Happy Sad Confused - Christopher Lloyd

Episode Date: April 14, 2021

We've got a living legend on "Happy Sad Confused" this week! From his debut film, "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" to "Taxi" to Back to the Future" to "Who Framed Roger Rabbit", Christopher Lloyd is a huge part of the pop culture landscape. At 82, he's going strong with two new movies, and a TV show! For all of your media headlines remember to subscribe to The Wakeup newsletter here! And listen to THE WAKEUP podcast here! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Today on Happy, Sad, Confused, Living Legend, Christopher Lloyd, going strong at 82 with two new movies and a TV series. Hey, guys, I'm Josh Horowitz. Welcome to another edition of Happy, Sad, Confused. Well, every once in a while, I get a chance to talk to somebody that really holds a special. special place in the life of young Josh Harrowitz. And if you're listening to this, you probably have also grown up to a degree with Christopher Lloyd in your life, in your pop culture life. Certainly, I really don't have a memory of pop culture without Christopher Lloyd holding a special place. So this was a real treat. Christopher Lloyd, as I said, he's 82, but shows no signs of

slowing down. I caught up with him. I believe he was a real treat. Christopher Lloyd, as I said, he's 82, but shows no signs of slowing down. I caught up with him. I believe he was back home in Santa Barbara, but gearing up for a giant undertaking, actually. He's about to play King Lear and the Berkshires, the summer, which is amazing to think. And has so much going on. He has a film with William Shatner.

Yes, Star Trek fans a reteaming of Star Trek 3, The Search for Spock. Of course, we get into that, don't worry. He has a movie with Bill Shatner called Senior Moment. He has a new movie with Bob Odenkirk, you've probably heard of called Nobody, which is kind of a cool John Wick-esque action revenge movie. And he also has a, for the Back to the Future geeks out there, and who isn't one, Expedition Back to the Future on Discovery Plus is a real treat

because it's Christopher Lloyd essentially playing both himself and Doc Brown as he and the host kind of go on this adventure to find the DeLoreans Back to the Future. I watched the first episode of that, and it's a lot of fun because it has cameos from all of the Back to the Future folks in it. So that's a treat. So check all those things out. And I hope you guys enjoy this conversation with Chris Lloyd because he's somebody that, you know, he's kind of like Chris Walken, right? he's kind of like one of those guys that there's nobody quite like Christopher Lloyd. He's got that aura about himself.

He's got the line readings are a little bit off and unique and different. He's not like he's a character actor who can play the villain, who can play the kind, you know, father. But there's always something interesting going on. And we cover a lot in this conversation from his beginnings in theater to his first film. I mean, this just tells you everything you need to know about Christopher. Lloyd's career. His first film was in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest guys. So it was off to the races then and soon thereafter joined the cast of Taxi. And from there it's, you know, it's back to the future. It's who frame Roger Rabbit. It's Star Trek. It's so many iconic things from

the 80s and 90s in particular. And we hit upon most, if not all of the ones that I certainly hold dear to me. And yeah, this is pure Christopher Lloyd. What you see is what you get. He He's kind of odd and interesting, but intellectual. Like I said, there's no one like him. So this was, when this one was booked, I was really excited about it. I tend to geek out on the ones that are just kind of pulled from my childhood. And there's no actor that is more ingrained in my psyche than Christopher Lloyd. So I think you guys will enjoy this one.

Not much more I want to say is the preamble this week. I hope you guys are enjoying the good weather here, certainly in New York has turned. And, you know, as I've said before, it feels like there's some hope and excitement in the air as vaccinations continue, especially in the States. As I say this today, I can say I'm fully vaccinated. It's going to kick in the two weeks after very soon. So I'm starting to eye, maybe going to the movies, maybe even going, leaving the state, maybe getting on a plane. Who would have thunk it? So, you know, we all have to be safe, still wear your masks, social distance, do all the right

things, but it's exciting that we're able to hopefully open up our lives a little bit more and see friends and family. I have one recommendation this week that I really dug. It's one of the first TV series I've seen in a while that I just kind of really got obsessed with. I got a chance to watch the first five episodes of Mayor of East Town. If you watch HBO, you've probably seen the promos for this one. This is, I think it's a limited series.

