Speaker 1: Hey, guys, welcome to I have never said this before
Speaker 1: with me Tommy di Dario. Today's guest is the brilliantly
Speaker 1: talented Ed Westwick. Now you may know Ed from his
Speaker 1: breakout role of Chuck Bass in the pop culture phenomenon
Speaker 1: known as gossip Girl. You know you love me xoxo
Speaker 1: gossip Girl. Yeah, I had to do it just once. Okay,
Speaker 1: I'm mortified, moving on. The show is based off the
Speaker 1: tremendously popular book series which catapulted ed into international stardom.
Speaker 1: Now Ed and I we are around the same age,
Speaker 1: so I grew up watching the show and loving every
Speaker 1: single second of it. It really was iconic, and because
Speaker 1: of streaming, younger generations are falling in love with the
Speaker 1: series as well, which I know for Ed is pretty
Speaker 1: cool to see. Ed has gone on to play so
Speaker 1: many other incredible characters in film and TV. But out
Speaker 1: now is his new movie Dark Game. He plays a
Speaker 1: determined detective who was in a race against time to
Speaker 1: stop a twisted game show on the dark Web where
Speaker 1: captives are forced to compete for their lives. Yeah, the
Speaker 1: movie is gonna have you at the edge of your seats.
Speaker 1: It is so well done. It's everything the more that
Speaker 1: you want in a suspenseful, thrilling, semi horror type of film.
Speaker 1: And today we dive into the movie. We're gonna revisit
Speaker 1: his old friend Chuck Bass from Gossip Girl, of course,
Speaker 1: and we even get a little philosophical. So let's see
Speaker 1: if today we can get Ed to say something that
Speaker 1: he has never said before. Ed Westwickman, Man, how you
Speaker 1: doing today?
Speaker 2: Tell me?
Speaker 3: I'm doing so good. It's great to be with you, man.
Speaker 3: Thank you for having me.
Speaker 1: I'm so psyched to have you. We have so much
Speaker 1: to talk about. You have a lot going on right now.
Speaker 1: But before we jump into your brand new movie, I
Speaker 1: gotta say, I feel like you just set the Internet
Speaker 1: on fire and you knew what you were doing.
Speaker 2: Do you have any idea what I'm referring to.
Speaker 4: I'm going to take a wild guess here. He's talking
Speaker 4: about my engagement.
Speaker 1: Okay, good guess, and that could be wrong, but that's
Speaker 1: actually wrong?
Speaker 4: Holy cow? Okay, no, what is it? Tell me?
Speaker 1: You were in New York, you put up a post,
Speaker 1: you visited the Palace Hotel, and you kind of slipped
Speaker 1: back into your character of Chuck Bass's shoes. You knew
Speaker 1: what you were doing with that post, didn't you?
Speaker 3: One hundred percent? I knew what I was doing, And
Speaker 3: you know what it is, Tommy. The reason why I
Speaker 3: said the engagement because it's the biggest thing in my life,
Speaker 3: of course, but we just had so much going on
Speaker 3: right now. It's been such great period in my life.
Speaker 3: There's amazing stuff. I feel super blessed, super grateful with
Speaker 3: so much support out there.
Speaker 4: It's really cool. But I mean, yeah, I went to
Speaker 4: New York.
Speaker 3: I was doing promotion for the movie we're probably going
Speaker 3: to talk about, and I thought.
Speaker 4: You know what I'm here, let's go buy an older
Speaker 4: stomping ground as it were, you know.
Speaker 3: So I went back over to the Palace, which was
Speaker 3: the place where we shot the pilot opening scenes.
Speaker 4: I had all of these flashback what's happening.
Speaker 3: It was like it was like a scene in a
Speaker 3: show where the character has a flashback. And I'm not
Speaker 3: somebody in real life who actually has flashbacks, but I
Speaker 3: swear to god, I had flashbacks like.
Speaker 4: It was a TV show. And the weird thing is
Speaker 4: I had flashbacks on the TV show. So I h.
Speaker 3: Yeah, we were there and we were like, oh my god,
Speaker 3: we've got to take a picture. We got to, you know,
Speaker 3: play with people in a good way and let them
Speaker 3: know that I'm back and was thinking about these old times,
Speaker 3: and so many good memories from New York, so many
Speaker 3: good memories from Gossip.
Speaker 4: It was wonderful.
Speaker 3: And do you know what, People still watch the show,
Speaker 3: They still talk about it. I still take pictures with
Speaker 3: people who are fans of it. It blows my mind.
Speaker 3: It's got a real legacy. Wow, what are things to
Speaker 3: be involved in?
Speaker 1: People are crazy over that post and that was so
Speaker 1: much fun. And we'll reflect back on that a little
Speaker 1: bit later. But let's get into Dark Game, because man,
Speaker 1: the movie is terrifying. It's gruesome, it has you at.
Speaker 2: The edge of your seat.
Speaker 1: It's horror, it's mystery, it's all the things. So what
Speaker 1: you say yes to wanting to do this type of
Speaker 1: a movie.
Speaker 3: I mean, first and foremost, I'd never played a detective,
Speaker 3: I never played a cop. I was fascinated by that character,
Speaker 3: and I think a lot of people are, and I
Speaker 3: think maybe it's common for actors.
Speaker 4: I don't know.
