WEBVTT - 106: The Trail w/ Tony Goldwyn 0:00:00.080 --> 0:00:02.720 Unpacking the Toolbox is a production of Shondaland Audio in 0:00:02.800 --> 0:00:25.560 partnership with Higheartradios. 0:00:25.960 --> 0:00:35.280 Katie, we have to have a Scandal reunion, like what 0:00:35.320 --> 0:00:39.800 the hell COVID really screwed it? But like whether it's 0:00:39.880 --> 0:00:43.640 George's house or Shanda was saying she is a Vermont plate, 0:00:43.720 --> 0:00:45.640 I honestly think we should go to Vermont and ill 0:00:45.640 --> 0:00:47.040 like make jam and like. 0:00:47.560 --> 0:00:51.120 A great would that be? We have to I know, 0:00:51.280 --> 0:00:53.720 I know, I know, I hope Vermont. That's such a 0:00:53.840 --> 0:00:54.800 oh my god, that would be. 0:00:54.880 --> 0:00:55.120 Yeah. 0:00:55.200 --> 0:00:57.080 Shanda like has said like she's a house there. But 0:00:57.120 --> 0:00:59.320 I also think I could email my person and be like, 0:00:59.360 --> 0:01:02.880 can a freak in Hotel host Us in Cabo. 0:01:02.880 --> 0:01:05.120 Like with the whole cast. 0:01:05.200 --> 0:01:07.839 Scandal cast to come, We'll do a photo shoot whatever 0:01:07.920 --> 0:01:08.319 you want. 0:01:08.480 --> 0:01:09.840 I'm not going to beat a bathing suit, but I 0:01:09.880 --> 0:01:10.720 will be in a cover up. 0:01:10.880 --> 0:01:12.960 Yes, hell yeah. 0:01:13.040 --> 0:01:16.160 I think what you'll all hear as we continue these 0:01:16.280 --> 0:01:19.760 episodes is like it really was such a special group. 0:01:19.920 --> 0:01:22.640 Yeah, like we really like we're really like a family, 0:01:22.720 --> 0:01:25.920 like and it's stayed that way. Years have passed and 0:01:25.959 --> 0:01:28.480 we're still super close and we all love each other 0:01:28.520 --> 0:01:29.759 and yeah, and that's rare. 0:01:30.120 --> 0:01:30.959 We are so. 0:01:31.120 --> 0:01:35.160 Pumped for today's episode because the biggest fucking deal is 0:01:35.200 --> 0:01:35.920 here today. 0:01:36.360 --> 0:01:37.800 Totally go the way. 0:01:38.440 --> 0:01:40.759 Did you Ustill love the episodes he would direct us on. 0:01:40.880 --> 0:01:43.720 Oh all the time. Yeah, And you know what we 0:01:43.760 --> 0:01:45.880 always talk about, like how great it is having a 0:01:45.920 --> 0:01:48.320 director that's also an actor because they know how to 0:01:48.480 --> 0:01:50.800 talk to us, they know are sort of you know 0:01:51.200 --> 0:01:54.400 when we when we're feeling extra vulnerable or like insecure. 0:01:55.120 --> 0:01:58.960 He's just so so loving, so so great working with him. 0:01:59.040 --> 0:02:01.800 He's so great that almost sometimes he's too good because 0:02:01.800 --> 0:02:03.600 I've had so many have I told you this before. 0:02:03.600 --> 0:02:06.240 I've had a couple actor friends, No, actually more than 0:02:06.240 --> 0:02:09.760 a couple auditioned for various projects as he's directed in 0:02:09.800 --> 0:02:11.600 the last ten years since I've become his friend, and 0:02:11.600 --> 0:02:14.400 they always text me the same like I got it, Katie, 0:02:15.000 --> 0:02:17.000 so amazing, I got it, And I always want to 0:02:17.040 --> 0:02:19.480 be like, you did it. 0:02:19.880 --> 0:02:21.359 That's just Tony, Like. 0:02:21.520 --> 0:02:22.960 He's so so sweet. 