Streaming and the Future of Film

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Go to linkedIn dot com slash smartless terms apppply This episode of Smartless is sponsored by Ashley, the brand that just helped us turn a live event stage into a fully styled living space. Ashley is all about helping you create a home that reflects who you are with styles that balance timeless design and modern trends, and pieces built to handle everyday life with durable materials and easy to maintain fabrics For our live show, we were sitting on their modular mod Max sofa setup that you can configure to however works best for your space. Plus we had oversized accent chairs and coffee and accent tables that really tied everything together Let me tell you about the Mod Max sofa. We used it for our live show. It was so comfortable. I felt like I was sitting on a cloud. The worst part about it, getting out of it. Ashley is all about style that's made for real life with white glove delivery right to your room of choice. Visit your local Ashley store or head to Ashley. com to find your style do that. So today is Oh sorry, Tonay. Yeahah, go ahead. Today we're going to have It' going nice. I was shun. No It's just the last time you started the last one I was gonna start this one Okay We're just doing an intro. so it doesn't matter to start. saw this. So today Oh let me just do it. Let me just do it. Listener, here is Smartless. B. Mark Uh, listen, u I think it's been three weeks Since we've we've done this. since I've seen you since I've talked to you. And I have to say, I've had some long drives in the last three weeks. so I've gone ahead and done some quality control, listening to our podcast. I'm not great at it because I'm listening to them after they've already reached the public. So are you picking up some long hauler miles, some deliveries what's going on?. I've got some five hour energy cases I'm trying to get through Sure So it's really been nice listening to you, fellas you're both very talented and very funny on the podcast. I'd really like to be more a part of it, u But so I was very excited to he of it. I was very excited to see you guys today Then this morning this morning. This morning, a real dark cloud floated over our family here at. Jason C I Is it possible to say is it possible for a dark cloud to then give you a gut punch Is that possible? Sure. What happened? Yeah Well, why don't you take it from here? Well, Jason read something that I read. We all read it. Oh God I read it actuallyually I read it after you sent it to me.. actually, you know what Sean sent it. That. I saident that before I read it. I don't think so. Sean sent an article to Jason and me in the thread that we're in. with some feigned exclamation points like like this This is great for us. And by the way, I'm going to put it out there. If anybody thinks they're worthy of being in the text thread, let us know and may'll add put you on the Yeah, We'll add you to the thread Sean says, congrats for us, Yay, for us. And it's a click to Hollywood Reporter. Smartlist nominated, great, nominated for a bunch of podcast awards or whatever. whichich is kind of neat because this is, you know, this is an embarrassing It's a mom and pop operation. Yeah. we apologize.. The fact that we're getting any traction whatsoever, let alone nominations, J just thank you. It. It's pretty great. Thank you and also, it's embarrassing. Jason's re, it is kind of embarrassing. So then, if you read further down in the story, they're nominated best podcast, blah, blah, blah. And Sean Heay is nominated for Best host. Which is the worst which is the kiss of death because now everybody's like, well, he's not really that great. Well I don't think they're saying it out the side of their mouth either. I think he comes straight out the centerraight out And here's my thing. today, I can't wait to see you host. Yeah. Let's see host S. This is going be the worst experience for me. Well, the voters are now listening, right? becausecause the nominations are out and now they really have to decide. Pay attention to his host My questions are still gonna to be like Hey, where are you from? Yeah, No, donon't worry. We know that. That obviously resonates with the jury over there. I heart media people have made a bunch of mistakes. When When Sean said, what's your favorite color? I mean, how with these? Let's nominate that jackass. Yeah, here we go. Jeez, I'm not to be able to come up for air for a while and we're thrilled for you, Sean. Yeah. we're really. I'm thrilled for everybody. And I said to Sean, by the way, I did say congrats, man, and he was like, oh, thank you. And I responded. I didn't mean it What are you What are you doing?? I responded with't read I truly didn't know, I didn't read the article I just read the headline, like most people. Sure. It is true. I think Sean might be the kindest man I've ever know. possible. No one deserves it more. Not around you too All right, zip it up. We got u we've got a we've got an we've got an interesting guest today 's He's known primarily in New Zealand and South Africa due to his success in rugby. Okay. Florida then came to love him when he pivoted his talents towards highigh and dog racing And then when he was in California, he was attempting to be the first to successfully mend the San Andreas vault, he tried his hand to act And and while fame and fortune, there has been scarce at best, some call it a wipe out.. The critics have given him a few hugs. So he has received a couple of accademy awards and seven Emmy awards. What? He's gotten himself a Tony nomination, even AFI life who has academy turnurned around. He got a lifetime achievement awward from AFI BAFTA gave him something. The Golden Globes gave him the Cecil B. D Mille Award. The Kennedy Center honored this highlight player, and Barack Obama gave him the presidential Medal of freedom. Wait So I say chin up. I say chin up to this fella No ide This is the most highly decorated guest we've ever had. I would say so.. He's famous and fortunate in our book. Okaykay. Please welcome the forever struggling, but always diligent America s ownone and Hollywood's best Mr. Tom Lamar Hanks. Yeah Had I known that Sean was the host of this podcast. I would have bailed. I said guysu, I'd like to, but you know I don't like to work from home. Apparently you're working with one of the brightest hosts in the business. Yeah. Is there a name for this award? it Is it named after somebody? Is it It's called the Aorta because it's from My Heart Media Oh, I are Okay I are That's not true. but that's my pitch. One of my hard hitting nominee questions is where are you right now? I don't recognize that room. I'm in a tiny little cubby hole that is here in my vast compound Yeah someomewhere in the T state area. I'm telling you, dog racing really pays guys. You got to look into it. It's within a single day's drive from Lakewood, Ohio,, home of the Great Lake Shakespeare Festival. Wait, you didn't. Is it true? No, no. Are we already getting pl we already plugging a festival? I mean, well. which was a long time ago. long time ago. Wait, did you really do dog racing No, you dumbass. This is why you're not gonna