
Speaker 1: I think is a blessing because I got to work.
Speaker 2: A lot more, a lot, a lot more.
Speaker 1: Yeah, there was there was so much more opportunity here
Speaker 1: I felt for me and especially starting the being in
Speaker 1: the game late. So yeah, so that's how that's how
Speaker 1: that transition happened.
Speaker 2: Yeah, in those early two thousands, you did a lot
Speaker 2: of guest star TV roles, some film short films Stargate,
Speaker 2: sc One, Supernatural for you, you know you're getting into
Speaker 2: the business. It sounds like you've done a lot of
Speaker 2: work in terms of training and learning behind the scenes
Speaker 2: and then destination men Man Toba. You learned a lot
Speaker 2: about basically producing. What experiences did you learn from or
Speaker 2: what did you learn from those early experiences on sets
Speaker 2: on these shows, working with and for so many different people.
Speaker 1: Oh what a great question. I feel like I was
Speaker 1: just talking to a friend about this. So I feel
Speaker 1: like the band prepared me without me knowing. I was
Speaker 1: prepared because I would. I fell in love with the
Speaker 1: hustle when the switch happened. It took me a while
Speaker 1: to learn it, but I realized, oh wait a second,
Speaker 1: acting is exactly what I was doing since I was
Speaker 1: fifteen years old, over here and networking. So the idea
Speaker 1: of learning how to talk to people, being in events,
Speaker 1: knowing how to listen to people, and picking the energy
Speaker 1: up from people around me. So perfect example is working
Speaker 1: on Supernatural super Nervous my first time, and Jensen and
Speaker 1: Jared are the most amazing hosts on their show. Like
Speaker 1: they know they come into the makeup trailer, they know
Speaker 1: your name, they welcome you in, and all of a
Speaker 1: sudden you have this opening that goes, this is awesome
Speaker 1: and I want to impress these guys. These guys are great.
Speaker 1: So it gives you the creative outlet to be free.
Speaker 1: And then I've had experiences working on a show where
Speaker 1: the leads weren't as accommodating and right, and you're like
Speaker 1: you're like the new kid at school and everyone's not
Speaker 1: quite sure of you, and so you literally close in
Speaker 1: a bit because you just don't want to screw up.
Speaker 1: And so what I what I saw was Okay, I
Speaker 1: can find a place in this industry because I feel
Speaker 1: like I'm like those guys. I love the team and
Speaker 1: getting people together again. The band helped getting people to
Speaker 1: come and see us, and just the communication aspect of it.
Speaker 1: I think the bottom line was I really enjoyed the
Speaker 1: hustle and the communication of being with people and then
Speaker 1: the learning. Because Larry Moss was one of my guys
Speaker 1: that I studied with that spoke to me in that way.
Speaker 1: There was other acting coaches where the language wasn't the same.
Speaker 1: I didn't and I didn't know if it was me
Speaker 1: or if it was them because I was so new
Speaker 1: to really studying acting. And when I worked with Larry,
Speaker 1: I went, oh my god, Okay, this this is me.
Speaker 1: This is this is the guy that speaks to me
Speaker 1: in you know, script analysis, emotionality. So I think it
Speaker 1: just it was communication that led me to the right spots.
Speaker 1: So I think that's what I learned learned the most
Speaker 1: about it.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's cool. A couple of months ago, I talked
Speaker 2: to an old co star of yours, Tricia Helfer.
Speaker 1: Oh my god, I love Tricia.
Speaker 2: Battlestar Galactica one of your first recurring roles. Were you
Speaker 2: a fan of the show before, like the original? Well
Speaker 2: or but yeah, yeah, well.
Speaker 1: So the original obviously and then the history. So I
Speaker 1: did a film called, an amazing film called wish Master four.
Speaker 2: Wish Master four, right, and.
Speaker 1: There was two dudes on it, Victor Webster and Michael Trucco,
Speaker 1: and we became fast friends. And that was when I
Speaker 1: was living in Winnipeg. And then they were like, Alex,
Speaker 1: you got to come to LA just come to visit.
Speaker 1: And I hung out with them and to this day
Speaker 1: they're my best friends. And I remember Michael Truco saying,
Speaker 1: oh my god, I just got this amazing audition for
Speaker 1: Battlestar galact and we were talking about it, and I go,
Speaker 1: Battlestar really goes yeah, yeah, yeah, but it's not the Battlestar.
Speaker 2: You think.
