Happy Sad Confused - Anthony Mackie, Vol. II

Episode Date: March 1, 2023

Strap in for a wild chat with one of our most versatile actors today. Anthony Mackie chats with Josh about everything from the supernatural to STAR WARS to his next MCU outing in CAPTAIN AMERICA: NEW WORLD ORDER! To watch episodes of Happy Sad Confused, subscribe to Josh's youtube channel here! Check out the Happy Sad Confused patreon here! We've got discount codes to live events, merch, early access, exclusive episodes of GAME NIGHT, video versions of the podcast, and more! For all of your media headlines remember to subscribe to The Wakeup newsletter here! SUPPORT THE SHOW BY SUPPORTING OUR SPONSORS! BETTERHELP -- This episode is sponsored by/brought to you by BetterHelp. Visit BetterHelp.com/HSC today to get 10% off your first month. VUORI--Get yourself some of the most comfortable and versatile clothing on the planet at vuori.com/HSC HONEY--Get PayPal Honey for FREE at JoinHoney.com/HSC Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

DC high volume, Batman. The Dark Knight's definitive DC comic stories adapted directly for audio for the very first time. Fear, I have to make them afraid. He's got a motorcycle, get after him, or have you shot? What do you mean blow up the building? From this moment on,

none of you are safe. New episodes every Wednesday, wherever you get your podcasts. Prepare your ears, humans. Happy, sad, confused begins now. Today on Happy, Said Confused, Anthony Mackey, on the future of Captain America, his love of Star Wars and Ghosts. Hey guys, I'm Josh Harowitz.

Welcome to another edition of Happy, Sad, Confused. And yes, we have a returning guest on the pod today. It is Anthony Mackey. Mr. Captain America himself, I always have. have lively chats with Anthony. This one is no different. It is bananas in the best possible way. You are not going to get a better, I will, I'll just say this. You're not going to get a better Anthony Mackey conversation than what I can offer you. I bring out the crazy in him. He brings out the crazy and me. Together, we got something special. It's a good one today. Before we get to that,

other bits and bobs to mention. Not much. No new live events to announce just yet. That being said, We're very close to confirming some. So, you know, stay tuned. Stay tuned through the social media feed, Joshua Harowitz, on Twitter, on Instagram. The best place to get the early access to discount codes is on the Patreon. Patreon.com slash happy, sad, confused. Make sure to do that. Make sure to subscribe on YouTube.

That's free. There's no excuse for that, guys. YouTube.com slash Josh Harowitz. You can watch all the episodes of Happy Sad Confused there. And plus, I've been mentioning this in recent weeks, just because it's really cool. If you don't already, subscribe to the podcast on Spotify. Did you know on Spotify? You can now also watch video versions of podcasts when available,

including Happy Seg and Fused. No one's paying me to say this. It's just a cool feature. So our Spotify numbers are very quickly rising, I'm really excited to say. So get in on it. Subscribe to HappySac Confused on Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. Just another cool, fun way to absorb the content of HappySek and Fused. And give back, if you can, in the simplest way possible.

Give us a rating on iTunes. Give us a good review. Spread the good word of this podcast. That is my baby. My baby's not a baby anymore. It's nine years in. Happy, say, I'm confused. Where'd the time go?

All right, let's talk about the main event today. Anthony Mackey. Anthony Mackey, man. So this guy is one of the most charismatic human beings on the planet. It is no surprise to me that he is where he is. today. He is Captain America, which has been just such a, it's a crazy thing to say, because when I met Anthony probably 12, 13, 14 years ago, he was a consistently solid actor popping up, I mean, I think he made his film debut in all, in an eight mile actually, out of Juilliard,

consistently on Broadway, TV, film, just a very diverse kind of career. And I think I first met him, as I recall, at the Toronto Film Festival for a film that was getting a lot of buzz at the time called The Hurt Locker. The crazy thing to think about is the Hurt Locker did not come out, I think, for 14 months. I think it premiered around September and it didn't come out until like the following December. And I will never forget that because I remember seeing that movie and being like, what's up? Why is this taking so long? But they sat on it and they took their time. And, you know, it launched Anthony. It launched Jeremy Renner. It brought Catherine Bigelow back into the four where she belongs, one of our great filmmakers. And ever since then, Anthony has

had one of the most interesting, diverse careers going, including front and center in the Marvel Universe now. It's his time to shine. He is Captain America. He is about to start production on, I believe it's called Captain America New World Order. So excited for him. And he is producing a lot. He might direct soon. Just all good things. And he's a maniac. And I mean that in the best way.

