Happy Sad Confused - Josh Dallas

Episode Date: November 15, 2022

MANIFEST lives and Josh Dallas is here to tell the tale, not to mention his experiences on ONCE UPON A TIME, THOR, and the blockbuster he lost out on. 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! Come see Josh tape LIVE Happy Sad Confused conversations in New York City! November 29th with Adam Sandler! Tickets available here! December 8th with Kumail Nanjiani! Tickets available here! For all of your media headlines remember to subscribe to The Wakeup newsletter 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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Eligibility restrictions apply. See Golden Nuggett Casino.com for details. Please play responsibly. Prepare your ears, humans. Happy, sad, confused begins now. Today on Happy, Said Confused, Josh Dallas reflects on his second hit series in a row from Once Upon a Time to Manifest. Hey guys, I'm Josh Horowitz, and welcome to another edition of Happy, Sad, Confused. Yes, we have two Joshes for the price of one on the podcast.

podcast this week. First-time guest, Mr. Josh Dallas. So many of you guys will know Josh, of course, from one of two things, or maybe both of these things. He was the Prince Charming, of course, on Once Upon a Time, the hit ABC series, which, yes, some of you might know, I have a very deep personal connection to. My brother, Adam Horowitz, was one of the creators of once. So that leads me to. my connection with Josh, both professionally and personally, I've gotten to know him through the years, and he is a delightful person to chat with and hang with. And this was a good excuse because he's on his second hit series in a row, Manifest. Guys, the Manifest story is amazing. Of course,

many shows have been prematurely canceled, and many shows have had fan bases that have rallied and tried to bring it back to life, but not many of them have come back to life and have come back in the way that Manifest has. It is now on Netflix season four. The first batch of episodes is out right now, the first 10 of a supersized final season, and the early numbers are predictably huge.

When Manifest first dropped on Netflix after a run on NBC, it became just a whole other order of magnitude of a success. And now with the new episodes dropping, the numbers as we tape this, and I reference it in my conversation with Josh are bananas. So this is not a spoiler conversation. So fear not if you haven't caught up on Manifest, including the new season.

We reference things that are happening in the new season and things that come, but certainly nothing in the spoiler territory. Just a lot of fun teases. This was great. As I said, I love talking to Josh. he is of course married to Jennifer Goodwin from Once Upon a Time fame they are one of the coolest couples out there they love themselves some good TV some good theme parks they've just got good taste good people and it was fun reminiscing with Josh about everything from his early beginnings and how he fell into acting how he got the gigs on once and Thor and Manifest and his hopes for the future, including maybe a return to theater. This was also surprisingly his first, I think his first podcast, at least his first long form podcast. So for those of you that have been

itching for the definitive Josh Dallas conversation, this might be it, at least so far until our next chat. So you guys are going to enjoy this. I know you will. Other things to mention before we dive into the Josh chat, we do have another great event. that we have announced coming up on November 29th in New York City, a live taping of Happy, Sad, Confused at the 92 NY with Adam Sandler. Yes, Adam Sandler, I don't need to sell it more than that, do I, guys? This includes a screening of his film, Hustle, followed by a live taping of Happy, Sad, Confused. There is no virtual option to watch this live, so if you want to be there, you got to be there.

You've got to be there in person. So if you're in the New York area, get your tickets now. They're selling well as expected. It's going to be a great night. He's a legend. I can't wait to catch up with Adam Sandlord. November 29th, 8 p.m. at the 92 NY. The link to buy tickets is in the show notes.

What else can I mention? Well, the usual plugs. If you want to watch this conversation with Josh, go to YouTube.com slash Josh Harrowitz. That's where we put up all the new episodes of Happy, Said, Confused, and some old episodes, too. If you want early access to everything, to the podcast, to Game Nights, to videos, discount codes. If you're the hardcore, die hard, Josh Horowitz, Happy Said Confused fan, you know what to do, patreon.com slash happy, sad, confused. All that info is in the show notes. Okay.

Oh, speaking, by the way, of perks for Patrions, sometimes we do live. episodes virtually, and that's what this was. So you'll hear some references to the live aspect of this taping. It was viewable to Patreon, folks, but now it's going to be available to all. You'll hear some questions from the audience. All that kind of fun stuff goes along with the Patreon and stuff. So that's enough context, I think. Enjoy this chat. Catch up on Manifest. Catch up, by the way, on once. It's on Disney Plus. And I know you guys are going to enjoy this. I certainly did. Here's me and Josh Dallas.