Speaker 1: It's a totally different thing. And so I remember him
Speaker 1: like being so stoked going out for that, and then
Speaker 1: later on I remember him being so disappointed that he
Speaker 1: didn't get the lead, and unbeknownst to me, I'm back
Speaker 1: in Vancouver and now Battlestar's shooting in Vancouver, so a
Speaker 1: bunch of people were going out for it. And one
Speaker 1: of my best friends right now, Tomo Pennicit who played
Speaker 1: Heilo on the show. He said he got it, and
Speaker 1: so Eddie Almos is coming to town. My buddy Tomo
Speaker 1: would invite me to the to the hangouts and stuff,
Speaker 1: so I got to know them really well. Michael Rymer,
Speaker 1: who I got to know extremely well and quickly, was
Speaker 1: because of Tomo. And then there was a boxing episode
Speaker 1: that they had and Toma was like, listen, like, if
Speaker 1: you want any if you want somebody to learn boxing,
Speaker 1: you got to learn, get it from Alex, Like Alex
Speaker 1: is great, and he pitched me and pitched me, and
Speaker 1: Rymer said, okay, so now I'm teaching boxing to Eddie
Speaker 1: Almos and Jamie Bamber and Tomo and Aaron Douglas. And
Speaker 1: then I got really in that circle. And then it
Speaker 1: was basically, let's get Alex's role on the show. So
Speaker 1: it just again worked from relationships and communication. That's how
Speaker 1: I got to be on the show, and I honestly,
Speaker 1: I don't even think I would. My chops weren't that
Speaker 1: great at that point at that time, and they were
Speaker 1: just really great dudes to kind of offer me something
Speaker 1: like that. After we kind of made this great episode
Speaker 1: of the boxing episode and Battlestar, and then Michael Trucco
Speaker 1: comes back into the picture and he plays Anders. Dude,
Speaker 1: this is blowing my mind because I've never talked about
Speaker 1: it like this. So Trucco comes back and we're like
Speaker 1: Truco's in Vancouver doing Battlestar. I get to introduce some
Speaker 1: of the tomo so all that kind of works wickedly.
Speaker 1: And at that time, the guy that I came to
Speaker 1: live with, Scully, who I told you was very creative,
Speaker 1: who passed away. They needed a tattoo design for Anders
Speaker 1: and Katie Sakow's character and when they put their arms together,
Speaker 1: it connects to make one thing. And my buddy Scully
Speaker 1: designed that tattoo.
Speaker 2: Geez, you're like the central ingredient to the entire operation
Speaker 2: there at battle start, it was.
Speaker 1: It was mind blowing and I just loved. I just loved.
Speaker 1: I never even put all that together until right now.
Speaker 1: The way we just spoke about it. So yeah, so
Speaker 1: that's how I basically got my gig on Battlestar. I
Speaker 1: was just great people like giving me a shot.
Speaker 2: That's awesome. Uh, you did a film Personal Effects with
Speaker 2: Mischelle Pfeiffer, Ashton Koocher and my old pal Kathy Bates.
Speaker 2: You've said before that this was a really formative role
Speaker 2: for you. What was significant about that role or that
Speaker 2: experience for you.
Speaker 1: As I was auditioning, you know, and I'm six foot five,
Speaker 1: I'm you know, two fifty to sixty, so I was
Speaker 1: just getting big guy rolls, you know, bouncer number one,
Speaker 1: thug number three, you know, And I knew I had
Speaker 1: to cut my teeth to get in there to people
Speaker 1: to see me. And I loved I loved the audition
Speaker 1: process because I get to show a little bit of
Speaker 1: my personality when you walk into the room. Then you
Speaker 1: do the work. And this was one of the I
Speaker 1: think this was my third time working with Larry Moss,
Speaker 1: and I was doing of Mice and Men and obviously
Speaker 1: played yes.
Speaker 2: Right and Shockery as well.
Speaker 1: Shocker right right, you get it, you get it, and
Speaker 1: it's such an amazing character. So just getting the physicality
Speaker 1: and the voice and and really working with Larry on
Speaker 1: it for I think it was it was like a
Speaker 1: seven or eight day intensive and it just kind of
Speaker 1: emptied me, but I just it emptied me but filled
Speaker 1: me with so much more right and and I just
Speaker 1: came and it was in Los Angeles and I was
Speaker 1: came back to Vancouver and this role came up of
Speaker 1: a mentally challenged person that was accused of killing Asten
Speaker 1: Kutcher's sister in this film, and I'm like, oh my God,
Speaker 1: like reading the sides and I really that this character
Speaker 1: is exactly like everything that I'm doing with the Lenny
Speaker 1: character is this character. The only difference is this character
Speaker 1: and personal effects has a conscience Lenny. Lenny was pretty
Speaker 1: much just open and not knowing what was wrong or
Speaker 1: what was right. But this character had a conscience. So
Speaker 1: I kind of worked with that. And I remember asking
Speaker 1: my agent, I'm like, I would love to go in
Speaker 1: for this, and it was they're just seeing the A
Speaker 1: listers right now, and I wasn't. I wasn't on that
Speaker 1: list in Vancouver. And then in Vancouver it was, Oh,
Speaker 1: they're seeing now, they're seeing other people. Just get me
Speaker 1: in the room. I wasn't in the room on that one.
Speaker 1: And then finally it was their last casting session, they
Speaker 1: snuck me in Friday five pm. I was the last
Speaker 1: guy in there and I'm getting ready and it was
Speaker 1: one of those things where I felt like either I'm
Speaker 1: going to find out now or or I'm not going
Speaker 1: to find out. But it's it's I call it the
Speaker 1: Idol audition where they go but my mom says, I'm
Speaker 1: really good, you know that that type of vibe, and
Speaker 1: I'm like, am I that guy? Like if no one's
Speaker 1: telling me or I don't know, but I remember looking
Speaker 1: in the mirror and just trying. I had my outfit
Speaker 1: that I was for the audition on and just like
Speaker 1: you did the work, just go in there and just
Speaker 1: do it. So then I started the audition. Was an
Speaker 1: extremely emotional audition and I did it with the casting
Speaker 1: director candaell Zinga I'll never forget, and it was everybody
Speaker 1: was in the room, I think six people, and then
Speaker 1: we did the first scene and then you know the
Speaker 1: move where they go thanks for coming in, we don't
Speaker 1: need the second theme scene. Thanks, And I knew that
Speaker 1: would I was hoping that wouldn't happen if it did happen.
