Speaker 1: Unpacking the Toolbox is a production of Shondaland Audio in
Speaker 1: partnership with Higheartradios.
Speaker 2: Katie, we have to have a Scandal reunion, like what
Speaker 2: the hell COVID really screwed it? But like whether it's
Speaker 2: George's house or Shanda was saying she is a Vermont plate,
Speaker 2: I honestly think we should go to Vermont and ill
Speaker 2: like make jam and like.
Speaker 3: A great would that be? We have to I know,
Speaker 3: I know, I know, I hope Vermont. That's such a
Speaker 3: oh my god, that would be.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 2: Shanda like has said like she's a house there. But
Speaker 2: I also think I could email my person and be like,
Speaker 2: can a freak in Hotel host Us in Cabo.
Speaker 3: Like with the whole cast.
Speaker 2: Scandal cast to come, We'll do a photo shoot whatever
Speaker 2: you want.
Speaker 5: I'm not going to beat a bathing suit, but I
Speaker 5: will be in a cover up.
Speaker 3: Yes, hell yeah.
Speaker 2: I think what you'll all hear as we continue these
Speaker 2: episodes is like it really was such a special group.
Speaker 3: Yeah, like we really like we're really like a family,
Speaker 3: like and it's stayed that way. Years have passed and
Speaker 3: we're still super close and we all love each other
Speaker 3: and yeah, and that's rare.
Speaker 5: We are so.
Speaker 2: Pumped for today's episode because the biggest fucking deal is
Speaker 2: here today.
Speaker 3: Totally go the way.
Speaker 5: Did you Ustill love the episodes he would direct us on.
Speaker 3: Oh all the time. Yeah, And you know what we
Speaker 3: always talk about, like how great it is having a
Speaker 3: director that's also an actor because they know how to
Speaker 3: talk to us, they know are sort of you know
Speaker 3: when we when we're feeling extra vulnerable or like insecure.
Speaker 3: He's just so so loving, so so great working with him.
Speaker 2: He's so great that almost sometimes he's too good because
Speaker 2: I've had so many have I told you this before.
Speaker 2: I've had a couple actor friends, No, actually more than
Speaker 2: a couple auditioned for various projects as he's directed in
Speaker 2: the last ten years since I've become his friend, and
Speaker 2: they always text me the same like I got it, Katie,
Speaker 2: so amazing, I got it, And I always want to
Speaker 2: be like, you did it.
Speaker 5: That's just Tony, Like.
Speaker 3: He's so so sweet.
Speaker 2: Yeah, he's so sweet, and he always takes the most
Speaker 2: time and care in the room with the actors like that,
Speaker 2: you end up spending like forty five minutes in there
Speaker 2: and you think, like, holy shit, I got this part.
Speaker 5: And I'm like, no, that's just Tony.
Speaker 2: Oh man, all right, we're done with the logistics because
Speaker 2: our one, our only, Fitzgerald Grant the third is here.
Speaker 4: Woo yay. We're so yeay man.
Speaker 5: We're so happy to have you, Tony. Thank you for
Speaker 5: making the time. We love you.
Speaker 2: The scandal Rewatch podcast has just sneakingly become me and
Speaker 2: Garmaou's way of like hanging out with all of our friends.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I know, man, before we.
Speaker 2: Talk about the trail, Tony, can you tell us how
Speaker 2: in the hell you got this part?
Speaker 4: Man? It was just luck. It was luck. I swear
Speaker 4: it was the weirdest thing I had. I had met
Speaker 4: Seandan Betsy because I directed one of the first Gray's anatomies,
Speaker 4: and it was like one of the first television shows
Speaker 4: I had directed, and so I got to know them,
Speaker 4: like what it was before Grays had aired. I think
Speaker 4: it was the third, second or third episode of the show.
Speaker 4: Maybe the third but it shot second or something like that,
Speaker 4: but the second it shot third, but they had made
Speaker 4: the pilot, which was unbelievably good. And then so I
Speaker 4: think like Betsy had liked my first film or something
Speaker 4: and said, would you want to do this, and I
Speaker 4: saw the pilot. I was like, oh shit, this is
Speaker 4: like super commercial but also really original and amazing.
Speaker 5: Actors I've ever seen on tele period.
Speaker 4: Yeah, so I met them and then met Shanda, who
Speaker 4: I thought was brilliant and unusual as you guys know,
Speaker 4: and just such an in guy. Was like, Oh, this
Speaker 4: one's gonna be successful, Like you just knew she knew
Speaker 4: what she was doing, And then so I did. I
Speaker 4: think I did a couple of episodes of Grades Anatomy
Speaker 4: as a director, never acted, and then she asked me
Speaker 4: a year or two later to do a private practice
Speaker 4: for them, and then we like, didn't you know, I
Speaker 4: don't think we saw each other for years, and out
Speaker 4: of the blue I got a call saying Shanda is
Speaker 4: doing this show with Carrie Washington and once do you
Speaker 4: want to play the President? And I had and I
Speaker 4: had been dying to work with Carrie because I knew
Speaker 4: her a little bit, like through politics stuff. And then
Speaker 4: but I every time I would see Kerry Washington in
Speaker 4: a movie, I'd be like, who's that amazing actress in
Speaker 4: that part? Like who the hell is that? She looks familiar?
Speaker 4: And at the end, I go, oh, my God, that's
Speaker 4: Kerry Washington. Every time I saw her she was totally different.
Speaker 4: So I'd been kind of of looking to work. So
Speaker 4: I heard Shonda carry. I literally didn't read the script.
Speaker 4: I was like, I this sounds like something I really
Speaker 4: want to do, and then I read it and thought,
Speaker 4: oh man. But it was cool because Shanda I called
Speaker 4: her up or she said, let's talk, and she said, Look,
Speaker 4: I don't know how big or small this thing is
Speaker 4: going to be, or I mean the role. She said,
Speaker 4: you can be in it a little bit if you want.
Speaker 4: You give mean in a lot if you want. I
Speaker 4: don't really know where it's going. You know. There was
Speaker 4: the intimation of romance at the end of the pilot
Speaker 4: in the script, but you know, when they kiss in
Speaker 4: the Oval office. But I thought, well that could get interesting.
Speaker 4: But I wasn't sure because it would inhibit me from
Speaker 4: directing films, you know, And I was like, I'm not
Speaker 4: sure I want to do it. I was so stupid,
Speaker 4: you know.
Speaker 3: Is that what you wanted to really like do at
Speaker 3: that time? Tony? Did you want to keep directing? Were
Speaker 3: you digging that?
Speaker 4: I wanted to keep directed? But can I be totally honest?
Speaker 4: I had just directed my film Conviction. Yeah, and it
Speaker 4: was one of those things you know in Hollywood, when
Speaker 4: you have those moments and anyone's like, this is the
Speaker 4: one that's going to be huge, it's like whatever. Anyway,
Speaker 4: it wasn't, and we like the movie didn't open and
Speaker 4: didn't do business. So I was like, oh, okay, maybe
Speaker 4: I should. Yeah, that movie was so hard to get made,
Speaker 4: and I thought, oh my god, I don't know if
Speaker 4: I like I want to keep directing.
Speaker 5: But that was that too, a particular seven years or
Speaker 5: something to get it.
Speaker 4: Off eight years to get that movie off there, and
Speaker 4: that kept coming to life and falling awarding him in life,
Speaker 4: and it was by the time we made it, it was
Speaker 4: it was you know, I loved it, but it was
Speaker 4: it was exhausting. So then I thought I should be
Speaker 4: smart to think about like doing a series, because television's transformed,
Speaker 4: and like I should just be not an idiot anyway.
Speaker 4: So then literally right after that was when I got
Speaker 4: this out of the blue call from h from uh Shanda,
Speaker 4: and then we talked and she was so chill about it.