Speaker 3: It seems to be like a type of character that
Speaker 3: we see a lot of in terms of.
Speaker 4: That genre, and that's understandable.
Speaker 3: Right, because it's this very individual, specialized thing that not
Speaker 3: a lot of people want to do and not a
Speaker 3: lot of people want to really experience because it's heavy.
Speaker 3: You know, you're going to see some traumatizing stuff, You're
Speaker 3: going to be involved in probably what the worst of
Speaker 3: society has.
Speaker 4: You're going to experience that.
Speaker 3: So look, as an actor, maybe it's a safe way
Speaker 3: of experiencing that. Of course it's not really experiencing it,
Speaker 3: but it's just interesting to get to play in that world.
Speaker 3: I find that as a movie fan and as a
Speaker 3: TV fan, I love these kind of things. I love
Speaker 3: True Detective, I love Heat, I love Seven. These are
Speaker 3: iconic productions for me. So I was like, I want
Speaker 3: to play that kind of a role, you know. So
Speaker 3: that's what drew me in. I'd worked with the producer
Speaker 3: before he said he had this project.
Speaker 2: You know.
Speaker 3: We made this movie for not a lot of money.
Speaker 3: It's always a great challenge making movies. This was a
Speaker 3: great challenge. I feel so blessed that we put together
Speaker 3: something that's the looks and feels as it does. And
Speaker 3: all the feedback I'm getting on social media people that
Speaker 3: love in the movie, which is great.
Speaker 4: But that's what drew me to it.
Speaker 3: It was the genre, the fact I had not done
Speaker 3: anything like that, and knowing that I have an ease
Speaker 3: of way of working with Tom the producer.
Speaker 1: So playing a detective live up to your expectation since
Speaker 1: you've always wanted to step into that kind of role.
Speaker 3: One D plus, I just come off a movie where
Speaker 3: I was playing a bit of a just a nice
Speaker 3: guy who was caught up in a difficult Situation's a
Speaker 3: survival thriller called Deep Fear, And you know, it was
Speaker 3: just he was just a nice guy, you know. It
Speaker 3: was a nice guy getting on with his life. This
Speaker 3: character in Dark Game, he's flawed, not his own kind
Speaker 3: of cause his family are brutally murdered, essentially, and that's
Speaker 3: what drives him to become a detective. And then he's
Speaker 3: caught up in this whole story that takes place in
Speaker 3: the movie. But I was drawn to it in that regard.
Speaker 3: I wanted to do something different, right, just come from
Speaker 3: from this character. It was a bit lighter. Wanted to
Speaker 3: play something darker. It's always a nice way to do
Speaker 3: it if you have those opportunities, you know. But it
Speaker 3: was great, It was great. It was really moody, and
Speaker 3: I like doing Moody, and people like it when I
Speaker 3: do Moody. You know, I think they like it when
Speaker 3: I do Moody.
Speaker 4: You know.
Speaker 2: So you give good Moody, you give good my.
Speaker 4: Fiance, I'll tell you I'm pretty moody.
Speaker 2: No, I'm jo.
Speaker 4: We're all mood I'm a Ktsarian, you know.
Speaker 3: I think it's I think it's one of those things
Speaker 3: that you're just born with.
Speaker 4: I'm an actor, I'm an artist.
Speaker 2: You get it, you know, Yeah, I get it, man,
Speaker 2: I get it well.
Speaker 1: And what's so cool about this movie is, you know,
Speaker 1: even if you're not the biggest horror fan or you
Speaker 1: get freaked out easily or kind of scared, it's a
Speaker 1: very smart film. And I think it's very relevant to
Speaker 1: this day and age. Would you say the same thing.
Speaker 3: Oh, one hundred percent would. I think it's got a
Speaker 3: real sitgeist thing going on.
Speaker 4: You know, these crimes are.
Speaker 3: Taking place on the dark Web, right, and we're all
Speaker 3: kind of becoming more familiar with this thing that is
Speaker 3: the dark Web, and it's the sinister place, and there's
Speaker 3: nefarious activities taking place on there, you know, and it's
Speaker 3: becoming more and more of like a household thing that
Speaker 3: we're aware of, you know, even if we're not on it,
Speaker 3: you know. But I think are becoming more and more
Speaker 3: open to the idea that terrible things are taking place.
Speaker 4: I mean it's sad, you know.
Speaker 3: I mean, I'm sure they always have, but now there's
Speaker 3: new ways for them to happen, right, And the dark
Speaker 3: web is probably a place where such a thing can
Speaker 3: take place in our story.
Speaker 4: It's something really, really bad. It is a gruesome movie.
Speaker 4: I mean, it's in the title dark Game. It's a
Speaker 4: game that's pretty damn.
Speaker 3: Dark, so, you know, not for the squeamish, but you
Speaker 3: can always close your eyes for fifteen seconds. If you're
Speaker 3: watching the movie with a buddy or someone you know,
Speaker 3: they can just say, hey, close your.
Speaker 4: Eyes for this part.
Speaker 3: But look, it is a cat and mouse thriller. It
Speaker 3: is a bit of mystery. It is a little bit
Speaker 3: of horror just because of what's going on.
Speaker 4: I mean, it's a.
