Inside of You with Michael Rosenbaum - ELIJAH WOOD: Big LOTR Risk, Level-Headed Perspective & Reality of Panic Attacks

Episode Date: January 7, 2025

Elijah Wood (Lord of the Rings, Wilfred) joins us this week to share his ‘going out on a limb’ moment that helped him land a life changing role in one of the most beloved and groundbreaking franchises in LOTR. After sharing some fellow hobbit appreciation, Elijah talks about his upbringing as a child actor and how delayed success was paramount to his level headed perspective later in life. We also talk about not being defined by work, shared experiences with panic attacks, and his standard for passion in every project. Thank you to our sponsors: ❤️ This episode is sponsored by by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at https://betterhelp.com/inside and get on your way to being your best self. 🚀 Rocket Money: https://rocketmoney.com/inside 🛍️ Shopify: https://shopify.com/inside 👕 Quince: https://quince.com/inside __________________________________________________ 💖 Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/insideofyou 👕 Inside Of You Merch: https://store.insideofyoupodcast.com/ __________________________________________________ Watch or listen to more episodes! 📺 https://www.insideofyoupodcast.com/show __________________________________________________ Follow us online! 📸 Instagram: https://instagram.com/insideofyoupodcast/ 🤣 TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@insideofyou_podcast 📘 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/insideofyoupodcast/ 🐦 Twitter: https://twitter.com/insideofyoupod 🌐 Website: https://www.insideofyoupodcast.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

When you're with Amex Platinum, you get access to exclusive dining experiences and an annual travel credit. So the best tapas in town might be in a new town altogether. That's the powerful backing of Amex. Terms and conditions apply. Learn more at Amex.ca. this episode is brought to you by Defender with a towing capacity of 3,500 kilograms and a weighting depth of 900 millimeters, the Defender 110 pushes what's possible. Learn more at land rover.ca. You're listening to Inside of View with Michael Rosenbaum. We're back. We're back, Ryan. We're back. We're back.

We're damn back. We're back. It's 2025. Yikes, that doesn't feel like a real year, does it? I think 2025 is going to be the best year ever because, you know, 21, 22, 23, 24. You don't really feel it in 25. Now we're in it. 2,025.

It seems like it's going to be a good year, just the sound of it. I'm thinking so. I think everyone's going to have a great year. This is going to be your year, our year. Thanks for supporting the podcast and coming back. If you're listening, that means you've come back and you're supporting us still and um you know we got through the holidays and uh you know it was it was a lot it was uh you know i went through surgery and uh still dealing with recovering and went through

withdrawal that's real guys wean yourself off stuff and then my grandma passed and then you know uh so it's been a lot but new beginnings my friend new beginnings new beginnings you know do you remember the uh the chopin broccoli sketch no from s&l with dana card No, where he's a, he's a, like some sort of pop star who comes into this, to the exec's office. And they're like, well, okay, we want to hear some snippets from the new album and he has no ideas. So he's making it up on the spot. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. And so one of the songs is new beginnings, new beginnings, sweet. And he's like, he just like synthesizes blaring. Yeah, he's like, everybody's going to tune in and check that. I hope so. I'm sure they will.

Big year coming. We're doing the smallville cruise in June. So go to cruisville.com. What else? We're doing the big con in Chicago. This January 11th coming up, Tom and I will be in New Orleans. We'll be in Atlanta this year. We'll be in Orlando Megacon in February. Rosie's Puppie Fresh Breath is out there if you want to get something for your dog's breath. The talented farter is out.

I went to a Barnes & Noble this holiday at the Grove. Yeah. And I went in there and I was like, you don't happen to have this book. They go, well, we have one left. And we found it. And I was like, oh, my gosh. It's just cool when you're going to a book. bookstore like Barnes and Noble and your books there. It made me smile. Did you sign it? No,

I did not sign it. That's something I've seen a lot. Yeah, like, yeah, celebrities who have their book in store, they'll just sort of go in and they'll sign their book. Oh, like a signing. Yeah. Oh, no, no, just like go secretly sign what copy of the book. Oh, really? Yeah. Can they do that? I mean, I've seen it done. Oh, I should have done it because there's only one copy left. um but i didn't sign it i didn't think i could do that it didn't occur to me but you know it's funny i saw my friend ken marina who was a guest oh nice on the podcast and i saw john grise grise from napoleon dynamite um and white lotus and he was so very kind ooh he was so very kind we talked for a minute and uh yeah so all that stuff and more it's it's going to be a big year

um i'm on the instagram if you want to go on my link tree you'll see all all the cons coming up and what else. Cameo, mine came. Did a lot of cameos this Christmas. Did you have a good Christmas? Yeah, lovely Christmas with my family. Didn't you play music with your dad? I did, yeah.