Officially, finally, Josh Dallas is on happy, said, confused. We've comic-conned, we've game-nighted, but we've never podcasted, my friend. It's so good to see you. Are you ready for this experience? It's so good to see you. I don't know if I'm ready for this experience, but I'm loving this experience so far. 30 seconds in. It's okay.

Okay, great. Yeah, yeah, 30 seconds, but it's one of my favorites, and it's an honor to be here, Josh. It's an honor to have you. We go way back. I feel like I'm part of the family. For those, this is full disclosure, as if this is going to be like a big probing interview. But Josh first knew a different Horowitz, my brother, Adam, who was the co-showrunner EP of a little show called Once Upon a Time.

and then I got to know you. I guess, like, our history, I probably first met you at one of the crazy Comic-Cons in San Diego, I got to think, right? 100%. In fact, didn't you, did you, you did some panels for us, right? Didn't you?

You know, they never had a moderated panel. Just interviews. How dare you need to talk to your brother about that. It would have been, you know what? We should have had to have. No, it was a couple times I had to interview my brother. It would have been weird for you and Adam. I didn't like it. I didn't enjoy it. It felt weird. It felt wrong. But he did such a great interview on the podcast.

Thank you. He did. We had a very sweet one after our dad passed and we reminisced about our, how we came to love movies and TV as much as we did. That one worked. But in Comic-Con circumstances, no. But I did always enjoy nerding out with you guys, having fun, playing silly games. Colin, I feel like still thinks that the high point of his career is beating you. at a game night you know what it is the high point of his career and he can hold on to it Colin O'Donoghue is the greatest and I love him with all my heart fair enough so let's get okay let's get on he's a regular he's a regular he's a regular he's a regular he's a regular he's a regular he well he's done the pot he did a podcast once and then he's done game night I can't keep him away from game night I mean the dude is like obsessed Yeah, he's obsessed with, you know, holding out on his honor. He needs to defend his honor.

That's right. That's right. There's a lot to cover. Okay. So beyond just reminiscing, I do want to talk about a bunch of really cool things going on. I'm catching you at a really cool moment. As we tape this, manifest is back. And it's as, you know, as was hoped, as was predicted, I literally just saw the numbers.

57 million people watching it in the first three days. I mean, this is a good story. This is not the usual story. How are you feeling delivering this first part of the final season, seeing the response as positive as it is? I couldn't be more happy. I couldn't be filled with more gratitude about how it's turned out, the story of this show.

Much like the characters in the show, we were resurrected and brought back in such a great, way on Netflix. And yeah, today, we were just told we are number one worldwide, 57 million hours streamed. It's just, it's incredible. And I'm just so humbled that our fans have, you know, embraced the show in the way that they have and they're digging season four. So in brief, I mean, like, okay, the encapsulated version is The show was, I guess, officially canceled for a hot second by NBC.

And then around that time, Netflix had debuted the first seasons, and it found this whole huge new audience. And of course, they pick it up for the supersized 20 episode season. So a few questions about that. First, in just making these final episodes, is there kind of like a weight off your shoulders? Because you know it's the end, and you know the audience is there. Like Netflix has shown, like, they are going to come out.

and enjoy this. So like what was the vibe like in season four versus the first three? Did it feel like a whole different kind of thing or what? I mean, there wasn't a weight listed. In fact, I think I probably put more weight on my back for it because I wanted to make sure that we made the most of this opportunity with the last season. There was a different idea going into the last season because we knew that we got to, we were going to be able to finish it.

We were able to tell the story of these characters and give the audience the answer to that main question, what happened to these passengers on Flight 828. So that was a great motivator, but we all wanted to make this season the best one that we possibly could. So I think, I mean, I can only speak for me personally that I put more weight on my shoulders

to do the best job, that I could with honoring the story and this character. And it was just, you know, it was a real honor to go back into it. You know, because, you know, I start season four I have this massive beard. And we jokingly call it, you know, Ben's grease beard, but it was actually Josh's grease beer

because I started growing it when we were canceled after season three. I started growing it and then, of course, Netflix picked us up and we were coming back And Jeff Rake saw it and he goes, we can use that. We can use that beard. So keep growing it. So I just kept growing it.