Speaker 1: Don't let it crush me, just kind of like just
Speaker 1: fight through it. But then he start he finished the
Speaker 1: first audition. We finished the first audition. He goes, Alex is, okay, okay,
Speaker 1: now let's just sit down on this one. Let's not
Speaker 1: stand up. And I just want you to do the
Speaker 1: same thing with Candae as you're both sitting there and
Speaker 1: just be grounded. And in that moment, I already started
Speaker 1: to get more emotional because I feel like he saw me,
Speaker 1: he saw something more than the big guy just the
Speaker 1: big guy. Yeah, And when the emotions started to come,
Speaker 1: it just overwhelmed me. And then I had the dialogue
Speaker 1: behind it. But unbeknownst to everyone in the room, the
Speaker 1: emotionality was that happy cry that that you know, it
Speaker 1: was the happy cry that I was doing that I'm
Speaker 1: being seen that I'm actually working. But in the script
Speaker 1: it's he's devastating. So I was even in my head going,
Speaker 1: I can't I can't believe this is happen. As I'm
Speaker 1: saying the lines, my brain is going, this is exactly
Speaker 1: what I wanted, this is exactly how I wanted this
Speaker 1: to go. And I'm bawling and it's not going down
Speaker 1: my face and my tears are everywhere. The casting director's bawling,
Speaker 1: everyone got emotion. I remember leaving that audition. It wasn't
Speaker 1: about getting the roles. It was just going, I know
Speaker 1: I can do this, I can affect people. And then
Speaker 1: I got the role and me and Tomo went out
Speaker 1: for an amazing steak dinner. And then I got up
Speaker 1: in the morning and i'ment like on ten, I go
Speaker 1: for a workout. I come back and I realize, Okay,
Speaker 1: I'm too strong for this role. I don't want to
Speaker 1: be this strong. So I immediately just stopped working out,
Speaker 1: ate ice cream and cake. I would have like a
Speaker 1: muscle mass shake at three o'clock in the morning, and
Speaker 1: I just let myself go. I got up to about
Speaker 1: about three hundred pounds in about six weeks, way too fast,
Speaker 1: way too fast, and I put on way quick, so
Speaker 1: way too fast and definitely not done by a nutritionist.
Speaker 1: I just went for it, and I just wanted to
Speaker 1: feel not strong. And I remember like friends coming up
Speaker 1: to me, You're like, are you okay? And some friends,
Speaker 1: some friends wouldn't even talk to me, going like he
Speaker 1: totally let himself go. Type live and the happiest I
Speaker 1: was was when I was working on the movie, but
Speaker 1: it was one of the saddest times of my life
Speaker 1: because my joints hurt, my mood was terrible. I just
Speaker 1: just felt gross, except when I was on camp, and
Speaker 1: that to me was one of those pivotal moments of
Speaker 1: I think it was just being seen. And then when
Speaker 1: we finally shot the scene that was in the audition
Speaker 1: where it was the pinnacle of the emotion and the
Speaker 1: camera was set up, everyone was getting ready because it
Speaker 1: was constant rain, so it was no rain towers because
Speaker 1: Vancouver was just raining like crazy, so we shot everything
Speaker 1: in the rain, and then I had to go into
Speaker 1: a tent and change to dry close to do the
Speaker 1: scene again. But every time I will be in this
Speaker 1: position where I'm crying and saying that I didn't hurt her,
Speaker 1: and Ashton Kutcher's got a gun to my head and
Speaker 1: people are off camera crying at what they're seeing. But
Speaker 1: I would go, Okay, okay, getting changed, let's do another one.
Speaker 1: I'm ready to go, like I could easily break out
Speaker 1: of it because I was having so much fucking fun.
Speaker 1: It was just so it was so beautiful to me
Speaker 1: because I've never been in that position to perform like that,
Speaker 1: and that was the first time it allowed me.
Speaker 2: Yeah. Oh that's awesome. I love it.
Speaker 1: Yeah, man, I got I got really, really lucky with
Speaker 1: some cool experiences.
Speaker 2: For sure. You eventually played Julius in Van Helsing five years.
Speaker 2: That was your longest running show to that point, right, Yeah.
Speaker 2: I always enjoyed talking to people about when you have
Speaker 2: a multi year experience playing a character. How was that
Speaker 2: for you. Did you enjoy the process of the character
Speaker 2: building and evolving and changing over that time?
Speaker 1: It was. Honestly, I consider Van Housing to be one
Speaker 1: of my most favorite experiences because I started that show.
Speaker 1: I mean, dude, it was heavy. The audition was heavy.
Speaker 1: Because i'll condense it, I won't get into the huge story.
Speaker 1: But I had a friend pass away and I found him.