win. You're the worst host. Jason was demonstrating his quote comedy chops. Yeah G canan I write or what? Huh? hang on, I think Tom's onto something. Let's get into Jason's comedy chops quick You know, I told I told some friends last night But I was doing this podcast. and first of all, I had to rexplain your name. We were. Yeah.. said Sean who, Jason, what? Will? huh? What is the name of it? Yeah I kept calling it helpless based on the Neil Young song. So but now I realize, no, no, no, It's smartless, smartless We really are helpless. And the question came up about you will which is which was this question is has he started using a different voice professionally M That in your early days, you were kind of like Squeaky, you sort of sounded like Jane North in those old Dennis The Menace reruns. and you were hilarious But then you went off and voiced Batman, and it's though you're walking around with your own self imposed EQ on your voice meow. Yeah Ture false will Here listen, like any good politician, I can't just give you a straight true or false. I will say that I constantly have a monitor in my ear and I'm adjusting my levels, my input levels R. And so then I can moditor No, you know what? It's funny. I recently, you know, I often watch a lot of my old stuff because I like to be entertained. has trouble sleeping. Yeah. No, but my voice has gotten, it has. But if you listen to Howard's because of abuse, I guess, you Do you sm smoke Well Who's listening? I'm just learning. I'm just learning. We had Sean Penn on the podcast. he went through a full pack of darts, didn't he? He did go through a pack of darts. Darts. That's colloquial for cigarette.,'s Canadian. He're supposed to say coffin nail or a nail, a nail or bullet. Actually, Tom, this brings me to an actual question about the nail I noticed recently I was reading the tenth book in the Guner What's his name series by Philip Kern. I noticed your name on the back And you gave a little blurb for the back of for the jacket of Prussian bllue, which I'm almost finished with. Oh, that's a great one. It's a great one, right? Gunther me Bernard Gunther, Bernard Bernard, Bernie Guner series. He plays a Non okay. be merciful on me on this. Okay. He plays a non Nazi private investigator. From nineteen twenty eight Berlin through. . Thates, right. It's a fabulous series by Philip K Philip K the late Philip Kerr. he passed. I know too early. Yeah. And I read them all Im just well, not a big I'm not a big like detective genre fiction writer. M neither. But this had that added bonus of very accurate sort of historical detail to it It's a tremendous historical fiction and you're absolutely right. And I'm with you, Tom, and read I read mostly nonfiction and somebody recommend they said, you love all this European history. I think you'd like this I'm fully like I said, I just started the beginning of the summer and I'm on book ten Prussian. But he always refers to cigarettes as nails. And he gets beaten up by these Nazis and then they look down and he's spittning up blood and they say, what do you want? He looks up and he says, C I get a nail? Yeah. And you know what? when he smokes one? he looks really cool. He looks really, really cool. He looks really c. What I like about those books It fills in the blanks of his war years because some of them take place well before World War two, some of them take place after World War two. And in the course of it, you see what he went through course. Thanks guys for firing us out of the gate here at the start of the interview. I we know our listeners love literature. Go, Sean, you're the host. Let's do it Yeah, h so much. Come on, by the way, Sean, I have my hand on my buzzer. H handand is right on my buzzer. Okay buzzer. the correct answer. Good. I w to know what your fascination with with war is Because your name is so synonymous. I've never asked you this in my entire life. Why are you so passionate? Yeah, you're the war guy. The history He lovesight. It's startark with the highie I think, right? The dog racing, you know First of all, we do a lot of them because none of the projects have to have cell phones or laptops.. So that alone makes the writing of them so much easier. and there's much less special effects of having to put in those screens But I have I get this question asked to me quite often and the answer always comes down to when in those formative years of say, seven through You know, when you're a little kid Every single caregiver, every single adult in my life would make references to The six, two words, three letters each D War. And they talked about it as this great dividing line in their lives There was before the war There was during the war and there was just after the war. And they talked about it as though it's almost like, well, that was when the Back plague was walking among us, you know For a big chunk of their lives, they had no idea where they were going to be in another six months. They had no idea how long the war was going to last. That's one big aspect of it. The other partart of the two is is that the bad guys lost Yeah att the end of the day just Yeah. We were able to somehow unfortunately necessarily kick the stuffing out of them. And when bad guys lose something, it's that what is that power of myth of is it Bill Moyyers, you know The world was on a quest to defeat people that were undeniably evil the governments of those places and many of many of the populace. So I keep getting drawn back to that. And again, I will say that from a storytelling perspective, Our present day is just so there is no shame left anymore. No. Truth seems to be a malleable viscous It K kindind of like It's a distant memory truth. It seems like. And actually, you know what Tom, Sean actually within the last six months, I don't know if you remember, we were talking about all the movies you've done at the war movies. And Tom said, do you think he'll ever make a movie about TikTok And You know, because something that he thinks For Sean and Scottty, there's before TikTok and after TikTok. Well, you know, if I did, it would only be about forty five seconds long. How How long How long is your a TikTok? And then I won't be And then I won't be able to wait for the sequel. Tom, I know that I know that you would you'd never compare your experience shooting Sab arivate Private Ryan to those who actually fought you know, in all of that end during all that. But was there ever a moment I'm sure I bet there was a few moments while you were shooting that where you got close to the feeling, maybe of what it might have been like. I mean, certainly the product, the result of that film took me there or as close as I think I could get Um I would imagine there were a few moments there where it just based on the quality of the production, they managed to create some environments for you there and your own process of trying to get into the character and the realism of it where you were kind of struck a bit by guys must have gone through Well, Yeah, but at the same, it was all fake, you know. Sure. But I mean, you got to take that into account. But when we were on the beach there in County of Wexford in Ireland, which is where we shot the