WEBVTT - Robert John Burke 0:00:00.240 --> 0:00:08.200 Hi, my name is Robert John Burke and I played 0:00:08.240 --> 0:00:19.760 Bart Bass on Gossip Girl. Welcome back, listeners to your 0:00:19.760 --> 0:00:23.239 one and only source into all things gossip Grow you 0:00:23.280 --> 0:00:29.480 know you love it. XO x O. Hello, Hello, and 0:00:29.520 --> 0:00:33.600 welcome back to XO XO. With me Jessica's or today 0:00:33.680 --> 0:00:36.880 we have quite the treat. The famous Bart Bass, also 0:00:36.960 --> 0:00:40.159 known as Robert John Burke, is on the podcast. Now. 0:00:40.200 --> 0:00:43.760 We all know Bart was not the best dad, proving 0:00:43.760 --> 0:00:45.879 many times that you can't just buy a father of 0:00:45.880 --> 0:00:49.440 the Year award. But Robert could not be further from 0:00:49.440 --> 0:00:53.040 his character. I am telling you he's kind, humble, and 0:00:53.080 --> 0:00:56.520 self described more of a rufus. This was such a 0:00:56.520 --> 0:00:59.880 fun conversation. Robert and I talked about playing a character 0:01:00.480 --> 0:01:04.440 so different from himself, working with Kelly Rutherford and Ed Westwick, 0:01:04.760 --> 0:01:07.800 funny fan interactions, and of course what it was like 0:01:07.880 --> 0:01:10.800 to die, come back to life and die again. Supposedly 0:01:11.200 --> 0:01:28.440 you never really know with Bart. Here's Robert, now, can 0:01:28.440 --> 0:01:33.160 you hear me? I can hear you, I can hear you. 0:01:33.600 --> 0:01:36.400 I'm just really bad with technology. I just don't get it. 0:01:36.520 --> 0:01:38.440 I would wear it as a badge of honor, just 0:01:40.400 --> 0:01:42.720 I mean, it's just nuts. And it's so funny because 0:01:42.760 --> 0:01:45.240 now in this day and age, you feel like everything's 0:01:45.280 --> 0:01:47.080 at a click of a button and it should be easy, 0:01:47.440 --> 0:01:49.760 but there's always like fifteen buttons to that one to 0:01:49.840 --> 0:01:51.800 make it work, and I'm like, it's too much for me. 0:01:51.920 --> 0:01:54.840 So I was just on the phone with my twenty 0:01:54.920 --> 0:01:57.720 year old sons, one of whom took my Mac to 0:01:57.800 --> 0:02:00.920 the city today, and I'm like, dude, how do I 0:02:01.000 --> 0:02:04.240 do so unless I have those guys around, like my 0:02:04.320 --> 0:02:07.440 little tech men? Yeah. No, technology is certainly not making 0:02:07.440 --> 0:02:10.400 our lives easier. It's just promoting more stress. But that's okay. 0:02:10.400 --> 0:02:12.839 We're here. I can hear you, Yes, I can hear you. 0:02:12.960 --> 0:02:16.760 I'm excited to hear that very specific and beautiful voice 0:02:16.800 --> 0:02:21.200 of yours. Yeah, it's been so long. I mean lately, 0:02:21.280 --> 0:02:23.519 I've been seeing your face so much because I'm doing 0:02:23.560 --> 0:02:27.760 these rewatches, which have been quite interesting and fun and 0:02:28.800 --> 0:02:30.839 very wild to me because I just didn't I knew 0:02:30.880 --> 0:02:34.359 what we were doing, but I also really didn't. I'm 0:02:34.400 --> 0:02:38.200 on that same line. Yes, yeah, So wait, how old 0:02:38.240 --> 0:02:40.720 are your kids now? Because that age twenty is like 0:02:40.880 --> 0:02:44.359 very much what people still are very like dialed into 0:02:44.440 --> 0:02:47.440 the to the show. Yeah, there's a whole new generation 0:02:47.480 --> 0:02:51.040 I think dialed in. My oldest is twenty eight and 0:02:51.160 --> 0:02:56.560 my youngest is twenty two. Amazing. That's fun. Yeah, when 0:02:56.600 --> 0:03:00.520 my when my oldest was in high school, the show 0:03:00.600 --> 0:03:04.320 was on and that brought him. You know. He's like, 0:03:04.560 --> 0:03:06.840 he said to me one day, He's like, do you 0:03:06.840 --> 0:03:08.600 really have to be on that show? And I was like, 0:03:08.720 --> 0:03:11.040 what's the problem And he's like, I don't know. I 0:03:11.120 --> 0:03:13.359 just you know, I said, Oh, are