Inside of You with Michael Rosenbaum - Dominic Monaghan & Billy Boyd

Episode Date: February 4, 2020

Dominic Monaghan and Billy Boyd (The Lord of the Rings) join us to talk about the brotherhood they’ve built after meeting on LOTR and how their unique life experiences have helped one another grow individually. Billy opens up on how loss early on in his life made him mature quicker than expected and start taking on more accountability. Dom discusses run-ins with Orlando Bloom, random Thai women, and sharks. Dom and Billy’s friendship is contagious and I hope you enjoy it… tag a friend who loves #LOTR. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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I'm fine. How are you? I'm good. Good. Do you have a good week? Did. Good. I mean, this could go on and people were like, all right, and unsubscribe.

First, I want to say that, as you know, in love with Michael Rosamont, Chris Sullivan, is no longer. We let it go. I thank you for any of you who listened to it and supported it. There were reasons. Chris Sullivan's wife is pregnant. It's a far drive for him, and there weren't many listeners and a bunch of other stuff. But I had a good time doing it. I really enjoyed it, and I hope you guys enjoyed it.

So it's one of those things where, you know, if it doesn't quite work out, you move on and you learn from it. But I'm still doing this podcast inside of you because I love it and I love you guys and I appreciate, you know, I just went to Portland, Ryan. How was it? It was great. You know, I do the cons and people come up to me. it's probably more than ever now they just uh you know they have their stories and people like they join patreon by the way thank you for joining patreon and becoming my patrons and i and i think we're doing a great job bryce and i are doing a great job of giving you guys extra footage and you know

i'm always responding to you as much as i can and you know we do q and a's just there's so much stuff we're thrown out there and i hope it's worth your while and you're having fun if you have any ideas uh keep it to yourself no i'm kidding i'm kidding but i hope you're enjoying it and i really really truly appreciate the support there on Patreon. But the podcast, when I go to cons, people are just, you know, people, it affects their lives. It's cool, you know. And so sometimes I'm thinking, I'm getting too serious in these interviews.

And then I'm like, but I like talking about serious stuff. I like talking about stuff that sometimes people are uncomfortable talking about. So I'm going to keep doing it. And if you get bored, then hopefully you won't stop subscribing. But I don't think they're boring. They're fun. Yeah, they're really interesting. Yeah.

You learn a lot. I'm learning. I think other people are learning. Yeah. Isn't that the whole point of it? You learn and it's not just your typical freaking interview? It's, uh, I mean, look, by the way, I'm a constant work in progress. I mean, I was having anxiety this last weekend.

I breathe through it. I try to meditate. I just acknowledged it like, hey, this is happening. It's not going to kill me. I'm healthy. I'm not having a heart attack. You're doing okay, kid. I just said, kid, because I'm looking at the karate kid poster across from me.

But, uh, so again, thank you for listening. subscribe tell your friends to subscribe uh i'll be in richmond uh for a con look it up probably in my twitter and instagram soon i'm also going to be in mexico in march um and there's more coming this summer we do smallville nights with tom um if you haven't seen it you need to come see it because you're going to really enjoy it we do about an hour hour and a half of improv and read scenes and people really seem to respond uh what else katherine magnanimair episode was great last week yeah it was really great and um she she's speak to to talk to. She's a busy girl. She loves to work. She's really busy. She is busy. And she's really,

there's not a lot of negative things in her life. So it was kind of like, you know, you're trying to get something like, hey, come on. Did you stub your toe today? What did you do? But she's, she's full of, I think that's just as important as hearing people who, you know, tell you about the problems and things like that. It's just as important to hear the good things that they're in life and how to appreciate them. And I think that's what she does. So I think that's important. Our transition of video, is getting closer and closer. So remember, it's a learning curve.

So when you see it, please share it with everybody. Subscribe to the YouTube inside of you with Michael Rosenbaum. Ryan here is the, is doing his best to piece them together. He's learning, although he does this for a living. I do know how to do this. You son of a bitch. It should be great. Yeah.

It will be. And also, if you want any inside of you merch or left on Laurel merch from the band, It's all on the inside of you store. So if you go to inside of you store.com or whatever, you'll see it. It's on my link or whatever. And the music is free on Spotify and everywhere else. So thank you so much for everything. Today's episode, you know, I was going to wait to air this because you'll hear about this in the podcast.

But Dominic Monaghan and Billy Boyd from Lord of the Rings are here today. It's just really fun to watch them sort of bounce off each other because Billy is more of the, you know, he's the shy guy a little bit. You know, he's a family guy. He's very bright, and not that Dom isn't. I'm obviously bright, much brighter than me. But watching them, their friendship, you could see they've been friends for a long time and how they became friends and how it sort of evolved and all the great stories. One of my favorite stories was the fight, the fist fight that Dominic and Monaghan and Orlando Bloom almost got into.

Did you like that? Oh, my God. Yeah, of course. That was intense. It was great to, like, sit there and listen. to all the stories. Yeah. Just hanging out for years.

For years. They know, talk about their tattoos when they got tattoos. There's so many great stories in here. And there's a, I'm not going to even give it away now, but there's something you'll want to hear when you listen to it, something they're doing. They're working on together. You'll have to listen to the podcast. And I think you'll get a real kick out of it.

I'm looking really forward to this. But they're two exceptional guys. I loved having them here in my house. And they recorded something at my house. They used my engineer, Ryan. I'm not going to say what it was, but maybe if you listen, you'll understand. And I think you're going to have fun with this.

Let's get inside Dominic Monaghan and Billy Boyd. It's my point of view. You're listening to Inside of You with Michael Rosenbaum. Inside of You with Michael Rosenbaum. was not recorded in front of a live studio audience this feels because i've done this before this this is how this is how it starts and then you won't hear a fucking one for me is that what happens all dom yeah dom said that dom says you know you're a gentleman you're you you're a little quiet you're really funny when you're with him only with me he makes me funny i don't know if that's

true but i do look at the both of you right now and i know that you guys are really best friends you're really close friends right that's not a lie no that's not put on i don't think you can but so do you think the uh the saying opposites attract is true do you think that like with women or men whatever it is friends that were attracted to i mean you're attracted to him not sexually maybe definitely with magnets that's science yeah but with people i would say no i think mainly you're attracted to people who like to do the things that you like to do what is it you like to do billy i like to sleep i like to drink coffee i like to do very little to be honest see i'm i feel like i'm the opposite because i'm not big on those things i'm not that big on

sleeping i'll have the occasional coffee to wake me up and what was the last thing that he said mainly doing nothing oh yeah i do a bunch of stuff yeah he likes to do stuff do you follow his instagram yeah he's always you know from wild things everything he's all over the world he's yeah he's always doing something he's he's he's in interesting and he's do you find that though don that you keep busy just because if you stop you're gonna the voices come in the voices come in because i know that's with me with me you know i have things going on in my life and you know if i stop for a second i start to really obsess yeah and mine's more i mean i'm sure there's something to be said for that mine's as i've

got older as we all get older hopefully you start to realize the things that work for you and the things that don't and you tend to lean away from the bad things and go towards the good things and if I'm just doing something that's ticking me along, like I've been doing miniature Japanese kind of Lego bricks for the past kind of two months. So it's basically Lego, but very slim down. So the pieces can be a millimeter. You need to put them on between.

I couldn't do it. I don't have the patience for that? And the vision. Don't you have to have really good eyesight? You probably do have slightly good. Because my eyes are really bad. But with your specs on, wouldn't you be all right? Well, these are strong and I still have problems.

problems with things. Okay. Like, for instance, looking at my penis. Yeah, I still... Get your magnified glasses. No, but so these are tiny versions of Legos. Tiny. Now, would you think Billy would be interested in this tiny Lego game?

I think Billy would, but maybe not in the way that I am, because this is, Billy and I've lived together on occasion over the years. And the thing, we lived together really well, but one of the things that seems to, would eventually get under Billy's skin is when I'm doing the miniature Legos, I'm listening to a podcast and I've got a movie on in the other room and Billy when he used to live with me he'd be like what room you in? I'd be like I'm in this room he's like why's there a movie on in that room why's the ready one in the kitchen why is this going on I like to have difference wait a minute so for you to focus a lot of things have to go on many things happen at the same time you can't do that

Billy no it's a nightmare there's a movie on and music on and he's not in those rooms no and he'll come into them and then put something else on it's it's just it's awful It's like hell. Yeah. It sounds kind of like hell. But, you know, I kind of get it. Being someone with ADD, I tend to fall asleep when the TV's on and there's rain going on.