I don't know if it's going to continue on or not. I think it's seven episodes in all. It's with Kate Winslet as the lead, as a cop. And, you know, we've seen, yes, we've seen dozens of these kind of, like, grisly serial killer mysteries with, like, a cop that's dealing with both the crime and their own fractured life. But we haven't seen one of Kate Winslet at the center of it, and she's arguably one of my top five favorites. actors on the planet. And I was just really engrossed in this. First episode a little slow, but by the second episode, I got really into it. And by the end of the fifth episode, I was just resentful that HBO hadn't sent me the screeners for the last two. So I'm going to have to wait just like

the rest of you all for the end. But look out for that one. That's premiering very soon, Mirroof East Town. And I'm sure Kate's going to get all sorts of Emmys and Golden Globes attention for it. But forget the award stuff. It's just, it's an engrossing cool. cop show. So if you're if you like that sort of thing and you like great acting, look out for that. Um, okay, that's my one recommendation of the week. Let's get on to the main event. Remember to review, rate and subscribe to happy, sad, confused, uh, spread the good word. You know, we've got icons here. We've got Christopher Lloyd. What more do you want, guys? Um, I hope you enjoy this conversation. I hope we cover everything you would want. You can't, you can't cover everything in the life of an 82 year

old actor who has over 230 screen credits. But I think we cover the big stuff that you would want covered in this. And like I said, there's no one like him. Here's me and Christopher Lloyd. It's a distinct honor to have Christopher Lloyd on my silly little podcast. We've, we've, we've classed up the joint with Mr. Lloyd. How are you, sir? Oh, I'm doing great. You're a great Thank you. So, you know, you've put me the shame. I'm about half your age, but as I look at what you're up to, you've got two new films. You've got a giant movie that you've been shooting with George Clooney and Ben Affleck.

You've got a TV series. I take it that work ethic has always been an important part of your life. You enjoy working. Well, I do. It's true. And I'm always grateful to, you know, that I had the opportunity to keep doing what I like to do. Yeah.

Have you already wrapped up your time with George Clooney and on a tender bar? Completed that last week. And that was a thrill. It was so great working with him and a wonderful cast, including Ben Affleck. So it was good. Not that I would think hopefully by now you don't need a sense of validation. You know how many people enjoy and appreciate your.

work over the years but it must still be very nice when like you know the hot next generation of filmmakers say we we want christopher lloyd as part of this project yeah i love the doing different characters and all that yeah so you've you've uh your your your your filmography is pretty uh is pretty overwhelming sir you have i think about 238 credits on i mdb not bad Have you ever had, since Cuckoo's Nest kind of launched you into film and TV, have you ever had what you would consider a dry spell? Not really. I mean, when Cuckoo's Nest came out, I got a call from an agent in Beverly Hills,

you know, and I packed and came immediately out to, L.A. I signed with him. That was the 1976, so we've been together for a while. But I more or less, you know, I did have, when I moved out to L.A., about an eight-month stretch where I thought I've, you know, I was beginning to get continuous work in the theater in New York, and I thought, I have blown it. I have come out here and I'm dying here. Everything will be dead in New York. that, but it worked itself out. When you look back, like, do you feel like you've been in control of your own career over the years, or have you kind of ridden the wave of offers and just sort of like

taking the best that's offered to you? I'm always curious if actors feel like they're in control of their own. Yeah, I kind of feel that way. I mean, you know, it's been paced just, you know, I look at everything that comes up and my agent manager, show me everything that comes up and I mull it over and decide yes or no, which I kind of insist upon. I want to know what's offered and take a look at it, decide myself whether I want to do it or not. I take their advice, you know, and all that. Well, it's your name and your face in the end on the product, so you want to control your destiny,

I suppose, right? Has your process, like, when you get a script changed much? Like, what's the first thing you do when you decide to do a role? Do you, you know, Christopher Walken gets rid of all the punctuation notoriously? Do you do have any kind of specific process when you decide you're going to start? I know the moment I get the script, I don't read the whole script. I just look for pages where I, my character, and then I kind of think, whether, you know, if there's enough meat there to, to get into, get someone, I'm interested

in who the director is, whether he's a no name or not, but what has he done before? And, yeah, and I think about it a bit. Yeah. Then I decide one way or the other. You, you know, we alluded to kind of this transitional period for you, which came, you know, not when you were 20 or 25, but in your mid to late 30s, you had already lived like a hell of a life seemingly here in New York, where I am, you'd spent a long time in theater. Yeah.

