Speaker 1: You're listening to playback a Variety podcast. I'm your host,
Speaker 1: Variety Awards editor Chris Tapley. My guest today is the
Speaker 1: EMI winning Oscar nominated star of films and series like Trumbo,
Speaker 1: Breaking Bad, Argo and Hbos All the Way. His new film,
Speaker 1: Last Flag Flying is a topical drama from director Richard
Speaker 1: Linklater and author Daryl Poison that examines the war weary
Speaker 1: soul of a country that seems hell bent on making
Speaker 1: the same mistakes over and over again. It is opening
Speaker 1: the New York Film Festival this year. His name is
Speaker 1: Brian Cranston and he's right here. Brian, thanks for coming
Speaker 1: on the show. How are you, Chris? I'm good. Often
Speaker 1: I will ramp up into the movie at hand, but
Speaker 1: I really want to dive in on this one because
Speaker 1: I love this film. Uh. It is from an author
Speaker 1: that I really love as well. I don't know, have
Speaker 1: you read many of Darryl Ponnickson's books, Well, just kind
Speaker 1: of know what. When I knew I was going to
Speaker 1: do this, I wanted to go back and read Last
Speaker 1: Detail and uh, and then Last Flag Flying was also
Speaker 1: you know, in the same Vivieau. In fact, it's a
Speaker 1: it's a sequel as as a sequel to Last Detail,
Speaker 1: and those are the only Took books I've read so far.
Speaker 1: He did another one called Tom Mis Died for Our
Speaker 1: Sins that I wholeheartedly recommend. It's like this adventure tall
Speaker 1: tale kind of imagining biography of Tom Mix classic cowboy
Speaker 1: of old and uh, he just has such a way
Speaker 1: with words, you know, And that's that's why I gravitated
Speaker 1: towards his work to begin with. And then I tracked
Speaker 1: down Last Flag Flying. I read it before I saw
Speaker 1: the film. It's a hard book to find, actually, yeah,
Speaker 1: I guess it. It had maybe one printing. And now
Speaker 1: they're like they go for eighty bucks a pop or
Speaker 1: something if you can find. They're coming out with her
Speaker 1: coming out version. I wanted to read it before I
Speaker 1: saw the movie, though, because I was curious about what
Speaker 1: your you guys were gonna do. And uh, as I say,
Speaker 1: he's got such a great way with words, and it's
Speaker 1: a dialogue heavy story, and I note I recognized that
Speaker 1: when I was reading the book, and as well when
Speaker 1: I read the Last Detail has the same vibe. You
Speaker 1: can understand why, you know, how Ashby was interested in
Speaker 1: making that into a movie. Years ago, and I didn't
Speaker 1: realize until I saw the film that this was perfect
Speaker 1: for Richard Lincolater. It didn't strike me while reading the book,
Speaker 1: but when I saw the film, I was like, Oh,
Speaker 1: this is such a hangout movie, you know what I mean.
Speaker 1: It's it's it's like Days and Confused or Boyhood or
Speaker 1: the before movies where you can just kind of hang
Speaker 1: out with these characters and have conversations about life and stuff.
Speaker 1: So I'm curious what you thought about that quality of
Speaker 1: the film. No, that's really what attracted me to the screenplay.
