Drama Queens - Snack Break! ᐧ EP609 with Austin Nichols

Episode Date: February 5, 2024

Austin Nichols is here with all the details regarding the inception of Julian Baker!  Find out about the drama that unfolded his very first day of filming, an on set crush-triangle, and why he sat by the phone waiting for a call to do the pod!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.

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 queen 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. Well, hello, everyone.

We have a treat today, guys. We sure do. Are we allowed to call him a treat? He's a snack. He's a snack, right? Yeah. A total snack treat. Drama Queen's friends and fam, we have none other than our very own, Austin Nichols, Julian Baker,

here with us today to talk about the inception of his character. Should we bring him in here? Oh, Julia Baker, that bad boy, do it. Where is he? Hey! Hey! There you are. Here I am.

You look so sharp with this haircut, Austin. The last time we saw you, you looked like Jesus. What's going on right now? You know, I had long hair for a while and, you know, I've just been a bum over here in Texas. And then when I saw you guys in November, I was, I had a mullet for Halloween. You did. That's right. So what spawned the cleanup?

Yeah, you know, I'm planning to direct this movie here in the street. spring in Austin, Texas. And we're raising money and we're starting that whole process. You can add it for a while and it's, you know, it's an indie comedy about a struggling, beloved, but crappy public golf course. And it's like dodgeball.

It's about a family who just wants to protect their silly little home. And it's real sweet and real funny. And it's kind of based on a true place, a real place here in Austin that I grew up. So there's that. And then I've been, I fell back in love with the short story, which I did a lot of in college. And I've been doing that. And I have a couple of them up on Kindle and Apple Books.

And people are starting to read them. And that's been really satisfying. He's in real life, Julia Baker. It's like, did we all just morph into who we played? It feels like we did. That is funny, isn't it? Did you write the screenplay for? the film that you're getting ready to direct now, too?

I did not write this one, and it's surprising because I always thought that the first movie I directed I would write, but my friend Drew wrote this, and I read it, and I just flipped out. I was like, we got to do it. Awesome. I'm so happy to see all of you, and it's so, it's always such a treat and such a pleasure. You know, it's not often that, you know, you work on something for so much of your life, especially young, formative years. And anytime I see you guys, my heart just, you know, melts and um it's it's truly special to be a part of um this whole story yeah well we saw you for the first time last episode and sophia and i had quite a time talking shit about you um it was real fun

so for this episode but we only got a glimpse of you last episode so for this one this was like a super julian heavy episode they threw a ton of shit at you super super super fast first question is Have you ever watched the show? Did you watch yourself in it when we were doing it? So I don't think, because I just watched my first two episodes this morning. And I don't think I ever watched those. Because I'm literally watching the show with fresh eyes going, I don't think I ever saw these episodes.

And it's weird now because with social media, people put clips and scenes. I've seen like Peyton and Julian in L.A. Like I've seen those scenes or I've seen like memes. So they're very familiar, but a lot of the other scenes with all the other characters, I was like, I mean, I couldn't believe what James was doing was slam ball. I'm like, this guy's a professional athlete. I don't think I ever saw them. And so I was watching them with fresh eyes and it was really fun.

And also, the one thing I was struck by was when I see you, Hillary, a trick at the bathrooms. Yeah. And the shit that came out of my mouth, I was like, what? mother fucker at the time i wasn't aware of what i was doing yeah well this is perfect because we have to read the synopsis we have to tell the audience what episode we're doing what happened in this episode will you do the honors will you do this for us hey here we go synopsis episode 609 season six episode night sympathy for the devil air date november 3rd 2008 jamie and haley really worried that nathan might injure himself playing slam ball lucas agonizes over whether or how to write

write the key script scene Julian demands, Keith's death. Peyton wrestles with the right time to tell Lucas about her and Julian's past relationship. Owen pulls some of Brooks' own moves on her to get her attention. Favorite scene. Marvin is struggling to define boundaries with Gigi. Ooh. Oh, Derek Walsh, writer Mike Daniels.

Oh, we love Mike Daniels. I actually got some interesting info from Mike about this episode. I think it's this episode. It might be the next one. but it's better if I bring it up later. It'll fit in later. Okay. Mystery, the lead.

But I just want to, I want to close the loop on this, this weird thought I was having because I think sometimes, when I'm playing characters, it probably happens to a lot of actors. Maybe you guys. I play a lot of bad guys. And I guess I just, you know,

drink my own Kool-Aid and I just think I'm like, not that bad of a guy. I remember doing these scenes and like people in the crew are coming up to me and going, and wow, you're really scared. Like, you're playing a bad dude. You know, people of the crew always say stuff like that to me. And I'm like, really? Why?

Yeah. What are you seeing? I'm so clueless when it comes to this. Are you a method actor, Austin? Because you did come on to that set. Here's the thing, because we all had been living together, you know, for so many years at this point. And you came in the new guy and you were just like, I'm cooler than you guys. And also, I'm really handsome.

And there was such a likeability to it because it was like, this motherfucker knows he's cool. Like, okay, neat. Yeah, it was very Julian. Yeah, I mean, I don't claim to be a method actor and I don't really stay in character. There are moments sometimes where I like to steal from the method a little bit. And often it's stupid stuff like breathing heavy.

And I want to like run around the building a couple of times. You know, it's stupid stuff like that. But staying in character for, you know, nine months, you know, that's, I'd go crazy. I don't, it's not, yeah. So this episode kicks off. We're doing, it's so nice that the strike is over because we actually get to talk about episodes with guests that come on now before we were just having to like make shit up every time people came on. This episode, tell us what you like.

Sometimes we go in order. Sometimes we just jump to the shit we liked. Okay. And real quickly, I had to say one more thing before we get to that. Do you mind? I love it. A while back, whenever you guys started the podcast, I heard that you guys were doing this. And I was like, oh, that's cool.