Had you resigned yourself to a life in theater by then? Did you think it just wasn't going to happen for you in film and TV? In a sense, because I was being set up during the 60s for films. and just nothing, you know, zilch. And also I didn't feel I was projecting anything, you know, that they would be interested in. Were you getting any feedback that was like coming up in your auditions? Like what was wrong with what you were doing?

What were they saying? It just, you know, wasn't happening. Yeah. And I began to think that I'm, You know, some actors don't make the bridge from theater to film. And I thought, perhaps that's my destiny, you know. But then Couglas and Ness came to do some cast to New York. Yeah.

A casting director who had been setting me up over time and set me up. And I went in. The rest of this history, yeah. Yes. It's fascinating. I open face up. And then a taxi came up, not too long after that. And that, so the, yeah.

Kind of gave you all the momentum you needed. But prior to that, it's funny, when I was looking back at your career and I was just kind of like doing some research, I came across what, I don't know if you've seen this photo in forever and I can send it to your folks if you want. There's an amazing photo of you and Merrill Street from about like 1974, I think, in the Possessed, which I believe you were doing at Yale Rest. Does that sound correct? Yeah, I possessed that was a fascinating production because Vida, what was the director's, Polish director's name, Andre Wider. Okay. He was a very talented Polish director. I think he'd gotten Academy Award nominations or whatever.

and a cool guy and he was in the producing director of the theater at Yale. There was a professional company that was in residence at Yale looking with the students from the drama department and Meryl Streep was a student at Yale then and she was cast in the possessed and we we had some scenes together and it was a incredible production it's amazing just to think of that time in both your lives she she was still like probably three or four years before deer hunter and everything kind of developed for her you hadn't shot presumably cuckoo's nest yet and yet like to see the photo there's such like a vibrancy of both youth and talent like you can just see it in that photo like there's so much there um did she just kind of

vibrate with excitement at the time. Oh, yeah. Yeah, it was great. And I did another play at Yale, Mid-Summer Night's Dream, and she was one of the lovers in that. And then, I don't know how long later, but I got cast in a Brett Wilde musical going to Broadway called Happy End. And as the production proceeded, the leading lady was replaced with Merrill. And so we had a fabulous time for a while, a few weeks in New York doing that. So you mentioned that the Polish director of that play, it sounds like some Eastern European directors figured well into your life early on. You talk about Nilo Schwarman, who I just positively revere all his work.

and Cuckoo's Nest is obviously considered, rightfully so, a classic. What did you, did you gel immediately with Milosh? What was, what, why did actors adore Miloche so much, you think? Well, he's very smart, and he, he chose material that was extraordinary and maybe had some political, um, message with it. And he was kind of radical. You know, he left Czechos, Czechoslovakian, but he was just exciting to work with. He was very vibrant, vibrant, and really, you know, he just dug everything out of you.

Let's do it and get it up there. And he was an exciting personality to be around. Yeah, it always seemed to translate into his work. I mean, I remember I was like, I think I was like 10 years old when, for instance, Amadeus came out, which on its, on its face should not be for a 10-year-old or be, but yet like there's so much energy and fun and humor to that work. And I feel like that was in all of his work. Just amazing. Nicolson at the time, did you have any relationship with Jack? Did you know him? What was it like to work with him at the time? I did not, I, he was an idol of mine before

Koothing's Nest. Yeah. Five easy pieces, an easy writer, and the last detail, et cetera, et cetera. And I just thought he was, you know, the cat's ass or whatever it is. Great. And then Cougars S. came along. I just, I was blown away. I remember the first time I was on the set in Salem, Oregon. And there he was there, improvising with Danny DeVito, et cetera. And he was wonderful to work with. Wonderful. I did a film after that

that he'd gone south and he was cool. Yeah, he notoriously, I mean, I've actually, you know, he, as you probably know, he doesn't do interviews much. I've talked to him a couple times over the years. It's such a privilege, and he's, he's one of those guys notoriously. Every actor that's worked with him, it's like, he just loves acting. Like, even if he's not in the frame,

if he's on the other side of it, he'll, he'll, he'll, he'll, 150%. He just loves it. Oh, totally. Totally. Speaking of Jack, this is a random one, but I'm just curious. I read somewhere that you were potentially up for The Shining. Did you ever talk to Kubrick?