Speaker 1: I was the one that found him. And it was
Speaker 1: two days before the audition, and after I found him,
Speaker 1: and you know, police, police were were called, and the
Speaker 1: whole thing happened, and it kind of hits you in
Speaker 1: such a way that the shock you're in shock, and
Speaker 1: I remember not feeling emotional about it, and then on
Speaker 1: my way to the audient, like I'm still going to
Speaker 1: do the audition type thing on my way to the audition,
Speaker 1: and the audition was for another character where he he's emotional,
Speaker 1: basically sending one of the other dudes out into the
Speaker 1: apocalypse type thing, not sending him. I'm behind the characters
Speaker 1: behind a cell and one of his he kind of
Speaker 1: mentors this kid and he goes, I'm going to go
Speaker 1: out there and so you can be safe. It was
Speaker 1: just emotional scene. And now I'm driving to the audition
Speaker 1: and now I'm feeling the emotion of the loss and
Speaker 1: I had to stop in front. I called one of
Speaker 1: my best friends, John Cassini, and I said, I don't
Speaker 1: know what's happening. I think it just hit me now.
Speaker 1: And he was the one that said, you were in
Speaker 1: shock and now you're settling into the loss. And I
Speaker 1: was like, I can't go in there. I can't go
Speaker 1: in there. I just felt so frazzled, and he goes,
Speaker 1: this is why we do it. Tell your story, this
Speaker 1: is why we do it. And I just took a
Speaker 1: deep breath and I waited probably five minutes after my
Speaker 1: audition time, crossing my fingers hopefully I can and I
Speaker 1: don't want to sit there and wait I just want
Speaker 1: to go in and luckily, but when I went in
Speaker 1: and they were like, oh, Alex, you're you're up next
Speaker 1: to You're ready to go, and I just I didn't
Speaker 1: even say anything. I just walked towards the door and
Speaker 1: the scene started. And it was the first time I
Speaker 1: sobbed after the loss, and I couldn't I couldn't stop sobbing,
Speaker 1: and the audition like it went on longer than it
Speaker 1: should have. And when I felt like I was done,
Speaker 1: it felt weird to stand there and get a response,
Speaker 1: so I just walked out and I didn't say a word.
Speaker 1: I just walked out, went into my.
Speaker 4: Car, like I get emotional now, huh weird. Went to
Speaker 4: the car for another ten minutes and just sobbed. And
Speaker 4: I'm trying to hide because I don't want to start driving.
Speaker 4: And I see after my audition, the producers all came
Speaker 4: out and everyone took a different position outside by themselves,
Speaker 4: and I didn't realize it until later that they they
Speaker 4: when I walked out, they were.
Speaker 1: I can't believe this has hit me right now, man. Wow.
Speaker 1: So then and Neil Abute was in the room who
Speaker 1: I was a fan of, and Simon Barry who's gone
Speaker 1: on to do amazing things with Continuum and Warrior None.
Speaker 1: And they wrote the role of Julius for me. So
Speaker 1: them writing that role was more like, I like this
Speaker 1: guy and I want him around set. That's what it
Speaker 1: felt like. And he did a great job. Again, they
Speaker 1: knew nothing of what I was going through, so they
Speaker 1: wrote this really badass vampire named Julius, and it was
Speaker 1: so much fun. I love those badass roles because it's
Speaker 1: nothing like me in real life, so I get to
Speaker 1: really express that and I have a lot of fun
Speaker 1: with it. But when we would yell cut, I'm like,
Speaker 1: I just again the team, I just love being around people,
Speaker 1: and they got to see see me and they understood
Speaker 1: my boxing background and I'm a mama's boy, so they
Speaker 1: would always bug me about being a mama's boy. And
Speaker 1: then sure enough, that shit was just written into the
Speaker 1: show where you know, we're going to turn Alex from
Speaker 1: vampire Julius to human Julius. And so with being human Julius,
Speaker 1: the way the story was, when you get turned, you
Speaker 1: remember all the terrible things you did as a vampire,
Speaker 1: and so it was a retribution for me, and that
Speaker 1: them showing the human side of Julius and my origin
Speaker 1: story where I was a boxer, and then Dimitri would
Speaker 1: basically go, this guy's got some guts and some grit.
Speaker 1: I want to turn him and he can be my warrior,
Speaker 1: my minion warrior. And so that's why it meant so
Speaker 1: much to me, is how I got it and then
Speaker 1: them seeing who I was off camera and incorporating all
Speaker 1: those things into the character, which just gave me, just
Speaker 1: gave me so much joy because that that they wrote
Speaker 1: for me in such a beautiful way. It was my favorite, favorite,
Speaker 1: favorite role that I did.
Speaker 2: It's special. Yeah, it's very special. Yeah, I do know
Speaker 2: or read Anthony Hopkins was a big hero for you
Speaker 2: and you got the opportunity to work with him. How
Speaker 2: how was that special? Was it worth it?
Speaker 1: It was insane, man, it was so it was so
Speaker 1: worth it.
Speaker 2: There was His Instagram is a must the way you
Speaker 2: have to like it's the everyone Fine, I've never said
Speaker 2: that on this on this program, but you have to
Speaker 2: follow Anthony Hopkins on Instagram.
