WEBVTT - Work in Progress: O-T Fagbenle 0:00:00.400 --> 0:00:15.080 Hey everyone, it's Sophia. Welcome to Work in Progress. Hello friends, 0:00:15.120 --> 0:00:18.520 Welcome back to Work in Progress. Today we are joined 0:00:18.600 --> 0:00:21.959 by an actor that I am such an enormous fan of. 0:00:22.600 --> 0:00:25.239 You likely know him from his award nominated role as 0:00:25.360 --> 0:00:29.639 Luke Bankole in Hulu's groundbreaking drama series The Handmaid's Tale. 0:00:30.000 --> 0:00:34.919 I was obsessed with his character in Presumed Innocent alongside 0:00:35.000 --> 0:00:38.600 Jake jillen Hal, Ruth Naga, and Peter Sarsgard. And he 0:00:38.800 --> 0:00:45.280 was absolutely hysterical in Loot alongside Maya Rudolph, and amazing 0:00:45.360 --> 0:00:48.519 on Netflix's No Good Deed with Lisa Krudiro, Ray Romano 0:00:48.560 --> 0:00:52.800 and Dennis Leary. Ot is here today to talk about art, 0:00:53.240 --> 0:00:57.080 the last season of The Handmaid's Tale, politics, parenthood, and 0:00:57.200 --> 0:01:00.480 everything in between. And I'm going to have to pick 0:01:00.520 --> 0:01:03.560 his brain about what it was like to play former 0:01:03.600 --> 0:01:08.319 President Barack Obama. Let's jump in with Otfat Bentley. 0:01:18.959 --> 0:01:20.080 How we baseball capt it? 0:01:20.440 --> 0:01:22.520 We sure did? I love it? I should have thrown 0:01:22.560 --> 0:01:23.520 my Dodgers hat on. 0:01:24.680 --> 0:01:28.240 Someone closes a gift. 0:01:27.880 --> 0:01:29.560 I don't know anything about baseball. 0:01:29.800 --> 0:01:32.440 Baseball for me is really more about going with friends 0:01:32.440 --> 0:01:34.280 and like getting the hot dog in the beer and 0:01:34.319 --> 0:01:35.440 having the experience. 0:01:36.000 --> 0:01:36.640 I'm not good in. 0:01:36.680 --> 0:01:39.080 Public, like big lots of people, like lots of people 0:01:39.120 --> 0:01:41.920 around it. I'm not I'm such a humbody. I never 0:01:42.600 --> 0:01:45.319 I never really get out very much. I'm a big 0:01:45.360 --> 0:01:48.080 basketball fan, and even like every now and then, like 0:01:48.160 --> 0:01:50.120 some opportunity to go watch your game will come up 0:01:50.160 --> 0:01:53.360 and I'll be like, I'm good in my garage right now. 0:01:53.440 --> 0:01:55.520 Yeah, I mean you can. 0:01:55.720 --> 0:01:58.400 You can see it better on ESPN. Anyway, this is 0:01:58.440 --> 0:01:58.920 what I'm saying. 0:01:58.920 --> 0:01:59.960 I don't even know what the advance. 0:02:00.760 --> 0:02:03.480 I ate uncomfortable seats, you don't get to zee all 0:02:03.480 --> 0:02:06.440 the angles, I don't know where my glasses I'm squinting. 0:02:07.120 --> 0:02:08.600 Well, what we're going to have to do at some 0:02:08.680 --> 0:02:10.760 point is get you to a Liberty game so you 0:02:10.760 --> 0:02:15.079 can see the Girlies play, because Barclay Stadium for that 0:02:15.200 --> 0:02:18.440 team is the most fun I ever have in a crowd. 0:02:18.480 --> 0:02:19.760 And I don't love a crowd either. 0:02:20.240 --> 0:02:25.959 Okay, I have not seen the Liberty play, but I've 0:02:26.000 --> 0:02:29.080 seen plenty of ladies basketball. 0:02:30.160 --> 0:02:35.080 My sister's in the w tell me, yeah, yeah, she's Oh. 0:02:34.919 --> 0:02:39.280 My goodness, it's not an overstatement to say that she 0:02:39.440 --> 0:02:42.960 is the most decorated British basketball player man or woman 0:02:43.160 --> 0:02:44.000 of all time. 0:02:45.040 --> 0:02:46.920 Wow. I thought I was going to ask you all 0:02:46.960 --> 0:02:49.400 about your shows today, and here I am being like, 0:02:49.440 --> 0:02:51.960 what's what's it like to be the brother of one 0:02:51.960 --> 0:02:53.480 of the goats? How does that feel? 0:02:54.000 --> 0:02:54.760 It feels great. 