you getting scrutiny 0:03:13.440 --> 0:03:16.079 or you getting He's like yeah, And I was like, dude, 0:03:16.120 --> 0:03:18.640 if my father was on television, I wouldn't have a 0:03:18.680 --> 0:03:22.000 problem with that, But apparently he's a very like low 0:03:22.080 --> 0:03:24.840 key guy, and uh he did not, Like, you know, 0:03:24.919 --> 0:03:27.360 you don't want anybody, I don't know if you're looking 0:03:27.400 --> 0:03:29.560 into your life in a certain way, especially when it's 0:03:29.600 --> 0:03:33.000 maybe a parent. But also like, this show wasn't just 0:03:33.080 --> 0:03:34.960 like a show where your dad's on TV. You were 0:03:34.960 --> 0:03:38.280 playing Chuck Bass's dad, Bart Bass, that's very flashy, very 0:03:38.280 --> 0:03:40.800 well known, and everyone was very obsessed with that family. 0:03:40.840 --> 0:03:44.160 So it was a very like big moment for you know, Yeah, 0:03:44.320 --> 0:03:48.160 it was. And so you know, I've uh subsequently found 0:03:48.240 --> 0:03:51.320 that you know, it's like there's a new generation of 0:03:51.840 --> 0:03:55.280 people turning onto the show, and certainly with the pandemic, 0:03:55.320 --> 0:03:59.720 people were watching and binging and so yeah, renewed interest 0:03:59.800 --> 0:04:02.760 and uh and I think it holds up actually the truth. 0:04:02.920 --> 0:04:06.720 So yeah, we keep finding that and each like each 0:04:06.760 --> 0:04:09.280 of these rewatches and going back and watching, we're like, Wow, 0:04:09.320 --> 0:04:11.320 there's just certain things where it was ahead of its 0:04:11.360 --> 0:04:14.400 time or a lot of storylines that people can relate 0:04:14.440 --> 0:04:16.960 to even outside of it being in this like flashy 0:04:17.160 --> 0:04:20.960 gossip Girl Upper east Side world. But I'm gonna introduce 0:04:21.000 --> 0:04:24.360 you quick, even though everyone on that the listening definitely 0:04:24.400 --> 0:04:26.719 knows your voice and your name and who you who 0:04:26.760 --> 0:04:29.320 you are, but just and because I'm just so excited 0:04:29.360 --> 0:04:32.159 that you're here. We have Robert John Burke, who played 0:04:32.200 --> 0:04:35.719 the amazing Bart Bass, this super rich, sometimes a villain, 0:04:35.760 --> 0:04:40.560 but always complex Bart Bass on Gossip Girl. You've been 0:04:40.640 --> 0:04:44.000 in television and film for over forty years, starring in 0:04:44.120 --> 0:04:47.919 classic shows and movies and just been around in a 0:04:47.960 --> 0:04:50.640 familiar face to so many people, and so many people 0:04:50.640 --> 0:04:52.840 are such a big fans of your work on from 0:04:53.000 --> 0:04:55.640 from a show like Gossip Girl or Tombstone to Good 0:04:55.720 --> 0:04:59.400 Night and good luck shows like Rescue Me. So what 0:04:59.440 --> 0:05:03.320 was your to acting? Why did you want to pursue 0:05:03.839 --> 0:05:07.679 It's just kind of a weird uh stumbling into it. Um, 0:05:07.720 --> 0:05:10.160 I wasn't much of a student in high school. I 0:05:10.200 --> 0:05:13.680 wasn't really passionate about anything, you know. I wasn't a 0:05:13.680 --> 0:05:17.080 good student history and English, yes, math and science is bad. 0:05:17.440 --> 0:05:21.039 And then we there was this experimental improvisation class in 0:05:21.120 --> 0:05:24.320 my high school. Um d Falco was like two years 0:05:24.320 --> 0:05:26.680 younger than me, and she was in the class with me, 0:05:26.920 --> 0:05:29.640 and so I kind of liked that. I kind of 0:05:29.680 --> 0:05:34.320 responded to that. And then I I auditioned for scholarships 0:05:34.360 --> 0:05:38.080 at different places and and I just oh, rather than 0:05:38.120 --> 0:05:40.240 go to my senior year of high school, I travel 0:05:40.360 --> 0:05:44.760 the country with this larked regional theater. And they couldn't 0:05:44.760 --> 0:05:47.000 pay me because I was a student, but they gave me. 0:05:47.640 --> 0:05:50.400 In seventy