Speaker 4: She was like, what if you want to do seven,
Speaker 4: you can seventy. So I said, of course, and and
Speaker 4: I was sort of thinking about my manager Jason was like,
Speaker 4: you're doing this one of those things I don't care
Speaker 4: what stop thinking about and you're say you say yes
Speaker 4: because this could be a huge hit. It was like, yeah, okay, okay.
Speaker 2: Did you have any hang ups about like being a president,
Speaker 2: Like had you always wanted to play a president or
Speaker 2: were you like, wow, I'm gonna go. Like I mean
Speaker 2: the presidents. I think of Pullman, Martin Sheen, I think
Speaker 2: of like you know you're in that. You know now
Speaker 2: you could if the show was a hit, which it
Speaker 2: is or is it like it was like whatever.
Speaker 5: Great part.
Speaker 4: I didn't even think about that. I thought it'd be cool,
Speaker 4: Like I thought, what an interesting character. Yeah, and I
Speaker 4: saw this really potentially interesting relationship with Olivia. I thought,
Speaker 4: if that goes somewhere, that could be really interesting. But honestly,
Speaker 4: you never know what the hell he's going to be.
Speaker 4: And the thing for me was that first day of
Speaker 4: rehearsal when I met you guys, Oh it just clicked.
Speaker 4: I said, oh shit, do you remember that?
Speaker 2: Like, wait, take us through it, because this is another question,
Speaker 2: like memories from the pilot, what do you mean like
Speaker 2: rehearsal when we were in that stage and it was
Speaker 2: like taped off.
Speaker 4: It was one of those rare things I've experienced so
Speaker 4: infrequently in my life and in my career. We all
Speaker 4: just connected. Man. It was I felt like I was
Speaker 4: with my best friends from high school all of a sudden,
Speaker 4: like you and then Darby was just cast that day.
Speaker 4: I remember showing up and being like, Hi, I just
Speaker 4: got this part, you know, and hearing your story Katie
Speaker 4: about how you do auditioned and you know, an amazing
Speaker 4: story about it. You got it. And you know Jeff,
Speaker 4: who I knew it a little bit but had been
Speaker 4: admired for so long, and Kate and Kate Burton was
Speaker 4: later right. G and I have this long history, but
Speaker 4: there was that day of all of us connect. I
Speaker 4: don't know, I just remember it being this rehearsal period.
Speaker 4: We had like a week of rehearsal at at watch
Speaker 4: McAll Prospect Studios, and I don't know, I just I
Speaker 4: that was one of those things where I thought, oh man,
Speaker 4: it was this incredible chemistry we all had. It was
Speaker 4: so fun, don't you Yeah.
Speaker 5: Oh my god.
Speaker 2: It was like it was like theater camp, like it
Speaker 2: was just felt like really everybody connected and fell in
Speaker 2: love and really trust each other and was so into
Speaker 2: the script and the stories and the greater good of
Speaker 2: the show. Like it just felt like we were part
Speaker 2: of something bigger than ourselves.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and it feels like they took such a chance, right,
Speaker 3: It felt like it's like a crapshoot, like putting this
Speaker 3: cast together. And of course Linda Lowie is brilliant and
Speaker 3: she made it happen. But even my audition, I auditioned
Speaker 3: once and then I looked her. I think a lot
Speaker 3: of us just auditioned once, if even auditioning at all.
Speaker 3: But just the fact that it worked, right, that it
Speaker 3: worked like that could have gone downhill really quickly. Nobody
Speaker 3: could have had chemistry, or we could have you know,
Speaker 3: not liked each other, but it just it clicked. It worked.
Speaker 3: It was like like you said, it was like magic,
Speaker 3: so crazy.
Speaker 5: So you never chemistry read with Carrie or anything, like
Speaker 5: how did you know?
Speaker 4: Why?
Speaker 5: Like did you know that the relationship was going to
Speaker 5: be fire? Like because I'm convinced the show. Look, the
Speaker 5: show was.
Speaker 2: Amazing, but like the thing that hooked people and when
Speaker 2: I realized the show was a hit was when you
Speaker 2: became in your fifties, which I want to ask you
Speaker 2: about a full on fucking sex symbol.
Speaker 5: So thank god you listen to your manager.
Speaker 2: But like when I first walked into our you know,
Speaker 2: Scanna was a real slow burn. It wasn't like an
Speaker 2: overnight success. We really had a short first order, you know.
Speaker 2: And I remember walking into some press event in the
Speaker 2: middle of second season next to you, Tony and girls
Speaker 2: literally screaming at you like you were a beatle or
Speaker 2: something was crazy. And you never chemistry read, you never auditioned,
Speaker 2: so we never knew that the fitz Olivia thing would
Speaker 2: be what it was.
Speaker 4: No, and Shanda, I don't think she knew that she
Speaker 4: wanted it to be necessarily the only thing I like,
Speaker 4: I said, I had really admired Carrie so much and
Speaker 4: wanted to work with her and the thing I felt
Speaker 4: with which I frankly thought with all of you guys,
Speaker 4: but I really felt it with her and our relationships
Speaker 4: primary we just connected as actors like Kerry and I
Speaker 4: never had to talk about anything. It was weird, man.
Speaker 4: We never like jeff and I connected in a different
Speaker 4: way like Jeffy and I. Every day, especially in the
Speaker 4: first season, we would spend we kind of latched onto
Speaker 4: each other and would talk about lacked or stuff, you know,
Speaker 4: like our background. What do you think that you know,
Speaker 4: we give each other books about politics and that we
Speaker 4: just were doing nerdy actor talk.
Speaker 5: Oh my god, you dorks. I'm obsessed with that.
Speaker 4: We had that kind of a relationship with with hilarious.
Speaker 4: But Carrie and I like with scenes, we would never
Speaker 4: even discuss them. We just had the same perspective on everything.
Speaker 4: So we come up and we do it. Yep, pretty much. Wow,
Speaker 4: that's just we just had the same orientation towards stuff
Speaker 4: and the same kind of way of working or something.
Speaker 4: I don't know, So I remember feeling, oh, this is
Speaker 4: just easy, this is just works. This this creatively we
Speaker 4: vibe so that we I don't think we ever discussed.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it was almost like, let's not look too close
Speaker 2: at this because it's working. Let's not even like try
Speaker 2: to examine our teeth the specialness out of it.
Speaker 3: Let's just just because it was so trippy for us too,
Speaker 3: because we were in our OPA world, so we didn't
Speaker 3: you know, our characters didn't encounter you guys that much,
Speaker 3: and we would talk so much shit and good stuff
Speaker 3: too about the White House. The White House must be
Speaker 3: so boring, right, we're so much we have so much
Speaker 3: fun here at.
Speaker 4: It was way more boring.
Speaker 3: But then there were the moments when you would come
Speaker 3: and direct us, which was so much fun. And I
Speaker 3: mean it was like like wrangling cats, I bet right,
Speaker 3: like we were just when.
Speaker 4: Becoming a kindergarten teacher.
Speaker 2: We would get you would not yell, but like you
Speaker 2: were like and you weren't the only one like you
Speaker 2: fullly Verica.
Speaker 5: They'd be like, come.
Speaker 3: On, kids, shit, stop it.
Speaker 5: You guys have to stop it.
Speaker 4: Stop sitting, never stop talking. So I would just go action.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I tell you, that's that's the way to do it. Yeah.
Speaker 3: And Katie's brilliant at that. She would be talking about
Speaker 3: that time in the story and then she go right
Speaker 3: into playing Quinn.
Speaker 2: I don't think that's brilliant. I think that's just like
Speaker 2: I don't have a lot of stakes as an.
