- 17 hours ago
It’s been a good year for Christopher Abbott. In February, he was nominated for his first Tony Award for playing Biff Loman in the revival of Arthur Miller’s Death of Salesman. In late July, he welcomed his first child, a daughter, with partner and fellow actor Aubrey Plaza. Weeks later, Marvel announced that Abbott will take on the role of Charles Xavier (Professor X) in the highly anticipated X-Men reboot coming in 2028. And most recently, he stepped into the boots of Adam Trask for Netflix’s buzzy, eight-episode adaptation of John Steinbeck’s East of Eden. One on its own would be a feat. Together, they represent a banner 10 months — and there’s more on the immediate horizon. Abbott stopped by the Rolling Stone Studio to discuss it all, as well as his favorite artists right now (he cues up Drake before boxing), the project of his that he wishes more people had seen, and his disastrous attempts to sneak into auditions as a struggling actor.
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00:00there are um a couple of marvel releases standing between you and an actual x-men movie should we
00:04expect to see your shiny head and any cameos i don't think so what i don't even know see you
00:11i what's happening what do you mean doomsday i don't know what's going on you know no i'm not
00:16in that i gotta do the x-men movie first before any of that stuff famously not how marvel works
00:20but no coyness i'm not in that movie hi welcome to the rolling stone studio i'm ct a staff writer
00:31at rolling stone and today we have chris avid welcome hi ct thank you i'm so excited to have
00:36you here we're gonna obviously talk a little bit about your new series east of eden how are you
00:42feeling though i mean it's really weird thursday are you exhausted are you how's the press tour going
00:49well i mean for context it's beautiful outside it's gorgeous it is gorgeous this is the best
00:53time of year in new york which lasts a week i doesn't it isn't that the thing it's like this
00:58sort of springy fall thing yeah and then by next by next friday it'll be uh below you know it'll
01:03be
01:03like 30 degrees and raining and terrible i feel so bad i feel like it's such a beautiful day but
01:07we
01:07have you in here so we're gonna make the most of it i can see outside okay beautiful we have
01:10a window
01:11just there i'll just i'll stare off tell me a little bit about what your relationship with
01:15steinbeck was prior to getting cast in east of eden i've joked about this in other interviews but i was
01:20i think i was supposed to read east of eden in high school and i didn't i wasn't i wasn't
01:24a good
01:25student but when i was in my early 20s the first book i read was um travels with charlie apropos
01:32for
01:32i guess rolling stone is i was helping some musician friends out on tour like uh just drive i would
01:39like drive and sell sell merch the route we were taking was very similar to the one in travels with
01:45charlie and that was like my first introduction to steinbeck and then since i've read uh grapes of
01:49wrath and now i've obviously read east of eden so you reread east of eden after you got cast yeah
01:55i
01:55dove in once i knew i was doing it and it's be that's now become my one of my favorite
02:01books yeah ever
02:02tell me how we get to you saying yes to east of eden is this just an audition what kind
02:07of interested
02:07you about the role zoe kazan who wrote all of it i've known her for years we have a lot
02:12of mutual
02:12friends through like the new york theater world yeah um so she called me and and just asked me to
02:19do it and um we had a conversation about it and i probably would have said yes before reading it
02:25but
02:25then after reading the scripts they're so well written and also i look you know i knew this part
02:31too was going to be like a big challenge it's a hard part but that's always what i look i
02:36look for
02:37always you know tell me a little bit about what you were kind of initially thinking about when you
02:42kind of have to approach adam as a character i mean the first time i heard you got cast for
02:47some
02:48reason in my head i was like yeah he's charles and then i saw it was adam and i was
02:52like yeah yeah
02:52that's so so interesting well i had the same issue i thought i thought maybe the email was wrong
02:57and or like zoe said it wrong and she wanted me you know i sort of typecasted myself i think
03:01at first
03:02but then she talked about she talks about it more eloquently than i can but she kind of talked about
03:07this uh masculine feminine thing what one presents as what versus what's on the inside and all the
03:14uh allegorical themes in in east of eden are very much played with opposites i think in the book adam
03:22is