seven, they gave me a hundred and fifty 0:05:50.440 --> 0:05:53.440 dollars in cash a day to eat with. That was 0:05:53.480 --> 0:05:55.760 my per diem. And I was like, I couldn't. I 0:05:55.800 --> 0:05:58.520 couldn't eat ten dollars worth the food, you know, a day. 0:05:58.600 --> 0:06:00.880 So I came home with all this yea, and my 0:06:00.960 --> 0:06:04.039 dad all my sisters and brothers were in medicine. He said, 0:06:04.080 --> 0:06:05.600 what are you going to do? And I said, I'm 0:06:05.600 --> 0:06:08.640 going to be an actor, and and the three famous 0:06:08.640 --> 0:06:11.000 words where he said to me, he goes, A fucking 0:06:11.080 --> 0:06:13.600 what And I said an actor and he goes, we 0:06:13.800 --> 0:06:15.600 don't do that. We don't even know anybody who does that. 0:06:15.600 --> 0:06:17.560 I said, well, I'm gonna try. He said, can you 0:06:17.600 --> 0:06:19.320 go to school for that? And I said yes, And 0:06:19.520 --> 0:06:21.120 I went to a couple of different colleges, but then 0:06:21.160 --> 0:06:24.680 I settled at Sunni Purchase, which had a really strong 0:06:24.760 --> 0:06:29.520 acting conservatory, and yes, I graduated from there. And then 0:06:29.839 --> 0:06:32.560 I actually took five years away from acting. I was 0:06:32.600 --> 0:06:37.720 a contractor. I was school teacher. That's incredible. I didn't 0:06:37.720 --> 0:06:40.000 know you were a school teacher. I knew about being 0:06:40.040 --> 0:06:43.440 a firefighter. Well, no, that came later. I was a 0:06:43.440 --> 0:06:46.960 security guy at a club called Nels years ago. And 0:06:47.279 --> 0:06:50.240 so then a guy I went to college with named 0:06:50.680 --> 0:06:53.600 Hal Hartley. He was doing independent films. He was going 0:06:53.640 --> 0:06:56.360 to shoot his first and he said, would you like to, 0:06:56.760 --> 0:06:58.679 you know, do the lead? And I was like, yeah, sure. 0:06:59.440 --> 0:07:01.760 I was built being a deck down on the battery 0:07:01.800 --> 0:07:03.640 for a client. And I said, how long is this 0:07:03.680 --> 0:07:06.240 going to take? You said eleven days. I was like, oh, 0:07:06.320 --> 0:07:08.800 you know, that's a long time. So we did it 0:07:08.880 --> 0:07:11.800 and then Mirramax bought it and I went on a 0:07:11.840 --> 0:07:16.040 publicity thing and that was thirty six years ago. So 0:07:16.560 --> 0:07:20.160 I've been really lucky just in terms of swimming in 0:07:20.200 --> 0:07:23.720 the middle in my career and always working, you know, 0:07:23.960 --> 0:07:26.960 and I like the autonomy of being able to do 0:07:27.040 --> 0:07:29.880 what I want. You know. It's like, you can't play 0:07:29.920 --> 0:07:33.200 a cyborg robot. Sure I can, you know, or you 0:07:33.240 --> 0:07:36.360 can't play. So nobody really cared what I did, which 0:07:36.440 --> 0:07:38.640 was fun because I got to do different things. But 0:07:38.680 --> 0:07:42.040 that's also why they really did care because you know, yeah, 0:07:42.080 --> 0:07:45.560 I guess because I'm meaning how talented you are. Well, No, 0:07:46.360 --> 0:07:48.920 I've been, like I said, lucky. I think my luck 0:07:49.000 --> 0:07:51.800 is the residue of just preparation, you know, just being 0:07:52.000 --> 0:07:55.600 super prepared. That goes back to the conservatory training, never 0:07:55.680 --> 0:07:59.160 being late, trying to be early, even for technical things 0:07:59.240 --> 0:08:02.520 like this, which inevitably screw up on my end. It 0:08:02.640 --> 0:08:05.200 was like, how do I know you were good? Because 0:08:05.680 --> 0:08:08.240 trust me, you were fine. So yeah, that's how I 0:08:08.280 --> 0:08:09.680 fell and I kind of just fell into it. I 0:08:09.680 --> 0:08:12.280 was supposed to be a police officer. My parents were 0:08:12.280 --> 0:08:16.440 both from Ireland. We were raised in Washington Heights in Manhattan. 