Speaker 1: The idea of working with with Rick was I on
Speaker 1: my list. But if if the screenplay didn't measure up,
Speaker 1: then you know, I would say, well maybe maybe the
Speaker 1: next one. You know. Um So, this one really struck
Speaker 1: a chord, and knowing that it was intended to be
Speaker 1: a sequel, but um Jack retired and you know, Randy's
Speaker 1: off in Canada somewhere, and the other actor, I'm sorry
Speaker 1: I'm blanking on his name, but he he passed away,
Speaker 1: so there wasn't going to be a sequel of the
Speaker 1: last detail. Um So, Rick wanted to take this same milieu,
Speaker 1: the same sensibility of three men with a history in
Speaker 1: the military and who reconvene for another task, and in
Speaker 1: this case it's Um to help the youngest member of
Speaker 1: the trio, Doc played by Steve Carrell, to to bury
Speaker 1: his son. And my character, Sal is one of those
Speaker 1: knee bouncing, kind of all consuming kind of guy, never
Speaker 1: shuts up. Uh. It can be charming, but he can
Speaker 1: also be incredibly irritating. Um. He's one of those guys
Speaker 1: who would have been diagnosed as bipolar and a d
Speaker 1: h D and and anything else. But he's constantly eating
Speaker 1: or smoking or drinking. He's he just wants everything. He
Speaker 1: consumes life in every form. He says no to nothing
Speaker 1: and UM. So it was a lot of fun to
Speaker 1: play and Rick, you know, as a master at being
Speaker 1: able to separate the characteristics of each character and and
Speaker 1: tell you what your lane is. And by staying in
Speaker 1: those lanes, Fish and Steve and I were able to
Speaker 1: have a blast. We would do what was written in
Speaker 1: and we improvd a lot. And UM really bonded during
Speaker 1: this movie. Yeah, as you say, the script was written,
Speaker 1: they went away from doing just a full blown sequel,
Speaker 1: although they maintained many of the same story beats uh,
Speaker 1: But nevertheless, you know. And also it's interesting because Last
Speaker 1: Flag Flying the book was actually more of a sequel
Speaker 1: to the movie than the book because Kurdusky dies in
Speaker 1: the book but not in the movie, and he's alive
Speaker 1: and well and he explains that page one and Lass
Speaker 1: Flag Flying. But uh, you know, given that it's not
Speaker 1: a sequel per se, you still are playing but dusky
Speaker 1: of a fashion, I guess is a way to put it.
Speaker 1: So did you look at Nicholson at all or did
Speaker 1: you just stay away from that? And how did you
Speaker 1: and Rick talk about making this character his own guy?
Speaker 1: You know, Nicholson is such an indelible personality that I
Speaker 1: certainly didn't want to go back and revisit the movie
Speaker 1: and see what he did because it would seep into
Speaker 1: the performance. Um, I don't want to do a poor
Speaker 1: imitation of the great Jack Nicholson. So I wanted to
Speaker 1: do a poor imitation something else. Um No, I just
Speaker 1: wanted to kind of find out who that guy was.
Speaker 1: And you know, for me, the character of sal is
Speaker 1: consumed is all consuming, but for a reason he's um.
Speaker 1: He's trying to drown out the demons that seemed to
Speaker 1: try to rise up within him. And he found that
Speaker 1: if he drinks enough and self medicates enough, then I
Speaker 1: think it it staves off those those that viciousness and
Speaker 1: and he can cope with the day. Um. He's not
Speaker 1: a very um, you know, self reflecting kind of person.
Speaker 1: He is one that's ready for a party, ready for action,
Speaker 1: ready a fight, ready for something anything, because I think
Speaker 1: that's his connection to feeling, and that's his humanity. It's
Speaker 1: it's in instant kind of gratification. He's almost a throwback
Speaker 1: to a child like um personality that he wants that
Speaker 1: that energy, that excitement right now because I don't know
Speaker 1: what's going to happen tomorrow, but right now, I allow
Speaker 1: I want to feel it. And it contrasts really nicely
Speaker 1: with the brilliant job that Steve Correll did with Doc,
Speaker 1: who he had such courage to just sit in it
Speaker 1: and and be that person and not feel he has
Speaker 1: to emote, not feel, he has to drive the energy
Speaker 1: or the story just to let it evolve. And then
Speaker 1: contrast that with Lawrence Fishburne and his brilliant work and
Speaker 1: the way he was standing in judgment of sal and
Speaker 1: trying to forget the past and his culpability to it. Um,
Speaker 1: and he too, I think was hiding behind what he
Speaker 1: has now become as a member of the church, and
Speaker 1: I think he was not wanting to remember the bad
Speaker 1: things that happened back in Vietnam when we were babies.