So it turned into Josh, from Josh's grief beard to Ben's grief beer. But it seemed to fit in with where he was, you know, mentally within the story. Right. Are you more proud of the beard this season or your directing debut? I mean, I think the beard. It was a big achievement for me. I've never grown a beard that big in my life. And it was hard work, Josh.

Yeah, it was hard work. I had a lot of support, though. Yeah. A lot of concentration. It was so hard. I did, you know, get every razor out of the house. I couldn't walk into a CVS and pass, you know, the shaving cream aisle and the razor aisle. It was a trigger.

Right. It was a trigger for me. But, you know, I got through it. I got through it. Thank you for asking. Yeah, I know. It's a tough situation. How about the family?

Were they supportive? Jenny and the kids? What do they think of Josh? Jenny is overly supportive of the beard. She really, really likes the beard a little too much.

It's like she's married a new guy. She's like, oh wait, I got a bonus husband. I think that's what it was. She liked it so much because I looked so different. So, you know, let's not unpack that too much. Let's not pack that out.

It's for the therapist next week that I'm seeing. What, okay, what about I do? Yeah. I did mention the directing. Congratulations. That's a, that's a big thing. I know that had been on your mind for a bit. When push came to show, like when you got on set,

did it feel like this was a natural fit? You were ready and you were happy with what happened, with how it went down? I mean, I'm super, super proud of it. And, you know, when I was on set, it felt like I knew more than I thought. And I learned so much. more and I have so much more to learn. But I loved it and I loved every second of it and I loved that cast and I loved that crew and they all supported me in such a great way and I loved

that I was able to have this 360 degree view of the story and a story that means so much to me and I was just so grateful that I got to play in that arena and to contribute to our story in that kind of way. You know, as you said, I've been wanting to do it for a long time. You know, you know, even back, going back to the once days, you know, I always was so taken with it and interested in it and wanted to know more and just watched and learned and absorbed as much as I could, you know, during all those days. And, and even in the first three seasons of manifest, we, Jeff Rake and I were talking about me directing in the third season. But of course, When we started the third season, it was the beginning of COVID.

And we didn't know how anything was going to work on set, if we were going to have a full crew or not. And there was just too many unknowns. And I didn't want to go into my first time directing with a handicap or a possible handicaps. So I was glad we were able to make it happen in the fourth season. And Netflix was so supportive. And I'm really proud of the episode. And I think we get to tell a story that we don't normally tell.

with our characters and manifest, and I think we were able to tell a story with one particular character and show that character in a light that we've never seen him before. And I just, I loved it. I loved it, and I can't wait to do more. So there's so much discussion,

and as you alluded to, kind of like, how to end a show. And you're no stranger to this, and we've seen this many times with the best shows in the history of TV, no one is excluded. whether you're Sopranos or Woss or Seinfeld, they don't give a shit. If it doesn't end right, they're going to, they're going to tear you apart.

So, how are you feeling? Because we're not there yet, but we're going to be there soon. When it drops, are you like stealing yourself? Do you have confidence that people are going to be happy enough, satisfied enough? What's your tape? I have total confidence. You know, Jeff Rake has had this ending. in his head since the very beginning.

And he's delivered on it. And I think it is absolutely the right ending for all of these characters and for the story. And I think the audience is going to be super satisfied with it. Okay. All right. So let's talk also not only just like the general public loves this show, but I noticed like Stephen King apparently is a manifester.

That's pretty damn cool. He is a manifest. It's so cool. It blows my mind. I mean, this is arguably one of the, you know, greatest writers of our time. And he's just, you know, sitting at home tweeting about television. And it's amazing. And I've saved every single one of his tweets about manifest. And he is a, he's a true manifester, this guy. And yeah, we're honored. We're honored that he's a part of it. It's amazing. And I feel like I've seen that, again, on the periphery, seeing that about once over the years. I think, I think William Shatner was and is a once fan. Big Wonser. Yeah, absolutely. Was there, which one, which one is the captains?

Exactly. Which one has, are those the two that have blown you away? Am I missing any? Like, what's one that came up over the years for once or manifest? Oh, well, for manifest, we've had, you know, the Kardashians have, you know, posted about manifest a lot. We just saw Carrie Underwood just posted last night about it, that it was on and she was excited that it was coming back.