0:08:16.480 --> 0:08:19.120 So if you were like first generation Irish, like being 0:08:19.160 --> 0:08:21.720 a firefighter wasn't even held up to you. Just you're 0:08:21.720 --> 0:08:24.000 gonna You're gonna be a police officer and that's all 0:08:24.040 --> 0:08:26.520 there is to it. And I was like, okay, so 0:08:26.680 --> 0:08:28.960 I avoided that. I play a lot of police officers. 0:08:29.000 --> 0:08:31.160 But yeah, I was lucky. I was lucky to be 0:08:31.200 --> 0:08:34.760 an artist. I was lucky. Just so. I love your 0:08:34.800 --> 0:08:37.880 whole story and and like how you fell into it 0:08:38.080 --> 0:08:40.000 or got into it, or how you it became a 0:08:40.040 --> 0:08:42.480 passion of yours in a way, and how you did 0:08:42.960 --> 0:08:46.120 all these other jobs that you know, probably you learned 0:08:46.160 --> 0:08:48.040 so much from as an actor, but are also really 0:08:48.400 --> 0:08:51.480 great in life. You know. Yeah, I mean to be 0:08:51.480 --> 0:08:55.199 a firefighter. And the firefighter came in in two thousand 0:08:55.280 --> 0:08:58.360 and two. My best friend was a fire captain in 0:08:58.360 --> 0:09:02.120 the city who fell one and that really hurt me. 0:09:02.400 --> 0:09:06.360 That hurt everybody, obviously on a geopolitical scale. So I 0:09:06.360 --> 0:09:08.280 thought to myself, what can I do, Like, what can 0:09:08.280 --> 0:09:11.640 I do a p I'm not doing something bullshitty, And 0:09:12.080 --> 0:09:15.000 you know, signing a check and saying that I'm going 0:09:15.080 --> 0:09:17.760 to do something. I'm going to dedicate my life to 0:09:17.880 --> 0:09:20.360 his memory. And that's what I did. I took you know, 0:09:20.720 --> 0:09:24.080 in the volunteer Fire Service seventy percent. I think of 0:09:24.120 --> 0:09:29.079 the country's volunteer and after nine eleven, you know, Osha, them, 0:09:29.080 --> 0:09:33.439 Homeland Security, everybody piled on with all the certification and 0:09:33.520 --> 0:09:36.120 so you know, gone where the days when old Jimmy 0:09:36.160 --> 0:09:38.280 will show you what to do. And we have a 0:09:38.280 --> 0:09:42.760 tremendous academy here in Suffo County, Long Island. The instructors 0:09:42.760 --> 0:09:44.680 are all f D and Y guys, so you're getting 0:09:44.679 --> 0:09:48.760 great instruction and it's a passion. That's another passion that 0:09:48.920 --> 0:09:52.480 is so incredible though, Robert, I never thought I would 0:09:52.520 --> 0:09:54.800 have the opportunity to do this, and I've been doing 0:09:54.800 --> 0:09:57.080 it for twenty years now, so it's been great. That 0:09:57.280 --> 0:09:59.840 is beautiful. Yeah, I'm like, wow, I need to do 0:10:00.000 --> 0:10:05.640 are just volunteer and you just yeah, did you have 0:10:05.679 --> 0:10:08.439 a new little one? I do. I have a little 0:10:08.600 --> 0:10:15.760 little baby girl eighteen months. Congratulations a little Well, it's 0:10:15.800 --> 0:10:23.120 a life changing, amazing enough. Well thanks for two years. Yeah, yeah, wow, 0:10:23.360 --> 0:10:26.240 I know, it's it's so life changing and amazing. And 0:10:26.559 --> 0:10:28.959 that's also kind of why I decided to do this 0:10:28.960 --> 0:10:33.160 this podcast one, because the fans were so good and really, 0:10:33.320 --> 0:10:35.199 you know, love this show so much and gave so 0:10:35.280 --> 0:10:37.960 much support to us to the way they responded and 0:10:38.000 --> 0:10:41.400 acted to it. And I had a new baby and 0:10:41.440 --> 0:10:43.240 I was like, maybe I can do this with this 0:10:43.280 --> 0:10:45.400 production team and my heart and still be able to 0:10:45.440 --> 0:10:47.760 be by my baby girl instead of road so much 0:10:47.760 --> 0:10:50.000 with her. But yeah, so this ended up working out. 0:10:50.080 --> 0:10:53.760 But I think it's wild when you're talking about all 0:10:53.800 --> 0:10:56.600 these You played police officers a lot, and you know 0:10:56.800 --> 0:11:01.080 your firefighter, and then on Gossip Girl you play this 0:11:01.600 --> 