How was that? It's great. Did you mess up? No. But I was stood because it was the church choir, so I was stood too close to the Advent candles and I thought I was going to burn the guitar. Are you serious?

They didn't have enough room. Yeah, no, it was nice, though. Were you nervous? No, it's a small thing. It's like, yeah, it's a little. Like 20 people. Just like a little town. Yeah.

Everyone, my parents could like, they're basically like the mayors of the town. They know everybody. I love that. And they've only been living there like a few years. It's crazy. It's awesome. That's cool. And hey, guys, thank you all to the patrons who support this podcast.

And if you want to join, if you like Elijah Wood and you like the podcast, please listen. Please subscribe. If you think I'd do a good job at interviewing. I'd appreciate it if you followed us and wrote a review and kept listening. And if you want to go. the extra step and support this podcast and keep it going, go to Patreon, P-A-T-R-E-O-N.com slash inside of you, and join Patreon and become a patron and support the podcast. We need you.

So every little bit counts. Elijah Wood, I've been trying to get this guy on this podcast for three years. Dominic Monaghan, Sean Astin, Billy Boyd, all the Lord of the Rings characters. Mary and Pippin. They were all the hobbits. And they all were trying to get him. And I walked on a plane about a couple months ago and all of a sudden I hear, I'm doing your podcast.

Give me a break. And I got looked around. I go, what? And it was Elijah giving me shit. So he finally came over the house and he was, wasn't he delightful? Yeah. He was such a sweet guy and such a, he's a movie star and so talented and so sweet and humble and I loved having him on.

And it's guests like this that I get excited about. And so hopefully we'll have more like that. But Elijah talks about everything, and we're just going to get into it. Let's get inside of Elijah Wood. It's my point of you. 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. I don't get nervous.

I actually like going under. I do, too. I do. It's fun because it's like, I don't really drink. I don't do a lot of, I just pot, you know. Yeah. So I'm like, well, it's sort of a psychedelic experience. Yeah, can I feel it for a little while? Can I just feel it? And the last time my doctor was like, yeah. And afterwards, I go, you didn't let me feel it?

He goes, check your phone. And I checked my phone, and there was like five minutes of me going, hey, how's everybody doing? I don't remember. You just didn't have any recollection of. I have no recollecta. Have you had surgeries? I've had a couple. Yeah, an appendectomy.

Was it an emergency one? Yep. How painful? Before. Extremely painful. What happens? The most painful. thing I've ever experienced.

My appendix burst. And I had been feeling, I'd been feeling some stomach issues. God, for about maybe even the month prior to it exploding. And you didn't do anything about it. You just took tums and shit. I didn't do anything about it because I didn't know what it was. And it wasn't severe. Like the warning signs, which typically for people, if you've got appendicitis,

the warning signs are pretty, it's severe. It's like bad pain, enough that you get some attention. Yeah, yeah. And I had had a funny sort of stomach thing that was somewhat pervasive and then it kind of went away. And it was unclear what it was and it seemingly disappeared. And then like a week later it came back and it was just kind of getting worse. But nothing about it felt localized or specific enough. So you just thought it was cute, right?

It was just going to go away. I thought I was going to go away. And I thought I had like digestive issues. I didn't know what it was because I wasn't sick otherwise, right? So it was just sort of in my abdomen. And then I was having, I was having difficult for about a day and a half to two days. I was having difficulty sort of standing upright. So it was bad enough that like the stretching.

It was right? Right. So I remember I had to go to the restroom and I went into that room. I was still living at home and I just, yeah, it burst and I dropped to my knees in like the most You thought you were going to die right here. To that point, the most unimaginable pain I'd ever felt. Like it was just white heat pain. Couldn't speak.