Yeah, there's been a lot of people that we just wouldn't have expected come out of the woodwork. So, hey, we welcome them all, Josh. We welcome them all. Look, you've been in the business for a bit now. And you know, I know you're a smart man, you know this does not happen often. You've been on two series that really have a very unique, passionate fan base that does not happen very often. Clearly, the X factor is who I'm staring at. It's the Josh Dallas factor.

Hire this man. I don't know about that. Well, but I mean, give me a perspective on like, so when you got into, I mean, did it blow your mind that like it did, that lightning did strike again with Manifest coming off of once, which you, again, must have known could have been a once in a lifetime experience. And you're like, oh, wait, I get another one. Yeah. You know, first of all, you know, I feel so lucky that that's been the case with me

that I've had these two shows that I've been able to be a part of for many, many seasons. And it is rare, and I have such gratitude about it. But, you know, I think I'm attracted to that storytelling, these big swings, these big ideas that are grounded in something very sort of real. And I remember, you know, I remember reading once upon a time and reading that pilot script and loving it and loving the idea so, so much, but thinking either this is going to go forever or the pilot will never get picked up. And I think that idea made me want to do it even more.

And I think Manifest was the same way, had a lot of the same kind of qualities in the storytelling of it. And it was this big idea that was based in something and grounded in something very real, this family drama. And I like it. I love that kind of storytelling. And I thought the same thing. I like it. It's either going to go big or it's not going to get picked up at all. And I guess that's the formula that I've got to.

to go to that I've got to go to for the rest of my career now. You know, it's as long as I respond to it and I like it and I like the storytelling and it's a character that I want to sort of dig into, then I think that's all you can do and just trust your own gut and just hope. Because as you were saying, you never know. You never know with these things. You never know if a show's going to go. It can have, you know, all the best ingredients that you could ever hope or wish. for. And for whatever reason, it just doesn't catch on. And I'm just, I'm so, I'm lucky. I'm lucky that, you know, the audience clicked into it and grabbed onto these characters and wanted to go on the ride with us. And, you know, a lot of the, a lot of those fans in the beginning

were original Oncers that came in and became manifesters. So I guess we all kind of like the same kind of storytelling. Well, not to mention, there's also the flip side of it, which is that weird devil's bargain that actors often make inadvertently where, like, they sign onto a show and you find yourself, like, you're successful, you're making money, but you're like six years into a show, 10 years into a show, then you're like, this is a job. This is not the people, the life I want. And like, not only were these shows that resonated, but by all accounts, you like the people you work with. You like the material. And that's, that's, that's, almost the greatest luck, the greatest gift.

And it is the greatest gift. And I think that, you know, for us, you know, for, and as far as I'm concerned, that that is kind of all we have is the experience of making whatever it is you're making, you know, whether you're, you know, a painter or a dancer or an actor or a musician. It's about the making of that is the most important thing to me. and that experience of being creative. And I, lightning struck twice. I got it, you know, twice with one point of time and manifest.

So let's hope it keeps going. I'm just going to have to tell my agents, look, I only do hits. Yeah, this is my only criteria. Sorry, guys. You do better. Sorry, guys. Yeah, I only do hits. So bring me that.

But may that luck continue. But, yeah, it's been a great experience so far. and I hope they continue. Okay, so let's go backward. You know, if you listen to the podcast, you know we do a little bit of a career kind of chat and background, and I always like to hear about how folks grew up

and their influences. So we're roughly the same age, despite all appearances. So we probably have some similar reference points. What were you obsessed with it? I have a lot of ring lights on me right now. I have a big one. It's doing nothing for me.

yeah okay so what were you were you like from the start if i had visited the dallas home at eight or nine years old were you a theatrical kid were you obsessed with tv and film like what were you like you know it's interesting you know i was thinking about this the other day and my cinematic uh upbringing was really strange and really eclectic and i was definitely watching movies for the first time that i should not have been watching at the age that I saw them. So we had a beta max. And you're old enough to know what a beta max is. We were probably, we were the only family that I knew of that had a beta mask. And so we had a lot of taped movies on those things. And I grew up in, you know,

I was born in Louisville, Kentucky. And I grew up right across the Ohio River in a southern Indiana Rivertown called New Albany, Indiana, which is my hometown and the greatest place in the world. And I still love going back and visiting as much as I can. And I still have a lot of great friends there. But nobody else had a beta max. And it seems like nobody else in America had a beta max. And, you know, they didn't laugh. But anyway, we had, my father had movies on there.

