- 2 hours ago
Glen Powell ('Chad Powers'), Harrison Ford ('Shrinking'), Owen Wilson ('Stick'), Riz Ahmed ('Bait'), Yahya Abdul-Mateen II ('Wonder Man,' 'Man on Fire') and Zach Braff ('Scrubs') join THR in our Comedy Actor Roundtable.
Recorded on location at The Georgian Hotel in Santa Monica.
Recorded on location at The Georgian Hotel in Santa Monica.
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00:00:00We did Expendables 3 together, uh, Expendables 3, Oscar-nominated.
00:00:04Harrison, you and I both talked about doing Expendables 5.
00:00:07Yes!
00:00:08You-you talked.
00:00:11I listened.
00:00:53Hi, and welcome to the Hollywood Reporter Comedy Actors Roundtable.
00:00:57I'm your host, Lacey Rose.
00:00:58Let's get into this, guys.
00:01:00Okay, what's the wildest thing a fan has come up to each of you and said?
00:01:04My mother wants to sleep with you.
00:01:07How do you respond to that?
00:01:08Loudly announced in an airport.
00:01:10I didn't mean it, by the way.
00:01:12It was the first time I was meeting you.
00:01:13I know.
00:01:14And your mom didn't mean it, did you?
00:01:17I mean, no one can tell that.
00:01:19Nobody's got a fan.
00:01:20No one can tell that.
00:01:22Yeah, really.
00:01:24You know, once somebody asked me to sign something, and I signed it.
00:01:27And they chased me down the street and started yelling at me, saying, that's not your signature.
00:01:32Whoa.
00:01:33It was a very physical conversation.
00:01:35I was like, but I did it, therefore it must be my signature.
00:01:38He was like, that's not what it looks like.
00:01:40Yeah.
00:01:41I've seen your signature.
00:01:42Went into a really entertaining brow with him on the street.
00:01:45Wow.
00:01:45I did have somebody ask me to sign a photo that was like a family photo that there's no way
00:01:52they would have access to.
00:01:53Of your family?
00:01:54Yeah.
00:01:54And asked you to sign it.
00:01:55And asked me to sign it.
00:01:56So I'm sitting there like, where did you get?
00:01:58You know what I mean?
00:01:59I was like.
00:02:00Did they already have the rest of your family signed?
00:02:03I was the closer.
00:02:05I was the closer.
00:02:05Wow.
00:02:06That's scary.
00:02:07Yeah.
00:02:08It was like a surprise after night shoot morning sort of situation.
00:02:12It was not a time where you're expecting to sign a thing.
00:02:16It's a threat.
00:02:17Yeah.
00:02:17It felt threatening.
00:02:18It felt threatening.
00:02:19I was once parallel parking in Manhattan and doing a really poor job.
00:02:23And the guy just walked by and went, you're killing it, brav.
00:02:29Like you're doing a good job.
00:02:31No, I was fucking it up.
00:02:32But he really wanted to lean in and laugh at me.
00:02:37They sound like that happened in, is that in London?
00:02:39No, in Manhattan, you know, people just walk by and just talk to you.
00:02:43But you do feel, you know, with parallel parking that somehow your street cred is on the line.
00:02:48I know.
00:02:48A little bit.
00:02:49Right.
00:02:49And it's bad enough when you're doing it anonymously and fucking it up.
00:02:53And this guy just walked by and just really just clowned me.
00:02:57Which did not help.
00:02:58You know what I did have recently in London is there's a woman who has been printing out pictures of
00:03:06my face for the last, like, 80 days and has eaten my face every day.
00:03:12What do you mean?
00:03:13Until, you're having all these chilling encounters with me.
00:03:17And literally will eat, like, eat either thing until I give her a role in a movie.
00:03:21Oh, wow.
00:03:21And I didn't know this was a thing until it was described to me while I was on the red
00:03:25carpet.
00:03:25They're like, hey, the girl that eats your face is on the red carpet.
00:03:28And I go, what are you talking about?
00:03:30I think she can get red carpet after.
00:03:31That's what I was like.
00:03:32Guys, come on.
00:03:32This is like a real liability.
00:03:34I'll show you guys that after.
00:03:35I'd like to see that.
00:03:36I don't know if I want to see that.
00:03:38I want to see it.
00:03:39Harrison, you've said that you're having a unique experience with shrinking.
00:03:43People are coming up to you and they're not asking for things.
00:03:46They don't want a picture.
00:03:47They don't want an autograph.
00:03:49They just want to tell me that they like the show.
00:03:54And I think it's because I'm in their living room now.
00:03:56And I'm much more familiar.
00:03:59It's a testament to what television does.
00:04:04It's a somehow more intimate relationship now.
00:04:09And they don't want anything.
00:04:11They just want me to know that they like the show.
00:04:16And thank you very much.
00:04:18Even like some of the episodes that you directed.
00:04:22Not all of them?
00:04:23Is that what the sum was all about?
00:04:25I don't question them.
00:04:27I just accept their praise.
00:04:29So Riz's show, much like Yaya's show,
00:04:32is about an actor in that sort of fake it till you make it stage of his career.
00:04:38He's literally keeping the tags on his Prada sweaters so he can return them after auditions.
00:04:44For anyone who has an answer,
00:04:45what do you miss most and least about that phase of your life?
00:04:50I wouldn't miss, yeah, doing auditions and things.
00:04:55Sure, sure.
00:04:55Yeah.
00:04:56That's always a very kind of uncomfortable, awkward thing.
00:05:00Yeah, I had a friend that went in for an audition and he got really bad cotton mouth while he
00:05:06was auditioning.
00:05:07Where it was almost like his voice was kind of whistling.
00:05:11And you know when you finish, everybody says,
00:05:13Oh, great.
00:05:13Well, thank you.
00:05:14That was terrific.
00:05:15But everybody knows.
00:05:16Everybody knows.
00:05:17And he was so kind of embarrassed.
00:05:19And he's like, you know, leaves and went out the wrong door.
00:05:22Oh, no.
00:05:22He was out on the balcony.
00:05:25Oh, no.
00:05:26And rather than go back inside, he climbed down the fire.
00:05:32So you think about the people in the room waiting.
00:05:34Oh, God.
00:05:35Now this guy who can't talk is out on the balcony.
00:05:37Well, we've got to wait for him to come back.
00:05:39Where is he?
00:05:40Then looking at seeing him.
00:05:41Like Starsky and Hunt's jumping off a fire escape.
00:05:45With cotton mouth.
00:05:47That should have got him the part.
00:05:50I know.
00:05:51Yeah, you're right.
00:05:52Yeah.
00:05:53Yeah.
00:05:54It's not fair.
00:05:55So where is he now?
00:05:57Well, I can say it was actually my older brother.
00:06:00It was actually.
00:06:00Wait, is it Andrew?
00:06:02It was Andrew.
00:06:03Yeah.
00:06:04Anyone else?
00:06:05Is there anything about that sort of chapter of your collective careers that actually you miss or you don't miss
00:06:13at all?
00:06:14You know, there's one thing that popped into my head is I just, you know, there's this sense that like
00:06:21dance like no one's watching is the best dancing, right?
00:06:24So I think about some of those films I did in the beginning, I was 100% certain no one
00:06:29would watch the film, which is so liberating.
00:06:32You could just take swings.
00:06:33You could do whatever you want in a way.
00:06:35I remember when Chris Morris came to me with Four Lions, I would say 50% of the reason I
00:06:41did it, I loved Chris.
00:06:43And Four Lions is this British comedy.
00:06:44It's a comedy about suicide bombers, right?
00:06:46So it's very kind of like out there, very British, very on the edge.
00:06:50And part of why I did it was I thought no one's going to watch this.
00:06:54No one's actually going to see this.
00:06:55So I can just go there and have fun.
00:06:57And it went on to become this thing that was so kind of beloved for so many people.
00:07:01And I think in a way it's because we were dancing like no one was watching.
00:07:05And I think sometimes you get that thing in your head.
00:07:07Inhibit you.
00:07:08Where people will see this.
00:07:10Yeah.
00:07:10If that thought gets into your head, then you're, it's like playing for laughs or being too self-conscious.
00:07:16Right.
00:07:16That can get in the way.
00:07:17And I think there's something very freeing about that.
00:07:20Just knowing that, you know, almost no one's going to watch.
00:07:22But I also think like that same feeling that you get with no one watching that you get maybe when
00:07:27you're a bit more established,
00:07:29which is also something that I wouldn't miss of being nervous where you do feel self-conscious.