Omaha Beach sequences. Oh so it wasn't wasn't right there Well, it was actually it was one of the places where they rehearsed some of it. So that's one aspect of it. How far was Bays Camp from the beach? Oh It was way. Well I was gonna incorporate that into theck s sry. So shut. Just light up another nail, Will and take that pause We're there with five hundred members of theish actual members of the Irish Army. There is landing craft everywhere and we're all storming storming the beaches And The special effects crew had laid out these tiny little flags on the beach where they had set up air mortars and squibs. littleittle explosive devices. Things to avoid. Yeah. And they actually said, you know, be carefully, right? because you know, this is going to become this is like a projectile. It'll come out of the ground very fast So if you can try to avoid where the flags are. I said, You know, I think I got that. Then they removed all the flags and we couldn't see anything Oh my God of So we were just stumbling all wyine. So there's all of that, and it's dressed the way it is. When you there were always four or five cameras going And once the shot began and you're wet and you're cold and you're coming up And At a corner of one eye, you see a guy catch on fire And at the corner of the other eye, you see a guy blown forty feet into the air And he loses a leg in the process, literally, you know, amputee stunt people Oh my God. Then they were amputated before you sh They were amputated before Thank God, just to clarify. But even though there's harnesses and there's wires and whatnot, machine guns are going off all around you and explosions are happening And it goes on for the better part of, you know, two or three or four minutes And u There was there was a degree of sort of like odd, fake and yet at the same time, terror that that was going on. Yeah. So we were shooting down there all morning long. I'm going to say about on the maybe the second day of shooting because the first day of shooting was spent in the boats themselves And I climbed up the steps to the bluff they had put in these wooden steps so we could get up to the base camp Will. That's for catering and craft services. It were not far as the crow flies, but it was awfully high. It was probably about six, seven hundred feet up the bluffs And I went back and I found the other guys in the unit who I would be meeting when we got up to the shale, which was a you know, the defolade that was at the top of the beach. That's where I would come across Berry peepper and Eddie Burns and Ven Diesel and the other guys. And they were still hanging around, you know, outside the trailers the way actors do And u I was wet and I was sandy and I was near deaf from the amount of noise that had gone on. And I told the guys I said, You guys better hold ono your hats because it's really wild down there. You are not going to. I mean, when you see a guy catch on fire out out of the corner of your eyes, youre and no one said, you right no one's prepped you. No one has said there's going to be a guy caught on fire on this side and it said, all you it was it was An interesting kind kind of panic. You know what's interesting, and this is kind of foldolding back to what you were saying earlier, one of the reasons that what I love about that movie and I love that movie. Tom. I'm not embarrassed to say. I love it so much and I've seen it a lot of times. One of the things I really love about it and you kind of touched on this whole idea of Can't wait for the musical version or No ninety seven, by the way, nineteen ninety seven. Which is insane ninet. That's when it came out, Wow. It seems like two years ago But you had that moment where your character is a school teacher, I think, is that right? O Yeah, yeah we He's a school teacher. But the idea that It doesn't matter what he is. He's just a regular this is what the thing of this particularly this war. There was the Great War, which they refer to World War one as, but then there was the war, this World War two. And he was a guy who was called to do something extraordinary. He wasn't a guy who was born to be a military officer. He wasn't a guy who was born to be a killer. He was a guy who had to go because that's what he had to do people came in in this moment when the entire world was at war and did extraordinary things. And I always loved that about it. And I think that for me It really captured what it is that sort of makes me have such it's weird to have say, have reverence for the war, but you have reverence for the bravery and what people did that were extraordinary things. actually, you want to make an anti war movie at the same time R that you're making a war movie. Right. Let me tell you a story. I was eighteen years old, I think, and I was a Bllman at the Royal Hotel in Oakland, California. And we had a A guy who read his own dry cleaning service would come and collect the clothes and take them away and then deliver the clean clothes. he was always come in with dozens and dozens of shirts and pants that have been dry cleaned And I was working there one summer and he was gone for two weeks. I'm going say his name was Mike. I can't remember what his name was, Mike was gone for two weeks and somebody else came in every day. and then then after two weeks, it was in June After two weeks, he came back from his vacation. I said, Oh, hey, Mike Where whereere these last two? Oh no, I take a vacation every every June. I said, Oh, oh. do you go camping? He said, No, no, no. I get together with with some of my old buddies and said, Oh, oh, did whereere did you go Well this this year, we we went back to this place that we had visited back when we were kids He said, Oh, o, where was that? He said it's in the north of France He was a paratrooper. He was in the eighty second airborne. Wow. This guy is nice this nineteen seventy four So go back forty years. so he's in his fifties. and what he's telling me is that when he was in his twenties jumped into He jumped into Normandy on D day and was a pare And now he's a guy delivering his dry cleaning the dry cleaning for the hotel. Yeah. I felt stupid and small, but also that was he was an example of that adult, that caregiver that was part of daily life that You know, that do He didn't know if he was going to make it back. And he went Oh, he said and we go back, he said this He said, we go back to to visit the buddies that didn't make it home So they're visiting the they're visiting the cemeteries that are in So look, that's a generation. It was a time that was loaded with all sorts of problems that of course we're still dealing with right now. But you can't take away the fact that these were young guys who were asked to go off and liberate the world from really, really bad people and they did it. My grandfather, just I'll leave it at this. My grandfather who passed almost almost twelve years ago, who I was really close with and loved dearly. He I remember him telling me He worked with he was in the Canadian Army, but he was attached to the Royal Air Force, and he planned bombing toorttiz. and they were stationed at various airfields as they would move across as they, you know after june forty