0:02:23.120 --> 0:02:25.720 Yeah, he's so sweet, and he always takes the most 0:02:25.840 --> 0:02:29.120 time and care in the room with the actors like that, 0:02:29.160 --> 0:02:31.320 you end up spending like forty five minutes in there 0:02:31.360 --> 0:02:33.040 and you think, like, holy shit, I got this part. 0:02:33.200 --> 0:02:35.200 And I'm like, no, that's just Tony. 0:02:36.160 --> 0:02:40.080 Oh man, all right, we're done with the logistics because 0:02:40.160 --> 0:02:45.440 our one, our only, Fitzgerald Grant the third is here. 0:02:45.600 --> 0:02:51.200 Woo yay. We're so yeay man. 0:02:51.280 --> 0:02:53.280 We're so happy to have you, Tony. Thank you for 0:02:53.320 --> 0:02:55.280 making the time. We love you. 0:02:55.320 --> 0:02:58.560 The scandal Rewatch podcast has just sneakingly become me and 0:02:58.600 --> 0:03:01.079 Garmaou's way of like hanging out with all of our friends. 0:03:01.440 --> 0:03:03.920 Yeah, I know, man, before we. 0:03:03.840 --> 0:03:07.520 Talk about the trail, Tony, can you tell us how 0:03:07.639 --> 0:03:10.040 in the hell you got this part? 0:03:10.320 --> 0:03:14.120 Man? It was just luck. It was luck. I swear 0:03:14.240 --> 0:03:17.800 it was the weirdest thing I had. I had met 0:03:17.840 --> 0:03:22.000 Seandan Betsy because I directed one of the first Gray's anatomies, 0:03:22.680 --> 0:03:24.640 and it was like one of the first television shows 0:03:24.680 --> 0:03:29.959 I had directed, and so I got to know them, 0:03:30.639 --> 0:03:33.079 like what it was before Grays had aired. I think 0:03:33.080 --> 0:03:36.080 it was the third, second or third episode of the show. 0:03:37.000 --> 0:03:39.520 Maybe the third but it shot second or something like that, 0:03:39.600 --> 0:03:41.920 but the second it shot third, but they had made 0:03:41.960 --> 0:03:47.240 the pilot, which was unbelievably good. And then so I 0:03:47.280 --> 0:03:50.360 think like Betsy had liked my first film or something 0:03:50.440 --> 0:03:52.560 and said, would you want to do this, and I 0:03:52.560 --> 0:03:54.800 saw the pilot. I was like, oh shit, this is 0:03:54.880 --> 0:03:59.520 like super commercial but also really original and amazing. 0:03:59.080 --> 0:04:02.320 Actors I've ever seen on tele period. 0:04:02.400 --> 0:04:04.400 Yeah, so I met them and then met Shanda, who 0:04:04.440 --> 0:04:08.240 I thought was brilliant and unusual as you guys know, 0:04:08.360 --> 0:04:10.640 and just such an in guy. Was like, Oh, this 0:04:10.680 --> 0:04:13.400 one's gonna be successful, Like you just knew she knew 0:04:13.400 --> 0:04:16.560 what she was doing, And then so I did. I 0:04:16.600 --> 0:04:19.080 think I did a couple of episodes of Grades Anatomy 0:04:19.240 --> 0:04:21.680 as a director, never acted, and then she asked me 0:04:21.720 --> 0:04:24.240 a year or two later to do a private practice 0:04:24.279 --> 0:04:28.160 for them, and then we like, didn't you know, I 0:04:28.160 --> 0:04:30.120 don't think we saw each other for years, and out 0:04:30.120 --> 0:04:33.800 of the blue I got a call saying Shanda is 0:04:33.920 --> 0:04:37.840 doing this show with Carrie Washington and once do you 0:04:37.839 --> 0:04:40.640 want to play the President? And I had and I 0:04:40.680 --> 0:04:43.599 had been dying to work with Carrie because I knew 0:04:43.600 --> 0:04:45.960 her a little bit, like through politics stuff. And then 0:04:46.320 --> 0:04:48.520 but I every time I would see Kerry Washington in 0:04:48.560 --> 0:04:51.760 a movie, I'd be like, who's that amazing actress in 0:04:51.800 --> 0:04:54.880 that part? Like who the hell is that? She looks familiar? 0:04:55.040 --> 0:04:56.560 And at the end, I go, oh, my God, that's 0:04:56.600 --> 0:04:59.000 Kerry Washington. Every time I saw her she was totally different. 0:04:59.360 --> 0:05:01.479 So I'd been kind of of looking to work. So 0:05:01.520 --> 0:05:04.680 I heard Shonda carry. I literally didn't read the script. 