They're doing a podcast. That maybe they'll call me. Aw, we did. And then all this time went by. And I was like, are they mad at me? Why haven't they called? Oh, buddy. And then I found out that you're doing it at each episode, you know.

In order. They're not going to call me for six years. Yeah, but then even when we reached out, we couldn't get a hold of your team. And so you guys at home, last night, Sophia and I are like feverishly texting Austin. We're like, dude, dude, dude, where are you at? Where are you at? What are you doing tomorrow morning? What's going on? What are you doing? I'll got my number. You know me. I'm in. I'm in. Yeah, we are proud of you. You showed up last minute. Yeah, tell us, tell us what the hits were for you. What were you into? Yeah. Joe Mangonello is really fun to watch. Yeah. And Brooke's relationship with him is

really fun. And also, I didn't really realize that I was coming in on the heels of that. So that was fun for me to see. Slam ball, like I said before, so impressive. James Lafferty, wow. These Lucas's wide shirts. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. That was brand new.

Huge fan. Yep. Collarbone. Colourbone's hot. Yeah, I wore a blazer in the flash back scene with you, Hillary, with a copy machine that has my favorite. actionable stitching on the back. Yeah, there were bats on the back of your jacket. There were?

I didn't notice that. Yeah. So fun watching it. What else stands out? Seeing Jamie and Sam with their, how to be a little crook is really, really satisfying. There were a lot of layers in this episode. There was so much. Yeah, there really was.

But it flowed very well. I mean, Mike Daniels. You know what I love? I thought it was so well done was the Brooks, Gucci, her four things. Oh, yeah. Gold Godiva, Gucci, Gerber. Love him. The Gerber, like, pun was genius.

Gerber daisies, yeah. Yeah, because of Gerber baby food. And I was like, oh, my God, that's really good. And then when Joe did his with, you know, PlayStation and that, I was like, that's really great. Cute. Yeah. Yeah. Weekends, man.

We got some nice comedy and callback. in this episode for sure. Yeah. And it's also, there's some fun, and I'm also speaking about last episode too, but there's some fun industry winks and jokes in there when someone says, you know, CW actresses and all these people that you guys want to play you is really fun.

And, you know, getting to say, you know, Julian getting to say stuff about Sundance and, you know, hiring another writer. And it's just all this industry jargon that I thought was so fun. When they brought you in and you got hired, what did they tell you about this character? What did you know and what did you not know, if you can remember? Well, I remember, you know, getting pitched to do it. I don't remember a lot about the character.

I think I was told, you know, he comes from L.A. He had a thing with Peyton. We're going to explore that in a flashback. Nobody knows that. That's a secret from her past. and then what you're but you're gonna end up falling for brook and that's all I really knew okay so you knew the basics yeah this is good yeah they didn't totally spring it on you you get to kiss every girl on the show congratulations

I never got to kiss almost that job sounds dumb she was married they married me off man they married you're young there's time right how old were you when you got married in real life no on the show oh and oh heyley got married I think I think she was 17, right? Was it? 16 or 17, right? Still in high school or was it right out of high school? It was senior year.

Still in high school. Wait, but I had actually gave birth graduation, so that would make a, maybe I was 16 when I got married. Yeah, because your parents had to give you permission. Yeah. Oh, that is some southern stuff. Yeah. Love it. It doesn't get more southern than that.

Boy. I loved Peyton and Julian together in this. episode. It was a really, man, Hillary, that, wait, I have to find my actual note here because it says, copy machine. That scene is why you're an indie movie queen, which feels like it should be a lyric in a song. But you are so good in that scene, the way you were walking down the hallway and rushed into the copy room and both of you guys, like, how you managed to have a, trying to like a pickup moment in the middle of this really emotional, um, um, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, situation was it worked so well and it's a really delicate line to toe so well done both of you

hey thanks thank you remember how awkward that was because the way this is written we both say some of the most conceited ever to each other in this like look don't pick me up right now I'm having a moment you know like everything is so like so direct though come on that's so great how badly do you want to say that to somebody sometimes it's presumptuous in a way that's like, oh, God, we're going to say that a loud, Christ. And I remember really struggling with that. Like, I would never say something like this. How do I do this?

And I had already filmed all these flashbacks with Lucas and like all the sad shit with Lucas a year ago. And so a year later, Austin and I had to pick up all of these flashbacks and then move them forward like they were all continuous things with what we shot a year. year ago, it was confusing. I felt like I was living on some sort of like sliding doors reality because I'm like, I don't even know what's real. It's so hard to convey, you know, a meaningful relationship and a handful of scenes. And that, you know, we have the, we have the stuff, the first date, the copy room, the date, and then we go to a bedroom and then leaving for Sundance. And it

happened so fast. And you break up. Yeah. And I was like, oh my God, that was so fast. But I kind of You know, I got the information I needed. I thought it was, you know, pretty well executed by everyone. I agree. They told Austin and I to go to dinner. Somebody gave us the directive to go to dinner. Do you ever go to the bistro and it just being so, like, awkward? Oh, my God, I forgot about that.

That's hilarious. Yes, I remember. It was a very awkward dinner because they were like, great. So in the next episode, I know you guys just met, we're going to have to convey the entirety of your relationship in four scenes. So if you guys could actually, like, I don't know, get to know each other, be comfortable with each other, you're going to have to straddle them, Hillary. Like, have some fries and the steak at the fucking bistro.

And so I picked Austin up, and it was just like, oh, okay. Tell me all about your life as quickly as possible. Welcome. But the best thing that I think helped us, and I can't remember the timeline of what it happened, is when you told me about this ghost story, and we drove down that road. And I literally saw the, Hillary did not tell me what the story was. She just said, we're going to see what happens. And I saw the silhouette of a woman in a dress hanging from a tree.

