Drama Queens - Holiday in OTH with Austin Nichols

Episode Date: April 14, 2025

Brulian’s reunited and it feels so good! Austin Nichols joins Sophia and Rob to answer all your fan questions. He reveals what he really thought of High-Five-Gate, which OTH character he’s teaming up with when zombies attack, and why he was so nervous working with the Olsen twins in Holiday in the Sun.Plus, a surprise proposal that took the Drama Queens by complete surprise!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. It may look different, but native culture is alive. My name is Nicole Garcia, and on Burn Sage, Burn Bridges, we aim to explore that culture. Somewhere along the way, it turned into this full-fledged award-winning comic shop. That's Dr. Lee Francis IV, who opened the first Native comic bookshop. Explore his story along with many other native stories on the show, Burn Sage, Burn Bridges. Listen to Burn Sage Burn Bridges. Listen to Burn Sage Burn Bridges on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

What I told people, I was making a podcast about Benghazi. Nine times out of ten, they called me a masochist, rolled their eyes, or just asked, why? Benghazi, the truth became a web of lies. From prologue projects and Pushkin Industries, this is Fiasco, Benghazi. What difference at this point does it make? Listen to Fiasco, Benghazi, on the IHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. First of all, you don't know me. We're all about that high school, drama girl, drama girl, all about them high school queens.

We'll take you for a ride and our comic girl. Drama girl. Cheering for the right team. Drama queens, drama queens. Smart girl, rough girl, fashion but you'll tough girl. You could sit with us, girl. Drama queen, drama queens, drama queens, drama queens, drama queens, drama queens, drama, Drama Queen's Friends and Fam.

We have none other than our very own, Austin Nichols. Should we bring them in here? Hey, buddies. Hi, buddy. Welcome back to the show, pal. Are you at home in Texas at the moment? Yeah, I'm in Austin, and it's gorgeous. It's a beautiful day in paradise.

It's spring, and it's not hot yet, and it's green. It's awesome. Oh, my goodness. That's so fun. Are you, like, are you doing stuff on the lake? What's keeping you busy? Yep, I've been out on the water, getting ready. I'm going to Peru to do this surf trip that I've wanted to do, like, for 20 years.

You're going! And I'm finally going. It's this wave that's like three kilometers long. It's just this thing I've always wanted to do. And I finally said, what am I waiting for? Yeah. So is the idea that you ride the wave for three kilometers? Is that the goal or the hope?

Well, you don't have to. I mean, I think that's part of the attraction. to me is to do something, is to catch something, catch lightning in a bottle, something that's unattainable and natural in the world, in nature, and harness it for as long as you can without having to have a machine. So is the goal then, is this like an operation where you and at least one other buddy, you like park a car down approximately where the wave ends and then you drive back up to the top?

Well, I've done something like that, but this is better because there's a boat. And there's actually going to be drones and cameras. And there's eight people. And basically we just tow each other into the wave. And then you try to ride it all the way in. And then you get picked up in the boat and you go back out. That's so cool. What a dream.

I saw on your Instagram you were doing wall sits in your backyard. Yes, I'm trying to get my legs strong because the thing I'm doing, like you're up for so long that your quads just stop working. Yeah. Sure. Oh, cool. I'm so glad to know, I mean, obviously you are, you're a very prepared person and you're an athlete, but I'm so glad to hear you talk about the fact that you are training for this. I did a dumb, cocky thing that really reads theater kid who knows nothing about her body.

A couple years ago, I was like, ski season, didn't get to go last year, let's hit it, and went up a mountain knife skied a hundred times, not having skied in, essentially two years, because I'd skipped a season, hadn't been in the gym, hadn't done shit, like all through Thanksgiving over the holidays, and halfway down my first run, I was like, my, my quads are going to explode. I'm going to die. I'm like, I want to die on this mountain just because I forgot that I needed to like, I don't know, do some squats before I tried to do this again. Yeah. It was very humbling and deeply embarrassing for me. I committed the same party foul

I was asked to go on this it was sort of like an interview show but the whole thing was like you taught you do the interview on the chairlift and then you snowboard or ski all the way down the mountain and I was like can you snowboard? I'm like yeah man