But I'm weird. I can't fall asleep when there's people in the house. I feel like they're going to destroy my house. They're going to do something to me while I sleep. I always think these horrible things or these... Even family? Like old friends. I have trouble sleeping.

I'm very paranoid. I think that, you know, it's like somebody's going to come in the room and try to mess with me. Not like hurt me physically. but you know I don't get that at all I know it's where you could fall asleep anywhere yeah if I'm horizontal like I've fallen asleep in airports no problem if I can get flat

and there's a lot of stuff going on around me I think that happened because when I was a kid my brother had quite bad asthma so there'd be doctors and my mom who's a nurse in the room and my brother in quite a bad physical shape and my mom would always be mystified by the fact that I would just sleep all the way through it

no problem so it doesn't bother me apparently any sort of repetition helps you sleep even if it's really loud so like someone banging a drum if it's repetitive is easier to sleep in than silence if it's what repetitive repetitive if it's so like um that's why like a ninja makes you follow so just that yeah but anything that kind of is inconsistently it has to be consistent it has to be consistent All that thing that they do when they stop the lights

Oh, Jesus Christ Now, Dom, is it safe to say that like, you know, people could say, oh, you know, he's a lady's man. Look at all these beautiful women he's gone out with and this and there. Not that many. I'm not saying that. Did I say many? I did say that, didn't know.

Yeah. I mean, I think obviously I've been lucky enough to have some attractive girlfriends over the years. And you've had a relationship, long relationship. Yeah, but a lot of them have not been online. Billy knows more about ladies that I've been with and I know more about ladies that Billy's with before he was married. he's been married since what oh something i have been married since 2010 2010 you've been married so almost 10 years yeah yeah and and but i was with allison for you know 10 years before that

well you had a child with her right yeah yeah yeah jack jack doesn't jack have a middle name william boyd j w boyd there has always been a william boyd in scotland since it's his beginnings Is that true? William Boyd. Now, I'm thinking you aren't the type of guy, look at you. You're a good-looking guy. Yeah, I'm pretty good, like you. Yeah, you're a musician, you're an actor.

And I'm thinking, okay. Deep charisma, deep charisma. But you're not like, you know, go out and party and pick up women. Were you ever like that? Yes, he was. He was. He doesn't look like he would do that. I knew Billy when he was single in Scotland.

This is before he got married. And he would give most of the people on the film crew run for them. money because he's got that wonderful Scottish accent charm he's funny and I think with Billy and I are the same because we're not six foot two because you know we're hobbits with slightly small in stature

how tall are you I'm 5-7 how tall are you 5-8 Billy always says he Billy always says he's 5-7 when he's with me I'm like I can't be 5-7 I'm 5-7 but I think that becomes very non-threatening for a lady they think oh look nice he's cute yeah they're not

physically threatening but we can be visibly threatened. But you don't want to be. So, okay, do you think you have, like, a dislike for an adversity towards people who are tall? Me, no. I love tall people. Because some people have what they call the small man complex, but that's probably much smaller than you. Napoleon complex.

Yeah. No, I don't think I have that. I never really noticed I was small. You know, I was at school, and it would be around in your grade system, sort of seventh grade. something like that. And it was in a science class and they measured everyone and weighed everyone to do

this sort of percentile thing, you know. And I was in like the bottom like 2% of height. And until that moment I thought I was like normal or slightly tall. I honestly until that moment I had no, I, people always said to me

I remember like relative say, saying, oh, look at Billy, he's going to be tall like his dad. Because my dad was like six foot, which in Scotland, I suppose, is pretty tall. So in my head, I always thought I was tall, you know, until I was like 12 or 13 or something. And then everybody kind of passing you by? Well, I don't even know if I was ever tall. But until they measured us in science class, I just always thought I was tall. It was just never something on your mind.

Because that's what they do in science class. They measure you. They measure you. And they weigh you. We get that. How much did you weigh as a 12-year-old? 500 pounds. I was slightly stout.

Yeah. And that didn't even bother you either, did it? I didn't know. I was in a high jump team. You were, but were you? I could only get three or four inches. These are lies. Well, that part was a lie.

But the height thing wasn't a lie. I honestly thought I was mid to... Why do you think you had that confidence? I don't know. Was it your upbringing? Was it your grandma telling you you could do anything? You're tall. I think it was relative saying to me, he's going to be tall like his father.

And I just thought, yeah, I'll be tall like my father. My mom was only five foot, though. When did you realize, fuck, I'm not growing anymore. This is it. It was around then. I think that put a full stop on my growth. But it made you a hobbit, you know? You wouldn't have been a hobbit.

If I grew one more inch, I wouldn't have been a hobbit. Is that true? Yeah, because we all have to be the same. Matching height. Why can't you wear a shoe that's a little higher? Yeah, they just wouldn't have done that, I don't think. But let's say Elijah, who was obviously, you know, the most important Hobbit in that entire trilogy, was six foot. They would probably have cast three other six foot guys.

But I think Elijah's 5'5. He's around about our height. So then they had to match us all together. I was same as Bill. I went through school thinking, fine, doesn't bother me at all. I knew I was probably a little bit smaller than most people. But it let me be more cheeky. let me get away with more stuff.

That's true, isn't it? Because I was, listen to this. You're not going to believe this. I was the smallest kid in my high school. Really? I was a smallest kid in my high school. I'm six feet on the dot now, but I didn't grow. From my senior, I was 5'4 foot four.

I graduated at 5'4, and then I grew eight inches in the next two years. I think that's why I have a lot of back issues and shit. Senior year? Like, what age is that? A senior year, so when you graduate, you're like, I was 17 and I was in 12th grade. So I graduated, and it wasn't until after that summer, after I graduated high school that I started to grow. into college and people from my high school would come up to me a year later or two years later and go are you Michael Rosenbaum? I'm like that is so weird. And they're like what happened? Do you

have hair on your paws now? Right. They didn't ask me that but you know I did you get a lot more attention from girls. Yes and I was I was always oh look he's little rosy yeah you're right I remember feeling like I remember crying actually in front of my parents because my dad's six four six five my mom's tall for a woman and my mom was always doing pop and valium and drugs you know growing up and my my dad was a podhead and he was you know doing drugs in the 60s or whatever before I was when he stopped but you know I always said what what drugs were you on this is your fault why am I so small and I remember storming out of the room and crying it's like you did this wow you fucking drug and do sperm that's what I thought happened it's good to blame people for things yeah I like to blame people

a lot. You're being sarcastic. As someone told me once that male children are always taller than their mother. Male. People who are guys. Say that word again. Male. You didn't say it like that before.

Mail. Mail. Male. Male. Male children are always taller than their mothers. And I've looked at that since. And I was told this years ago, and it's always been true. Yeah.

Is that real? Really? True with me. You're taller than your mom. Yeah, my mom was tiny And you were taller than your mom Yeah How tall was your mom?

Five foot one What about your grandma? Five foot four What on my father's side? Well, your grandma who raised you? Well, she was tall But as she got older, she got smaller Well, that's what happened

Is that like a collapsing of the vertebrae? I think that's what happened You start to hunch over So sad. Your spine sort of, the bones start to get, I don't know, am I making the shit on? No, no, you're only as old as your spine. So always work on your spine.

That is a true. Yeah, but on you is only as old as your finger? I'm going to sit up. No. Is your finger younger than you sometimes? Your spine. Someone said that, someone very wise. Do you guys get really sad when this happens to me when I'm driving in L.A. a lot in traffic and you see someone walking on the street very, very encumbered by spinal issues? like walking but poorly bent over with sticks and those walker things you know you're talking you're

talking to someone who has had seven spine surgeries do you have you done the stick thing do you have you yet to walk with sticks uh was that a leg issue no do i want you mean crutches oh no not crutches you know walking walks with or the walk oh the walking sticks no i've never used a walking stick i mean thank god but i think it's from hockey and all the shit but i've had uh i just had uh my C4 C5 fused in my neck. So I had two neck surges and I had, I'm fused on my back. A lot of sports and shit, but.

What is it because when you're playing hockey, a hockey puck smashed you right in your neck? No, that's a rarity. Okay. That's a rarity. So it's just the movement on it. You know, and people hit you into the boards and hockey.