Speaker 3: Horrifying scenario to imagine yourself being in. You would never
Speaker 3: want to be, of course not So it's all of
Speaker 3: those things, and hopefully it's entertaining, leaves you feeling you
Speaker 3: know something and that might not be utter joy and
Speaker 3: happiness but you know what, sometimes it's good to be
Speaker 3: a little bit freaked out. Maybe it'll keep you make
Speaker 3: you will go and join some self defense classes or
Speaker 3: something like that, you know.
Speaker 1: And honestly too, something I kind of got out of
Speaker 1: it is we live in the same age with especially
Speaker 1: social media. You're scrolling and you see videos online and
Speaker 1: you're like, wait, why is somebody recording that and not
Speaker 1: actually like doing something to help the situation. And I
Speaker 1: kept thinking about that as I watch this movie.
Speaker 2: Man, there's a.
Speaker 3: Real thing going on, isn't there, with the whole bystander
Speaker 3: type of thing and voyeurism in a way, and maybe
Speaker 3: a bit of cowardice as well. You know, but I
Speaker 3: think people are automatically thinking. We see it at concerts,
Speaker 3: right when people go to concerts, the phone is up
Speaker 3: and they're filming straight away. And I've got to think,
Speaker 3: how many times do people actually then watch those videos
Speaker 3: unless you're posting like a couple of seconds clip or something.
Speaker 4: This is in my experience anyway, I'll.
Speaker 3: Make loads of videos, put our video loads of stuff.
Speaker 3: How much of that am I really watching back? Or
Speaker 3: is it just sitting on my phone? So there's that mentality,
Speaker 3: But then Also with the instances you're talking about where
Speaker 3: people are capturing a crime, it's like it's almost become
Speaker 3: like an involuntary thing.
Speaker 4: It's just, oh, I've got to get the.
Speaker 3: Phone out, I've got to capture this because this needs
Speaker 3: to be you know, broadcasted.
Speaker 4: It's a weird time, it's a fascinating time. You know.
Speaker 3: I'm of the opinion that there's so much positivity come
Speaker 3: out of tech, come out of social media.
Speaker 4: But then of course there's always a downside. But that
Speaker 4: is life. Man. It's nothing perfect. Nothing's black and white.
Speaker 4: There's a gray area. You know. We just got to
Speaker 4: kind of muddle through.
Speaker 3: You know, that's my philosophy, motivational part of the interview.
Speaker 2: I'm so with you.
Speaker 1: I always kind of laugh to myself because, especially on
Speaker 1: these like inflate videos where someone acts bananas and then
Speaker 1: they have to isolate the person because they're threatening.
Speaker 4: I've been watching like three of them the other day.
Speaker 1: Yeah, if they're crazy, and I'm always like, well, I
Speaker 1: want to be the guy filming it. I'd be the
Speaker 1: guy getting up and trying to kick some ass to
Speaker 1: figure out the situation. I'm not promoting violence. I'm just
Speaker 1: kidding but like I would need to get involved in
Speaker 1: the situation. I wouldn't want to sit there filming it
Speaker 1: on my phone. So it's just such a crazy concept
Speaker 1: to me.
Speaker 3: You know, I think, and I always want to well,
Speaker 3: you know, I'm like you, I'm like, yes, there would
Speaker 3: be a line that is crossed where you're like, hang
Speaker 3: on a minute, we need to do so thing. But
Speaker 3: there's also then there's the empathetic thing that comes in
Speaker 3: where I'm like.
Speaker 4: What's going on with that person? You know?
Speaker 3: And I think we live in a day and age
Speaker 3: as well, it's always been there, but where some people
Speaker 3: are at breaking point for whatever reasons, whether it's cost
Speaker 3: of living, whether it's you know, a mental health stuff
Speaker 3: from social media or from work or whatever, and you
Speaker 3: never know what's going on with somebody, and.
Speaker 4: That's a difficult thing to navigate.
Speaker 3: We're navigating ourselves, but we've got to navigate what other
Speaker 3: people are going through as well.
Speaker 4: And it's it's.
Speaker 3: Hard, man, you know, none of this there's no real
Speaker 3: manual for living in such a fast pace advancing world
Speaker 3: in life. You know, It's it's crazy, but hey man,
Speaker 3: we all just got to try and do our best, right,
Speaker 3: I think.
Speaker 1: You and I are solving the world's biggest problems today
Speaker 1: right here, right now.
Speaker 3: I think if we think we're solving it, I think
Speaker 3: we need to tone down the arrogance.
Speaker 4: Maybe the I think we've got the solution, right.
Speaker 2: We are the problem. We are the problem at.
Speaker 4: Least, do you know what, dude?
Speaker 3: At least we're being I think we just say at
Speaker 3: least we're aware and we're talking about it, you know,
Speaker 3: And I think there's something in that for sure. So,
Speaker 3: but hopefully I like to think of myself as a solution.
Speaker 1: To so this film, you know, it's escape is in,
Speaker 1: it's dark, it's it's all those things we talked about.
Speaker 1: How do you not get sucked into that world of darkness?
Speaker 1: Is it very hard for you to separate art from
Speaker 1: real life when you're in it? Or you're really good
Speaker 1: at kind of comparimentalizing it.
Speaker 4: I mean, look, it's part of me that enjoys that.