Speaker 1: And You're exactly right about just the contrasting UH styles
Speaker 1: and the different lanes to be in. And you three
Speaker 1: actors as well, I mean, you, Stephen Lawrence seemed like
Speaker 1: very different personalities. So I'm curious what the what was
Speaker 1: the camaraderie, Like you said, he got along great, but
Speaker 1: just what was downtime like on the set, you know,
Speaker 1: between takes, what was what was that vibe like for
Speaker 1: the three of you. It was a lot of fun,
Speaker 1: you know. I was having so so much fun being
Speaker 1: sal being just a jerk in many ways and getting
Speaker 1: away with innuendo and things like that. That, Um, it
Speaker 1: was fun to do that. Um Ule Vasquez is another
Speaker 1: great actor I've worked with before on The Infiltrator and
Speaker 1: he played the colonel in this um in this film
Speaker 1: that we have to appeal to Um off screen, Yule
Speaker 1: is a very funny guy and he was keeping us
Speaker 1: laughing as well, and so it was it was a
Speaker 1: fun set. It was a light set. We're all we've
Speaker 1: all been doing this for quite some time, and Rick
Speaker 1: is so easy going and his manner of direction is miniscule.
Speaker 1: You know, he wanted to We talked about it early on.
Speaker 1: We had about a weaker ten days of rehearsal where
Speaker 1: we just read through it and whatever um it conjured,
Speaker 1: as far as uh suggestions or changes or bumps along
Speaker 1: the way, we were able to voice that. And what
Speaker 1: he agreed with he corrected, and what he didn't he
Speaker 1: gave justification to it. So we then realized, good, good, right, Okay,
Speaker 1: I see that's you know, so we had a really
Speaker 1: good understanding before any of the cameras were rolling. We
Speaker 1: shot this in Pittsburgh, and um, it was a blast.
Speaker 1: It was really a lot of fun. One of the
Speaker 1: things that you know, we we got together a few times,
Speaker 1: we went to a Pittsburgh Steelers game. We also um
Speaker 1: when we gathered a whole group of us gathered to
Speaker 1: watch the results on election night in November of last
Speaker 1: year sixteen. And yes, yes, it was quite a shocking,
Speaker 1: quite a shocking that No, it was. I know, Steve
Speaker 1: and I were chatting a lot in the car ride
Speaker 1: over and in the car ride home, neither one of us. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I imagine. Well regarding Steve, actually, his range is so interesting,
Speaker 1: specific typically this year, because he's also in this film
Speaker 1: Battle of the Sexes, playing you know, much broader character
Speaker 1: and Bobby Riggs and you're right, his kind of quietude
Speaker 1: in this film and just it's interesting to see the
Speaker 1: choices he continues to make as he branches out as
Speaker 1: a film star now and he's there, he's I was
Speaker 1: so impressed with with him in and just dropping into
Speaker 1: that guy and being and it really works so well
Speaker 1: because the three different energies that these three men bring
Speaker 1: to this story and orchestrated by Rick link Ladder, you know,
Speaker 1: he just is a a great, great orchestra leader and
Speaker 1: brought it all together and it's it's it's a really
Speaker 1: important film. Yeah, it's a male bonding film, but it's
Speaker 1: very emotional. Women are gonna like this movie because they're
Speaker 1: seeing men vulnerable and raw at times, um honest as
Speaker 1: all the way through. Yeah. Well, on that note, I mean,
Speaker 1: I was reminded of the film again recently when our
Speaker 1: Commander in chief announced his for lack of a better word,
Speaker 1: strategy uh for the ongoing Afghanistan conflict, and the characters
Speaker 1: in this film they talk rather directly and frankly about
Speaker 1: America's repeated mistakes in war, and uh, you know, there's
Speaker 1: certainly a cynical view taken of the pageantry and the
Speaker 1: dishonesty that kind of keeps the military this shining thing
Speaker 1: beyond reproach. And I feel like those elements of the
Speaker 1: movie are very intriguing today and promises the film will
Speaker 1: resonate in some way today. I'm just curious your thoughts
Speaker 1: on how a film like this will resonate in this climate. Well,
Speaker 1: I think the backdrop of the film is that. And
Speaker 1: what these men had in common was that they were
Speaker 1: all in Vietnam together. Mueller, Lawrence Fishburn's character and my
Speaker 1: character Sal were in the Marines and really tight buddies,
Speaker 1: excuse me. And Doc was a Navy medic who was