I remember my mom called a dot called 911 or not 911, not 911, called a doctor. And I spoke, I tried to articulate to the doctor what was happening to me and I couldn't, I couldn't breathe. Right. It was that back. I was the worst. And they went to the emergency room and, yeah, it was an emergency surgery. They knew exactly.

You're probably scared. You didn't know what the hell was going on with you. No idea. Yeah, I mean, at that point, there's only so many things that can be. But you said to that point, it was the most pain you've had. So you're telling me you've had worse pain since then?

No, I've not. No, that's it. I was like, holy crap. Wait, wait a minute. You exceeded that? Listen, man. I've been through hell. No, that's it.

That's it. That's it. You know, I was, I think Dom and Sean and Billy for, you know, know, saying, do his podcast, do his pocket. And you're like, I'm going to do it. I'm going to do it. It was Dom's. It was Dom. I think Dom and Dom was, I'm like, do you want to ask him anything? And of course, Dom. Sean just had one thing to say. Oh, yeah, you said you spoke to Sean. Sean is the best. But Dom said something like, uh, do you remember parting with him

and Billy New Zealand? It was the first time you really were drinking. Yeah. I mean, yeah, effectively. I mean, look, I went to New Zealand. It was August of 1999 is when a bunch of us were flying out and pre-production began in earnest. I was 18. Jeez. It was to be my first, and it was the first time that I was ever away from home for more than a few months by myself. Because I'd only, I think by 17, I think I went out on my own to work on a film. for the first time. Because prior to that, I was with my mom. Right. So from eight until about 17, she was with me the whole time. But this was different. I was going to be in New Zealand for 16 months. There were two kind of production breaks where we broke for Christmas. I think there was another like mid production break as well. That's a lot, man. It's a lot. It's a long time. Yeah. So yeah, I had never, I was about to embark on living as an adult for the first time in my life. And The drinking age in New Zealand, I think, was 12.

I think it was 18 at the time. It was either 18 or 19. But anyway, yeah, like, I had certainly had alcohol before, but this was the first time that I was, like, out drinking with friends. And Dom and Billy don't drink lightly. When they go, they go. At the time, no. So they weren't great influences, were they?

They were great. They were great. I know. No, they were great. But it was, you know, I was having my first adult experiences in that regard and kind of just living freely, which was, it was great. And I couldn't have asked for a better group of people to be doing that with, you know? Yeah. Who got the most girls in New Zealand, Dom wants to know.

Is that when Tom asked? Apparently it was him. Well, yeah. If he's going to ask that, you don't say, who's got the best arm out of all our friends when it's not you? Of course it's dumb. Yeah. Yeah. He says that you, the four hob, but still do the New York Times mini every day.

We do it every day. I do it too, but I'm not as good as you guys. It takes me a while. Sometimes it's quick, like a minute or a minute and a half. Yeah. But sometimes I'm like, I'm an idiot. I can't get this. If it's current event stuff, like music, current music, done.

Can't do it. I'm stuck. If it's something current music, it's hard for me as well. Do you get it pretty fast? Who's the smartest? I don't listen. It's not smartest. Michael, it's not smartest.

It's, um, there is a length. The thing about the crossword is there, there is, and a, and a, and a seasoned crossword person would tell you this. There, there is certainly like current events and sort of general knowledge, right, that feeds into it, uh, uh, word knowledge, um, for instance, like the, the name of a certain kind of sword, uh, for fencing, right? That comes up a lot, E P-E, a ton of tons of times. What's the pronunciation of that?

It's epi. Epi. Like a pen. I think it's a French word. Right. The point is, once you start doing the crossword more and more, it's got its own language. And you just start to see similar clues, similar words that end up being used as filler to be able to get certain words across. I know what you're saying.

So you just start to see these things that help to open up the board a little bit. Do you do the main crossword too? I do, but not with the degree of consistency that I do. Do you usually finish it? I can finish up to about Wednesday. I'm not great. Like, you know, there are certain people, I think Ryan Johnson does Monday through Sunday and can, and finishes them all. I can't do that. It's really hard. But I think it's one of those things that the more you plug away at it, it's not so much about your general kind of knowledge, right, knowledge. It's just that you

start to see similar clues, similar answers that end up kind of feeding into the puzzles. Dom says, what can Sean, Billy, and Don do better than you? What comes to mind? What can they do better than you? Drink, I assume. What can they do better than me? I mean, plenty of things. I think Sean is, he's a really great public speaker.