Speaker 4: Actor, which I can't do, Like literally, if I do that,
Speaker 4: I'm gonna be like a mess on the play. I
Speaker 4: can't I have the I can't have that a facility.
Speaker 4: I know.
Speaker 2: How did all of the memorization scandal pace all of
Speaker 2: that come to you.
Speaker 5: Was that easy for you? Being word perfect? Like did
Speaker 5: you have?
Speaker 4: That? Wasn't too hard? I enjoyed it because it's very
Speaker 4: much like working in the theater, isn't it. I mean, yeah,
Speaker 4: here's the other amazing thing about Shonda I felt on
Speaker 4: that experience. She was so clear from day one what
Speaker 4: was important to her. There was like those are the
Speaker 4: ground rules? Great? Like she said, I remember that talk
Speaker 4: she gave us. She said, I will, I will take
Speaker 4: any input you have to give me. But what did
Speaker 4: she say? It didn't end up sticking, but she said,
Speaker 4: I needed twenty four hours after the table read give
Speaker 4: me your notes. I do not want theming on set,
Speaker 4: and what I write is music to me, so I
Speaker 4: need you to say the words exactly as I write them.
Speaker 4: And then it was the whole thing about speaking fast,
Speaker 4: which she kept honest about it. But so I thought
Speaker 4: that was like a really interesting technical challenge, and it
Speaker 4: was like, you know, so I was down with it.
Speaker 4: I really enjoyed that technical challenge. You know, we're so
Speaker 4: many other sets that you work on as a film
Speaker 4: or television actor, and that's great too. People are ad
Speaker 4: libbing all the time and paraphrasing and you know that
Speaker 4: that has its place with certain kinds of writing.
Speaker 3: But we've talked about Tony how how we've gone on
Speaker 3: to other projects and they have to literally be like,
Speaker 3: you have to slow down. Can you slow down at a bit,
Speaker 3: because now I'm just like, but like every single time
Speaker 3: it makes the scene better, I think, even though in
Speaker 3: stuff beyond scanned, I'm like, y'all got to pick up
Speaker 3: the pace.
Speaker 2: Like it's they're sitting there not remembering their lines. That's
Speaker 2: why they're waiting. They're sitting there making like a dramatic choice,
Speaker 2: but really because they don't know what there's saying next.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I know that's how.
Speaker 5: I feel better.
Speaker 2: I love that you and Jeff are over there all
Speaker 2: studying politics and shit, oh pa, we're like we're seeing friends.
Speaker 2: We're like making dance routines.
Speaker 3: Literally, some crew people are like get starting to get
Speaker 3: pissed off at us, Like I remember sometimes he'd be like,
Speaker 3: because we get into like the giggle like you know
Speaker 3: thing too where we couldn't stop laughing.
Speaker 4: So and they're all like, we've been working for fifteen.
Speaker 3: Hours, get your shit together. Yeah.
Speaker 4: I remember directing the first time I directed Josh Moline
Speaker 4: because I'm such like acting nerds, and Josh's whole thing
Speaker 4: for those who don't know. First of all, Joshua is brilliant,
Speaker 4: Like he's just a brilliant human being. So he has
Speaker 4: this incredible facility for everything he does. He has total
Speaker 4: disdain for craft of acting, you know, pretend he hates
Speaker 4: so I think he secretly loves it. But he Josh
Speaker 4: would be like he never would look at his lines
Speaker 4: until he was in the makeup triiller that morning and
Speaker 4: look at it once and he'd have it all down.
Speaker 4: And it's just the way his brain worked, and every
Speaker 4: actor works differently. But so in that I think that
Speaker 4: first episode I directed, whatever one it was, it was
Speaker 4: in the heat of the relationship between Josh and and yeah,
Speaker 4: between David and Abby, right so, and it was a
Speaker 4: very fraught relationship. And I remember giving Josh a note
Speaker 4: once about something about his emotional like need for Abby.
Speaker 4: I said, Josh, I really think, you know, like to
Speaker 4: try it again. That's great, but try it again, and
Speaker 4: I really want to feel that, you know, some some
Speaker 4: psychological thing about you know, his feelings for Abby. And
Speaker 4: he's like, yeah, whatever, but it's completely disrespected me. He's
Speaker 4: like I'll just just mean, just do it faster.
Speaker 5: Oh my god.
Speaker 4: Oh he totally blew me off and I and I
Speaker 4: was like, okay, well, and of course he was great,
Speaker 4: but yeah, Josh is so funny.
Speaker 5: We will be back with more after the break.
Speaker 2: We have to talk about where you came from, which
Speaker 2: is like, obviously you have a very long, beautiful, amazing
Speaker 2: career in so many mediums, film, TV, tons of theater. Also,
Speaker 2: by the way, I love that it scandal our vice
Speaker 2: president and president.
Speaker 5: We used to talk about this.
Speaker 2: Did you guys talk about this that our vice president
Speaker 2: and president were like Hollywood royalty, like just between Tony
Speaker 2: Goldwynd of Metro Goldwyn Mayer and then Kate Burton of
Speaker 2: Richard Burton. I was like the royals all up in
Speaker 2: our show.
Speaker 5: But I wanted to know.
Speaker 2: Did it feel crazy to you to like be I
Speaker 2: remember looking at some magazine and you were like in
Speaker 2: a bathtub, and I was like, oh my god, like
Speaker 2: this person like this is crazy, Like had you already
Speaker 2: written off like oh, like I was a movie star.
Speaker 2: I did ghost like in my thirties, like or.
Speaker 5: Was this a shock?
Speaker 4: Scy I was a shock? And I was also glad
Speaker 4: I was kind of a bit older because I had
Speaker 4: a great sense of humor about it and I could
Speaker 4: just really enjoy it. Yeah, when I had my first
Speaker 4: success with Ghosts, when I was like twenty nine years
Speaker 4: old or whatever, it was amazing and fun. I was
Speaker 4: so grateful because I'd already been working for five or
Speaker 4: six years and you know, struggling and all that. I
Speaker 4: was very grateful, but I was super stressed out by
Speaker 4: it because I didn't understand what that like. All of
Speaker 4: a sudden, when you have success in our job, you
Speaker 4: go from being completely ignored by everybody and then everyone's
Speaker 4: kissing your ass and shining light on you and telling
Speaker 4: you you're a genius. And it felt fraudulent to me
Speaker 4: when I was young, so I didn't quite know how
Speaker 4: to handle it, and it was kind of stressful. Whereas
Speaker 4: with Scandal, I was fifty and I couldn't believe it.
Speaker 4: I was like, it also was a lesson. It was
Speaker 4: also a lesson, and you can't plan shit in your life.
Speaker 4: You could have goals and you can drive for things,
Speaker 4: but it's just to have a give yourself a bit
Speaker 4: of a direction to hopefully follow something you are passionate
Speaker 4: about or want to do. You can't plan shit, so
Speaker 4: I could not have planned for that. All the years
Speaker 4: I wasted thinking Okay, it's going to go this way. Yeah,
Speaker 4: So that whole time I was just like, just enjoy
Speaker 4: this ride. Man. It was so the whole thing of like,
Speaker 4: you know, the sex symbol factor of fits was it was.
Speaker 4: It was, It was fun, it was amusing.
Speaker 2: And I mean, didn't girls like ask you to sign
Speaker 2: their bodies? I feel like women were asking you to
Speaker 2: sign their bodies.
Speaker 4: People did some intense ship tell us yeah, oh I go. Well.
Speaker 4: The two that come to mind was when I was
Speaker 4: directing the pilot for The Divide up in Toronto. We
Speaker 4: uh or maybe this series, I can't remember, but but
Speaker 4: we were. I was like a break from Scandal and
Speaker 4: I would get stopped on the street as we all were,
Speaker 4: by people wanting a selfie. And this girl, I told
Speaker 4: you the story, this girl takes a selfie and she's
Speaker 4: giving a selfie. She tries to make out with me
Speaker 4: and I avert my mouth and she licks my neck.