00:07:34And it is nice to get to a feeling where you have some kind of confidence.
00:07:37You know, they can't really do anything to me now.
00:07:40And then that can free you up also.
00:07:43Yeah.
00:07:44Yeah.
00:07:44I actually went through a bit of a wave because this is coming on like 10 years of my first,
00:07:50of my very first job.
00:07:51So I remember I liked my stuff the most.
00:07:58Like I was a big fan of myself.
00:08:01You know what I mean?
00:08:02Like, and that's what I remember like just missing, breaking into this thing with my first job.
00:08:07And I was like, I like my ideas.
00:08:10You know what I mean?
00:08:10And I go out and that was really the energy.
00:08:13And then I started to get feedback from, not from directors.
00:08:18And it was like, oh, maybe I thought I had the best ideas.
00:08:23Or maybe I don't have the best ideas.
00:08:25And then that was the first time that I had, I was engaging with that.
00:08:29You know what I mean?
00:08:29I think that idea, that possibility.
00:08:32Yeah.
00:08:33What a reckoning that must have been.
00:08:36Right, right, right.
00:08:37And so now I'm like, I'm enjoying the freedom that comes with having been around the block a couple times.
00:08:47And now I'm like, no, I actually do like my ideas.
00:08:51I'm reminded of a piece of advice that Marlon Brando has said to have offered to somebody who asked him
00:08:58for advice.
00:08:59Because the way I hear the story, he said that you can't care or they'll see it on your face.
00:09:07You got to care before you decide to not care.
00:09:11You got to care a lot.
00:09:13Yeah, yeah.
00:09:14To take care of your part of the job.
00:09:17Yep.
00:09:17But then that not caring part is like turning out the lights and saying, now watch me dance.
00:09:24Because it's critical to be able to retain that freedom that you felt when it didn't matter so much.
00:09:32Now all of a sudden that, you know, it's your fault that the movie's not making money.
00:09:38So you've got to be a little bit more careful.
00:09:41No.
00:09:42You shouldn't.
00:09:43You can't.
00:09:44Yeah.
00:09:45It's the end of it when you do that.
00:09:47Zach, you had found success very quickly.
00:09:50You were in your 20s the first time Scrubs hit big.
00:09:54And then, of course, you had Garden State and so on.
00:09:56What was the sort of blessing and the curse of having that all so early in your career?
00:10:03Well, I think it dovetails what these guys were just saying, where I was instantly so huge, so fast.
00:10:10And I got very self-conscious and didn't know how to follow it all up.
00:10:14You hear a lot of bands talking about their first album.
00:10:17While I was writing, Garden State was a success, and they were like, all right, good.
00:10:20What's next?
00:10:20And I was like, what's next?
00:10:22I've been writing that movie my whole life.
00:10:24I mean, you must have experience with this, with your films.
00:10:27And so I think there was a lot of pressure.
00:10:32You know, I felt like it kind of peaked, and I was hosting SNL, and all these things were happening.
00:10:36And then I didn't really know how to keep that going or follow it up.
00:10:42And I got in my head about it and was overly precious about it.
00:10:46And I think what we were all just saying about once you start overthinking and getting in your head too
00:10:53much, you really can get in your way.
00:10:54And I think I did in some ways.
00:10:56And sometimes it does seem like with maybe the old studio system where directors were just thrown in.
00:11:01And it's a trade.
00:11:03You go in and you do your job that that can take away some of the Hamlet to be or
00:11:08not to be.
00:11:09And, oh, what am I going to do?
00:11:10And just, well, you're doing another movie, and you just start in.
00:11:14And, you know, that can kind of help kind of free up that, you know, oh, how's this going to
00:11:21be?
00:11:21And, yeah, you just kind of keep doing it.
00:11:24I think that's also because people maybe had, because it was just more of a craft and a trade in
00:11:29that way, and you just get on the horse and go.
00:11:32People were given more opportunities to swing and miss.
00:11:35Exactly.
00:11:35And I think now there is so much pressure on every swing.
00:11:38Like you said, it's your fault if the movie's not making money or whatever it is.
00:11:41And there's so many eyeballs on everything.
00:11:44And there's people eating your face every day on TikTok.
00:11:47And there's just a lot of people watching, right?
00:11:50And so it can be hard to convince yourself that no one is watching.
00:11:54Because everyone's watching all the time in a most intense way in a business that is, like, feels more precious.
00:12:00Glenn, do you feel, I mean, do you feel that?
00:12:01You're, I mean, you can read headlines and think that you're almost supposed to save the theatrical experience.
00:12:07Well, yeah, I think I think.
00:12:07Are you going to save the theatrical experience?
00:12:09Yeah.
00:12:09Guys, please don't do this to me.
00:12:12No, you know, the thing that I think I've started realizing is it's very easy in this business to get
00:12:18in your own head
00:12:20or let the sort of noise influence the way you feel about the job.
00:12:24And the thing is, like, I've always started, I've always realized that sets are the happiest places on earth for
00:12:29me
00:12:29if I have done the work ahead of time.
00:12:31Like, I remember I did a movie actually with Owen when I was, like, 15 years old.
00:12:36We did a movie called The Wendell Baker Story that his brothers directed.
00:12:40And I play a paper boy in the movie.
00:12:43And I remember getting that call that I was going to get to be in a movie with all these
00:12:46guys.
00:12:47Zoolander was also one of my favorite movies at the time.
00:12:49I almost got kicked out of church camp for doing a walk-off on stage.
00:12:52We'll tell that story later.
00:12:53But the thing about it is that I remember getting the call to be in that movie
00:12:57and practicing in our cul-de-sac with my mom growing up throwing papers just over and over and over.
00:13:03Hundreds, hundreds of rolled-up papers.
00:13:04And the feeling of confidence when you step on set knowing that you are going to throw a paper better
00:13:10than anyone else
00:13:11is sort of like what I always kind of feel like is this job for me is, like, discipline is
00:13:16the key to my happiness.
00:13:17If I've done the work ahead of time, I can just, like, enjoy the ride once I'm there.
00:13:22So for me, if I feel like I haven't done the work, then I feel like that imposter syndrome
00:13:27and probably the world at large starts getting in your head and messes with it.
00:13:30But if I've invested in it properly, I get to kind of turn off the world and just kind of
00:13:34enjoy the ride.
00:13:36What do the rest of you wish you knew about sort of navigating success, fame, everything that comes with it
00:13:43when you were starting out?
00:13:45You don't have to.
00:13:47You don't have to.
00:13:48Whatever it is, you don't have to.
00:13:52We do have a choice.
00:13:53We can differentiate and make choices about our behavior.
00:13:59And, again, for me, the same thing that I said is where I feel most useful.
00:14:07And that's what I want to be is useful.
00:14:12I'm not there to show off.
00:14:13I'm there to do the work and get it done.
00:14:17And I love the company, and I love what we're doing together, and I love that community.
00:14:26And I love, you know, occasionally being scared of what's, you know, what I don't quite know how to do.
00:14:33I remember a friend saying, like, if you're on a set and you're not feeling really lucky to be there,
00:14:38there's a problem.
00:14:39And I'm sure sometimes you do get that where you're going, I don't feel that lucky to be here today.
00:14:45That's not good.
00:14:46But there are days, you know, and hopefully most of them where you're kind of in that flow.
00:14:52And I always think that, you know, I've worked on lots of things that haven't worked.
00:14:58But while I was working on it, there is some sort of thing that, at least while I was working
00:15:04on it, I believed.
00:15:05I got to a place of believing, this could be pretty great.
00:15:08You know, of feeling like, oh, we did something pretty great today.
00:15:13And, like, the only few times that I've ever not had a good experience is when I could never get
00:15:19to that hypnosis of, you know, that this is pretty good.
00:15:23Like, I thought what we did today, that was kind of like, you talk later, like, we did that.
00:15:29And you see people kind of laughing or kind of responding.
00:15:33And then a few times where I was, like, never able to get to.
00:15:36I was like, this is.
00:15:37Have you ever had this experience, any of you, where it was awful?
00:15:41And then it comes out and you're like, fuck, that was good.
00:15:45I had much more the other way, you know, but I have had where it, you know, it did better.
00:15:51Where it was like, you know, I hope, but, oh, wow, this one really seems to be resonating.
00:15:55I have people.
00:15:56I have this letter in my office.
00:15:57It was, it's from Richard Linklater that he wrote to me right before we had this movie called Everybody Wants
00:16:04Him that came out.