Speaker 1: Yes, yes, it's a muss. And I got lucky into
Speaker 1: a little glimpse of it before Instagram when we were
Speaker 1: working together. And again, I'm super nervous, like I'm here here,
Speaker 1: he's the man, and I got a scene with the man.
Speaker 1: And I love fangirling. I'm just a big fan of
Speaker 1: fangirling because the people that really affect me or I
Speaker 1: think are great, I get excited about. But now here's
Speaker 1: Hopkins and I'm like and I'm fangirling, and I'm like,
Speaker 1: don't don't fangirl, don't be that guy. You're you're here
Speaker 1: for for a job, like get your shit together type thing,
Speaker 1: so I'll never forget. We're in this like very cold
Speaker 1: warehouse and they I'm about to meet him, and I
Speaker 1: hear the ad Tony's traveling. I'm like, okay, Tony, they're
Speaker 1: calling to and so I'm looking at the door and
Speaker 1: I see the door open, and I got nervous and
Speaker 1: I didn't want to see him watching me see him
Speaker 1: type thing. So I turned my back then and I'm like,
Speaker 1: play play cool, don't fang girl. And it was literally
Speaker 1: they come up to me, Alex, this is Tony. You
Speaker 1: guys are working together. And I literally turned around and
Speaker 1: just kind of went, what's suck? And I turned back
Speaker 1: around and I caught myself being like too cool, and
Speaker 1: I went I'm so sorry. I just I'm a big fan.
Speaker 1: I'm just trying not to go crazy there. And he
Speaker 1: starts laughing and that kind of broke the ice. But
Speaker 1: I didn't mean it for it to break. I just
Speaker 1: didn't mean it for it to go that way. I
Speaker 1: wanted to be a little cooler. But then but then
Speaker 1: we just started talking and he saw how big I was.
Speaker 1: He goes, what was your sport? I said, boxing was
Speaker 1: my sport, and he talked about when he used to box,
Speaker 1: and then and then he started spitting old old fighters
Speaker 1: that and I'm a historian, so you know Henry Armstrong.
Speaker 1: He was spitting those kind of dudes and and I
Speaker 1: would say, oh, yeah, yeah. And so we're really kind
Speaker 1: of bonding, and in my peripheral I see everyone waiting
Speaker 1: to get up to go let's go worse. Yeah, and
Speaker 1: I'm like, please don't stop this. This is this is
Speaker 1: the most amazing thing. So finally it's time to go work.
Speaker 1: And now we're walking towards the set and Tony goes, uh,
Speaker 1: are you okay just like improving? We just haven't. Let's
Speaker 1: just have fun, see where we can get with it.
Speaker 1: I'm like, yes, that's that's amazing. So we started improving
Speaker 1: and having so much fun. And we did the scene
Speaker 1: and the director yell's cut and Tony runs back in
Speaker 1: and he goes, that was great. Make sure you say
Speaker 1: that line because like, because that improv line, because it
Speaker 1: makes me really bring up my gun quicker. And I said,
Speaker 1: you got to say that other thing, so it makes
Speaker 1: me say that thing. He goes, okay, okay, yeah. So
Speaker 1: now we're just jamming, like and I can't believe it.
Speaker 1: I like, this is what I was doing in acting class, right,
Speaker 1: and here I am with the greatest one in the world,
Speaker 1: and and we're doing it. And we're just having a
Speaker 1: blast over and over again and sitting and talking while
Speaker 1: they're doing changes and and and Tony just kind of
Speaker 1: goes alex ox. It gives me his phone, put your
Speaker 1: number in my phone. I want to talk to you
Speaker 1: after too, And I'm like, I don't care if you
Speaker 1: ever my brain. I don't think if you ever text
Speaker 1: me again. My number is in your phone. And I
Speaker 1: get back to the hotel on Cloud nine, like it
Speaker 1: was such an amazing experience, and I get the message
Speaker 1: from Anthony, so great working with you today. Let's let's
Speaker 1: have fun tomorrow. And I get this message and I'm like, uh, speechless.
Speaker 1: The next day we're doing doing something, and then I
Speaker 1: feel a little bit more comfortable talking to him, and
Speaker 1: I basically was gesturing like Tony, what, like what what
Speaker 1: secret can you give with the work that you do.
Speaker 1: I got into it late. I really didn't take acting
Speaker 1: seriously tell us in my mid thirties. I really didn't
Speaker 1: start working till I was in my forties, and I
Speaker 1: was just a sponge. And I was like, is there
Speaker 1: anything different that you do because the work that you've
Speaker 1: done and I'm doing this and he just puts his
Speaker 1: hand on my knee and he goes, Alex, you'll never
Speaker 1: get there. I was like, what, that's your advice?
Speaker 2: Like what?
Speaker 1: And then and Betty, Betty, Betty said the most profound thing.
Speaker 1: He goes, you're gesturing like I'm up here. What we
Speaker 1: did yesterday was right here. So if you're doing that,
Speaker 1: you're always gonna hit your head at the bottom of
Speaker 1: it because you put me somewhere that that I didn't
Speaker 1: put myself there. You put me there. So no matter
Speaker 1: what you do, you're always going to be like this.