Speaker 3: Did I never tell you?
Speaker 4: She locked my neck full on? Like look like like
Speaker 4: you like you locked like you look Katie's neck? Yeah,
Speaker 4: I mean cheap right, yes, yes, someone.
Speaker 3: We both lick and then she licked me in another episode. Yeah. Yeah,
Speaker 3: it was like that.
Speaker 4: I was like whoa. And then she got herself and
Speaker 4: she walked away, so I was like okay. And then
Speaker 4: the other intense thing is not so long ago. A
Speaker 4: few years ago, after Scandal ended, I was doing Network
Speaker 4: on Broadway and a woman had been waiting outside the
Speaker 4: theater to get my autograph and Brian Cranston comes. I
Speaker 4: guess I hadn't gone out. Maybe it was like I
Speaker 4: don't know. I was hanging out in the theater and
Speaker 4: Brian said, did you see the woman with the tattoo
Speaker 4: when you And I was like, he said, Tony, there's
Speaker 4: a woman who wants to meet you who has a
Speaker 4: tattoo of you on her arm. Oh my god, like what?
Speaker 4: And I ended up. I ended up got by me
Speaker 4: maybe going out later, and she wasn't there. And then
Speaker 4: the next day was a Sunday, I think the matinee
Speaker 4: and I came out of here and she was still
Speaker 4: there and a guy comes up. He says, hey, could
Speaker 4: my sister meet you. You know, she's a big fan
Speaker 4: of yours. I said, of course. And because people that
Speaker 4: don't go to Broders. You guys both know, like people
Speaker 4: who want under wait the wait, come out the theater,
Speaker 4: the actress come out.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 4: And this sweet young woman who must have been twenty
Speaker 4: five years old comes up to me and she's like,
Speaker 4: you know, I really admire your work and I'm such
Speaker 4: a huge scandal fan and I but whatever you're she
Speaker 4: was like, and I want to be a filmmaker and
Speaker 4: you're whatever. The not for profit work you do just
Speaker 4: means so much to me. And so I got that
Speaker 4: tattoo of my face on her arm?
Speaker 3: What is it fit? Is it like a fits picture?
Speaker 5: Is it just you and a T shirt?
Speaker 4: It's just you know, it's kind of like me. It
Speaker 4: was like my so like a headshot, but it was
Speaker 4: I guess, but it was me. It was it was
Speaker 4: that's so so I said, oh, and I she asked
Speaker 4: me to sign her arm and you did, did you?
Speaker 4: I said? Of course? But I'm in I was like, whoa,
Speaker 4: that was pretty intense commitment. I mean, God bless her,
Speaker 4: but WHOA.
Speaker 2: There's that double standard? Did Shondaland? Which is like, I
Speaker 2: want to ask you about that? The double standard a
Speaker 2: Shondaland for you all listening, you know early on it's
Speaker 2: very known that I think Seanna came up to me
Speaker 2: and was like, oh, I wrote you a sexteen. If
Speaker 2: you want me to rewrite it for you to be
Speaker 2: an a turtleneck, I will. And I said amazing. And
Speaker 2: then she was like, but also here it's a double
Speaker 2: standard and the guys have to take off their shirts
Speaker 2: a lot.
Speaker 5: So did you know that going in?
Speaker 4: No, but it was I was okay with it, you know,
Speaker 4: I mean again I was sent to humor about it.
Speaker 4: And Shonda again, she was pretty straight up about it,
Speaker 4: like she didn't play games. She said, this is important
Speaker 4: to me and I obviously if I had said I
Speaker 4: refused to do something she or I'm uncomfortable, she would
Speaker 4: have respected that. And it was it's not like full
Speaker 4: on nudity, it's taking our shirts off. So it was,
Speaker 4: you know, like Scott and I had are like every table,
Speaker 4: he'd be like, okay, dude, you're up this week go
Speaker 4: to the SHP like straight off, which guy was gonna
Speaker 4: take his shirt off? It was pretty funny.
Speaker 3: I remember thinking, thank god, I just play Huck, who
Speaker 3: you know rarely takes a shirt off. But you guys
Speaker 3: had like that pressure of being like, oh my god.
Speaker 3: And then the next episode, I have a sex syne
Speaker 3: and I got to take my shirt up. I remember
Speaker 3: you always eating salads with like tender green seld.
Speaker 4: I was, I was, Honestly, Scott was more intense about that. Scott.
Speaker 4: I I Scott were, you know, worried more about it.
Speaker 4: I just I don't know. Look, I'm my attitude towards of.
Speaker 5: You're genetically blessed. Let's put that out there.
Speaker 2: Thank you Tony Goldwin's ancestors from above for giving Tony
Speaker 2: Goldwyn a six pack that cannot be taken down by
Speaker 2: a meal less of wine.
Speaker 4: Right, so I would have my meal. But but also
Speaker 4: it was it stressed me out too much distress about it,
Speaker 4: So I I just stayed in like a baseline level
Speaker 4: of fitness, which made me feel better and able to
Speaker 4: work long hours anyway. So I was like, all right,
Speaker 4: this is what this job is. So it was so
Speaker 4: I didn't ever get too spartan about it, because I
Speaker 4: think Scott would like literally starve himself. Oh yeah, that
Speaker 4: would suck me up.
Speaker 2: His genetic ancestors blessed him in some ways too, just
Speaker 2: not with the Tony Goldwyn stomach, which like that is
Speaker 2: just like how you're built.
Speaker 5: I sort of feel like Scott.
Speaker 4: Scott Poley is a pretty good looking fellow.
Speaker 2: Oh he's the best. He's absolutely gorgeous. I love you
Speaker 2: both to pieces.
Speaker 3: We talked a little bit about like the beginning of
Speaker 3: your career when you started. Do you remember what the
Speaker 3: first I think I know what it is and I'm
Speaker 3: really excited about it. But do you remember what your
Speaker 3: first movie was? Your first movie?
Speaker 4: Oh? Yeah, I know why you're excited about it. Yeah. Yeah,
Speaker 4: Briday of the Thirteenth, Part six, Yes, Jason lived, my
Speaker 4: first movie part Jason Lives. Yes, And I got killed
Speaker 4: in the first like five minutes. I think, Yeah, I
Speaker 4: think I was the second I was the second person
Speaker 4: in the movie murdered by Jason. Fuck.
Speaker 3: Yeah. You played Darren Robinson and I.
Speaker 4: Can't up Darren, Like that's some bad acting if you
Speaker 4: want to.
Speaker 2: Tony Guiermo recorded it and texted it to me yesterday,
Speaker 2: the clip which I will now word to you and
Speaker 2: we will post when this episode comes.
Speaker 4: Because me standing there with a gun going come back, Yeah,
Speaker 4: and then Jason stabs me in the heart with a pole.
Speaker 2: He impales you with like a fucking huge ass pole
Speaker 2: that he just also like stabbed the wheel so that
Speaker 2: your car could no longer be drivable.
Speaker 4: And broke the headlights. Exactly.
Speaker 3: You were adorable, but what a dream you were in
Speaker 3: a Friday at thirteen movie. Like that's a huge for
Speaker 3: horror fans. Man.
Speaker 4: I was. I was so excited to have a job that. Yeah,
Speaker 4: like I think and maybe got to pay one thousand
Speaker 4: dollars for a week, and I thought it was an unfortune,
Speaker 4: you know, I was just so happy to have it.
