- 2 days ago
The actor portrays Steve Schneider on Paramount Network's 'Waco'
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00:03Hey everyone, thank you for tuning in to another episode of InStudio.
00:07Today we have special guest Paul Sparks.
00:10Hi.
00:11How are you today?
00:11Good.
00:12I'm good.
00:12Thanks for coming in.
00:13Yeah.
00:13Did you have a nice long weekend?
00:15Were you able to enjoy it at all?
00:19It was okay.
00:20I was in New York.
00:22It was really, really cold.
00:25And then I'm rehearsing a play and so I was doing that.
00:29And then I flew out here for, you know, TCAs.
00:33For Waco.
00:34For Waco.
00:35To talk all things Waco.
00:36Now you're here to talk about Waco, but you've been in quite a lot recently.
00:39House of Cards, The Crown, The Greatest Showman, and the upcoming Sweetbitter.
00:44Right.
00:45Out of all those roles, I guess, which has stood out to you the most and why?
00:49Out of like your recent roles.
00:53Huh.
00:54Which stood out to me?
00:56I don't know.
00:57I mean, it's hard to, it's sort of hard to delineate.
01:00I mean, I think, I think actually Waco has been a really interesting one.
01:03It's probably the one I had the most to do in.
01:05Yeah.
01:07It was, it was, it caught, I had to relocate to, you know, Santa Fe for a few months.
01:15And so it was just kind of the most profound impact on my life was probably working on it.
01:20Um, but you know, they've all, they've, they've all taken a little piece of me.
01:28That's great.
01:29Yeah.
01:29Uh, no, before we just started, I was telling you, I didn't know too much about David Koresh
01:34and the story of Waco.
01:37Right.
01:37Because you were very small.
01:38Yeah.
01:38I guess I was pretty small.
01:40What, how much did you know about it before signing on?
01:42And did you learn anything else?
01:45Sure.
01:45Well, I was from, I'm from Oklahoma.
01:47Yeah.
01:47And so, uh, which, you know, we're right down the block from, from Waco.
01:53And so I was very aware of kind of the goings on, but I feel like the, the, the narrative
01:59that was sort of put out there by the, um, the PR machine, you know, like what sold newspapers
02:06kind of painted a picture of David Koresh, this complete lunatic and these kinds of sexual
02:11deviant weirdos, you know, all in this house that, and of course, you know, when, uh, you
02:19take a closer look, uh, as we did the, we found that, you know, there, they were really
02:24just, it was a bunch of people, you know, who were complicated and nuanced and maybe had
02:30a little bit of some ideas that were a little bit outside the norm, uh, in terms of their
02:34religiosity and whatnot, but they, you know, they were a community and, uh, but if you combine
02:43a sort of isolated community, some rumors about, uh, maybe some cultish type things going
02:52on, and then you combine, you know, a lot of weapons, which they had because they bought,
02:58that's how they supported, uh, themselves was buying and selling, uh, weapons at gun
03:02shows.
03:04It just, it turned into a real mess that, that situation.
03:08So it was good, but we were, we were lucky.
03:10I took it because there was, they're based on two different books.
03:15And it was based on a book by David Thibodeau, who was one of the survivors.
03:18And it was also based on Gary Nesner's book, who was, uh, the head negotiator for the FBI.
03:24And these guys, I don't know that they necessarily totally agree on like what went down.
03:29However, they, they were both interested in discussing the complexity and the nuance of
03:34like humanity on both sides.
03:36And, uh, the Dowdle brothers who wrote the script were also really interested in that.
03:43It's funny.
03:44I would like to know what happened on the other side with Mike Shannon and those guys that
03:47were doing the FBI guys, cause I was in the Davidian side and we were this little community
03:52and we kind of shot all our stuff together and then they shot all their stuff together.
03:55Um, so, but I, I, it was a, it was a really, uh, interesting project.
04:04Going off of what you, um, just talked about the series, the tone of the series, it doesn't
04:10set the Davidians up as, I guess, sympathetic characters per se, but it doesn't paint them
04:15in the picture that kind of people going into it may have thought of them as.
04:20Can you kind of talk about setting up that tone and how audiences get to kind of see it
04:25and learn about them through this investigation and through this story?
04:30Well, I think that the thing that's been lost in the story, uh, and considering it's
04:35probably one of the largest tragedies that's happened, you know, certainly with our government
04:39involved in actually, you know, uh, being a part of like so many deaths on American soil.
04:47It's like a, it's such a big part of our history that kind of just got glossed over, I think.