0:05:04.680 --> 0:05:06.320 I was like, I this sounds like something I really 0:05:06.320 --> 0:05:08.640 want to do, and then I read it and thought, 0:05:08.920 --> 0:05:11.839 oh man. But it was cool because Shanda I called 0:05:11.839 --> 0:05:14.400 her up or she said, let's talk, and she said, Look, 0:05:14.440 --> 0:05:17.200 I don't know how big or small this thing is 0:05:17.240 --> 0:05:19.680 going to be, or I mean the role. She said, 0:05:19.680 --> 0:05:21.440 you can be in it a little bit if you want. 0:05:21.600 --> 0:05:23.080 You give mean in a lot if you want. I 0:05:23.080 --> 0:05:26.000 don't really know where it's going. You know. There was 0:05:26.040 --> 0:05:28.839 the intimation of romance at the end of the pilot 0:05:28.960 --> 0:05:30.880 in the script, but you know, when they kiss in 0:05:30.920 --> 0:05:33.960 the Oval office. But I thought, well that could get interesting. 0:05:34.720 --> 0:05:37.320 But I wasn't sure because it would inhibit me from 0:05:37.320 --> 0:05:40.160 directing films, you know, And I was like, I'm not 0:05:40.200 --> 0:05:42.839 sure I want to do it. I was so stupid, 0:05:42.839 --> 0:05:43.680 you know. 0:05:43.480 --> 0:05:45.320 Is that what you wanted to really like do at 0:05:45.320 --> 0:05:47.360 that time? Tony? Did you want to keep directing? Were 0:05:47.360 --> 0:05:47.960 you digging that? 0:05:48.279 --> 0:05:50.960 I wanted to keep directed? But can I be totally honest? 0:05:51.040 --> 0:05:54.440 I had just directed my film Conviction. Yeah, and it 0:05:54.520 --> 0:05:56.160 was one of those things you know in Hollywood, when 0:05:56.200 --> 0:05:58.120 you have those moments and anyone's like, this is the 0:05:58.120 --> 0:06:02.000 one that's going to be huge, it's like whatever. Anyway, 0:06:02.080 --> 0:06:05.240 it wasn't, and we like the movie didn't open and 0:06:05.279 --> 0:06:12.000 didn't do business. So I was like, oh, okay, maybe 0:06:12.000 --> 0:06:16.640 I should. Yeah, that movie was so hard to get made, 0:06:16.960 --> 0:06:19.200 and I thought, oh my god, I don't know if 0:06:19.240 --> 0:06:20.480 I like I want to keep directing. 0:06:20.520 --> 0:06:23.600 But that was that too, a particular seven years or 0:06:23.640 --> 0:06:24.760 something to get it. 0:06:24.720 --> 0:06:27.360 Off eight years to get that movie off there, and 0:06:27.400 --> 0:06:29.520 that kept coming to life and falling awarding him in life, 0:06:29.640 --> 0:06:31.000 and it was by the time we made it, it was 0:06:31.040 --> 0:06:32.600 it was you know, I loved it, but it was 0:06:32.640 --> 0:06:35.120 it was exhausting. So then I thought I should be 0:06:35.160 --> 0:06:38.600 smart to think about like doing a series, because television's transformed, 0:06:38.600 --> 0:06:40.920 and like I should just be not an idiot anyway. 0:06:40.960 --> 0:06:43.200 So then literally right after that was when I got 0:06:43.200 --> 0:06:46.919 this out of the blue call from h from uh Shanda, 0:06:46.960 --> 0:06:49.680 and then we talked and she was so chill about it. 0:06:49.800 --> 0:06:51.360 She was like, what if you want to do seven, 0:06:51.400 --> 0:06:55.200 you can seventy. So I said, of course, and and 0:06:55.480 --> 0:06:58.320 I was sort of thinking about my manager Jason was like, 0:06:58.680 --> 0:07:01.640 you're doing this one of those things I don't care 0:07:01.680 --> 0:07:04.720 what stop thinking about and you're say you say yes 0:07:05.200 --> 0:07:08.960 because this could be a huge hit. It was like, yeah, okay, okay. 0:07:09.120 --> 0:07:11.920 Did you have any hang ups about like being a president, 0:07:12.040 --> 0:07:14.320 Like had you always wanted to play a president or 0:07:14.360 --> 0:07:16.480 were you like, wow, I'm gonna go. Like I mean 0:07:16.520 --> 0:07:19.560 the presidents. I think of Pullman, Martin Sheen, I think 0:07:19.560 --> 0:07:22.960 of like you know you're in that. You know now 0:07:23.040 --> 0:07:24.880 you could if the show was a hit, which it 0:07:24.920 --> 0:07:27.440 is or is it like it was like whatever. 