Speaker 1: assigned to this Marine Corps battalion, and um, we kind
Speaker 1: of took advantage of him as the story and got
Speaker 1: ahold of his medical case and in there we found
Speaker 1: all kinds of goodies and you start to realize, well,
Speaker 1: they did this to self medicate, to be able to
Speaker 1: put a lot of the troubles that they were facing,
Speaker 1: the the ther responsibility of excuse me, of of their
Speaker 1: commanding officers. Um, there's there's a disenchantment that is naturally
Speaker 1: present with many military personnel. And yet I just finished
Speaker 1: a USO tour where I was on army basis and
Speaker 1: air Force bases in Germany and Great Britain, and I
Speaker 1: gotta tell you, I was really impressed with these men
Speaker 1: and women in the military. Um, the bright and personal
Speaker 1: and personable and respectful, and I came away thinking better
Speaker 1: of them and not to be so derisive of the
Speaker 1: younger generation. And you know there's been a lot said
Speaker 1: about that younger generation. You know, they just show up
Speaker 1: and they want a trophy, that kind of thing, and no,
Speaker 1: the good ones will rise to the top, just like
Speaker 1: any other generation. And UM, I gave me a lot
Speaker 1: of faith it. You know, your your role in the
Speaker 1: military when you sign up is to follow orders, and
Speaker 1: you can't not do that. There has to be control
Speaker 1: and order, and you just hope that the people at
Speaker 1: the top, the people who are making the decisions, UM
Speaker 1: that may put you in harm's way, are doing so thoughtfully,
Speaker 1: respectfully and and sometimes painfully. Making those decisions and if
Speaker 1: there's a lot of trust to that. Uh. And also
Speaker 1: I just I revisited an interview you and I did
Speaker 1: a couple of years ago around Trumbo when, uh, you know,
Speaker 1: Trump had just recently at that point announced his intention
Speaker 1: to run and everything, so it was all very different
Speaker 1: climate at the time. But your quote to me was
Speaker 1: that he was a quote wake up call for America.
Speaker 1: I just wonder, this sounds like such a cheesy question,
Speaker 1: but are we still asleep? Um? You know, in my
Speaker 1: in my estimation, yes, I think I think there has
Speaker 1: to be um less of a focus on the individual
Speaker 1: and more of a focus on what is best for
Speaker 1: our country and and by extension of that by the world.
Speaker 1: We're so interconnected financially globally, the climate change. I just
Speaker 1: can't believe people are denying this reality. Um. But um.
Speaker 1: The other thing that I learned when I was doing
Speaker 1: All the Way and playing Lyndon Johnson was that during
Speaker 1: his time there was a lot more civility in politics.
Speaker 1: That it was very common actually for men and women
Speaker 1: in Congress on the opposite side of their ideological fence
Speaker 1: to be able to share drinks together and and meals
Speaker 1: and meet their families and have picnics and all these
Speaker 1: things was a group effort, Republicans and Democrats alike. And
Speaker 1: by doing so, by breaking bread with the opposing team,
Speaker 1: let's say, um, when it comes time to work out
Speaker 1: a deal, you are less likely to throw that person
Speaker 1: under the bus because you know, Yeah, I like him.
Speaker 1: I I don't think he's out to destroy the country.
Speaker 1: I don't think he's a an insane person. Uh. He
Speaker 1: and I just have a different approach of how we
Speaker 1: see the the avenue to to improve the country. Okay,
Speaker 1: So if he's a good guy and I believe that
Speaker 1: he loves the country, and I believe he believes that
Speaker 1: I love the country, well, then let's sit down and
Speaker 1: figure this out without the name calling, without the vitriol,
Speaker 1: without the aggression that we find now it is so
Speaker 1: bad now, and the the stakes are high, but it
Speaker 1: is so the climate is so bad that Chris, if
Speaker 1: you and I were in opposite parties and you had
Speaker 1: a fantastic idea that would really help the country, I
Speaker 1: can't support it. I it's I I can't cross it
Speaker 1: doesn't Yeah, and that has to change. That really has
Speaker 1: to change. It's not about individuals winning it's about what's
Speaker 1: best for the country. And if we can get back
Speaker 1: to that and infuse it with with more civility, I
Speaker 1: think will be better off. Well put Well, I want
Speaker 1: to squeeze some other things in here. Squeeze. Let's squeeze.