03:22even meant to be like blonde whatever and charles is like you know quote unquote darker like i am right
03:28zoe switched that up and i thought that was kind of interesting what one presents as is not
03:34necessarily what one inherent nature is you know if that makes sense yeah and i mean east of eden is
03:40at its core a book about nature versus nurture and kind of what shows up versus what is built what's
03:47grown now when you say okay i have to kind of embody adam trask who is a huge character in
03:54the american
03:54literary canon what were non-negotiables for you that you were like i need this to show up on screen
03:59about adam's wants and desires well you know i'm unfortunately as an actor you're not in complete
04:05control control of that i mean you know uh that's sort of you sort of go and do your job
04:10and and then
04:11it's in other people's hands at least with the edit and everything i can say that one of like the
04:15challenges is you know adam can the character often can be especially later in life very naive
04:22you know or seemingly naive and finding ways to justify you know some of the choices what was
04:31difficult you know what i mean and figure out a cool way to do it you know there's like for
04:36example
04:36there's like a scene kathy is saying uh like i don't want to go to california and you know my
04:44lines
04:44of dialogue or something like you'll be happy you know like sort of you know me as chris would be
04:49like
04:49at least be like what do you mean you know and so finding ways to sort of work in work
04:55within the
04:55framework of the time period and and how it's written like those are challenges that i always
05:00like to try to figure out i remember when we were shooting it i was going oh this is a
05:05this is a
05:06secret between kathy and i like almost like she's playing a game with me there's a scene when adam was
05:10younger when he sort of is beaten by his brother and he sort of lived this life on the road
05:14and running
05:15from you know running he's always he's been running from something for forever and he recognizes that
05:20i think in kathy you know they're both people that are running from something running away from
05:25something he's also slowly becoming his father you know and you get kind of freudy in there but like
05:31he's becoming his father while looking for a replacement for his mother you know who who he didn't
05:37have he thinks he finds that in kathy i mean yeah isa vidin is so mommy's mommy issues daddy issues
05:43coded
05:44yeah um i mean when we're talking about like we get to meet adam at so many different points in
05:49his
05:49life yeah i was wondering did you get to interact with any of your younger actors at all were you
05:53able to see any of the performances that they they did prior to shooting a bit yeah i mean a
05:59bit and
05:59the the shooting is so um chaotic you know yeah and often like maybe they would be shooting something
06:05with the unit and we would be shooting something else entirely so there wasn't enough time for me to
06:10like go and like watch their performance but we would talk about it and i think the directors
06:15um garth and lore were so good at sort of keeping track of all that because they're they're at least
06:21um they're working through the whole thing and you can do a lot with editing too where it really feels
06:26like um uh all the younger versions and the older versions of all the characters are in conversation
06:32maybe with each other i think so i think so yeah i do think it also adds to it that
06:36when the
06:36characters change so like when we go from costa d'angelo as as young adam to you we are also
06:42getting different points of his life right um when you kind of first appear on screen you're in your
06:47rail hopping era right you're post post-war you're trying to figure out what you want to do with your
06:51life what do you think is driving adam in that moment and what do you think kathy's like sudden
06:56appearance changes that trajectory i think he's lost you know i mean uh the backstory there is like
07:03he's done multiple stints in in the cavalry so he's kind of this like vagabond living out in the
07:11world it's the relationship with his brother that i think is calling to him that that makes him come
07:16back home they hadn't seen each other for i don't know what it is exactly but 15 years yeah and
07:21then
07:21all of a sudden like this wounded bird shows up you know what i mean to him and he again
07:28he sees
07:29something in her that he recognizes in him we're talking about before about duality you know charles
07:34has the line uh you know kind recognizes kind right and like that's in terms of both of them being
07:40quote-unquote bad you know or evil or whatever but i think adam sees some also sees uh recognizes