Speaker 1: And so what we did yesterday, that's what that's what
Speaker 1: we do. Just be free. And that was the best
Speaker 1: advice that I got and not limiting myself. I put
Speaker 1: these lim citations on myself that I didn't even know
Speaker 1: I was doing, but it was just the gesture and
Speaker 1: what my ideas were. And he caught it right away,
Speaker 1: and he says, if once you get rid of that,
Speaker 1: the world is open, the sky is blue, like, go
Speaker 1: for it.
Speaker 2: And I was just like, so great.
Speaker 1: And then I think it was like a few weeks
Speaker 1: later he's in well after the film. He's inviting me,
Speaker 1: when you're in Los Angeles, come we'll go have lunch
Speaker 1: at my favorite spot. And I'm like, oh my god.
Speaker 1: And then he goes to London. This is the best.
Speaker 1: And when I was talking about Instagram, I just got this.
Speaker 1: It was like three o'clock in the morning. He obviously
Speaker 1: couldn't sleep, he was in London. All I see is
Speaker 1: the light from the computer screen like this, like just
Speaker 1: from head head to just above chess, no shirt on
Speaker 1: three o'clock in the morning, and he's doing Marlon Brando impressions.
Speaker 1: Doesn't say hi, doesn't say bye, he just does a
Speaker 1: Marlon Brando impression. And that was it, and I'm like,
Speaker 1: this is hilarious, and then he would just be doing
Speaker 1: these little impressions back and forth, like I cannot believe
Speaker 1: I have this gold on my phone of this dude
Speaker 1: like my guy right, like hilarious and funny. And even
Speaker 1: when we were working together, we just finished the scene
Speaker 1: walking and then we're walking back and he just says
Speaker 1: to me, goes, I want to do comedy. I don't
Speaker 1: know why anybody doesn't hire me for comedy. And I
Speaker 1: was like, gratity, Hopkins, you can do whatever you want.
Speaker 1: What do you mean knowing we'll hire you from comedy.
Speaker 1: So that that experience was like, I share that experience
Speaker 1: all the time because it just not only did I
Speaker 1: get to work with one of the greatest, but I
Speaker 1: learned a lot about myself just hanging out with him. Yeah.
Speaker 2: Well, we got to talk about snow Piercer last final
Speaker 2: season after multiple delays. When did you film the last
Speaker 2: season last scene?
Speaker 1: I think it was two and a half.
Speaker 2: Years ago, Good lord, two.
Speaker 1: And a half years ago. Then we were told we
Speaker 1: weren't gonna there, weren't gonna Eric because of their switching
Speaker 1: their programming, and we were like, oh man, there was
Speaker 1: such great work that was done and now no one's
Speaker 1: going to see it. And thankfully AMC came into the
Speaker 1: picture and picked it up. And people are loving, loving
Speaker 1: these episodes. And it's so great because I'm watching it
Speaker 1: forgetting what the hell happened. I don't remember anything, so
Speaker 1: it's brand new to me. I get super excited when
Speaker 1: I see myself pop up. I'm like, oh, oh, okay, yeah,
Speaker 1: I remember I'm in this one. And so, yeah, it
Speaker 1: was great.
Speaker 2: Your parents were immigrants from the former Yugoslavia. Yeah, settled
Speaker 2: in Canada. Did you speak Serbian at home as a child.
Speaker 1: Not a lot of Serbian at home because my parents
Speaker 1: were they wanted to stay away from the immigrant criticism. Okay,
Speaker 1: so they really wanted to learn the language. So it
Speaker 1: was all about speaking English at home. And we had
Speaker 1: a little bit of Serbian obviously going on, and my
Speaker 1: parents would speak Serbian together, but we we were told like,
Speaker 1: you you're you're gonna teach us English when you come
Speaker 1: from school type thing. So so it was one of those.
Speaker 1: But so I'm not very I'm not as fluent as
Speaker 1: I want to be in it, but I understand a
Speaker 1: lot and I can say a lot. But to have
Speaker 1: a free flowing conversation. It's struggling. Yeah, but I do.
Speaker 1: I do improv a lot in Serbian.
Speaker 2: Yeah, okay, yeah. So the role obviously of Baki and
Speaker 2: snow piercers, you actually get to speak Serbian. Did that
Speaker 2: come from you? Was this arika that came from you?
Speaker 1: Dude? So when I went to the audition, the character's
Speaker 1: name was Harold Kowalski. Okay, and I remember I was like,
Speaker 1: you know what, I don't think anyone in the room
Speaker 1: is going to know Polish. So I'm just going to
Speaker 1: improv in Serbian in little spots. So I'm doing the
Speaker 1: dialogue and then I would just say little things to
Speaker 1: myself in Serbian. And so I went for a few
Speaker 1: auditions and then I got told I got the role.
Speaker 1: And so that's when I said, okay, just so you
Speaker 1: know that improv stuff that I It was great because
Speaker 1: I was like, I would love to talk to Graham Mason,
Speaker 1: who was the executive producer. Fantastic, fantastic man. And so
Speaker 1: I got to have this conversation of saying just so
Speaker 1: you know, like I improved in Serbian, it wasn't Polish.
Speaker 1: Now if him being Polish is integral to the whole story.