00:16:05It was a baseball movie set in 1980 that I loved.
00:16:08And we had the best time ever making this movie.
00:16:10But he basically wrote me a letter thinking probably he knew that this movie was going to make zero dollars.
00:16:14And he said, you've got to separate the experience of making a movie from the experience of releasing a movie.
00:16:20And he said, you've got to, like, literally protect both of those experiences as different things.
00:16:24Because otherwise, the experience of releasing a movie will taint what it felt like to actually make it.
00:16:30And it's been the best piece of advice because you go, if you have a great time making a movie
00:16:33and the experiences you have with people and how much, what you've learned and how much work you put in.
00:16:38You can't let box office, you can't let critics, all that stuff affect the experience of the family you built
00:16:42and all those things.
00:16:43And it's saved me from a lot because that noise can get really loud and just taint how much fun
00:16:49this shit is.
00:16:50I got that lesson early on, too.
00:16:51Yeah, because sometimes you can tend to keep in touch more, like, on a project.
00:16:58It's just more you're brought together for and it feels a little better to go out together.
00:17:04What would you all do with anonymity for a day?
00:17:07I assume I have it.
00:17:08I assume I have it.
00:17:10That's one thing that I'm pretty adamant on making sure that I keep is the ability to do whatever I
00:17:16want to do.
00:17:17Because Harrison Ford said I don't have to.
00:17:20You know what I mean?
00:17:21He said I don't have to make a choice.
00:17:24So, you know, if you walk around the neighborhood, you see me at the right time, I'm picking up poop.
00:17:30I know what I'm saying?
00:17:32From my dog.
00:17:32You know, if you're just acting like a normal person, nobody's going to pay attention to you.
00:17:39You do that.
00:17:40Yeah, I see you walk around Manhattan just all alone.
00:17:43I've seen, like, you're one of the most famous people on earth.
00:17:46And you don't seem to let it affect how you behave from my perspective.
00:17:51Yeah.
00:17:51Well, you guys are really nursing these Bloody Marys.
00:17:54Yeah.
00:17:55Cheers, mate.
00:17:56Here we go.
00:17:57Cheers, guys.
00:17:58Come on.
00:17:58This is what we came in for.
00:18:00Yeah, I think there is something about that.
00:18:02Again, it's like, it's a weird thing, right, as actors, because we all want to be looked at on some
00:18:08level.
00:18:08We also don't want to be seen.
00:18:09You know, that's right.
00:18:10That's interesting.
00:18:11And so there's this weird kind of dichotomy, this weird push-pull.
00:18:15I kind of very recently kind of also made that decision to, like, stop hiding.
00:18:20Like, I don't want to wear my baseball cap.
00:18:22I don't want to wear these, like, glasses.
00:18:24I don't want to wear my contact lenses.
00:18:25And you know what happens?
00:18:27Nothing.
00:18:27A couple of people go, I like that movie.
00:18:30It's great.
00:18:31The world's a bit more of a slightly friendly place.
00:18:33Every now and again, maybe something slightly weird happens.
00:18:35Okay, great.
00:18:36Like, you know, you get on with your day.
00:18:39And, you know, part of why we feel so happy and safe on these film sets is because we can
00:18:44be unguarded.
00:18:45We can have these collisions and connections.
00:18:46I said, I want to treat life like that a bit more.
00:18:49So, yeah, I made that decision, particularly after having a kid as well.
00:18:52I was like, I don't want to put that energy of, like, hiding around my kids.
00:18:57So, yeah, I'm with you.
00:18:58I just kind of.
00:18:59You should go out there.
00:19:00Yeah.
00:19:00I also noticed we did Expendables 3 together.
00:19:04Oscar-nominated Expendables 3.
00:19:08But we were doing the Quazette.
00:19:10We were going down the Quazette in tanks.
00:19:12We were going to Cannes.
00:19:13And I remember, but I remember everybody showing up for the presser.
00:19:18It was so Hollywood.
00:19:19It was the best.
00:19:19We literally invaded Cannes in tanks.
00:19:22But I noticed, like, there was, you know, it's all the biggest.
00:19:25That's why we love you guys in Europe, you know.
00:19:26It's the only way that Harrison gets around.
00:19:29It's either a helicopter or a tank for him.
00:19:32But I remember showing up and, you know, you have some of the biggest action stars in the world in
00:19:36this movie.
00:19:37And a lot of the guys had, like, these big bodyguards with the, you know, they're jacked.
00:19:41They got the earpiece.
00:19:42And they just look like they were, they had something to protect.
00:19:45And you walked right from the plane into Cannes and no one bothered you.
00:19:51I watched it happen and I was like, I was like, wow, like, sometimes if you don't act like it's
00:19:56a thing, it won't be a thing.
00:19:58You know what I mean?
00:19:59You figured out how to do it.
00:20:00It was awesome.
00:20:01Well, they thought I was you.
00:20:06Exactly.
00:20:07And by the way, there was no reason for me to be in that cast.
00:20:09It was like, it was like, I think people thought I was a crafter versus guy.
00:20:13There was no reason for anybody to be in that cast except Slash.
00:20:16No, no, no, no.
00:20:18That was, there was to be some frank.
00:20:21But there are people that just kind of go with it.
00:20:23I remember seeing Jack Nicholson in New York filming As Good As It Gets.
00:20:30And he's just walking along and, you know, people go crazy.
00:20:33He's sitting on the sidewalk at a table for one on Madison Avenue.
00:20:37They just love him and it's just like, yeah, right.
00:20:40And you can just see the like kind of, you know, the good effect that, yeah, really lifts people's spirits.
00:20:48Glenn, you just went with the Chad Powers prosthetics out into the world or at least into a Starbucks, right?
00:20:55Yeah, I've worn them out just for fun.
00:20:57Okay, but how?
00:20:58Not like as like a, not as a lifestyle.
00:21:01Sure.
00:21:02Fair enough.
00:21:03No, no, I get that.
00:21:04I get that.
00:21:05I'm guessing you're treated differently.
00:21:08I will just say for anyone who has not seen the show, Chad isn't exactly a handsome guy.
00:21:14What's?
00:21:15No, he's not bad.
00:21:17He's, you know, but I will say there's, there's something really fun.
00:21:21I mean, I, I enjoyed the, the fact that, that Chad was like a big swing that you are putting
00:21:27on prosthetics.
00:21:28You're, you're, you're doing something kind of a little crazy.
00:21:30The, the, the buy-in of the show is kind of wild, but you know, I, I, there's something
00:21:34about as an actor, like the freedom to get away from your face for a bit and just really,
00:21:39really swing for something, you know?
00:21:41Yeah.
00:21:42Well, yeah.
00:21:42No, it's not going to be a lifestyle.
00:21:44You're not going to see me like go off the reservation and.
00:21:47Full method.
00:21:47Okay.
00:21:48Fair enough.
00:21:48Uh, yeah, yeah.
00:21:49Not too long ago, you defined freedom as being in a place in your career where you don't have
00:21:54to live in a New York or an LA anymore.
00:21:57Talk to me about those moments where you go, maybe I'll, I'll take the money I've saved
00:22:02and move to Kansas and just be a farmer.
00:22:04Oh yeah.
00:22:05I've been.
00:22:06You've been taking notes.
00:22:07Oh yeah.
00:22:08We've been talking about my little, about, about my little farm life, uh, thing.
00:22:11I actually, I met Riz, um, back in, I think 2021 at the, uh, at a GQ event at the
00:22:18Soho
00:22:18farmhouse.
00:22:19And as soon as I got, as soon as I got there, I don't know.
00:22:22No, I just love that place.
00:22:24And, and, uh, I know a lot of English people be like, this is like an American fantasy.
00:22:29Oh, is that right?
00:22:30No, but no, no, I love it too.
00:22:32Don't ruin it for us.
00:22:32I love it too.
00:22:33Don't ruin it for us.
00:22:33No, I love it too.
00:22:34No, don't tell him.
00:22:34Don't tell him.
00:22:35Don't tell him.
00:22:35No, it's funny.
00:22:36I remember English people being like, this is like an American's fantasy of what a farm
00:22:39is.
00:22:39I felt like it was like a Merchant Ivory movie I'd stepped into.
00:22:43Just like, you know, all ones.
00:22:45I'm going to own it, man.
00:22:46Like, I'm going to full out own it because man, with that, it was a, it was a tough time
00:22:50in
00:22:50the world.
00:22:51Right.
00:22:51And what that did for me was it just, as soon as I got on those grounds, my whole body
00:22:56just said, and I was like, Oh, I didn't, I didn't know.