0:07:27.240 --> 0:07:27.880 Great part. 0:07:28.000 --> 0:07:29.720 I didn't even think about that. I thought it'd be cool, 0:07:29.760 --> 0:07:32.320 Like I thought, what an interesting character. Yeah, and I 0:07:32.360 --> 0:07:36.320 saw this really potentially interesting relationship with Olivia. I thought, 0:07:36.400 --> 0:07:39.640 if that goes somewhere, that could be really interesting. But honestly, 0:07:40.120 --> 0:07:41.920 you never know what the hell he's going to be. 0:07:42.440 --> 0:07:46.000 And the thing for me was that first day of 0:07:46.040 --> 0:07:48.360 rehearsal when I met you guys, Oh it just clicked. 0:07:48.920 --> 0:07:53.160 I said, oh shit, do you remember that? 0:07:53.520 --> 0:07:56.160 Like, wait, take us through it, because this is another question, 0:07:56.240 --> 0:07:58.640 like memories from the pilot, what do you mean like 0:07:58.680 --> 0:08:00.880 rehearsal when we were in that stage and it was 0:08:00.880 --> 0:08:01.760 like taped off. 0:08:02.360 --> 0:08:05.280 It was one of those rare things I've experienced so 0:08:06.320 --> 0:08:09.720 infrequently in my life and in my career. We all 0:08:09.840 --> 0:08:13.160 just connected. Man. It was I felt like I was 0:08:13.760 --> 0:08:16.800 with my best friends from high school all of a sudden, 0:08:17.560 --> 0:08:20.360 like you and then Darby was just cast that day. 0:08:20.400 --> 0:08:24.200 I remember showing up and being like, Hi, I just 0:08:24.240 --> 0:08:27.560 got this part, you know, and hearing your story Katie 0:08:27.560 --> 0:08:31.120 about how you do auditioned and you know, an amazing 0:08:31.120 --> 0:08:34.000 story about it. You got it. And you know Jeff, 0:08:34.160 --> 0:08:36.199 who I knew it a little bit but had been 0:08:36.280 --> 0:08:40.199 admired for so long, and Kate and Kate Burton was 0:08:40.280 --> 0:08:42.120 later right. G and I have this long history, but 0:08:42.480 --> 0:08:44.719 there was that day of all of us connect. I 0:08:44.720 --> 0:08:47.600 don't know, I just remember it being this rehearsal period. 0:08:47.800 --> 0:08:50.440 We had like a week of rehearsal at at watch 0:08:50.480 --> 0:08:53.240 McAll Prospect Studios, and I don't know, I just I 0:08:53.480 --> 0:08:56.480 that was one of those things where I thought, oh man, 0:08:56.559 --> 0:08:59.200 it was this incredible chemistry we all had. It was 0:08:59.200 --> 0:09:00.720 so fun, don't you Yeah. 0:09:00.600 --> 0:09:01.400 Oh my god. 0:09:01.520 --> 0:09:04.440 It was like it was like theater camp, like it 0:09:04.520 --> 0:09:09.200 was just felt like really everybody connected and fell in 0:09:09.240 --> 0:09:12.960 love and really trust each other and was so into 0:09:13.080 --> 0:09:16.800 the script and the stories and the greater good of 0:09:16.840 --> 0:09:18.840 the show. Like it just felt like we were part 0:09:18.880 --> 0:09:20.280 of something bigger than ourselves. 0:09:20.360 --> 0:09:23.080 Yeah, and it feels like they took such a chance, right, 0:09:23.080 --> 0:09:25.520 It felt like it's like a crapshoot, like putting this 0:09:25.880 --> 0:09:27.960 cast together. And of course Linda Lowie is brilliant and 0:09:28.000 --> 0:09:31.280 she made it happen. But even my audition, I auditioned 0:09:31.320 --> 0:09:33.079 once and then I looked her. I think a lot 0:09:33.120 --> 0:09:36.240 of us just auditioned once, if even auditioning at all. 0:09:36.800 --> 0:09:39.240 But just the fact that it worked, right, that it 0:09:39.320 --> 0:09:42.920 worked like that could have gone downhill really quickly. Nobody 0:09:42.920 --> 0:09:44.600 could have had chemistry, or we could have you know, 0:09:44.679 --> 0:09:47.600 not liked each other, but it just it clicked. It worked. 