And do you remember this? I do. And I remember it being kind of a test. I'm like, let's see if he's, let's say if he's cool. Let's see what he can say. Does he have a twinge of ESP or not? Or is he just like a creep who buys in, which is my favorite. Right, right.

No, but I swear I only have, you know, Sophia and I share a ghost story. We heard about this one. Oh, yeah. And, you know, you and I do. And I only have, like, one other one in my life. So, you know, I'm not the kind of guy to make this kind of stuff up. You know, I have three really strange ghost stories. And, you know, two of them are with you two ladies.

Yeah. Well, Wilmington is famously the one of the most haunted places in America. So it tracks. It's 66% of your ghost stories have occurred in this group in that town. It's wild. It's really wild. 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 hundreds of years. 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,

influencing 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. So did they just offer you the part? Did you read for this thing? What was the deal? Yeah, I want you to tell the people what you were told. And then I'll tell the people what I was told.

Oh, boy. It came, well, it came around and, you know, I said no at first. And I think, you know, that, you know, that works. They're like, oh, got to have them again. And so I went in and had a meeting and, you know, was pitched kind of what I said before. It was I don't remember. It was a long time ago. I don't really remember a lot of the meeting.

But then I remember the offer coming back around. He said, my manager was like, you've got to take the meeting. Just take the meeting. You don't have to do it. Just take the meeting. And, you know, that's, you know, I got sold and I wanted to do it and I'm so glad I did because, you know, look what it turned into, you know, one thing that I'm really proud of is I haven't really gotten a lot of, like memorable, you know, the jobs of my life. I didn't get them from auditioning. I got them because I went to a place and it turned into something. something more and that's you know I don't know that's something I really love and it's but yeah as far as like I don't remember a lot but I want to hear what you guys have to say

because I don't remember a lot about that I just remember you know saying yes and then getting on a put oh quick one quick thing that's not related back then I was cutting my own hair with like I had really short hair I was just cutting with clippers in my bathroom and the night before I was supposed to get on the plane to come to Wilmington. I was doing it. And back here, the guard fell off. Oh, God. Perfect. And I shaved a line in the back

in my head, like a lawnmower. Just the runway. I went, oh, shit, what am I going to do? This is the day before you felt. Wait, when was this? The day before? The night before. And I was so embarrassed. And I told my team to tell everybody, alert everybody,

tell them that I had this terrible accident. I'm so sorry. I get there. I go into here makeup and they literally Carrie's mom what was Carrie's mom's name Julie Julie Julie yeah Julie delay Julie goes okay and they radioed he radioed in the door like a gorilla

Greg Craig's going what's going on and Greg Brains looked at the back of my hair and he goes oh god they had to like shave my hair way shorter and I even remember they were they had to fill it in with like this black you know this oh it's called topics yeah they did the little air you know moon yeah filling in used makeup all this stuff it looks like a perfume diffuser for those of you at home who don't know what this is it's

it's like a hair and makeup trailer trick and it looks like a little bottle a little jar with a lid on it but it has a perfume it's a diffuser is that what it's called or like a little round squeasy ball squeezy thing but it's for hair so little fibers of hair come out of it onto people's beards or apparently the backs of their heads or whatever is needed. And they had to also shave my head much shorter, cut it much shorter so that it wouldn't, you couldn't see

it. And in hindsight, it made Julian much scarier. Yeah. Because he looks so much like Lucas, too. Like, you guys had the same haircut anyway. So it was interesting. That kind of hair guys tend to sometimes just look a little bit more, a little bit more

sketchy. Yeah, it ups the villain energy for sure. Yeah. Yeah, so in hindsight, I'm glad it happened because, you know, I came off a little bit more threatening. And then it gave it somewhere to go, you know, over the next, you know, four seasons and what Julian and Brooke would grow into. But anyway, my, my hats off to the team because I never could, I never noticed it. I never saw it in any scene. Yeah, I didn't track it. I'm too busy looking at Jamie's big old fake tooth, man.

Yeah. I can't stop looking at that kid's tooth. That sweet little boy. So now I got to hear your side of what you heard about me being cast. Well, okay. Come on. So you know, for our friends

at home. You've been on surface. Yeah. Right. I was in North Carolina and I met you guys or some of you. Did we play you in the softball game that we did for Hurricane Katrina? Were you in that fundraiser? I was there, but I didn't play. I came, stopped by, and was in the crowd and I saw you guys playing. I saw these beautiful playing softball and I was like,

Oh, this mother. Because here's the deal. I didn't like the surface gang, because they talked a lot of shit to us. And they were like, hey, we're a network show. You guys are CW. You did have a chip on your shoulder about that. You were always gab about that.

I was just like, who do these just think they are? I didn't love it. And like, I would get taken to parties that Surface would throw. And they were really mean. And so you being a Surface guy, it felt like someone from your rival high school coming in. And like, that's all I knew. I was like, oh, we are not going to get along.

Oh, no wonder you didn't want to go to dinner. Isn't that funny? And then canceled in the middle of season one. And you guys go on to do nine. Nigh. We brought you back. Well, that's where we first met Austin, because back then, remember, we had the same manager.