You're going to hear it in this conversation. Huge personality. He makes me laugh. I make him laugh. We have a really fun dynamic that goes back to yours. And I'm really proud of the fact that we have this relationship that's continued. And I think you're going to feel the love, the kinship and the friendship and the fun in this chat. He's promoting a new really fun movie that's on Netflix as of this Friday, February 24.

fourth. It's called We Have a Ghost. It's him. It's David Harbor, speaking of people that I love. Suitable for the whole family. Supernatural action comedy works in all the ways that you want something like this to work. So check it out on Netflix. No excuses. It's right there for you as of this Friday. And yeah, this conversation, we talk about that film, of course. We talk about Captain America stuff. A lot of juicy fun stuff in there. We talk about his love of Star Wars, about his belief in the supernatural. We hit it all, guys. We cover all the bases. All right.

So let's get right to the main event. Remember, as always, review, rate and subscribe to HappySank Confused. Drop us a good review on iTunes. Leave us a nice five-star review. Spread the good word. Follow me on social media, Joshua Horowitz, on Twitter, on Instagram. You know what to do. Here is the main event.

Get ready. It's me and the one and only. Anthony Mackey. Anthony, a three-time guest on the podcast. He's just a gotten for punishment. Welcome back, man. It's good to see you, buddy. It's good to see you, man.

You look great. Look like you've been working out. You see, here's the thing. I know your trick by now. We've known each other too long. Look at that chisel chin. Look at that, dude. I mean, you look.

You're looking good. Here's the reality. I actually have lost a little weight and I am in shape. But you've been saying that to me for 15 years when I haven't been in shape. So it's worthless to me. I'm on to you, finally. So wait, wait, wait. Before we got started, you mentioned something about a bar mitzvah history? Should we just get right to the main event, the headline here?

It's the funniest story of all time. I'll give you the abridged version, okay? So 2005, I'm in Toronto shooting a movie. I'm staying at the Hyatt. I come down, I ask the lady where the gym is. I'm in the tank top and shorts. She goes, walk all the way to the end of the hall, make a right, go through the double doors, and you'll see the gym. So I walk down and, you know, I'm listening to my music.

I go through the double doors and there's like 200 kids in shiny suits and yarmacas, this kid on stage and all these dads. And the kid on stage grabs the microphone and he goes, dad, you got me Papa Doc. He jumps off the stage. He runs up to me. It's the eight mile themed of our list. He drags me up to the stage. He was like, come on, let's battle.

Like, what are you talking about? I'm in a tank top and show us. This dude in the audience runs up and shoves a lot of cash in my hand. He goes, I don't know who you are, but you just saved my ass. I was like, dude, this is amazing. So the kid starts rapping, like, some 13-year-old awful rap. And then he goes, now tell these people something they don't know about me and drops the mic. Like, he had been prepping this the whole day.

Just in case. You never know. You got to be ready. Yo, so I'm kind of a mitzvah legend, man. You've been to more mitzvahs than I. I was never bar mitzvah. So when I get bar mitzvahed, Anthony, will you come in maybe a Captain America costume? We're going to do it together.

One day we will be men together. We will finally become men. All right, a lot going on with you, as always, my friend. The new film is we have a ghost. It's delightful. It's on Netflix. but I also notice, like on the IMDB, you have like 12 projects in various stages of development. Are you trying not to spend any time with friends and family or vice versa?

What is up with you? Like, where are you at right now, man? No, man, my golden age is 25. So at 55, I'm fading to black. You know what I mean? So I got to get it all in now. Like, the only two things I do is dad and work. That's the only two things. That's it. Right. But is there some, you're joking and you're not joking about the 55 thing, I assume, but is there a sense of like, look, you've been hustling since you left Juilliard? You've been working solidly straight. But, you know, the last five, 10 years especially, you know, the Marvel stuff helps. Now you've got the juice to produce potentially direct, et cetera, star and stuff. Does it feel like now is the time? Like, if I'm not going to do it now,

what's the point? I got to, I got to capitalize on all this. Yeah. Definitely. I mean, as in anything, you have your peak moment. You have your moment where everything comes to fruition and, you know, opportunity meets, you know, determination and education. So it all comes together. And for me, that's that moment right now. So it, you know, it's funny when looking at it. And I'll tell you the specific reason when I see you in person, because I can't say it on camera. But it's that is that moment now where, you know, I'm past all of other stuff. of trying to prove myself or trying to get awards or, you know, trying to, you know, get, be, you know, Denzel's friend, like I'm past all that stuff. Like, now I just want to focus on the work and do good, diverse, interest, and work.