04:54And, um, there were some really bad decisions that were made, it seems like in terms of the
05:00ATF and also the FBI.
05:02And then there were some bad decisions that were made by David Koresh and his people.
05:06But, you know, they were trying to figure out a way to like make this work and they were just
05:12a community, you know, they were, they were a community that had, you know, sort of rules
05:18and ideas about the way things ought to be.
05:21And, uh, no one kind of bothered to understand what it was that they were trying to do.
05:27And I think that, you know, that miscommunication sort of led to this.
05:30So hopefully you'll see that.
05:32You'll see them trying to work that out between each other and how hard it was.
05:35Now, in terms of, uh, your character, Steven, Steven Schneider's relationship with David
05:39Koresh, um, Rory Culkin's character points out that you guys are best friends and your
05:47reaction to that is on some days.
05:49Can you kind of talk about that dynamic?
05:51Right.
05:52Well, David and Steve Schneider were, were, they, they met, um, Steve Schneider was a theologian.
05:57He was in Hawaii at the time and he, uh, was sort of introduced to David through some audio
06:04tapes that he heard David talking about his stuff.
06:07And he was a seventh day Adventist, which is a sort of revelations, uh, heavy sort of
06:14second coming heavy, uh, religion.
06:17And he'd never heard anything quite like David.
06:19And they started out with a kind of an antagonistic relationship where he was really questioning
06:24David, but, uh, David was a really fascinating, you know, he'd memorized the Bible.
06:30He, he, he knew scripture in a way and somehow he spoke to Steve and they became really, uh,
06:35good friends.
06:35And I think once they started, uh, together, it really was like this sort of mission that
06:42they were both on.
06:43And, uh, but, you know, David was also impulsive and, and, and kind of cruel and manipulative.
06:49And, uh, he had a way that was very testing and, uh, Steve being the sort of subordinate
06:57person that he was, uh, I think it was very love hate with him.
07:01You know, he left a lot, you know, he would leave and come back and he would get sent away
07:05and come back, but he was always sort of recruiting people.
07:09Um, and I think that the evidence, it looks like, you know, that these guys loved each other,
07:15but it was, you know, it was, it was really complicated.
07:19And plus he, you know, he had a child with Steve Schneider's wife.
07:24Going off that, um, that was pretty heartbreaking.
07:28And I feel like Schneider is kind of a way in to, to show the lives of these characters
07:34and these, these real emotions and what they were facing.
07:37Um, I guess, what was your reaction?
07:41Did you know as much about Schneider as you did about David Kress?
07:44No, no.
07:45In fact, I didn't even know that there was Steve Schneider.
07:47You know, I'd never heard, I'd never heard his name before.
07:50Uh, but we were really lucky.
07:52You know, we had David Thibodeau on set who knew Steve, obviously.
07:56Um, and Gary Nesner was on set who negotiated a lot with him.
08:00And I got in touch with, uh, uh, his sister, uh, Sue, who's very gracious,
08:06and talked to me about Steve and the kind of person that he was.
08:09And I just sort of picked at things and read some books.
08:12Um, there's a book by Mark Brough, which was another guy.
08:15He was kind of the guy that introduced them, um, that had some information.
08:19And, uh, I just sort of compiled what, I talked to even Dick DeGarren,
08:24who was the lawyer, um, for those guys.
08:27And I, you know, I found out a lot about him in that way.
08:32What a sort of congenial, um, kind of fiery, um, funny, happy-go-lucky guy that he was, yeah.
08:41Um, now, one thing I love about this show is it is based on true events,
08:46and I love shows like this.
08:48For some viewers, I mean, hopefully most people know about these events,
08:51but, spoiler alert, if not, um, the FBI alleged that Schneider was the one to kill David Koresh.
08:59Yeah, there's, there's a lot of, they don't know exactly what happened.
09:03You know, they sort of had to kind of mop through the, the, uh, the ashes after it was over.
09:08And, uh, they found, uh, they found bullet wounds in both David and in Steve Schneider.
09:14And, um, there's some conjecture that, that perhaps, uh, that's what happened.
09:19Um, but.
09:21There's no way.
09:22They, they, it's hard to know, you know.
09:23Yeah.
09:24It's not like anybody was, that was still around that was in there.
09:27So.
09:28I mean, this is a tough question, but what do you think, I guess?
09:31And, um.
09:33Well, we, we sort of, we made a decision in the, in the show.
09:37And so I won't, I won't spoil it with what I think.
09:39Okay.
09:40Because I haven't gone there yet.