Speaker 3: I'm not going to lie to you because I think
Speaker 3: that I I'm able to know in my core that
Speaker 3: it's not real, but I'm also able to exist within
Speaker 3: the mindset for a temporary time, and I know that
Speaker 3: it's temporary. So that might be me just being on
Speaker 3: set obviously when you're kind of want to be in
Speaker 3: the movie for it, maybe taking it back to the
Speaker 3: hotel with me and staying in that mindset a little bit.
Speaker 3: I was away from home. I was in a hotel
Speaker 3: that was pretty dark, and I was isolated. You know,
Speaker 3: I didn't see people.
Speaker 4: After work.
Speaker 3: I went back, I ate my food, I looked at
Speaker 3: my lines for the next day, I went to bed.
Speaker 4: That's what I did.
Speaker 3: So I did that for like a month, and so
Speaker 3: that's isolating and your mind becomes the only person talking to.
Speaker 4: You a lot of the time.
Speaker 3: And so I stayed in the character because he is
Speaker 3: a very isolated individual although he has this he has
Speaker 3: his girl and she's pregnant, and that's a very interesting,
Speaker 3: you know, set up for us in the movie because
Speaker 3: it represents this, this other side what he has on
Speaker 3: the line. It's an opportunity for us to show more
Speaker 3: tender moments with the character.
Speaker 4: But you know, he is in his own world.
Speaker 3: He's holding on to so much, you know, and I
Speaker 3: try to demonstrate that with the you know, there's a
Speaker 3: bit of there's a hint towards his drinking, and there's
Speaker 3: also a hint towards his use of nicotine pouches.
Speaker 4: You know, it's just.
Speaker 3: Subtle because I don't ever want to overplay it. But
Speaker 3: these are things that I thought that I just add in.
Speaker 3: So for me, I like to kind of stay in
Speaker 3: there as much as I feel the need to. I
Speaker 3: think as an actor, you need to do whatever you
Speaker 3: need to do in order to feel comfortable and that
Speaker 3: you're believing what you're talking about, you know, because if
Speaker 3: you don't believe it, if you don't feel relaxed with it,
Speaker 3: then the camera's not going to pick it up. That
Speaker 3: camera's going to pick up the falsity of it, you know.
Speaker 3: So that's what I try to do. You know, I'm
Speaker 3: sure there's times that you know, you can't be like
Speaker 3: we said at the side, you can't be one hundred
Speaker 3: percent perfect in whatever you do all the time or whatever.
Speaker 4: So you just try your best.
Speaker 3: But that's a kind of a mentality or a guidingline
Speaker 3: that I like to try and stick to.
Speaker 1: Are you the type of person when you're working on
Speaker 1: something like this you kind of take a step back
Speaker 1: from friendships and real relationships in your life. You kind
Speaker 1: of go a little mia or you live your life
Speaker 1: as normally as you can.
Speaker 3: I remember, you know, Amy, my fiance, and I had
Speaker 3: been together about five months when we shot this movie,
Speaker 3: and so I was brand new, wildly in love and
Speaker 3: I'm still wildly in love. But it was that first
Speaker 3: chapter of our relationship and I didn't like being I
Speaker 3: still don't like not being with her.
Speaker 4: But like I didn't, you know, I wanted to be
Speaker 4: around her. I wanted to know what's going on. So
Speaker 4: I was.
Speaker 3: I was talking to her, you know, in between breaks
Speaker 3: and stuff like that, when I.
Speaker 4: Felt like out of my work mode. So I wasn't
Speaker 4: entirely MIA.
Speaker 3: But but yeah, I think it's it's each project is different,
Speaker 3: each character is different, Each thing requires a different approach,
Speaker 3: you know. In terms of my experience and training, you know,
Speaker 3: I come from the UK. There's a lot of fantastic,
Speaker 3: really traditional drop schools here.
Speaker 4: I didn't go to one.
Speaker 3: I picked up a lot of my lessons on set
Speaker 3: early on in my career.
Speaker 4: I started working when I was seventeen years old. I
Speaker 4: got very lucky. I continue to be lucky to this day.
Speaker 4: You know. I think that's what a big part of
Speaker 4: this industry is.
Speaker 3: And so, you know, I find myself not with this
Speaker 3: kind of three years of traditional acting training like you
Speaker 3: get at university, because that's what it is here. You
Speaker 3: can get a degree in acting or drama or whatever,
Speaker 3: and so there's no textbook for me. I'm just kind
Speaker 3: of figuring it out using instincts, using life experience, using
Speaker 3: technique that I've built up on sets. And Gossip Girl
Speaker 3: for me, was an education but in life, like in
Speaker 3: a live scenario, because we did so many episodes day in,
Speaker 3: day out, and you were able to kind of work
Speaker 3: on things and just home techniques and home practices and
Speaker 3: home that American accent. Although I haven't done it in
Speaker 3: a while now, so I don't know how good it'll be,
Speaker 3: but but.
Speaker 4: Yeah, it's all of those things.
Speaker 2: That's cool, man.
Speaker 1: And I like your story because there's not one path
Speaker 1: to achieving great success. And I think people always think, oh,
Speaker 1: to do X, Y and Z, you have to follow
Speaker 1: a very strict guideline of how to get there, and
Speaker 1: that's just not the case. If you put in the
Speaker 1: work and you bust your ass like you do, look
Speaker 1: where you can end up.
