Drama Queens - The Crown Julian (with Austin Nichols)

Episode Date: February 12, 2024

It turns out (as you might expect) that one episode of Austin wasn’t nearly enough! So he’s back and this time he’s answering tons of fan questions! Find out why there was so much confusion (even for him) surrounding his character, why he’s not a fan of the moments that fans love most and what he still gets shamed about, even today!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 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 queen, drama queens, drama queens, drama queens, drama queens, drama queens.

Hello, friends and fam. We had so much fun having our very own Austin Nichols join us to talk about episode 609. We're going to make you come back all the time. But we have so many fan questions for you that we thought it might be great to just do a fan Q&A follow-up. Everybody likes Austin. Everybody loves Austin.

And, you know, apparently we didn't answer enough of y'all's questions about his time on the show because we were too busy reminiscing. So busy gabin. We're going to get to it for you this week. Let's do it. I love it. Are you nervous? Yes.

Ask him the hardest question first. Go ahead. What's the hardest? No. Okay, well, let's hear. Did you know your character was going to become a permanent? Was this a series regular thing that you signed on for? Was it just recurring?

You were only going to be there for a short arc? It was recurring. It was 10 episodes. And then I don't even think they dangled possibilities. of series regular like they do sometimes. I think it was just said it's 10 episodes and that's all I know. That's a big order though

because if you show up in 608 that takes us through 618 that's a big order for a new character. Yeah and I was like you guys said too I was you know once we got through like the first three episodes and we got to Julian and Brooke

Julian and Brooke was so heavy that I was doing the workload of series regulars. I remember, like, wow, this got really busy, really fast. Yeah, what I signed up for? Hold on a second. Meanwhile, the restaurants are at the beach. I wonder if they knew that contract negotiations were going to be coming up at the end of season

six and we're starting to think about, like, if they were going to need new people. I mean, that would make sense that they wanted to give you a good runway to build up to that if possible. Good question. I don't know. Maybe. I don't either. I mean, I do.

I remember us being told exactly that. It was like, hey, there's no guarantee in the highest paid people on the show at this point were me and Chad. And so it was like, hey, we can bring in people that they'll love every bit as much of you as you and they did, you know? And so that was actually something that I would talk to younger actors about after I left one tree hill they'd get like a pilot or they'd get like a tv show picked up and i even like really big shows and i'd be like guys everybody is replaceable every single person here the showrunner

the writers the directors the actors every single person is replaceable um and that's a good lesson to learn when you're a young actor you know it really you know also changes the tone Something nobody tells us as young actors is, you know, when the cast renegotiates and also producers, writers, EPs, and salaries go up, what happens to production. And days of shooting could go to seven days of shooting for an episode, and things can get short change. And nobody ever teaches you that. The thing is, oh, get as much money as you can. And I'm constantly, like, so turned off by our world and the greed of our world. and it's like, um, I think we're fine.

And let's make the best show that we can. Yeah. That's always been like mind boggling to me that no one talks about that. Budgets. You're learning stuff, kids. Um, all right. Well, now I'm going to ask, I'm going to ask an upper question. Let's ask, let's ask something fun.

Uh, hey, how'd you feel about leaving the kids in the car in that storyline? Is that, uh, that was fun? I get so much flack for this. Do you still? I mean, people really, really. They're like, hey man, love your character, but God, when you have the kids in the car? Oh. I still get, I still get shame, shame on the street.

Really? Yeah. But, you know, I think they, you know, Julian was for a long time was, you know, after the intro where we were scared of him. nervous about his intentions and then we started to like him and he became safer Julian for a long time was

very like I don't want to say perfect but he was like a really supportive except for the Alex thing he was like really I think he was pretty good as a partner and supportive and great and at a certain point I think the writers

thought this guy needs to fall apart and some dude something has to happen that was their that was their answer But I do remember loving one part of it. It was when I got drunk afterwards, after I locked the kid in the car, I got drunk afterwards, and I picked a fight in a bar. And I had somebody who was just beating on my face, and I was just laughing.