And everybody comes to that point in their career. You saw it with Will Smith, you saw it with Eddie Murphy. You saw it with Robert De Niro, like, you know, Robin Williams, you saw it with all their careers where they got to that point where they're like, you know, I want to do some interest and fun stuff. And that's kind of where I am now, and that's why I did this movie. Was there a film career in particular that when you were starting out or even in the last 10, 15 years,

you were like, okay, I'm not going to have their career, but like they're approaching it in the right way. Like that's the way to do it because there are different ways to go about it, right? Like, is it worth emulating a strategy? Can you be strategic about it? Well, you can be. And from the beginning of my career, I always emulated and followed Don Chito and Samuel Jackson. Samuel Jackson has had a very interesting career because it started so late. And he was so late into the game before people knew who he was. And, you know, if you look

at him and Don Chito and Lawrence Fishburn, they really built a resume. They really track their roles. They really, like, chose roles that showcase them as individuals to put them in a room with other people to give them other roles, you know. And when you do it that way, I feel like when you're strategic about it, it gives you more of an opportunity to be more diverse. Because I look at acting, the way I look at investing. Like you want to diversify your portfolio. You don't want to put all your chips in action movies. You don't want to put all your chips in AT&T.

You know, you want to invest in a little bit of everything. So you're not put in a position where there's only one thing you can do. You haven't put your chips in one part of the career in a while. Correct me, I'm wrong. It's been a while since you've done theater, right? it was you had 2002 14 was that a banding in spokane was that the last one yeah yeah here by the way to to make it about us for a second here's a fork in the road and i feel like in my life i remember meeting you i've seen you backstage at that one and we had a nice moment as always and then you

invited me to your into your car to like go out on the town for that night and i said i passed and i feel like if i had gone with you i'd probably be dead dead right now you you live literally said, I should go home. And I'm like, no, you shouldn't. What do you think I'm going to do? Come on. Get in the car. All right. But, okay, we're talking about that diversity of the career, and that speaks well to this current project, okay? Because, look, you've knocked off a lot of different kinds of films on the resume. This is a new territory. And, like, let's not diminish, like, the challenge of grounding a character like this, a story like this, right? Like, is this in its own way a challenge for you? Even on,

on on the face of it it's like oh this is kind of easy he's the dad he's just playing a guy talk to me about like what's the challenge of we have a ghost for you or what's the excitement you know the challenge is being when you're when you're a parent there are certain things that you have to you're learning just as much as your kids are learning because my kid went from being a baby to a child to now a teenager right so I want to treat him like he's a child I want to hug him and kiss him and like sit on the couch and watch scary movies and I want to do all that stuff with him, but now he's a teenager. So those aren't the needs and desires he has anymore for his father.

So the frustration that comes along with that for me are the same frustrations that come along with that for him. So we really had to communicate and relearn each other at this next phase of his life. And that's something with this movie I learned from Jahi and just reading the script and talking to Chris, Landon, about what it is we wanted to convey. Like, I didn't want to just have some, you know, bucks and bruising dad who's, you know, kicking indoors and all this shit. I really wanted to have a dad like I had, a dad who did his best,

but at the same time didn't quite understand those different transitions. You know, it's not something they didn't give you a baby with a handbook. You know, when you have a baby, there's certain things that you got to just figure out as you go. And there's a few months where it's pretty rough in every transition. And then after those months, it clicks. You know, like my son just turned 13. We had like six months where it was rough. And then about a month ago, I was like, oh.

But then by the time you figure that out, then it's on to the next stage. And you're like, oh, shit, here we go again. Exactly. And it's funny, he's had like a nickname for every stage. And I realized, like, he wasn't my buddy anymore. he's my little man, you know, and once that happens, once that kick in, you know, it makes things a lot easier. I'm a little upset.

You always called me your little man, and now I find out you call your son, your little man, too. I feel betrayed. You're my child. You called me worse. This show is sponsored by BetterHelp. Guys, I generally feel it my best when I'm confronting the issues in my life. I'm not avoiding them. And that's where something like therapy can come into play and can be of help.

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That's BetterHelp. dot com slash h sc are you getting too big and powerful and strong to play normal human beings you're not in rock territory like your or Arnold territory back in the day where it's like they would always have to explain why Arnold Schwarzenegger is playing like a kindergarten teacher like how do you have what really but like I did notice in this I'm like that's a big dude That's a big dude just to be a regular dude. Do you have to think about that?

No, not at all. I mean, for me, look, no matter how swole or how famous or how whatever you become, I think there are guys that you can look at and emulate and say, that's the guy I'm betraying. Like, everybody deserves, you know, representation. And I think there's some friends that I have who are massive men who are just like humble, you know, regular guys yeah you know but to the the visual aspect of it they're very intimidating but when they get outside of that intimidating surroundings you see they're just regular guys they just don't fit in chairs you know so those

are the guys should do a PSA for the poor men that can't fit in regular size chairs like hey man you got a couch because I don't fit in chair right speaking like on a more serious note you mentioned representation and let's not diminish the fact that like the center of this story is a black family and in this traditional kind of story it's not it's that's just not the case and it's crazy we're still talking about this like this is a novel idea but this is a Netflix movie this is a mainstream like four quadrant like everyone should watch this movie and enjoy it and that has to be factor into it too and be a source of pride right like we're just a family we're just a family and I didn't watch a lot