0:11:04.160 millionaire this you know and I have a We had 0:11:04.160 --> 0:11:07.440 a lot of people right in asking did Robert model 0:11:07.480 --> 0:11:11.080 Bart bass on any real life millionaire or ceo. No, 0:11:12.240 --> 0:11:16.679 I'm gonna be very candid and say that I had 0:11:16.720 --> 0:11:20.360 trouble playing that character. Of all the characters I've ever played, 0:11:20.440 --> 0:11:22.839 I had the most trouble playing him. And the only 0:11:22.880 --> 0:11:27.120 reason was because I kind of my upbringing in our 0:11:27.160 --> 0:11:29.800 lives when I was young was so modest. Okay, like 0:11:30.600 --> 0:11:32.920 what would I say modest? Like we didn't have a 0:11:32.920 --> 0:11:35.720 lot of money, I mean modest and so there was 0:11:35.800 --> 0:11:37.839 some part of me as an artist that just didn't 0:11:37.920 --> 0:11:40.679 buy me as a billionaire, you know what I mean? 0:11:40.720 --> 0:11:42.960 And no, I don't know, because you did such a 0:11:43.000 --> 0:11:46.959 good job, like maybe he was insecure. Maybe Bart was. 0:11:47.480 --> 0:11:49.640 I mean, guys who have that much money and really 0:11:49.920 --> 0:11:52.640 need to um. There's an old saying he was an 0:11:52.720 --> 0:11:55.920 ego maniac with an inferiority complex. You know, there's that 0:11:56.040 --> 0:11:59.840 conflict always inside. But you know, I would have done 0:11:59.880 --> 0:12:02.320 a lot differently, I think now when I look back 0:12:02.320 --> 0:12:05.840 at hindsight, what do you mean though? You know, oh gosh, 0:12:06.120 --> 0:12:09.160 I'm not going to be speaking or or bemoaned or anything. 0:12:09.200 --> 0:12:12.640 But I just sometimes I look at some of the performances, 0:12:12.679 --> 0:12:14.560 I said, well, why were you doing that? You should 0:12:14.559 --> 0:12:16.760 have just done nothing. You should have just like you 0:12:16.800 --> 0:12:18.560 were pushing or you know what I mean. I just 0:12:18.800 --> 0:12:22.360 I don't know. I never had a full comfortable sense 0:12:22.960 --> 0:12:25.440 of the carrot. Well, no that's not true. That's overstating it. 0:12:25.520 --> 0:12:27.800 But I could have been more comfortable playing him. I 0:12:28.160 --> 0:12:31.280 was uncomfortable. I don't know. It's hard to say. I 0:12:31.280 --> 0:12:34.600 find that so interesting though, because it came across to 0:12:34.720 --> 0:12:37.240 so many people. Anyone that watches it this, you know, 0:12:37.480 --> 0:12:39.920 to me, you were that millionaire that's CEO. And when 0:12:40.000 --> 0:12:42.720 people were writing in to ask that question, like did 0:12:42.720 --> 0:12:44.559 he base anyone off of I didn't. I wasn't sure 0:12:44.559 --> 0:12:47.320 because I'm like, he might have went and dug super 0:12:47.360 --> 0:12:50.480 deep into some CEO you know that we all know of, 0:12:50.600 --> 0:12:52.680 because you just played it so well, the way you 0:12:52.720 --> 0:12:56.640 wore the suit, the way you talked. There was one guy, um, actually, 0:12:56.679 --> 0:13:00.240 Ian Schrager. He's an hotel here and at restaurant tour 0:13:00.240 --> 0:13:03.200 and I watched him once in a restaurant and just 0:13:03.280 --> 0:13:06.520 the way he held himself and looked I thought, oh, 0:13:06.640 --> 0:13:09.520 oh yeah, people work for that dude. And he was 0:13:09.600 --> 0:13:13.520 very relaxed and very graceful. I should say, Um, twice 0:13:14.040 --> 0:13:16.520 I was in an elevator where someone drunk got in 0:13:16.640 --> 0:13:20.240 and said to me, Mr Schrager, I worked for you once, 0:13:20.280 --> 0:13:24.240 and it's like, I'm the guys like fifteen years older, 0:13:24.320 --> 0:13:26.160 but him, I did. Yeah. I thought he had like 0:13:26.200 --> 0:13:28.959 a kind of an elan and you know, just this 0:13:29.600 --> 0:13:34.880 like a masterful kind of poiser. So no, nobody specifically, 0:13:35.200 --> 0:13:39.439 nobody specifically, right, Yeah, I just I felt like that. 0:13:39.480 --> 0:13:44.319 And even your relationship with Chuck and how that affects, 0:13:44.600 --> 0:13:48.200 you know, Chuck's how he interacts with people and his 0:13:48.320 --> 0:13:52.000 behavior and his kind of like insecurities and things like that. 0:13:52.040 --> 0:13:55.600 I feel like, we're so he did such a great 0:13:55.679 --> 0:13:58.600 job playing Chuck, but I think it was played off 0:13:58.679 --> 0:14:01.120 of how you brought part to life and such a 0:14:01.720 --> 0:14:05.680 in such a way that it was bleeding into Chuck's storylines. 