Speaker 4: I just think there are no rules anymore, man, There
Speaker 4: are no rules. You know.
Speaker 3: I've got a band, right now and for the longest time,
Speaker 3: I wanted to do music and I thought, ah, you
Speaker 3: can't be music or an actor.
Speaker 4: I don't do it. You know.
Speaker 3: I pigeonholed myself, you know, pigeonholed myself even though there
Speaker 3: were people doing it.
Speaker 4: It was just this weird thing I got in my mind.
Speaker 4: And this was in my early twenties, right.
Speaker 3: I had a band when I was a kid, just
Speaker 3: for fun, like with my mates growing up.
Speaker 4: You know.
Speaker 3: Then I moved to New York and was doing this
Speaker 3: thing and like the thought, oh, I can't do music,
Speaker 3: and then I wanted to be in a band, but
Speaker 3: I just felt this, I put a ceiling on myself.
Speaker 4: It was the weirdest thing. And then more recently, I'm like,
Speaker 4: I'm going to do whatever I want to do. I'm
Speaker 4: going to do it everything. I always wanted to record
Speaker 4: an album.
Speaker 3: I had these wonderfully talented musicians that came into my
Speaker 3: life through mutual friends. We put together this thing. We
Speaker 3: recorded an album. We're going to release that album. I've
Speaker 3: got other interests in some cool like startup projects, et cetera,
Speaker 3: et cetera. This is the age where there are no
Speaker 3: rules in terms of constraints in terms of your path
Speaker 3: to success.
Speaker 4: Go for it. You know, anything can happen, man, anything.
Speaker 1: Can happen, and especially as an artist, all of that
Speaker 1: enriches your life to be able to deliver these amazing
Speaker 1: characters because you're living you're actually living your life.
Speaker 3: Right one hundred percent. I couldn't agree with you that more.
Speaker 3: That's a great point, Like everything is creation. If you're
Speaker 3: creating a business, if you're creating an approach and a negotiation.
Speaker 4: In that business, you're creating a product, if.
Speaker 3: You're creating a relationship with someone that you want to
Speaker 3: get married to, if you're creating a character. For everything
Speaker 3: is creation. This whole universe is based on creation, you know.
Speaker 3: So it's amazing.
Speaker 1: You strike me as someone who is very much an optimist.
Speaker 1: From chatting with you up until this point. You know,
Speaker 1: you've seem to love the work you do. You said
Speaker 1: you've been doing it since you were seventeen. You're still
Speaker 1: doing it, you're pursuing other passions. Do you often have
Speaker 1: bad days in your work because I think people often assume, oh,
Speaker 1: he's got it made, he's a Hollywood actor, he's killing it,
Speaker 1: like the world is his oyster. But do you have
Speaker 1: bad days and how do you kind of want to
Speaker 1: juggle that?
Speaker 4: Oh my god, dude.
Speaker 3: So I have done probably five thousand auditions in my life,
Speaker 3: and you have seen the work I've done. Well, you know,
Speaker 3: there's you can look up the work I've got. So
Speaker 3: that means I did not get tons of those jobs.
Speaker 3: It's we're very well known. There is so much rejection
Speaker 3: in this acting business. So those are bad days when
Speaker 3: you've tried putting a lot of efforts to make an
Speaker 3: audition tape and you don't get the job, or when
Speaker 3: you have in a shitty day and you don't in
Speaker 3: a lot of effort and you don't get the job,
Speaker 3: And then you're like, why did I not put in
Speaker 3: more effort that day? What was going on with me?
Speaker 3: Why am I feeling demotivated today? So, of course, you know,
Speaker 3: right now I feel great. I had a great night's sleep,
Speaker 3: i had a great workout. I'm pumped for this interview.
Speaker 3: It's wonderful. So everything's good. But yeah, of course I
Speaker 3: have bad days. You know, I lost both my parents
Speaker 3: to cancer eleven years ago, one a year and a
Speaker 3: half ago. These are terrible things, These are difficult things,
Speaker 3: and I've dealt with them differently because I was at
Speaker 3: different points in my life. You know, I used to
Speaker 3: party too much.
Speaker 4: Now I don't party at all.
Speaker 3: You know, It's like it's one of those things and
Speaker 3: that helps with feeling good, you know, because you're not
Speaker 3: messing yourself up.
Speaker 4: So it's one of those things, man. I mean, life
Speaker 4: is a continuous work in progress. But of course, man,
Speaker 4: I have stressful moments. I have overwhelming moments.
Speaker 3: I have anxious moments, and I have moments where I
Speaker 3: just don't feel great. But I get back in the game,
Speaker 3: and you know, and I think, now, what I'm more
Speaker 3: aware of than ever is that, look, we're on a
Speaker 3: not a roller coaster, but we're on there's waves. Man,
Speaker 3: there's waves, you know, and you're gonna have good times
Speaker 3: and some bad times. And ultimately, I think, especially in
Speaker 3: my in my kind of career, and I mean the
Speaker 3: acting and all the other stuff, it's about kyd of
Speaker 3: catching a bus. You might sit around and you've got
Speaker 3: to wait for the bus. You catch the bus, you
Speaker 3: get on that bus.
Speaker 4: But sometimes you're.