Is there any truth to that? Yes. I think he arranged, discussed it with Kubrick that I got the script and got really into it. And then I heard that he'd cast another actor. You know, I had a shot, you know. It's not. The other actor, he cast in the part I was playing,

which was the bartender that. Oh, this was the bartender. Oh, got it. Yeah. Lloyd, the bartender, I think, right? Lloyd. Yeah, yeah. They were Lloyd, so you figure that out.

You were perfect. So did you ever get the chance to talk to Stanley? Have you ever, did you ever meet him? No, I never met him. Yeah. So on the set, of that first film did you know we talked about that transition like did you know how to act in front of a camera was there a learning curve in terms of a little bit i i i tended uh to over

over emphasize over act a little bit with my face or whatever and i got i got called on it and i went back and so that that kind of hold me to the the medium you know you the less is more the less is more yeah the theory you gotta protect right those directors would say

the theory but the last person in the balcony he's got to hear you right right you mentioned yeah a couple short leers later

you joined the cast of a taxi and from what I gather you know this was a different time this was there was a big gap between film and TV stars and you had trepidation

did you think yes This is a great gig, but this might also end my film career when you joined Taxi. I had a bit of an attitude that was New York actor's attitude that film was tantamount to selling out. Not film, but I mean, series. Yeah, yeah. Comic-cons. So I had resistance to that.

And in fact, I told my agent Bob Gersh that I don't want to go up for series. And every once for a while, he'd send me up just, he'd say, just to meet these people. Because, you know, you never know on the future, you know. So, and so he warmed me up, warmed my resistance up a little bit. And then he sent me the said going up for taxi and they sent me the script and

I was so glad I did. Yeah. Did you find that I mean, I assume you shot in front of a studio audience? Yes. So, so, so of course that, yeah, I was going to say. So yeah, there must be a comfort level there.

Like, oh, I know this. This is different, but I put there, yeah. And it's a comedy. It's like life. like to hear live, live audience, laugh. Yeah. Did Jim, did Reverend Jim immediately spark with the audience? I mean, it feels like that character, I mean, it was such an amazing ensemble,

but that character in particular, it felt like you could feel the energy of the audience just when you appeared on screen. Yeah, I think that kind of stoned out kind of, whatever you want to call it, was very popular. heard that. I mean, it's a, I recognize Reverend Jim in the characters I'd met and seen walking about New York or whatever, you know. So, and so many people would say, you remind me of

my grandfather or uncle, I got an uncle that's just like Reverend Jim, they'd say. And so people recognized, you know, it was of the time. Right. You know, I've been keeping my my inner child in check. But if you do the math, like, from like about 1984 to like 1994, I was between the ages of eight to 18. And by my count, you weren't about like nine movies that like I probably saw 25 times each. Like these were these these were the movies that defined me. And in no small part are why I do what I do.

So so I appreciate the time today. So to start in that period, I'm a Star Trek fan. as you can tell from the glasses. I'm a big old nerd. You played one of the all-time greats. You played maybe my favorite villain in a Star Trek movie. Did you relish that role? I mean, he was delicious. He was a delicious villain, wasn't he?

I loved it. It was so big, and the costume and the makeup had to go in, you know, 4 o'clock in the morning, the Paramount to get made up. I didn't care. It just, it was just I loved it. The Klingon language seemed to suit you. It sounded right coming out of your in your cadence.

I was stunned that they had a dictionary about that thick of Klingonese, you know, verbs, downs, how to use in a sentence. I mean, this little, you know, well, it was a full language. I've just had a brilliant money-making scheme for you, Christopher. You should do like the Rosetta Stone language course for learning Klingon. I would buy that course. I would learn Klingon as taught by Christopher Lloyd. That might be interesting. Let me go over with the team.