Speaker 2: Let's talk about the trail that is this episode's rewatch,
Speaker 2: which is I feel like changed the course of Scandal
Speaker 2: actually because it was the first episode that really spent
Speaker 2: a lot of time and then flashback and we became
Speaker 2: a show that used that as a vehicle alot. It
Speaker 2: aired on May tenth in two thousand and well, and
Speaker 2: it was written by Jenna Bands right. It was directed
Speaker 2: by Tom Verica. And let me take you quick through
Speaker 2: the guest stars of the episode. We have Brendan Hines
Speaker 2: is giddy and Wallace Bellamy Young's first lady, Melli Grant.
Speaker 5: Holy crap, Bellamy Young was still a.
Speaker 3: Fucking It wasn't even like a regular Yeah, your.
Speaker 2: Pipe and smoking Matt Lesher as Billy Chambers, Kate Burton
Speaker 2: is Vice President Sally Langston, and Josh Molina as assistant
Speaker 2: US and Josh Molina wasn't Josh out Good was assistant
Speaker 2: US Attorney David Rosen.
Speaker 3: And then we have Dan Bukatinsky as James Novak. Brenda
Speaker 3: Song is Alyssa the legal Secretary, John Burke is Paul Moseley,
Speaker 3: and Samantha Sloyan as Sassy Stafford. The Sassy Stafford who
Speaker 3: ends up in a future episode. She ends up having
Speaker 3: the whole storyline thing, yeah that's right, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 5: Gee me or you hit this synopsis.
Speaker 3: You hit it last time, you hit it so good
Speaker 3: last time. I feel like I feel like I should
Speaker 3: hit it this time. But baby, you could do it
Speaker 3: also after me, if you okay? So the synopsis is
Speaker 3: after Fitz shows up at Olivia's apartment asking her to
Speaker 3: listen to the sex tape. The episode flashes back to
Speaker 3: show Fits his campaigntro to the White House and the
Speaker 3: blossoming relationship between Olivia and Fitz. Meanwhile, Gideon Wallace investigates
Speaker 3: Amanda Tanna's past, and David looks into Amanda's death and.
Speaker 4: What at what a great episode that was. That was
Speaker 4: definitely one of my favorite all times. And Verica's first episode.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's it's for one of the first times that
Speaker 3: that carries wig changed from.
Speaker 2: And this was our first like whole episode where the
Speaker 2: big storyline is a whole flashback. It's the whole how
Speaker 2: you know Fitz became president, how Fitz and Olivia started
Speaker 2: their love relationship, their physical relationship, And it's Tom Verica's
Speaker 2: introduction to Shondaland, and he those listening, became our producing
Speaker 2: director and now he's the producing director for Bridge and
Speaker 2: the upcoming Queen Charlotte, and he's Shondaland Staple and family.
Speaker 5: So he obviously did a great job.
Speaker 3: On the e so good. And of course he ends
Speaker 3: up directing like a million episodes of Scandal throughout the season. Yeah,
Speaker 3: as did Tony.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and the big highlights of this episode that I
Speaker 2: want to talk to you about is this is like,
Speaker 2: this is the episode where you say just one minute,
Speaker 2: like you're on the campaign and you're like just you
Speaker 2: just pull her out of a room and you're like
Speaker 2: standing and all You're just like, we just need one
Speaker 2: minute together. And then this is also the episode that
Speaker 2: has my favorite, one of my favorite Scandal scenes of
Speaker 2: all time when you and Olivia are on the bus
Speaker 2: and you Fit says, what kind of coward was I?
Speaker 5: Yeah, that I didn't wait for you?
Speaker 4: Yeah, that's my favorite Scandal scene that I did.
Speaker 5: Tell us, why how did you prepare? Tell us about
Speaker 5: that scene?
Speaker 4: Which is so so beautifully written? You know, Yeah, that
Speaker 4: is great now that that episode was so Tom Verica,
Speaker 4: that's such a brilliant job directing that.
Speaker 3: It's the first time she calls you fits too like
Speaker 3: you it is it?
Speaker 4: Yeah? Yeah, wow, and you like just and the one
Speaker 4: minute thing and that theme that developed a musical theme
Speaker 4: that became Olivia and fits this theme. It was beautiful.
Speaker 5: And it's also the episode where you guys have your
Speaker 5: first real like.
Speaker 4: In the hotel room in the hotel, that crazy hotel
Speaker 4: sex scene with the micro thing under the bed, the
Speaker 4: bug under the bed. Yeah, there's a bug.
Speaker 5: Under the bed.
Speaker 2: And now we've were starting to put all together that
Speaker 2: the the sex sounds that everyone's.
Speaker 4: Being sort of l it's so funny that I'm remembering that. Yeah,
Speaker 4: it was the first sex scene that Carry and I had.
Speaker 2: I mean, you had to really take it was a
Speaker 2: ten PM show. It's like she's in a bra, she's
Speaker 2: in a white bra. She's like it's like you pick
Speaker 2: her up and she's around your body. I mean, it
Speaker 2: is fucking on.
Speaker 4: It was pretty hot, like and it was pretty Yeah. Yeah,
Speaker 4: for not being fully nude, we might as well. Yeah,
Speaker 4: and Carrie and I were so It's so funny because
Speaker 4: we were so like, it was the first time that
Speaker 4: we had done the sex scene together, and so we
Speaker 4: were so like careful with each other, and you know,
Speaker 4: six months we're like, yeah, whatever, ship, he gives a ship.
Speaker 5: We've done this a thousand times.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 3: There's also that memorable line where you say take off
Speaker 3: your clothes, which just hit so hard. It was so
Speaker 3: sexy because there's like a there's like a moment before
Speaker 3: you say that line where you're just staring at her
Speaker 3: and then you say take off your clothes.
Speaker 5: Oh, it's so good, it's so good. Were you nervous
Speaker 5: that day? Were you like, I mean, I know, you've
Speaker 5: done tens of thousands of sexies in your life.
Speaker 4: So in those things, I was sort of nervous because
Speaker 4: it was Carris in my I was nervous, not for Carrie,
Speaker 4: but for our relationship, like I want. As actors, you know,
Speaker 4: you're like trying to be you know what it's like respect. Yeah,
Speaker 4: you're just trying to be developed trust with another person. Yeah,
Speaker 4: because it's so intimate doing sex scenes with people.
Speaker 2: For those of you listening, Tony Goldwin has a real knack.
Speaker 2: And i'd heard this because I don't know if y'all
Speaker 2: remember this, but in the season episode one hundred, which
Speaker 2: this podcast hopefully will get there, Quinn has a sex
Speaker 2: scene with Fits. It's just a quick makeout and then
Speaker 2: a nice Quinn drops to her knees for a quick
Speaker 2: ass blowjob. But listen, I had heard in the grapevine,
Speaker 2: and all you actors listening this is tell me if
Speaker 2: this is just a rumor and not true. The rumor
Speaker 2: was that Tony Goldwin is such a great sex scene
Speaker 2: partner because if there's something that you're insecure about with
Speaker 2: your body, he'll like block it with his arm or
Speaker 2: cover it up.
Speaker 5: Is this made up? You're looking at me like this
Speaker 5: is made up?
Speaker 3: What?
Speaker 4: I don't know? You don't even know where you heard it.
Speaker 4: It might have been I should, I shouldainly would.
Speaker 2: But I had heard that, like, oh god, it's so
Speaker 2: relieving when you're with someone who's like respectful but also
Speaker 2: like like oh you're like maybe Bell me, I'm I am.
Speaker 2: This is clearly a memory that I have made up
Speaker 2: for you. You're welcome, Tony Goldwyn.
Speaker 4: Yes, it's true. You know you gotta be. You got
Speaker 4: to be so protective over your partner. I mean, acting
Speaker 4: with people, you got to developed trust. Trust is like
Speaker 4: the most important thing anyway. But when two people have
Speaker 4: their clothes off or or you know, it's just so weird.