fourth. And he said one morning, we wake up and there was constantly planes taking off and landing and stuff and they were And he said, one morning, his tent the guy we shared a tent with woke up, came out of the tent and walked into a propeller of a plane in the dark. And I said And he to he didn't tell me this until I was about eighteen. And I said, well, what did you do And he said, And he wasn't joking, He said,, I got a new tent mate And I was like, wow. And he was just like, that's the way it went. We had to keep going. There was What can you do? I don't want to go in a place I was That's too much of a bummer of a story. sad story truth. It's very sad Anyway. I think a perfect segue would be happay days Right Let's talk about Let's go to days.s in order to make Sving Private Ryan happen or any of the other incredible movies that you have IMDB reading Sund No no. how dar this is pure Wikipedia. Dare you come this Wikipedia. So so how you not book that episode on happappy Days Would you have not met Ron Howard and things we would not have been gifted The highlight Ron Howard on Happy Days. Ron had left the series by then. What I the guys I met were Lol Gans and Bobolou Mandel, who were the staff writers on Happy Days, who wrote the the part who wrote Slash, this green play of Spllash. And Bron was directing and they said, Hey, may w toy takeake a look at that guy who got fired from Bosom buddies. You know, Bosom buddies was canceled. Something that Sean is going to experience one of these days Yeah Yeah. No worry Sean's cancellled two programs I've been on so go And we will be right back Summer gatherings are easier when the grill does the heavy lifting and Whole Foods Met has the ingredients to make it all come together We Start with no antibiotics ever meat or grill friendly seafood like salmon and halibut Add peak seasoned produce like organic cherries, yellow peaches, and strawberries plus fresh prepared sides Finish with a limited time peach marinbererry pie or soft brioche buns for burgers and hot dogs Fire up the grill at Whole Foods Market. Sun's out and so is Dad. This Father's Day, find what'll make his summer with Lowe's Father's Day deals. Get two free to walt power tools when you buy a select five amp hour battery kit Plus get a free Blackstone six piece stainesseel griddle kit when you buy a select Blackstone griddle Shop Low's Father's Day deals in store or online Valid through june twenty fourth while supplies last selection varies by location So you're saying with Hilton honors, I can use points for a free night stay anywhere? Anwhere. fancy places like the Canopy in Paris. Yeah. Hilton Honors baby. Or relaxing sanctuaries, like the Conrad in Tulum. Hilton Honors baby. What about the five star Waldorf Astoria in the Maldives? Are you gonna do this for all nine thousand properties? When you want points that can take you anywhere anytime, it matters where you stay Hilton for the day And now to the show Tom, would you agree that the routine of a sitcom actor is the best job in show business? Do you miss it still to this day Well, it is it is kind of a skate. It's a great hang. I'll tell you that. because look, if you you either shoot You rehearse Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, camera block Thursday, shoot Friday.. or you rehearse Thursday Friday Monday Camera block Tuesday, shoot Wednes.nt that kind of like the Yeah, that second one shoots Tuesday. Yes. You'd start on Wednesday. What you're saying is five days of the week. Yeah. yeah. Yeah. unless you're working with Jimmy Burrs and then you can take the first day off of rehearsal and really becomes a four day work week. and it's only three weeks a month. so it's twelve working days a month. These are really top secret things, man. You should never let this What are you doing? Where are you bling And it's six hours a day. Now everybody's going to want to be in showb. There's no food There'ss there's craft service climate g A lot of breaks, you know, it is it is an awfully Awfully fun thing When we did Bosom buddies, Peter Scullary and I, my Dear old p.ne of the great shows. We actually shot that show on video. not on the film cameras Film cameras in those days, that was pretty much a bnt.amer camera blocking day was just kind of like your stand and did it But we had four video cameras and we had to do the entire camera blocking day ourselves on camera because they did a line cut, you know, camera three and tighten up on four and four. Let's come back let's coming back to two and two. You had to be there for that. So you did you worked a long day and you did every line the that week scripted over and over again. And he and I just started goofing around so much that that's that's where we First got we got yelled at a couple of times you know, the the uh, the director up in the booth You know, he'd come in over that top a listen, we're working really hard of him. Could you guys just cut a skip to the lines? othertherwise, can't get the line cut in. We're try check the cally lights on camera three, Tom. with that comes on, you know, you speak And we didn't care. We were just goofed around so much. How excited were you when you got when you got that show? What was that moment? So young Tom Hanks and you get Bosom buddies, you booked it. It's your job. What was that Well, I couldn't believe it. Yeah Yeah. I was gonna be on TV You know, right. And I was going to be able up to that point as a Shakespearean actor, I'd made I made less than ten thousand dollars in a year for an entire year And I was married and I had a kid And geez, I made almost I made that in two weeks on B and Buddy. So the financial reprieve was huge. When was the last time you did Shakespeare I did Shakespeare two years ago here in Los Angeles. I played Falstaff. Yes. with the Shakespeare Center, Los Angeles. Tom, tellell that story. It was a video that I saw of you were doing it. I can't remember. It was so funny. You pulled some guy out of the audience or something? What No what happened was we had we had a medical emergency. A guy a gentleman had a A heart thing happened to him. And all of a sudden, the paramedics had to be called. We were doing it at the VA center in the Japanese garden amongst the eucalyptus trees here and right. West Los Angeles. and you know, a guy had some sort of seizure and we had to call the AMTs And then we had to take a break and the house, not the house lights. The lights all came up. And it was going into it ended up being about a thirty minute hold while They took care of this right And we were all backstage saying, shouldh we do something? And then when I saw that people were leaving , no, no, no, no I mean, it was it was a long, it was about close to a three hour show anyway, but when I saw people, I saw a lady pick up her purse and move toward the exit. And I came running out trying to scream and get back here, takeake thee thy seat or something.. It was so funny. But what was amazing was you were improvising in Shakespeareian talk. That's what was my mind. And it was super funny. God, it was so great. Ited up it ended up being worthwhile. and it got enough people to stay. And I think I ridiculed enough people that