of these growing up where a black family was in the center or something like this right No, it is. And that's something I talked to Chris about. And, you know, we're as opposite as we, you won't find more people more opposite than Chris and I, but we have so much in common. And, you know, one thing we always talked about was the, the idea of everybody's human. We just dress different. You know, and I feel like for me, when you look at the history of film and the films that are being made, you know, people don't care what race the people are. Everyone gravitates to a great story. And the wonderful thing about it is, I feel like this is a great story. You know, the ghost is scary. You know, David does a great job. You know, Erica Ash is a great, wonderful movie, wife, awesome person. You know, I have two great kids. You know, Jennifer comes in and turns the whole thing on his head.

Like, it's just, it's something for everybody, no matter what their background and race is. And it just works on every level. A lot of your background and close to your heart is New Orleans, which is a notoriously, a spooky town. A lot of talk of ghosts and spirits, et cetera. Now I know you to be an intelligent, rational man. Tell me, Anthony, you don't believe in this stuff. You don't believe. You're out of your mind. Yo, of course I believe. You don't believe in ghosts? No. Come on. Are you serious? No, I also don't believe in Bigfoot. You said a lot of ridiculous things since I've known you. You don't believe in ghosts.

I mean, what are we talking about? Get specific here. What are we saying? We're talking about ghosts. Ghosts. We're not talking about Casper. We're not talking about damn, the State Puff marshmallow man or slimer. We're talking about ghosts. You have some experience in the matter? What do you got? What do you got?

Being from New Orleans, I've seen some crazy shit. I'm not talking about your drunken nights out on the town. I don't care. I can't wait to get you in my car. I'm just saying, for me, I've seen some very crazy spooky things, man. And a lot of it just happened to be, like, my house was built in the 1860s. Right. So every now and then, I hear upstairs, you go upstairs and there's nobody there.

Like I have a friend, one of my good friends from Brooklyn, right? He comes to New Orleans, he's like, yo, I'm gonna stay at your crib. Because that's how dude's from Brooklyn talk. I'm like, I bet. So he stays at the crib. So I come back later, this dude has literally built a fort in the living room. Because he's afraid, because he heard noises upstairs. Come on.

Are you a superstitious guy? Are you a superstitious guy generally? Like, do you have, like, little? I'm very superstitious. I'm very superstitious. Like, if I go to a football game, I have to be there. Five minutes before the game start, have everything ready in my seat. I have to be ready and prepared either on my couch, in my seat, wherever, ready for the game.

Because if I get there one second after they kick the ball, we lose. That's not superstition. That's just fact. No, this is just about like gambling now. This is just about like, I'm going to lose my bet and I'm going to blame it on something external that has nothing to do with me. I'm your new psychiatrist, you know, ditch your team of psychiatrists, I'm guessing, and focus on Josh. I will help you. I'm just saying, man, when you think about it, like the supernatural, it's called the super natural.

Yeah, it's called Superman. He's not a, he ain't there. He's not real. What do you talk? What is this? Super natural. When you take the natural, which is here and now, 3D, bang, bang, that when you superfire that shit. All right, let's talk about important stuff, like the state of the relationship of you, Sebastian, and Evans, which I'm trying to, you know, as you know, I've been trying to drive you guys apart for years now.

And I put the challenge to you guys a while back, you and Sebastian, to see who Evans would text back first, right? And then we discovered the post-mortem was, no, no, no, don't, don't gloat. We discovered you cheated. Evans told me you cheated. Didn't cheat. You didn't say what to text him. You prayed upon the innocence of poor Sebastian, sweet Sebastian, who wouldn't think, doesn't have like an evil bone in his body like you.

And you went dark. You went conniving. There's a golfer named Jack. And he says, if you ain't cheating, you ain't winning. All right. That's all I'm going to say. But I saw Chris, Chris was here shooting something. And I saw him two days ago, man, he's, he's turned into a couch potato.

What is he, what are talking about? Like, he's gained 100 pounds? What? He's watching Real Housewives. What is it doing? He's just like a dude that stays at home and don't do nothing. I'm like, yo, what are we doing? You want to go to dinner?

He's like, I'm kind of making a kale salad and like, what are we doing? What are we doing? What are we doing? Him and Sebastian, they turned into old men. This is, look, post-captain. America, you got, look, you put a lot of miles on and then you want to take a rest. You want to sit back and eat a salad. I'm the only one outside. They're not outside no more. I called Sebastian last week. I was like, yo, we're doing it. We're doing it. I'm coming to New York.