And I just thought that was so fun. Yeah, because you were looking to get hurt. How long was the kid in the car? I mean, I had to go to an ATM, talk to Dan, and get a bottle of booze. Oh, dog someone. I don't know, 15, 20 minutes. Like somebody had to break the glass and get the kid out. It had to have been longer, right?

Maybe I'm just trying to act like it wasn't because. You're still traumatized? Yeah, you're still embarrassed. It was probably very long time. Yeah, that's dark. Yeah, super, super scary. I had a lot going on. It was a lot of my mind.

Yeah. But you touched on something that relates to this next question because Julian came in in one way and then there was there was a lot of change for you and and some of that i think was you know him getting to shift into a good guy and a good partner and some of it was like very weird um behind the scenes strange energy um what man can't high five i'll never get over it so sorry they did that to you but there's a fan question that asks which of the two personas that they made you portray, would you have preferred to stick with? Which is interesting, because it really does mean that I think a lot of our viewers see the big shift.

So was it like bad boy dangerous guy or was it, you know, husband and father? What did you like doing better? Husband and father, Julian, without a doubt, and I'll tell you why. I spent so many years playing this sort of, you know, sometimes villainous, sometimes dark guy, and it's so fun. And I hope I never stop doing it. But to be, to have the audience trust you is such a gift. And it's so, it's so rare for me.

And it's, it's such a, I can't even tell you how fulfilling that is for an audience to trust you with a story. They look at you and they go, sit down on the couch and they go, I'm good for the next 44 minutes. with this group I'm good and I'm in good hands and that is rare and special and I would choose that any day aw so nice

who's your comfort actor like when you sit down you're like 44 minutes with this one done I have a lot I have a lot I mean Tom Hanks is someone that I think everybody feels safe with you know and he's whether it's a drama

or comedy or whatever he cares so deeply about the final product and about taking care of everyone on his set. And he's, from what I hear, just, you know, the best version of the whole deal. You know, that's the kind of, that's the kind of actor I look up to and want to be. I like it. Just Austin at home watching Polar Express. That's really safe. Austin, what was your favorite storyline for Julian?

my favorite storyline was probably when he locked in on turning the story into a show at the very end because that was like him coming full circle and saying look I'm a movie guy which is which was my own life and that was mined by the writers and it was one I was okay with because I started in movies and then it evolved to doing a lot more television and then you happen with television you know what happened with television you know know. And so I'm so thrilled that that happened to me. And, you know, it was kind of fun for me to, as Julian kind of go, discover that and go, okay, where I am here now with these characters, these people, I want to make a show about this world. I like the meta of it all. See, I wasn't around for any of that stuff. And so the idea, what was the show called? I don't know if it ever had. Was it Ravens? Sophia, do you remember? I don't know if it ever had a name, Joy. Do you remember? No. I just mean it the idea, the concept. don't know if it ever. It's so weird. But when I just went home to my high school, it felt like we had mined so much of Parkview High School for Tree Hill, because we had like clean teens and

state championship and all that kind of stuff. And so it felt kind of like that where it's like, there's a TV show that's too close for comfort with this reality. And it's cool, you know. I like that Julian was able to give this second go round to all the Tree Hill kids. We You couldn't have done it without your pal. This is to address what Sophia said about the high five. And also, there was a, the things that I hated the most in the moment were also some of the things that the fans always remember. And it's, my relationship with this career is so weird because the things that I've

often liked were not hits. And the things that were hits, I didn't like as much. And that's always been confusing. like we had this you know the julian high five and then like i brought joy i brought you flowers once like peonies is that you say it peony peonies yeah i brought flowers once and julian had this whole thing where he like he was like talking about flowers and it was so dumb and there was butterfly catching like i was catching butterflies in the outfield at a baseball game stupid stuff that i think that what they were doing was trying to take julian from

you know, the dangerous Julian to, oh, well, he's silly and, you know, he can't go camping with the boys and he's, like, not one of the guys and all that stuff. And at the time, I hate it, like, I still kind of hate it, to be honest. Yeah. So weird, the way some of those things are memorable and that's what people latch onto and like. That's always been so, such a contradiction to me. They like it or they're just trolling you? Well, they might just be but they remember it because you came in so masculine and all of that sounds rather emasculating who'd you piss off also that's exactly probably what it was it was a little bit stay in your lane stay in your lane or you stay in your box like tip okay i did write a letter once you did and it was

you know me being a young ambitious actor who you know wanted more and i remember writing a letter once You know, it wasn't mean, it wasn't rude, but it was passionately expressing, you know, that I wanted something more or more interesting. And that might have, you know, rubbed people the wrong way. I don't know. Egos. So many egos. So creatively thinking, put on your little writer's hat, what would you craft for Julian? What do you wish he had been able to do on, you know, on Tree Hill?