07:47something in kathy that they're you know they're both sort of wounded people and he thinks that they're
07:52these two wounded people are finding each other and they would keep each other safe i like how you said
07:55wounded bird because that is essentially what kathy wants people to kind of think of when they see her
08:01at first especially when she needs help yeah well she's literally literal at first because she's i
08:06mean it shows up beaten and bloody yeah yeah and it's and it's horrific and you know even him
08:12having been in war recognizing that and like having to take care of her you know he just it's just
08:17immediately again i don't think adam it's a sort of a freudian thing but it's him looking for a
08:23replacement for his mother yeah you know with kathy who's played by the incomparable florence pugh
08:28yes there's a what we get a much more nuanced version of kathy that i don't think we could
08:33have without florence talk to me a little bit about what it is to kind of act opposite of her
08:38my like litmus test for any actor is just are it's simply like are they there in the room with
08:44you
08:45and you feel like something is happening in the room and florence does that to the nth degree you
08:49know not to sound corny but as an actor that's what's fun and that's what i get to take home
08:54with
08:54me i'm not in control of the final product you know and i love editing and stuff but i'm not
08:58in
08:58control of that yeah so all i get to take home with me is process and the doing of the
09:02thing it's
09:03always important for me while doing a project that you you know through all the chaos and the crazy
09:08hours and everything that when you are acting and doing the scenes that you have someone there with
09:13you and she's she's you know one of the most present actors i've ever worked with what are
09:17some of your fondest memories from set either with florence it's a long it's a long time ago now i'm
09:22like we filmed this a while ago so it's all it becomes a bit of a blur it was a
09:26lot of work i have
09:27fond memory but everyone everyone really took their job seriously we we made sure to kind of keep
09:34everything light in between takes which i like we're in these beautiful breathtaking locations especially
09:40on the south island in new zealand it's like you feel like it's like you know jurassic park over
09:45there it's insane it really it like it feels otherworldly and then in my downtime um i'm you
09:51know i'm a big knicks fan so i remember um knicks were playing during that time so i would often
09:57on my
09:57lunch breaks because of the time difference i was watching knicks games you know so i don't remember
10:02much other than like just chaos and trying to watch knicks games in between scenes do you think you
10:07converted anyone to a knicks fan by the time you guys had finished um hoon he plays lee in it
10:12like
10:13he would come into the trailer and check in on the score with me i converted him i like what
10:17you
10:17mentioned earlier about the idea of focusing on who's present in the room yeah talk to me a little
10:22bit about how you and mike feiss work together as these two brothers who were both driven by your love
10:28for each other and also like i love you so much i'm going to beat you upside the head until
10:32you listen
10:33to me well you know mike's also like a new york theater guy he's so clever and he's so thoughtful
10:39like he would do stuff to establish his character um but with that he would still bring again a
10:48presence to set you know it wasn't um it never became like a selfish thing you know he was there
10:54with you and we would just talk about it we would rehearse you know garth our um our director for
11:00those
11:00early episodes would have us rehearse the younger versions of ourselves scenes even though we wouldn't
11:06do them just to like talk them out just to like you know i'm not saying we were like pretending
11:11to
11:11be kids like you know in the field but you know just to even just hear it and have a
11:15bit of a sense
11:15memory about it so i think that's important because it establishes a little bit of a sense memory
11:21especially when i come back home for the first time in a long time that feeling of like oh i
11:25haven't
11:25been here in a while and this is where you grew up and like the smells in the house and
11:29the you know
11:30all the details like you know the set design was incredible too there's so much detail and a pot and
11:36everything and these are all things that you know these characters grew up with so it's important that
11:40all that stuff feels lived in now was it true that the fighting scene where adam and charles kind
11:45of fight over the fact that he's married kathy was the first one that you guys really filmed
11:49together no the first one we filmed was me coming home okay really yeah yeah like you know the burning