0:02:54.919 --> 0:02:57.799 I remember the first time because we I cover a 0:02:57.800 --> 0:03:00.280 basketball in family, and I remember the first time, like 0:03:00.360 --> 0:03:02.800 she took me down into the post and like, you know, 0:03:02.880 --> 0:03:05.440 like gating the old elbow and like made him lay 0:03:05.480 --> 0:03:09.200 up on me. And I was like, oh, okay, when 0:03:09.240 --> 0:03:11.320 your little sister can dunk, it's a great thing. 0:03:13.000 --> 0:03:15.359 Yeah. We used to play outdoor basketball lot and we 0:03:15.480 --> 0:03:16.000 I take it. 0:03:16.040 --> 0:03:18.000 You know, we go down to the outdoor court and 0:03:18.160 --> 0:03:20.400 there one day in particular, I remember that she was 0:03:20.440 --> 0:03:25.079 wearing like a summer dress and she was just dominating 0:03:25.200 --> 0:03:27.560 and it was just like watching these guys have to 0:03:28.760 --> 0:03:31.320 little bit of someone in a dress taking him down 0:03:31.440 --> 0:03:32.920 and like post. 0:03:32.680 --> 0:03:34.679 Moves on him. It's one of the happiest moments in 0:03:34.720 --> 0:03:35.000 my life. 0:03:35.440 --> 0:03:38.800 Oh my god, what a vibe. Yeah, that feels like 0:03:38.840 --> 0:03:42.280 the next you know, Nike Adidas commercial getting ready to go. 0:03:42.520 --> 0:03:44.920 Oh yeah, that's true. I should pitch it right one. 0:03:45.800 --> 0:03:49.360 I'm like, I'll direct that all right, this is actually 0:03:49.440 --> 0:03:52.080 a perfect segue. Well, first, where are you today? Where 0:03:52.120 --> 0:03:53.440 are you in the world right now? 0:03:53.480 --> 0:04:00.440 I'm in my garage in la in yeah, West Adams. 0:04:00.080 --> 0:04:03.000 Okay, cool? Oh, I love it. Yeah, I went to 0:04:03.120 --> 0:04:07.160 USC so I'll where then I grew it. Well, I 0:04:07.200 --> 0:04:12.200 went for a BFA in theater, all right, and everyone 0:04:12.320 --> 0:04:15.160 was great, by the way, But I you know, at eighteen, 0:04:15.280 --> 0:04:17.800 I think I just sort of thought, is all we're 0:04:17.839 --> 0:04:21.560 going to do? Sit around and question our instincts all day? 0:04:21.800 --> 0:04:24.520 I think this is really starting to make me a 0:04:24.600 --> 0:04:29.240 crazy self conscious person. And so I wound up shifting 0:04:29.960 --> 0:04:34.560 and studying journalism and political science at Annenberg Okay. And 0:04:34.640 --> 0:04:36.960 I loved it because, in this weird way, what it 0:04:37.000 --> 0:04:40.640 did was it took every movie I watched, every play 0:04:40.640 --> 0:04:44.279 that I read, and it made me really think about 0:04:44.880 --> 0:04:46.960 how does it feel grounded? How does it feel real? 0:04:47.200 --> 0:04:49.960 Every one of these stories should be the sort of 0:04:50.000 --> 0:04:53.440 story that might be covered on the news one day, right, 0:04:53.600 --> 0:04:56.919 like anybody's life can can be looked at like that. 0:04:57.080 --> 0:05:00.440 So it gave me this balance that I think I needed. 0:05:01.080 --> 0:05:05.440 You're a drama kid too, Yeah. 0:05:04.240 --> 0:05:06.960 Well I find drama kid. But basically, yes, I think 0:05:07.000 --> 0:05:08.120 probably under any definition. 0:05:08.240 --> 0:05:12.400 I started drama classes when I was around ten and 0:05:12.440 --> 0:05:15.200 then and then I was going to go study economics 0:05:15.200 --> 0:05:19.000 and politics at college. And then I, like, on a whim, 0:05:19.120 --> 0:05:21.280 almost I thought, let me try and see if I 0:05:21.279 --> 0:05:23.279 can get to drama school, which is a very unlikely 0:05:23.320 --> 0:05:26.000 thing to happen, to be honest, because in England back then, 0:05:26.600 --> 0:05:31.800 back in my day, they basically would like audition like 0:05:31.800 --> 