Yes, we did. And she was like, oh, my other clients in Wilmington. and I don't even remember where we went, but I remember us walking down front street. Did he take you to the bistro? I don't know. I don't know. But it was, I mean, it was like,

it was our season three. And, you know, I had been through a not great breakup and decided I hated men. And sweet Austin Nichols came along and took me on my, like, first date since that. And so we'd been in a year, other's lives for a really long time and when you came to Wilmington I blew a gasket I was like what the thing is happening I've gone out with three people in a decade and one of them's here

what's happening I just like I totally lost my and I remember our bosses being like don't worry there's this amazing thing with him and Peyton and you guys will never interact on camera is what they said to me what cut to our characters got married and had two kids and I was was like, I've been duped, but I'm not mad at it. Wow. Wow. They played matchmaker for us in like the weirdest way, which I'm like, is that appropriate for like your bosses to do? But also it was such a sweet season. I remember hearing things like that and rumblings of that and sort of, you know, probably

not just on this show and others, but on this show it seemed pointed. You know, there was a lot mining of your life and for better or worse. But that is interesting, you know. I just love that we got totally different stories. And like, you know, we obviously, I mean, you're here and we were just giggling about how much fun we all had in Wilmington. Like, we've maintained such a close friendship for, I mean, almost 20 years now. And like, you know, our sweet history is also such a lovely part of like our journey. But it is so funny to me that this pack of adults was literally like playing two 20-something year old kids. I was like, God, you guys are nuts. Could you imagine doing that at our age? No, I can't imagine being an adult

who would do that. No. No. In a million years to my child employees. No. We all sort of won the lottery because look at us now. It worked out great. Yeah. And also it's so funny because you're young and you're, you know, you're getting work and you're excited. and there's so much going on, I think, and then you just thrust into this really, really intense, difficult, challenging career, and you just go, oh, okay, this is how this works. Yeah. And, you know, there's not, I feel that's my experience anyway, and I was like, I remember many times in my career going, really, that's what we're doing?

Oh, okay, I guess that's just how it's been done for 60 years. And, you know, luckily, a lot of. of that has been, hopefully, is changing, has changed, will keep changing and headed for a better place. Was it weird for you? I mean, you know, we talked about some of the things that you've worked on and you'd been in Wilmington before shooting surface, which was such a big show. You had been on, you know, your massive, yeah, your massive HBO show. Like, you worked on all of these incredible projects, did having all that experience under your belt make it easier to jump in on the middle of a season six of a show? Or was it intimidating to come in to this thing that was by then

a big machine? It's terrifying, especially when the family, you know, whether we call it that or not, you know, the family is formed and the group is formed and on this show, you know, the teams have formed. And, yeah, factions, you know. So, and then you're playing catch up and learning about the politics. So it's really hard. It's really scary and terrifying. You know, I think my outwards, you know, what I projected was, I don't care. I'm not getting involved.

But, you know, in your inside, you're so scared and you're, you just want to be liked. You want to do a good job. You want to be well received. You want the audience to care about, you know, like what you did. You know, it's all about love in the end. And yeah, it's, you know, and I've experienced that. on lots of other shows coming in, you know, to The Walking Dead and, you know, later seasons or, you know, something else.

It's, I don't like it. What do you mean? You know, think, you know, luckily, you know, you have to learn to do it. And my go-to is to give as much as I can and try to be there for the other actors in the crew and hope that they want to keep me around. You know, that's kind of how I've always approached it, is, you know, how can we do this in the healthiest way? And I don't know, like I was saying before, like a lot of my opportunities haven't come from winning the audition. They came because I got to a place and they said, let's do more with that guy.

I think those are the things that make a lot of series regular actors feel safe on a set when somebody new comes in, the fact that you're able to just put your head down. do your work, show up and you're there to serve, you're there to give. And there's something about that that's like, oh, this person isn't looking for us to fill, to make them feel accepted, to make them fill a void. You're just self-regulating, you're handling your own and showing up to help and serve however you can, which is really what we're all there to do. And those kinds of things are what make people feel safe, not just cast, but crew and producers as well. So it's no surprise that you are continually called back for work with all the same people. He's just a flirt.

He flirts with the grips. He flirts with the camera department. He flirts with his co-star. He's a flirt. And I'm still mad about it. God bless you, Hillary, for just bringing it back to. You just. Look how red he is.

Austin walks into every room and he's like, I'm going to make these, just love me. Like, that's, I watched you do it on the Walking Dead. said, Jeffrey got to gut you over it. I loved it. I did want to mention that, you know. Hillary emailed and said, Hillary emailed last night and was like, I want to tell a story about I have a crush on you. And I was like, well, don't do that because Jeffrey already like gutted me on another TV.

And let's not throw more fuel on the fire. No, he can do it again. 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 the kinds 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 showruner,

runner 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 Sage, Burn Bridges on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Do I tell them this story now? We need that story. Yes. I only told Sophia this story for the first time when we were just in Wilmington in November. We're never going to talk about this episode. We were cackling.

So when we were all in Wilmington for the convention in November, we went over at Bevan's house and maybe we were talking about your mullet. I don't even know how it got brought up. I was talking about how, you know, when I met you, you were the surface guy. And I was like, I don't know, not impressed. We'll see. And then by the time we'd finished filming this episode and our characters had really great chemistry together, and you were asking so many questions.

You were just like, who do you hang out with outside of work here? Oh, my God, you want to produce movies? Can I read the script you have? Cool. I've already learned all the names of all the crew members on the call sheet. Aren't I likable? And I was like, well, who is this? And I did not know, friends, that Sophia and Austin had hung out.

Hillary had zero idea that that had ever happened. I never told anybody my business. What do you want from me? I have been in a relationship for the first five years of this show. I'm finally single. This fucking tall guy shows up. And it's like, hey, do you want to hang out outside of work? I'll come help you and your best friend Nick make little independent movies.

For those of you who haven't seen True Love Tale of Boyfriend and Girlfriend, you should Google that. And so Austin is being so charming and so cool. And instead of like being downtown like a lot of the rest of us, he's got a beach house. And he is Julian Baker. He is just so cool and frustrating and likable. So one of our crew members was this guy Scotty.

And he decided he was an amateur wrestler. You're nodding your head. Do you remember this night? How could I forget going to Sabre's wrestling match? Oh my God, Sabre's wrestling match. Yeah. So Sabre invites the entire crew to the armory in Wilmington to come see his wrestling match. And like Sabers like Sabretooth Tiger.