11:54the bacon and the house is an absolute utter disaster yeah thanks whoever made that schedule
11:59work because it was it's it's so nice to start with the thing that you should start with yeah
12:03what do you do to make sure that in the room that you guys are giving each other what you
12:07need to
12:07to keep the momentum going well it's in the writing a little bit you know so you just you sort
12:13of stay
12:13on track there and how it's edited in the show it kind of picks up mid-argument and you know
12:17so we
12:18had some lead up before then so it sort of feels you you kind of feel that burst of energy
12:23and we were
12:23able to shoot that scene very sort of guerrilla style so like in there wasn't much time between
12:29takes so it was nice to like kind of keep the energy up and and keep it going are you
12:33a person
12:34who's comfortable watching yourself on screen like performances i didn't used to be but i've
12:38gotten i've gotten better at it but i don't at a screening in the in a theater um that's fine
12:43yeah um but then at home i don't really how did you watch east of eden well i watched it
12:48i watched
12:49it at home first you know obviously it's because you want to see it but i don't i don't watch
12:54it
12:54over and over again was there anything that kind of like stood out to you about the story when you
12:59were kind of taken from the role of actor to the role of like i'm sitting on my couch as
13:03a viewer now
13:03yeah i mean everyone else's sort of storyline you know you're aware of it but you're when you're
13:08shooting something you're only shooting your scenes and what you have to do so i was just sort of
13:12taken with um you know the the stuff that i wasn't it martha plimpton's so great in the show is
13:17not you know i wasn't i i saw her on set and i know her but i wasn't able to
13:22obviously not work
13:23with her and so and i wasn't in that episode so i had it was nice to just watch it
13:27because i it felt
13:28like a totally new thing to me especially with these mini series they're so sort of sprawling it's
13:33so epic and there's so much all these different storylines going on when you're shooting you're so
13:37kind of focused on your work and what you have to do that you you kind of you can't help
13:41but forget
13:42about the other shit going on now you're a new dad congratulations thank you very much um you and
13:48your partner are we applause a shared daughter how has working on east of eden and kind of having to
13:52return to the project now that you're in the process of promoting it like impacted your thoughts
13:57on fatherhood at all i think east of eden is a little too dramatic and a little too like biblical
14:03and crazy for me to like take you know yeah if i ended up having twin boys uh then maybe
14:09i could
14:10and you kind of named them like yeah then i can draw something yeah i understand i'm not drawn from
14:15the show for for this part of my life what have been some of the biggest adjustments besides obviously
14:19having to care for a person it's still quite new yeah i mean so sleeping is is the thing um
14:25that i was
14:26never really good at anyway so maybe it's not that big of a thing i don't like to talk too
14:30much about
14:30like personal family stuff but it's just it's like the best movie ever moms get asked this all
14:35the time so i like to throw it to the dads how are you balancing you know career and and
14:39your
14:39personal life again it's early so so far so good yeah but um uh i haven't you know i haven't
14:45really
14:46worked worked yet yeah and that's and that's been nice you know to sort of so um i have to
14:52cross that
14:52bridge maybe maybe when i get there but you know i think i think you you you figure it out
14:57just like
14:58you know everyone's got jobs you know it's just you figure it out when we're talking about career
15:02i feel like girls is such like a quintessential part of your body of work talk to me about like
15:08the last time you saw it i know there's like the rewatch uh thing that's been that was happening
15:14like a couple years ago or something like that um i i didn't take part in that uh but i
15:19mean when it
15:20when back when it came out is when is the last time i saw it i was kind of shocked
15:24at the time
15:24when you had left the show but walk me through a little bit i mean now looking back around the
15:29decision to kind of have such a cultural like zeitgeisty moment and then be like i'm gonna step
15:34away the truth is it's like all like we're all it was all amicable and really under understanding on
15:40all like from all parties i went back and i did the uh episode later sorry one of the most
15:46famous
15:46episodes apparently yeah yeah yeah it's great you know so it was that was fun and it was it's great