0:05:35.720 two thousand people and they would take seventeen boys, and 0:05:36.480 --> 0:05:39.719 each year at rather they would take like one black 0:05:39.800 --> 0:05:42.760 kid like and so yeah, that was the average, and 0:05:42.800 --> 0:05:47.280 so the odds one great. Yeah, and so I didn't 0:05:47.320 --> 0:05:48.720 expect to get in, and then I did get in, 0:05:48.760 --> 0:05:50.479 and I was like, oh, I guess this is now 0:05:50.800 --> 0:05:51.680 the root of my life. 0:05:51.720 --> 0:05:53.320 So we almost went we went different ways. 0:05:53.320 --> 0:05:54.919 You started studying theater and w. 0:05:56.680 --> 0:05:57.560 And I did the opposite. 0:05:57.600 --> 0:06:01.359 So yeah, that's so funny. All right. So that's interesting 0:06:01.440 --> 0:06:04.360 because I always wonder, you know, I sit across from 0:06:04.400 --> 0:06:09.599 somebody like you, and people know your work, they've watched you, 0:06:09.640 --> 0:06:12.719 they have relationships with you based on you know, series 0:06:12.800 --> 0:06:17.520 or films or theater even and I'm always really curious 0:06:18.120 --> 0:06:20.839 if we went back in time, you know, maybe to 0:06:20.920 --> 0:06:23.520 that boy that was watching his sister dunk and address 0:06:24.120 --> 0:06:26.960 if you got to hang out with yourself when you 0:06:27.000 --> 0:06:30.320 were nine or ten years old, now, do you think 0:06:30.400 --> 0:06:32.800 you'd see the man you are today and that kid? 0:06:33.200 --> 0:06:35.120 Do you think you guys would have so much to 0:06:35.200 --> 0:06:37.560 kind of go? Ah, I get it. I see how 0:06:37.600 --> 0:06:39.400 you became this person, and you could look at him 0:06:39.440 --> 0:06:41.599 and go, holy shit, you were always like this. 0:06:42.080 --> 0:06:42.520 You know what? 0:06:43.360 --> 0:06:45.560 And this is I don't know how many of your 0:06:45.680 --> 0:06:49.240 listeners have this, but I don't have a good sense 0:06:49.279 --> 0:06:51.880 of myself as a child. I don't have a very 0:06:51.920 --> 0:06:56.520 good memory for back then. I have scattered pieces, and 0:06:56.560 --> 0:07:00.359 so I feel quite disassociated with my younger self. And 0:07:00.400 --> 0:07:03.320 it sounds weird to say, but my relationship with my 0:07:03.400 --> 0:07:07.239 younger self is similar to my relationship with my stories 0:07:07.240 --> 0:07:10.040 of my granddad before I was born, Like I feel 0:07:10.080 --> 0:07:13.120 connected to it. It's part of my history. But I 0:07:13.200 --> 0:07:16.120 find it's very untutored to think that's me. I don't 0:07:16.120 --> 0:07:18.600 have a strong connection to like there was some kid 0:07:18.600 --> 0:07:20.160 who existed and that kid. 0:07:20.040 --> 0:07:20.920 Grew to become me. 0:07:21.080 --> 0:07:25.080 But I don't, you know, it's not completely like that, 0:07:25.120 --> 0:07:27.880 but it's partly like that. That being said, so, I'm 0:07:27.920 --> 0:07:30.520 always curious and hungry to ask I was my mom, 0:07:30.600 --> 0:07:34.120 my dad, parents and family and Besina what they remember 0:07:34.120 --> 0:07:37.280 of me as a kid. And it seems like it 0:07:37.360 --> 0:07:40.000 checks out. It seems like there was no news departure. 0:07:40.160 --> 0:07:42.680 There was there was consistency, even though there isn't like 0:07:42.720 --> 0:07:44.520 a lot of memory of that consistency. 