Speaker 1: We have a couple other movies here in this year.
Speaker 1: You're in this remake of the in Touchables called The
Speaker 1: Upside with Kevin Hart that played the Toronto Film Festival. Kevin,
Speaker 1: if they can bottle that guy's energy, I would buy
Speaker 1: it in a store everybody. In fact, he's thinking of
Speaker 1: how to bottle his energy right now. He is entrepreneurial
Speaker 1: by nature. He is a clean liver, he's a hard worker. Um.
Speaker 1: He is really really good in this movie The Upside.
Speaker 1: And I knew he would. I didn't know before I
Speaker 1: met him. I'll be honest, because of you know, the
Speaker 1: stand up was funny, but it was kind of open
Speaker 1: and brash, and here it is and this story he
Speaker 1: needs to really drop down and expand his foundation and
Speaker 1: and really be real and honest and not performing. And
Speaker 1: we met a few years ago and I said, you know,
Speaker 1: this is not a comedy and he goes, no, I know,
Speaker 1: And I realized within probably five to ten minutes, he
Speaker 1: was not only in control, but he knew what to do,
Speaker 1: why he was wanting to do it, and he knew
Speaker 1: how to do it. And I just got a sense
Speaker 1: of absolute confidence from him that he was going to
Speaker 1: do a really good job. And it's true in many
Speaker 1: cases that comedians can make really good dramatic actors. The
Speaker 1: opposite is not necessarily the truth. Dramatic actors cannot just
Speaker 1: roll in and do comedy. So he has that going
Speaker 1: for him, so that his natural ability to be affable
Speaker 1: and friendly and fun comes out. And there's a lot
Speaker 1: of laughs in the upside, But what really makes it
Speaker 1: work is when he feels the weight of the character
Speaker 1: and the responsibility and the trouble that his character is in,
Speaker 1: and how does he navigate his way out of it.
Speaker 1: The upside is really it's kind of I call it.
Speaker 1: It's it's a it's a love story between two straight men.
Speaker 1: Neither one thinks that they have a future, and it's
Speaker 1: the other person that has the key to unlock that thinking,
Speaker 1: and it's that friendship that enables both of them to feel, ah,
Speaker 1: this is now, I can go on and live my life.
Speaker 1: And it and make it something, make it important. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you're also in The Disaster Artists. You play a it's
Speaker 1: a little cameo version of yourself. And you've worked with
Speaker 1: James Franco a few times now. How does he strike
Speaker 1: you as a director. Well, he's good. I like him
Speaker 1: as a director because you know, there's a sense, like
Speaker 1: Richard link Ladder, Um, he wants to cast it well
Speaker 1: and make sure that his actors understand the role. Make
Speaker 1: sure you're you know, the the avenue that I want
Speaker 1: this character to go down. And as long as you're
Speaker 1: both understanding that, then he lets you alone. He'll he'll
Speaker 1: trust that you get there. Um. So I worked in
Speaker 1: The Disaster Artist, which I haven't seen yet, which is yeah,
Speaker 1: I have not seen it yet. I've been out of
Speaker 1: town for every screening. Um did you see The Room?
Speaker 1: I saw The Room, which is phenomenal. It is just
Speaker 1: a wonderful movie in all for all the wrong reasons.
Speaker 1: Um uh yeah, and this is this is you know,
Speaker 1: a story about the making of the Room, and um
Speaker 1: it was. It was a tremendous amount of fun. And
Speaker 1: of course we we acted together. Uh in the movie
Speaker 1: Why Him that came out last Last Christmas, which is
Speaker 1: a blast to make and uh, I love dogs. I
Speaker 1: wanted to just briefly mention working with Wes Anderson on
Speaker 1: that you've frequently throughout your career you've done voice work.
Speaker 1: How does that work strike you? I guess is it?