But it's also wearing and tear. It's also working at a grocery store. I hate to admit this, but probably a lot of it stems from working in a grocery store. You know, you throw boxes off the truck. Oh, more that. I was a stock boy. I probably at making.

in 3.35 an hour, I probably hurt my disc then. But you know what? It's sexier to say that you got it in hockey games. Much sexier. When you've been checked. I always do when a woman goes, oh, my God, you've had surgeries. How? I go, oh, hockey. How used to play hockey? Field? Do you know what checking is? Let me buy you a martini and I'll tell you what checking is. When they check you really hard, you know, like the start of the game and someone thinks, right, the first tackle I'm going to really show me. When they check you really hard, after that, can you skate over to them and say, can you not check me quite as hard anymore because you've already done a really big one?

No, I don't think that's probably what you do. You throw your gloves off and you go at it. That's a possibility. You're allowed to do that. What do you guys think? Because you're from Scotland. You're from Germany. No, I would say England.

Right. I claim Germany. You know what Hitler did. He was off the German is mine. I claim it like that. Right, right. I was born there. Nice Hitler reference.

It's amazing we got that in there. The thing about Hitler that really disappoints me is he retired. I mean, apart from the war and the genocide stuff. He retired the name Adolf, didn't he? You can't call your kid Adolf now, which I think is a wonderful name. Come on, Adi.

Addie, come on get in the car. Adi! But name him Adi. You don't want Adolf. It's just, you know, like, oh, here's my other son, Mussolini. Yeah. Musso, come over here, will you? His name's Benito, not Mussalina.

But I just sounded fine. But if I just said Benito, you wouldn't have. What about the last name bringing up Hitler? Has that disappeared? Well, Hitler. Is there people still called Mr. Hitler? Well, I think supposedly the Hitler family, when all that, you know, kind of fracar occurred in Europe,

they said, we've got to change our name now. So there are Hitler's still around people who come from his lineage. Previously. Pritlers. Yeah, but they're not, yeah, Pritlers, but they're not calling themselves Hitler anymore. Have they changed it to one thing? Like, are they all one thing now?

I'm not sure. Or is it all just? They're all Mussolini's now. That's what they are. Yeah, I'm not sure about that. Wait, wait, let me just think about Adolf. Stan Hitler. Please.

Supposedly, the guys. So there's a pair of brothers who made sneakers. This needs to be a movie. I heard it's true, but I'm not sure if it is true. It might be an urban myth. But if it's true, it should totally be a movie. There was a pair of brothers who made shoes, and they got into a big fight over an artistic idea behind a shoe.

And one brother said, okay, I'm going to leave and I'll form my own company. And the other one said, okay, I'm going to stay. And I'll see what happens with this company. The one who stayed, his name is Adolf Dasler, German. And he called his company Adi Das. And his brother went away and created the shoe company Puma. And they've not spoke to each other, or Puma, as they say in America. They've not spoke to each other since.

And they're in two of the biggest shoe companies in the world? That was a fantastic story. Well told. You could be Adi Das and I'll be his other brother. Someone Das. Puma. Puma. Puma Dasler.

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Don't wait. Download the Rocket Money app today and tell them you heard about them from Myronbaum. show inside of you with Michael Rosenbaum. Rocket money. So let's go back to this. You guys became friends. You're both, you didn't meet on Lord of the Rings? We did, yeah. That's where you met. Yes. I mean, you've told this story, of course, but when did you know, Billy, that I like this, Dom? He's my favorite of all the others. Probably quite early. So you admit, you admit that he's your favorite. I'm just about to say there. I'm not going to admit that yet. because I feel as though we're still young in our relationships.

I could let him down. Right. Could totally let me down. Sean Asson's a nice guy. Yeah. He could become my favourite. He's been on your show. Yes, he has?

He has. I've listened to it. Yeah. Yeah, I'll listen to you. It's a good story. Thanks, man. You had to do some research before you said yes. I like your sexy voice.

Is that true? Yeah. You think I have a sexy voice? You get a good voice. Thanks. You do. You have a great voice for this time of medium. Deep.

Because a lot of Americans, I think, your age, our age, tend to kind of speak a little bit more up there. It's kind of a little, little naisal. I didn't think that, though, when I was doing the podcast. Well, you know, I'm not, thanks. But anyway, back to your favorites. Back to your favorite, Dom. So, be carefully, because I am actually going to say, you're my favorites.

I just don't want you to know that. Dom arrived in New Zealand a little later than the rest of us, Sean and Elijah and Orlando and stuff. Because I think you were working on something. Yeah, they're a very successful actor. He was very successful. He was working. Yeah, he was working.

He was in Europe doing something. Yeah, for instance. So anyway, and did you have a shaved head? Yeah, I did have a shaved head. He had a shaved head when I first met him, and I thought, he looks quite sexy. Thank you. You're attracted to him. A little.

And I remember we were in wardrobe, and they said, the guy playing Mary's just arrived. Everybody should go up and meet him, and I went up. And he seemed a very sort of happy. he just came off the flight, I think, and you've gone straight there. I might be telling this story completely wrong, and Don will correct me. But we sort of said hello, and he got measured for wardrobe and stuff. And then we went to the pub, and we had a beer, and we played pool. And I said, I like this guy.

Just like that. Yeah. Like there's something innately kind about him, or fun or happy or what? Yeah, because that's a long flight. That's like 30 hours of. And he still was able to muscle it up. And he's like, yeah, let's come on. Let's go out and we'll get to know each other and say hello.

And I like that. I thought, yeah. I could see the smile on your face. You have sort of like this feeling of like the pure honesty of what you just said. It wasn't like you're telling a story. I could just see that. You do like each other. There's something very deeply enmeshed into the culture of being British, of which

Billy and I both are, where a way to classically get to know each. other is to go for a drink. And I don't think it's quite as automatic as it would be for someone from the United States or someone from Canada. Of course they do it. But there's just something innate. When you meet someone for the first time, you're like, fancy a drink. It just happens. It's as much as saying hello or shaking someone's hand, you just go, do you want a quick drink? In America, yeah, you don't, you don't just go up to people like, you meet a guy and go, hey, you seem really happy. Why don't we go get a beer? Yeah. It might seem a little bit presumptuous. Well, maybe you're like, oh, maybe he thinks that I'm gay. Right, right. But

of course, like, not that there's anything wrong with that. Of course, obviously, there's nothing wrong with it. But maybe that's the perception maybe in, in North America. Yeah. That people, if you just meet a guy for the first time, I'm like, you're really kind. You've got a great smile. I heard about your measurements. And I think we should go have a frosty. Right. That's what I. And there's also something in Los Angeles as well, I feel that when somebody goes for a drink. They have to go for the greatest drink ever made.

They have to say, I know a place in the valley that does a martini that we have to go to and you're like, that's a 40 minute drive and there's a bar right there. I can see it with my eyes. That serves beer.

Yeah, beer and I'm sure a martini. But now, we have to go to this place that just opened so that we can stand in line to get this martini that's made with chocolate from Peru and a chili that has Grand left him. It's like Billy's totally right in telling that story. I was going through makeup.

And I think Elijah and Sean may have possibly had more to do that day because our rehearsal process was quite kind of rich in terms of dialect training, sword fighting, horse riding. But you really rehearsed these scenes. It wasn't like you had like, oh, let's go through it once or twice. It's like, you are like, you know these scenes inside out before you're filming. And we're there with Pete. Pete Jackson is the king of that whole project.

So if you're sat in a rehearsal room with Pete and with Fran and Philippa, who were his co-writers and co-producers, you're not just pissing about. Like, you're having to bring stuff and bring questions and, you know, you're really getting into it. People are right. Alongside horse riding, sword fighting, kayaking, all that kind of stuff. I think in my memory, Sean and Elijah might have had more stuff to do. do and Billy rapped for the day the same time as me and we were both heading into town. We were just like, let's get a drink.