And I can't remember my first cinematic experience as in my. going to the cinema for the first time. But I do remember watching movies at home. And it was a real mixed bag of movies. The first movie that I remember watching over and over and over again was Superman, 1978. I watched it over and over again. I loved it. But then it went into, and this must have been around six or seven years old. And then I remember and there's images. that I still can't get out of my head of John Carpenter's The Thing. Yes. Way too young to be watching that.

Also, what else was there? There was Superman, The Thing I remember. A lot of Monty Python, The Life of Brian, Holy Grail. I remember watching those, The Meaning of Life. I watched those a lot. Probably still too young to be watching those things. and Time Bandits and also

the great Terry Gilliam movie Help me out Help me out, help me out Josh Baron Munchaus and that's later No, a time band No, very early Wait, what am I think? I'm blocking too, I don't know

No, maybe it's Time Bandits Time Bandits is the first movie I remember seeing in a theater It came out like around 81 or 82 two, and it's probably... Yeah. Well, we had that on Betamax. So that's one of the first movies

that I remember watching. So, right, it was an eclectic mix. It was a mix of crazy. And then thrown in, there was like platoons. And so that was like my first, yeah, my first... I mean, I can remember my brother and I, we used to have a tape cassette. I mean, we're really aging.

We're really aging myself now. They hooked up to the television, and we used to record the dialogue from platoon. And this TV show that we used to watch called Tour of Duty. Do you remember the TV show? Vaguely. I definitely, it's in there somewhere. I do.

Yeah, I do. Yeah, another army, you know, set in Vietnam about this platoon. And we used to record dialogue from that. And, of course, my brother and I, Jason, he's five years older than I was. We used to dress up, you know, full army fatigue, face paints and, you know, do that dialogue around at the yard and pretend we were. in some foxhole in in in Vietnam but yeah that we're still basically doing that sort of still still basically doing and and so that was by sort of the beginnings of my cinematic knowledge was this really eclectic strange mixed bag of movies but I love them and I wasn't really a TV

watcher from from when I was little I was mostly outside a lot but I remember watching every week, you know, the Cosby show and, you know, the facts of life and silver spoons and shows like that. But I wasn't a real avid television watcher back then. I am now. And I love TV. It's my favorite thing in the entire world. I want to just keep doing it as an actor. I think it leaves open so many possibilities, not only for story, but for character and character development that you don't get anywhere else. And I just think that's so exciting. And I can't, I just want to keep doing that. But my mother was a local dance teacher at the local dance school in town. And of course, so I was around it all the time. And I was always going and being

roped into dance recitals. And, you know, I would have to dress up like some sort of, you know, mascots for the recital, whether it be like a painter or Prince Charming, I was that one time. I was, you know, a little foreshadowing there, or I was a gigantic pink elephant at one point. So I was around sort of a stage, and then I discovered, you know, doing theater in school. And that was an elementary school around fifth grade. And, you know, I was the Jack in the Box in this play called Esops Fallible, and I never looked back. I'm Jack in the Box, the Morals I Keep. That was my first line ever.

Oh, my God, amazing. And that hooked me. That hooked me. So then I found, yeah, I found the theater, and I never looked back. And, yeah, that's what I did all through school. And I had a great, for whatever reason, that area had three great high school. that had three great performing, performing arts programs. And then I just ate it up, ate it up.

So here's what I'm fascinated by, I'm always fascinated by like the timing of someone's career and kind of when the shift happens and when they kind of get the big break, et cetera. Like if I'm doing the math, like, I'm curious about like your 20s. Like what did you spend most of your 20s doing? Because once and Thor, arguably the big breaks,

the ones where we first really got to know you, you're what you're probably 30 early 30s then so like was there a lot of are the 20s a period of a lot of struggle a lot of training a lot of near misses like i know it's hard to encapsulate a decade but talk me a little bit about what that period in your life was about yeah sure i mean when i was 18 i left my my little southern indiana town in new albany and went to london england and i got this, you know, I was super lucky. I got this scholarship to train at a British drama school called Mount View in London and, you know, for three years. And I went. And I went when I was 18 and I stayed for 13 years. And I did a lot of theater all through my 20s. You know,

my first job was with the Royal Shakespeare Company doing a musical. We did the Secret Garden. which was this great Broadway musical by Lucy Simon and Marsha Norman and I did that in the West End I worked at the National Theater I worked at all these great theaters and that's what I always wanted to do I always wanted to do stage

the thought of back when I was in high school the thought of doing television or film never really even entered my mind I was just full on theater nerds and that's all I wanted to do. And so that's what I trained in. And so I did a lot of, for that decade, the last years we'll call them,

I was sort of, you know, working, working in the theater, and I was very lucky and worked with some incredible actors at some incredible places and some of the greatest theater companies in the world. and I can't wait to get back to the stage. But then I started doing more television and film over there. And my first ever television role was on Doctor Who. I was basically, I look like a flu. Your Node 2.