Speaker 1: I'll leave that out. I'll even learn some Polish improv
Speaker 1: here and there, but just so you know, but if
Speaker 1: we can change him in Serbian, then that would be
Speaker 1: pretty cool. And he thought about it and he went, okay, okay,
Speaker 1: he goes, but I like the name Harold because you
Speaker 1: don't look like a Harold. I like the idea of
Speaker 1: how unassuming that name is, right, And I said, and.
Speaker 2: It's the first thing I thought too, by the way,
Speaker 2: so anyway, go ahead, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1: Right, And so then I thought, my brother's name is Boyan.
Speaker 1: So I said, well, what about Boyan? And he just
Speaker 1: delayed a little bit, and I said, but you know,
Speaker 1: his nickname is Buokie. He goes, Oh, I like Booky,
Speaker 1: and he goes, I went to college with a guy
Speaker 1: named Boskovic. And I went, Graham, come on, my job
Speaker 1: is a breachman. Breachman Bulky Boskovich. How that's a great name.
Speaker 1: He goes, let's do it. So that's so I got
Speaker 1: to get my heritage in there and a tribute to
Speaker 1: my brother. And one of the first scenes that we
Speaker 1: shot in the first first season, there's this big train
Speaker 1: car filled with people celebrating and they're all chanting buckye
Speaker 1: Bucky Bookie, and I was just like overwhelmed that I
Speaker 1: couldn't wait for my brother to see that episode here
Speaker 1: here his nickname being said, Yeah, it's pretty great.
Speaker 2: Were you ready for it to be done? Did you
Speaker 2: know that this that it was done? But when you finished,
Speaker 2: you knew final season?
Speaker 1: Yeah? That was the cool part is they got they
Speaker 1: let us shoot a final season knowing that we could
Speaker 1: wrap it up okay, So that that I would love
Speaker 1: to have gone more seasons. Da v Diggs, Mickey Sumner,
Speaker 1: like Michael Maalley. Great cast, great cast, and I would
Speaker 1: love for it to have gone more because I felt
Speaker 1: like I developed a really cool character that they wrote
Speaker 1: for and were writing more for. And then in season
Speaker 1: three into season four, I was shooting Hawkeye in Atlanta,
Speaker 1: so we I basically was dead after in season three
Speaker 1: because I couldn't really be there, so they quote unquote
Speaker 1: killed me. But because of COVID and the delay, we
Speaker 1: got to finish Hawkeye and I got back in time
Speaker 1: and I just said, I knew there was a couple
Speaker 1: episodes left. I called him up and I just said, hey, man,
Speaker 1: just so you know I'm back, I don't know if
Speaker 1: I don't know, if there's something to do, And so
Speaker 1: they found a way to sneak me into season three,
Speaker 1: to get into season four, and I was just so
Speaker 1: grateful and just and if you don't ask, you're not
Speaker 1: going to know. So it was one of those things
Speaker 1: for me where I got really lucky to get back
Speaker 1: on the show that I really really loved and hated
Speaker 1: not being a part of when I was shooting Hawka.
Speaker 2: The show examines a lot of themes ecological issues, clash issues,
Speaker 2: social issues, social justice issues. Is that an important part
Speaker 2: of the show for you on top of the story.
Speaker 2: Is that something that is important that those messages are there?
Speaker 1: I think so. I thought the writing was so great
Speaker 1: on the show and just the subversive nature it almost had.
Speaker 1: And that's one of the things I loved about Battlestar.
Speaker 1: They hid the messages within the story, and I felt
Speaker 1: that's what was happening a lot with snow Piercer, that
Speaker 1: they were really you know, sustainability and the climate change
Speaker 1: and the classes and how no one's different than the
Speaker 1: other person and then taking yourself back. That was one
Speaker 1: of the biggest things for me, is like You're not
Speaker 1: going to put me in a box. I know what
Speaker 1: I can be, and I'm going to fight for what
Speaker 1: I am. All those things really kind of spoke to me.
Speaker 1: All those things just have it mattered. And you know,
Speaker 1: I love doing whatever project it is. But when you
Speaker 1: know that there's a through line of a message that
Speaker 1: every episode is really kind of getting to its core,
Speaker 1: those are the things that definitely speak to me. And
Speaker 1: I really really enjoyed that part of the show.
Speaker 2: Well, I know the fans are very excited to see
Speaker 2: how it all wraps up for you and everybody else
Speaker 2: there on snow Piercer. I'm told that you are the
Speaker 2: co founder of a newly launched legend water. Oh drinking
Speaker 2: it right there, hailing from the Rocky Mountains, Oh Canada. Well,
Speaker 2: and what's cool about it? Which again I mean I
Speaker 2: wasn't leading you with your answer, and folks, we didn't
Speaker 2: plan it. But one, the water is trying to get
Speaker 2: rid of single plastic use bottles. But two also shine
Speaker 2: a light on mental health issues and eradicate the stigma
Speaker 2: surrounding mental health. In fact, every single can has a
Speaker 2: QR code. Tell me about this.