Like, that guy has no fear in that regard. Like, he'll stand in front of a group of people and orate. you know, and that's a comfortable place for him to be. And he thrives in that space. Not the attention, but he thrives on the, I think the tradition of it. He obviously loves politics. He loves sort of standing for something. He does. You know, there's certainly a link there with his character with Samwise. I think, you know, all of the work that he did with SAG, you know, he is not afraid to put himself in front of a lot of people with a cause or a belief and and and and and speak he's great i can't i i find that terrifying yeah public speaking it's funny like in the context of for instance

which you're familiar with like a q and a that's easy for me easy you're to answer questions it's a safe room i'm happy to get up in front of people and and and not necessarily lead the floor but like have a conversation uh that's easy but but standing in front of people with a speech or with something to say. It's a skill. It is a skill, and I'm not particularly great at it. Yeah, it's not my favorite. Billy, what about?

I mean, I mean, Billy. I mean, Billy's certainly funnier than I am. Billy, I think, has the distinction of the four of us for being, even more than maybe me, the most positive individual. He seems that way. I was going to say that. He's unflinchingly, to the point where it's almost... Annoying.

Not annoying. It's just, it's like, it's active positivity. I think he doesn't, he doesn't want to, he wants to stamp out any kind of negative energy. So I love that about him. Yeah. Dom, I mean, listen, Dom, Dom has a relationship to animals and to the wild and to, to, to, to, to that world that I don't have, that I love and I admire and the knowledge of it, it's extraordinary. It is a hyper, hyper skill of his, that he's very, very good at.

You just said three things, said things about each individual that they have certain skills at, that you just immediately. And those are good skills to have. They are, yeah. Being the positive person, someone, you know, who's really good with animals and has a knowledge of that, someone who's a public speaker, what would you say you're good? is oh man you're like you're one of the nicest guys i've ever met and thank you but i uh yeah well it's obvious and somewhere it was written that uh some autographed magazine said that you

were the top 10 autograph givers right i guess in terms of kindness or whatever and and i saw it firsthand like at an airport when these guys crowd you and then they go away but they come back and pretend there's someone else and and you're you're even like when you because you know what they're doing. I do. I've become less patient with it. And I, I, I, I, um, well, it's, it is a little annoying. And I feel bad about it. Because I, I never want. Well, you shouldn't feel bad because I know, you do. You, you give the autograph and you go, here you go. And then they come back and go, I just gave you one. I know. And you're asking for me to sign another blank piece of paper. I just did that. So, okay. All right. Well, that, their method, their methodology in that

scenario is to overwhelm. So that you don't see that they're just rotate. Right. It's a lot. You're like, whoa. It's, it's intense. It's gotten intense. You know, um, um, I'm sure you've noticed that now a lot of them will buy tickets so that they can actually be in the main terminal of airports. It's unbelievable. It's like you are about to board a plane

and they're there with you. It's like, how is that legal? How are they able to buy a ticket? A ticket they don't use. They don't, you know. And then they just refund it? I don't know. I don't know how they do it.

And they also obviously get tipped off. But yes, yes, I have that, I do have that reputation. I would say that I have probably fallen in their estimation in the subsequent years a little bit. My patience has worn a little bit thin. Well, especially, I would assume, when you're with your family, when your wife and trial.

That actually is super helpful. Because she's probably steps in now? No, I make it a policy. Like, I'm with my family. Sorry. Which is a really easy way to sort of say, look, I'm going to diffuse this right away with, we don't even have to haggle. I'm with my family.

And that's just my policy, which feels great. Just one. Just one right here. Sorry, I'm with my family. Okay. You know. No, that's admirable. That's admirable.