Speaker 1: It seems like the kind of thing you could kind
Speaker 1: of shift down and kind of you think, you know,
Speaker 1: you'd think be exactly, But that's why I wanted do
Speaker 1: you speak to it? Yeah, you know, an actor has
Speaker 1: to go through so many hoops. We're grateful to be
Speaker 1: where we are, but when you're working on camera, you
Speaker 1: have to physically go to out of the country. You
Speaker 1: have to where do wardrobe calls and makeup calls and
Speaker 1: hair call, and you're up early and you're there all
Speaker 1: day and and so there's a lot of logistics to it,
Speaker 1: and that can be trying because hours are long in
Speaker 1: many cases. Um and then you have an offer to
Speaker 1: do a film where it's just your voice and it
Speaker 1: will take about, oh about a collective twenty hours in
Speaker 1: the booth. You're close to home, you don't you can
Speaker 1: roll out of bed, you don't have the shower, you
Speaker 1: don't have to shave. You could be in your pajamas
Speaker 1: and you're there in front of the microphone. So the
Speaker 1: idea of it is very enticing to many actors, male
Speaker 1: and female. The issue is is that when you get
Speaker 1: in front of the microphone, you realize, you know what
Speaker 1: this this is a performance, This is not any different
Speaker 1: from any other performance. And then you start asking and
Speaker 1: reviewing the script and with the director and and talking
Speaker 1: about the character and where does the character. So I
Speaker 1: find it very challenging to be able to convey a
Speaker 1: fully realized character using only your voice. Um. And so
Speaker 1: you'll find most actors if you see videotape of actors
Speaker 1: doing voice work for a movie, you'll see them acting
Speaker 1: it out and really being present. And that's to make
Speaker 1: themselves feel good that they're contributing and and delivering a
Speaker 1: full performance. Yeah, regarding the pajamas thing, I bet the
Speaker 1: sound guys would kind of prefer you show up in pajamas.
Speaker 1: I heard the story from my sound editing instructor in
Speaker 1: the film school about Rutger Hauer showing up to a
Speaker 1: looping session all leather, every little crackle. Can you take
Speaker 1: off your jacket? He's like, no, okay, it's funny. I
Speaker 1: have to talk about Breaking Bad, because I'm sure you're
Speaker 1: asked about it constantly. But it's my favorite show still
Speaker 1: in recent memory. I just it had me hooked. I
Speaker 1: was desperate for the next week's episode. Do you miss
Speaker 1: the energy of that show? Being on that show? Working
Speaker 1: on that show? I miss the brilliant writing. I miss
Speaker 1: the camaraderie and love of the family that you make
Speaker 1: um for six years, six months out of the year.
Speaker 1: For six years, we're with this group of people, cast
Speaker 1: and crew, and you go through life. You go through
Speaker 1: marriages and divorces, and births and deaths, and high school
Speaker 1: and college graduations. From when they started they were little kids,
Speaker 1: so you go through a lot and and I missed
Speaker 1: the storytelling. But I must be honest that I don't
Speaker 1: really miss playing Walter White in the show. And the
Speaker 1: reason is the brilliance of Vince Gilligan and his writing
Speaker 1: staff wrote such a complete and satisfying beginning, middle, and
Speaker 1: end to the story that the only way I can
Speaker 1: equate it is that if you had a beautiful meal
Speaker 1: appetizer and a drink and a salad and a main
Speaker 1: course and a dessert and a little espresso after after dinner,
Speaker 1: durnk Oh. It's just fantastic and you're done, and then
Speaker 1: someone brings you more food. It's like, oh, no, I
Speaker 1: I I really I'm good. I can't possibly, I'm kind
Speaker 1: of I'm I'm feeling really good. If I ate anymore,
Speaker 1: I would not feel good. Um, And I think that
Speaker 1: it would I look at it like gluttony. It would
Speaker 1: be too much. It ended so perfectly that it was like, oh,