And he's like, well, you know, I just, I kind of have to, I'm working on this thing and what are you doing? We outside. All right. So what is the definition of we doing it at your, at your elder statesman age with Sebastian Stan and Chris Evans. What does that entail? Finding a nice, neutral location, having a great dinner, laughing

and joking about the good times. See? Once we get outside, that's a whole different conversation. Okay. Is the next gig? Okay, I'm out of focus. That's how excited I'm.

am. Is the next gig for you? Look at the cycle. Look at Barbara Walters filter on me. The next gig for you. Wow. You are, you know, you're a ghost. Yeah, exactly. You have a vein in your old age. Okay. Is the next gig Captain America? Is that the next shoot? Yeah, that's in March. All right. Do they actually show you a script this time or are they just going to improvise this whole thing? I have not seen a script. I just think it's a lot of flying. And, yeah, a lot of flying and fighting. That's all I'm doing. But I'm going to curse a whole lot in this one.

Finally. NC17. Let's skip right past R and go unrated. You have no idea. I'm going straight Wesley Snipes and Blade. I am throwing every curse word in there. So, yeah, instead of I'm Captain America, it's I'm... I'm Captain America, bitch.

No one would know how to take that. Printed a billion dollars right there. I'm there. And the kids got to learn the naughty words at some point. The kids know naughty words that you don't know. They've made naughtier words for themselves. Okay. So for the record, not that we can talk specific,

because you haven't even seen the script, but no Evans this time around. We don't need Chris. We had his time. Is Sebastian going to sneak in there? Are we going to let him in? I don't know. We're going to be shooting.

at the same time. So I think, you know, we're going to replace Chris with a new member of the trio and we're going to do it. Who's the new member? We're going to have a new member of the trio. Chris is going out to pasture. He's an old man now. Is it Harrison Ford? Who has to? Here's my question. Who has to explain to Harrison Ford the history of the MCU? Is that on you? I want to I think you know what I've been thinking about and I'm going to share this with you I've never shared this before please I think I'm gonna try and pull some diva shit like I'm number one on Harrison Ford what do you think good luck with that God bless it before but like come in on the first day and let everybody know this is my set and I'm the star I don't care who you cast I'm the man what do you think no no my friend no what are you doing It's finally the Hollywood homicide reunion we've all been waiting for after all these years. That's why I'm like, I finally get to work with Harrison Ford again. I've been waiting on this moment, dude.

I've been waiting on this moment. Okay, one or two more things on this. I know you can't say much. How would you be if I go riding motorcycles on the weekends with Harrison Ford? No, I want you to be happy. Go for it. I have to do that, right? Yeah.

Does he ride motorcycles? Do you? He's Harrison Ford. Ford. He does everything. Sometimes they crash, too. You don't get in a plane with Harrison Ford. He crashed the plane and walked away. The plane was never heard from again. Here's a semi-serious question. Isaiah Bradley, that's such a fascinating aspect of the story. Are we going to see more of that story told in this next one?

I don't know, dude. I haven't seen a script. I think, I don't know if the Isaiah storyline was finished with Falcon Winter Soldier. Because it was kind of a finite em in him getting the statue in the museum. So I don't know if they're going to bring them back. I don't know. Okay. But timeline-wise, that's the next couple. This is all I'm going to tell you about Cap.

I've had about four costume fittings. And the round brown is looking delicious in the spandex, baby. That's all I'm going to say. Your Horowitz, that's all I'm going to say. This is the first Marvel movie. This is the first Marvel movie. I'm skipping. I'm good.

You don't talk about it. Yay. The round brown going to make you as happy. The round brown going to make you as happy as peanut butter and jelly on the summer day, baby. You know what I'm talking about? Mm, mm, mm, yep. You're just asking for it to go tighter, a little less. No, no, no.

I mean, I'm talking about straight, like, solo shots. Like, as I go running by, the camera's going to be here. Right. You know what I mean? Yeah. It's like the whole Batman nipple thing all over again. But now it's, yeah. That's it.

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is starting to say no to rolls? And was that a big shift for you? Because, you know, the impulse at the first is like, give me more, give me more, I'll take it, I'll take it. But that's got to be a bit of a shift, no? No, not at all. Because from the beginning, I've always had the ability and the luxury to say no.

Like we, I mean, you know my team. I've had a great team for the past 23. years and you know it was always that thing of instead of trying to be the the lead of star track let's get you small roles and build on that build on that so the more you build you know the bigger those roles become to where when you get one of those major roles you know what to do you know how to handle yourself on set you know how to work yeah you know so it was always the idea of saying no no no no no but you know taking those small roles as they came and independent roles. Independent film was basically the, you know, the ushering and the birth of my career. You know,

if it wasn't for brother to brother, if it wasn't for half Nelson, if it wasn't for so many movies, I mean, Hurt Locker was the independent movie. You know, there were so many independent movies I did, night catches us, so on and so forth. Those are the movies that really propelled my career forward. Because it gave you more of an opportunity because it wasn't Denzel's best friend. It wasn't that kind of thing. Exactly. It's like you're not up there trying to hit a home run against the best pitcher in the world. You know, your on-base percentage is way higher. Just being invited to the party.