0:07:45.680 --> 0:07:49.000 Yeah, I get that. It's funny. I have that conversation 0:07:49.080 --> 0:07:52.040 with my family sometimes too. There's there's these sort of 0:07:52.120 --> 0:07:55.560 seminal moments that I remember. But then my parents will 0:07:55.560 --> 0:07:57.920 ask me about things, and sometimes I feel so bad 0:07:57.960 --> 0:08:02.080 when they go, what you don't remember this? And I'm like, no, 0:08:02.200 --> 0:08:04.600 I was probably in the backyard chasing a butterfly. I 0:08:04.640 --> 0:08:07.160 don't know what I was doing, right, I wasn't. It 0:08:07.200 --> 0:08:11.560 wasn't kind of imprinting on me. I think in the 0:08:11.560 --> 0:08:14.560 way it might have for an adult who was conscious 0:08:14.600 --> 0:08:18.000 of a moment in time or their child's achievement. You know. Now, 0:08:18.880 --> 0:08:21.040 I wonder when I look at the kids in my life, 0:08:21.120 --> 0:08:23.080 I'm like, what are you going to remember? Are you 0:08:23.160 --> 0:08:26.000 going to know that you were so obsessed with this 0:08:26.040 --> 0:08:27.840 movie and we had to watch it every night for 0:08:27.880 --> 0:08:30.680 seven months? Like or will it just be a memory 0:08:30.720 --> 0:08:31.680 in the bag. I don't know. 0:08:31.880 --> 0:08:33.640 Yeah, yeah, exactly a lot of them remember to talk 0:08:33.720 --> 0:08:35.200 like you know I have I have a three year 0:08:35.200 --> 0:08:36.320 old and a two year. 0:08:36.200 --> 0:08:39.600 Old and oh super cute. 0:08:39.640 --> 0:08:42.360 But it is interesting just going, oh, you know what 0:08:42.640 --> 0:08:47.400 feels like the majority of my life energy is focused 0:08:47.400 --> 0:08:52.160 towards pouring into them and going oh what does this 0:08:52.320 --> 0:08:54.839 mean that that you won't remember all these tips in 0:08:54.880 --> 0:08:56.800 the part and then you know, like, so what's the 0:08:56.880 --> 0:08:58.960 value of this? And you know, kind of like getting 0:08:59.080 --> 0:09:01.840 through studies and life that oh yeah, well this all 0:09:01.880 --> 0:09:04.760 does go, this all does pay into them, this all 0:09:04.800 --> 0:09:08.080 does develop something. It just won't be memories of like 0:09:08.080 --> 0:09:10.720 a thousand change diapers and that's. 0:09:10.679 --> 0:09:13.280 Weird to think. Yeah. 0:09:13.320 --> 0:09:16.560 And also, you know when adults say to you like, oh, 0:09:16.679 --> 0:09:18.640 you know, I used to change the diaper as a kid. 0:09:19.000 --> 0:09:21.319 There's nothing I find more relevant. 0:09:22.080 --> 0:09:24.200 Than what you used to do for my kids. You know, 0:09:24.640 --> 0:09:28.280 it's like, okay, great, next subject. You know so, and 0:09:28.280 --> 0:09:30.400 it's going to be like that for them, you know, okay, great, 0:09:30.480 --> 0:09:30.960 da dude. 0:09:32.600 --> 0:09:33.840 Totally. 0:09:33.880 --> 0:09:35.880 It's like the thing you would never want to say 0:09:35.880 --> 0:09:38.560 to your auntie or your grandfather is like, do you 0:09:38.600 --> 0:09:41.280 think about it when you piss. Of course you don't. 0:09:41.679 --> 0:09:44.200 Maybies don't think about it, But I think it's so 0:09:44.400 --> 0:09:47.640 fascinating what you're saying. You know that the reality that 0:09:47.760 --> 0:09:53.920 repetitive affection or encouragement or certain kinds of speech create 0:09:54.520 --> 0:10:00.400 safety agency awareness in children. And it's such a trip 0:10:00.480 --> 0:10:03.079 to have littles in your life. My partner's kids are 0:10:03.360 --> 0:10:09.480 four and almost three, and to watch what they become 0:10:09.760 --> 0:10:13.440 based on what they watch, the ways they develop, what 0:10:13.559 --> 0:10:17.040 they're conscious of when things kind of hit them. And 0:10:17.080 --> 0:10:20.800 then you see that milestone day where a thing you've 0:10:20.800 --> 0:10:24.960 repeated a thousand times clicks and then they make this leap. 0:10:25.720 --> 0:10:30.439 It's like, I can't believe we were ever that small. Yeah, 0:10:30.480 --> 0:10:32.240 and then you look around and go, holy shit, now 0:10:32.240 --> 0:10:33.280 we're the grown ups in the room. 0:10:33.320 --> 0:10:37.559 Oh my god, I know the development of consciousness. 