0:09:47.640 --> 0:09:49.360 It was like like you said, it was like magic, 0:09:49.559 --> 0:09:50.240 so crazy. 0:09:50.480 --> 0:09:53.680 So you never chemistry read with Carrie or anything, like 0:09:53.720 --> 0:09:54.520 how did you know? 0:09:55.000 --> 0:09:55.160 Why? 0:09:55.280 --> 0:09:58.680 Like did you know that the relationship was going to 0:09:58.720 --> 0:10:04.920 be fire? Like because I'm convinced the show. Look, the 0:10:04.960 --> 0:10:05.560 show was. 0:10:05.520 --> 0:10:09.719 Amazing, but like the thing that hooked people and when 0:10:09.760 --> 0:10:12.200 I realized the show was a hit was when you 0:10:12.320 --> 0:10:13.920 became in your fifties, which I want to ask you 0:10:13.960 --> 0:10:15.680 about a full on fucking sex symbol. 0:10:15.720 --> 0:10:17.400 So thank god you listen to your manager. 0:10:19.320 --> 0:10:22.319 But like when I first walked into our you know, 0:10:22.600 --> 0:10:24.800 Scanna was a real slow burn. It wasn't like an 0:10:24.800 --> 0:10:30.000 overnight success. We really had a short first order, you know. 0:10:31.040 --> 0:10:33.120 And I remember walking into some press event in the 0:10:33.120 --> 0:10:36.560 middle of second season next to you, Tony and girls 0:10:37.640 --> 0:10:40.400 literally screaming at you like you were a beatle or 0:10:40.400 --> 0:10:44.560 something was crazy. And you never chemistry read, you never auditioned, 0:10:44.559 --> 0:10:47.040 so we never knew that the fitz Olivia thing would 0:10:47.120 --> 0:10:48.160 be what it was. 0:10:48.800 --> 0:10:51.040 No, and Shanda, I don't think she knew that she 0:10:51.240 --> 0:10:54.640 wanted it to be necessarily the only thing I like, 0:10:54.679 --> 0:10:57.160 I said, I had really admired Carrie so much and 0:10:57.200 --> 0:10:59.480 wanted to work with her and the thing I felt 0:10:59.640 --> 0:11:02.880 with which I frankly thought with all of you guys, 0:11:02.880 --> 0:11:05.079 but I really felt it with her and our relationships 0:11:05.120 --> 0:11:09.560 primary we just connected as actors like Kerry and I 0:11:09.640 --> 0:11:12.679 never had to talk about anything. It was weird, man. 0:11:12.720 --> 0:11:15.040 We never like jeff and I connected in a different 0:11:15.040 --> 0:11:18.560 way like Jeffy and I. Every day, especially in the 0:11:18.559 --> 0:11:21.600 first season, we would spend we kind of latched onto 0:11:21.640 --> 0:11:24.680 each other and would talk about lacked or stuff, you know, 0:11:24.720 --> 0:11:26.200 like our background. What do you think that you know, 0:11:26.200 --> 0:11:28.400 we give each other books about politics and that we 0:11:28.520 --> 0:11:30.400 just were doing nerdy actor talk. 0:11:30.760 --> 0:11:34.400 Oh my god, you dorks. I'm obsessed with that. 0:11:34.640 --> 0:11:37.080 We had that kind of a relationship with with hilarious. 0:11:37.120 --> 0:11:40.160 But Carrie and I like with scenes, we would never 0:11:40.200 --> 0:11:43.280 even discuss them. We just had the same perspective on everything. 0:11:43.320 --> 0:11:46.640 So we come up and we do it. Yep, pretty much. Wow, 0:11:46.840 --> 0:11:50.920 that's just we just had the same orientation towards stuff 0:11:50.960 --> 0:11:53.160 and the same kind of way of working or something. 0:11:53.200 --> 0:11:56.040 I don't know, So I remember feeling, oh, this is 0:11:56.160 --> 0:11:59.640 just easy, this is just works. This this creatively we 0:11:59.760 --> 0:12:03.359 vibe so that we I don't think we ever discussed. 