And what was amazing about that was it immediately cemented what became one of the more formative things that Billy and I did, which was a little bit of drinking and B, playing pool because we played pool up and down the length and breadth of those islands. We were pretty good at poo. Who was better? Be honest. Yeah, Billy. If there were 10 games to play, who would win six? better at the time maybe even now yeah i would say billy would probably win he's saying 10 i would

say billy would win seven and i would win three who would be drunk more drunk me drunker yeah me you you'd be younger that's why maybe he beat you yeah he's always been more responsible than me although you you did have a few moments of of being a tear away oh absolutely i think with pool i think absolutely absolutely i don't remember them i i i i think there's this weird thing with pool where if you get just the right amount of alcohol in you your game improves because it's a game of confidence and poise and a little bit of cockiness but one extra than that your game starts to fall apart you remember a bar we were in i think we were on location i think in the south island somewhere excuse me uh no not at all and uh and we

we went on the pool table and where was that it was in queensstown it was queenstown it was Queenstown. And I think it was called the snake pit. So the Queenstown is known as the sort of adrenaline capital of New Zealand. It's where you bungee jump and, you know, drive adventure. Adventure. So everyone there is like, you know, young guys from America and Australia and, you know, it's all these guys with North Face T-shirts and Patagonia. Hawth Face. You know, and this says Hawth Face. Oh, sorry. That's Empire Strikes. back thank you go ahead he's ripped up north face we're in this bar and we start beating people and

it's winner stays on doubles so we're just beating all these guys coming from everywhere we're on we're on the table for like three hours just beating everyone that's crazy till the guy behind the bar calls up the champion pool players from queens town and gets them to come to the bar to beat us. And they beat you? No. What? We beat the champions of New Zealand, in my mind, probably Queenstown at least. But the guy behind the bar calls up the people to come and get us off the table. We were in this like, that's cool. Yeah, I wrote it in my diary. That's why you're such, you know, brothers in arms. We were in this like weird flow. Like I don't, the rest of the day is kind of vague, but I'm going to assume we went out, had a couple of beers, had some food. And then

we were playing casual pool. Someone came over to kind of get the table offers, and we were like, well, do you want to play winners days on? Because we wanted to keep playing. So we thought, well, if we beat these guys, then Billy and I can keep playing our game of singles. So we beat those people. Someone put coins on the table. Oh, now we've got to play these people. And it became a thing.

It feels good. We were women looking at you? We play everyone. We played to women. Did you get laid that night down? Maybe. You did. I mean, it wasn't just women.

There were pigeons that were sat on the windowsill looking in at the bar. Did you go on set the next door? day and brag about it. Yeah, we definitely do it. And they wouldn't believe a freaking lick of it. I mean, this is 20 years ago, we're still bragging about it. I want to play something for you.

This is irrelevant. But it's an elephant. Irrelevant. I want you to tell me what this is. This is by accident. I found this online. I swear to God. The Hobbit's Marion Pippin,

who provided much of the comic relief in film one, find themselves in more desperate circumstances in the two towers. we're basically prisoners of war and Mary's a terrible gas I've never seen Mary like that before so it's a real sort of

you know things are being bad up to now but this is just like a world that we don't understand Can I say Go ahead How much higher is your voice back then Billy like talks up there At that point right

He's got blood coming all over there And you know what was going on What a nightmare Did you hear the other voice Is that me talking about No the narrator was it you it was me wow tell us about that I told you you've got a great voice but there you could see it was higher because we were both younger they said hey they want you to be it was during when I was

on small they just said you want to be the narrator for the two towers for the for the TV special and I go hell yeah we'll give you four Lord of the Rings tickets we'll fly you in first class we'll pay you some money I'm like what what do you mean Lord of the Rings tickets I took Gerica Christensen who's a friend huh what you mean Lord of Rings tickets to the Premier to the premiere sorry here yeah yeah wow in LA and Hollywood yeah wow I the arc light? Yeah, wherever it was. I was there. Can I tell you funny that a story that would have been hilarious had we done it? And I really wanted to do it. But Billy and Elijah and I think Orlando nixed it. And I was like, oh, come on, we've got to do it. So you'll,

you'll remember this. At the arc light, if you approach the arc light from Sunset Boulevard, so you've walked past Amoeba Records on your right, you've crossed the street. Then there's the way to go in. Just on the side there, there's a little water feature that has like gently flowing water. Yeah, I know what you're talking about. Usually in the summertime, falling onto some like soft pebbles, I would call them. Yes.

Great for skimming, those type of pebbles. Right. So when we were doing the premiere for two towers, it must have been, I said to Billy, Elijah and Orlando, let's stand underneath the water feature. All of us get completely soaking wet and do the red carpet and not mention it at all. Like when people say, you're clearly soaking wet.

Don't say anything. Just do the interview. You didn't do it. No, and I was like, come on, let's do it. Who was with you? No, I don't think anyone was with. Nobody was with you. No.

Had you had a few beers? Yeah, maybe. No, Dom always has this sort of idea. Was it your idea to get the tattoo of the nine? No, that was probably more orly, but I was one of the ringlead. I think we were all really into that. I would have thought you were one of the ones. So you all have a tattoo on your right arm.

No. Anywhere you wanted it. So where's yours, Billy? On my right ankle. On your right ankle. And it's the Elvin. Number nine. Number nine.

Because there's nine of us. Nine of you. Yeah. And we all went all eight of us, seven of us. Because Sean Bean was already dead. Mr. Bean? Not in real life. Love Sean Bean.

He always died. Oh, he's great, Sean Bean. He's very good at dying. Right. So he was already gone and John Rees Davis didn't want a tattoo. Okay. Why not? Why not?

Is it? I'm not sure, actually. Well, let's get. Was he difficult? Well, let me guess, was he a, he just, he was Jewish and he couldn't be tattooed because they can't bury a Jew who's religious. It's not that. Okay.

Was he a really delicate skin that would maybe just bleed profusely? Could be that, but I don't think so. He was deafly allergic to his Gimley makeup, so he couldn't wear it for two days in a row. Okay. Or was he an asshole? No, wasn't that? I don't know. I don't know.

I think John was, because he's quite a lot older than us, John. He was the oldest member of the fellowship. and I do think that John probably thought that tattoos were more in the groups of sailors, drug dealers, and bikers. So he didn't have a tattoo. It wasn't, because this is the year 2000, is it? Yeah, yeah, it would be, yeah. And I still remember back then thinking, oh, I'm one of the minority that has a tattoo.

But now we're, at the very least, even Stevens. How many do you have, Billy? I just have that one. You have that one tattoo. So was it hard to convince Bill? Billy to do this. No, Billy was definitely easy.

The only ones that were even slightly a challenge, I think Ian McKellen had to slightly get talked into it, but he was good with it. When we approached him, he was like, okay, darling,

think about it, think about it. And then once everyone was doing it, he's fine. Were you there when he got it? We were all there. Now, did anyone weep or was in,

they couldn't handle it as much? I got a tattoo with my brother. We wrote my grandmother's name who passed, and he was just a puss. I love him, but he was just like, I'm like, are you kidding me, right?

Is this, are you joking? Yeah, it doesn't like hurt that bad. No, I don't think it hurt that bad. I remember Sean Aston being the one who moaned. Give me a Sean Ashton. Just, did he get it on his foot, Sean Ashton? Same place as me, yeah. Just like, ah, sore, sore.

And he was before us all. And I thought, oh, it is quite sore. But I think on your foot, it's quite sore, you know. Who is the, he was the coolest about it? No pain. Vigo. Vigo was cool. Well, Vigo already had a bunch.

God, he's so beautiful. He's like, and then he has a pain, no pain threshold. Honestly, here's my favorite Vigo, how cool is Vigo story? When he made out with you? No, that's not cool. That was painful and scary.

We won't tell that story. We will. We will at some point. But we were out one night that became a night of drinking and just a great night, you know, Everybody went out, I think it was snowing, it was a crazy night, we're on vodka and there wasn't many of those nights, you know, because we worked so hard and they started at 4 a.m. So there wasn't a lot of big nights out, but this one was great and everyone was there and it got to like three in the morning.

We weren't working the next day. The next day was a travel day. Gets to like three in the morning, gets to bed, crash. We had to get up at say about eight or eight. nine to travel to the next place. And I see Vigo downstairs getting into the car that's going to drive well I'm getting into a car that's driving me

and I see he's holding something like a big square. I'm like what's that, Vigo, what's that you got? I was like it's a great night last night. He's like, yeah, great night. I was that what's that? He pulls it up. It's a painting that he did when he got in that night.

Like an amazing painting like, you know. He's staring up all night doing this painting. Three foot, four foot by four foot, something like that. When everybody else is smashed and asleep. And he's probably a little smashed too. Yeah, totally. And he's... And he's making art. He's making art that I could never imagine. You know what? I imagine him naked for some reason doing that. Oh, I'm sure he was. I'm sure he was. And he was writing poetry and he was in the back of a pony. Yeah, he is brilliant, Vigo. He's like the greatest example in my life up to now.

of the quintessential artist. I mean, obviously, Billy's an amazing artist. He's an actor. He's a singer. He's a songwriter. I look at the things that he does with music. And I think, wow, that's incredible. And Vigo's not quite an accomplished musician as Billy.