And naturally, Austin and I have been hanging out outside of work. And I don't know which one of us suggested it, but we were going to go together. And I'm like, hey, man, I'm going to paint my face like a saber tooth tiger. And you're like, oh, my God, would you paint my face like a saber tooth? tiger. And I'm like, yeah. Yeah, I'm going to do that. And so I go over to Austin's Beach House and I have to cradle this man's beautiful little face in my hands. And I'm painting saber teeth and like, fucking stripes and stuff on Austin's face. My face is fully painted like a saber-tooth tiger. And I'm like, are we going to kiss? We're not going to kiss. Our faces are

so close. We're not going to kiss. We're not going to kiss. We're just friends. Like, this is so uncomfortable. And later I'm thinking, we're going to kiss all this face paint off. This is going to be awesome later very messy awesome and so we're driving to the armory and then we have to go pick a James Vanderbeek and Vanderbeek's like I want to be a saber time I was hoping you're going to remember that

Beak's like you gotta paint my face too so we come rolling three deep in face paint to the local armory which is a very rough and tumble scene to root for saber and I am having the time of my life and I know it's not a date but I'm also

So, like, why else would this man let me paint his face? Like, this is fun. And then all of a sudden, Austin looks really distracted, like, looking over my shoulder. And I was like, oh, what's he looking at? And I turn around. And Sophia has entered the armory in, like, cashmere turtleneck and a tweed blazer. And there's a wind machine. And that's when Dreamweaver is playing, you know?

And there's just, like, God rays from, like, the sunlight dying, coming, like, shining on her glossy hair, and I see heart emojis in Austin's eyeballs, and I just turn around and I can still feel it in my bones, the, oh, no, I had so seriously misjudged that situation. Oh, my God. And so that I had to sit there for a whole other hour in face paint and know that I was, of Vancouver. And then James Vanderbeek wanted to go to dinner afterwards in the face paint. Did we all go to dinner?

Beak and I did. I don't know what the fuck you did, Austin. You were probably busy not rubbing your face pain off. But I was such an awkward single person that I cherish that memory of just like, it's going to happen. I felt like every girl in every 90s rom-com who thinks they're going to go to the party and it's going to work out. And it didn't. In such grand fashion,

I felt, I knew it was going to be a good story in the moment. And so even now, every time I see Sabre, I think about it. I think I'm just like, fucking wrestling match.

There's pictures of it somewhere. If you see him, just sidebar, have you seen him? I see him on Facebook all the time. No, he's really successful. That story's amazing, by the way, and I love it.

Listen, you, listen, you screwed the pooch, Justin. I know. Got your chance. One thing I just want to put out there, I hope Scotty, here's this, is that I had no idea the process that he went through and he'd be like, yeah, man, I'm at the gym. And I would see him at the gym getting ready. And then he'd do the tanning and he bleached his hair. And he did all the stuff.

And he told me about it. Shaving. The hoots that cost $1,500 and all the custom outfits. And I thought, this is the. most incredible little underworld microcosm. I just thought it was so cool. That was a while. That was another universe walking into that armory. Everything all set up that way and all the guys in costume. And then like guys hitting each other with folding chairs. I was like what are we doing? I remember going to one where Scotty was the winner and it was like all his friends and family

and then going to another one where he was the bad guy. Oh yeah. I remember bad saver. Another guy got all his friends and family and it was like this is so cool yeah that was a good scene and and something so specific to Wilmington like I can't imagine if we were filming in L.A. or New York that the entire cast and crew would gather around ye armory and root for amateur wrestling yeah that was part of the summer camp vibe of the whole thing right yeah we were all even though we were living there we were it still felt like we were on location or traveling. Well, because it was so small and so niche. And it's interesting you use that word.

Like the summer camp vibe, that's what this whole episode felt like to me. Your guys' flashbacks were obviously setting a tone. And to your point earlier, Hillary had to catch the audience up in one episode on the history of these two characters. but most of this episode has like humor and group comedy and like I don't know everybody's stuff is kind of funny and upbeat and silly and the whole dynamic with Sam and Jamie you know her teaching him to like hustle kids for ho-hos is so funny you take him the snack bag out of the machine at the end it's terrible well you know if it's open

off. Sophia, did you just grab that or did they write that? I don't know. At that point, it might have just been me. It might have just been me wanting a snack. There was a lot of comedy, a lot of nostalgia comedy with Owen in the backseat. Hilarious. You beating him out of your car with your purse. It's funny when I do it.

It's not funny when you do it. So funny. By the way, maybe the funniest line is him saying, at least you said I'm big. At least we go to you, yeah. It was so funny. Okay, I think it's, when Mike Daniels texted me, he said, I think it's this episode, which I hope it is, but do you remember, so when you guys had to do reshoots because the film went through the x-ray machine at the airport? What?

So, okay, so what they used to do before we switched to digital, for those of you who don't know, was they would film it, and then it would be an actual film, and you weren't supposed to send it through the x-ray machine at the airport because it was film, so it would get damaged. There's a very specific process that was always taken to get the film from Wilmington to L.A. And for some reason, film ended up, like, from this whole day in somebody's bag that went through the airport screening machine, it ruined. But what Mike said happened was that because they had to do a reshoot of some day, I think in this episode, they realized that they thought it would be better to do Julian and Brooke together sooner. And so they decided to end Brooke and Owen early. Originally, I think whatever you guys had shot was not that. Like, that wasn't the plan and they added it in or something later. Do you remember any of this?

Yes, wait. That's ringing a bell. They made him show what. Because they were just going to plow on with Joe. Everything was going to be fine. No, but it is ringing a bell because when we did the scene where Joe's naked in my car and I get him out of the car, there was supposed to be the exchange at the end where I'm in his car. And as I'm watching the scene to prep for today, I was like, wait, I tell him we can't date because I have to go be a role model to Sam.

