00:00Hello, I'm John Hamm.
00:02I play Fred Heckman on the show American Hostage.
00:06And Fred is a well-respected radio journalist,
00:11newsman, pillar of the community,
00:15and one of our main characters in the story that we tell.
00:19My name's Giovanni Ribisi.
00:21I play Tony Kiritsis in the show American Hostage.
00:25Tony was a blue-collar citizen of the community
00:32who felt jilted by Meridian Mortgage
00:40and sought to even the scales by kidnapping the bank manager.
00:50And so the story goes, I should say.
00:53I'm Eileen Myers, the co-creator and writer of American Hostage.
00:59I'm Sean Ryan. I put the co in co-creator with Eileen.
01:03My phone's buzzing. Am I going to get in trouble for that?
01:05No, you're fine. Just don't pick it up.
01:07Very important.
01:08You're done?
01:09I'm sorry.
01:20Thanks, bud.
01:25We've all probably heard about this happening.
01:28What was it that excited you guys about bringing it to screen?
01:31Well, I hadn't heard about it.
01:33And I grew up in the 70s in the Midwest where our story takes place.
01:37It takes place in Indianapolis.
01:39I grew up in St. Louis.
01:40Very similar towns, very similar time for me as a kid.
01:43And I had never heard of this, really never heard of it.
01:45It kind of rung a faint bell.
01:47But maybe people have heard of it now because there was recently a feature made about it called Dead Man's
01:54Wire.
01:56But, you know, why now?
01:58It's an interesting question.
01:59I think that there are some thematic devices that resonate in the culture politically now.
02:07I think the idea of a certain segment of the population being overlooked or feeling overlooked or feeling under-addressed
02:14in their wants and needs and desires.
02:18You know, the show is called American Hostage.
02:21We fought very hard for that title, actually, because we thought it really spoke to the story on several occasions.
02:30You know, this man obviously takes a person hostage.
02:33But is he, in fact, hostage to his American dream?
02:36There's a lot of resonance to the title.
02:39And I think that's why the story, for whatever reason, feels, even though it's a 50-year-old story, a
02:48true story, it feels very relevant given the current political climate.
02:54I would say in addition to everything John said, I think there's also a journalistic aspect to the show that's
03:00very pertinent today.
03:01Right now we live in a very fractured journalist world.
03:05You can kind of choose your news more than the news really informing you these days.
03:10And back then, you know, I'm old enough to remember what it was like for journalists to be trusted and
03:18for the news to be something that was sacred,
03:21for the news to be something that wasn't supposed to be a profit center but was supposed to be a
03:26loss leader for a lot of organizations and networks.
03:30And so the character that John plays gets stuck in a very precarious position in the course of the series.
03:36He's a journalist who has invested decades into building his reputation as telling the truth and being able to be
03:44trusted.
03:45And now he's also expected to be a hostage negotiator and to try to save two lives.
03:50And those two things come into conflict with each other in the course of this series.
03:53And I think it gives an interesting insight into what journalism used to be and how it became what it
04:00is today.
04:00Was there pushback on the title originally or what was the sort of...
04:04Well, pushback in the sense, you know, it's based on the podcast called American Hostage.
04:09But they, MGM Plus had another show that was coming out in calendar year 2026 that had American in the
04:15title.
04:15And so there was some discussion about, you know, would there be some confusion, all that.
04:23And it was actually, I think, I think we made some compelling arguments.
04:27But it was actually the podcast creators who I thought made the most compelling arguments about why the title should
04:35stand.
04:36And why it felt unique and resonant to the story that we were telling.
04:43And, you know, to MGM's credit, they heard our arguments.
04:47And they're like, yeah, you're probably right.
04:49And let's go with that.
04:50And I think the title's a good one.
04:51Yeah, me too.
04:52Did you have a second choice in mind?
04:54We got suggested a lot of what I would call 84th choices.
04:58Yeah, we got a lot of.
04:59Another reason we went with American Idol, the other one, we were like, these are terrible.
05:04We're great.
05:05Not great.
05:0686 choices.
05:07Yeah, yeah, yeah.
05:08It's an 86.
05:10Does anyone have a strong memory of, like, the first thing that they watched live on the news?
05:17Like, what, you know, what would have been the American hostage situation?
05:21I think probably most people's first experience of any of that was the OJ situation because it happened in the
05:29middle of a huge sporting event.
05:30It was national.
05:33You know, most of us live in L.A.
05:35And L.A. had a car chase kind of every day, but it was very local.
05:39That became a very daily kind of thing in the 90s.
05:43Some helicopter would chase some car going somewhere.
05:46But the original one was most likely the OJ original situation.
05:52But if you go back in time, you know, this is one of the first times we kind of see
05:57a local story explode nationally.
05:59And another kind of similar thing that happened, it started in L.A. was the Patty Hearst situation where when
06:07they raided the house down in South Central Los Angeles where Patty was being chased.
06:12And they shot it up and they set on fire and this whole massive thing happened.
06:17And that was one of the first times where they had guys live on the scene with cameras with a
06:22satellite link up.
06:23And it's almost comical because they're in, like, motorcycle helmets and the portable camera is like a giant backpack.
06:33They look like these two ridiculous people.
06:36Yeah, Dudesbury used to make fun of them.
06:37Yeah, the guy with a little antenna on his hat.
06:41But it was the beginning of where we are now.
06:45And I think part of this, the salacious part of what this story kind of, through no fault of its
06:53own, is, this life or death story is kind of where we have landed now.