0:10:37.600 --> 0:10:39.160 Like one of the things that came to me watching 0:10:39.320 --> 0:10:42.240 my kid grow up is that, like, actually, preference is 0:10:42.280 --> 0:10:44.520 a huge part of personality. Do I like the blue 0:10:44.520 --> 0:10:46.480 of the yellow? Do I like this music? Like dancing 0:10:46.520 --> 0:10:48.319 or not dancing? This feel of that food? And actually, 0:10:48.400 --> 0:10:51.560 like a lot of what one might call personality is 0:10:51.600 --> 0:10:54.520 actually preference, and it's and it's fascinating to me to 0:10:54.559 --> 0:10:57.199 see that at six months old, you know, like that 0:10:57.720 --> 0:11:02.800 straight noodle is absolutely unacceptable, and I will if I 0:11:02.800 --> 0:11:04.719 don't have that, you know, And so where did these 0:11:04.760 --> 0:11:06.839 preferences come from? And you know, it goes one of 0:11:06.880 --> 0:11:10.800 my big fascinations, of philosophical fascinations is free will and 0:11:11.440 --> 0:11:14.040 and what goes to that is choice. Why do we 0:11:14.080 --> 0:11:16.040 make the choices we do? And to what extent can 0:11:16.080 --> 0:11:17.439 we change the choices we make? 0:11:17.520 --> 0:11:17.960 And stuff? 0:11:18.679 --> 0:11:22.000 Yeah, oh that's a nice heavy one. That's a conversation 0:11:22.160 --> 0:11:25.360 I love. I'm curious for you. Where do you think 0:11:26.080 --> 0:11:28.079 when you kind of reflect on that stuff? You know, 0:11:28.120 --> 0:11:32.880 the agency, the choice growing up in a basketball family, 0:11:33.559 --> 0:11:39.040 where do you think your agency or desire around performance 0:11:39.120 --> 0:11:41.920 came from. Were you a really bookish kid. Did you 0:11:41.960 --> 0:11:44.400 love to read and then want to see books come 0:11:44.440 --> 0:11:47.440 to life? Or were you watching movies going I'm going 0:11:47.480 --> 0:11:47.960 to do that. 0:11:48.600 --> 0:11:48.800 You know. 0:11:49.960 --> 0:11:51.600 Again, I don't know a lot of my childhood so 0:11:51.640 --> 0:11:54.000 but but I do get some of a sense that 0:11:54.040 --> 0:11:55.800 I was a bit of performing keep But I also 0:11:55.840 --> 0:11:58.520 come from a family of storytellers. Telling stories is a 0:11:58.520 --> 0:12:00.760 big part of our family, and I come from very 0:12:01.000 --> 0:12:03.680 both my parents are very demonstrative in the way they 0:12:03.679 --> 0:12:04.080 tell sorties. 0:12:04.080 --> 0:12:06.559 So all of that is relatively natural to me. 0:12:06.720 --> 0:12:09.280 But it wasn't always a dream of mine to become 0:12:09.280 --> 0:12:11.880 an actor, Like I was going to do economics and politics. 0:12:11.920 --> 0:12:15.160 So and that's eighteen. So up until that age, it 0:12:15.240 --> 0:12:16.040 never entered my. 0:12:16.080 --> 0:12:19.520 Mind that I would do anything apart from either some 0:12:19.600 --> 0:12:22.319 type of economists, politics, sociology that parent that was my interest, 0:12:22.400 --> 0:12:24.720 or basketball and unfortunately I wasn't skilled or tall enough 0:12:24.720 --> 0:12:25.079 for that one. 0:12:25.160 --> 0:12:30.920 So and so, actually, you know, and it's it's interesting. 