But in terms of the way that Vigo looks at his life, everything's an opportunity to be artistic, whether it's writing or drawing. He's a brilliant poet. He's a brilliant photographer. And, I mean, obviously, as an actor, I mean, the journey that Vigo has gone on, from, I think after Aragon, he was offered pretty much everything that any lead man was

offered. Turned it down, turned it down, turned it down. He wanted to do stuff with horses. He did a couple of films with horses. Spent a lot of time with his family. How do you, how do you do that? That's, you know, at a different level. How do you have the, I mean, how do I, he does so much. And when do you spread yourself too thin? Like, for him, it seems like he doesn't. He just does what he wants and he enjoys it. And I think the. key maybe is to do something and not try to be you're not trying to be great at it you're not trying to make money at it you're just trying to enjoy it yeah and i'd like to think that's what i'm trying to do is i go into this next chapter in my life i'm just like you don't have to be great at everything

yeah good at everything stop being so hard and so just billy you play music it makes you feel good right you love it if you make no money you're still going to play music exactly and exactly i think you've you've you've hit the nail on the head oh that's a fun phrase isn't it I'm going to write that down. Hit the nail on the head. On the head. Well done, Billy. You haven't skimmed off the side there.

You've got it right in the centre. It's about just making something and getting it out there and just enjoying it. I think too many people worry that, oh, it's not quite ready. It's not quite polished enough. They're not going to like it. It's not good enough. People won't like it. I'll be embarrassed.

Yeah. Whereas you get more attracted to art that's a bit twisted and broil. You know what I mean? Also, like the cosmos, the older that I've got, the more I've felt like there's some sort of, there's some sort of personality, which is not the greatest way of describing it. The cosmos, there's some sort of presence. And Jesus, Michael, you want to calm down a little bit. Jesus, that's my camera right there.

Oh, you're broken. That's an expensive camera. Is I like her? Oh, no, it's on the Limpus. It's all right. That's a piece of shit. I think that there's something very significant to be said for holding on too tight to something. When you really want something, you're trying super hard.

It's like sand, like slipping through your fingertips. You're squeezing too tight and it just falls through. The thing that Vigo does, certainly as an example, being a young man that I've watched, and as I've grown older and become close and closer to Vigo, is he lives in flow, right? He just flows. comes back to LA He's like, yeah, I'm here for a few days Anytime you go over to Vigo's house

There's always a rat, not a rabble But a bunch people there And he's very present, I take it? Very present But like some of his family's there Some of his friends there He's got a fire lit He's made some food

He's cooking up some stuff Oh, you're vegetarian, that's okay I've got some stuff in my fridge There's no hassles I've never seen Vigo be like Oh, I forgot the thing Or I've got to do this He's just in flow

He's never laid How do you, that's a good question For you guys A couple serious things Or important things that you know when people take out of they're like these guys are really funny and all this but how do you turn off how do you stay present and how do you separate your work where you're not your work i've talked to many different people about this but what's your theory like what do you

do to not obsess on oh i've got wild things i've got this other movie i've got my you know my music i've got my family i've got how do you turn off and just be present what is it it's something that you've always been able to do or you were taught or you were yeah i think it's incredibly important. I think it's the most important thing in life is being in the place where you are, being present, you know. And I know that it's a sort of buzzword and all that and a way of thinking, but I think it's a universal truth and it has been for thousands of years and people understand that's the way to be successful as a human. Actually putting that into practice is really difficult. But I I think once you understand that that is the most important thing,

then you, you know, try and, you know, bend your life a little bit to try and make that as simple as you can. And if that's meditating, which it is for a lot of people, or if it's just changing the way you think of things, or, you know, some people will give you a really good two-second meditation where you just remember and just go, wait a minute just breathe in breathe out it's one i like to give to my son which is you know when it all gets too hectic and i'm supposed to do this but i'm supposed to be there and i haven't learned this

you know what just breathe in breathe out and say to yourself i'm breathing in i'm breathing out and breathing out and it just kind of brings you back to where you where you are and where you should be you know do you deal with any kind of like i mean you've had like if you look at the story of your life and I don't know you that well obviously at a young age you had some you went through some shit as a kid you know your grandma raised you you lost your parents at a young age uh you know some people could sit there and say my parents were dysfunctional and this and that but are you someone who dwells in the past someone who looks who still has moments where you go back and go what the you know do you feel like you've still got one foot in the past or do you try to really

be present and move forward and and you haven't needed to talk about it and deal with it or have you already dealt with it? Do you know what? There's, it's really complicated, I think. And I suppose it depends on the time that you live in the world. And at the moment, nothing against you from earlier on when you said you blamed your parents because you were too short. There's a big thing just now, it's good to blame your parents for everything. You know, I feel. And in some ways, this is an awful thing to say, I'm sure. And, some ways because I lost my parents when I was young, it freed me from that because I couldn't blame them because they weren't there. So I had my own thing to deal with and so I couldn't say

you should have made me go to soccer more. I would have been a great soccer player if you had pushed me a little. I didn't have that. So I had to say it myself, I should have played soccer more. You know, that was my fault. You know, so in an awful way it was freeing because in the world we live in where I think people like to blame the parents for everything I didn't have that I was left with myself you know I couldn't blame my grandmother she was slowly getting smaller and smaller but um yeah you know and and everyone has their baggage you know so I grew up in a council estate in Scotland so I have that Scottish oh I'm Scottish you know there's something about that, you know, I think nationalism isn't a great thing.

I think it's lovely to say, I'm Scottish and look at our great history, but don't be nationalist about it, you know, I think that causes a lot of problems in the world, you know, that my country's better than yours, so I kind of watch that. And then working class is another one, that's a real sort of chip on my shoulder that we've got to fight, you know, we're Marxist, we've got to kind of, you know, defeat these And you, you know, you put yourself into these groups. And I think these groups that you put yourself in causes a lot of problems in your life.

So the more you can kind of just try and get rid of those groups and just kind of go, hey, I'm sitting in this room with these three guys. Great guys. This is fun. We're talking. We're listening. The more that the world can do that just now, I think, the better. Boy, when you just zone in and you're not,

We're not goofing around. I was just like... It's beautiful. Captivating. No, I know it sounds funny, but I feel like I just learned something. It is. And in a three-minute thing you just said, I feel like I'm listening and I'm going, you know, you didn't have your parents to blame it. In a sense, and I'm like, and I don't necessarily blame my parents.

I let things go and I love them. But in a sense, I'm lucky that I had that. Yeah. So always be grateful. Always just be grateful for whatever you had because someone had it worse. and this is life and it's only going to get worse or better at times intermittently and like but it just

it's nothing you can do about it just put things into perspective yeah perspective is huge right yeah but it's also another easy thing to say and a difficult thing to do because when you look in perspective you just think that guy's got a big house he's got three

cars and two you have two I wasn't specifically talking about you. It's not that big. That was great. But, you know, that is perspective. Yeah.

To speak on Billy's behalf, if I could, for a minute. Thank you, darling, please. Just going to touch your knee. It was beautiful. I think Billy had to do quite a lot of growing up a little faster than most people needed to when I was Billy's age, when he sadly lost his parents. I was still running around at school and doing people. plays and having fun and eating lollipops and all that kind of stuff so billy had to grow up a lot quicker than certainly i did and i think because of that billy worked out things that i worked out

a little later of like it's all right everything's fine like get happy do the things that make you happy smile be grateful so i've watched billy i mean billy's a little bit older than me but in terms of his tiny tiny i mean not that you look old i say he looks young he does he's the peter He was the Peter Pan of the Hobbits. I mean, Elijah looks amazingly young. Sean Astin looks young. I look young. But everyone would go on about Billy's age going,

you are joking. You're 64. You look incredible. 64. Back then. Yeah, back then. He's 102 now. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

But he's, Billy just got there a little quicker. So Billy and I are obviously friends and peers and we've helped each other out over the years. But there's been times where I've been struggling with something. And Billy got there eight, 10 years ago. So there was a time, we were walking down Abbott Kinney one time. I was seeing a girl. I was kind of half in, half out. I was like it, but I'm not sure.

And I turned around to Billy. We were leaving at this point. He was going back to his wife and son. I was walking to my car. I said, Billy, shouting at him across that bikini, which was completely inappropriate. I was like, Billy, how are you okay with the fact that, you know, it's just you and Allie now for the rest of your life

instead of like other girls to kiss or other girls to look at? And Billy said, be here now, right? Be here now. Like, this is my situation now. I love it. I'm here now. He was yelling that across the street. Be here now.