And I was, thank you very much, node 2. I think, yeah, very huge pivotal part, of course, but in a really great episode of Doctor Who called Silence in the Library. And I still get residual checks from that particular episode. But that was my first thing. I was this floating spoon. And from that moment on, I thought, this is what I want to do. I want to do filming, even though I was a floating spoon.

I love it. And then it just, I started doing more TV and film over there and falling in love with it. And that sort of led me back to the United States and back to L.A. When I was 30, you were right about those dates. So before once, is there an audition, a near miss, a like, oh, this is going to be the one that's going to change my life that you came close to, that you can pinpoint that you have pinned all your hopes and dreams on? Yes, absolutely. And the movie, okay, the movie was, and you'll remember this, John Carter from Marr, directed by Andrew Stanton. It was going to be the great Pixar director.

It was going to be his first live action movie. And I was in London and I was, you know, living there and I was working. I was doing a play at the time. I can't, I think it was, I was doing a play called On the Town at the English National Opera, a musical by Winter Brunston. And I, this, these auditions came through town, right? And I auditioned, of course, like, you know, most of England. And then I ended up testing.

for it, as we call it. You know, I tested with Andrew and everybody flew in. And, of course, you know, I didn't get it. I didn't get it. And I was devastated. I was devastated. But what it did for me was at the time there was a casting director at Disney called Marsha Ross who said, you know, you should really come out to L.A. You know, I think it would be really good for you and sort of, you know, set me up with an agent to meet and, you know, all that stuff. And so I came over to L.A. and that was it. So it was John, but John Carter of Mars, of course, famously, you know, it didn't turn out the way that I think Andrew Stanton wished it would have. But, and, you know, Taylor did that, did that, Taylor Kitch did that part. And he was brilliant for that part. But

that was the first one. That was the first one that I really. really, really wanted. But of course, didn't happen. But of course, there's been many of those things, many of those things. Any actor worth their salt has dozens of those stories, and that's a good one. The time's falling by, so let's talk a little once, because once, obviously, is just the gift that keeps on giving and has been a gift for you in many respects. I mean, look, obviously, look, you're living with a onceer, a once-alum, and it must be a fascinating thing. Like, When you look back on the early episodes between you and Ginny, do you see the seeds of a relationship? Do you see each of you making googly eyes at each other?

Do you recall a little bit of that? Yeah, I mean, I think we're taking method acting to another level. I mean, we're really living it. We're really living those characters' lives. But, yeah, I mean, yeah, I can't help but see that connection between her and I. And, you know, first of all, you know, Jennifer Goodwin is a brilliant actress, one of our great actresses, and she could have chemistry with a brick wall. So, you know, it wasn't, I don't think it had anything particularly to do with me, but, you know, I can see the connection between us and between those two characters. And, of course, you know, it was a connection that was deeper than just going to work every day and playing those two characters.

characters, you know, and we, you know, we're still here. We're still here. We're still going strong and two kids later. And, you know, that show was a gift in so, so many ways and not only professionally, but, you know, personally. And, you know, it's one of those things. It was meant to be, right? It was just, it was meant to happen. And I was meant to meet all those people who have become, you know, friends for life, your brother included. And, you know, I couldn't imagine my life without it. And it was just such a special time and a special show and a special show that Eddie and Adam created that connected with so many people. And still, as you said, to this day, the gift that keeps on giving. And now we're on, you know, Disney Plus and it's still going strong

and still finding new fans and a new audience. And that's always an amazing thing to walk around. And people come up to me and say, oh, I just started watching once upon a time. And that just blows my mind because, you know, I feel so, I feel, I'm a little older now. And I just thank God if I were ever to put on those leathers again, it wouldn't be so attractive.