But, you know, but but, but aside from that, which is a very specific, look, those people, they make a living, uh, getting autographs from folks and then selling them. That's great. That's the whole thing. Great for them. But I would never deny someone who is a, like is a genuine fan or who doesn't have an alter, like a ulterior motive. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Inside of you is brought to you by Rocket Money. I'm going to speak to you about. something that's going to help you save money. Period. It's Rocket Money. It's a personal finance app that helps find and cancel your unwanted subscriptions, monitors your spending, and helps lower your bills so you can grow your savings. This is just a wonderful app. There's a lot of apps out there that really you have to do this and pay for and that. But with Rocket money, it's, they're saving you money. You're getting this app to save money. I don't know how many times that I've had these unwanted subscriptions that I thought I canceled

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Aw. He just says, yeah, you have to ask him about that. So I said, fine, I'll ask. Fine, I'll ask him. Fine. I don't know of it. So I want to see this. Oh, I'm excited for you. Over the Garden Wall is a mini-series that aired on Cartoon Network 10 years ago.

10 years ago, November 3rd, actually. So we've just hit our 10th anniversary. It's created by Patrick McHale, who hails from Adventure Time. It is, it started out as a short film that then sprung from that a, I think, a 10-episode story about two brothers who were lost in the unknown. trying to find their way home and about the various encounters that they have along the way. It's extremely autumnal in terms of its visual style. It's falling leaves, a lot of oranges and greens and browns. It employs classic storytelling of the lost characters looking to find their way back and the sort of winding journey that they go on. It's about two brothers. It's incredibly delightful.

It's filled with incredible music by the blasting company who did the score. It sort of plays upon our sense of collective nostalgia, both for that time of year, but also for imagery from the past that it's certainly influenced by. You're really passionate about this, you love this. Something dear to your heart. I love it. Melanie Linsky's in it. Christopher Lloyd does a voice

It's so, so great So they, yeah, it's the 10th anniversary So it's been getting a little bit of attention And actually Ardman Entertainment The folks behind Wallace and Gromit Chicken Run They just did a sort of stop motion short As a means of celebrating the 10th anniversary

So we sort of reprised the characters And brought them back to life again for it Ethan will be happy Oh good. I mean, look, I mean, you know this but you've done so many things. You've been doing this a long time. And you're not even old.

No. I mean, you're still a young guy. But I mean, the Lord of the Rings trilogy. I mean, Eternal Sunshine, Happy Feet, Good Sun, Flipper, the faculty, Oxford murders. Wilfred, come to daddy, which is one of my favorites. I told you that once. Come to Daddy is one of those. It needs to be seen by more people.

That was a dark movie, great acting, incredible twists. Yeah. It was, I did not expect it. And all of a sudden, you're like, what? What's going on? Yeah, yeah. And I remember texting my horror movie guys, you've got to watch this. You've got horror movie friends.

Yeah, we have it every Tuesday night. We do horror movie night. Shut up. Yeah. Every week? Every week. We've done it for many, many years. Is it one location or do you guys all watch it in your individual homes and chime in?

No, they all come to my house in the screening room. And this is great. Yeah. So it started John Heater, you know, Napoleon Dynamite. John. Yeah, I got to come to one of these. You got to, oh, you got to come. And we watch, sometimes we watch old horror films. Sometimes we try to find new good ones. We watch a lot of shitty ones. That's so we, yes, but there's, but there's, there's some good ones.

You've done all these things and you started at such a young age. And you think, you know, a lot of, you know, actors starting at such a young age, he'd be jaded or you'd be, uh, disillusioned, or you'd be, you know, you had a weird childhood and mommy and daddy made you do this. And there's all sorts of ideas out there that. sure what could have been yeah but that's not the case right i mean you had a a relatively good upbringing yes comfortable your mom was very supportive yeah dad was very supportive yeah i mean yeah i yes yeah i have more of a relationship with my mom than i do with my dad but right because they they divorced when you were like 15 yeah exactly so and a lot of people think does that uh you know the older when you get older do you kind of think oh that had an effect on me do you think that that had an effect on you at all? I mean, in so far as, I mean, I probably has without me even really being able to ascertain what lasting effect it had. You know, at the time, I was hyper aware of

other friends that had deeper relationships with their fathers, right? Right. And recognize that that's an important male relationship and a developing person that I didn't really have. But I was also, but I was, okay. So you know. But as a result, I was also, as cognizant as I was of missing that, I was also aware of my close relationship with my brother that felt like it kind of was a supplanting of that male relationship in a way. My brother, seven years older than me. So I, I really looked up to him and he kind of took up that mantle with grace, you know, rather than being like, ugh, annoyed. You know what I mean? He was cool, really cool. And, you know, would rent, horror movies with his friends and sneak me in to watch them when I was six and seven years old.