0:12:03.480 --> 0:12:05.560 Yeah, it was almost like, let's not look too close 0:12:05.600 --> 0:12:08.720 at this because it's working. Let's not even like try 0:12:08.720 --> 0:12:10.960 to examine our teeth the specialness out of it. 0:12:11.040 --> 0:12:14.880 Let's just just because it was so trippy for us too, 0:12:14.880 --> 0:12:17.200 because we were in our OPA world, so we didn't 0:12:17.559 --> 0:12:20.120 you know, our characters didn't encounter you guys that much, 0:12:20.120 --> 0:12:22.480 and we would talk so much shit and good stuff 0:12:22.520 --> 0:12:24.720 too about the White House. The White House must be 0:12:24.760 --> 0:12:27.480 so boring, right, we're so much we have so much 0:12:27.520 --> 0:12:28.160 fun here at. 0:12:29.280 --> 0:12:30.440 It was way more boring. 0:12:32.240 --> 0:12:33.920 But then there were the moments when you would come 0:12:33.960 --> 0:12:37.280 and direct us, which was so much fun. And I 0:12:37.280 --> 0:12:40.000 mean it was like like wrangling cats, I bet right, 0:12:40.120 --> 0:12:41.000 like we were just when. 0:12:42.840 --> 0:12:45.000 Becoming a kindergarten teacher. 0:12:47.200 --> 0:12:51.000 We would get you would not yell, but like you 0:12:51.040 --> 0:12:53.120 were like and you weren't the only one like you 0:12:53.440 --> 0:12:54.440 fullly Verica. 0:12:54.440 --> 0:12:55.400 They'd be like, come. 0:12:55.240 --> 0:12:56.560 On, kids, shit, stop it. 0:12:56.640 --> 0:12:58.920 You guys have to stop it. 0:12:59.320 --> 0:13:03.640 Stop sitting, never stop talking. So I would just go action. 0:13:04.280 --> 0:13:06.960 Yeah, I tell you, that's that's the way to do it. Yeah. 0:13:07.000 --> 0:13:09.320 And Katie's brilliant at that. She would be talking about 0:13:09.600 --> 0:13:10.880 that time in the story and then she go right 0:13:10.880 --> 0:13:11.600 into playing Quinn. 0:13:11.679 --> 0:13:13.360 I don't think that's brilliant. I think that's just like 0:13:13.480 --> 0:13:14.959 I don't have a lot of stakes as an. 0:13:14.920 --> 0:13:18.000 Actor, which I can't do, Like literally, if I do that, 0:13:18.040 --> 0:13:19.760 I'm gonna be like a mess on the play. I 0:13:19.840 --> 0:13:22.760 can't I have the I can't have that a facility. 0:13:22.920 --> 0:13:23.160 I know. 0:13:23.600 --> 0:13:28.120 How did all of the memorization scandal pace all of 0:13:28.160 --> 0:13:29.360 that come to you. 0:13:29.559 --> 0:13:32.600 Was that easy for you? Being word perfect? Like did 0:13:32.640 --> 0:13:32.800 you have? 0:13:33.160 --> 0:13:35.520 That? Wasn't too hard? I enjoyed it because it's very 0:13:35.559 --> 0:13:37.840 much like working in the theater, isn't it. I mean, yeah, 0:13:38.000 --> 0:13:40.360 here's the other amazing thing about Shonda I felt on 0:13:40.440 --> 0:13:44.240 that experience. She was so clear from day one what 0:13:44.400 --> 0:13:47.800 was important to her. There was like those are the 0:13:47.800 --> 0:13:51.360 ground rules? Great? Like she said, I remember that talk 0:13:51.400 --> 0:13:55.000 she gave us. She said, I will, I will take 0:13:55.040 --> 0:13:56.880 any input you have to give me. But what did 0:13:56.960 --> 0:13:58.880 she say? It didn't end up sticking, but she said, 0:13:58.880 --> 0:14:02.240 I needed twenty four hours after the table read give 0:14:02.240 --> 0:14:03.840 me your notes. I do not want theming on set, 0:14:04.040 --> 0:14:05.920 and what I write is music to me, so I 0:14:05.960 --> 0:14:08.439 need you to say the words exactly as I write them. 0:14:08.760 --> 0:14:10.600 And then it was the whole thing about speaking fast, 0:14:10.679 --> 0:14:12.880 which she kept honest about it. But so I thought 0:14:12.920 --> 0:14:15.480 that was like a really interesting technical challenge, and it 0:14:15.600 --> 0:14:17.480 was like, you know, so I was down with it. 0:14:17.520 --> 0:14:21.120 I really enjoyed that technical challenge. You know, we're so 0:14:21.120 --> 0:14:23.840 many other sets that you work on as a film 0:14:23.880 --> 0:14:27.680 or television actor, and that's great too. People are ad 0:14:27.720 --> 0:14:31.600 libbing all the time and paraphrasing and you know that 0:14:31.600 --> 0:14:34.160 that has its place with certain kinds of writing. 