I was going to say, do you have it in storage? Do you have it ready, if called upon? Are you ready? Maybe. Maybe it's not so much in storage. Maybe it's quite handy to grab. Oh, my God. It's a Saturday night. You know what we do have in the house? Yeah, you know what we do have in the house, which I don't understand why it's in the house, but we have the dark one dagger for all you wanters out there. We have a dark one dagger somewhere in the house. I don't know where it is, but it's a little

freaky. Yeah. Yeah. And I don't even know how it got here. See, you trot that out when the kids are being bad? Like, dad's got the dark one dagger. I would if I could find it. I would if I could find it. But it's somewhere lost in the house. So I'm ready to be found again. But yeah, we have a dark one dagger here, which is pretty wild.

Alarming. Who, okay, who in the house loves theme parks the most between the two kids, you and Jenny? Who's the theme park? 100% Jennifer Goodwin. Yeah. And she's at a theme park right now, Josh. Of course she is. Of course she is.

She's that universal. Oh, we've got some noise happening, Josh. Is that okay? That's okay. It's real life. It's okay. Okay. It's real life.

Wow. So what's your secret to enjoying a theme park with, I mean, are you just sort of grinning and bearing it or do you get a kick out of it too? Oh, I get a kick out of it too. I mean, the first time that I ever went to Disneyland was with Jennifer Goodwin when I was like 35 years old. That was the first time I'd ever been. And it was the best day of my life.

It was amazing. We had a great, you just have to sort of give yourself over to it. And just go on with whatever Jenny says. I did see, I did see, speaking of theme parks and franchises and stuff. I think I saw an old Instagram post, and I don't know if these are new figures or you found your old ones. You had the OG Star Wars figures out. Were those yours from childhood, or did you buy, like?

To be honest, I did have those figures from childhood, but who knows what happened to them. Sure. So we bought the whole set. We bought the whole set with the carrying case. Amazing. The Darth Vader carry. They're amazing. The boys were into them. Now they're, it's all Pokemon. Right now it's all Pokemon. But they were, but we have them. They're safe. Some of them are in plastic bags. They're kind of beautiful. What do you guys watch? What are the, what are the TV shows that you watch together? The TV show you need to watch a part. What are you obsessed with? What's your bag? Well, you know, we watch, we do watch a lot of shows apart. My wife is obsessed with anything on PBS. And if it is a murder mystery of any kind, she loves it. And if it's Agatha Christie, then that, that's all the better.

She needs one of those, like, she needs to, like, solve a murder a week. She needs a series like that. She needs to, like, be the heir apparent to Lansbury. Come on. Absolutely. That's what I've told her. And, you know, watch this face. That's all I've got to say about that.

Okay. But, yeah, she would be perfect for that. And it is her love and it's what she looks. So I'll watch some of those with her every now and then. But, you know, we'll watch the crown together. We're watching White Lotus together. We will be watching the Crown tomorrow. She loves Manifest.

She loves Manifest. So she's watching that. White Lotus, the bear. I love the bear. That was great. We don't watch that together. What else? Euphoria, I loved.

I thought that was exceptional television, exceptional cinematography. The character development and euphoria was just amazing. I love that. Yeah, there's a lot out there we're watching. I haven't got into, I haven't started watching Andor yet, but I hear that's incredible. I'm behind. I know. I need to like sit down and like really because everyone's saying it's the best Star Wars in years. And I need that in my system. All right. Let's, we have a bunch of questions. And what's, I was just going to say. And what's fun now is my sons are watching the Marvel movies. We're working our way through the Marvel movies. Right. But, but they're out after the first Thor. They're like, wait, what happened to my phandrel? My guys, come on. Where is that? That was such a heartbreaking thing. But that was also another once upon a time thing. You know, I was all geared. up to do the rest of those movies. But of course, you know, Patty Jenkins was always going to

direct that second movie. And we went in and we had, you know, a costume fitting. It was going to fit right into the hiatus between the first season of once and the second season of once. And then, of course, you know, Patty pulled out. Alan Taylor came in and then pushed the whole movie and we just couldn't make it work with that schedule. But, you know, maybe I'll find my way back to the Marvel universe. There's plenty of characters out there. All right, we're going to run through a bunch of these. Let's see.