I snowboarded in high school mind you I snowboarded like four times in high school and when we shot this I was 35 years old and it didn't occur to me until I was getting off the lift that I was like oh farts I haven't done this in like 18 years and like you I paid the price

but it probably made a much much better show it did the falls were more dramatic or just the flailing the language was more colorful oh yeah so cool

basically what we've learned so far today is that Austin will be the one on the wave and Rob and I would likely be the friends on the beach with the beers

waiting for you when you're done dude I'll be holding that big towel for you with a churro or a corn dog whatever you're into I want to be there too. Great. We love it. Well, we asked fans for questions and they did not disappoint.

So if you'll allow it, how about we just jump right in? Let's jump in. Okay. First one, what did you steal from set, if anything? A fake Eames chair. Well, we did. Yeah. We put that thing right in the back of my Audi that Rob Ed Hardy bombed one time. Yeah. So in last season, like I think I think, Sophia, tell me if I'm wrong, but it was maybe like there was maybe two, one or two shooting days left. Yeah. And we knew that the Brooks house was getting wrapped. Yep. We'd done shooting in there, and we were like, we got to get that chair.

Those chairs are so expensive. Yeah, and the, like, I wouldn't never pay for one. No. Wait, so who got the chair? You stole it together, but who got the loot? I think I carried it. Did I carry it and we put it in, whose truck? We put it in the back of my car.

little hatchback station wagon. I don't know how we even got it in there, but we made it work. That was a good, some good thief. It was fun. And it, and it's nice to be like a gentle thief and feel like you're in a buddy cop movie because the two of us were like running and then hiding behind a wall and then running and then Austin would be like, I'll go, duck. And, you know, we like made it all the way through the stages with these two pieces of furniture, the chair and the ottoman. And by the time we got in the car, I was like, well, that's going to be my favorite part of this whole thing. Just the caper of it.

Absolutely. Yeah, it was the adventure. Yeah. Made a little documentary. I think I definitely got clothes over the years. But that's kind of, that's cool, sort of normal. What about you? Rob, did you steal anything?

Man, same as you. I closed, but then the only thing I could think of was I still have to this day some fortitude cards. Cute. Clay's business card. So talk about being a gentle thief. While you guys were stealing large pieces of designer furniture, knock off. Knock off. I was stealing about five or six business cards.

Hilarious. I love that. I still have business cards from Good Sam. So I have these business cards that say I'm a cardiothoracic surgeon. They make me feel very smart. So if I would ask you what you stole from set, but I know you have a storage unit full of mold. multiple boxes of things from the show.

So we don't have the time for that, do we? No, I probably have like four plastic bins of stuff from over the years. But honestly, the funniest thing is we capered a chair and an ottoman together. And the most, like, large stuff I've, quote, stole from set. I stole for Hillary. Like, I took her, I took this big, beautiful, like, maroon silk lampshade with tassels and the standing lamp, and then this really cool, like, I think they called them telephone tables, a chair with like a little attached side table

from the 50s that your phone would sit on. And they were from Red Bedroom Records. And when we wrapped out the sets, obviously she wasn't with us. And I was like, this is bullshit. I'm taking her stuff. And so I had to get the chair in Ottoman out of the tiny station wagon to then go back and lift the rest of the stuff for her. Nice.

You did some damage, Sophia. I did. Well done. But listen, I own it. Here we are. That's the stuff I did. You earned it. You earned it.

It's also funny that the idea that you guys even were trying to be sneaky about it because no one would have said boo. But you don't feel like that in the moment. You feel like you're going to get busted. Yeah. Sure. Totally. But you're right. I don't think anybody would have said anything.