0:14:05.720 --> 0:14:08.600 And we used to laugh when they yell cut. You know, 0:14:08.679 --> 0:14:13.000 I'd say something really like really hurtful to him and 0:14:13.000 --> 0:14:15.160 and he'd teld me to go, you know, f off, 0:14:15.200 --> 0:14:19.800 and they'd say cut, and we just start laughing, and 0:14:19.800 --> 0:14:24.320 it would be like fucking bost at Jesus uh, because 0:14:24.600 --> 0:14:26.960 what we're doing is we're commenting on the writing and 0:14:27.000 --> 0:14:31.640 how hurtful and how destructive and how dysfunctional, and of 0:14:31.680 --> 0:14:33.720 course Chuck's the way he is, you know what I mean. 0:14:34.360 --> 0:14:37.440 I mean it was just so it was deep and 0:14:37.440 --> 0:14:39.640 it was there was definitely dark moments where I was like, 0:14:39.680 --> 0:14:42.360 that's like hard. And I do feel like there's layers 0:14:42.440 --> 0:14:46.200 of that relationship of it kind of shows where it's like, okay, 0:14:46.280 --> 0:14:49.000 they they this kid drives a limo and can you 0:14:49.040 --> 0:14:51.960 know they have a private investigator on speed dial. I 0:14:52.000 --> 0:14:55.400 mean that's wild. Yeah, but that's the way those guys operate. 0:14:55.480 --> 0:14:58.640 I mean there's family fixers and you know, uh, we 0:14:58.760 --> 0:15:00.680 clean up the mess and me it ly and we 0:15:00.800 --> 0:15:03.000 pay very handsomely for it. So a lot of that 0:15:03.120 --> 0:15:07.000 running true, especially in um oh Brother where Bart though. 0:15:07.480 --> 0:15:10.480 I think he had that fixer, Yeah, Andrew Tyler. I 0:15:10.520 --> 0:15:12.760 think his name was, I can't remember his name. Yeah 0:15:12.760 --> 0:15:14.720 he was yeah, yeah, I think he was your p 0:15:14.840 --> 0:15:16.720 I and that's yeah. And then Ed tried to go 0:15:16.920 --> 0:15:18.640 or Chuck tried to go by him to say, hey, 0:15:18.680 --> 0:15:21.440 what what did my what did my dad want from you? 0:15:21.640 --> 0:15:23.640 Before he got in the car to go get Lily. 0:15:23.840 --> 0:15:26.440 And even the fixer for a price gives up the 0:15:26.640 --> 0:15:30.800 you know, it's like everything, everything is mercenary, everything is capitalistic, 0:15:31.200 --> 0:15:33.880 you know, and every man for himself. So I think 0:15:34.160 --> 0:15:36.960 Chuck gets what he wants, and the fixer guy he 0:15:37.000 --> 0:15:40.280 gets the money. And but yeah, Chuck, uh, Ed had 0:15:40.400 --> 0:15:43.800 his work cut out for him, just in terms of yeah, 0:15:43.840 --> 0:15:47.720 in general, in general, his mother dies early, his father 0:15:47.880 --> 0:15:51.320 kind of blames him for it, and yeah, always in 0:15:51.360 --> 0:15:54.320 the father's shadow, you when you contemplate that, of course 0:15:54.320 --> 0:15:56.120 he's going to be kind of a mess trying to 0:15:56.160 --> 0:15:59.120 struggle and scratch his way out of that. Yeah, but 0:15:59.280 --> 0:16:02.520 Ed did great and was it was like so compelling. 