Speaker 1: So yeah, so the QR code leads you to our site,
Speaker 1: but it also leads you to a suicide crisis hotline,
Speaker 1: and because we're in Canada, it leads you to a
Speaker 1: rehab facility in each province in Canada. And we're building
Speaker 1: right now. We're really building to do some charity events
Speaker 1: and we're putting portions of sales towards events that we
Speaker 1: can do. And again, I want to get rid of
Speaker 1: that stigma. In my generation, it was a weakness to
Speaker 1: talk about it, like if you're struggling. I love the
Speaker 1: fact that I want to be able to and that's
Speaker 1: why we design the can the way it is so
Speaker 1: it feels and not only sustainability, and get rid of
Speaker 1: single plastic use because again, as you know you work
Speaker 1: on set, it's just plastic bottles, plastic bottles, plastic bottles.
Speaker 1: And the big thing that I just wanted to just
Speaker 1: kind of introduce it as much as I can, and
Speaker 1: any can that gets used as one less plastic bottle
Speaker 1: being used. So that's that was the big thing. And
Speaker 1: then we really kind of dipped in because everybody in
Speaker 1: the company, and you know, a lot of people that
Speaker 1: I talked to every day have not only gone through
Speaker 1: something themselves, but have friends and family that they've either
Speaker 1: lost or is really struggling. And if one person hits
Speaker 1: that QR code on a moment where they need to
Speaker 1: just need to talk to somebody, the job is done.
Speaker 1: So that that to me is that that's what really
Speaker 1: really speaks to me. And you know, I I just
Speaker 1: dropped off a cases last week to Owen Wilson because
Speaker 1: he's all about sustainability and he was so kind and
Speaker 1: we have pictures together with the can we worked together
Speaker 1: on I spy years ago. I didn't even think he
Speaker 1: would remember me, and then it just worked out to
Speaker 1: a point where you know, he he I don't think
Speaker 1: he understands the impact he has on people. And for
Speaker 1: him to do something like this for us was such
Speaker 1: a huge boost to our to our brand of getting
Speaker 1: the message out there, the big message getting rid of
Speaker 1: single plastic use and just getting people getting rid of
Speaker 1: the stigma and just getting people talking when they want
Speaker 1: to talk.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's great.
Speaker 1: And the cool thing is that in the beginning of
Speaker 1: twenty twenty five, we're going to have the first resealable can,
Speaker 1: so we're going to be able to close it back up. Yeah,
Speaker 1: We're we're we'll have it in twenty twenty five. It's
Speaker 1: a little hash hush. I can't talk about who, who's
Speaker 1: who's partnering with us. But that's so exciting because on set,
Speaker 1: you know you're in a post apocalyptic world. You want
Speaker 1: to you want to be able to not have particles
Speaker 1: of the set drop right in. So I get the
Speaker 1: idea of why can aren't popular on set, and hopefully
Speaker 1: that will turn it around where you know the resealable
Speaker 1: can will be something that people will use.
Speaker 2: You're a fascinating guy. I mean, I mean, that's the
Speaker 2: sum total is that? Are you? Are you into manga.
Speaker 1: A little? Only when I did the The I did
Speaker 1: a series in Japan.
Speaker 2: Yes, you did see the Silence Service. I was like, wait,
Speaker 2: what is it? He's a boxer. It's I mean, honest
Speaker 2: to god, it's like, you're Dwight Truth. You're like a
Speaker 2: boxer into Japanese manga. You've got a huge heart. But
Speaker 2: my god, I've compared.
Speaker 1: To him, and that's great.
Speaker 2: I love well love it. It's just it's all about contradictions.
Speaker 2: That's what it is for me. That's what and that's
Speaker 2: by the way, by the way, that's what makes fascinating people.
Speaker 2: That's it. That's the thing right there. Yeah, yeah, I
Speaker 2: mean that's what I love about exploring characters. That's what
Speaker 2: I love about talking to people like you on this
Speaker 2: program here. It's fascinating to me. I love it. I
Speaker 2: love what you're doing. I think cannot wish you. I
Speaker 2: wish you all the best success ever. Even though your
Speaker 2: timelines are very it was definitely more like ten years
Speaker 2: ago in the in the bar and slut in place
Speaker 2: there in Vancouver.
Speaker 1: That's right, with Caroline Ray.
Speaker 2: That's right. Yeah, no, I remember. It's great to see
Speaker 2: you again. Thank you. Come back anytime and h and
Speaker 2: next time we'll have some new manga for you.
Speaker 1: I love it. I'm in I'll come back anytime to
Speaker 1: talk to you, my friend.
Speaker 2: All right, cheers Alex. Alex, that was so great, and
Speaker 2: I want to thank you for being so open. Your
Speaker 2: ability to well to go there during this conversation is
Speaker 2: touching and refreshing and yes, makes me like you even more.
Speaker 2: I'm going to be rooting for you, my pal. Thanks
Speaker 2: for coming and talking to me. Catch Alex in the
Speaker 2: final season of snow Piercer, airing now on AMC, and
Speaker 2: don't Forget to come back here next week for more fun.
Speaker 2: We have an Oscar winner in the house from this year.
Speaker 2: Who could it be? Come back and find out. Off
Speaker 2: the Bead is hosted and executive produced by me Brian Baumgartner,
Speaker 2: alongside our executive producer Lang Lee. Our senior producer is
Speaker 2: Diego Tapia. Our producers are Emily Carr and seth Olanski,
Speaker 2: and our talent producer is Ryan Papa Zachary. Our theme
Speaker 2: song Bubble and Squeak, performed by the one and only
Speaker 2: Creed Breton