Well, that's a great question. He was, he was a, he was born in the business. He was a child of movies in like L.A. and sort of like, you know, we've all been around people like this who grew up in it. And he ended up producing movies. I don't know. You know, we did do, I don't know how many episodes it was where we were actually making the movie. Mm-hmm.

And those things don't often work on film, on television and film. But I wish there could have been something that in a different way or something like it where you could actually see his purpose. And maybe we just didn't execute it as well as I'd hoped or whatever. But to me, those are the kinds of things that I, you know, get my juices flowing. It's like, I love to see a person's purpose and I love to see them chasing it. I love a movie where a protagonist is like running a lot and moving and torn between different places and choosing and like, okay, I got to get over there and I got to get there fast.

Yeah. That's the sort of stuff that I think drives a movie so well and drives television. I would have liked to have seen a little bit more purpose. I mean, I, we've all produced things at this point where there's TV shows or indie movies or whatever. And Julian's such a cool cucumber with the producing. My experience with it is just like, you're on fire. I have to do this.

I have to do this. And Julian is so chill. Yeah. I would have loved to see you just in the trenches. Yeah. Maybe that's it. Maybe that's putting out fires and solving problems. Because that's what it is, right?

It's solving problems constantly. Yeah. Yeah. So, okay, while we're imagining things about Julian, who would Julian have hung out with if he had gone to Tree Hill High? if he had gone to tree hill hot yeah like if you went to high school with all of us who do you think he would have been chilling with

would we have even known you would you been like completely with a different group or would you have hung out with any of these characters well I know you know he would have he would have had a crush on Brooke of course and I think because of the sort of the audio visual component

maybe he would have been friends with mouth and gotten to work oh yeah that's what I was going to say so cute at school would have been cool. Yeah. A.V. Club. A.V. Club. That's right.

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 two 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. Okay, well, this could be a fun one. where do you think Brooke and Julian would be now? Oh, that's so hard.

I mean, I know. So much of Brooke's journey was about, you know, I think finding she had so many heartbreaks and finding the right person. So, you know, my gut is to say that

they would have lived happily ever after because the show ended and blah, blah, blah. But that's not terribly interesting. And, you know, as a writer, I start going, well, like, how could this be more interesting? And I don't, I don't really know if I have the answer, you know, like, I think, I think the great version of this would be if there's still a very, very strong love between them. But maybe they didn't take a traditional route and, you know, their careers have pulled them in different places probably. They are in the muck sometimes and they are dealing with real stuff

and how hard it is to, you know, go here for do your career for a while and this one's home with the kids and then switch. Yeah. And, you know, how challenging and beautiful that all is, like really get into, you know, what that means. I love that because I feel like the easy answer is to say, oh, yeah, you want these people to be happy. And then you're like, well, these people exist in a television show and television shows don't exist without drama so you gotta find

like something for them to be working on right? They're just happy we're bored exactly okay great we have someone

that wants to hear your side of the ghost story that Sophia has told that is. This is your time Austin one that we shared yeah

oh yeah because she's already told that story here I did we were it was dark the middle of the night weird it was dark

and I sensed or saw a shape shadow silhouette it was the noise first oh oh I don't remember that oh two different realities now that you say it it makes perfect sense

well no because I remember it because I thought you were I didn't know what you were doing and I like hit I was like what are you doing what is that So I woke you up Thinking you were doing something And then realized you were asleep Right

And then I remember looking And seeing this silhouette, shape, shadow, whatever it is Rush towards us Oh And we both went ape shit And I think I or she grabbed the lamp to turn the light on And there was nothing