Speaker 3: Waiting around for a while, and it could be pretty
Speaker 3: boring in the bus stop, you know, it could be
Speaker 3: quiet you could be the only person there. But yeah,
Speaker 3: it's it's just life. Life is amazing. But I think
Speaker 3: if what I've worked to do is cultivate a mentality
Speaker 3: that it's an adventure, and when I embrace that, things
Speaker 3: should turn out.
Speaker 4: Okay, they've been pretty good so far. Let's carry on.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you put one foot in front of the other.
Speaker 1: That's that's the only way to do it, in my opinion.
Speaker 1: And I like that people like you share that with
Speaker 1: the world and interviews like this, because it's very easy
Speaker 1: to get caught up in your own ship cycle and
Speaker 1: think life sucks sometimes and then you just have to
Speaker 1: have that ground and grounding again.
Speaker 2: So I love that mentality so much.
Speaker 1: You mentioned Chuck Vass at the beginning of this interview.
Speaker 2: I brought him up too.
Speaker 1: I get the sense that you kind of miss him,
Speaker 1: but you slipping into his shoes from time to time.
Speaker 4: I do. Do you know what, here's my whole mentality
Speaker 4: on it. I'll track my thoughts for you.
Speaker 3: I was nineteen when I started Gossip Golf finished when
Speaker 3: I was twenty five and thirty six now, and what
Speaker 3: happened was this we were thrust.
Speaker 4: It into this show. You know, I chose to put
Speaker 4: myself in it. I got the part. It was great,
Speaker 4: and then it exploded and it was amazing.
Speaker 3: And we were in New York and I was young,
Speaker 3: and I had money and I had fame, and it
Speaker 3: was wow, you know.
Speaker 4: And I had also people telling me, oh my god,
Speaker 4: you're doing such a great job. You're doing a great job.
Speaker 4: You'll killing it. Oh yeah, thanks, yeah, yeah, all right,
Speaker 4: I am great. And you know, you.
Speaker 3: Develop a little bit of ego around that. You're moving quick.
Speaker 3: And it was New York. We were partying hard, we
Speaker 3: were having fun, we were working hard.
Speaker 4: It was a good time.
Speaker 3: And then the show ends and a sense of your
Speaker 3: identity kind of is put into question because you have
Speaker 3: identified with this show, this character, this lifestyle so much.
Speaker 3: And I moved out to LA and I'm just like, huh,
Speaker 3: what's going on? Because I felt LA was the natural progression.
Speaker 3: Then my dad died, which obviously I was twenty six.
Speaker 3: It was crazy. It was very difficult to deal with,
Speaker 3: and they went through this period of not feeling great,
Speaker 3: you know, and then kind of coming out of that
Speaker 3: in my early thirties for about thirty and just continuing
Speaker 3: to evolve and to grow and become a very positive person,
Speaker 3: I guess in general. And then I was able to
Speaker 3: have hindsight and reflect on this amazing period and this show.
Speaker 3: And the one of the reasons for that is because
Speaker 3: I was constantly reminded of it because so many people
Speaker 3: love it, and.
Speaker 4: I thought, this is incredible. This has been years now
Speaker 4: we're talking about this. This is what? Wow? What is this?
Speaker 4: And it is somewhat of Promena And because of streaming
Speaker 4: and all of these things that have conspired in order
Speaker 4: for this to take place. The invention of streaming means
Speaker 4: the show can live on this platform.
Speaker 3: The invention of social media means that this thing can
Speaker 3: be talked about in this commentary on it, and people
Speaker 3: communicated the message past say have you seen this?
Speaker 4: Have you seen this?
Speaker 3: So all of this stuff happens. That means that this
Speaker 3: stuff can happen. And I just reflected on it. I
Speaker 3: was like, huh wow, because in the beginning I was
Speaker 3: a little bit like, oh, I'm done with it.
Speaker 4: You know, I want to move on Like.
Speaker 3: I was young, you know, you want to feel like
Speaker 3: there's more to life, there's more you want to get
Speaker 3: on with. But now I just I'm so fascinated by
Speaker 3: what that show achieves. I'm so fascinated by the impact
Speaker 3: it's had. And then, of course, naturally, because I am
Speaker 3: you know, storytelling is a I said, part of my
Speaker 3: life and my existence, and because I know the fans
Speaker 3: have such an.
Speaker 4: Enjoyment for it, of course I think, hey, could there
Speaker 4: be more?
Speaker 3: Now there's not going to be more, there's no spoiler
Speaker 3: alert there.
Speaker 4: I would love to have done something. Unfortunately that's not
Speaker 4: on the cards. I've been told, which is fine.
Speaker 3: But you know what, I think, what we've discovered, and
Speaker 3: what I've discovered in my career is that people probably
Speaker 3: mostly enjoy me playing certain types of characters, and I'm
Speaker 3: not forgiving them more of those types of characters if
Speaker 3: I get given the opportunity.
Speaker 4: So we'll see what happens.
Speaker 2: It's so cool because I'm thirty eight.
Speaker 1: I grew up with the show and watched it, and
Speaker 1: at that time, I felt like I was watching a
Speaker 1: lot of shocking never before seeing things on television, and
Speaker 1: I couldn't believe it, and it was like, oh my god,
Speaker 1: I can't believe a show is showing.
Speaker 2: Something like that.