00:23:02So I've been, I've been looking for that.
00:23:04And with this idea of saying, well, I don't have to be in LA.
00:23:08I don't have to be in New York constantly chasing the work, chasing the work.
00:23:13So this thing of looking for a farmer is really stepping out on faith and saying, look, like,
00:23:21I'll be fine.
00:23:22Go, go, go get a life.
00:23:24You know, I graduated in 25 from school in 20, 2015.
00:23:27And I was working, I think by then six years straight, just working, working, working all
00:23:32over the place.
00:23:33And I said, you know what?
00:23:34I need to stop and actually go get a life and trust that whenever, trust that the work
00:23:40is still going to be there.
00:23:41You know what I mean?
00:23:42So that's really what my farm, what my farm is about.
00:23:45And it's still a dream.
00:23:46It's not yet a reality.
00:23:47It's happening though.
00:23:49It's, it's, it's, I'm, I'm, I'm getting closer and closer.
00:23:52I'm getting closer and closer to my, to my farm.
00:23:55Yeah.
00:23:55I love the idea that me and me was made, made you think I got to not be that guy.
00:24:00It's like, you know, I met Riz on a farm and I was like, I need to chase somebody because
00:24:05I need to fix my life.
00:24:06I need to go down this road.
00:24:07Thanks man.
00:24:08Yeah.
00:24:09Let me be a warning to you all.
00:24:11Has anyone seen Lenny Kravitz's farm in Brazil?
00:24:14I've seen the videos of it.
00:24:15That's, that's, that's, that's my, that's my, that's my inspiration.
00:24:18I want Architectural Digest to show up to my home.
00:24:21And I want to pull up to, to the gate on a horse.
00:24:25And I want to say, you know, it's unbelievable.
00:24:29I met him at a fashion show.
00:24:30Is that right?
00:24:31And he said, by the way, I mean, in the way he just does, you know, he talks, he's so
00:24:36charismatic.
00:24:37I didn't know what he was saying, but he was, um, I remember him, him saying these words
00:24:41because I'm going to shout it out right now.
00:24:43He said, anytime you want to come stay on the farm, let me know.
00:24:46Oh really?
00:24:47We're going after this.
00:24:49Let's come and do it.
00:24:49I think he was being polite.
00:24:51I don't think he has, he thought I was Dev Patel or something.
00:24:56I think that's what was going on, but I'm going to roll with it.
00:24:59That would be incredible if you got to Brazil and he thought you were Dev Patel.
00:25:02Yeah.
00:25:03Just take a look at the manifest.
00:25:04You just got to roll with it.
00:25:05You just got to roll with it.
00:25:07It's funny.
00:25:08I raise it because it's actually, it happens at a moment in my TV show.
00:25:12In the first episode, I get confused for Dev Patel.
00:25:14And I called up Dev and I said, I'm going to do this bit and the thing because it keeps
00:25:17happening to me.
00:25:18And he was like, yeah, same here.
00:25:19Like, he got nominated for a BAFTA and a famous fashion brand put up a photo of me and said,
00:25:27congratulations to Dev Patel on his BAFTA.
00:25:29And I'm retweeting it like, yeah, I got nominated.
00:25:31I'm just sharing that.
00:25:33But it's funny, you know, I don't correct people now.
00:25:37You know, I've had this with a few different people.
00:25:39Aziz has some inage.
00:25:40We talk to each other about it.
00:25:42We just have a pact.
00:25:43Don't be a dick.
00:25:45Don't let the other person think that Dev is a bad guy or Hazard is a bad guy.
00:25:51That happens to me with Jack Shepard.
00:25:53Yeah.
00:25:53We get confused a lot.
00:25:54And I had an experience recently where, well, it happens a lot.
00:25:58People are effusive and they're giving me compliments and they're saying, I just love you so much.
00:26:03And then little by little, I start realizing that they're talking about Dax.
00:26:07And I don't know how to, you know, it's very awkward because I don't know how to get out of
00:26:12it always.
00:26:13You don't correct?
00:26:14Sometimes I do.
00:26:15It depends what mood I'm in.
00:26:16Sometimes I'm like, thank you.
00:26:18Yeah, it was so fun making, you know, chips.
00:26:22And then, yeah, Kristen's great.
00:26:25She's the best.
00:26:28And then other times I'm like, no, you're thinking of Dax.
00:26:31We do look alike.
00:26:33He's a great actor.
00:26:34Yeah, I get my brother, Luke.
00:26:36I get Woody Harrelson.
00:26:38I think, you know, if you're from Texas, you tend to get.
00:26:40All the Texans get Luke to get.
00:26:42Yeah, all the Texans, yeah.
00:26:43You play along?
00:26:44Doing Woody can be fun.
00:26:45Yeah, sometimes.
00:26:47It's just, yeah, you don't bother to correct if somebody's going too far down the line.
00:26:51It's even if it really means something to them.
00:26:52Well, you don't want to take the wind out of their sails.
00:26:55Right, because once you do it, then it gets just more awkward.
00:26:57It's easier to be like, thank you.
00:26:59Yes, exactly.
00:27:00Yeah, that's the exact scene we depict in my show.
00:27:04What's the fantasy if you were to sort of leave all of this behind?
00:27:08Harrison, could we do something together?
00:27:10Like, you know, might be, you know, cycling or something.
00:27:14Yeah, we could do something together.
00:27:19But I would like to be alone for a while.
00:27:24Yeah.
00:27:24Yeah.
00:27:25What happened to film sets being connected and everybody?
00:27:29No, no, that's right.
00:27:30It's like we're getting mixed messages here.
00:27:33I thought we had something.
00:27:35I am a mixed message.
00:27:37You want to go Dutch on a compound?
00:27:39No, I want to be alone.
00:27:41Yeah.
00:27:42I don't know.
00:27:43If I stop working, I have dogging my steps.
00:27:47You know, I've got storage rooms that need to be cleared out.
00:27:53I've got drawers that are not organized.
00:27:56I've got too much shit.
00:27:58Yeah.
00:27:59And I've got to get rid of it.
00:28:01That's what I would start to do, to get rid of my shit.
00:28:05Honestly, that garage sale would probably be pretty awesome.
00:28:07Yeah, it would be.
00:28:08I'd love to see Harrison Ford's garage sale.
00:28:10Yes.
00:28:10You'll get an invitation.
00:28:12I'm just kind of picturing the end of Raiders, you know, just the big warehouse.
00:28:17A big warehouse.
00:28:19Right.
00:28:19That's what he's saying.
00:28:21Seeing the same come in.
00:28:21You didn't see the last movie.
00:28:23I saw the last movie.
00:28:24When we were on Twisters, hey.
00:28:26Thank God.
00:28:26Thank God I have this answer.
00:28:27On Twisters, I brought the whole cast to see The Last Indiana Jones.
00:28:31Yeah.
00:28:31Did they pay to get in?
00:28:33I paid to get in.
00:28:34Yes.
00:28:35Yeah, yeah.
00:28:35It's great.
00:28:36I'm grateful.
00:28:38Harrison, you said recently in conversation with Zach that you're in danger of the plague of legacy.
00:28:45And on Shrinking, you're not a legend.
00:28:47I'm quoting you here.
00:28:49What does that mean to you and how does it alter your enjoyment of this experience?
00:28:54Shrinking is an ensemble effort.
00:28:58You directed how many of the last seasons?
00:29:01I've done five in the last season.
00:29:03Five, yeah.
00:29:04Yeah.
00:29:04It's so much fun.
00:29:06It's such a pleasure.
00:29:06I've had similar experiences, but working in television with the same group of people over
00:29:14a period of time, it becomes more than just an ensemble experience.
00:29:19It becomes a community, and you have these common experiences, and it's real glue.
00:29:25It really helps hold the whole thing together.
00:29:29And I really enjoy the relationships that I have with these people and the other actors
00:29:35and the production staff and writers.
00:29:39It really feels like a community.
00:29:43And movies are still a great adventure, and I still love doing that kind of work.
00:29:49But there's something very different about working on a sustained basis over seasons on a character
00:29:58and having that audience have that relationship to a fully fleshed-out character.
00:30:04It's really just so much fun.
00:30:08You seem so in your element.
00:30:12Obviously, you're very funny, and you've been funny in many of your films,
00:30:16but as a director, it's lovely to see Harrison really lean into comedy
00:30:22and just love playing, you know, because on the show, we do as scripted,
00:30:26and then we play around a bit.