Oh my gosh Was it a dark shadow? Was it a light? What was it? I thought it was a smaller person. Like a child? I don't know. Child or woman? It started like this. Like it started round. Like a bowling ball? When it came at us, got tall. But yeah, never got taller than like a three-year-old. So that's actually really common folklore in Appalachia. Really? Yeah, my daddy

used to tell me stories about the shadow people when I was a kid and they he would tell me about being in the woods and they'd roll around your feet like a bunch of bowling balls and then right as they got to you they would unfurl into like a big human shape really is that what happened

I don't remember it ever being that small but it was also we couldn't I don't know that we could see the floor or I remember because I remember realizing that the sound like wasn't coming from where you were or like the door that was on the other side of you realizing it was coming from the window that looked over the alley like in that general

vicinity and like starting to move toward it to be like what is it I thought like an animal was going to come through the wall like that building was so old I was like some feral squirrel is going to like what is what to happen and then there was just this burst and it was bright white and then it came at us both and got tall we both ran backwards like against the wall screaming I just remember something was rushing at us and it felt like it was going to get us yeah and I felt so much better about the fact that I was screaming so loud because you were screaming so loud and I was like okay so I'm not did you scream it was obvious that we both experienced something we were screaming It wasn't like the other one going, what happened?

Yeah, yeah. Yeah, because if you looked at me and been like, what is going on? Like, are you nuts? I would have felt nuts. But you were terrified and I was terrified. And for some reason, that gave me some comfort. Was this in an apartment? Mm-hmm.

It was a loft. One of those old buildings downtown. Which one of you was, I mean, whose apartment was this? We lived there. Oh, you guys both lived there. We subleted it from some friends. From Alex and Stephanie. Did you just keep living there or were you like, we got this is no good?

Oh, we didn't leave. We didn't lean. Where were we going to go? Yeah. Well, I don't know. To another haunted apartment? Everything there is haunted. Everything in Wilmington was haunted.

It was like, yeah. Cape Fear. Oh, my God. That's true. 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 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. okay all right well give us something funny what's the funniest memory you have from from set if you have any days when you guys were just busting up besides brook and julian's wedding but i have to and it's it's harmless my favorite story is when jo manganillo was sitting waiting for his van looking into the call sheet for the next day and chad god bless him walks up to him and goes you know how to read one of those He was being helpful, Austin.

There, I'll just leave that there. That's a good one. Yeah. Well, look. It's great. It's a great story. It's helpful. It is also adorable.

But what did Joe say? Was he nice about it? He didn't tell me, but I don't know what he said. I think he just said, yeah. but also I remember the first time I saw a call sheet it was confusing they're intimidating yeah but by the time you showed up on our show he'd already been on our show for like a year so for you to witness that's pretty funny yeah it's pretty funny it's incredible listen we were all shitty kids we want from us I was

real shitty long and stupid yeah who cares uh what's your favorite place in Wilmington besides the bistro the ocean the under masonboro island i love going to masonboro and the the things that happen when the tide changes in the intercoastal and little little sandbars appear in beaches and people gather out it's so cool it's so special did you do a lot of a lot of traveling just jumping in the car and going exploring when you were there on your days off like to other cities other states not really i mean i guess maybe charleston wants baldhead island a little bit but not as much as I think honestly it was you know because we were all working a lot if I had more time off maybe I would have but no not as much as I would have hoped

like I never went to Cape Hatteras I never went to the Outer Banks and I wish I would have done that yeah me too high banks rules yeah it was always a little tricky though because we even if you had a day off you were always at risk of getting called in so you couldn't you're you're always a cover set, right? That's right. We couldn't really leave. That was it. Because if you asked permission, he would say no.

But if you didn't ask permission and they happened to need you, you couldn't be like, I'm in Atlanta. Sorry. Yeah. You guys, this was pre-i-phone. We could just dummy up and be like, I never answered my phone. My first couple episodes, I was out at the beach.