Yeah. You know, I did two scenes in Manchuria and Canada, not because it was money or because it was Denzel, but because I wanted to work with Jonathan Demi. Yeah. You know, so those type of things are very, very important when building your resume in your career. Because I can say, yeah, man, you know, I remember Jonathan Demi.

I can say, yeah, I did a movie with Harrison Ford, 20 years ago. Right. Even though I had an amazing role that was cut down to two scenes. Well, it is that kind of thing where like when finally the opportunities catch up to the talent, you're ready. You're ready to deliver. You're not you're kind of, you're learning your craft, not in secret, but kind of on the periphery where people aren't watching. Preparation meets the opportunity and you're ready.

And, you know, my teacher always used to tell me be bad in class. You don't want to be bad on film because film is the only medium. When you're bad, you're bad forever. bad forever. Yep. Right. So if you got two scenes, if you got three scenes, if you got one scene where you walk in and go, is Spider-Man cut? Can you just say it normal? Bet? Is Spider-Man cut? Like, you don't want to do that. But if you do that with that one line, you have the opportunity to come back with another role and another role and another role and make up for it. Did the, did though the ambitions kind of like match the, like, were you frustrated at a certain point?

Or did you feel like you were always progressing? You were always moving at the right pace. I was never. Like before Hurt Locker, for instance, before Hurt Locker, which is clearly a transitional point, I would say, right? It's got to change the profile. Yeah. Okay, just checking, just checking, making sure.

Because something's from the outside in, it looks one way and you never know. I got to hug Tom Hanks, yeah. It's all we can hope for. I drink George Clooney's whiskey. Yeah. So if I talk to you, prior to like the year or two before her to madonna's oscar party met serena williams yeah it changed a few things why are you still even bothering to talk to me it's amazing um so but okay so prior to that

slew of amazingness where were you at were you happy prior to hurt locker did you feel like you were ready because i was so naive i was just excited about the idea of working like when i came out of school, you know, it wasn't like Julia was the hot, fast place to go pick up actors. You know, that happened after our class. Before our class, people weren't really working coming out of school. You would go do Poughkeepsie shakes or you would go do Alabama shakes or you would go to the Shakespeare Theater in D.C. But you weren't jumping off like with major projects coming out of school. That would happen 10, 15, 20 years later, you know. So our class was really the first class where Lee Pace, you know, Tracy Times, Brian Cogman wrote Game of Thrones.

You know, we had a group of people who came out of school and hit it big. You know, then the other ones came and jumped on, you know, our coattail. But we really had the opportunity to come out of school to work. So our work kind of, you know, the more people would work, the more people would build. And it was never an opportunity of, oh, I'm going to be the next Denzel. It's like, no, I'm working. Yeah. You know, so it was more so just about working.

How many times over the years on a set have you broken out the, you know, I went to Juilliard line. I never, that's never been my go-to, but people always throw it at me. Right. Oh, Mr. Juilliard, I get it. Oh, that kind of thing. What is it? I mean, it's only the second hardest school in America to get into, but I digress. I agree.

What is a pet peeve on set at this point? What gets under your skin? A pet peeve on set. You know, it's, I would say, which is crazy, waiting. Waiting drives me, when they say we're ready on set, I put my cigar down, I go in the set and we wait 20 minutes. I'm like, man, I could have been outside and enjoying the air. Right. You know, it's just that. Or when people try to dictate to you what they think your celebrity is worth. Oh. That bothers me.

Wait, wait, go on the way. Explain that one to me. Give me an example. Like this. Prime example. Okay. If, if celebrity of your choice, if the rock is on set, oh my God, Duwain's on set. Get him Pellegrino, not Fiji. Oh my God. slice turkey and i'm there and i can't even get no fontis water we both out there sweating we both out there working so you're gonna tell me that his fame is worth more than my fame right now we got a fight because you know i'm not past you know it's the f word well and yeah and the whole nature of the medium look you're on it together and when you start to stratify and you start Once you're doing the work, I mean, going back to, we've been laughing about Harrison Ford. The notorious thing about him is like he'll pick up the chair and move it.

He'll help. He's all about just getting it done. 100%. And that's what's so dope about. And that's why I'm so excited about working with him. You know, because Sam Jackson taught me a lot, like from afar. Three of my earliest movies were with Sam Jackson. And because of that, my set etiquette is a complete replica of Sam Jackson.