Like in my brain, I was expecting us to agree to give it another shot. And so as I was watching that scene, I was like, God, I don't remember this, that I just end it? Like, I mean, I guess it makes sense, you know, because of what Haley says that I overhear with Sam and Jamie. But that makes sense why it felt off to me, because I remember the original way we shot it. Yeah, and getting in the back seat to be cute, but only to tell him that you decided you're not going to be a ticket. It was, it was strange. It kind of made it work with Sam. Yeah, it was a dump cute.

A gentle dumping. Oh my God, I've never heard that we have to use that more. The next three times I saw Joe Mangonello, he was like not super thrilled with me. Oh, really? No, I'm kidding. I'm kidding. Oh, stop. I saw Joe in an audition like a year later in Los Angeles. And I was just like, he's like, you're not still in Wilmington?

I was like, no, my guy, I'm gone. And he was like, yeah, I'm gone too. You know, like it was just kind of, you know, I liked it. I didn't mind that Brooke was like, you know what? Like, not right now because you don't have to date everyone that asks, just ask Austin. Yeah. Because sometimes you can politely pass and it's fine and you can stay friends. Exactly.

I thought Joe played that really well. It made, I remember the reaction the audience had. It made the audience like him even more that he was such a cool guy about like pass. Yeah. Yeah. Well, yeah. Then I remember, you know, seeing him post-training for True Blood when we got to know that super shredded Joe Mangonello.

And I was like, oh, my God, buddy. Yeah. Yeah. He's a werewolf. I remember all of us kind of being like, are we, is this the moment? Are we meant to be impressed or scared or maybe both? Are we both? We're both.

I like the feeling of both. I remember he was telling us, it might have been while we were doing his last episode. He was telling us about the training. And I remember just going, that sounds awful. Were we sitting at lunch? I was there during a conversation when he was talking about training in a cafeteria. Wake up, no food, nothing on the treadmill for 45 minutes as a warm up. And then he would talk about the whole day.

I was like, this sounds brutal. I remember him being sick and talking about how he was hardcore, like sickness is in your mind. we I am going to plow through this I'm going to keep working out till I throw up I got to keep going I'm like yeah but dude like you're sick like just you know go to sleep for a day it's fine yeah like in 300 they just painted on the abs in 300 like you don't have to have them like I I just don't get that whatever that mentality is that some people have with their athleticism or they're like yeah I'll just do this till I puke I'm like what you or you could sit down before you think you throw up. You could just stop and not vomit. That's how all the football players do it. They just go until they puke. Not for me. Yeah, but that's why he was so good, like, blocking for Nathan. Like, he does the sports that he looked so football and Nathan looked so basketball. And so he had the best of both worlds in this episode. It was good. And then poor Chad is just off by himself crying this whole episode. He's having a rough episode. He did great, though. I loved the way that

he navigated all of this. I thought Julian was a real for saying we're going to hire a whole new writer for one scene because that's not a union thing. Oh, a new writer. I thought you were just saying you'd hire somebody to do that scene. But ask any writer in Hollywood. It happens. Yeah. Absolutely.

But no, but Chad did a really good job wrestling with the Keith, writing the Keith scene. I thought that was really interesting. It was good. I loved him and Dan on the bench. I did too. Wow. How did Dan find him? They're always on the river court.

I mean, the fact that everybody always seems to know where everybody is in this town is unnerving. Everybody's got air tags on. But I really liked that he said he can't write it because he can't see it. He can't see it because he can't understand it. He's really tracking you through the whole thing. And the anger and the vulnerability in that scene between Lucas and Dan is so refreshing to see Lucas as this adult processing what he went through as a kid and I loved how matter of fact Dan was just like this is what I did it was quick and I have

no answer I'm just the villain in your story for somebody who doesn't know remember as much as you guys do when he said Keith had the shooter what was his name Jimmy Jimmy Keith had the shooter and then Dan shot him it was that true or was Dan just trying to have him be remembered in a different way is that how it went down exactly true I didn't like I didn't like like the last line though. It felt like a cop out. Like he was being honest. I really, even just for Lucas's sake, I wanted him to, I wanted him to say, because Keith was better than me. I wanted him to say, because I was jealous. I wanted him to say, because I didn't, I didn't want to have anybody else in my space, whatever the line was. Yeah. I wanted that. The villain line felt kitsy to me.

That's a great point. He put it on Lucas. It's like, you need the villain. So I guess I'll, I'll do you the favor of fulfilling that role. I mean, which is so, Dan. Yeah, yeah, instead of owning his shit, being like, I was really jealous of my brother. Yeah, yeah. Bum out. But I do like the clarity there.

And what a gift for Dan to finally just tell the truth instead of spinning it forever and ever. Yeah. I loved that. I just, I got really, I could feel my own anxiety when Lucas finds that picture. Yeah. I was so stressed for you.

Girl, I'm so. glad that Peyton said something before he showed her the picture because it was clear she was going to always she was going to tell him anyway you know no that was that was really well done you guys crushed that because

you know you set up that you're like you just said you want to get it out but you're like but he's writing he's happy he's focused I'm going to do it but I just need to wait a second and then you're like no it's really well done

but I hated the last the last line and all of those really conceded lines like, stop hitting on me. God, you really have to leave me alone. The last line of Lucas is like, so you guys dated in L.A.? And Payton says, we were in love. Agree. Agree. Did not like that. No one would say that, right? No one would say that. No one. I mean, it's such a dun dun. It's good to go out on black on line like that for a show. But yeah, to me, it's like you would try to minimize. But yes. Also, guys, did anybody track how weird it was in one of your flashback scenes where you're talking about having moved in with her

and i was like oh my god julian and peyton moved in together okay tracking that and then you say i love you and it's so clearly the first time you guys have said it to each other and i was like they moved in together before they told each other they loved each other what's happening i never thought that it's rent in l.a is expensive it's so expensive Let's just try this out for a little while. Oops, I love you. You seem fine. That was one of my catches that I was like, what?