I went surfing and I left, I didn't bring my, I don't bring my phone to the beach. And I left it at home. and then I get this call later from Hartley saying like we needed you we needed to call you in for a cover set and I was like I wasn't gone that sorry I mean I thought I had the day off and he's like you got to keep your phone on you they sent a PA out to the beach to look for me oh for God's sake did they find you no go scour the beaches I think it was the other Scott PA and he was looking for me and he never found me because I was way up at the north end or something oh god I love that it was Scott Hardwick um my favorite thing about Austin is every time I would go out to LA we'd go and like I'd be like pregnant with Gus or Nick would come out and visit me and we'd meet up at a diner or something and Austin would show up on like a fucking Vespa or like a truck but he always had like a surfboard and a like a spear with him and I'm like what are you doing he's like well I just tell myself how to spearfish you know I'm a water boy all right guy you're not wrong I love the water I love the water I love the water water. Yeah, don't you come from like, like championship? Yeah. Water people. My mom was a 19 time national champion and my dad was a great solonskier and boat driver and we competed since we were a little, me and my sister. Wow. Rock stars on the water, you guys. Yeah, you have to force it out of them. Otherwise, he's like,

no, no, water feels nice. He's like, when you find out they're coming from royalty. You guys are like from Atlantis. That's lovely. Did you audition for Avatar, the second one? I wish. I was like practicing, holding my breath. And I remember, like, calling my age one. Does James Cameron know that I can hold my breath for three minutes? Yeah, I could have done that.

Someone should tell him. How do we get that memo out? Actually, James Cameron came to the set of The Walking Dead. And I freaked out because he, his son, I guess, his ex-wife, Gailen heard as a producer on the one. And they have a child. Or I don't know the whole situation with the kid. The kid loved the Wockey Dead.

So the kid came, James Cameron came. And I remember seeing him, like, standing outside of, you know, getting into a SUV to leave. And I went over there. And I think I just said hello or something. What I wanted to say was, I can hold my breath for 12 minutes. I wish you would have. He's like the little boy in Jerry McGuire.

You haven't had to raise eight pounds. I can hold my head. I could do it. I can do it. Listen, that skill's going to pay off at some point, friend. Yes, it will. You know, we're putting the word out there right now. Yeah.

That you can hold your breath forever and ever and ever. Is that giant water tank still in Wilmington? Remember when they built that for, was it for Iron Man or for surface? Maybe. Well, they did it for that Dwayne the Rock Johnson movie. It was? It was like supposed to be in Hawaii. Yeah.

Yep. All right. Do we have one last question? We got one last question to just really bring it home. Okay. What about life lessons? Tell us any life lessons you learned while you were filming one, Trio. Well, there is a quote that's very long, but I often shorten it when I sign things for fans,

and its happiness is a mood, not a destination. It's a little cheesy, but I love it because it helped me. And it helped me go, look, you can't always be happy. And, you know, there's going to, things are going to happen that are sad and hard and they're going to break you. And knowing that helps. And knowing that and then when you are happy and things are great, you enjoy it that much more. And I don't know, that's the one thing that always sticks out. And I really like.

Good. Good words. Thank you. We love it. Hillary, I forgot about the line about the printer. And I love it. It's so, it's cheesy, but it's great. It's like he forces you to open it up and see what's wrong.

Oh, it's so good. I loved that moment. The paper jam. That was it. Julian's a wise man. He's so similar to Lucas, but he's got more of a sense of humor than Lucas. And so it's interesting how Brooke and Peyton are both drawn to this like very bright, well-read, articulate boy. You know, like it's, yeah, I get it.

Listen, Austin, my favorite memory of you on One Tree Hill is, is you and I driving out to the beach and passing the party bus full of bridesmaids and a bride and you mooning them. And them being so excited about that. And so forever, when I see party buses, it's you, buddy.

I thought mooning was just like the funniest thing ever when I was in junior high in high school. And your 20s? A lot of mooning in Texas. And I'm actually, I can't believe that I was still mooning. You did it. You went to jail.

I forgot all that, so thank you. Brilliant. Hey, thanks for listening. Don't forget to leave us a review. You can also follow us on Instagram at Drama Queen's O-T-H. Or email us at Drama Queens at I-HeartRadio.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. Dreaming for the right team 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 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.