Get back to me. But you, it brings us full circle. You and William Shatner obviously have a hell of a comment. confrontation and that. And you, you worked relatively recently together, this new, this film that's coming out senior moment. Was it fun to kind of reunite with him all these years later? Oh, absolutely. I felt, I remember when I was doing the movie, Star Trek, Returned Spock, and people said, you're going to be working with, I'm sorry, with Chapman Kirk, with Shatner. Chattner. I said, yeah, we have a fight scene at the end. And people just look, say, good luck.

with that. Like, because he has sort of a reputation as being volatile. They've just, I love them. I, you know, we just seem to work well together. And this is, this is, you're saying that for a man that kicked you in the face to your death. That's a pretty, I know. I know. I mean, it doesn't mean I've forgiven him. Right. On the set of senior moment, did you remind him, you know, it's my turn to get back at you? No, maybe the ideal situation will come back with it. I give him the boot. There's a certain kind of person, I think,

and that appreciates a movie like The Adventures of Buccarou Bonsai. And I am that person, sir. I have obsessed, I love that movie so much. It has such an amazing cast that are all committed to such a crazy, weird tone. How did you understand what you were doing? Did it feel like a lark? Did it feel like something bizarre? I kind of, no, I kind of understand.

I mean, I had, there was three parents like me. Right. Vincent Cimele was one of them, okay? So we worked on taxi. Peter Weller, he and I were, okay, in a production of Macbeth at Lincoln Center. Wow. and Carol Kane was one of the witches. And guess who Macbeth was? Christopher, Christopher Walken.

Whoa, my God. This production, oh, amazing. Yeah, so I've worked with Peter Weller, et cetera. Yeah. And we were good friends. We used to hang out a lot. But, yeah, Bukaru Banzai is a strange amalgamation of, I don't know what, but it's, it's, it's somehow, it's, you want to see it again. It's, it's, it's a comfort movie for me.

It somehow works. It always has. You know, I know you've asked, you've answered literally every question there is about Doc Brown and back. to the future, but it's worth bringing up, if only because very few movies stand the test of time, like, Back to the Future in these three films. Yeah. I'm just curious, I guess, generally, like, how much of Doc Brown was on the page and how much did you...

I mean, it can't say on the page how to read a line, like, 1.21 gigawatts. That has to be an actor's instinct that I'm going to deliver it in this certain way. What was the inspiration for your approach to Doc Brown? My feeling was this guy is, he is so excited about solving cosmic problems of one way or another. And so, of course, I thought of Einstein and I thought of other great scientists and their preoccupation with, you know, discovering this and that. And Doc Brown can't stop. But he's gotten himself into a situation now. He's gotten so deep into time travel and all that, all that,

that he's truly worried about destroying the entire cosmos, the entire universe. So he's constantly in a panic that, you know, if you do it wrong, space time continuum collapses that we're all done for. So he has the responsibilities of mankind on his shoulders because he's got that far where now

it's out there in an error you know. So there's that pressure but on the same time he loves exploring discovering discovery new things like the plus capacitor and et cetera. And he you know

I think as I remember he falls in the bathroom on the toilet seat and has to wear a bandage, but it suddenly it shakes his brains and he figures out the flux of capacitor. So it's all, it's all good. Well, it's funny, yeah, I mean, I think back, every scene. The lines, there wasn't, at least on my party, improvisation. Right.

You know, because the speeches had to be very specific. I had the sound Bob K.L. wrote it so it sounded scientific and all that even though it was you know mumbo jumbo probably

but Bob and you you made it sold it but it's funny yeah like I mean I think back for instance and you know infamously it wasn't Michael at first it was Eric Stoltz but like the even the physical interaction

like the scene at the Twin Pines Mall where the Libyans come et cetera there's so much like mania, but like you running back and forth, Michael playing off of you, there's just like a palpable physical energy to the whole thing that just is delicious. It's just Bob Zvezka really knew how to keep it charged and moving along, you know? Yeah, totally. Has it, you know, you've obviously, you've got, for instance, this new show on Discovery Plus that I was just checking out, Expedition.

and you've, you know, you've returned to the character in bits and bobs in different ways. Do you feel like the custodian of that character? Are you protective of what you do with Doc Brown? Yeah, I mean, I want to keep the integrity of Doc, and I was concerned about that with the expedition thing. But I think we worked it out, okay?