0:12:30.960 --> 0:12:34.320 I'm meant, I'm a mentor to some young people, and 0:12:34.400 --> 0:12:37.640 it's interesting this idea of like doing what you're passionate about, 0:12:37.640 --> 0:12:39.640 and of course, like I really liked that thing, but 0:12:39.679 --> 0:12:42.720 it wasn't what I was most passionate about. It was 0:12:42.760 --> 0:12:45.440 what I think I was most uniquely best at, and 0:12:45.520 --> 0:12:48.240 my passion for it grew as. 0:12:48.120 --> 0:12:50.360 I dedicated more and more of my life to it. 0:12:50.520 --> 0:12:53.240 And so so it's interesting because it kind of came 0:12:53.280 --> 0:12:56.320 the other way around to it. I I was I 0:12:56.360 --> 0:13:00.160 had some talent, and then because of that talent, I eventually, 0:13:00.480 --> 0:13:03.960 about six years in, started applying myself and through dedication 0:13:04.400 --> 0:13:07.160 came more passion and passion came dedication in a virtuous circle, 0:13:07.840 --> 0:13:08.600 right right. 0:13:08.679 --> 0:13:12.280 It's like it's like when you learn to till soil, 0:13:12.480 --> 0:13:14.680 the garden is so much more fruitful. Right. 0:13:15.120 --> 0:13:18.439 Well, I know nothing about goding unfortunately, so. 0:13:19.320 --> 0:13:22.400 I don't know a lot about it. But as as 0:13:22.440 --> 0:13:25.080 they do. Now, you know, our devices and our phones 0:13:25.120 --> 0:13:28.200 and everything's always listening. So now that I'm beginning to 0:13:29.400 --> 0:13:31.880 dig a little deeper past the research I did a 0:13:31.880 --> 0:13:34.120 few years ago when I decided I wanted to be 0:13:34.160 --> 0:13:36.720 a beekeeper, and I just wanted to know what would 0:13:36.840 --> 0:13:40.320 please the bees outside. Now I'm trying to learn more 0:13:40.440 --> 0:13:45.640 about how those ecosystems work, and now everything every time 0:13:45.679 --> 0:13:48.480 I open any electronic device, it's like, did you know 0:13:48.559 --> 0:13:51.240 this interesting fact about coastal Rosemary? Would you like to 0:13:51.320 --> 0:13:54.000 learn how to build a vegetable box? And I'm like yes, 0:13:54.120 --> 0:13:55.800 but also this is so creepy. 0:13:56.360 --> 0:13:58.040 Yeah, but you know what I'm what was really mixed 0:13:58.080 --> 0:14:01.240 feeling about these kind of like Bess spoke algorithms, because 0:14:01.240 --> 0:14:03.079 on one side it's creepy, but on the other side, like. 0:14:03.280 --> 0:14:05.560 If you're gonna give me if commercials. 0:14:04.920 --> 0:14:07.160 Are a fact, then don't you I don't want to 0:14:07.160 --> 0:14:09.040 watch a come much about some random thing that's not 0:14:09.080 --> 0:14:11.400 interesting to me, Like, give me a commercial about something 0:14:11.440 --> 0:14:13.640 I'm you know, sometimes I go on someone else's YouTube, 0:14:13.679 --> 0:14:14.920 I'm looking for a video and I'm like. 0:14:14.880 --> 0:14:17.120 What is this trash? Like I'm not interested in that? 0:14:17.360 --> 0:14:17.560 You know. 0:14:17.880 --> 0:14:21.720 So I'm actually not I'm not too against it. Obviously 0:14:22.040 --> 0:14:25.120 at a point it can become like intrusive. But yeah, 0:14:25.200 --> 0:14:27.960 if i'm in bees, give me the bee keeping. So wait, 0:14:28.000 --> 0:14:29.840 why did you Is it an environmental thing or you 0:14:29.840 --> 0:14:30.560 just wanted your own. 0:14:30.480 --> 0:14:33.760 Honey, I had always wanted to do it. I think 0:14:33.800 --> 0:14:38.240 it came from environmental passion. And you know, I grew 0:14:38.320 --> 0:14:41.920 up in LA and I spent most of my childhood 0:14:41.960 --> 0:14:45.200 all up and down you know, central California, California coast. 0:14:45.800 --> 0:14:51.400 I love the mountains and learning about how to sort 0:14:51.400 --> 0:14:53.480 of stand up for nature. It was so important to me. 0:14:54.040 --> 0:14:55.760 And then I just sort of knew I had this 0:14:55.840 --> 0:14:57.640 weird thing where I was like, when I'm grown up, 0:14:57.680 --> 0:15:00.280 I'm going to be a beekeeper. And then my realized, shit, 0:15:00.360 --> 0:15:03.200 I'm a grown up, so maybe I should start. And 0:15:03.240 --> 0:15:05.840 so I decided to plant the things I knew the 0:15:05.880 --> 0:15:09.200 bees would love so that I