No. The crew liked you. I mean, come on. Yeah. No, you guys would have been fine. All right. Did you know from the beginning that Brooke was going to be your end. game. I think I kind of did, but I'm trying to remember how things went down. It was like,

you're going to, we're going to explore the past with Peyton, and then you're going to be Brooks New Love Interest, and then, yeah, I kind of, but I didn't know it was going to go four seasons and end in marriage and kids. I didn't know that, I don't think. Yeah. I don't think we really could have, you know, especially because when you came in season six, we didn't really know what was going to happen with the show. And then we wound up getting the seven and eight pick up together, which had never happened before. And to get two seasons picked up at the same time is so surreal. So yeah, I guess I wonder if maybe the reason by the middle of season eight they had the characters get married was because everybody thought we were going to be done at the end

of eight. Yeah, we weren't sure about doing nine. Remember, I think. We weren't sure. No. Yeah. I remember they came to the cast and were like, hi, how would you guys feel about a nine? And people were like, eh, how about half a season?

Yeah. And so I think that's why we did the truncated 13, right? Well, you know what I remember? And I was really proud of us all. Like, we grew up on the show, you know, especially those of us who'd been there since. we were 21. I remember just not knowing anything about the business. And by the time they came to all of us to be like, okay, if you're all into a season nine, let's talk about it. What I loved and I have this memory of all of us being like, it feels cool. We don't feel like we're ready to be done done. But we also know we're all going to need to get jobs after this. So how about we wrap by the end of December so we can have the next pilot season free? And then it was like, it was like summer camp because you're not, you're never going to book a show between July and December, at least in the traditional network world. And so we were like, wait, we get to go do 13 more episodes and dink around with our friends.

And then like, I guess we all start auditioning again. Oh my God, what a time. But I like that we had that foresight. Yeah, that's good. I had never seen, and we'll get into the, we're going to talk about this on the episode recap as well but I had never seen your guys' stuff from season six I had only I knew of it from listening to the podcast

before I joined so it was so fun and the flashback montage of Julian and Brooke it was so cool because like Austin I knew your hair got cut too high on the back when you got there and so as I was watching I was like oh shit there is the actual haircut he was talking about and like here's the edgier Julian and it was it was so fun to watch that Yeah, I agree.

That montage made me emotional because you see all these iconic moments. Like the one that gets me is when, so if you help me remember, it was outside the USO concert when I first got there. No, no, when was this? It was when you said, I'm finally ready to let someone in. I think that's when, isn't that when Brooke goes to see Julian on his movie set? That sounds right, because it's all lit and it looks like beautiful. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It looks like we're outside.

That's what it is. That's one of my favorite moments in clips. Me too. It may look different, but Native culture is very alive. My name is Nicole Garcia, and on Burn Sage, Burn Bridges, we aim to explore that culture. It was a huge honor to become a television writer because it does feel oddly, like, very traditional. It feels like Bob Dylan going electric, that this is something we've been doing for a kind of That's weird.

You carry with you a sense of purpose and confidence. That's Sierra Taylor Ornelis, who with Rutherford Falls became the first native showrunner in television history. On the podcast Burn Sage Burn Bridges, we explore her story, along with other Native stories, such as the creation of the first Native Comic-Con or the importance of reservation basketball. Every day, Native people are striving to keep traditions alive while navigating the modern world, and bringing our culture into the mainstream. Listen to Burn Sage Burn Bridges

on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. What I told people, I was making a podcast about Benghazi. Nine times out of ten, they called me a masochist, rolled their eyes, or just asked, why? Benghazi, the truth became a web of lies. It's almost a dirty word, one that connotes conspiracy theory.

Will we ever get the truth about the Benghazi massacre? Bad faith political warfare and, frankly, bullshit. We kill the ambassador just to cover something up. You put two and two together. Was it an overblown distraction or a sinister conspiracy? Benghazi is a rosetta stone for everything that's been going on for the last 20 years. I'm Leon Nefok from Prologue Projects and Pushkin Industries. This is Fiasco, Bengh.

What difference at this point does it make? Yeah, that's right. Lock her up. Listen to Fiasco, Benghazi on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Catching up. Somebody wants to know what does a day in the life of Austin look like? And if I may, I kind of want to add to that. because you have just completed this movie that you have been working on for so long that you're so excited about.