From like 15 feet away, you know. And I got in a kind of profound and simple. Yeah, totally. Be here now, dude. Be here now. Fuck off. What are you going to do? You're not kissing another girl.

Like, kiss that. Think about that when it comes, when it happens. Exactly. Someone punched me right in the throat. No, they don't really. But yeah, you know, that's a beautiful moment. And I think he's been able to do that for me over the years. Listen, I want to get to this because we got something really cool that, you know, coming up.

This is awesome to hear these stories. and, you know, I wish we had more time. Maybe you guys will come back. I doubt. I seriously doubt. I will. I love it here. Do you?

Yeah. Yeah, no, it's really. Oh, good. Yeah, I've enjoyed it. Yeah, I have too. I think you're really fun. Oh, thanks, man. I knew Dom was fun.

Thank you. And I've got no idea who that guy in the corner. That's Ryan. I'm sorry. That's Ryan. You know, I just, but Ryan's amazing. And he's funny, actually. Don't put him on the spot to be funny.

Ryan, you know these guys. Tell us a joke, Ryan. You've seen the Lord of the Rings, right? Yeah, of course. books? I do not read the books, though, no. Get out, Ryan. You should. All right. They're good books. Yeah. Are they? I don't know. There's a lot of books in this room. There's a lot of the rings in here.

I'm not a big reader. I don't think people look at me in like, oh, he's an intellectual, but I do like history. So I read, you know, the John Adams book. I read, I read, let's not bore people. Well, okay. John Adams, is that the summer of 69? No, that's Brian. John Adams was the second president of the United States. It's also a lawyer who defended the British who...

You just said don't bore people. Sorry, boring. God, there's so much I want to talk to you about, but I want to get into something that's important. So really quick, make these quick. You were in the room, you were at the bar when a girl smacked Dom full-handed on the face, correct? You were there. Thailand, Thailand.

More than once. Oh, really? More than once? No, no. I buried the other one. So this girl just, woman, came up to you, and you didn't do anything wrong, right? No, for my recollection, I mean, Billy might be able to tell a different story.

For my recollection, we're in Thailand. we had walked through a bar onto the beach where there were beach tables associated with the bar and we were having, remember this now? Yeah. We were just having a really, it was just billion-nine. Lovely conversation. We had a couple of beers.

We were getting into something kind of fun. I was into it with my best mate in Thailand. We were really having a good time. And this girl, drunk, came over and just said, can I sit here? And I kind of said, yeah, you can sit there. But I was in no way interested in starting a conversation with it. Because I wasn't in my mate.

We ignored her for a good 30 seconds. And then she said something along the lines of, am I boring you or shouldn't I be here? And I said something like, yeah, kind of. Like, like, I'm talking to my mate. And the next thing I knew, she smacked me in the face. Did it hurt? Did it hurt?

Yeah, it looked like it. Yeah, that's exactly. Did you guys move or get up? Did you get up? No, we stayed still. Billy, did you laugh? Did you? No, it looked painful.

It wasn't a laughing slap. It was like, there was a mark on your face. I had tears in my eyes, not because I was upset because it hurts. Brought tears to your eyes. And nothing happened. She just got up. walked away and you guys continued a conversation. Yeah.

Which I think is the right way to deal with it, right? She had so little effect on me that after she hit me, I just continued to ignore her. I would have, it seems like I would have done something like this. Let's say I was talking to Billy and all of a sudden, I got smacked. I go, oh my gosh. Why would you do that? What the fuck? Yeah.

Dude. I, if you believe that happened, then we get back. You put yourself in the moment there. I saw yourself in the moment. That's a good. What the fuck? What did I do? I'm talking to my friend.

Yeah. That's good. I think I sell all those things. You just didn't say it. I'm an emotional guy. I connected with Bill as soon as it happened. And Billy looked at me with this face, which I know that Billy gives me an which is like, that just happened.

He kind of went. And did you also? Because you, like, you're a tough guy, Dom. Like you, you, like, people look at you and you think, they don't know that you'd be tough if they don't know you. You wouldn't go in a bar and go, oh, I wouldn't fight that guy. But you're kind of the guy that's like, if you mess with me, I'm, you know, I'm not afraid of you.

A little bit of that. I've played around with fear a lot in my life. so I think I definitely have that. I don't know about a bar situation. I mean, if the bigger guy's messing around me about, I'm going to leave. Right. But I'm not, I'm, this is one of the fundamental differences,

I think, between Billy and I, and I've learned a lot through watching Bill is I get off on and I'm energized by confrontation. And Billy, over the years has tended to be like, that's not my jam. And Don Will, if he's scared or something, if there's fear, he'll look into that and... Yeah, I don't like fear.

No. I could send something, yeah. He said to me last year, there's a big shark week thing happening and the vast us, me and Dom, do we want to go and swim with great whites? And I was like, no. And he's like, but why wouldn't you?

I mean, this is a chance. And I was like, I don't, yeah, I don't want to swim with, I've seen Jaws. I mean, you know what I mean? Yeah, I do. That's it. I wouldn't want to do that either.

And I can't get, Dom's, when Dom's like, I was like, well, we'd be in a cage? No, we'll just be swimming. That's crazy, Dom. What if one, here's what goes on. I take not only my mind, but Billy's mind, and probably the rest of the world. What if one of them

is hungry? Yeah. What if one of them sees something? I have a feeling that I'm the one person they won't like. They'll look at me and go, oh, that's not a regular human. I want to eat his dumb ass. Yeah. Well, if you're exhibiting a lot of fear in the water, you might get tired of them. Yeah, and why wouldn't you? Well, okay, so forgive me, but you guys are both coming from less of a place of knowledge about sharks than I am.

Not that I'm an expert on sharks, but I know a little bit more about sharks than you. I know when a shark bites you, his eyes roll over. A shark's got lifeless eyes, towel's eyes. Sorry, go. So, no, it's all right. But the monstrous myth that has been built about sharks and other animals is something that is painingly not true. there are an average of eight shark attacks a year on humans. How many car crashes?

Of which maybe two of them are fatal. And we kill 1,700 sharks a second. Are you serious? A second. So that's hundreds of millions of sharks are dying a year. And they maim us eight to 10. So you're saying we deserve it. No, I'm saying this is just statistical, but the statistics of it.

But if we were to go swimming with sharks, which we were going to do, but it didn't happen. there are there are different times of the year where sharks are in feeding mode so we would I would not get in the water with great whites when they are hungry or low on body fat ready to feed looking for seals looking for anything what we would do is we would go swim with them when you've got heavily pregnant females they literally turn off their digestive system they turn off their aggression so you can you can hang on to their dorsal fin swim around with them and they're just not interested they don't have an appetite they're not interested so not only that but being on a boat with Billy

and exploring the idea of fear and then getting someone like Billy who might have a little bit more fear into the water is so empowering to people who are terrified of sharks because they'll look at Billy and go he seemed a little scared of sharks. Wow, now he's swimming with the Great White?

Maybe I can do that too. It sets you free. What if your theory or your experiment went wrong? Would you then say you guys were all right? Or would you try to get Sean Astin to then go swimming and see if they eat him? No, look, I mean, look, if something went,

terribly wrong. Of course you have to deal with those consequences. I'm always playing, certainly with animals, with statistics. I got it. So it looks dangerous, but from my knowledge and from the way that we're working with them, it is statistically way less dangerous than it looks. And, you know, it just, in my mind, it just wouldn't happen. Obviously, like Billy said, what if you got angry, turned around, didn't like the look of you, a bit a huge chunk out of you. You're in trouble. Did you almost get in a fight with Orlando Bloom once? yeah i almost got into like a it would probably i think i mean hopefully billy would have split it up because

you were there billy you were there i was there i was just remembering it in my mind and you know the main thing that i remember from that what was dom's shoes were you wearing adidas heavy heavy shoes was wearing there were like brown ox blood sort of shoes almost like a cuban heel that had I had a kind of, they had a rim round them like that, you know. I don't know what that. Like metal or steel?

No, just like leather, but, you know, and it was stitched in. And I remember, I remember you kicked Orlando Bloom. And at the time I thought, oh, I bet that really hurt. Yeah, I bet it hurt. You kicked him? Yeah, I kicked him. Not on purpose. No, no, on purpose.

We were in a bar. We'd gone to Sydney, myself, Orly, uh, Lai. and Bill. And I think Elijah, like, had an early night or something. So the three of us, right? Or maybe you went home early after dinner. And we had been training the week before in New Zealand. And I had destroyed my tricep muscles.