could work with this 0:15:10.560 --> 0:15:16.000 nonprofit in LA that would bring a beehive over. Essentially, 0:15:16.040 --> 0:15:17.600 you can sign up so when they have to get 0:15:17.600 --> 0:15:20.960 a be a swarm out of like a building or 0:15:21.240 --> 0:15:23.240 somebody's backyard or whatever, they'll bring it. 0:15:23.600 --> 0:15:26.240 I'll just throw it in that way. How much space 0:15:26.280 --> 0:15:28.600 do you need? What's the minimum amount of space to have. 0:15:29.360 --> 0:15:31.640 You don't need a ton of space. What you need 0:15:31.880 --> 0:15:35.720 is they have to go more than three miles from 0:15:35.760 --> 0:15:38.360 where they were taken, or they'll go right back. They 0:15:38.360 --> 0:15:43.520 have really intense basically like b GPS is perfect. And 0:15:45.040 --> 0:15:48.440 so the coolest part of it was I planted this 0:15:48.480 --> 0:15:50.920 whole garden. It was my big COVID project. Is stuck 0:15:50.960 --> 0:15:53.880 at home? What am I going to do? And one 0:15:53.960 --> 0:15:57.040 day the guy's helping me finish these like terraces I 0:15:57.120 --> 0:15:58.760 was doing. Run up to the house and they go, 0:15:59.360 --> 0:16:01.360 we have to stop. We have to stop. There's a 0:16:01.600 --> 0:16:05.760 huge beehive in the base of the woodpile. And now 0:16:05.760 --> 0:16:07.760 that we've gotten down there, we see it. We don't 0:16:07.760 --> 0:16:08.960 know how long they've been there. We have to call 0:16:09.000 --> 0:16:12.840 an exterminator. And I was like, I was like, this 0:16:12.920 --> 0:16:15.440 is my field of dreams. I built it and they 0:16:15.520 --> 0:16:21.680 came Wow. So we rescued my own bees. Wow, the 0:16:21.840 --> 0:16:24.000 not to go for No, it's crazy. And what I 0:16:24.040 --> 0:16:26.640 learned is you can only move them up to twenty 0:16:26.720 --> 0:16:30.520 four inches a day, because essentially it's like they think 0:16:30.520 --> 0:16:32.160 they've come home a little drunk and they can't get 0:16:32.160 --> 0:16:34.160 their key in the front door. They're like, wait a second, 0:16:34.720 --> 0:16:37.120 this isn't this my house? Oh yeah, this is my house. 0:16:37.440 --> 0:16:39.480 But if you move them any more than that, they'll 0:16:39.480 --> 0:16:41.560 just start to rebuild the hive right where it was, 0:16:41.920 --> 0:16:44.760 Or if you move them more than three miles, it 0:16:44.840 --> 0:16:46.400 resets them and they'll stay put. 0:16:46.920 --> 0:16:47.680 We can't get back. 0:16:48.200 --> 0:16:50.920 One of my other one of my interests, which I 0:16:50.920 --> 0:16:53.720 wish I was smarter about, is like being intelligence, like 0:16:53.800 --> 0:16:56.920 ads intelligence. I feel like the metrics and the way 0:16:57.000 --> 0:17:01.480 we kind of like conceive of intelligence just isn't appropriate 0:17:01.720 --> 0:17:04.600 for the way bees and ants and but it's just 0:17:04.720 --> 0:17:07.360 clear that they have all the hallmarks of what we think, 0:17:07.400 --> 0:17:12.080 you know, problem solving and normal situations and like the adaptability, 0:17:12.119 --> 0:17:14.760 and it's just I'm just fascinated by it because I 0:17:14.760 --> 0:17:18.400 can't bring my head around to properly conceive of how 0:17:18.680 --> 0:17:21.320 their intelligence collective intelligence works. 0:17:21.880 --> 0:17:25.600 It's truly incredible and by the way, knowing that you 0:17:26.240 --> 0:17:31.480 have a passion for politics, as do I bees are studying. 0:17:31.520 --> 0:17:34.000 Bees will teach you so much about how we should live. 0:17:34.720 --> 0:17:37.680 They work as such a team and as such a unit, 0:17:37.720 --> 0:17:41.320 and their hives are these societies and everybody takes roles. 