made some lady cry, you know u Out of laughter tears of joy. What was the you know a splash, by the way, for your birthday, years and years ago, I sent you a poster and I superimposed my face over Daryl Hannah's, and I said the note said you and I would have made a bigger splash. But Tom doesn't remember that. had we only been the trailblazers You know, what was that like what was that feeling? Because as a kid, I was like, oh my God, every actor wanted to be Tom Hanks. everyverybody every actor wanted you because to this. You were in all this string of these massive comedy hits, right? And big and splashed and just I don't know I to do. And they ask me they asked me to be in a movie. so I said, yeah. But did you But did you know when you started doing all those other movies, you started, you did big and you did all these things and they were just getting Did you know where you were going or where? No, no, you have no idea. They just say no play. When you were playing the lead and you were incredibly charismatic and were you were compelling on screen, likeike you were carrying things right out of the gate. Had you always had the confidence and the sort of the leadership qualities No No growing up I was just trying to remember the words. I was trying to speak loud enough to be heard. are you soerally Listen I'll tell you, I'll tell you the biggest the biggest lesson that I learned and this was when I was at the Great Lake Shakespeare Festival, just a day's drive from where I am right now in Lakewood, Ohio in which Dan Sullivan, he's who directed the the f Henry the, excuse me, Henry IV that I did, his Falstaff. He directed that In nineteen seventy seven We were in rotating rep and I was carrying a spear and I was doing everything that I was told to do And we had done we had just opened a production of Hamlet The night before, it was in rotating Rep so. you open the shows about every two weeks and then you ran a different show every night. That's what repertory means. S. And so we had opened up Hamlet and we all had a rehearsal the next day for Taming of the She, which I played I played Groomo in Taming of the shhree And all of the equity company, the professionals were hung over, exhausted because they hadd all been out partying the night before, because they had just open haamlet. So everybody was like synambulistic and showing up ten o'clock And no one really knew their lines yet and everybody was kind of like shuffling around. And Dan Sullivan yelled at everybody. Heielded everybody, said, Hey, hey, hey, hey, Hey. We've got three weeks to get to show up on its feet You people are not even trying for crying out loud, I can't do my job if you guys don't do your jobs. You guys have got to show up on time. You got to know your lines and you've got to have an idea I can't provide everything here So let's take a break Mainline some coffee. Chew it if you have to right out of the jar, but come back here with some frigin energy. Fuck, I would cast you in the Dan Sullivan movie right now, by the way. Sorry, just for what it's worth. That was a great ide. I remember Okaykay, so you look, all we're all like nineteen, eighteen, twenty I was twenty years old then and that lesson really stuck to me. if professional actors who have twenty years in the Biz, as they often said, twenty years in the Biz. I've never been yelled at like that That was that was an important less So all through all of these gigs that I had The hits, thank you. The misses, let's forget those. I always that was always the thing that I thought the most important thing to do was show up on time, know your lines and have an ID in your pocket. For sure. bring. That's all I did through all of those. I didn't know anything. So Tom, when you went, when you were doing all those strings at the string of comedies, back then and you do you remember what it felt like or do you remember that pivot moment when All of a sudden,be you got offered a script or you had that kind of dialogue with your agent or what happened where you switched over to more, let's say, important films or more dramatic films. What a question. It's so great. Thank you you That was the era of You can make a movie for about fifteen million dollars. And if you just said it was a comedy, It seemed to do some brand of business. Whether it was actually funny or not. It didnn't matter. Yeah, that was the It was all, you know, anybody who had said action and cut was trusted to direct a comedy movie, whether they were funny or not. And I made a I made a ton of those in which everybody came in, Oh, the daies were fantastic. I think the audience is going to be standing on their feet at the end of this. So Tracy, dailies are the thing you watch as you're filming the movie. they get the Russia The day before stuff. And it doesn't matter if the movie was called Monkeys Make the Sun Go downown. Everybody was say this is This is the funniest of all the movies. The cows of Tumble Town. This is going to be a magnificent com because the good comedies that were made, you know, at the time, they all had And they were all with former secondecond city people, you know, and Saturday night live people. But there was this this you could take a setting. This movie takes place on a ski slope This movie takes place on a school bus. This movie takes place at a bachelor party and it will be comedy And I made a billion of those like that because we're just kind of like doing imitations of other people's funny movies.. Yeah, But here's the thing, and I've said this about there are a few people out there who have this and you are one of them, which is it doesn't matter what the movie was. you are always good. You're even doing I joked about doing the Dan Sullivan No matter what it is, you're committed and that always kind of shines through. So I know that you talk about those misses. I mean, look, if it wasn't for bad movies, I wouldn't make any at all. You wouldn't be sitting in your dad's library. I wouldn't in my dad's living back at my folk's house in Toronto. but you know's true and you always You always deliver in that way because I always get the impression watching you that like you don't care what the thing is. You're just doing I mean, you're part of it and you're in the thing and who gives a shit What You know, I don't want to I don't want to discount some of the great stuff. I met great people. And we did we made we actually did some really funny stuff that that really did work. and' always. always always fun also known as classics It was well. You know, it's funny, you know, they I don't think we ever had a movie. Spllash was well reviewed. and I don't think I had another decent review for about six or seven films, but now you read about them and they're they're they're assics, you know, They called Classic? No T Right. It didnn't happen back in the day. Well once Philadelphia happened, I would imagine some of the scripts that were coming to you started to confuse things for you and your team. Well I got older. You know, that's the other thing too. you know, there's a type of movie you can make in your late twenties. Here's a story. I turned twenty seven. The day of We rap. The motion picture splash It