00:30:27And I think I would also imagine in your films, you're the star.
00:30:31It's about you.
00:30:32And like you said about this being an ensemble project,
00:30:37you're all bouncing off of each other, and everyone's riffing off everyone.
00:30:41You just seem like you're having so much fun, and you love it.
00:30:45Shh.
00:30:47Don't tell them.
00:30:48Sorry.
00:30:50You went into this thinking it would be three seasons.
00:30:52I think everyone involved, Bill Lawrence, the creator, was very clear.
00:30:56He envisioned it as two.
00:30:58Yeah, sure.
00:30:59I thought maybe two.
00:31:00Did you flirt with saying this was it?
00:31:03And certainly the storyline could have tied up in a nice bow at the end.
00:31:07No, I don't want a nice bow at the end on it.
00:31:11One of the great pleasures of doing this is I don't have all the scripts for a season.
00:31:17I don't have the next episode.
00:31:19And I'm playing a guy with Parkinson's.
00:31:21I don't know my fate.
00:31:24I don't know what's going to happen next.
00:31:28Oh, shit?
00:31:29No.
00:31:30That's like life.
00:31:32That's like real life.
00:31:35That's kind of cool.
00:31:37And I'm so supported by the writers, and I know that they're going to take care of it.
00:31:45So I can really just enjoy.
00:31:50You go into a scene, you don't know whether you're going to laugh or cry, and it doesn't matter.
00:31:55It doesn't matter as long as it's real.
00:31:58Just because we're both working in the Bill Lawrence universe, there's such a freedom to find, and we all know
00:32:04you don't have this on every set, is there is such license to go just see where it goes.
00:32:08And if we don't like it and it's weird or if it's wrong or you shouldn't be crying, this would
00:32:12be a funny scene, then we'll cut it and we'll change it.
00:32:14But there is such freedom to explore.
00:32:17That's nice.
00:32:18And I felt that on Scrubs when I was 25 years old and now on Scrubs, and I feel that
00:32:24when I'm directing Shrinking or Rooster, there's this, you're in such good hands.
00:32:29Just go with it.
00:32:31Because the writing is so good.
00:32:33Yes.
00:32:34No, it is, but it's also this freedom that we all know we don't feel in every set, which is
00:32:39we got you.
00:32:40Go do one huge and stupid.
00:32:43Okay.
00:32:43Now do one tiny.
00:32:45Now do, oh, you've got tears in your eyes.
00:32:47That's interesting.
00:32:47We hadn't planned that, you know?
00:32:49And don't worry.
00:32:50We're going to shape it into something wonderful.
00:32:53And that's a really great way to work.
00:32:54Does that include, like, that you can sort of change the lines a bit, too?
00:32:58Well, as long as you set them once the way they were saying.
00:33:03Yeah, the big rule is definitely get it as written, especially as a director, you'll get in trouble.
00:33:08Yeah.
00:33:08Because the writers are on the set.
00:33:09But you could figure out something.
00:33:10Oh, gosh, you can go into that direction.
00:33:12Well, they work so hard on the script, of course, and the writing's brilliant.
00:33:15They want it all as written good.
00:33:17And then when you have time, especially as a filmmaker and you're keeping your eye on the clock, okay, now
00:33:23we can fuck around a little bit.
00:33:25Do you want to try one where you say whatever you want to say?
00:33:28And do you want to try one where you're angrier?
00:33:30Yeah.
00:33:31And a lot of, even going back to Scrubs in 2001, some of the audience's favorite things were just Donald
00:33:38Faison and I had become such good friends.
00:33:40And we were so silly and we had such freedom that we would just goof off and come up with
00:33:47the craziest shit.
00:33:48And we'd be like, they are never going to use this.
00:33:50But the crew's belly laughing.
00:33:51And then, of course, Bill puts it in the show and they become things people yell at me on the
00:33:55street today.
00:33:57You know?
00:33:57And it's just, there was that safety net, which is just, which is such a great way to create.
00:34:02Which previous project or world would you want to return to if Green Light was no issue?
00:34:10Harrison, you and I both talked about doing Expendables 5.
00:34:14Yes.
00:34:15You talked.
00:34:18I listened.
00:34:22We could definitely use another bottle rocket.
00:34:25Oh, hell yeah.
00:34:27I mean, yeah.
00:34:28Bring back those Zoolanders.
00:34:29By the way, when I was a kid, I was so obsessed with Zoolander.
00:34:33I told Ben Stiller this story.
00:34:35I wrote a treatment for Zoolander 2, The Spawn of Hansel.
00:34:42And I was to play your son.
00:34:44Spawn of Hansel.
00:34:44Spawn of Hansel.
00:34:45That's great.
00:34:47I got to dig up that treatment at some point.
00:34:49You know studios are going to be bidding on this.
00:34:51Yeah, yeah, yeah.
00:34:52Tomorrow.
00:34:53I didn't see that.
00:34:54I got it.
00:34:55I love that movie so much.
00:34:56That sounds amazing.
00:34:58You know, something that.
00:35:00The Night Of?
00:35:01Yeah.
00:35:02It was The Night Of.
00:35:02People would love One Night Of.
00:35:04Yeah.
00:35:05People do say that.
00:35:07Yeah.
00:35:07I think it's one of them.
00:35:08Particularly when I passed through a new show.
00:35:09I think it's an extraordinary show.
00:35:11Yeah, it's interesting because it was based on a British show.
00:35:15And in that, it's like, you know, it's a different case every time.
00:35:18But I don't know.
00:35:19It would be interesting to see where those characters went.
00:35:21I know that was such a kind of formative experience for me as well.
00:35:23It's just kind of, I have a soft spot for it.
00:35:26That must have changed your life overnight.
00:35:28I would think it was so huge.
00:35:29It was a very kind of different experience because I'd been doing kind of indie films in the UK for
00:35:3510 years, like Four Lions and, you know, Road to Guantanamo and Shifty and all these kind of kind of
00:35:42British indie movies.
00:35:43And I thought, you know, that was what I was going to do.
00:35:44And I was very happy doing it.
00:35:45And I was so ignorant to really what was going on here.
00:35:49Honestly, the only context in which I knew HBO was boxing.
00:35:54So I got this script and saying it's a HBO show.
00:35:57I remember thinking, those boxing guys are trying to make a TV show.
00:36:01It's going to suck.
00:36:03Like, we don't have HBO in the UK.
00:36:05And so I went, I auditioned for it.
00:36:07I did it really having no context.
00:36:09Danced like no one's watching.
00:36:10Didn't feel that pressure on it.
00:36:13And went ahead and did it.
00:36:14And, yeah, it did feel like things changed.
00:36:17People started yelling at me in the street.
00:36:19Naz, did you do it?
00:36:21Every time I go through JFK, I'm going to let you through.
00:36:23Did you do it?
00:36:25I'm going to miss my flight.
00:36:28So there was a lot of that going on.
00:36:30And that was the big shift.
00:36:31And really, in a way, that's when it was that period of time that I started scribbling down ideas for
00:36:39this current show, Bait.
00:36:41Because Bait is about when the distance between how you're seen and your public self and your private self starts
00:36:47to become huge.
00:36:49And people perceive you in a certain way.
00:36:51People think Han Solo doesn't do his laundry.
00:36:52Or whatever it is.
00:36:53You know what I mean?
00:36:54People think, well, you might not.
00:36:55Ken does your laundry.
00:36:56Yeah.
00:36:57He has people for that.
00:37:00But you know what I mean?
00:37:01So I found myself this massive chasm between my public self and my private self.
00:37:07And that was stressful and confusing, but also kind of funny, you know, in weird ways.
00:37:11And so the show kind of sprang up around that difference, you know.
00:37:19Yeah, I remember kind of the same week the Star Wars came out.
00:37:23It got released that I was in the movie.
00:37:26You know, people from high school, people, friends, family takes you go, bro, you're crushing it.
00:37:30That same week, I got banned for suspected shoplifting at my local supermarket just because I forgot to beep the
00:37:38pizza on the checkout, bro.
00:37:39That's all.
00:37:40Sure you do.
00:37:42So it really wasn't suspected.
00:37:44There it is.
00:37:45Here it is.
00:37:46I knew I'd get a feeling.
00:37:47It seems like you open and shut a case.
00:37:51I'm in Star Wars.
00:37:52I don't have to pay for pizza.
00:37:54Yeah, exactly.
00:37:55The stormtroopers will pay for this.
00:37:57Really got to my head very quickly, you guys.