0:17:41.400 --> 0:17:45.840 And I remember, you know, during the fires, not at 0:17:45.840 --> 0:17:48.080 the top of this year, but probably three or four 0:17:48.160 --> 0:17:51.320 years ago, there was a crazy fire season in LA 0:17:51.560 --> 0:17:54.240 that backed up to summer, so it was like over 0:17:54.280 --> 0:17:57.720 one hundred degrees out and the bees would line up 0:17:57.800 --> 0:18:00.520 on the edge of the hive and flap their wings 0:18:00.560 --> 0:18:04.520 to blow colder air inside to cool the hive and 0:18:04.680 --> 0:18:07.720 keep the queen safe. And they would take turns, almost 0:18:07.720 --> 0:18:11.520 like penguins do in the freezing cold, you know, going 0:18:11.680 --> 0:18:14.119 to the outside of the huddle to keep each other warm. 0:18:14.160 --> 0:18:17.239 And I was like, wow, they really just know how 0:18:17.280 --> 0:18:19.639 to show up for each other emotional. 0:18:20.640 --> 0:18:23.280 Yeah, that is incredible, My goodness cool. 0:18:23.720 --> 0:18:26.679 And I don't know, maybe maybe it really resonates with 0:18:26.760 --> 0:18:31.040 me too, because for us as actors, you know, you're 0:18:31.080 --> 0:18:33.200 just one of the many hundreds of people on a set, 0:18:33.320 --> 0:18:36.199 right I think special magic. 0:18:38.359 --> 0:18:41.000 I'm the queen bee. 0:18:41.080 --> 0:18:44.719 Okay, I kind of got a wake up goal. When 0:18:44.760 --> 0:18:46.840 I did my first short film, which is like over 0:18:46.880 --> 0:18:50.199 a decade ago now, and I did think the actors 0:18:50.200 --> 0:18:51.200 were special in the set. 0:18:51.240 --> 0:18:53.639 I think were consciously or unconsciously. I was just like, 0:18:53.840 --> 0:18:55.600 I'm a very important part of this situation. 0:18:56.040 --> 0:19:00.280 And then I made this short film and it really 0:19:00.359 --> 0:19:03.680 just humbled me because being a director, all the things 0:19:03.680 --> 0:19:07.160 that actors complain about, like being brought in like three 0:19:07.160 --> 0:19:10.800 hours before your the scene starts, and you know, and 0:19:10.800 --> 0:19:13.600 then all the other people on the set, the focus pullar, 0:19:13.720 --> 0:19:15.960 the sound guy, all of these people are. 0:19:15.840 --> 0:19:17.080 As important to me as my actors. 0:19:17.080 --> 0:19:19.640 And yeah, sure my act is super important, but if 0:19:19.640 --> 0:19:22.080 you have to wait around, mis director while we wait 0:19:22.119 --> 0:19:25.159 for you're can wait around. And it just it really 0:19:25.280 --> 0:19:28.959 just kind of like opened my eyes, my little yeah 0:19:29.280 --> 0:19:33.119 yeah selfcized to like, oh, there is a bigger picture 0:19:33.160 --> 0:19:34.040 out here and you are. 0:19:34.080 --> 0:19:37.840 Just one b in the high that's it. It really 0:19:37.920 --> 0:19:40.399 is a hive and it has to function as a system. 0:19:40.800 --> 0:19:43.120 And now a word from our sponsors that I really 0:19:43.240 --> 0:19:52.479 enjoy and I think you will too. I remember not 0:19:52.520 --> 0:19:57.520 necessarily being disillusioned with our job, but on my first show, 0:19:57.680 --> 0:20:00.360 which you know, we thought would go two or three years, 0:20:00.400 --> 0:20:03.280 and then we did nine seasons like when do you 0:20:03.320 --> 0:20:06.639 ever know that's going to happen? In our seventh season, 0:20:06.640 --> 0:20:10.760 I started directing okay, and in the most interesting way, 0:20:11.000 --> 0:20:14.400 it made the whole show, even though we were seven 0:20:14.520 --> 0:20:17.159 years into this place, these characters. It made the whole 0:20:17.200 --> 0:20:19.920 thing feel brand new for me. It made me feel 0:20:20.000 --> 0:20:24.919 so inspired, so lucky to do what we do it. 0:20:24.920 --> 0:20:29.320