was the last day of shooting. We were in the Bahamas We had a cake that was actually for the rap. Hey, let's celebrate the last day of shooting with a cake and someone I think with the tube a toothpaste added in icing on the cake, Happy birthday Tom because I found out it was my birthday. So that was, you know, there's a movie that you make when you're twenty seven and in your early thirties and what have. And you know, I made I made a number of them and which, but you have to get older, you know, you can't ye And I was able to age into Gary Marshall gave me a great role with Jackie Gleason in a movie called Nothing in Common. David Seltzer wrote and directed with Sally Field, punchline and then Big came along.s. But you get older. so and you start singing, I will tell you, look, I'm not big on this kind of stuff, but there was one time I was sitting around with my crack showbiz expert who works for CAA and he said to me, what do you want to do And And I said, you know exactly like Richard. That's a great in person. Richard love it.. Beautiful. What do you? What do you want to do And I said I said I want to play grown upps. I want to play people who have been through bitter compromise because I was in my mid thirties by that point. Compromise, Jason is the thing that people do when you hear the other person's side and then you go, okay, I'm willing to shift my position a little bit. And whatever, we'll talk about it later when Tom's done. sorry, Tom. Wait Tom, you know what I always wanted to ask you, and this is going to be the dumbest question in the world But guaranteed, but it is the most latest that's in castaay. Right You U the volleyball is named Wilson. Now you're married to the wonderful Rita Wilson, who I love, I adore. We all do Was that by design because it could have been called Sald Jesus? Could have been. It was written by Bill Broles. and that p That movie took about six years to figure out. Bill Broles and I started talking about it and we didn't we weren't shooting it until six years later And he came up with the idea of a volleyball, and he named it Wilson in honor of my beautiful bride. We've been married it'll be thirty four years in next wee. H for applause No for applause. Yeah for you. So no, it could have been And I think we wanted the There you go.. Thank you. Thank. Well Jesus Christ, that is a whole new level. Yeah. I'm likered. I'm like Fred Yeah. This is Now, you know,, but it brings me to Finch. Finch seems like it's got some qualities it's, I mean, if I was a hack studio executive, I'd say it's it's castaway meets Martian All movies are like that now. All movies are like that Yeah, Aren't they all cinchul that you take a it's I suppose O the waterfront meets Powell Joey by way of paw patrol. movies are all kind of pop we ever. But what you need is a relatable every man that is empathetic, sympathetic, can alpha and beta inside a page. I mean, you are the man that conservice all things. I came up through that era which every genre movie was about somebody who could not be killed or defeated, you know, the cop that could not be filled. I' with you The fighter who could who never lost the And so I would, you know, a geeky guy with a big butt, a big nose and a squeaky voice. I took all the jobs away from Will By the way, I do have a big I have what's called a pro dumper. Well, you can't drive a spike with a tack haammer as I have heard in this way. I just have a really quick castaway story that we might cut out of this, And Tom, I think I told you this I was working on Will and Grace with somebody who worked on the show and we went after to his house after a taping one night and we got super, super, super stoned And we'll know this won't be cut. Yeah. we had super, super, super stoned And he said, look, I got a copy of Castaway. I got the DVD. Let's fast forward it to the plane crash because the effects are so crazy. Let's get totally high and watch L how do they do that, right? And so we so he just moved into this house. It was this brand new equipment And we're and I'm sitting in the back of his screening room. And he's up the front. He just moved into this crazy house.' gorgeous and he had no idea how his own equipment worked. So so he'm sitting in the back seat and he can't get the DVD to play. And I said, Oh no, that's is that a Sony? Totally high out of my mind. I go, is that a Sony He goes, Yeahah, I go, o, they're voice activated. Those are the new ones. You don't even know what you have. You have to speak the name of the movie into the machine after you put it in. And he goes, what are you talking about? I go, just listen to me, You have to say the name of the movie as you put it into the DVD player. He's like, are you serious? I go one hundred percent. I just read about these. So he turns back to the machine with his back to me and he goes cast away and it didn't play and he waited to beat and then he did it again. he goes cast away And you turned behind me. I was I couldn't breathe. I was laughing. So c. It' Bob Zamck is on that. he never cuts to the outside of the plane. That's one of the reasons why that plane crashes is go J just from the cool Just from the perspective of inside the Yeah Is of God kind of stuff. there That's Bob. Now, Tom, with all of your incredible set experience, was that what drew you, wasas it part of what drew you to the director's chair just the effort to sort of streamline things because you knew probably more than a lot of the directors you may have been working with? No, I think directing in that becomes sort of a bit of an ego thing because You become convinced that you know more than you actually do. But Jason seriously.. But then you try it and you're like, oh my God, this is hard. I believe every actor should direct. I think every director should have to act. I think we should all be writing and producing because you find out how hard it is to do that other job from an actor's perspective, it's like, you know, you got somebody saying, that was pretty good. try it again and you want to say to him, you realizeed I'm on a horse Weeping because my dog died and I'm trying to remember six pages of dialogue at the same. Do you realize it's a little harder than it is? M, let's try it again. That along with the same thing of an actor saying, Hey, are we gonna shoot this or what? Are we shooting or what? Right. You have to realize everybody has nine million things going on their head and also well look, we're all storytellers. At some point, we can have a sense of what might fit into our mouths a little bit better Maybe some options. It goes back to the thing Dan Sullivan always said, which have an idea in your pocket. you know, haveave something that you can come out and say, this isn't on the page, but let me show you something else. So since you have directed, when you do come to the set as an actor with an idea in your pocket, are you sensitive to that there might actually be a plan in place that that director and that been working on for weeks and that your idea might might disassemble the House of M.uck, there might not be room for it. So then you try it once and they say don't do that. and then you don't do it. Right You know, it's