15:52you know and lena and i still chat and it's it's fantastic was there any hesitancy for you to like
15:57kind of sign on to a marvel production no not this one because i mean i'm i'm a big x
16:02-men fan
16:02so i'm um it's it's exciting were you an early reader as a kid with comics or and the cartoon
16:07i
16:08love the cartoon i collected the cards and and uh do you still have action figures no i don't know
16:13where they are i don't i've lived in new york so long and i've moved so many times that um
16:17most of my belongings are in an alley somewhere i'm sure i have no idea where anything is anymore
16:23there are um a couple of marvel releases standing between you and an actual x-men movie should we
16:27expect to see your shiny head and any cameos i don't think so what i don't even know see you
16:34i
16:34what's happening what do you mean doomsday i don't know what's going on you know no i'm not in
16:39that i gotta do the x-men movie first before any of that stuff famously not how marvel works but
16:44look no coyness i'm not in that movie how are you approaching fame now you just you're 40 right did
16:51you just have a birthday timidly um yeah i'm 40 i'm 40 now you kind of have worked through this
16:58career for such a long time how how are you thinking about kind of fame and career as you get
17:02older
17:03oh um i guess i'm not really thinking about it that much it comes and it goes and it comes
17:09in
17:09different ways and goes in different ways i don't feel like i'm particularly
17:18famous you know i mean people recognize you sometimes and that's and that's fine but it
17:22hasn't been like this sudden like exponential jump in in anything it feels i think things generally feel
17:29the same i i can be very out of touch with what what's going on so i just you know
17:34i my life is
17:35pretty simple i just sort of walk around and and do errands i don't i don't know what's going on
17:40out
17:40there is there a like failed audition that you still like think about oh yeah i mean there's a lot
17:47but see this was like auditioning back i feel like actors now don't like go into auditions anymore
17:53physically the whole thing now is like everyone makes tapes yeah at home and stuff that's like a
17:58different that's a whole different you know i feel like i'm old but like like we weren't doing
18:02that back then you know you had to go in in person and you know but yeah there's been plenty
18:06there's
18:07been plenty of those oh god i auditioned for this play and um i thought it was really good and
18:12after
18:13i was waiting to hear back if i got it or whatever if i was moving further and even in
18:18the email i got the
18:20email from my agent and the the note what the feedback was um chris is uh something like not of
18:27this world and my ego was still floating high and i what i hear is chris is out of this
18:33world and i was
18:34like great so am i going back in or whatever and my agent was like just read that again like
18:39you know
18:40just read that you know they're like chris said did basically chris had no idea what he was doing
18:44i used to like sneak into auditions in new york that like you know when i was like early on
18:48and
18:49like trying to like hustle around like i would just hear about auditions and show up to them even
18:53though no one asked me to be there i snuck into some audition i i asked for the sides that
18:58you read
18:59with and i said i lost them and they gave them to me and i was just you know i
19:02just saw other guys in
19:03there so i just started looking at them i remember like the the waiting room opened up uh the elevator
19:10opened up to the waiting room as soon as the elevator opened up there's a bunch of you know
19:14other guys there actors and i was sitting down i found the chair and i was sitting down i was
19:18like
19:18just starting to like trying to learn them she called my name out loud and she's like chris i was
19:24like yep she's like who sent you and this is like in front of like 20 other actors she's like
19:27who are
19:28you with or whatever and i didn't have like an agent or anyone at the time and i was like
19:32what's
19:32that and she was like um she's like who who um signed whatever sign you up for this audition and
19:37i
19:38and i kind of like went over closer to her just to like keep it keep it down and i
19:42was like what's
19:42up say that again so like we had this whole back and forth and she was confused and i was
19:46confusing
19:47her more and she was like oh uh she was like you can't oh you can't be here or whatever
19:52and at this
19:53point all these other actors are like stop looking at their sides and they're just like you're like
19:58this fucking guy you know what i mean what was it for i don't remember no idea i didn't know
20:03i