0:16:03.000 --> 0:16:07.040 You know, he had this this smoldering like he's going 0:16:07.080 --> 0:16:10.160 to explode him it. Yeah, he was. He was terrific 0:16:10.440 --> 0:16:13.880 and then you know, with an American accent and you'd 0:16:14.000 --> 0:16:16.080 all cut and then he'd have this British accent. I 0:16:16.160 --> 0:16:19.760 thought he just did a terrific job at all times, 0:16:19.840 --> 0:16:25.120 you know, I agree absolutely, And and his there's almost 0:16:25.240 --> 0:16:28.720 like there's a humor in his and Blair's storyline too, 0:16:28.800 --> 0:16:31.880 because they're like so ridiculous with each other, but yet 0:16:32.280 --> 0:16:35.280 you want them together so badly, and there's something to 0:16:35.320 --> 0:16:39.080 be said to now even talking to you, like he 0:16:39.160 --> 0:16:41.880 has this girl in front of him that loves him 0:16:42.000 --> 0:16:43.680 so much and they don't want to say it to 0:16:43.720 --> 0:16:45.680 each other, and then she kind of finally does. But 0:16:45.720 --> 0:16:48.600 he needs to pull away, like he he doesn't want 0:16:48.680 --> 0:16:52.200 to put all of his walls down and be vulnerable. 0:16:52.760 --> 0:16:55.760 And you can't blame him because of you know, him 0:16:55.800 --> 0:16:58.360 thinking it was his fault that his mom died. Now 0:16:58.520 --> 0:17:01.680 his you know, right right around now in these rewatches, 0:17:02.200 --> 0:17:05.520 now his dad died and he's you know, blaming Lily, 0:17:05.680 --> 0:17:09.560 blaming Dan, blaming everyone. And you know it's something that CC, 0:17:09.680 --> 0:17:13.040 the grandmother says at the funeral. It's okay for him 0:17:13.080 --> 0:17:14.680 to feel any type of way today. I mean, he 0:17:14.760 --> 0:17:16.800 just lost his dad. But let me ask you this, 0:17:16.920 --> 0:17:20.040 what did you know, like early on that this was 0:17:20.160 --> 0:17:22.800 going to happen or was this all of a sudden 0:17:22.840 --> 0:17:25.320 You got a script and you're like, oh, Bart's getting 0:17:25.320 --> 0:17:28.760 in an accident. Joe Lazarov came up to me because 0:17:28.840 --> 0:17:32.920 I got a minute. It's like yeah, So no, they 0:17:32.960 --> 0:17:35.159 came to me. I've had over the years, like in 0:17:35.280 --> 0:17:37.520 different shows, people call me and say, did you get 0:17:37.560 --> 0:17:39.720 to page thirty five? I get hit by a bus 0:17:39.720 --> 0:17:42.160 and I'm like, well, you're nobody on this show unless 0:17:42.200 --> 0:17:44.159 you come back as a ghost. Okay, you know what 0:17:44.200 --> 0:17:47.639 I mean, Like, uh, but yeah, Joe, Joe, one of 0:17:47.640 --> 0:17:52.120 the producers, Joe Lazarov, beautiful guy, came up to me, go, um, 0:17:52.160 --> 0:17:56.159 you're gonna die. It's like okay, So I said, you know, 0:17:56.359 --> 0:18:00.200 gracefully and yeah um and he said yes, and are 0:18:00.200 --> 0:18:02.600 you okay with that? And I said, uh, you know, 0:18:02.680 --> 0:18:05.600 as my wife would say, write your own show. I said, 0:18:05.640 --> 0:18:07.639 I have to be okay with that. I've had fun. 0:18:08.320 --> 0:18:10.680 I was doing two other shows at the time, or 0:18:10.800 --> 0:18:14.119 three even um and I would do this kind of triangle, 0:18:14.600 --> 0:18:16.119 you know, go from one show to the other, and 0:18:16.160 --> 0:18:19.920 it kept life interesting and kept art interesting. But he said, 0:18:19.960 --> 0:18:22.320 but we don't know if you really did. And I 0:18:22.440 --> 0:18:25.640 was like, okay, you know, like when you figure that out, 0:18:25.800 --> 0:18:28.760 let me know. And then he obviously came back and 0:18:28.800 --> 0:18:31.879 had faked his death and and all that. But yeah, No, 0:18:32.160 --> 0:18:36.439 they were very forthcoming. When I was killed that time 0:18:36.880 --> 0:18:40.040 or what was it, died in a car accident, I think, yeah, 0:18:40.119 --> 0:18:43.080 so they production and the producer did come to me 0:18:43.119 --> 0:18:44.919 and tell him, tell me what was going to happen. 