And I know you're about to open a film festival in Dallas with the Salamander King. So I want you to talk to the fans about what a day in the life of making this movie has looked like for you. Oh, my God. Okay. Yes, I'm so excited and proud. It's finally finished. and we're going to Dallas at the end of April. It feels so good to like finish something and, you know,

see it all the way through from beginning to end. But, you know, there was three years of just talking and sending people a pitch or a script or just get a phone call or a Zoom and nothing happens. And about a year and a half ago, I guess, Jennifer, my producer came on, Jennifer Kuchai, and she, that was the moment where the ball started rolling and so thankful to her. And we raised the money pretty quickly for a small indie. And we shot it in Austin in last June.

And Post took me all the way to, I guess, about a month ago when I finished the sound mix. And we're in a festival. and like that feels a year sounds or just under a year sounds slow but it was fast like I can't believe we're already done and you know in a festival and now we're looking to you know go sell it to buyers and I you know I'm kind of rambling here but I just I've never felt this feeling of sort of pride in completing something and just starting and completing something that feels just so hard.

It's like the Sisyphian task of rolling, you know, the boulder up the mountain. Yes. Man, and I just can't wait to do it again. I just can't wait. Oh, buddy. And so often what we do is that we're either joining something halfway in or we're just doing the starting stuff and then handing off to someone else. So it's so cool that, I mean, you saw this thing through from inception to premiere.

like that's awesome that is a huge accomplishment man you should be proud of yourself so happy and had so many great people by the way peter koalski was my dp our dp on one tree hill for some of you may not know his name but he was such an you know like important part of one tree hill and um i was so lucky to have such a crack team because peter was working on a tv show in austin and i went and directed that and then i got all that crew to come and they did been working together for four years. So I just had this team that was just so dialed in to each other. Yeah.

That was part of why we ran so smoothly. We didn't have problems. Every day was everyone just laughing and having fun. And I never thought my first movie would be a comedy. Never. I'm going to make some dark, indie, crazy, spectacle, darling. Deep artsy thing. Yeah.

And the first thing I makes a comedy, and I just want to keep making comedies now. It was just so fun. And it's funny the way life happens to you in that way and something you didn't expect becomes maybe your next, you know, path. But to get a little bit more specific about like my day, I mean... Yeah, what does a day look like as a director?

I love to... I wake up early. I love to have some coffee. Sometimes I'll go to the coffee shop on South Congress and have a little soap. time with some local Austin coffee stop, not the, I call myself a coffee slut, but these local coffee connoisseurs, there's this little group and we gather and drink and talk in the morning early and then I go home and I don't do this every day, but I like to exercise in the morning if I can and then I get into writing and I'll sit down and I'll write for a while.

And then writing is weird because the schedule, like everyone's writing habits are different. I like to write in the morning, get some done. And I like to move and walk or do something, take a break, have lunch, get away from it, and then come back to it later, whether that's in the afternoon or at night. And that helps. I don't know, there's something about like flow state and like, I don't know how it all works, but getting the blood pumping and stepping away and then coming back is really helpful. If I can't write all day.

It just, for sure, crazy. Yeah, that totally tracks. my um i was talking through something with my therapist about just like you know when what are tools for resilience when time is so jammed like march for whatever reason i felt like i was working 24 hours a day just like meeting to meeting to meeting to meeting and it was making me feel nuts and he was like i'm telling you i want you to start setting 30 minute timers and if you have to be on a zoom or in a thing for an hour set a timer for an hour and then just just go on a walk for five minutes.

And then you can come back. And I started just trying to reclaim minutes in certain spaces. And like, I feel you when you say that helps your flow state. It felt like it brought me back down to earth. Like I was so high strung from the stress. And then it like, just five minutes here and there. And I got right back into my body and was like, whoa. Yeah.

And the one thing I also discovered by accident was the little, coffee group friend thing going in the morning, satiates my community societal thing and I don't have FOMO the rest of the day. So if I can be social, talk to some people for a little while, then I can

go focus and I'm not like wondering what everyone else is doing. That's so smart. Let's check Instagram for a false sense of community. Yeah. Yeah, exactly. Well, it's funny. It's like, I remember someone just saying like, go touch grass. And it was that same thing where it's like, just