Speaker 4: So that kind of I remember that with you know,
Speaker 4: I think when when Bellamine I had a sex scene.
Speaker 4: I may be wrong enough to ask her, but I
Speaker 4: think it was her first time ever wow, being basically
Speaker 4: naked on camera and doing it and we have this
Speaker 4: scene sex scene in the shower together, and she was
Speaker 4: it was so challenging, you know, it was so she
Speaker 4: felt so vulnerable, I think, you know, so I remember
Speaker 4: feeling like I really got to take care of her
Speaker 4: because because I have done it a lot, and I've
Speaker 4: directed a lot of sex scenes and it's such a
Speaker 4: weird thing that we do, but all, you know what,
Speaker 4: they're important because in real life sex is such an
Speaker 4: important Yeah, life and relation gives and people are so
Speaker 4: weird and provedish about it in terms of our culture
Speaker 4: and everything that if done right, it's such a it
Speaker 4: can be such an it's such an interesting dramatic situation,
Speaker 4: you know what I'm saying. So I always find it
Speaker 4: really challenging.
Speaker 2: Yes, And it's also the part that I enjoy the
Speaker 2: most about shows like It's Why, like that, The Will
Speaker 2: They Won't They?
Speaker 5: They?
Speaker 2: Which you and Carrie mastered over years of like I
Speaker 2: think you know, they kept keeping you apart, getting you together,
Speaker 2: keeping you apart, sending her down the road with other people,
Speaker 2: sending you down the road with other people, and then
Speaker 2: bringing you back together. I mean, the sex lives of
Speaker 2: Fits and Olivia were a huge heartbeat of our show.
Speaker 3: Oh yeah, we'll be right back, guys.
Speaker 5: Do you remember anything about like the trail?
Speaker 4: Yeah? I remember a lot about it.
Speaker 2: Okay, we've got Homeless Talk makes his first? Is this
Speaker 2: your homeless Talks first?
Speaker 3: Ye? Homeless?
Speaker 5: Can you tell us about it? That's oh right?
Speaker 4: We also read right.
Speaker 3: The hardest thing about playing Homeless Huck was that I
Speaker 3: knew I couldn't eat all freaking day because of that
Speaker 3: damn beard, Because you can't, you know, all the hair
Speaker 3: gets in your mouth. So that was just the biggest
Speaker 3: struggle to being like, you know, they'd come around with
Speaker 3: trays of these delicious looking sandwiches and I'd be like,
Speaker 3: I can't fucking eat that chicken. I'm homeless, hut. That
Speaker 3: was the hardest part.
Speaker 2: Quinn has her grilled cheese sex scene with Gideon in
Speaker 2: this episode, and I remember being very nervous as well
Speaker 2: and getting like seven thousand spray te Yes.
Speaker 4: I remember like two, it was your first. That was
Speaker 4: your first sex scene, wasn't it you know the show?
Speaker 4: Wasn't it your first one in the show?
Speaker 5: Yes, first, I had done the show, But I remember
Speaker 5: you being I was.
Speaker 2: Really stressed because I probably hadn't done a sex scene
Speaker 2: where like people this many people would watch it like
Speaker 2: I done tons before and like indies and plays where
Speaker 2: no one gave a rats ass.
Speaker 5: But like I felt stressed.
Speaker 2: I got a thousand spray tands a thousand because someone
Speaker 2: told me if you can't.
Speaker 5: And he would cover up like butt z. It's some
Speaker 5: like all this stuff.
Speaker 2: Who was more nervous than me was Gideon Wallace, who
Speaker 2: is now married. Do you know who Gideon Wallace is
Speaker 2: now married to Tony Goldwyn. Are you ready to fucking
Speaker 2: fall off your chair? He's married to Tatiana Maslani. No way,
Speaker 2: they got married during COVID. I'm said, I'm saying this
Speaker 2: for your fans because I saw Tony Goldwyn in Network
Speaker 2: on Broadway and his character is paired up with Tatiana,
Speaker 2: So you've worked with closely and had sex scenes with
Speaker 2: her as well.
Speaker 4: Network. She and I were she and Brian Cranston and she, Yeah,
Speaker 4: she played the Fai Dunway part Network. Brendan is the
Speaker 4: sweetest guy. Yeah, is the best. She's awesome. She's such
Speaker 4: a great person and brilliant actress.
Speaker 2: But he was really nervous that day, I remember, and
Speaker 2: then I felt so embarrassed because we had the sex
Speaker 2: scene and Tom Verica was like, Okay, it really seems
Speaker 2: like Katie Quinn is like mauling Brendan very easily. And
Speaker 2: Tom said something like if this was like a point system,
Speaker 2: we kind of wanted to be like one one, you know,
Speaker 2: two too. You don't want it to be like Katie's
Speaker 2: doing it all and Brennan's just sort.
Speaker 5: Of and I'm like, I'm so sorry. I just like
Speaker 5: I'm I'm an aggressor, like like that's just how I
Speaker 5: do it.
Speaker 2: I just well, I'm just a controlling person, like I'm
Speaker 2: just like, Okay, we're gonna do this, Like let's go.
Speaker 2: Like I have a lot of energy. Obviously you all
Speaker 2: know that for better or for worse, and I had
Speaker 2: sort of overtaken him.
Speaker 5: He was very nervous.
Speaker 1: I remember that.
Speaker 2: But we got it done and then literally the next
Speaker 2: episode he dies with a scissor in the next.
Speaker 3: So yes, yeah, this is when this in this episode too,
Speaker 3: It's one of the first times that I remember thinking,
Speaker 3: oh shit, like this show is going there. Like the
Speaker 3: fact that Billy Chambers stabs him in the next and
Speaker 3: you know, you see a huge spurt of blood come out.
Speaker 3: It was like, oh wow, this is an intense like show.
Speaker 3: It's it's really going for it and going there, which
Speaker 3: I loved. It's dark.
Speaker 2: This is also the episode where Mellie says we see
Speaker 2: the beginnings of her being the political animal that she is,
Speaker 2: because she comes in and does a speech saying that
Speaker 2: she'd like she basically fakes a miscarriage.
Speaker 5: She says like, oh it's because I lost a baby.
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, and we start to be like, whoa, this
Speaker 2: woman is like a beast, like she will do anything
Speaker 2: for the office.
Speaker 5: Yeah, oh my god, yes, these were my notes. What
Speaker 5: kind of coward was I to marry her and not
Speaker 5: wait for you?
Speaker 2: Fave line ever she calls him fits they hold hands,
Speaker 2: ladies and gentlemen.
Speaker 5: It is on take off your clothes, he says.
Speaker 2: Tony Goldwin's body is insane, carries in a little bra
Speaker 2: ask grabbing, straddling whoa ten PM show people, Billy.
Speaker 3: May these are my notes when I god, I love it.
Speaker 2: But what's so sweet and how this episode sort of
Speaker 2: wraps up is that then they cut to you both
Speaker 2: in present day and you do the one minute again,
Speaker 2: but we see how broken and far like you're just
Speaker 2: holding her on the couch, right, ge was that right?
Speaker 4: Because I bring her the tape to look to listen
Speaker 4: to the sex tape that it's her, not a Manda
Speaker 4: ten or whatever.
Speaker 3: And this was huge for TV, I thought too, because
Speaker 3: it was the first time that you say, let's do
Speaker 3: the you know, one minute, but on on screen, on camera,
Speaker 3: on television, we actually wait that full minute in silence
Speaker 3: of them to just holding each other, hym holding Olivia,
Speaker 3: and it was so so powerful.
Speaker 4: Yeah, Shanda said, it's going to be a full minute.