09:41But, but, uh, it's, it's, uh, I was, I was surprised.
09:49I was surprised by the time we, we worked pretty much in order, uh, when we were filming it.
09:53And, um, I was surprised, like, sort of why, the whys and the wherefores of what ended up happening.
10:00I thought were, were surprising.
10:02Yeah.
10:03With the subject matter being a pretty heavy, were you guys able to keep it light on set at all?
10:07Any fun moments that stood up for you?
10:09Yeah.
10:09I mean, it was, it was.
10:10You guys are all together in Texas.
10:12Yeah.
10:12Uh, or we were actually in Santa Fe.
10:15Um, but, uh, yeah, it was, I mean, I think a little bit, we looked to, uh, David Thibodeau
10:21to sort of gain some sort of permission to, to make light at times of things.
10:27But, you know, we were a real community, even our, it was the same background every day.
10:31Everybody knew each other.
10:32We, um, you know, we became a little family.
10:36And so there was bound to be humor.
10:38And, uh, you know, Terry Kitch is awesome and hilarious and Canadian.
10:42And, um, he's just, he's so funny.
10:45And, uh, we were all able to kind of come out of, come out of the darkness of it at
10:52times
10:52and, and have a laugh.
10:54So it was a, it was a love fest.
10:55Yeah.
10:55Working on it.
10:56Now, uh, you were part of, uh, The Night Of, which was a limited series.
10:59And this is kind of dubbed as a six part limited series.
11:02Do you, as an actor, do you like doing limited series or?
11:05I do.
11:06I, you know, I think this, I think this sort of new way of, of telling stories a little
11:10bit more long form.
11:12It's, it's very, uh, actor satisfying.
11:15I think sometimes in movies.
11:17It's audience satisfying.
11:17Well, yeah.
11:18Well, I think it is.
11:19You know, I think sometimes in movies, uh, though I totally understand the art of trying
11:24to tell a story in a couple of hours, there, there's something more delicious about working
11:29on something for six hours or, or 10, you know, that, uh, you can really suss out and
11:37sort of take your time and, um, do a lot more character development and things like that.
11:42So for me, it's a, it's a much better process, but you know, I kind of take jobs when I
11:47can get them.
11:49That's good.
11:51Um, now you're also recently the author of a bombshell book called Fire and Fury.
11:56Yeah, right.
11:57Your character in House of Cards was writing a book, um, about the White House.
12:02What was your reaction to the book that actually came out about the Trump White House recently?
12:07Well, I haven't read it, so I don't, you know, I don't, I don't really know.
12:10I just, we've heard the, the bits and pieces from the world when, um, uh, I did see a little,
12:17I saw a little bit of the Saturday Night Live sketch.
12:19That was great.
12:20This weekend.
12:20But, uh, I, I mean, did you relate the two at all or am I just being crazy?
12:27No, I see, I see, I see the relation, you know, there's like a person who's involved
12:33in the inside and who had, and who had access and, and knew some things.
12:39And, uh, I mean, it's hard to imagine that, uh, all the things that I've heard are true,
12:45but then again, maybe they are true.
12:47You know, I, I don't know, to me, to me that side of like what is happening in our political
12:54discourse is ultimately, uh, I know it's salacious and it's really fun to talk about in the media.
13:00Yeah, but it's not.
13:01And they, and they spend, you know, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, like every channel
13:05from Fox to MSNBC talking about it.
13:09But, um, ultimately, you know, my hope is that at some point it comes back to like being sort
13:15of boring policy that we just kind of talk about policy because I think that that's,
13:20you know, uh, ultimately what's, what's the most important.
13:23This other stuff is just theater, you know, definitely.
13:25No, it's, it's really, but I guess it's good theater.
13:28So yes, I, I do.
13:29I totally get it.
13:30Um, but my, I was on a TV show and this is, this is real, our real lives.
13:37Um, now spoiler alert, your character, the way that your character's story ended last season,
13:43they won't be in, uh, he won't be in the final season, at least that we know of.
13:47No, unless, unless, unless as, as a, uh, a ghost wandering,
13:54still wandering around in the White House.
13:56Well, to haunt the president now, uh, Claire Underwood.
13:59Right, right.
14:00Um, on a more serious note though, uh, given the sexual assault allegations against Kevin Spacey,
14:05the show's carrying on without him.
14:07How do you kind of see the show going on without him?
14:10And you worked closely with Robin Wright.
14:13Sure.
14:13Uh, you know, I, I don't know.