Yeah, it's a very charming show, and it's got, the whole gang back together in different ways. It's really sweet to see. Cool, yeah. And not to mention helping raise some money for Michael J. Fox's amazing foundation. Okay, yeah. Have you gotten, how many bizarre, like, requests have you gotten over the years regarding

Doc Brown? Like, have you been asked to officiate weddings? I don't think so. Really? Wait a minute. I was invited to a school, boarding school. and upper new york state to deliver their commencement address or whatever oh in character fine because i thought what am i going to say i you know these kids are looking for

but you know and i got a letter from one of the uh girls students abolishing me for not accepting you know anyway are do you support bob and the two Bob, Zemeckis and Gail in terms of they are super protective. You know, they've been very adamant that there's never going to be another sequel or a reboot. It's one of the few kind of franchises that really has been left alone. Does that make you happy or in some heart of hearts? I mean, I totally get it because the trilogy is by the end of the third film, it's a complete story in itself. there's no loose ends it's all come together and that's that and i i i could understand just

leave it alone let's move on you know i i entertain a thought that maybe if somebody comes up with an idea for number four that was just you just couldn't put it down they might say okay yeah Well, in some ways, yeah, I'm of two minds. There's nothing I'd love more than to see all you guys back together again. But at the same time in this age where literally every beloved property has been rebooted and sequelized, now back to the future is the special one. Now it's the one that, like, is pristine and will never, never change. Yeah.

That only helps the legacy in a way. Oh, good. Was Clue appreciated in its time? It has become such a cult movie. Was it? I know. it didn't do fabulously when it opened up here

I understand that in England it was a much stronger fan base right away it's kind of that kind of game or whatever but it you know I go to Comic-Con and people bring up stuff to sign Clue is always up there the top

the top one is and I think it's even getting stronger in a way. It just hangs in there. It was an incredible cast. I was going to say that ensemble is an all-star. It's funny to see, yeah, when you look at your career, like the ones that stand out are these, whether it's taxi, back to the future, these are, once we over the cuckoo's

nest, you look at the ensemble. That's the common denominator. It's like so well cast throughout. that taxi you know so so the next collaboration with

Zemechus is of course who framed Roger Rabbit which you know Judge Doom again one of the all time great baddies only Zemachus

could make that movie at the time it was probably the most audacious project like to be conceived he was he's always working like

five steps ahead of everybody else in terms of technology it notoriously I remember the stories like Bob Hoskins said it, like, almost drove him insane, working with things that weren't there. Yeah, he was always having to tussle and feel it, you know, with tunes.

And I remember he was saying that he has nightmares about tunes while we were shooting it. Yeah, yeah. How were you with the technology to do? I, well, I just had Roger Rabbit to deal with. I had an actor, a popular comedian who played Roger Rabbit off camera. Right, Charles Fleischer, right? The one who did the voice? Yes, yes.

And he'd be off camera, and he made up his own zany costume, and what he could do with his voice, and he'd be Roger Rabbit offstage. So that was great. I mean, it was fun, and it was really very helpful. to be able to refer to him when Roger Rabbit was off. But also, when we held Roger Rabbit, Roger Rabbit was maybe, they made a Roger Rabbit out of some kind of foam material.

Okay. Had real weight. And so we practiced with that, and they had a pantomist on hand to show what muscles we use to do this of that. So we practiced with the dummy Roger Rabbit and a few times and then they take it away, we'd shoot and replicate what we learned to do with the dummy. It's funny because the reason that character and that film works, like, ostensibly it's a kids movie, though it's pretty basically Chinatown for kids. But like you, there's nothing fun about you. You are like a really

despicable, scary individual. I'm serious. How did kids respond to you in the wake of that? Do kids fear, Judge, do you when they know it's you? They seem to love it. And a lot of people who say that it's, they had nightmares and couldn't sleep when there were kids, the terrifying moments. And that always reminds me that when Walt Disney first made

films, Pinocchio, and et cetera, seven, you know. Snow White, yeah. Yeah. I went to see those movies when I was a kid. Sure. And they scared the hell out of me. It was kind of payback, you know. There you go.