go. outside. Yeah. Get away from screens. Go out. Take your shoes and socks off. Walk around in the lawn for a little bit. And it's like, it's a truth though, man. It is such a good reset. All right. So another question here says, Sophia said she rewrote her wedding vows herself. Did you rewrite or punch up Julian's? I did. Come on. Austin's laughing because mine were trash. Like what we saw in the script, we both were like, you got to be kidding. You've made Brooke Davis wait eight seasons for and the fans are so amped and like we're doing call and repeat with like the traditional vows everybody does no and so I I had to and I had to open with a joke because it felt right for

her well I thought you did a great job it was it was really well well done and glad you fought for that you know I think you know I don't there's no there's no blame or throwing anybody under the bus but we thought that maybe the church was weird the location was we wanted to do something outside with lights and like trees and you know something a little more magical you know with you know how it is with shooting like it's expensive and locations and money and you get to season eight and people are not as don't have the energy they had before and shit like that happens and you know that was my one thing was really the location yeah i kind of i kind of i kind of I wanted something a little more magical, I guess.

I think we wanted it to feel like that scene you brought up from the montage. Like when Brooke and Julian meet on that soundstage and it looks like they're in the park and then all the lights go on, like we wanted that for the wedding. And then we got, you know, no shade, but like we got brown wood walls. And we were like, oh, okay. No, we can shade. It's fair because also before you lost the company, before Brooke lost the company, you guys were at this stupidly palatial estate with like a never-ending fucking

fucking go what do you call that a garden maze yeah so it is a little weird that you guys went from that to being like a church no they would have spent some money brook wants the dreamy wedding and you know i will say this because i was watching it going in watching it knowing that and how we felt about it then and i was going to watch with fresh eyes and go how does it play now and truthfully it bothered me a little but what was happening cut through it well enough the emotion cut through well enough that I went that's what's important and that's what I'm in an audience is hopefully connecting to and not the location so yeah watching it with fresh eyes I was I was happy to see that like there was emotion and there was something meaningful there

and that was what took center stage over the the beauty and having because I didn't know you guys had an issue with that, so I was truly watching this with fresh eyes, I didn't bump at all. Good. Yeah, that's good. You guys did a great job. I wasn't, to be honest to you,

I maybe noticed the church and the master, and then after that, I was along for the ride. Totally. Yeah. Well, and something else that I think helps. I mean, first of all, you and I collaborating creatively on the language, I thought was so important because there's,

you know, things that you say that Julian says that Brooke then echoes and the kind of call in response to two people who've been through a lot together, um, who are on this sort of shared road now. I liked that we personalized it and didn't just do the repeat after me. I, Brooke, take you Julian, like womp, womp. And the other thing that played so well about it for me, given that we didn't get to do the sort of exterior nighttime, beautifully lit, you know, fairy tale thing was the montage that you referenced

because the whole walk down the aisle to marry me, you actually get to see all those things. You see us on the scooter and with the lights and, you know, all the adventures these two have had together. So the room just kind of being a box still felt bigger because they used that device and I thought it was really smart. Yeah, absolutely.

Yeah, I think if had all of those things not worked as well as they did, there would have been more room to pay attention to the setting. But like I said, I didn't notice it. There was so much emotion in this episode, like with you and Joy. Yeah. Brooke and Haley with Victoria. Yeah. Jamie in the beginning is so cute.

And then Antoine knocks it out of the park in this episode. Seriously. He's a star. Funny and so good in this episode. It made me giggle at watching it now. They do. So funny. Okay, I'm going to cherry pick a little bit here.

I like this one. This is a little kind of go back in time, perhaps. Who do you wish Julian would have picked as his best man? This is assuming, I guess. Let's just say Jamie's not available. It's not that you don't like Jamie, but let's say he was unavailable that day. He had a prior placement. Great question.

You know, the whole thing was weird to me because this joke of like Julian not having guy friends was, which was funny and it worked. I'm trying to think back to like, was there ever anybody that Julian got close with that was a guy? I wish that you and I would have had more stuff because we were the two quirky kind of offbeat guys and I just feel like we could have had such a cool, fun, nerdy bro thing. Yes. I pick you. Hey. Yes. Hold on.

Hold on. Clay. Yeah. I know we haven't talked in a while, but like back, you know, I always liked you. And I thought we had, you know, like a great connection. And it's happening. I don't know. I just feel like we're kind of on the same page with a lot of things.