Like, he literally was my work dad. It taught me everything about the business from afar. And every now and I'd ask him a question and he'd give me one of his answers, shut up, motherfucker. And I would take that. You know, but literally, when you see me on set, it is, it is a direct representation of how Sam Jackson moved and operated with this business. Like with class and people went the extra mile for him just because he was a cool dude.

Are you, do you subscribe to the same thing? He's told me over the years, like, the whole thing of like, give me different versions of a take. He's just like, no, no, no, because he's been screwed too many times in the edit where he's like, he's going to do it the way he does it. Always, always, because a director will tell you, all right, well, you know, let's do it again. We can, the way you want to do it, we do it once and then we'll do it over. And they'll never use that. They'll never use that at all because they have an idea of how it's going to work. Now, you look like an idiot.

It comes out, everybody hates it. And then you're like, well, he directed me to do that. But the average person don't go to a movie and say the director sucks. No, the average person goes to a movie and say, you suck. I'm a little hurt in all our years. The person you revealed your Star Wars obsession to wasn't me. I think it was James Corden. I had no idea you were a Boba Fett nerd that you just.

Yo, when I heard they would do it, this is the one and the only time I call my agent and my manager and say, It's going to be a problem. Was when I heard they were doing the Mandelori. I was like, y'all, now I ain't going to make this no conversation. I ain't going to get on no I'm star type shit. I ain't going to yell at y'all. But we need to, come on, come on. I am the best.

I have the helmet. I can literally show up in my costume from my house, ready to shoot. What is it about that character? or those kinds of the Mandalorian's? What was so exciting for you? I mean, as a kid, those were the most exciting, mysterious, that character.

So... Well, you just never knew why or what or how. Like, there was something so unique about the way he moved through that universe that no one else could, could emulate. Like, I always wanted to be Lando. Like, growing up, my nickname was Lando. Like, that's what I made people call me, you know?

me, you know, but the, the Mandalorian, the reason he, wait a second, when you make other people call you that, is that really a nickname? You're like, this is my nickname, you have to call me this nickname. 100%. When I go out, you know how when girls go out, they have a fake name they give out at the club? Right. My fake name to this day is Lando. Checking into hotels under Lando Calrissian? That's amazing. No, no, no, you know, Lando Mackey. Okay, sorry. I do, I do, I I derailed that. So that was the dream. Did you get a meeting? Did you get any conversation? Have you ever met with the Lucas folks? No. No, I was working while they were set to shoot. So I wasn't available. Is that, is that real? Like you could have had a conversation? You were just working?

That's real. I wasn't available. Okay. So now I'm going to get one of those roles in the background where they're doing the thing and I take off my helmet and go, that was a long flight. That's it. That's all I want is one C. I just want everybody to know that I was one of them. Got it. Okay. We can make that happen, I think. Today's episode of Happy, Sad, Confused, is sponsored by Honey, the easy way to save when shopping on your iPhone or computer. Are you guys like me, do you feel kind of a buzz when you find a deal? Do you feel smart? Do you feel lucky? What about when you're surprised by a deal? Does it feel like you're getting a treat for free? Well, thanks to Honey, manually searching for coupon codes, it's a thing of the past. Honey is the free shopping tool that scours the Internet for promo codes

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And Honey doesn't just work on desktops. It works on your iPhone, too. You just activate it on Safari on your phone and save on the go. If you don't already have honey, you could be straight up missing out, guys. And by getting it, you'll be doing yourself a solid and supporting, happy, sad, confused. So get PayPal Honey. for free at joinhoney.com slash hsc that's joinhoney.com slash hsc okay looking ahead to the dozens of projects uh you shot twisted metal shot twisted metal in a can okay so you're you're drafting off look if last of us can become a cultural phenomenon where's ours

other video game adaptation. This is a different kind of thing, though. This is a different thing. This is a different kind of thing. Twisted metal, I can honestly say, is unlike anything you've ever seen before. It's ridiculously exciting. And Stephanie Beatrice is in it.

And the two of us, I mean, I have never seen oil and water worked so unwell together before and then fused so perfectly together by the end. It's just fun, man. And we got, you know, it's just the cast. Like Samoa Joe is in this dude. And if you've ever met this dude, so he's not an actor, right? But he's a wrestler.

So we have this scene where me and him, we go and at it. He just has to like slam me into the wall. So I'm like, all right, cool. So we go up to the wall and I'm like, like that? And they're like, yeah, cool. All right, like that? Yeah, cool. action.

Wow. So I get up. And you know, if it was anybody else, I'm like, yo, we got a fight. I get up and I'm like, don't do that. Can we have a little talk? Because the next time you do that, I can never have children or be Captain America again.

Yeah, exactly. I think I'm on concussion protocol. Yeah, Marvel, like you would not be happy about that. Are you a video game guy? Are you, do you play games? I'm not. I'm an old school. See, my problem is this.