20:04mind wiped it i understand i'm just some a guy i was auditioning for some guy and something you
20:09described that feeling of like sneaking into the auditions as like a tingle right like a little bit
20:14of like excitement yeah there's a little yeah where in acting do you kind of get that tingle now
20:19i don't know it's that's different because that's like that feels like doing something i'm not
20:24supposed to you know a little like like now you know people ask me to do the job so it's
20:29not like
20:29i don't feel like i'm sneaking on set it's in moments usually you know again i do a lot of
20:33theater i like live i like when things i like when mistakes happen you know because like those are the
20:39things that kind of jolt you when we're talking about theater what excites you about stage acting
20:44i like the routine of it you know i mean i like the doing of it obviously i like i
20:48like live the
20:49analogy i always use is like a band makes a record in studio and then they go out and they
20:55play live and
20:55that that's a pretty good you know the different you know you can musicians make mistakes on stage
21:00the audience will never necessarily know it but they know it and like it changes every night that
21:04sort of has this like amoebic quality to it i like the high wire act of doing live and i
21:09like the
21:10routine i like the schedule of it i like kind of going in at night and just doing a show
21:14from beginning
21:15to end comparatively to being on set where you're like sort of it's a lot of waiting and and that's
21:19okay too but i just i like going in and just doing the thing the sort of camaraderie that you
21:24have
21:24with other actors you know i like everything about it what was the feeling then when you were
21:28nominated for a tony for your work in other miller's death salesman it was meaningful you know
21:34because i'd done i've done i've done a lot of theater over the years um i've only that was only
21:39my second official like broadway show so you know there wasn't many opportunity anyway for me to get
21:46nominated for a tony going to theater school and hearing about other actors and being tony nominated
21:51it was it's it felt um it felt good and like really nostalgic i mean we have steinback we have
21:57arthur miller are we like i'm sensing a theme for the american literary canon it's not lost on me that
22:03like being able to do these sort sort of like american canon projects you know one on tv and one
22:11in theater i'm lucky to sort of given the opportunity to work on both of those things you mentioned earlier
22:18the idea of when zoe called you being like oh for adam not charles are you thinking about typecasting
22:25at all are you afraid that you've been typecast is that even something that you worry about again
22:29another thing i'm not really so much in control of you know i just try to choose different as many
22:38different types of things as i can but again even part of that's out of my control i can you
22:43know i can
22:44say yes to a project or or say or say no to one but you know timing the timing of
22:50everything is
22:51is has a lot to do with it no i just i just try i try my best to do
22:56something different every every
22:57time if i can yeah when we're talking about control i think one of the hardest things for actors is
23:02like
23:02you don't have any context for what what the legacy of a project is going to be while you're filming
23:07right all you can do is kind of try your best and then you know whatever the audience takes it
23:13as it is
23:13is there a project of yours that you feel like didn't get the flowers that it deserved at the
23:18time of release i mean i've done a lot of indie films you know i've done a ton of indies
23:25so i don't
23:27want to say that they didn't get their flowers because i think they did but you know i just had
23:31such good times with like one of my dear friends gerard carmichael we we made a he directed this movie
23:37on the count of three that we did together and i just loved working on that and i really like
23:42it and i
23:42and i like and i like the movie the end product as well it premiered at sundance but it was
23:47like
23:47the um uh pandemicy one it was like where everyone was at home i'm like this doesn't count you know
23:52we didn't like we never really got to have a uh even like a proper screening yeah of it like
23:58at a
23:58at a festival or anything so i even just that i wish i wish we had that you know just
24:03live in you
24:05know with an audience maybe most of the news i've done but this is my plug for sanctuary by the
24:09way
24:09yeah sanctuary but then but i i don't feel i feel like sanctuary it was pretty pretty good i was
24:14surprised i in my head circles in my head sanctuary is like the movie of the year yeah but people
24:19saw