The most sore my muscles have ever been in my entire life. I couldn't touch him. I couldn't, like, extend my arm. You know that feeling in the gym where you're so sore. I know what happened now. I could feel it. I had to sleep on my back. And I said to the guys on the plane, I was like, guys, because we all train with this guy,

Dave Nuka, I said, my arms are destroyed. Please just don't be conscious of that. And they were like, yeah, okay, fine. Oli, for the rest of the week, would just come behind me and just pinch my triceps just to get in my head. And it was excruciating. And it was, oh, I really hurt. Oli, don't, don't.

Seriously, don't, don't, don't. And he'd be like, I'm sorry, mate, I'm sorry. He knew exactly what he was doing. This happened over the course of at least a day, if not two days. So you let it go. I let it go. I told him. I was like, don't do that.

So? Because he knew. And then we were in a bar, we were drinking. he came up behind me, he grabbed both my triceps and squaws him, and I just lost it. So I just, I just horse kicked him. Where? Probably around his thigh or knee.

Did it hurt him? Yeah, yeah, it hurt him. He was, he was upset. So then he got in my face and I got in his face and I was like, I've been telling you, I've been telling you that I'm going to fight back if you keep doing it. And he's all, you know, wiggie and stuff. And did Billy try to stop it? No, Billy was stood right next to as thinking, I'm going to see this one out.

Just out of see what happens Now you're being interesting Now you're being interesting No I think if it had got really bad You did you hug it out You ended up hugging it out We eventually did But it got heated

It got heated Like nose to nose Yeah Like fuck you Yeah pushing Yeah yeah yeah All that stuff Did anybody say

Look I don't want to fight you right now But I told you a million times And if you want to fucking Throw down I'm gonna throw down with you I don't think it was I don't want to fight

I think it was a lot of like You know I've told you What the fuck is your problem I told you, and it got pretty heavy. And then I think Bill at some point was like, all right, come on, guys, let's have a drink. And when we went to get a drink, then it turned into quite sweetly, the two of us being a bit upset, where I was like, mate, why would you do that?

And I got upset. And he was like, you couldn't have forgot. It's been going on. See? But he never did it again. That's the thing. He didn't do it again. You know what?

That happened to me. I was bald. It was a second year small of one of my friends was in Vancouver with me. And we were walking around with my other two friends. And he kind of smacked me on the back of the head on a cold. frosty Vancouver day and I go hey don't do that man come on and then he did it again and I go

dude stop that man it actually really hurts man don't do that and then he did again and then he did again and the fourth time I go he's a big dude I go listen man Jay you're a big fucking dude and I know you'll probably beat the shit out of me if you do that one more time

I'm going to punch you in your fucking face and you're going to bleed do you understand one more time and that fucker didn't do it Good. Because I think he realized, I'm going to fucking hit you. Yeah. And I think Orlando pushed you over that moment.

Like he thought you were maybe kidding, whatever. It was funny. And you let him know it's not. Yeah, yeah. Sometimes people do, yeah. You learn things about people in those places as well. I think it was quite a formative bonding moment with O'I and I, where we realize, okay, we have lines.

One of us crossed the lines. We've talked about it. And now we're through it. But can I ask you something about your bald head? Yeah. So when you played Lex Luthe? I was bald. It wasn't a ball cap.

When you played Lex Luthor for how many seasons, six? Seven. Seven. The entire time he's bald. Yeah. So you shaved your head for seven years. Every episode, every, yeah. Oh, every episode they do a little bit.

And it was two hours because I had to put all this makeup. My listeners have heard it a million times, but it took two hours for the first three years because they had to put all these different colors and because I can't have a hair line. And it was a lot. Did you notice a difference in the way that people kind of came to you in the street? Because now you've got an intense kind of look. Yeah, it was weird. fact it helped me with the role it really did once I shaved my head I go I could do

I remember I go I could do this now it was like when I had hair I didn't know if I thought they'd fire me and then the second they shaved it in the trailer and I looked in the mirror I go and I put that suit on you look cool I became I became Lex Luthor and that was it and I get the confidence just exhumed really you're the best thing in that show oh thank you yeah yeah bill you've never seen it I'm not gonna say because I like Kristen oh yeah crook yeah she's amazing she's a very good friend. I love her. She was on the podcast. She's fantastic. I love them all. We've done a couple of films together. Really? Yeah. So she must love you. She's great. She wouldn't do another film. No, no. Everybody was enough. All right, listen, I want to get into this because

you have to go. Do it. If Billy wasn't late, we would have had more time. Yeah, good point. You like that? No. I feel like I could do that now. I feel like we have a bond. I don't think we're that. No, we're not. We're not. Billy's known in my social group as the loveliest man in the world. This is outside of I heard this stuff. All my Mancunian friends are like, how the loveliest man in the world and i'll go i'm fine and they go no no not you billy and i go oh he's fine well he is he's sweet you're sweet too you're he's sweeter you know like i said i know billy that but you you you'll send me text you'll send me little emails you're you're present you're like

you like i could tell like i i feel i want to hang out with you more and we don't but it's like there's still that bonding and we're like when we do hang out it's easy it's just easy and that's important don't kind of cares you know he keeps he keeps he keeps he doesn't like forget about people you know he's and i like that there's not that many people who are like that. All right, let me get into this. You have talked for a while. It sounded to me like, Dom, you've been talking to Billy, and Billy's finally on board. You guys have worked some stuff out. And there's a strong possibility of you doing a podcast together. I'm really into it now. At first, it sounded like a great white situation. I didn't want to jump into water. But I'm, I'm in. I'm a hundred

I think this is exciting because, I mean, you see the other podcast and I have a feeling, well, I know, it's going to be Lord of the Rings oriented. Well, that will be the foundation, I would think, but why don't you talk about, because we're going to do the first episode after this. Why don't you talk about, you're going to record it here in my house. Yeah, we've warmed up. We're ready. I think it's a good thing you do. Really cooking now. Yeah.

Yeah. So it will be that we'll definitely come back to Lord of Rings because that was an intense. four years where we first met and we have many stories never been told I'm sure and so I'm sure as we talk as Dom says you know they were formative in our relationship

and things that we still think now so I know that we'll always come back to Lord of the Rings in our time in New Zealand but we'll also look at other things we'll go deep into some things as we did today I feel like it will It will

It will find its own shape Do you think Do you have a name already? Have you discussed names? Well, we might talk about that on the podcast But like the working title at the moment Go on Dom The working title of the moment

Which I don't think will stick So we might think something else Is Two Hobbs in a pod Two Hobbits in a podcast Yeah That was not my idea That came from our dear dear friend Nigel Who we met

During Lord of Roads I said to Billy probably a year ago now or something like around about that time I said we should do a podcast and it took a little while because when I first did that Billy was like great what times it on and I was like no we have to record it

and he's like what station's it on I was like no it's not on a station I'm talking to my dad I said it's not real I didn't get podcast he's like how do I listen to it? I was like you go onto your podcast app on your phone he's like I don't listen to podcast

I was like, well, you should start listening to some. And he was like, I don't understand. When would I listen to it in the house? I'm not going to listen to it because I'm doing other stuff. I was like, when you're driving, he's like, no, when I'm driving, I'm listening to music. So I was like, look, we both are conversationalist. We both have stories to tell. If we sit next to each other, we become chatterboxes.

And I said, it'll be great. And in the last, I would say, probably two or three months, Billy's been much more along the lines of like, yeah, let's do this. This is actually going to be. Two hobbits in a pod or two hobbs in a pod? Two Hobbs and a pod is kind of the working time. Two hobbs in a pot, it's kind of catchy. Yeah. So does that mean that we steal all your listeners?

They all come to us. I hope so. I hope they all, I hope they, well, I don't like the word steal. How about if they like it, they'll go visit and they'll go, well, first of all, they're going to love you guys. They love Dom when he came on last. Moonlighting. If you guys are going to talk about things that are interesting and talk about your lives

and what I like about today is that your relationship, it's just, it's dynamic. And the way you bounce off each other, you should have a podcast. And it's going to be fun. and I'm watching you guys go at it now and laugh and enjoy each other and I think that's 90% of it. Will you come on to ours then? Will I what?

Will you come on to our pod? How did I sound? How's the how what? Will you have me? Yeah, for sure. Well then I'm absolutely coming on. But just to be thankful to you for a moment, Rosie, because you're kind of my podcast mentor,

you've created a very successful podcast. I'm still working on it. It's still a big foundation. It's still very successful. And you've, You've said to me over the years, well, if you do it, it would happen like this. And this is a way to do it. This is a way to monetize it.