A good kind of car. One of the last people, before this crazy year that was the pandemic, the last time when I used to do this in person, that I chat with was Barry Sondonfell. And he is such a character, such like a beautiful neurotic genius. And Adam's family was the beginning of his directing career. Yeah. Do you, I mean, I love those, talking about ensembles, I mean, you can't get more perfectly cast than Raoul Julia and Angelica Houston.

I remember sitting around, we were waiting to shoot with the entire Adam's family there, you know, Raoul Julia and. the whole lot and really feeling around and we're all on crazy makeups but yeah this is a family yeah no more than anything i can think of like there've been so many adaptations of comics etc that that cast really felt like it came out of charles adams were like it just came to life yeah well i I tell you, I, when I was a kid, my family subscribed to the New Yorker, which always had cartoons. And I'd pick up, you know, and look through the cartoons. And there was always Charles Adams cartoon. Yeah.

And sometimes they would be about the Adam's family. And Uncle Fester would be in it. And I really, as a kid, I'd done Fester. you know he was a you know mischievous kind of evil in a funny kind of way uh and his look at everything so decades later i get a call when i like you know and i i was blown away i thought one of the odds you get get to play the character you love to see when you're a kid you know so Also, also worth noting one of the great comedy sequels of all time, Adam's Family Values is just kind of an under,

and not even underpreciated. I think that's now become a cult film, too. Yeah. So jumping away forward, you know, there are many other films we could mention, but I do want to mention that it was so fun to see you pop up in this, this really fun, really bizarre movie, Nobody with the great Bob Odenkirk. Yes. So did you, did you know Bob's work at all?

Had you seen Better Call Soul or Breaking Bad? I'm sorry. How did you seen Bob Oden Kirk's work in comedy or in drama before? I've seen his series. Yeah, Better Call Soul. In a few episodes, but I hadn't seen anything beyond that. Yeah. But I love the role.

I love working with him. I mean, he's a good bad. Yeah. So what struck you about? the role. I mean, this is a guy with a past, a man of action. We haven't seen you in this kind of thing. He apparently was like a bad guy's bad guy. I mean, he knew all the game. He knew the game. I don't know what particular line of unlawfulness. He might have, but I, you can imagine from the film. And he's kind of retired, you know. He can't be going out doing that anymore.

And then his son, Bob Odenk, gets himself into a bit of a bind and a mess, you know, and I come back to help him out. And a perfect way to go. So nearly 50 years, approaching 50 years after you first stepped on a film set, when you step on a set like nobody, like in the first day, do you have the same kind of excitement jitters as it feel different? What's it? Yeah, I usually don't sleep much the night before, you know, but I'm, oh, yeah, I, I work, work on it with the same, you know, same energy and expectations.

I hear that King Lear might be in the offing. Are you still planning on performing? It's starting rehearsals, June 1st, and we'll run until Labor Day. and yeah, I'm getting ready for that. That's no small undertaking. It pleases me to no end that you're still engaged in the theater. It's no surprise given where you started. But talk to me about, has this been on your mind for years? I mean, Lear is like, that's the part for everybody.

I was back in the 60s when I was doing. I was in three different productions of King Lear. Yeah. Playing other parts. But I never thought, boy, when I'm old enough, I'm going to get to do that. I just, to me, that was a different world, different realm. I didn't even think about it.

Not about four or five years ago, it just popped into my head. Why not? Why not? You know, and I am well aware of what I'm getting myself into. Yeah. But it's too late to turn. What have I done? But it is, I mean, like, we'll see what happens.

I'm sure it'll go great, but it's got to be, look, for even an actor half your age, that's an undertaking just to commit that to memory and to perform it well. I'm going to talk about that, you know, coming out in a wheelchair. No, you'll be fine. No, I mean, it's, yeah, it's a challenge. Well, I would, you know, we'll see how the summer takes it. You're going to be in the Berkshires for that, I take it? Yes, yeah.

Well, maybe I'll pop over. there. I'm here in New York, and I'd love to see some live theater again, and I'd love to see you on the stage. Great, right. Yeah. You know, I hope I suppressed my geeking out enough for your taste. I hope this was painless enough for you, sir. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

You know, certainly you brought so much entertainment to my film going life and TV watching life. So I thank you for all your efforts, and here's the many more. Thank you, sir. Oh, thank you. And so ends another edition of happy, sad, confused.

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