Speaker 4: Yeah it was. It was great. It was great in
Speaker 4: that in that yeah, right exactly. And remember in season one,
Speaker 4: didn't in season when we shoot in a real apartment, yep,
Speaker 4: and people could barely move in the hallways and we're
Speaker 4: having this tiny part which eventually they built in a
Speaker 4: set on a stage which was much easier.
Speaker 3: But yeah, yeah, did you take anything from said Tony?
Speaker 3: Did you did you take anything, like a piece of clothing.
Speaker 4: Or like so much swag so much I guess ABC,
Speaker 4: so many clothes, I mean, yeah, thank you god. It
Speaker 4: was like we fudged the rules a little bit about
Speaker 4: all the wardrobe that we.
Speaker 5: Word for our body. It's either in the basement to
Speaker 5: never be warned.
Speaker 4: It literally had my name all of my suits said
Speaker 4: on the inside because Brooks Brothers made made all of
Speaker 4: my suit a lot of my suits, and they said
Speaker 4: especially tailor made for Fitzgerald President Fitzgerald Grant the third Wow,
Speaker 4: I still have a bunch of those suits are really good.
Speaker 4: But they have like isn't that a cool thing? So
Speaker 4: what were they going to give them to some other
Speaker 4: actor to wear? Uh? So clothes. What else do I have?
Speaker 2: Do you take anything from the Oval office, like a
Speaker 2: piece from your desk or anything that was on it.
Speaker 4: No, we all talked about that there was nothing. There
Speaker 4: was nothing. I really there was like a battleship. That'd
Speaker 4: be stupid. So I don't think I did.
Speaker 5: I don't tell Tony what you got.
Speaker 4: We got much swag.
Speaker 3: So when the series ended, I I always admired the
Speaker 3: the window panels, the flawed, cracked window panels in O
Speaker 3: p A.
Speaker 5: Yeah.
Speaker 3: Yeah, So I I hit up Mary Howard, who's one
Speaker 3: of our producers, and asked her if I could have
Speaker 3: one of those windows, one of those panels, and they
Speaker 3: freaking sent it to my house. It's it weighs like
Speaker 3: a ton, but it's the most beautiful piece and it's
Speaker 3: hanging in my in my in my house at the entrance,
Speaker 3: and it's just like one one pane with the framing one.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's like poster size, like a movie poster size.
Speaker 3: But it's great, gorgeous.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I love that. That's such a cool.
Speaker 2: And then I also an opportunity man because I didn't
Speaker 2: do that either.
Speaker 3: I also took us leather jacket I'm wearing it right now.
Speaker 4: Oh that talks? Okay, this is that's pretty awesome.
Speaker 2: Yeah, do you have any like scandal memories that jump
Speaker 2: out at you? Also, you're going to have to come
Speaker 2: back on like if we are doing this for one
Speaker 2: hundred and whatever episodes, we're going to be bothering you again.
Speaker 4: Oh yeah, anytime, anytime. It's so fun.
Speaker 5: But what was like? I want to know? I want
Speaker 5: to know a couple of things.
Speaker 2: How do you feel about our WhatsApp scandal chain that
Speaker 2: we text each other constantly?
Speaker 5: Happy birthday, Happy holidays? I miss you the best.
Speaker 2: Are there any major memories that stick out in your
Speaker 2: mind about maybe the beginning, the first season, the second season?
Speaker 4: So many things? God, yeah, I mean that Thursday rehearsal
Speaker 4: already told you about. That was like a magical thing
Speaker 4: where you just feel the chemistry between people going to
Speaker 4: the end. When we were in DC, our last episode ever,
Speaker 4: yea the best For no good reason, Seanda said, we're
Speaker 4: shooting this episode in Washington. We just had a party.
Speaker 4: And remember when Carrie rented a bus friends all to go,
Speaker 4: uh look at all the monuments because her favorite thing
Speaker 4: to do one of you know, of course, Carrie intellectual
Speaker 4: for one of her favorite things to do in d
Speaker 4: C was to go around to all of the different
Speaker 4: you know, her favorite monuments, and she took rented for
Speaker 4: those didn't know the story, she rented a bus for us,
Speaker 4: like a tour bus thing, and we all piled in
Speaker 4: at night and drove all around d C and like
Speaker 4: we're drinking party. Yeah. I bought George and I bought
Speaker 4: a bottle of whistle Pig whiskey, which we which we
Speaker 4: both really loved at the hotel bar, which cost me
Speaker 4: like four hundred. They're like, oh, it's gonna George, Oh
Speaker 4: my god, it's gonna cost them, Like, let's do it.
Speaker 3: Oh my god.
Speaker 4: That So it was so mad. No one recognized us.
Speaker 4: We were all together, but it was dark so we
Speaker 4: could be with tourist people didn't. It's so fun.
Speaker 5: It was perfect.
Speaker 2: It was raining out a little bit, so there were
Speaker 2: really weren't many tourists around, and it was probably really
Speaker 2: time the Scandal cast could have ever done something like
Speaker 2: that and not be getting crazily mobbed.
Speaker 3: Mobbed isn't title of our of our WhatsApp chain? Aren't
Speaker 3: we called?
Speaker 4: That's what I call you guys? Yeah? And then Shonda
Speaker 4: arranged a private tour of the African American Museum. That incredible,
Speaker 4: That was so so so incredible, So.
Speaker 2: Lucky, lucky all those new the New York upfront trips
Speaker 2: and the White House corresponding trips and shooting in DC,
Speaker 2: and just like so many dinners, like we used to
Speaker 2: oh we haven't.
Speaker 5: Talked about that actually yet.
Speaker 2: We used to give a gift like every year, I
Speaker 2: think we would just take the writers, all the actors
Speaker 2: would take the writers.
Speaker 4: Out to dinner.
Speaker 5: Yeah, and classic Jeff Perry's style.
Speaker 2: Every actor was sort of get up and like say
Speaker 2: a like a rousing speech, as if we were in
Speaker 2: like some Irish like Limerick pub.
Speaker 5: Kind of thing.
Speaker 2: Like we'd all get up like I want to say this,
Speaker 2: and I want to say that, cheers.
Speaker 4: And yeah, it was quite a unique. I'd forgotten about
Speaker 4: that because, you know, for people that aren't in our business,
Speaker 4: writers are sort of notoriously underappreciated. Yeah, and particularly staff writers,
Speaker 4: because in television, you have your showrunner who becomes the
Speaker 4: big you know, hefe and is generally gets all the
Speaker 4: accolades and on a successful show, and Shanda certainly deserves those,
Speaker 4: but the writers, you know, work their asses off, sometimes
Speaker 4: feeling not seen, and so I forget how it evolved.
Speaker 4: But they were just so grateful that we would have
Speaker 4: this party every year with them.
Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, it was such magic, such magic. Oh wait,
Speaker 2: can you tell us really quickly because we didn't have.
Speaker 5: You on for this episode you really know how to chop?
Speaker 5: Would like that?
Speaker 3: Right? That's right when you chopped.
Speaker 4: I actually I actually do know how to chomp.
Speaker 5: Really, it's unbelievable.
Speaker 2: Didn't Sean to email you like, is there any sports
Speaker 2: or something you can do?
Speaker 4: Oh? Yeah, she was cruel to me. She said something
Speaker 4: like can you play What does she say? Can you
Speaker 4: play basketball? Or something? I know? She said what sports
Speaker 4: can you do? I said, Shanda, I can chop wood.