0:14:34.240 --> 0:14:36.880 But we've talked about Tony how how we've gone on 0:14:36.880 --> 0:14:39.800 to other projects and they have to literally be like, 0:14:39.840 --> 0:14:41.880 you have to slow down. Can you slow down at a bit, 0:14:42.040 --> 0:14:46.840 because now I'm just like, but like every single time 0:14:46.920 --> 0:14:49.200 it makes the scene better, I think, even though in 0:14:49.240 --> 0:14:51.560 stuff beyond scanned, I'm like, y'all got to pick up 0:14:51.560 --> 0:14:51.960 the pace. 0:14:52.000 --> 0:14:55.400 Like it's they're sitting there not remembering their lines. That's 0:14:55.400 --> 0:14:58.800 why they're waiting. They're sitting there making like a dramatic choice, 0:14:58.800 --> 0:15:00.880 but really because they don't know what there's saying next. 0:15:01.240 --> 0:15:03.040 Yeah, I know that's how. 0:15:02.920 --> 0:15:03.440 I feel better. 0:15:03.480 --> 0:15:05.240 I love that you and Jeff are over there all 0:15:05.280 --> 0:15:09.280 studying politics and shit, oh pa, we're like we're seeing friends. 0:15:09.440 --> 0:15:11.680 We're like making dance routines. 0:15:12.320 --> 0:15:15.480 Literally, some crew people are like get starting to get 0:15:15.520 --> 0:15:18.240 pissed off at us, Like I remember sometimes he'd be like, 0:15:18.520 --> 0:15:20.920 because we get into like the giggle like you know 0:15:21.320 --> 0:15:22.920 thing too where we couldn't stop laughing. 0:15:23.840 --> 0:15:26.880 So and they're all like, we've been working for fifteen. 0:15:26.480 --> 0:15:29.920 Hours, get your shit together. Yeah. 0:15:30.080 --> 0:15:32.280 I remember directing the first time I directed Josh Moline 0:15:32.280 --> 0:15:35.840 because I'm such like acting nerds, and Josh's whole thing 0:15:35.960 --> 0:15:39.720 for those who don't know. First of all, Joshua is brilliant, 0:15:40.000 --> 0:15:42.360 Like he's just a brilliant human being. So he has 0:15:42.400 --> 0:15:46.600 this incredible facility for everything he does. He has total 0:15:47.120 --> 0:15:53.040 disdain for craft of acting, you know, pretend he hates 0:15:53.120 --> 0:15:56.560 so I think he secretly loves it. But he Josh 0:15:56.600 --> 0:15:59.440 would be like he never would look at his lines 0:15:59.520 --> 0:16:02.360 until he was in the makeup triiller that morning and 0:16:02.640 --> 0:16:04.120 look at it once and he'd have it all down. 0:16:04.320 --> 0:16:05.960 And it's just the way his brain worked, and every 0:16:06.000 --> 0:16:09.000 actor works differently. But so in that I think that 0:16:09.120 --> 0:16:11.720 first episode I directed, whatever one it was, it was 0:16:11.760 --> 0:16:15.320 in the heat of the relationship between Josh and and yeah, 0:16:15.400 --> 0:16:18.720 between David and Abby, right so, and it was a 0:16:18.800 --> 0:16:21.520 very fraught relationship. And I remember giving Josh a note 0:16:21.560 --> 0:16:26.200 once about something about his emotional like need for Abby. 0:16:26.440 --> 0:16:29.280 I said, Josh, I really think, you know, like to 0:16:29.440 --> 0:16:31.400 try it again. That's great, but try it again, and 0:16:31.560 --> 0:16:33.480 I really want to feel that, you know, some some 0:16:33.560 --> 0:16:37.160 psychological thing about you know, his feelings for Abby. And 0:16:37.240 --> 0:16:41.840 he's like, yeah, whatever, but it's completely disrespected me. He's 0:16:41.880 --> 0:16:43.720 like I'll just just mean, just do it faster. 