And then the other one was through the whole slam ball game where, you know, you've got Nathan and Owen looking so badass. Every time they cut to you and I, Joy, it was the same, it was the same clip. Yeah. They used it three different times. Us cheering with the exact same clip over and over. Oh, I hate that. I think they reused one of Joe, too. Like, for yelling at him.

What if that was on the footage? I was going to say, I wonder if maybe some of that footage was what was damaged. And they were like, we're just going to keep repeating what we got. Yep. Because what are they going to reshoot a whole day of slam ball? How many episodes has Haley been, like, losing her mind at this point about slam ball? It's your only storyline. I mean, they're like, they're so fixated on Haley being a nervous Nellie.

and there's other stuff to do. Yeah. It was so strange. But yeah, there's other stuff to do. I wish they would have come up with something else, but there were also a lot of, there were new people with new storylines, and there was a lot of other things to focus on.

Sometimes you just need something stable. Yeah. So I understand just giving me a very, very minor D story for this part of the show. But yeah, like it just doesn't seem very Haley, although I don't know. Nathan's been wrecked for a long time on and off, injured, and bar fights and career taken away from him. Yeah, yeah, she is.

She's become a very nervous, Nellie. Her son was kidnapped. Meanwhile, she'll give Jamie to Sam anytime. Like, that kid, that kidnapped him the other night? Yeah, yeah. Yeah, no problem. Go for it. Yeah, Dan, can you go pick him up from school for me?

Dave. Thanks, buddy. Like, what? Yeah. I don't know. I don't know where Haley's at. she's just so worried about slam ball that's what it is yeah that's all she could think about all her worries in one bucket so there's no more worry anywhere else yeah trying to control something

does he continue slam ball do we remember yeah how many episodes are there slam ball does he quit after this i don't know i don't know because he says he doesn't need to he says he's done you know he calls you to his best trophies yeah can we trust it i know that was tough though watching teaching Jamie say don't play slam ball anymore because of, I always have a tough time with that. You know, I love the get back on the horse idea when something is bad. It's good to end things on a good note instead of teaching your kids to just run away because something is scary or something bad happens. Yeah. But also, you know, it is tough. Sports, I mean, on that level is really intense. I wonder what happens. I'm curious. Dad went through glass.

no thank you. We went through a period where like our kids were really freaked out about zombies and like that being real. Really? Oh, well, of course, yeah. I don't considering the show. They don't like seeing their parents. They watched me die on an episode of The Walking Dead. They really

didn't like that. Like kids shouldn't see their parents in peril. No. Did they ever see you guys like, I remember there's been times where I haven't taken the blood off and I've gone home. You ever gone home or has Jeffrey ever come home without taking it off or do you make sure to...

No, Jeffrey has flown home from Georgia with blood coming out of his ears. You know, like, because he can't see it. It's just like blood all over his neck and stuff. And I'm like, were you on the plane like this? Everybody thinks is a spy. You go to school, pickup, covered in blood, ballet recitals. Yeah, it's just mom and dad's work.

But when your parents' work is something that makes you anxious as a kid, I think you take it really seriously when your kid says don't do that anymore like when our kids say to us I don't want you to leave I don't want you to leave and go do that job

you know we don't sometimes you know my kids have asked me they're like can you just work from home do you always have to travel and so you as a parent

you're like you know what yes I can say yes to my kid and so I like that Nathan is saying yes to his kid he's finally prioritizing his family over the Dan Scott basketball dream.

Well, it's his dream too. He loves it. He's so good at it. But, like, come on. Well, I mean, but we need things. We need individual things. You can't just be all about everybody else in your life all the time. You have to be able to have something that feeds you so that you have something to give. So I struggle with that when I think about Nathan giving up basketball.

Like, what is he going to do that's really going to feed his soul to give him a place to have something. Basketball, but the same way like every dude that's in a band in his 20s knows he's not going to be in a band in his 50s. And so you need to learn how to produce and you need to learn how to show, promote and things like that. Like, you pivot. Yeah. And that's a really important life skill. And so to see Nathan be like, okay, well, I don't need to keep playing. I don't need to prove anything anymore. I've proved that I can come back. Maybe it's time to pivot. You know, that confidence is, that's swagger. I like. that. Well, speaking of people on the other side of the court, mouth, are we avoiding talking

about mouth and Gigi and this whole mess? We want to bring that up. Bring it up. Tell us what you think, Austin. As much as it's fun to watch, it's so over the top. Yeah. She comes on so strong. And then I remember this happened again with Julian and Jana Kramer's character, Alex. Yeah. And it's so strong that it makes me go, okay, that's a little over the top. Whose fantasy are we playing out? There's a pattern. Yeah. Yeah.

And I'm like, okay, you know, whatever. But I will say that Millicent claiming him with a kiss was. Yeah. It was hilarious. I'll show that little hussy. Do girls really talk that way as a man? Like, do people throw themselves at dudes that way? Oh, that's a good question.

Um, you know. He has no idea how to answer this. You know, not, it's rare that it's right off the bat. It usually comes later when you've established that there's a mutual connection. But right off the bat, it's rare. Has it happened? Yeah, I think so. After repeated, after repeated, like, I have a girlfriend.

I have a girlfriend. I have a girlfriend. Oh, I wasn't, I was just, I was thinking being single. You mean if you're in a relationship or in a marriage? Yeah, like the mouth in Gigi, like specifically the fact that she keeps throwing herself at mouth, we've talked a lot as, you know, a group of women about how the fact that clearly there were no women have an input on any of those scenes because like, what are we talking about?

I mean, I'll be totally honest. I have had it happen to me while I was in a relationship. I've had a note passed to me with a phone number on it while I was with my girlfriend. And, you know, it doesn't happen very many times, but it does

happen. It does happen. And, you know, yeah, I don't know what to say about that. It's different, though. I mean, was it a stranger or someone that you knew? Strange, never met, no. I mean, I get it. She doesn't know if it's a girlfriend. She has just, you know, if it's a girlfriend.