And I'd really, I'd really, would you consider being my best man? Yes, I'll marry you. Oh, oh, your best man. Yeah, yeah. I'd love to be your best man. Totally. That's what I. Yeah.

Yeah. A thousand times yes. This is great because I've written so much fan fiction about this that now it finally is going to pay off. I love it. Okay, wait, if we're going to cherry pick some things. Cherry pick. Wait, this is a really fun one because it jumps around in our shows

and I like this alternate reality stuff. Who would you take? I think it needs to be a character. Who would you take from one tree hill into the walking dead and why? Oh, my God. Well, you know, actually it's funny because like Hillary went on Lee Morris was on there were some other people that were on

Montreal that were in the Walking Dead too Leaded Walking Dead? Yeah that's awesome Who would I take from Montreal? Well okay so I would answer it as like a survival ant like who who would be the most like hmm my gut reaction

is James Lafford it is Nathan because he's an athlete and he's strong and he's big and he's a he's a leader he's humble people will follow him, not like greedy and power corrupt. Nathan's such an honorable man. He would be such a great leader in the zombie apocalypse.

I feel like, yeah, my knee jerk was Dan, but then I immediately shot that down because Dan would stab you in the back the second he needed to. Well, and that in that world would probably be really good for a while until he stabs in the back. Until he ruins your life. Okay, and this is a related question. Another person asked,

Do you think Julian would have lasted longer than Spencer in the Walking Dead? Well, it's so funny because both of these characters were not, would neither of them would do well in the zombie apocalypse. So I would have to say it's a tie. Like they both would do equally horrible. I love it. Julian would be like, should we have a play? Can we stage a play?

People need to be entertained. We should entertain them. Yeah, yeah. It may look different, but native culture is very alive. My name is Nicole Garcia, and on Burn Sage, Burn Bridges, we aim to explore that culture. It was a huge honor to become a television writer because it does feel oddly, like, very traditional. It feels like Bob Dylan going electric, that this is something we've been doing for a hundred of years. you carry with you a sense of purpose and confidence.

That's Sierra Taylor Ornellis, who with Rutherford Falls became the first native showrunner in television history. On the podcast, Burn Sage, Burn Bridges, we explore her story, along with other Native stories, such as the creation of the first Native Comic-Con or the importance of reservation basketball. Every day, Native people are striving to keep traditions alive while navigating the modern world, influencing and bringing our culture into the mainstream. Listen to Burn Sageburn Bridges on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. What I told people, I was making a podcast about Benghazi.

Nine times out of ten, they called me a masochist, rolled their eyes, or just asked, why? Benghazi, the truth became a web of lies. It's almost a dirty word. one that connotes conspiracy theory. Will we ever get the truth about the Benghazi massacre? Bad faith political warfare and, frankly, bullshit. We kill the ambassador just to cover something up. You put two and two together.

Was it an overblown distraction or a sinister conspiracy? Benghazi is a rosetta stone for everything that's been going on for the last 20 years. I'm Leon Nefok from Prologue projects and Pushkin Industries. This is Fiasco, Benghazi. What difference at this point does it make? Yeah, that's right. Lock her up. Listen to Fiasco, Benghazi on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. What were your thoughts on the whole high-five gate with Julian?

Okay. I may have said this before, and forgive me if I'm being repetitive, but it's one of of those things that you hate in the moment and you feel like such an idiot and you feel like you're being taken advantage of and you're being made fun of, then you find out years later that it's one of the most remembered moments that fans love and they ask for a high five in person. And it's still kind of embarrassing when it happens, but it's also sweet that people remember something and it makes them laugh. yeah so i was i've always been it's always been a tug of war of like god that was so dumb but oh my god

it's like it caught on and sometimes i say this a lot i've said this when i'm directing now when i say to actors when they'd feel weird about something i go sometimes the cheesiest stupid stuff is the is the best stuff well this came up recently i'm trying to think rob you might remember who was on with us was it i can't remember if it was steep or someone, somebody had joined us for an episode and we were talking about some of that like embarrassing whatever that they gave to Julian. And whoever was with us was like, yeah, man, this idea that they wanted to, you know, emasculate the swaggy movie director from L.A. backfired so hard because Austin is so freaking likable and so charming and