14:16It's not like I have necessarily have a real direct conduit to what's, what's going on there.
14:22I, I, I don't.
14:23I mean, I know Melissa Gibson and Frank, who are the showrunners and, um.
14:28From your theater days, right?
14:29From my theater days.
14:30And I, I'm, I'm certain that they're, you know, figuring out the right way to sort of handle this.
14:37And, uh, they're all in very good hands with Robin.
14:40She's a, she's a pro and she's amazing.
14:43And, um, they're lucky to have, you know, someone there.
14:47I can only imagine how sort of disrupting it's all been, but this is the necessary,
14:54the necessary, uh, part of change.
14:58I think sometimes I think this is, this is how it goes.
15:00And so I'm happy for the crew and I'm happy for the people that sort of haven't had a job
15:05for a while,
15:05you know, that they'll be going back to work.
15:07Going back to work.
15:08I just look forward, I look forward to seeing it.
15:09I'm, I'm curious as, as everybody else.
15:11Uh, now another thing a lot of people are talking about is your outgoing role in Sweet Bitter.
15:15Can you kind of talk about that and what drew you to it, I guess?
15:19So, yeah, I read Stephanie Dandler's book, Sweet Bitter, which, uh, she was, uh, a waiter and, and Union Square
15:29Cafe.
15:29Uh, kind of, I think this is sort of, it's sort of a period piece.
15:33It's sort of based around pre-cell phone, like pre, I mean pre-iPhone, like 2006.
15:38Which I think most things should be.
15:40Right, right.
15:41It's so much more interesting.
15:42So way more.
15:43It's so much more interesting.
15:44So it's, it's sort of a period piece of 2006.
15:47Uh, but, uh, it's kind of about a young girl who, uh, sort of comes of age through the restaurant
15:56business.
15:57And it's this kind of fancy restaurant business.
16:00I remember I, I was going to school at NYU.
16:03I mean, it was 10 years earlier, but, you know, just the, the, you know, to me that particular vibe
16:11of the sort of Union Square, like that area in the twenties and, uh, teens up there, right in the,
16:19uh, like around Fifth Avenue.
16:21To me, that is such a specific, um, thing.
16:27And I feel like Stephanie really wrote to that.
16:29She totally got it.
16:30It was a very, I don't like the word authentic, but it was really authentic sort of look at that.
16:34I was really interested.
16:35And then when I found out she was on the, uh, writing staff, that she was going to be there,
16:40um, I got really interested in, in doing it.
16:43It's a good part.
16:44I played the manager of the thing and he's sort of a peacock and kind of a funny, he's a
16:51funny guy, um, who's got, has got some problems.
16:55And, uh, yeah, Elle Purnell, she's a star, you know, she's, she's, she's, she's amazing.
17:03And, and it's a bunch of young actors, um, that, uh, I'm kind of grandpa on that set.
17:12Which is, you know, hard for me to take.
17:15I used to be the kid.
17:16Yeah.
17:17You're not grandpa.
17:18Oh, I'm grandpa on that show.
17:21Um.
17:21They don't remember Waco either.
17:24Um.
17:27Last question.
17:29Your co-star Taylor Kitch is coming by later today.
17:31Oh, good.
17:31Do you have any fun questions for him or anything you want to know, I guess, from him about his
17:36portrayal of Deer Crash?
17:38Um, let me find questions.
17:42Uh, I want to know how much weight he lost.
17:46Uh, I want to know how much weight he gained from the time that he got to, like if he
17:53told me that I think he may have gained a little weight while he was down in Santa Fe.
17:57No.
17:57He wasn't supposed to.
17:58He was supposed to get skinnier.
17:59Oh, really?
18:00So I want to know how much weight he gained while he was down there.
18:03Um, I want to know if he likes Canada better than, uh, the United States.
18:09Uh, even though I know he lives in Texas.
18:12Um, I want to know if you can show him a picture of what I'm wearing.
18:17Because it looks like I, I like coach for the, for the Texas Longhorns.
18:22Which is, it's, it's so sad because I'm from Oklahoma and an Oklahoma Sooners fan.
18:28If this makes him happy.
18:29Okay.
18:30I'll try, I'll try.
18:31So ask him all those questions.
18:33Awesome.
18:34Uh, Waco premieres on the Paramount, Paramount Network, January 24th.
18:38What do you want to say to fans before we go?
18:41Thanks.
18:42Thanks for being fans.
18:44Fans are, fans are good.
18:45Fans are good.
18:45Thanks for watching.
18:46Alright.
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