0:18:45.520 --> 0:19:01.840 So I did know when you were first becoming Bart, 0:19:01.880 --> 0:19:04.520 like in the very you know, when Barts first introduced 0:19:04.520 --> 0:19:06.560 and you were meeting with Eric Damon and things like that, 0:19:06.840 --> 0:19:10.560 did you right away because everyone is so obsessed and 0:19:10.600 --> 0:19:14.240 like so grateful for how talented Eric was to you know, 0:19:14.520 --> 0:19:17.040 put all of our costumes and stuff together. Did you 0:19:17.160 --> 0:19:20.280 right away feel like everything that was pulled for for 0:19:20.440 --> 0:19:23.960 Bart was just right on point because he looks so elegant, 0:19:24.160 --> 0:19:29.359 so ceo, millionaire, billionaire, handsome. I think Eric would agree 0:19:29.359 --> 0:19:32.960 that I had really good wardrobe, karma stuff fit. It 0:19:33.040 --> 0:19:35.680 was his palette and and he say, what do you think? 0:19:35.720 --> 0:19:41.920 And I usually agree. He is a master. He was 0:19:41.960 --> 0:19:44.600 a complete artist. I would not want to have had 0:19:44.720 --> 0:19:47.960 his job on this show. No, No, I mean I 0:19:48.000 --> 0:19:50.840 show up with my one or two choices, you know, 0:19:50.960 --> 0:19:53.600 in terms of my acting, but he has to have 0:19:54.119 --> 0:19:57.439 you know, endless, endless. But he was terrific. He was 0:19:57.520 --> 0:20:01.119 just effortless options and yeah, just he was terrific. And 0:20:01.160 --> 0:20:03.800 he did. Everyone looked so so different. I mean, I 0:20:03.840 --> 0:20:06.399 know that's part of it because it's all different characters, 0:20:06.400 --> 0:20:08.600 but not really like in a show like this, a 0:20:08.600 --> 0:20:13.000 lot of people could have, you know, had similar styles. 0:20:13.080 --> 0:20:15.720 This everyone was very different, you know it it was, 0:20:15.800 --> 0:20:18.120 and I think it helped everyone bring their their characters. 0:20:18.240 --> 0:20:22.240 And I never, I don't remember ever seeing something where 0:20:22.280 --> 0:20:28.440 you say to yourself, ridiculous doesn't work. Never, either it 0:20:28.520 --> 0:20:31.679 was the actor or actress who was selling it and 0:20:31.720 --> 0:20:34.800 making it work beautifully because of their character or but 0:20:34.880 --> 0:20:39.320 I don't recall anybody whereas you know, you sit there 0:20:39.359 --> 0:20:42.199 as a as a a fan or just watching go 0:20:42.320 --> 0:20:45.719 Up does totally doesn't work totally. It never not worked. 0:20:45.920 --> 0:20:49.760 I mean, no matter who showed up wearing what, it 0:20:49.840 --> 0:20:53.240 looked great. I always thought, so that was Eric's artistry. 0:20:53.240 --> 0:20:56.000 I think I thought it was so great. Did you 0:20:56.040 --> 0:20:57.879 like filming in New York? I mean, I know you 0:20:57.960 --> 0:21:01.320 had before, and oh yeah, you learn that's I was. 0:21:01.880 --> 0:21:04.000 I was the local. I mean I loved it. I 0:21:04.040 --> 0:21:06.240 could come home, I could coach basketball, I could coach 0:21:06.320 --> 0:21:08.960 little league. I loved it. It was a ten amount 0:21:09.000 --> 0:21:12.199 to nine to five. We shot at the Palace Hotel 0:21:12.240 --> 0:21:15.159 a lot, and I remember that time he brought me 0:21:15.240 --> 0:21:17.280 up to this room at the top. It was, you know, 0:21:17.920 --> 0:21:21.600 a guest lounge that no one ever used, that had 0:21:21.640 --> 0:21:28.800 its own chef and its own barista. And this was 0:21:28.880 --> 0:21:32.880 for the hotel. And and the owner of the hotel said, so, 0:21:33.040 --> 0:21:35.399 you're the actor playing the owner of the hotel. I 0:21:35.400 --> 0:21:37.919 said yes, And he jokingly handed me a bunch of 0:21:37.920 --> 0:21:39.880 his cards, and he's like, I'm leaving for an hour. 0:21:40.160 --> 0:21:43.439 You know you're you're in charge. So one time his 0:21:43.520 --> 0:21:45.760 assistant came to me and said, Ms. Burkan said, would 0:21:45.760 --> 0:21:47.879 you like to just relax up? I said yeah, I 0:21:47.880 --> 0:21:49.240 didn't know where I was going. And he brought me 0:21:49.280 --> 0:21:52.960 to this lounge and you know, big buffet and overlooking 0:21:52.960 --> 0:21:55.119 the city, and I was up there. I was up 0:21:55.160 --> 0:21:57.960