pretty pretty relatively easy stuff. Is that desire to direct still still burning in you? or I can't say that I have the instinctive powers of being a director. As an actor, I think I know what I want to do Re read it and I say, No, I know what direction I want go to. Directing Ping requires a fidelity and a patience and an ability to communicate that After I've done it for the I've directed two feature films. I've directed a number of episodes of the miniseries that we've done. and I like those because I wrote them more I wrote on them at the same time. but I think I think directors more so then myself as an actor they're born into it. You know, you have to think it's the greatest job in the world. Yeah. And oftentimes it's not. Yeah. Do you enjoy the producing part of it all with with what what you guys I don't really produce? Well, but you guys churn out it's really you shouldn't sluff over. It's the alliances that I make with other people that really do all the work. But the amount of you incredibly prolific as a producer, you and Gary great to play Tony. I mean,s you've employed an incredible amount of people lot of product out there. That's not easy and it's incredibly admirable. Well, I'm very lucky because we have extremely good people and we do this, you know, we have a kind of like a clubhouse office where we lean in each other's doorway and say, you know, is this really a feature film guys? I'm not so sure it's a feature f Should it be like a twelve part minis series instead so we can really examine the theme and then then you make nothing but a ton of alliances. here I'm not a producer because this is what producers do every day. They get on the phone And they try to convince somebody to do something they do not want to do.ight. They tell somebody on the phone that there's no way that they are going to do what that person on the phone really wants That's pretty much it's that dichonomy. I always just say, sure, no matter what they're saying We'll right back Oh boy, you know, we talk about closets a lot on this show. We sure do. kicking the door down, coming on and out.' basically talking about the closets are for clothes. Oh. And I've taken that too much to heart because my closet is stuffed. I've been meaning to go through my closet R I should sell it. I mean ye, listen, you know, what feels familiar in my closet maybe exactly what someone else is searching for. Buy, sell and discover affordable secondhand fashion you'll love with the resale marketplace reselling can feel overwhelming, but I'm deepop Getting started is easy. 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The science of a boring gut Let see website for details And now back to the show Let me ask you how how what what's your feeling about this this transition that we're all in into a bit more of a streaming element married with u you know, box office, you know, theatrical, you know, going to the theater paying and paying some money for a ticket versus having it at home Do you what is your opinion on that as somebody in the business and then also as somebody who is a viewer? it Do you like the fact that there is less pressure now, maybe, with not having to open on the weekend because it's streaming? Do you think that's a pressure that doesn't come upon the actor The movies are always binary. they're either double zero or zero They either work or they do not work And if they don't work, there's no amount of marketing or interviews that you can do Right. In order to in order to change the zeitgeist, the pressure remains absolute The pressure is the speed of light in order to make a great story The audience, I think, if I can pontificate just a little bit here, please do doesn't care where they see it The business does, the marketing, the producers and the studios and the grand entertainment industrial complex, you know U they would, you know, they would like things to be exactly as they were, but we have a business that is forever changing. You know, back in nineteen eighty, when you guys were still in junior high school and u The concept of home video was just beginning. Here's a story that goes back a long way. When we were the first year that Peter and I were in bosom buddies A VHS tape machine, a player at home cost about four thousand dollars. Yeah. Wow.. And the only people that had them were incredibly wealthy, rich people know three quarter inch, were too weren? Well, wasn by that time VHS was just beginning and in a neighborhood maybe a guy named Doug would open up Doug's video rental shop S H OPP E O Ty O Ty V. And on one side one side of the rental space would be VHS tapes and on the other side would be a smaller collection of beteta, Sony Beta maxs. And eventually beta went away and it was all just VHS. And by the time, I think the next year, VHS machines were only like eight hundred dollars and then everybody was renting. And the concept that you could, it was great, of course, to be able to record shows after you went through this arcane kind of like process of on off recording, timing. But the bigger thing was is that if you had kids and you had a VHS of Dumbo, you know They would get up in the morning on their own and put in put in dumbo and you didn't have to get up. This was huge. And here we are in twenty twenty one and the industry is going through something Akin to that change because guess what As Gary Getzman, my partner, Playtone said, you know, sitting at home and watching something on your TV is not that bad.. Right, right, right. You know. Tom, you said to me years ago, you said, you know what, Sean, the business is always changing and you have to adapt and change with it, Not as an actor or the craft of creating things Just you have to keep an open mind and go with the flow of it. otherwise why and if you fight it, you're just Why didn't you take advice? Why didn't you do it? Yeah, what happened there, Sean? Because now you're reduced to hosty't you decide Heartless podcast. Is it heartless? It's heartless. It's heartless. You're known as Dumbo, the host of What do you We were very lucky. We were very lucky at Playtone because one of our first deals was at HBO and this was Old school HBO, you know, no commercials You could say anything you wanted to There was no language, there there was And at that point, HBO, so doing a series or a movie or a miniseries on HBO, that was the gold standard. Yeah. You had It seemed as though you had all the freedom in the world And now you have even more of that, all the freedom in the world. But still comes down to this very basic requirement. you've got to be putting out an awfully good product. otherwise it will disappear into the mist, like many of my early films. Thankks guys. No, no, no, no. But how have you not I'm surprised because it seems like they've tried to gobble up everybody. How have you not when did Marvel call you and say, Tom, we need you to play, you know, doctor Universe? And you know, we needed to do twelve films and you have to play Doctor Universe. Did that ever happen? Be here's the problem. firstirst of all, they've never called me once I can't believe that. No, no, never. And I think that if one of these days they will And they'll say, is