Speaker 1: And now it's so cool because like you said, there's
Speaker 1: all new generations twelve thirteen, fourteen year old watching it,
Speaker 1: and I'm so curious in this day and age when
Speaker 1: so much more is on TV, so much racy things
Speaker 1: and topics that weren't really talked about, Like how how
Speaker 1: it still captivates them is fascinating.
Speaker 3: I think, Look, I haven't seen Euphoria, but from what
Speaker 3: I've heard, some of the storylines were pretty extreme. And
Speaker 3: I think there's a line again with people like, you
Speaker 3: know that old thing your mum used to say to
Speaker 3: you when you'd watched something violent, and like you can
Speaker 3: talk about it with like porn for example, Like people
Speaker 3: were like, don't look at certain things. It will it
Speaker 3: kind of messes you up, or it's like too much
Speaker 3: or you know. And so I think the majority of
Speaker 3: people maybe don't want the most extreme storyline in the
Speaker 3: history of mankind on their TV show. They just want
Speaker 3: to be entertained in an intelligent way that's fine and witty,
Speaker 3: and Escape is a bit and doesn't have to kind
Speaker 3: of really make them feel a little bit dare I
Speaker 3: say dirty? So Gossip Girl at the time was edgy,
Speaker 3: but now because of other stuff that's out there, it's
Speaker 3: not edgy, but.
Speaker 4: It resonates probably because.
Speaker 3: Of its other assets, which are, hey, it was witty, Hey,
Speaker 3: the great fashion. Hey, they had characters that you could
Speaker 3: relate to because maybe they weren't doing like super super
Speaker 3: crazy stuff.
Speaker 4: You know, maybe it's just a little bit more. You know.
Speaker 4: It was warm instead of burning hot, you know.
Speaker 2: And people loved the love stories.
Speaker 1: I mean a million people have written that your love
Speaker 1: story with Blair Waldorf, of course in the show, is
Speaker 1: one of the greatest love stories in any television series
Speaker 1: in the world. I mean, when you hear things like that,
Speaker 1: that must feel pretty damn good.
Speaker 4: It feels amazing. You know that again, you were part
Speaker 4: of this thing.
Speaker 3: But that's testimony to the writers, you know, and late
Speaker 3: in the night doing our thing. But we had great writers,
Speaker 3: you know, we had great editors, We had great music supervised.
Speaker 3: Is that put a whole package together with kick ass music,
Speaker 3: you know, that makes as anyone knows.
Speaker 4: If you've ever watched a movie.
Speaker 3: Which not a lot of people have unless you're in
Speaker 3: the business, you probably have of course, with no score
Speaker 3: on it, with no music.
Speaker 4: It's like what am I watching?
Speaker 3: Yeah, Then you put that stuff together with the music
Speaker 3: and it comes alive and you get the chills and
Speaker 3: it's fantastic.
Speaker 4: That's what it's about. That's the full package.
Speaker 3: That's why it's about a big team that goes into
Speaker 3: making these productions. That's why there's so many names at
Speaker 3: the end of a movie or a show, you know,
Speaker 3: because a lot of people involve.
Speaker 1: Well, I think it's cool that you'll always hold that
Speaker 1: special place in your heart for that role and for
Speaker 1: that show. Because I talk to a lot of people who,
Speaker 1: you know, don't necessarily feel the same way about past projects,
Speaker 1: and I don't.
Speaker 2: I don't always quite get it.
Speaker 1: I get wanting to move on and expand your arrange
Speaker 1: and do different things, but to kind of almost act
Speaker 1: like something didn't exist, I'm always like, huh, it's.
Speaker 3: The weirdest thing in the wild man, because like, look,
Speaker 3: in all honesty, like I still make a living off
Speaker 3: a gossip girl, you know, so why would I hate
Speaker 3: something that still helps me pay my bills aid? And
Speaker 3: then like it's still I'm still essentially working on it, do.
Speaker 4: You know what I mean? It's ongoing.
Speaker 3: And then something that's brought so many people like joy,
Speaker 3: like hello, you were involved in something really positive here,
Speaker 3: Like what are you talking about? You know, I get
Speaker 3: it with actors, like they don't want to be known
Speaker 3: for one thing or like, but you know when I
Speaker 3: mean at least anybody who knows you for anything. Man,
Speaker 3: it's like that old Sinatra thing, like I'm going to
Speaker 3: butcher the quote, but it's like about, well, look, they
Speaker 3: could be yelling at you instead of applauding you or
Speaker 3: like whatever it is. You know, if you've done anything
Speaker 3: that people have seen, you've been lucky to give that opportunity.
Speaker 3: Try and be grateful for it. But who knows. Some
Speaker 3: people have a really bad time as an actor on
Speaker 3: a show.
Speaker 4: I didn't. I had a great time.
Speaker 1: I know, life happens and you can't keep in touch
Speaker 1: with everyone. But is it kind of like the gangs
Speaker 1: back together when you all see each other or check in.
Speaker 3: I'm going to see Chase Brawford on March the thirtieth
Speaker 3: in Paris, France.
Speaker 4: We're doing a convention together.
Speaker 2: Oh wow.
Speaker 3: And we did one in North Carolina about two years
Speaker 3: ago and I hadn't seen him in ages and it
Speaker 3: was just like the last day on set, you know.
Speaker 3: But he'll always if I love those guys, they'll always
Speaker 3: have a very very special place in my heart, and
Speaker 3: of course time has passed. Of course we've all moved on.