This is a way to gain fans. This is a way to think about how it works. So I do appreciate that because as Billy and I are moving towards doing this podcast after this, it's been based on a lot of the advice where you have said, I would do it like this and think about that and stuff. Well, I'm learning to, by the way, accept compliments. And I'm going to say thank you very much. And I sincerely mean that and I'm being present. Billy, you see that?

That's nice. I like that. I really am. Look, I think a lot of talented people or people who are successful hang around with people that are very smart and know what they're doing and they ask advice. You know, I used to be one I was just like, I'm just going to do things. But when you ask people that really know how to do things, so I have people that are helping me along. And I'm always looking for ways to expand, you know, grow my audience. And, but, you know, I have a meeting after this. There's so many ways to do it. And it takes.

It takes time. It takes dedication and you have to stick with it and its consistency. And it's something for me, I just found purpose in this podcast. I found like when I put these on, I could actually listen to people. I actually, I just know. I feel present. I feel like I want to talk to you. I feel like I can't escape. I can't. I mean, I could, but I don't want to get up and go watch TV or read something or play with my I want to sit here and talk to people that I. Wait, you said, play. Play with you. Dogs. Like actual dogs. Making sure you can just end it with dogs. The main thing that brought me on is I have always thoughts in Smeet and Dom. And that's 20 years now. There's something comic that we can do together,

something funny that we haven't done yet. And whether that's a movie or a TV show or we write a script or whatever it is, I think there's an original comedy voice that I think, we have missed and I think you know I think the podcast might find that and I think that's the thing

that is most interesting to me you know whether it is the podcast or it becomes something I don't know but I do think we have lost something and there's been people along the way good producers as you say smart people who have tried to make it happen

and for whatever reason it hasn't and I think there's something there you know and it would be shame if one of us died before it came out. Yeah, that'll be you. It'd be a shame for the world. You made Ryan laugh. I'm not sure where this thing will go either,

but in my mind, I've always, I'm a big fan of, like, visualization or all that kind of stuff, and I've always seen myself with Billy doing this podcast at a convention with the energy of an audience and realizing. That's what I want to do that too. Yes, I want to get into that too.

I want to go to the cons and start doing these things and have you set them up. Like, hey, there's a guest that I'd like to interview. Because that's what I want to start doing. So instead of doing a one-hour Q&A, you do a one-hour pod because that energy in the audience, everyone, if I, anything that I post on Instagram, people like, if I post Billy, it gets five to six times more followers and likes than I would do just posting me because everyone wants to see myself and Billy or Mary and Pippin together. Yeah, I hear you. So we can be in a room. It's like you and Tom Wellington.

Anytime they see you, they're like, oh, my God, my childhood. We do these things called Smallville Nights. I came up this idea and I pitched it to Tom and he goes I like it I go listen here's why Because Tom's private in a sense he's like Billy That you know it's like I go What if we do these things these intimate little nights These improvisational nights called smallville nights

At these cons on one night They're not allowed to bring cameras There's no video there's no recording It's just a moment with us and the fans And we reenact shit There's so we have so much fun I bring a bald cap I like And he's very and Tom is just so funny

And so open because he's comfortable and he's usually a private person We've done three of them And they're tremendously successful They people really And by the way I didn't want to do something where I'm like I'm not just I don't want to take someone's money

I want them to be entertained Where they're like That was worth every cent I spent I want them to walk out going That we have prizes We give small little stuff away We do things we never do Yeah

And it's a beautiful thing So you know Sometimes I think we look at things like Our past and we're like Oh you know I don't want people to know I was Lex Luther But let's talk about

the present. It was a huge thing. The Lord of the Rings. Why not? You're only going downhill from Lord of the Rings. Oh, for sure. You know what I mean? Unless you go to Star Wars. Yeah. Wait a minute. Hang, that's the end of the podcast. Oh, yeah, I didn't even ask you a Star Wars question, but you're in Star Wars.

I know that. I can't really talk about it. You can't. I know. I mean, apart from being in it. You can't. Let me just ask you this. He's a Jedi. You can even say if you're in more than one scene, huh? I can, I'm in more than one scene. My character's called Blinking. You'll miss me. That's the name of the character. Is it? I play one of those in, uh, Gardens of Galaxy 2.

So he's just like that. That's what I keep telling everyone. Because if you tell people, oh, Blinking, you'll miss me, then they think, dude, that's a song. I want to, Billy, can we write a song again?

Blinking, you'll miss me. I love it. That's like a love song. I'm the little guy. Blink and you miss me. I've got a tear in my eye. Blank and you miss me. And now I'm gone.

Listen to their new podcast when it's on. Woo-hoo. Dude, dude, I love this. This is brilliant. I wish you guys the best on your journey. Thank you, Billy, for allowing me to be inside of you. Yeah, what a treat, man.

What a treat. So I'm going to allow you guys to stay in this room with Ryan, and now you're going to record, it's cool. It's like George Lucas writing Star Wars. Yeah, I think we should switch seats. I should probably sit where you are or you sit where Rosie is. Yeah, someone will sit here. You sit there.

I'm quite comfortable. Guys, thanks for listen. I hope that was as enjoyable for you as it was. Ryan and I, we love those guys. They were a lot of fun to listen. two. They have so many stories and so many more stories to come, as you could only imagine. Just, uh, so make sure you, uh, whatever they do, you follow, you listen, you spread the word for them. And, um, big shout out to my, uh, top peer patrons, uh, newbies, Scott B. Thank you.

Raj C. We got Chris, Jason D. Mark, aka Crutch, Allison L. And Chris. I wonder if Kristen K. I wonder if Kristen K is Kristen Krook. No. Oh, hey, I can't see her last name. She'll probably get mad, but it's Kristen K. The OG's here on Patreon. Thank you. Jason W.D. D. on K. Bortex. Robert B. Bobby, Emily. Kevin R. Jerry W. My grandma's, hold on. Here's my grandma. Blanche? Yes, Henry. Hey, I'm doing my podcast right now. Could I call you a little later? I'll be home all night. all right? Yes. Yeah?

Have you won any money playing Marjan or anything? I want $2 today. $2. What are you going to do with it? I don't know. I'm trying to figure it out. Go ahead and call me back.

Hey, I love you. Did you get anything from me? I did. I got gorgeous flowers. You're going to go broke sending me flowers. Well, I'm going to be broken happy because I love you and I want to give you some flowers. Well, you make me very happy

And I love you so much All right, you're the best I'll talk to you a little later Okay, dolly Bye bye Oh, I love that woman That was an interesting guest A little visit from Blanche

That was really nice I'm gonna call my grandma Yeah, you should man I love her Where was I? Thank you to Barry L, Niko P Lauren G, M-H Jill E

Yukiko I love my Yukiko Sarah V, Trisha Lee S. Nancy D. Nancy D. That just sounds provocative, doesn't it?

It could be Nancy Drew. It could be Nancy Drew or just Nancy D. Or just Nancy D. Honestly, without you guys, I mean, your support on Patreon is huge. And it helps pay for guys like Ryan and Mia and Bryce and all the costs of cameras and things like that. It just, it really helps.

And your subscription is not overlooked. and it is, it's honestly awesome and continue to help me spread the word about the show and let's grow it together. Remember I'm going to be in Richmond and Mexico coming up.

Why don't we play a song from Left on Laurel? Why not? Let's play, this is Little Boy from Left on Laurel. It's to listen to the album for free. All right, guys. Thank you so much.

Thank you for allowing me to be inside of each and every one of you, especially Nancy D. Jesus. All right, guys, I love you. Thank you for listening. and thanks for the support. Well, I was thinking about the times we had.

What a shame it was to throw it all the way, trying to make me come. I'm home, seeing things a little different, but you never opened your eyes to see just how happy you'll make me. I feel like a little boy. Feel like a child making out in the backseat. Hi, I'm Joe Saul-Chii, host of the Stacking Benjamin's podcast. Today, we're going to talk about what if you came across $50,000.

What would you do? Put it into a tax-advantaged retirement account. The mortgage, that's what we do. Make a down payment on a home. Something nice. Buying a vehicle. A separate bucket for this addition that we're adding. $50,000, I'll buy a new podcast.

You'll buy new friends. And we're done. Thanks for playing, everybody. We're out of here. Stacky Benjamin's follow and listen on your favorite platform.