committed with his whole chest so he doesn't look silly he looks fucking adorable that's me yeah that was just me every time we talk yeah every time we talk about you buddy i always said i'm like to me it's it is the best thing because it was listen i agree i think everything you felt in the moment to me is accurate like you were kind of being taken advantage of you were definitely being made fun of it was an attempt to masculate you but because you played it so earnestly and you leaned in, it completely backfired. And the thing that's funny is, had they given you cool guy leading man lines, I still do not think Julian would have ended up as lovable as he did from you turning their crap into gold. Thank you. That's, I mean,

I don't even know what to say. That's so. It's just a testament to like how likable you are. Like, I say this all the time, like, you are infinitely likable as Julian. Thank you. And so it's so funny to me that's like all of these attempts I'm like wow what what you were hoping to undermine you inadvertently built up yeah wow and the willingness to commit to a story like no matter where it's going to go is it's kind of our job but I think especially as young actors it can be hard you don't want to feel stupid you don't want to um you don't necessarily want to be the butt of a joke and then I think you get older and you're like oh my God it's the best thing to be the joke in the scene.

Yeah. But it, yeah, watching it back, we are always just like, God, he's so charming. It doesn't matter what you, it doesn't matter what you do or what they gave you. Like, you just crushed it, man. So anytime you're having a bad day, you just FaceTime me and Rob. And we will tell you you're perfect. I worked with this director one time. And I remember there was some issues with the script or something.

And she said to me, she went, I'll get my revenge. I'll shoot their script. and I love that and to me that's kind of like what you did you were like okay I'm actually not going to try to make this cool at all I'm going to do it exactly as written and how to turn out

it was not emasculating it was wildly endearing that's interesting wow yeah it was great okay I actually think this transitions into this next question really well because you're obviously reflecting on this character that you built what do you think

you share with Julian what similarities do you have to that character you know I was actually I was doing a little jog this morning and I was thinking about this while I was jogging this is kind of an answer it's not exactly the answer but when I was a young actor I wanted to act and I wanted to play characters and I wanted to like change everything and wear wigs and just be different and not be me and like always just transform. That was what I thought was interesting. And I remember when I got the call to do One Tree Hill, I had to get on a plane and go to Wilmington so fast.

I was like, there's no time to create a character. And I remember saying to myself for the first time I said, I'm just going to be myself. And this will be an experiment to see what happens. And lo and behold, it was the first time that I had an audience really connected me. and I don't know if that really answers that question but it was such a big lesson because I actors want to act and they actually need we need directors we need other people to help us because sometimes the difference between an actor who thinks they're doing something really

good but then somebody steps in and says all I need you to do is just like not not kind of be so excited. And if you just actually just use your voice instead of like you're dropping into this like voice, you know, if you just actually just talk like you right now, I'm going to cry. Less Batman, more Bruce Wayne. Thank you. Thank you.

Yeah. And I learned that on One Tree Hill. I learned that playing Julian because I committed to just being Austin in that role. And look, you know, the question is, what's. similar. I mean, certainly there are things that are different, 100%. But the overall, from 40,000 feet, it was like, I'm going to go to work and speak from my heart every day. Yeah, it comes across. I mean, knowing you personally, I think, like, isn't that what we do? I mean, I don't know. Some people have like big old methods. I bring a lot of Rob to everything I do, like where it's

applicable, 100%. And that's why you're so good and why people connect. It's all about connection. And when people, I see this so much now, when someone is trying to do something, there immediately is a barrier between the audience and them. And that's why you always, it's so annoying because I was always an actor who was trying to do something. And that director always like less, less, less, no, no, don't do that. Less, less, less, less. And it took me so many years to understand what that meant. has nobody ever said the audience isn't going to connect with you

no one ever said that right yeah they just said don't do that do less that's a great Josh Brolin story where I guess he was a big like process actor when he was doing Goonies when he was very young I saw this and I guess he was like taught

when they were like going through a cave and I guess he went up to is it George was it Spielberg yeah he went up to Spielberg and was like so is the cave like is it like a metaphor for like are we coming out of the womb? And Spielberg is basically like,

how about you're a kid walking through a tunnel? And say your line. And say your line. Yeah. So genius. It's a perfect example. Perfect. It is a perfect example.