07:01Where everything is maximized for the salaciousness of its content.
07:07I would watch that, a show about the BTS of that, too.
07:10Like the American hostage take on.
07:12BTS of the BTS.
07:13BTS of the BTS, yeah.
07:16Did you have to practice your radio?
07:18I mean, you kind of have a voice for radio anyways.
07:21Well, a face for radio.
07:23Not a face for radio.
07:24Face for TV.
07:25Face for TV.
07:26Voice for radio.
07:27You got it all.
07:27Voice for radio.
07:28You know.
07:29You tell me.
07:30Growing up, I had a very close friend, a guy by the name of Joe Buck, who was a very
07:35famous sports broadcaster.
07:37And his father, who's in the Hall of Fame as well, is an incredible sports broadcaster named Jack Buck.
07:43And listening to the radio and listening to Camo X growing up was just what you did.
07:50The baseball team was broadcast on that station, but there was also just tons of news programming.
07:56And it was a preset on everybody's dial in my family growing up.
08:02And I understood, just growing up with Joe and seeing how his dad worked, the professionalism of what it was
08:11once you sat behind that microphone.
08:14And, you know, everything was, it wasn't just turn on the mic and freestyle.
08:20It was very, very specific, and it's a very specific talent.
08:24And that meant a lot to me.
08:28And so to be able to do something like this was a fun challenge to really get into that kind
08:37of mindset of being the voice that people hear and people trust.
08:42Do you guys remember your very first job in Hollywood, however small or big, and then what you bought yourself
08:50with that first paycheck?
08:52Oh, geez.
08:53Well, this is very strange.
08:55I won a playwriting contest out of college.
09:00And part of the award was to come to Hollywood and spend two weeks as an intern at a writer's
09:06room of a sitcom.
09:07That sitcom was an NBC sitcom called My Two Dads.
09:10I think number seven on the call sheet was this guy right here.
09:14Number seven, huh?
09:15And so I was in that room.
09:18You're taking strays all day for this guy.
09:21Number seven.
09:23This is a face for radio.
09:25Listen, I was very fortunate because when that two weeks was over, Bob Beyer, who was the boss, I said,
09:29hey, I know you guys are still looking for a couple more episodes.
09:33Could I come in like in a week and pitch you some story ideas?
09:35And he was like, sure.
09:37And I did.
09:38And they ended up buying one.
09:41And they had two of the staff writers sort of write it.
09:45And so it sounds just so crazy.
09:51But my first job was selling a story to a sitcom that this guy starred in that they made.
09:57And then I went, you know, a little under five years before I got my next writing job.
10:03Hollywood's easy.
10:04I really thought I was 23 years old.
10:06And I thought, Hollywood is super easy.
10:09And then cut to a year later, I'm answering phones at a law firm.
10:16My first job, it actually was easy.
10:18My first job was on Big Love on HBO.
10:20But I worked in the theater for 12 years for $200 a week before that happened.
10:25So I literally made $200 a week.
10:29And so my first paycheck, I got a really nice photograph by an artist, Alessandra Sanguinetti.
10:34Shout out to her.
10:36Very cool.
10:36So that was it.
10:37I put a deposit down on an apartment with my first paycheck.
10:42Like I had to move to LA.
10:44That's good.
10:46Do you have?
10:46No, I did a, it was right, I did a Unical 76 commercial.
10:53I think I was nine years old.
10:55And it was when they were just changing from Union 76 to Unical.
11:00Now I think it's just 76.
11:03And I think my mother took me to the Glendale Galleria and we got something that was fun, like Legos
11:11or something.
11:12Man.
11:13I know.
11:15My first job, my first, second, third, fourth, and fifth jobs in Hollywood were waiting tables.
11:20So I didn't really buy anything fun with any of that money.
11:23Oh, I didn't know those counted.
11:25I had jobs like that first.
11:26He's fudging it.
11:27My first job, like my first job in the industry, I guess, I got, the job I got my SAG
11:33card in was I got a part in a movie.
11:36And the part was called Red-Headed Cop.
11:41Where is that?
11:42I didn't have red hair at all.
11:45But my friend wrote the movie and it was starring Nick Offerman and Max Perlick.
11:51Max, yeah.
11:52I worked with Max.
11:54There was another guy and I can't remember his name.
11:56But, yeah, my friend wrote the movie and it gave me the part of Red-Headed Cop.
12:00I had two lines and it got me my SAG card.
12:03And that's what I bought with my paycheck was my SAG card.
12:08And the rest is some sort of history.
12:10Yeah.
12:11Well, that's a really good one.
12:12Okay.
12:12Oh, Jervon, did you get your VistaVision camera back from PTA or where is that now?
12:17That was a random question.
12:19I've been wondering if he won't give it back.
12:21Well, he stole it.
12:22For about a year.
12:23I've been dying to know what happens afterwards.
12:25Yeah, I have to remember.
12:26Yeah, yeah.
12:26Okay.
12:26Do you get a little piece of the cinematography Oscar as well?
12:29No, not at all.
12:30No.
12:31That's all them.
12:32It's just the tool.
12:34It's back in the house in case anyone wants it.
12:36Okay.
12:36That's been bugging me for about a year.
12:38Hi, everybody.
12:39We are collectively the team from American Hostage, and you are watching The Hollywood Reporter.
12:45Fabulous.
12:46Thanks, guys.
12:48All right.
12:50Oh, I said I would remember.
12:52Take your head on the blues.
12:53That's all good.
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