Speaker 1: very satisfying. So instead of reopening that and and I've
Speaker 1: been asked many times, are you going to do any
Speaker 1: more breaking bads? And I'm thinking the enemy died? You
Speaker 1: remember if he died, It's like maybe they want you
Speaker 1: on better call. So you've you've you've mentioned before like
Speaker 1: how how you envision something like that being just like
Speaker 1: a brief encounter And that's something really honest and small,
Speaker 1: and yeah, what are the odds we would see something
Speaker 1: like that happen? I don't know. I think that could
Speaker 1: be pretty good, but I don't know as at this point,
Speaker 1: I really, I honestly don't know what they're thinking. I mean,
Speaker 1: I think it should be in the last year, right,
Speaker 1: it should be in the last year, last episode maybe,
Speaker 1: but it's you know, if Peter Gould, who was running
Speaker 1: the show with Vince Gill again, it's so they're they're
Speaker 1: both so dedicated to and protective of the show and
Speaker 1: the and the you know, the authenticity of it, and
Speaker 1: and they don't want to do anything that would make
Speaker 1: it cheesy and stupid. And that's why I think that
Speaker 1: if Walter White shows up on Better Call Saul, it
Speaker 1: would be more honest if it was just a passing,
Speaker 1: just a brush by, something, a little engagement, and that
Speaker 1: would be honest because then two years later or whatever,
Speaker 1: how much later they wouldn't recognize each other. It was
Speaker 1: how many people do we pass by or leave the
Speaker 1: coffee counter or whatever and we don't recognize them? Again? Yeah, exactly,
Speaker 1: something something like that. But I do know that if
Speaker 1: they called, I'd be there. Uh. Note to Vince. The
Speaker 1: last thing I wanted to ask was just the evolution
Speaker 1: of TV. You've probably been asked this before, You've Uh.
Speaker 1: I could just read off a list here that I
Speaker 1: made actually, Chips, Air, Wolf, Hill Street Blues, Baywatch, Falcon, Chrest,
Speaker 1: Matt Luck, l A Law, Seinfeld, Walker, Texas, Ranger, Chicago, Hope,
Speaker 1: x Files, Viper, that show Viper, which I actually loved
Speaker 1: when it was out. You've been a TV throughout your career,
Speaker 1: You've been you had a first front row seat for
Speaker 1: this evolution of TV to what it is now, and
Speaker 1: I just want to know your thoughts on that evolution.
Speaker 1: I think it's wonderful. Um, audiences now are far more
Speaker 1: sophisticated than they were in the late seventies when I started.
Speaker 1: All through the eighties. You know, the shows that a
Speaker 1: lot of the shows that you mentioned are shows that
Speaker 1: that would be laughed at right now. It's it had
Speaker 1: its time and purpose, but they were simplistic, and they
Speaker 1: weren't sophisticated. They weren't filled with nuance and idiosyncrasies of characters.
Speaker 1: They were more distinctively white hats or black hats. And um,
Speaker 1: that's just not believable. And audiences demand a higher quality
Speaker 1: of writing and performance and production values, and they're getting
Speaker 1: it the outlets now. You know, as a producer now
Speaker 1: I have I have three shows with Amazon, and I
Speaker 1: love those people over there because they want to have
Speaker 1: a high quality output of production. But yet they don't
Speaker 1: step on the creative process. They tell you what is
Speaker 1: wrong in their notes or what they're confused about or
Speaker 1: they'd like to see more of, and then they leave
Speaker 1: it up to you to deliver the goods to make
Speaker 1: the actual creation work. And and I love that, And
Speaker 1: you know, I'll continue to do UM television and film
Speaker 1: and theater. I'm going to do a play in London
Speaker 1: at the end of this month. UM We've already started
Speaker 1: rehearsing and it's going to be Patty Chayevsky's Network brought
Speaker 1: to a live theater at the National Theater in London.