And I have to. And this is perfect because we are talking about movie making. I have to tell you, we got great questions from the fans for you. And we're barely scratching the surface. But one of the questions we got the most. The most was that they are so desperate for details on an early filmic project of yours, Holiday in the Sun.

They want to know what it was like working with the Olson twins. And more than 20 people asked if you were nervous to kiss Ashley. And I feel like we've got to give the fans what they want. You know, happy to. I learned pretty quickly when I was in Wintry Hill that there was a similar audience from those movies. actually movies to one tree hill and there was a lot of overlap there so people say stuff a lot um i was definitely nervous because mary kate was 15 and i was i think oh 18 or 19 or maybe even 20 i don't remember but i was too old and it felt weird and it felt wrong and you know i looked

very young so watching the movie i don't think you notice i'm real tall and skinny and like nerdy but I don't think you can tell there's a big age difference but for my brain I was like she's 15 this is not this is weird so I remember talking to producers and I remember talking to even her dad was there and I just wanted everybody to like

I was like is this okay with you guys and they were all like oh don't worry about it nobody was you know nobody seemed concerned and I was very concerned but it turned out fine it was all very G-rated. Yeah. But I think that really speaks to your character, though,

because listen, they'd been acting since they were little. It's not like a 15-year-old girl was going to have her first kiss ever, you know, with a guy five years older than her. But the fact that as the older actor in the room, you were like, hey, how are we going to address this? Because yes, this is our job. but also we got to acknowledge what's happening here. And I, and I...

They're children. Yeah, and I really just like, I respect that about you so much. Thank you. Thank you. It was, in a way, it's one of those things that's similar to the high five moment where when you're young and you're trying to make your career as an actor and do all these cool projects, when you have this one that you feel is maybe a little silly.

and I had to give that up years ago because people love it and I had to put away my crap and all my all my junk in my head and go people like this thing and why am I being a jerk about it like it's only

it's only paid me back a million times with love like so that's another lesson I've learned from you know doing what we do is you know sometimes it's the same thing. Sometimes those things that you don't think maybe aren't like super cool or hip, a lot of people love them. Yeah. I love that. Yeah. Well, you heard it from Austin Nichols. Sometimes the cheesy stuff is the best stuff. That's right. Austin, you're one of my favorite people I don't get to see regularly. So thank you for making the time. Oh, thanks guys. I miss you guys. And I know,

we missed you in Wilmington. I know. I miss you guys too. I saw pictures and I was really sad, but there will be another, and we'll be another again. Yeah, and you've got to go take that movie to a festival. I can't wait. Where can people follow that, Austin? Where can they get info on the movie? So I would, I would look at follow my Instagram, Austin Nichols, for now until we get closer to like a sale and a release. Okay. It doesn't have its own social media yet. Yeah. You know, buyers, sales agents and buyers, distributors, they get weird when you do too much early. Totally. We've got to kind of wait.

All right. Yeah, I'll put it out there on my Instagram. Okay. Thanks for joining us today, bud. Thanks for having me. Yeah. Hey, thanks for listening. Don't forget to leave us a review.

You can also follow us on Instagram at Drama Queens, O-TH, or email us at Drama Queens at iHeartRadio.com. See you next time. We're all about that high school drama girl, drama girl, all about them high school queens. We'll take you for a ride in our comic girl. Drama, girl, cheering for the right team. Drama queens, drama queens.

Smart girl, rough girl, fashion but you'll tough girl. You could sit with us, girl. Drama queens, drama queens, drama queens, drama queens, drama queens, drama queens. It may look different, but native culture is alive. My name is Nicole Garcia and on Burn Sage, Burn Bridges, we aim to explore that culture. Somewhere along the way, it turned into this full-fledged award-winning comic shop. That's Dr. Lee Francis IV, who opened the first native comic bookshop. Explore his story along with many other native stories on the show, Burn Sage Burn Bridges.

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