00:38:00But you know, there's that disconnect sometimes.
00:38:03I'll try to keep going, man.
00:38:05That word suspected was doing some heavy lifting just now.
00:38:09I can't believe you snitch on me like this, bro.
00:38:14Why didn't they make more, even if they didn't do your story?
00:38:18I mean, I know that's probably my question for you.
00:38:19How the hell dare you say that?
00:38:20No, I mean, your story was amazing, but also you said it was a series based on...
00:38:24No, you're right.
00:38:24Yeah, there might have been this thing where John Turturro's character carries on and does other cases.
00:38:29That would have been cool.
00:38:30I love that show.
00:38:30I don't know.
00:38:31Sometimes I think, remember Steve Zalian saying like, if it works and it's exactly how you wanted it to be,
00:38:38it's like, leave it alone.
00:38:39You know, I think that was his mentality.
00:38:41That's not the norm in this town.
00:38:42Yeah, yeah.
00:38:44No, it is not.
00:38:45Walk away.
00:38:46Success.
00:38:47Anyone else want to revisit anything, any world?
00:38:51You've done a lot of that with great success.
00:38:55Somebody, a journalist once asked me if I was going to do every movie I've ever done in the past
00:39:03over again.
00:39:05And I said, yeah, why not?
00:39:09If it's a good script, why not?
00:39:12I mean, that's what I do.
00:39:17You seem like you sleep really well at night.
00:39:19Funny you should mention that.
00:39:23I don't.
00:39:24Okay.
00:39:24No.
00:39:25I wish I did.
00:39:26Okay.
00:39:27But it's the carefree, and it's also...
00:39:32Well, I'm never carefree because I've always got something hanging over my head, and I kind of like that.
00:39:39Yeah, yeah, yeah.
00:39:40But it do keep you awake sometimes when you have it.
00:39:45Somebody talked about getting their homework done and feeling good.
00:39:50Yeah.
00:39:51I got a lot of homework.
00:39:54The leftover shit.
00:39:56Yeah, I get that.
00:39:56I get that.
00:39:58But sleeping ain't everything.
00:40:01No.
00:40:03You're all at points in your career where you can be quite picky.
00:40:06What are the easy no's, the things you're just not willing to do?
00:40:12Parts you don't want to play, things you don't want to do?
00:40:15I was just going to say, my first instinct is, would I want to watch it?
00:40:19Okay.
00:40:20Whether it's a tiny indie that we're going to shoot in two weeks or a big TV show, would I
00:40:26want to watch this?
00:40:28That's sort of a little bar of entry for myself.
00:40:33I don't want to be part of any revenge scenarios.
00:40:41I'm sick of that as a dramatic device.
00:40:45I don't mind facing desperate circumstances, but I need a little positivity in order to have an experience mean something
00:40:59to me.
00:41:00I can't have a negative experience that's just a kinetic, you know, waste of time.
00:41:10I need to be engaged.
00:41:12I need to be moved.
00:41:13I need to be transported into another place.
00:41:16I need to believe something that I never thought about.
00:41:19I need to think.
00:41:21Participate.
00:41:24And that'll cut your reading volume in about half.
00:41:30I'm thinking more and more these days about, like, what I want to do, you know.
00:41:35And that's primarily because I was always suspicious of, like, you know, of everything, you know.
00:41:44And my suspicion would keep me, I'm always looking for the trap, you know.
00:41:49What is this role going to say?
00:41:51What is it going to do?
00:41:52How is it going to be, you know, perceived?
00:41:55I'm looking for reasons to say no.
00:41:57These days it's more helpful for me and my own personality to look for reasons to say yes and find
00:42:05things to obsess about, find things to fall in love with, you know, with the scripts.
00:42:10And when I don't find it, it makes it easy to say, well, no, this isn't it, you know.
00:42:15And even with things that may seem like no-brainers when it's like, hey, this is a really good opportunity.
00:42:20Okay, let me read it and let me go into it looking forward, looking and hoping to be excited.
00:42:25And if I don't find it, then I understand that that perspective actually helps me to say no to things
00:42:31that otherwise could be packaged and sold as, like, really as no-brainers, you know.
00:42:37Do you feel like you know what it is that you're looking for a certain period of time in your
00:42:42career or your life?
00:42:42Or is it like you just know when that feeling comes and you'll move?
00:42:46It's I'll know it when I feel it, you know.
00:42:47And if I trust that, if I trust that, I'll always find the right thing.
00:42:52When I haven't trusted that, then I've had to, then the work, I've really had to work very hard at
00:43:00making the work make sense.
00:43:02So I had to dig really, really deep.
00:43:07It makes the work more arduous, you know, working in a way when it's not, when I'm working against my
00:43:14instincts.
00:43:15Because at the end of the day, when you still say, yes, you still got to get up and go
00:43:17do the work, you know what I mean?
00:43:19So I'm trying to...
00:43:21Yeah, it's easy to say no to stuff that's not very well written.
00:43:25Yeah.
00:43:26And I think, you know, scripts are kind of blueprints for movies.
00:43:30So it's rare, I feel like, to get a script that you can really read it from start to finish
00:43:34like you could a good book.
00:43:36So you're always doing a little bit of imagining.
00:43:39But, you know, sometimes, yeah, you do play a character in a movie and you're, oh, I could have gone
00:43:44further with this character.
00:43:45I like this character and maybe because I didn't, you know, study acting in school, you know, with this show
00:43:52that I've been working on, the Golf One Stick.
00:43:54I like this character.
00:43:56So I kind of like going further.
00:43:59And I think that's kind of interesting and fun.
00:44:02Can I say on that point of liking the character and what you were saying about having a community of
00:44:07people that you make a show with, I want to work with nice people.
00:44:12I want to work with good people.
00:44:13Life's too short, man.
00:44:14Like, you know, you're going to be stepping away from home, from your family.
00:44:18You're going to be, you know, working hard, doing all the homework.
00:44:21I just want to be around good energy.
00:44:24And that's, again, like you, Harrison, like something that I've loved about this show is like putting a community of
00:44:29people together, like a family of people together, a group that you just feel safe enough to be silly, take
00:44:35swings, improvise, all of that stuff creatively, but also just on a human level.
00:44:39Where you're not having to feel suspicious, where you're not having to feel suspicious, where you can rediscover that positivity
00:44:43and faith in this.
00:44:45So, sometimes it's like, you know, that's happened a couple of times.
00:44:50The project comes in and goes, this would be great for this reason, this reason, this reason, tick box, tick
00:44:54box.
00:44:54Yeah, but how will it feel?
00:44:56Because if you don't trust these people, if you feel like something's a little bit off, if you heard the
00:45:01energy is like, yo, I'm not really, you know, trying to be around that right now, then, yeah, hard to.
00:45:08But I do think, like, kind of what you were saying early on about it, you know, sets being a
00:45:12fun place to be, that most of the time, you do kind of find that, that sets.
00:45:17And I think that, you know, it gets sort of, it's a selective sort of, you know, you get weeded
00:45:23out if you're, you know, if you're working continually, you know, crews and stuff.
00:45:28Somebody who doesn't get along with people, they're not going to get rehired.
00:45:33So usually on, you know, most sets, it's usually a pretty good place to be.
00:45:40I agree, I agree.
00:45:40Now, there's the creative thing that you're talking about, I think, about, right, where somebody, I have found, like, gosh,
00:45:45if I have some sort of, and I feel like we're not on the same page, that doesn't tend to
00:45:50get better.
00:45:52So if I feel like right in the beginning, gosh, this person's seeing something in a very different way than
00:45:57I am, you do well to listen to that because it doesn't seem to get better.
00:46:03Well, what do you do, though?
00:46:04Yeah, what do you do?
00:46:05What do you do?
00:46:06That's funny, I was going to ask you what do you do.
00:46:07You don't sign up for it, and then if you have already signed up and then you're realizing, then I
00:46:16do believe in sort of the humility of your opinion that, you know, I'll argue as, you know, strongly as
00:46:22I can for something I believe in, not where I'm stubborn.
00:46:24And then if they sort of, you know, want to do that, then I'm open to that idea, and there's
00:46:29been, you know, many times I can be like, I did not want to do that, and they said yes,
00:46:35and it turned out to be good.
00:46:37Yeah, yeah, it's a collaboration.
00:46:38So I try to keep that in mind, that, you know, but I do tend to sometimes think my ideas
00:46:46are the best.
00:46:47But I do sort of, and if I feel that their idea is coming from a place of just wanting
00:46:54to make it better and that it's not about, you know, an ego thing for them, that's when I feel.