there any way you would consider playing? The Secretary of Defense Yeah gu a guy who comes and says, please help us ul for man. We can't We can't survive I'll be one of those guys. I. I don't get to play the punk gunk f. But God bless you because you still make the kinds of films you have continued in an era where most features are, you know, the feature film market is dominated by these huge Some of those are great.' not blnd. No, I'm saying they're great, and I have a lot of friends who do them Well they're not great, but some of them are real. I said some I said some, but some of them are are good. and we all have friends who we adore and who are super talented who make those. I'm not saying that There is it seems like a shrinking market for films that stand on their own because it's a great story and has a great cast blah. And you seem to be one of those people, you're in a very unique position that you are still making those films, which I think is Awesome. we chastised we chastised JJ. Abrams we were like Go and make some comedies you know, we were giving him He wants to. But you know, it's because Tom because because Tom, you are us and you have maintained being us. You as for as famous and as successful of you as you have become for as long as you have been U you have still stayed very Grounded, it seems, and normal. and I would imagine that that is just something you're stuck with from when you were a little kid and you probably got a couple of parents to thank for that, I would imagine Oh parents divorced when I was five years old. Where to go Jason? Where the fucking go? This is why I'm not getting the nominations. This is where Sean really does his research. He would know that. Yeah. Tom, I don't know this. What What did your folks think about you getting into the businessustry, as I call it You know, um I started doing it for fun in high school because I't couldn't believe that you could go and do plays in high school and get credit for it, you know? This is school. I remember specifically thinking that and the first time I walked into a drama class And I did it because some friends of mine from junior high had been in the plays and I just said, what I can come to school and do this. Well, this is screwing around. M this is this is this is goofing off class. I felt the exact same way. I was like, oh my God, everybody's just laughing. This is. both my dad who and eventually my mom because we lived in different places When my mom came and saw me and stuff, they they just thought, well, this is just wonderful, you know, Look what Tommy found. Sean, you've talked about that did you just said it, you had that same thing, right? where you were like, this is amazing. This is so much fun and I can't believe it get to do this in five, six, seven, eight, and thenah then hit it Sean. Hey. Now Seaan, when you did you did promises, promises on. Thank you, everybody. Plause. We neverrought it up. Itels weird. never made into it And And it was a and it was a big hit and you said something to me because Sean and I see each other. socialally, you know, not just on this podcast. So after you had done promises, promises And it was huge because you played the piano on stage and you did all this stuff. It was a big Broadway hit, right? A few a number of years ago. And I said, arere you going to do it again? Do you have the desire to get up and do another Broadway show. And you said something that was I swear I swear to God The only person I heard make the same sort of reference. Are you ready for this? I read it as a quote from Lawrence Olivier. Okay. You said, I'm not sure I have the fire in the belly. Yes, in order to get up and do eightid performances or something. I remember when Lawrence Olivier was older And he was always asked, well, will you ever get up at the national again, what haven't he says No, because it requires a stronger heart. And he wasn't talking about medically, he was talking about all the effort that goes in the fire in the belly. Well, Sean, you would do the eight shows a week. I remember you talk we've talked a lot about promises, promises. But you said something of the same that you were like, I do it, you did it for nine months or a year. How long did you do it for A year A year A year. Rember you saying similar thing that you said to Tom, you said the same thing. I said, would you do it again? And you said I don't know. if I have it in me Yeah, five, six, seven, eight. And then you just went. No, no, it's true, Tom. You know, because and I relayed that to you about about The constant work ethic you have to jump from movie to movie to movie to movie over these decades. and they're all great. and they and your work like Jason said, it's always, always fantastic. You always committed, you're always in it. very. And And I switched that question back to you about filmmaking is do you still have the fire in the belly too travel and get up at five and stay in this hotel in that hotel And and you said, yeah, because what it's what I love to do. And Yeah, I do. Yeah. There's no other way of putting it. There is look, it's more fun than fun. That was something that I learned a long time ago before I got my job at the Great Lake Shakespeare Fest. Work in the theater is more fun than fun And I thought, well, yeah, is this is a great way to spend your day. It's not just a lifestyle or you know life's work. it's a life. I love that. And now listen, out of all of the your entire repertoire all of your credits. is there one to ask you what is your favorite movie? Jesus Chr? No, no, no Is there one movie or experience that was extra special to you that will always stick in your brain You know, I will say look, yes, they all are in so many way. lookook, I've never had a rotten time making a movie. I've always come away from a movie saying, I can't believe they pay me to do this. That was That was fant. Despite their discomforts in the five in the morning, a little harder at the age of sixty five, I guess U the experience of making the movie that thing you do, I cast it with a bunch of friends. We had a great time. It was the beginning of beginning of the company that I formed. So great. I love that movie with Gary Getszman and everybody else down at Playtone. I could do that again and again and again. was Was that the first film you directed That was the first not the first directing gig I had. It was the first feature film And it was it had music in it and it was very it was very personal because it was set in nineteen sixty four. so it was but, you know, every gig is magnificent. The ones that don't that maybe disappoint a little bit are the ones where you don't get to spend enough time doing it Like I was just u I just did two weeks with Wes Anderson in Spain with the Wes Anderson Rpertory compompany. and that was fantastic. And I was bummed out. He said Oh, we got to leave. We've shot out my role. I got I gotta go now. I'd like to like to linker for a little bit. I just got to do a couple days with our buddy Tayka YTT and it was just the greatest experience. And then it was just we did a show for HBO and then I just did his movie and I was like, these were it was like the greatest, most fun month