Speaker 4: I was kidding so that you wrote in a wood
Speaker 4: chopping scene. And then she would say, well, what what
Speaker 4: sports do you play? I said, look, pretty much anything
Speaker 4: except basketball. I cannot play basketball. And then uh, this
Speaker 4: is another like somewhere in the middle of our of
Speaker 4: our whole thing, I said, I can't play, but I
Speaker 4: do not play basketball. So all the slow behold Lynn Powelo,
Speaker 4: are brilliant costume designer texts me, one thing do you
Speaker 4: we need to schedule a fitting for you to come
Speaker 4: in and try on your basketball club. Like what, Oh no,
Speaker 4: She's like, what didn't Sean to tell you you have
Speaker 4: a basketball scene in the next episode? But you Scott
Speaker 4: fully playing basketball.
Speaker 3: I was like, oh my god.
Speaker 4: It was like an amazing played high school basketball. And
Speaker 4: so I was like, what is happening. So then I
Speaker 4: called Mary Howard and she said, oh, yes, of course,
Speaker 4: we never knew anything about what was happening in the
Speaker 4: next episode. It was we always found out at the
Speaker 4: last minute. So I made them get me a basketball coach,
Speaker 4: you know, for like ten days of cramming, and I
Speaker 4: had blisters on my Oh my god. We could I
Speaker 4: could play one on one with Scott, you know, we
Speaker 4: had a full basketball team. It was ridiculous.
Speaker 3: Killed it.
Speaker 5: Oh wait.
Speaker 2: And also some fun facts, Steven Finch does not appear
Speaker 2: at all in this episode past the present.
Speaker 3: I c yeah, he's not at all.
Speaker 4: So that was Ian's well.
Speaker 5: Oh yeah, but what's crazy?
Speaker 4: Oh, because he came into Olivia's life later yes.
Speaker 5: Yes, yes.
Speaker 2: And then Gideon was up all night working on the
Speaker 2: phone right outside the bathroom, oh, right outside the bedroom,
Speaker 2: and Quinn leaves to get coffee as Gideon calls Billy,
Speaker 2: which means Billy needed to drive to Gideon's house, have
Speaker 2: the conversation and stab him all before Quinn got coffee nearby. Yeah,
Speaker 2: well no, we always stretch shit like that. Yeah, yeah, yeah,
Speaker 2: we always would stretch.
Speaker 4: Just like that.
Speaker 3: All right, y'all, let's get into our favorite do.
Speaker 5: Do doo doo doo dooo doo tweet.
Speaker 4: The I said some time, y'all, we.
Speaker 2: Like to wrap up our episodes with. We read some
Speaker 2: tweets that were put out that night.
Speaker 5: Oh my god, we must have just found out. This
Speaker 5: is crazy.
Speaker 2: But at Kasha zero two one zero and May eleventh,
Speaker 2: twenty twelve wrote, I'm so happy, happy about Scale ABC
Speaker 2: being renewed for a second season.
Speaker 5: Doing a happy dance right now?
Speaker 3: Woo who yeah? We must we know right, no, yea season? Yeah.
Speaker 3: Rebecca Theater of A shown at film fatalos A retweeted
Speaker 3: a Dawn Novett one time for the hotel scene. I
Speaker 3: haven't seen a love scene so hot with a black
Speaker 3: lead on primetime TV. Overdue, well done, hashtag scandal. Yeah
Speaker 3: this was huge.
Speaker 4: That was so funny. How the world has changed? Right? Yeah,
Speaker 4: I mean now you wouldn't think twice about it, and
Speaker 4: it was only no, totally, it was it ten years ago,
Speaker 4: ten years ago exactly.
Speaker 5: I'm willing to bet.
Speaker 2: I know we were the first black female lead of
Speaker 2: a network drama in thirty seven years when we aired.
Speaker 2: But I'm curious if there had ever been sex scenes
Speaker 2: between a black woman and a white man on network
Speaker 2: drama primetime, Like I.
Speaker 4: Don't know, I know, and I wonder certain I would,
Speaker 4: and if it was like a regular relationship as opposed
Speaker 4: to sure the thing I called one episode or something. Yeah,
Speaker 4: isn't that insane?
Speaker 2: And now I thank god, I feel like that's why
Speaker 2: Scandal is. I mean, it was so spe for so
Speaker 2: many reasons, but it really was the beginning. Bring yeah,
Speaker 2: ground bringing, and thank god you and Carrie we're so
Speaker 2: hot together because it was missing. Okay, screaming at Scandal
Speaker 2: right now, throws my wonderful pistachios at the screen at
Speaker 2: the end of this damn episode from Rebecca Theodor vas
Speaker 2: shone and then oh this is interesting at Rimsey says,
Speaker 2: oh mg, Kerry Washington has a small hand compared to
Speaker 2: mister fits hashtag scandal.
Speaker 3: Don't go there.
Speaker 5: I don't know what that means.
Speaker 3: This other tweet, Queen of Sandy says, reporter dude from
Speaker 3: Scandal was a fool. You can't invite someone into your
Speaker 3: home alone and tell them you have career ending dirt
Speaker 3: on them. That's so true.
Speaker 5: That's a very very points in your neck's.
Speaker 2: And then we have our first hashtag from at xyzz
Speaker 2: in other news. This episode of hashtag Scandal is my
Speaker 2: favorite so far. Hashtag one minute.
Speaker 4: Yeah, oh man, this is so fun, so fun.
Speaker 5: Guys, Tony, you are the best. We love you and
Speaker 5: this was such a blast.
Speaker 2: And thank you for being our Fitzgerald Grant the third,
Speaker 2: forever and ever and ever.
Speaker 3: Yeah, thank you guys, Katie, How freaking amazing was it
Speaker 3: having Tony like I couldn't believe it. We I think
Speaker 3: we went over like a lot because we couldn't stop
Speaker 3: talking to him.
Speaker 4: So great.
Speaker 5: The dude is the greatest. He's just the most loving.
Speaker 3: Yeah, talent did like smart. Yeah, and Friday the thirteen
Speaker 3: Part six. He's in Friday the third his.
Speaker 5: First job, his first movie.
Speaker 2: And isn't it so inspiring that he was someone who
Speaker 2: had to really hustle for it, especially in the beginning.
Speaker 2: And yeah, and then even still when he thought he
Speaker 2: was and is this big fancy Hollywood director took eight
Speaker 2: years to put together the movie of Conviction, and then
Speaker 2: it ends up not doing what everyone promised him it
Speaker 2: would do, even though it's still an amazing movie, And
Speaker 2: then his entire career took a complete right turn back
Speaker 2: to being an actor.
Speaker 3: Yeah with Scandal. Yeah, oh man, thank you, Thank you
Speaker 3: everyone for listening. I hope you guys enjoyed this episode
Speaker 3: as much as we enjoyed talking about it.
Speaker 2: Next week, if Tony Goldwin blew your mind, which she
Speaker 2: did mine and he's the best, We've got a show
Speaker 2: in store for you people. Next episode one oh seven
Speaker 2: is titled Grant for the People, and we've got a
Speaker 2: very special guest, maybe one of the most special guests.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and it's the last episode of the of the
Speaker 3: season of season one of Scandal.
Speaker 5: So tell your friends come listen.
Speaker 1: Thank you guys for joining us on Unpacking the Toolbox.
Speaker 1: If you enjoyed the show, please subscribe, share with your friends, rate,
Speaker 1: or leave us a review.
Speaker 2: Scandal is executive produced by Sandy Bailey, alex Alce, Lauren Homan,
Speaker 2: Tyler Klang, and Gabrielle Collins. Our producer and editor is
Speaker 2: Vince De Johnny, with music by Chad Fisher.
Speaker 1: Scandal is a production of eight Signature and you can
Speaker 1: follow along by rewatching Scandal on Hulu.
Speaker 2: Unpacking the Toolbox is a production of Shondaland Audio in
Speaker 2: partnership with iHeartRadio. For more podcasts from Shondaland Audio, visit
Speaker 2: the iHeartRadio app or anywhere you subscribe to your favorite shows.