0:16:44.160 --> 0:16:45.400 Oh my god. 0:16:46.840 --> 0:16:49.920 Oh he totally blew me off and I and I 0:16:50.000 --> 0:16:51.880 was like, okay, well, and of course he was great, 0:16:52.080 --> 0:16:53.800 but yeah, Josh is so funny. 0:16:53.960 --> 0:16:56.520 We will be back with more after the break. 0:17:00.200 --> 0:17:01.800 We have to talk about where you came from, which 0:17:01.800 --> 0:17:05.760 is like, obviously you have a very long, beautiful, amazing 0:17:05.840 --> 0:17:10.520 career in so many mediums, film, TV, tons of theater. Also, 0:17:10.600 --> 0:17:13.320 by the way, I love that it scandal our vice 0:17:13.359 --> 0:17:14.119 president and president. 0:17:14.160 --> 0:17:14.840 We used to talk about this. 0:17:14.920 --> 0:17:16.560 Did you guys talk about this that our vice president 0:17:16.560 --> 0:17:20.359 and president were like Hollywood royalty, like just between Tony 0:17:20.440 --> 0:17:23.600 Goldwynd of Metro Goldwyn Mayer and then Kate Burton of 0:17:23.720 --> 0:17:27.240 Richard Burton. I was like the royals all up in 0:17:27.280 --> 0:17:28.240 our show. 0:17:28.240 --> 0:17:29.439 But I wanted to know. 0:17:29.760 --> 0:17:33.199 Did it feel crazy to you to like be I 0:17:33.240 --> 0:17:35.800 remember looking at some magazine and you were like in 0:17:35.840 --> 0:17:39.119 a bathtub, and I was like, oh my god, like 0:17:39.200 --> 0:17:43.119 this person like this is crazy, Like had you already 0:17:43.119 --> 0:17:44.960 written off like oh, like I was a movie star. 0:17:45.560 --> 0:17:49.320 I did ghost like in my thirties, like or. 0:17:49.400 --> 0:17:50.159 Was this a shock? 0:17:50.880 --> 0:17:53.480 Scy I was a shock? And I was also glad 0:17:53.480 --> 0:17:55.000 I was kind of a bit older because I had 0:17:55.040 --> 0:17:56.560 a great sense of humor about it and I could 0:17:56.640 --> 0:17:59.000 just really enjoy it. Yeah, when I had my first 0:17:59.000 --> 0:18:01.040 success with Ghosts, when I was like twenty nine years 0:18:01.080 --> 0:18:04.480 old or whatever, it was amazing and fun. I was 0:18:04.520 --> 0:18:06.680 so grateful because I'd already been working for five or 0:18:06.680 --> 0:18:09.359 six years and you know, struggling and all that. I 0:18:09.400 --> 0:18:11.520 was very grateful, but I was super stressed out by 0:18:11.560 --> 0:18:13.600 it because I didn't understand what that like. All of 0:18:13.600 --> 0:18:16.239 a sudden, when you have success in our job, you 0:18:16.280 --> 0:18:20.360 go from being completely ignored by everybody and then everyone's 0:18:20.440 --> 0:18:22.840 kissing your ass and shining light on you and telling 0:18:22.880 --> 0:18:25.720 you you're a genius. And it felt fraudulent to me 0:18:25.800 --> 0:18:28.439 when I was young, so I didn't quite know how 0:18:28.480 --> 0:18:31.120 to handle it, and it was kind of stressful. Whereas 0:18:31.359 --> 0:18:37.680 with Scandal, I was fifty and I couldn't believe it. 0:18:37.720 --> 0:18:40.600 I was like, it also was a lesson. It was 0:18:40.640 --> 0:18:43.480 also a lesson, and you can't plan shit in your life. 0:18:44.160 --> 0:18:47.359 You could have goals and you can drive for things, 0:18:47.680 --> 0:18:49.360 but it's just to have a give yourself a bit 0:18:49.359 --> 0:18:52.520 of a direction to hopefully follow something you are passionate 0:18:52.520 --> 0:18:55.199 about or want to do. You can't plan shit, so 0:18:55.600 --> 0:18:59.040 I could not have planned for that. All the years 0:18:59.080 --> 0:19:02.280