I've actually, I've met somebody that way once. And I don't, like, if you don't know what the person's situation is, you know, hey, here's my number. I don't know if this is the first date that you're on right now or the, you know, 100th, but call me if it's not serious. So bold, Joy. But I did. It was fun. But somebody coming up, like somebody that you know coming up to you and saying, I just want to be the one-night stand that your girlfriend doesn't have to know about.

Does that happen? yeah I can't imagine no I could never I could never no yeah it happens no thank you gross it happens

there are people with you know they get off on it questionable you know morals everywhere maybe it's the fact that Gigi is so she seems so kind of innocent and cute

about it and like it's not a big deal like ha ha whatever it feels like trauma like it's gross It feels like trauma. That's a great way to put it. Yeah. And the one that, like, he does it, when they're interviewing James at Slamball,

and then she says sexy to mouth, like, right after they cut, that one, you know, I'm like, you know, okay, if this was happening behind closed doors, be more realistic. But, you know, that stuff is all, like, you know, hard to swallow. Yeah. 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 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 Sage Burn Bridges on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

so we'll do a fan question so okay the listener question is from jess and she says well is this related to this episode because brooke and owens aren't just broke up oh okay it's because everyone knows what's coming we know where it's going okay jess wants to know does it bother you guys that julian is peyton's ex brook deserves her own man hmm well Oh, snap. Oh, I mean, Lucas is also Brooks X. So, like, I don't know. It's all so incestuous and trio.

Yeah. It really is. Yeah. I don't know. It doesn't bother me personally. It bothers me. It bothers me a little bit, too, because it's just like. I mean, how long has it been?

How long is it? What's the time lapse between Peyton and Julian? I don't even know the answer to that because how long has Peyton been home? Like, was it the breakup with Julie? that spawned Peyton to call Brooke at the beginning of season 5 and be like Oh, I don't know. Oh, no.

I think so often when you're writing a series, you bring people in as love interest and you're not sure if it's going to pan out. I think, you know, this was not necessarily, I don't think they knew what this would become by the end of six nine with marriage and kids. And had they known that, they might have done,

the beginning different. You know, so much of television like this is about the love triangle, as we all know. And it makes it so, so fun to watch. But, you know, that's one of the X factors that I think audiences may not always kind of know is, you know, you bring somebody in and you're like, you see if it's going to work. Yeah. And Brooke did get her own man. She got her, she got the right man.

It wasn't right with Peyton and Julian, so it didn't work out. So here's the thing, here's the thing that's a little different is that like, Brooke dumped Lucas. Like, Brooke was in the driver's seat. Like, you are not living up to my expectations enough, right? So Brooke dumped him. Julian dumped Peyton. And so in my mind, I'm like, Brooke should be like, Kim, that guy dumped you for what? And he left you after you, you know, packed your bags for Sundance?

What a creep. Um, it's the person who does the dumping, um, really changes the situation. I can see that is all I'm going to say. I can see that. Yeah. But it is actually really interesting when you think about it that way, right? I didn't remember that he dumped Peyton. I did not remember that part.

Well, and by the way, that he did it because he said, I'm sick of having to share you with Lucas. Like, he saw through it and there is something really interesting that, I'm just, hitting me in real time that Brooke and Julian both said, like, we're involved in a toxic thing that isn't even about us. I'm out. That makes sense. It's kind of interesting that in a way, like, we both got burned by the same other relationship from two, you know, from two different ends of it. I wonder if we bonded over that. That's a smart analysis. You're like, let's ditch these losers. We deserve better, damn it.

It's true. I feel like we could talk for hours with you, Austin. I'm so glad that you joined us for this. Oh, thank you for having me. And also, can I come back for another episode? Yeah. Do you have a specific one? The one that jumps to mine is when Brooke and I crashed

the car into the water. Yes. Wait, there's another car crash in water? Yes. Danger. Yeah. In season... Was it season 7? So it was mine off a bridge. I mean, Nathan's, but. But remember, you drove up at the end of it. And Joy, you were there.

You drive up at the end of it, Joy. Drive up and I'm like, we're stuck with Brooke in the rain. What? She blacked it out. Well, that'll be fun to relive. Yeah. Jamie was there. Yeah, he was in the car with us.

He was in the car with us. Oh, so I was giving him CPR. Oh, God. No. No. I think the only CPR was me giving Brooke CPR. And then Jamie was fine. We got him out.

out and then he ran to you guys, I think. Well, let's have you back for that episode. I do not remember. I know that point. That would be a fun one. That would be super fun. Yeah. You guys, next week, we've got season six, episode 10 next week.

Even fairy tale characters would be jealous. Austin, you're a fucking delight. We're going to spin a wheel. So you have to pick a real life person from our One Tree Hill family and then a character from the show that fits this bill. And this week, we have most likely to cry. at every single movie they watch. So, which character do we think cries at everything?

Character. Oh, great question. Skills? I was going to say skills, though, because he got notebooked, but Brooke is also a tender creature. Well, Sophie is the real-life version, for sure. Yeah, I cry every movie all the time. Dog food commercials make me cry.

Shut up. Baby. I know. It's a killer. We love our tender creatures. Just a little sensitive gal. All right, you guys. Austin's coming back.

He said it here first. Bye. Hey, thanks for listening. Don't forget to leave us a review. You can also follow us on Instagram at Drama Queen's OTH. 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. school queens. We'll take you for a ride in our comic girl. Dramma girl. Cheering for the right team. Drama queens, drama queens. Smart girl, rough girl, fashion but you're tough girl. You could sit with us, girl.

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 the 4th, 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 on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This is an IHeart podcast.