00:47:01And you can sense sort of the same way you said about the Brando thing when, you know, they can
00:47:06sense when you want it.
00:47:07Well, you can sense when somebody's coming at something from an ego.
00:47:10This person just wants to win an argument rather than, you know, what's the best thing.
00:47:15And so I think ego is the feeling.
00:47:17You guys have to all really want these projects, want these roles, want to be there.
00:47:22Looking back, what was the role or project that you had to sort of fight hardest for?
00:47:27I play this character, Simon Williams, in the show called Wonder Man, and he was like, he got his big
00:47:32break by sneaking into the audition.
00:47:34He sort of went behind his agent's, you know, computer, found out the listing, forced his way onto the sheet
00:47:40and, you know, eventually got the job.
00:47:43But he was just, you know, whatever it takes.
00:47:46Does anybody have any stories about doing it?
00:47:48My scrub story was a little like that because the first time I auditioned back in 2000.
00:47:52It was supposed to be for Dax and you.
00:47:56I'm so lucky.
00:47:58Dax did not get an audition.
00:48:00But this anecdote I was going to tell was I auditioned in New York.
00:48:03It wasn't a good audition.
00:48:05I hadn't prepared, done the work, as we were mentioning.
00:48:09This is back when we were FedExing VHS tapes to L.A. to be seen.
00:48:14And no one ever saw the tape.
00:48:16It was bad.
00:48:18And weeks later, they still hadn't found the guy.
00:48:21And my agent said, look, they're seeing so many people.
00:48:25I don't think they're going to keep track.
00:48:27Just go in again.
00:48:29Go in again.
00:48:30Yeah.
00:48:31In L.A.
00:48:31I was in L.A. this time.
00:48:33And they were like, you know, this is old school pilot season.
00:48:36I mean, there's mayhem.
00:48:37We were going on five auditions a day back in, like, you know, 2000.
00:48:41And they were like, it's chaos over there.
00:48:43Just go in again.
00:48:45Just go in again.
00:48:46That's great.
00:48:47And I went in again like nothing.
00:48:48I had never read for it.
00:48:50Wearing a hat this time.
00:48:53The first time I'd been to New York, VHS tape.
00:48:55This was L.A.
00:48:56In person.
00:48:57In person.
00:48:58And I was very prepared.
00:49:01And I crushed it.
00:49:02I knew I crushed it because the cast director was like, what are you doing later today?
00:49:08Which is the greatest thing you can ever hear.
00:49:10Yeah, yeah, yeah.
00:49:11And then rapidly I was sitting with Bill Lawrence and it was all happening.
00:49:15And it all became, it was all because this agent had the audacity to be like, I think just go
00:49:22in again.
00:49:22That's amazing.
00:49:24That's so funny.
00:49:25That's interesting.
00:49:27That's crazy, man.
00:49:28But that's what it's like.
00:49:30That's what it's like trying to get in a position to be able to do this thing, you know?
00:49:34Being so, back when I talked about just loving my ideas, it was like, yeah, I'm going to do whatever
00:49:41it takes.
00:49:42What do I have to do?
00:49:43Yeah, okay, cool.
00:49:44I'm going to do that.
00:49:45I'm going to do that my way.
00:49:48And, man, you just see green lights, green lights, you know, the whole way.
00:49:53That's a really, really beautiful place to be.
00:49:56That self-belief.
00:49:56Yeah.
00:49:57Yep.
00:49:57And that's part of being younger as well, right?
00:50:01Sometimes you've got to just bet on yourself when no one else will.
00:50:05I remember when I did Nightcrawler, I'd kind of hit a real kind of ceiling, I think, in the UK
00:50:10with these indie projects.
00:50:12When we did the pilot of The Night Of, we did the pilot, everyone was like, it's going to get
00:50:15picked up.
00:50:16We actually did it with James Gandolfini, right?
00:50:19He played John's role in the pilot.
00:50:22And everyone was convinced the show was going to get picked up.
00:50:24And then it didn't get picked up.
00:50:26And I was like, back to square one.
00:50:28I thought I was going to get my big American break or whatever.
00:50:30I'm back to being unemployed in London.
00:50:32You know, Gandolfini passed.
00:50:33You know, two years later, that show came back together with John, whatever.
00:50:36In that interim, I'm just dead broke.
00:50:39There's not really stuff around.
00:50:41And I remember I go on audition for Nightcrawler.
00:50:46But I met the director and he was like, look, this is a really L.A. role.
00:50:50This is like a really American role.
00:50:52You're like a classically trained British Shakespeare actor.
00:50:54You're not right for it.
00:50:55And I was like, definitely, I'm definitely not right for it, for sure.
00:50:59But just because I've never done the go on tape thing very much.
00:51:02Could I, do you mind if I send you tapes?
00:51:03Like, you're a cool guy.
00:51:04You give me feedback on my tapes.
00:51:06So I kind of lured him into this thing of like sending him tapes as he was giving me notes.
00:51:10And he got me through to like the last two or three.
00:51:13And then when you go to come to L.A. for a screen test, but we can't pay.
00:51:17It's an indie movie.
00:51:18And it was like a $750 flight.
00:51:20And I had like 800 pounds or whatever in my account.
00:51:26And I remember Idris Elba, who was a friend at that time, he was like, you should go to America,
00:51:30man.
00:51:30You should go.
00:51:31You've got to bet on yourself.
00:51:32I had that in my head.
00:51:33And I went, screw it.
00:51:34I'm going to do it.
00:51:35I don't know what the hell I'm going to do.
00:51:36But I booked the flight.
00:51:37And I flew there.
00:51:38And the 11-hour overnight flight, I was just running it, running it, running it for 11 hours.
00:51:43Landed there, literally taxi straight to the audition.
00:51:46And I went and I booked it.
00:51:48And that was something where I had to have that self-belief and really work at it.
00:51:52But it comes actually from not just the confidence of youth, but the desperation of it as well, you know.
00:51:58That can be a real rocket fuel.
00:51:59Yeah.
00:52:00The naivete also.
00:52:01All right.
00:52:02We're going to get to the lightning round.
00:52:04We could talk for hours.
00:52:06I'm going to talk for hours.
00:52:07Can I use the restroom real quick?
00:52:09Yes.
00:52:09Okay.
00:52:09Or do you want literally five minutes?
00:52:11Okay, let's do it.
00:52:12Okay, let's do it.
00:52:15Let's do it.
00:52:16Sorry.
00:52:16Let's see what happens.
00:52:17But it's really fun knowing that you really want to create a little natural storyteller.
00:52:25How do we put some drama into this?
00:52:28How do we get people in the first place?
00:52:29We're just going to do dramatic push-ins to your face.
00:52:32We can just get zoom-ins on him throughout.
00:52:35This will really make the lightning the lightning.
00:52:37And guys, be thoughtful and take your time.
00:52:39Someone off camera I just want to say hi to.
00:52:42Owen, what if I have a really long answer?
00:52:45No, can you?
00:52:46No, you wouldn't do that, our friend.
00:52:49All right.
00:52:50Which of the characters you played is most like you?
00:52:52Charlotte Eve.
00:52:53The character in this show is kind of drawn almost directly from my life.
00:52:57Yeah.
00:52:58The character, Andrew, I played in Garden State was definitely inspired by my life.
00:53:04Yeah.
00:53:04I got to say it because it came into my head.
00:53:06I played Branch Rickey in a movie called 42.
00:53:09And I played it with a wig and a nose and a chin and a fat suit.
00:53:14And I felt more like myself than in any other movie I'd ever done.
00:53:20Sometimes where the prosthetics actually bring out the, sorry, lightning rod.
00:53:23Slower.
00:53:26Owen's going to piss himself off.
00:53:27I'm going to say everybody wants it.
00:53:29I'm going to get in there and everybody wants it.
00:53:30I don't want to say, but I will say Simon Williams, man, in Wonder Man.
00:53:35He's just, he's after something.
00:53:36He's got a big heart.
00:53:37He's honest.
00:53:38I like to think that I cover up, you know, better, better than he does though.
00:53:44I like this character, like I was saying earlier on the golf show, Price Cahill.
00:53:49And I just enjoy the character.
00:53:51Looking at all of your work and your public appearances that have found their way online,
00:53:55what is your favorite meme of yourself?
00:53:58I once went on Conan.
00:54:00I had done Oz the Great and Powerful.
00:54:03Basically, I was in a green screen onesie because I was playing an animated character.