I like the old school games, but from what I learned, my son told me, PlayStation, Xbox, they're more gamer games than like old. I'm more like Pac-Man, Frogger, Dig-Dug, Astero. I'm more like that. You know what I mean? You're speaking my language. I got you. Yeah. So I don't get why, like if I want to download Frog.

Frogger is one of my favorite games. And it's literally a cube frog trying to get through traffic. That's all it is. Oh, my God. Yeah, I don't know if DigDug is going to be a billion-dollar franchise. I don't know if they could. I want to make the Dig-Dug movie. What is the plot of the Dig-Dug?

No. Beto. Vito. When are we going to get you in the director's chair? And it sounded like you were getting close. Is it too much going on right now? I've been working on the Claudette Calvin movie. And hopefully, knock on wood, we'll be able to do that at the end of this year.

Because she's a national treasure. And, you know, I want my sons to be able to hear and see and learn that story. So hopefully, you know, this year we'll be able to knock it out once we finish the CA. Are you still attached to the Priyanka Chopra Jonas movie ending things? I'm just curious on that one. It's Priyanka. Yes, yes. I'm curious because

I got to do a movie with her. I got to say old buddy of mine this was an MTV writer Kevin Sullivan wrote the script to that I'm so happy for him. You're out of here.

Well, your old buddy Anthony Mackie rewrote the script. Oh no. The bones were there, right? The bones were there. It was a great car. It just needed a new engine.

Hey, that's okay. That's teamwork, like we said. Like we said. That's all you can ask. Oh, buddy. Okay. So we have a ghost for folks that tuned out of the podcast 25 minutes ago. Great new film on Netflix. It works in all the ways you want something like this to work. It's, you know, whether you grew up with Beetlejuice or Ghostbusters, it's fun. It's a great eight-night movie. Like if you and your girl just post it up, you can turn it on and it's fun.

If you're with your kids and you want to have a movie that will spark a conversation will make you laugh and cry, it works. If you're just on the couch chilling, you know, it works. It's just a fun, easygoing family movie without all the cheese and cornball-ish with some really good actors. That's all I got to say. I'm not talking about me. I'm just saying. You managed to make David Harbour, I don't know how much money you paid him to change his look like that. The man was like courting all these fans as like the sexy dad bod and now he looks like the bowler from hell.

like out of what happened you know thing that beats a middle-aged comb over and when he came on set i was like yo the comb over is fire he embraced it no i love that man i would i would straight up like comb over to the back like a swirl like girls used to have them like finger waves i would take my comb over and bring it in the finger waves i can't wait as we as our relationship continues in the decades to come once my hair goes and the comb over. I'm going to bring you to the hood so you can see. I'm going to get your hair finger wave.

Oh, shit. I feel like if you die first, you're going to be the ghost that haunts me. That's my incentive. That's my ghost tie into this whole thing. Buddy, it's always good to see you. Thank you for the laughs. As always, everybody, check out the new movie. And I do hope to see you in person one of these days soon.

I hope so. Sometimes soon. We got to go to the gym, work out together. You're looking smitly. I don't believe you, but okay. Running or working out? What are you doing? I'm doing both, actually.

I'll send you my workout tips. You need it, obviously. Did your diet? What do you eat? How many calories are you? We're doing the macros, looking at the macros. We're looking at the protein, cutting down on everything. How many should I be eating?

What do you? I don't know. Give me one tip. Give me one tip. One tip. To go to the next level of my nutrition. I don't know what you're doing. I don't know what you're doing.

Okay, I'm going to send you my list. They're begging me to leave. I'm going to send you my diet and you tell me what to do. Poop three times a day. Only when I think of you. That's it. Okay. And always drink your water hot in the morning.

Like take a big glass of water, put it on your bedside table at night, get a room temperature and drink it. It's going, bro, go straight to the bathroom. to the bathroom. We ended classy. It's nature's lube. Got to go. Anthony Mackey, we have a ghost. See you, bud.

See you later. And so ends another edition of happy, sad, confused. Remember to review, rate, and subscribe to this show on iTunes or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm a big podcast person. I'm Daisy Ridley,

and I definitely wasn't pressure to do this by Josh. Hey, Michael. Hey, Tom. You want to tell him? Or you want me to tell him? No, no, no. I got this.

People out there. People. Lean in. Get close. Get close. Listen. Here's the deal. We have big news.

We got monumental news. We got snack tackling news. Yeah, after a brief hiatus, my good friend, Michael Ian Black, and I are coming back. My good friend, Tom Kavanaugh, and I. are coming back to do what we do best. What we were put on this earth to do. To pick a snack. To eat a snack.

And to rate a snack. Nemptically. Emotionally? Spiritually. Mates is back. Mike and Tom eat snacks. Is back. A podcast for anyone with a mouth.

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