24:19it yeah right yeah and that was that was so fun but margaret's great and that was a that that
24:24was
24:24like a play though that's that's what was one room you get like it was one room two people it
24:29was
24:29like a two-hander play you know and it felt very kind of theatrical the way we sort of rehearsed
24:34it
24:34and did it so that was that was sort of a nice mix because at that point i hadn't done
24:39anything
24:40for a little while a play or a movie or anything so i felt like i got a bit of
24:44both with that one
24:45i mean we were talking earlier about radiohead and um tom york are there any albums that you're
24:50thinking this is my age did you hear that jesus did you like crap i thought that was it was
24:54beautiful it was acoustic a couple years ago i tore my meniscus oh no every time i uh hear a
24:59crack
25:00of my knee i get i get a little get a little sweaty okay sorry no i'm glad i'm glad
25:05you're okay
25:06we're fine we're fine yeah are there any um albums that you feel like are really like quintessential
25:12to like times in your life well before we started this we were talking about that one on the wall
25:16beautiful in rainbows is one of my favorite records of all time tom york is one of my favorite
25:21artists of all time music i think plays a big role i mean i think everyone shared most people
25:27share this like if there's a record that you were listening to at a certain time of your life
25:31and you hear it again you're automatically shot right it's a transport yeah total transport east
25:37of eden time uh a lot of cass mccombs i haven't heard cass mccombs i have to go look this
25:43is going
25:43to be homework now for me one of the best uh i think it's one of the best songwriters alive
25:48thematically for the songs like kind that kind of scored east of eden what do you feel like you
25:52gravitated to and i'm not just i'm not i'm listening no i know looking at my phone i'm just
25:56looking up chris abbott scrolling while we chat yeah yeah would you say yeah oh um i mentioned
26:03it but the herald budd record it's just instrumental yes but the herald budd pavilion of dreams i think
26:09josh o'connor and i talked about this too actually oh really yeah i think that's a beautiful i mean
26:14i've used i've used that record as scoring for a lot of like life moments different different ones
26:19i listen to every there's like every that new drake record's really good too that's like for like
26:23right before boxing i put i put that one on when you think about this version of east of eden
26:29um
26:30steinbeck originally writes the novel as kind of kathy is is evil personified the idea that like she was
26:37always evil and a little bit like she remains evil and the choices that she makes and the characters
26:41around her and the idea around tim shul is that like life is about the choices that we make we
26:47can we
26:47can choose a different path when you think about adam trask what do you think this version of east
26:53of eden is is kind of saying about not only evil but hope and and choice well i mean i
27:01think it's
27:01quite in a good way quite similar to maybe the i think the feeling i got even in the book
27:07of the
27:08character of adam you know he's a character that is running and you know like i was saying before like
27:15searching for a mother and essentially running away from a father to then spend a life being so
27:23different to then as he gets older he's without knowing it slowly becoming his father you know
27:30what i mean and it's like all these like very human themes of just like you know which we all
27:36deal
27:36with in life right of like are we becoming our parents or not or you know are you running away
27:41from it are you going towards it as adam gets older he's sort of becomes more rigid like his father
27:48which is you would think is against his nature but it's just inherently his nature in some way
27:54i think he sort of realizes um who slowly through his life realizes who he's become he became the father
28:03to his children like his father was to him all of a sudden life when i think for him went
28:08by like
28:08that without even noticing it and i think that's sort of like the devastating realization for adam
28:13it's heartbreaking and very and and really you know poetic and allegorical it's epic it is the
28:19american epic as it were it really is yeah yeah i love it do you have anything else that you
28:23feel
28:23like you want people to know either about east of eden or adam go back to these records oh my
28:27gosh and
28:27we're back to the album just another 10 minutes of silence of me just going like
28:32chris thank you so much for being here we appreciate it thank you rolling stone thank
28:36you guys so much for watching we'll see you next time at rolling stone studio
28:39you