00:54:10And so I'm on Conan and the gag was that I would take off my clothes and reveal a green
00:54:15screen onesie
00:54:16and show, and then it would just make my head floating.
00:54:20And I just sort of did a couple of pumps of the air in the green screen onesie.
00:54:25And that's a GIF that I see on the internet that's really funny.
00:54:30Conan, as I'm sort of humping the air, Conan just slightly looks away to avoid watching.
00:54:36And that's my favorite GIF that's on the internet.
00:54:40Anyone else have one?
00:54:43What did you say?
00:54:44A meme?
00:54:45What's a meme?
00:54:46It's my favorite moment to be a part of right here.
00:54:49How do you describe a meme?
00:54:51It's kind of like a little sort of picture.
00:54:52A picture of a moment.
00:54:54Like a script underneath that sort of describes a moment.
00:54:56It's like an internet motif, like an internet kind of clip of you that exists on the internet.
00:55:02You know, it could have movement to it or just a picture.
00:55:05There's a meme of them of you.
00:55:07I get it.
00:55:08I get it.
00:55:08Like, get off my plane.
00:55:11You know, that sort of thing.
00:55:12It could just be that picture.
00:55:13You know?
00:55:14I've sent that GIF before.
00:55:16Yeah.
00:55:17I have one.
00:55:17I have one.
00:55:18It's a, so I played Dr. Manhattan in Watchmen.
00:55:22And Dr. Manhattan, he was blue, you know, and he's like a god.
00:55:28And I think people were kind of, it was a conversation that I'm black and I played Dr. Manhattan because,
00:55:35you know, in terms of the canon, Dr. Manhattan wasn't, he wasn't black.
00:55:38He was white.
00:55:39He was blue.
00:55:40He was blue.
00:55:41Why can't they get a blue actor in this role?
00:55:43It's so messed up.
00:55:45But there's like, there's pictures of me as Dr. Manhattan with like a, like a chain and like a dashiki
00:55:54and like a kufi and things like that.
00:55:56And red laser eyes.
00:55:58I don't know what the red laser eyes are really about.
00:56:01But I think, I find the humor in it.
00:56:03And I think, I think it's kind of funny.
00:56:05It's like, if we're going to make them black, let's make them, let's make them blackity black.
00:56:09You know, but it makes me laugh though.
00:56:15All right.
00:56:15If fans are seeing you on, on the street and they're going to shout a, something you've said from one
00:56:20of your projects, what is it most likely to be?
00:56:23I get a lot of kachows now from cars because those kids have now grown up and they realized that
00:56:29it was a human playing Lightning McQueen.
00:56:31So that's when I definitely hear.
00:56:33I was in, I was in Whole Foods and a man, a dude walked up behind me and he said,
00:56:40he said, you're going to have to come.
00:56:42He said, you're going to have to, you're going to have to come a little bit greasier than that.
00:56:46I was like, excuse me.
00:56:51That was me.
00:56:53And apparently I had, I had to really go through my, I had to figure out if I was in
00:56:57the situation or whether or not I had, or whether or not it was, it could be from so many
00:57:03different places, right?
00:57:04You'd rather be a lot more greasier than that.
00:57:06It was a film I did called All Day in the Night and it was like, supposed to be a
00:57:10gangster line, but out of context, in the grocery store, in the egg aisle, it's like.
00:57:16Especially in the egg aisle.
00:57:17You never wish for that in a man's eye.
00:57:19You get greasy in the egg aisle.
00:57:20It was strange, man.
00:57:21That was, that was strange.
00:57:23I always get rubber dingy rapids.
00:57:25Oh, wow.
00:57:26Yeah.
00:57:26Which is a quote from Four Lions.
00:57:29Again, yeah.
00:57:29In the UK, that's like, there's a certain generation of people.
00:57:33It's like, I don't know, I'm the next guy who said, I've watched that film every day on my birthday
00:57:37for the last 10 years.
00:57:38You know, it's that kind of thing.
00:57:39So people would shout rubber dingy rapids.
00:57:42For me, it's yelling out the word eagle.
00:57:44There was an episode of Scrubs where Brennan Frazier was guest starring and JD is sort of a dorky character.
00:57:50And he picked him up almost like a, you know, a bully in high school would and spin the nerd
00:57:58kind of thing.
00:57:59And I, and one, and speaking of improv and just messing around, I thought it'd be funny if instead of
00:58:04JD hating it, he loved it.
00:58:07And, and, and put his arms out and enjoyed it like he was soaring.
00:58:11And they had, they, we did this thing where I was holding the camera out.
00:58:14And so it was, you know, on me as Brennan Frazier spun me.
00:58:17And I just smiled and went, eagle.
00:58:20And, um, it literally became the thing.
00:58:23One of them.
00:58:23And that wasn't scripted.
00:58:24That wasn't scripted.
00:58:25That was just, that was totally.
00:58:27Enjoying it.
00:58:27That was totally.
00:58:28Just changing it.
00:58:29They're never going to use this.
00:58:30Yeah, that's right.
00:58:31But wouldn't it be funny if JD enjoyed it?
00:58:34To enjoy the being.
00:58:34And now people yell that at me down the street.
00:58:38What do you get most, Harrison?
00:58:40Yeah, you, you got a lot.
00:58:41Uh, they go back to the beginning.
00:58:43They want to know who shot first.
00:58:45Yes.
00:58:46Me or Greedo.
00:58:47Do you have, uh, do you have thoughts on that?
00:58:51Who's Greedo?
00:58:52Um, I believe Greedo was.
00:58:53No, that's my thought.
00:58:54Yes.
00:58:55Yes.
00:58:56All of a sudden I thought I was going to have to tell him.
00:58:58You're good.
00:58:58I was in it.
00:58:59I was in it.
00:58:59I was totally in it.
00:59:01Yeah.
00:59:01See, that's how you get away with the crime.
00:59:03I was like, the fans want me to explain to Harrison who Greedo is?
00:59:07You failed your audition for Man on the Street.
00:59:10Yeah.
00:59:11Sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry.
00:59:13Harrison, do you know, like, when, when fans are walking down the street, do you know whether
00:59:16it's going to be a shrinking fan versus an Indiana Jones fan versus a Star Wars fan?
00:59:21No, I don't.
00:59:23And that's kind of weird.
00:59:25Uh, because you should be able to spot it coming.
00:59:29Do you not find the Star Wars fans are running around with massive Star Wars posters?
00:59:34Because that's what I find.
00:59:36Well, yes, yes, they are.
00:59:38They are.
00:59:39Yeah.
00:59:39But those are, but, but those are not fans.
00:59:43Those are autograph sellers.
00:59:45My wife.
00:59:46A percent of the time, as you, and as we all know.
00:59:50And that's kind of weird.
00:59:52You, you do really appreciate, um, uh, people that are fans or, or customers.
01:00:02I, I don't have a concept.
01:00:04When people come up to me, I'm not trying to figure out what they're coming for.
01:00:09I just know that they're likely to be a customer.
01:00:15And I'm in a service occupation.
01:00:18We sell stories.
01:00:21Stories are a good thing.
01:00:23Uh, but, but I don't know what's, what's, uh, what's really coming.
01:00:29Did you always have that perspective?
01:00:31Yeah, I think so.
01:00:32I don't, I, and it's not that, that one perspective is better than another.
01:00:37That's just the first one that came to mind.
01:00:39Yeah.
01:00:40Yeah.
01:00:40I feel like sometimes it's hard to differentiate when you do have the sort of, uh, different
01:00:45segments of the people that are kind of coming up to, to give yourself, you know, all, like
01:00:50all the time.
01:00:50Cause you want to show up in the, in that way all the time.
01:00:53But I feel like sometimes it's hard to.
01:00:54You can't all the time.
01:00:55In fact, I'll get it.
01:00:56It's a quick, funny story.
01:00:57But the first time I ever met Harrison Ford, he, uh, we got in a golf cart and we're driving
01:01:02around the Warner Brothers lot.
01:01:03And I was like, oh my God, my childhood dreams have come true.
01:01:06I'm on the Warner Brothers lot in a golf cart with Harrison Ford.
01:01:10And one of the trams goes by, you know, with all the tourists in it.
01:01:14And, uh, and Harrison sort of just gently looks the other way.
01:01:17And I go, do you ever wave?
01:01:19And he goes, no, but I do feel bad about it.
01:01:28That's good.
01:01:29All right.
01:01:29Can we do a quick cheers?
01:01:30Cheers.
01:01:32Thank you for having us.
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