Liliana wants to know, is this indeed manifests last season? Is that done deal? Like, is there, did Jeff Netflix leave any room for future manifest? I think it is done and this story, this part

of the story is done. But that doesn't mean that there couldn't be a sequel or prequel maybe I'm not for sure in its future maybe I don't know I don't know if anything happening but anything's possible okay okay uh Angela wants to know we're talking about the amazingly talented Jennifer Goodwin any hopes plans for future collaboration do you guys talk about it do you try to develop ideas together what's your attitude about that yeah yeah we would love to work together again you know as long as the the

project seems right and the characters seem right we would love to work together again yeah do do fans freak out when they see you out in the wild together i bet they do i bet they're like yeah it's like yeah they can't quite believe it and some of them who don't know that we're together really can't they're like it blows their mind they're like wait you mean you're you're together in in real life yeah they can't quite but amazing performance art um let's see mary wants to know if you weren't an actor what would you be another profession what do you think oh I would have loved to have been an orchestra conductor okay um Alyssa wants to know your favorite scene to film of season four part one maybe

without if for the folks that haven't seen it not ruining too much but can you favorite scene yeah favorite scene oh wow um I don't know about a scene in particular because there's so many great ones the writers just gave it such rich stuff to play there's so many great scenes that i love but i think the episode that there's two episodes that i love filming the most in this part one which was the first one and um the fifth one 405 they're just great rich exciting uh emotional episodes to film and uh yeah i like those those two the most Does Ben get to, I've only seen the first few episodes of the new season. Does Ben smile again before all is said and done?

Or is it just 20 episodes of sad face? It starts to creep in. It starts to creep in towards the end. And you'll see a lot more of it in part two. Okay. A couple folks want to know, and I was going to ask this myself, Alyssa wanted to know, Angela wanted to know, about going back to the theater and Broadway.

So you obviously said you're now a creature of TV. You love the rewards of that. but obviously we've heard your roots are in the theater. What do you think? Yeah, oh, yeah, absolutely. I mean, if it was, yes, I would go back in a heartbeat and do something on stage again. I miss it, and I love it. It's my first love, and it's, you know, you've all heard actors talk about how it is such

an important thing for an actor to do, and it just feeds us in such a different way than TV and film. Yeah, I'd love to get back to it. Musical, play, anything specific in mind? What's in your heart? If you could green light a show tomorrow. Oh, wow. Probably a musical. I would probably, yeah, a musical.

A Jason Robert Brown musical would be kind of great. You're due for, have you, I feel like I should know this. Have you sung on camera? Have I seen you sing in? On Once Upon a Time. We did a musical episode. Yes, yes. I think in season six.

Yeah, so yeah, you can hear me screeching away on that. That's what auto tunes for. No, you got the chops. You know what you're doing. That's right, exactly. This flew by, man. Congratulations. We discovered, I said we were to try and before we did this.

I know that, like, Josh has never done the deep dive conversation. So this is just, we're going to do more. We're going to do this again. But I appreciate being like. I can't wait. the guy that got you for the first long-form podcast finally overdue um it's always good to see you buddy we don't see each other in person enough hopefully we'll get a chance to get a drink or food at some point i'll go to a theme park with you anytime i'm available um my best to the family um and congratulations

honestly on on the new season it's so exciting to see you know we've seen so many shows cut short and prematurely in the wrong way and the fact that this one gets to wrap up on your own terms. Like we said before, it's a gift. So enjoy this last ride. Yeah. And thanks as always, buddy. Thanks, Josh. It's great for you. 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 pleasure to do this by Josh. I'm Amy Nicholson, the film critic for the LA Times.

And I'm Paul Shear, an actor, writer, and director. You might know me from The League, Veep, or my non-eligible for Academy Award role in Twisters. We love movies, and we come at them from different perspectives. Yeah, like Amy thinks that, you know, Joe Pesci was miscast in Goodfellas, and I don't. He's too old. Let's not forget that Paul thinks that Dude, too, is overrated. It is. Anyway, despite this, we come together to host Unspool, a podcast where we talk about good movies, critical hits.

Fan favorites, must-season, and in case you miss them. We're talking Parasite the Home Alone. From Greece to the Dark Night. We've done deep dives on popcorn flicks. We've talked about why Independence Day deserves a second look. And we've talked about horror movies, some that you've never even heard of like Ganges and Hess. So if you love movies like we do, come along on our cinematic adventure. Listen to Unspooled wherever you get your podcast.

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