Speaker 3: It's gonna be great to see him, and it's gonna
Speaker 3: be good.
Speaker 2: You know.
Speaker 1: I'm going to say it again because it keeps coming
Speaker 1: to mind throughout this interview. I just so love your
Speaker 1: grounding and your gratitude for everything you've accomplished, where you've
Speaker 1: been and where you're going. It's refreshing to hear. And
Speaker 1: I think that that's probably why you're someone who.
Speaker 2: Is continuing to achieve so much.
Speaker 1: Success as you're really seemingly I mean, what do I know,
Speaker 1: but you seem to be very in touch with yourself
Speaker 1: and in the life that you want, in the life
Speaker 1: you've created.
Speaker 2: I think that's really cool.
Speaker 4: Well, dude, do.
Speaker 3: You know what, man, it's a pretty I actually put
Speaker 3: a dark thought into the mix up. One day there
Speaker 3: won't be a day. One day everything will be gone.
Speaker 3: It will all be gone. And these legacies that men
Speaker 3: try or women or whoever try to hold on to,
Speaker 3: these fights and these spats and this bitterness and this
Speaker 3: suing each other or.
Speaker 4: Whatever it is that we all get caught up.
Speaker 3: In, none of it will matter, And you have to
Speaker 3: ultimately say what is the point.
Speaker 4: What is my point? You know, what is the point
Speaker 4: in me actually being here?
Speaker 3: And mine is to try and be happy, man, because
Speaker 3: that's when everything good happens for me, everything good happens
Speaker 3: for those around me, and there's no point in really
Speaker 3: wasting your time in the other direction.
Speaker 4: It's a difficult notion.
Speaker 3: A lot of people don't want to think about the
Speaker 3: end of humanity, the end of this planet. But you know,
Speaker 3: if we believe in science, which I do, that day
Speaker 3: is coming. I mean, it's going to come a long way,
Speaker 3: thank god, you know, but it's a reality, and it
Speaker 3: just kind of frames the fact that, look, man, it's
Speaker 3: all impermanent, and stop taking everything so seriously, the good
Speaker 3: and the bad.
Speaker 4: Don't take it so seriously.
Speaker 3: And I know that's sometimes easier said than done because
Speaker 3: we have emotional people when we get attached to things.
Speaker 3: But if you could just try and have a little
Speaker 3: bit of perspective. And I'm not this guy all.
Speaker 4: The time, and I'm not sounding pre chy, probably i am,
Speaker 4: but I don't mean to.
Speaker 3: Hopefully if that my mentality can kind of set you
Speaker 3: a bit free and you can chill. But I did
Speaker 3: have a great night sleep and I did have a
Speaker 3: workout today, so I've done some good things that make
Speaker 3: me make me feel good.
Speaker 1: And it's funny because I usually end these conversations in
Speaker 1: my show with a question based off the title, which
Speaker 1: what is one thing you've never said before? But I
Speaker 1: feel like you kind of just answer that like that
Speaker 1: felt like a great answer unless you have something else
Speaker 1: for me. But I feel like you've been so open
Speaker 1: during the whole conversation.
Speaker 3: I mean, the only other thing to say is that
Speaker 3: I know pretty much every lyric to every song to
Speaker 3: Parc wrote so and I've never said that before. I've
Speaker 3: never openly admitted it, but.
Speaker 2: There every so you would go on record and say every.
Speaker 3: Lyric, I said nearly every lik nearly okay.
Speaker 4: Every song, nearly every song, nearly every song.
Speaker 3: There's some songs I know every lyric too, you know,
Speaker 3: but I've never really spoken about my love affair with
Speaker 3: the two puts your openly so my metaphorical love affair,
Speaker 3: of course.
Speaker 2: Thank you for clarifying.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's awesome, well cool, unexpected, but I love that
Speaker 1: I'm here for it.
Speaker 2: That's super fun.
Speaker 3: Ed.
Speaker 2: I could talk to you for hours. This has been
Speaker 2: such a good time.
Speaker 1: Remind everybody where we can watch your new movie and
Speaker 1: check it out.
Speaker 4: Thank you, Tomy. So Dark Game is out now.
Speaker 3: It is available on all demand platforms, Apple TV, Amazon Prime, Voodoo,
Speaker 3: all of those, Fandango great, it's all of them.
Speaker 1: It's ready to go, awesome, rock on, go watch the movie, guys.
Speaker 1: It's so much fun and I'm going to look forward
Speaker 1: to continuing to follow your career. I love the work
Speaker 1: you do and after chatting with you, you're You're an
Speaker 1: awesome guy and it's really been nice to get to
Speaker 1: know you more.
Speaker 4: Tommy, great to be you can read you man. Thanks
Speaker 4: for your time.
Speaker 1: I've Never Said This Before is hosted by Me Tommy Dederio.
Speaker 1: This podcast is executive produced by Andrew Piblisi at iHeartRadio
Speaker 1: and by me Tommy, with editing by Joshua Colaudney. I've
Speaker 1: Never Said This Before is part of the Elvis Duran
Speaker 1: podcast Network on iHeart Podcasts. For more, rate review and
Speaker 1: subscribe to our show and if you liked this episode,
Speaker 1: tell your friends. Until next time. I'm Tommy Dederio