Speaker 1: And so that happens from November to the end of
Speaker 1: next year March of eighteen. And you're playing I play
Speaker 1: Howard Beale as Hell, and I'm not going to take
Speaker 1: it anymore. And on television, I just finished doing Curb
Speaker 1: Your Enthusiasm. I wanted to ask you about that because
Speaker 1: I just saw the trailer and you show up in
Speaker 1: the trailer. How was that? It's fantastic. I can't wait
Speaker 1: for that to come back. You know, I learned a
Speaker 1: lot about comedy from Larry David, from Jerry Seinfeld and
Speaker 1: Julie and Jason, and being able to be on Seinfeld
Speaker 1: and watch how and they crafted a joke like it
Speaker 1: was like they were architects. I mean truly, it was
Speaker 1: refining the timing, the beat, and you know that's that
Speaker 1: sentence is not getting a lamp because there's one too
Speaker 1: many words in it. Take this out and now do
Speaker 1: it perfect good. It was just just really brilliant. And
Speaker 1: so when Larry invited me to join the cast of
Speaker 1: you know this season, uh for an episode, I jumped
Speaker 1: as I don't care, I don't even I didn't even
Speaker 1: ask what the character is. Just I'll tell me when
Speaker 1: to show up and I'll be on your show. I'm
Speaker 1: honored to be on the show. And it's very funny,
Speaker 1: and the and the production of it is a blast.
Speaker 1: You know, you have Jeff Garland and and you know
Speaker 1: Richard and everybody who's just so funny, and you know,
Speaker 1: it's it's I can't wait to see it myself. Yeah,
Speaker 1: is it? Is it a character? Or are you getting yourself?
Speaker 1: It is it is a character. I'm not playing myself.
Speaker 1: I wait for that. Well again. This movie is Last
Speaker 1: Flag Flying. It is opening the New York Film Festival
Speaker 1: tonight and it opens in theaters November. The Disaster Artist
Speaker 1: is December one. And the upside, I think we're we're
Speaker 1: waiting to find out a day. Upside is going to
Speaker 1: have a qualifying period at the end of this year
Speaker 1: and then it open sometime in the first couple of
Speaker 1: months of next year. There you go, keep an eye
Speaker 1: out for that and check out curb your enthusiasm when
Speaker 1: it's on TV. I guess go to London if you
Speaker 1: want to go see Network. I'll try to make it
Speaker 1: out there myself. I'd love to see you as Outward Bill. Anyway,
Speaker 1: his name is Brian Krasson. Thanks again for coming on
Speaker 1: the show, Sarah. Chris ask the question, am willing just
Speaker 1: surrendered to God? What the hell happened? The mule or
Speaker 1: the mall? First class drink? We have some visitors among
Speaker 1: does here today. We were in the service together with
Speaker 1: your past there. I haven't seen these minute decades. Was
Speaker 1: a dog period in my life that went down awfully quick.
Speaker 1: Drinking for tuna. You've got old and boring shue down
Speaker 1: a lout on me because of my son. I came here.
Speaker 1: How do you guys? A year ago we joined the
Speaker 1: Cores and then two days ago they told me that
Speaker 1: he had been killed. It's gonna be buried in Arlington,
Speaker 1: And I was wondering if you guys could come with me. Yeah,
Speaker 1: called to you just God for second desert. Why I'm
Speaker 1: taking Larry home with all due respects her. He deserves
Speaker 1: to lie Arlington. You're gonna take that that kind of
Speaker 1: making fun cutting off your nose despite your face. Did
Speaker 1: you look at these faces? They've already been spidered. I
Speaker 1: thought we were going to a funeral. We are going
Speaker 1: to a funeral. It just looks like it's gonna take
Speaker 1: a little longer to get there. If you're gonna do
Speaker 1: drap the cop into the roof of your call, we
Speaker 1: could do that thing that made Larry different from the
Speaker 1: rest of us. He had happ Oh said that if
Speaker 1: there's one minute that's not too terrible, I'd like to
Speaker 1: try to enjoy it. As homeless can hardly walk, let
Speaker 1: alone handle a big rig with a hydraulic loop. This
Speaker 1: is a rental with an automatic transmission. You guys ready
Speaker 1: for an adventure. Let's go when you I love it.
Speaker 1: It's like the official center of the city. Didn't it
Speaker 1: come into you here and out of you. You're worried
Speaker 1: too much. That's why your hair went so great? Could
Speaker 1: you resist a man in this uniform? I don't think
Speaker 1: I could be there for your brothers. That's all it
Speaker 1: really matters. Get out of the okay you want to play,
Speaker 1: let's play. Hey killed, I won't bury your has a
Speaker 1: right