You're a big horror movie fan too, by the last. Okay, good. We could get into that for sure. You know, and then like as we got older, I never got pushed away from him. So like anything that he was into, he would share a lot of music was a big thing for us. So he would share music with me. And then, you know, by the time I was 16, 17, we were able to then like go to shows and do stuff together. So I very much had that. So back to, yeah. And then my mom. I mean, my mom was, you know, she was sort of everything. And, you know, that sort of sense of having a relatively unrocky life as a child into my adult life was 100% credited to her, you know. I mean, I just wasn't, she provided a lot of fundamentals

that I still hold dear that kind of created a foundation for me to succeed. as a human being as well as the, you know, the work that I was doing. And a big part of that was to never be allowed to define myself by the work or define myself by the success of it. Wow. But rather by the person that I am or, you know, or that I'm becoming. I never learned that if you are successful, that shows who you are. Yeah. I mean, it was. It was just sort of like, you know, but it was never enough. You know, if I did well at something, it was never enough. it was never good enough. It was never, so all these things.

So I was kind of backwards. I didn't learn until later in life. I'm talking like last month. No, but like not that long ago that, you know, unconditional love and support and all those things that you get in your developmental stages, how important those are and how I didn't get those and what that caused. And so that's sort of different, but you have to at some point accept and learn from that and try to become the best person you can

and know that if this is successful, it doesn't mean I'm great. If this is unsuccessful, it doesn't mean I'm a piece of shit. That's right. You as the person. But that's the tricky thing about this industry is that, and this industry and success. Right.

So a couple things for my life is that I was lucky enough to not have a lot of success very quickly. So I wasn't successful overnight. Right. which I think is a, it's a dangerous kind of combination. Sure is. Because, you know, for those who have overnight success and are suddenly a household name,

oftentimes they don't have the tools to know how to process it or deal with it. Right. And I never had that. I was sort of slowly but surely growing in terms of people's familiarity with me in the public sphere. So that provided me with a slow understanding of what that means. means. So by the time that Lord of the Rings came along, which was still by and large the largest thing I've ever been a part of. Or anyone's been a part of. Sure. Right. Yeah. Arguably. Right. I had some experience to draw upon. And it wasn't like a shock to my system. It was new. It was bigger and

broader. But I had some tools to know how to process it and kind of, you know, keep perspective. That's it. It was about perspective. So, yeah. And then, you know, my upbringing was, like I said, my mom was more concerned with raising me as a good human being than to being a successful actor, you know. That's awesome. I mean, that's awesome. So she, a lot of it was like instilling me with humility. Like, never, she never wanted me to stand in line or like jump ahead in line at the lunch line, which oftentimes, you know, the ADs want to rush the actors through so that they're their first ones back. She never let me do that. So she'd be like, no, get in line with everybody else. She always had me hang my wardrobe, something I'd do to this day. A lot of it was so important. So what he's referring to is, you know, just to clarify, is when you're on set and at the end of the day, you could just take your wardrobe off and kind of throw it on the couch and throw it on the floor and they just assume they're going to just pick it up and clean it for you and everything.

But he's saying, Elijah, that he puts it on a hanger and he puts everything, you know, in a nice place. place so it's easier for the person who's cleaning up so he doesn't take sort of it's just it's it's how you're raised it's like you know um and there are those days you're exhausted you just want to take your shit up like just take an extra minute yeah as at a respect yep that's so great i'm sure a lot of actors don't do that i'm sure many actors don't do that i'm sure that's probably true too i can't say i've done it my whole life like it's never happened where i'm just like oh fuck i just and i just forget and i go yeah and you feel bad now after remembering. But, you know, that's a good quality to have. She did teach you well. It's good. And it's it, but it's a, I think it's a combination of all those things.

Yeah. That created a, a sort of worldview of like how to be, you know. Yeah. Both as a professional as a human, and as a human being. And then that stuff just sticks. It's like, you know, for a while, it's, it's what is being asked of me from my mom. And then eventually it just becomes who I am, you know. Right. What about like, how? school and all that because if you're a working actor as i mean did you go to high school i didn't go to a public high school right do you think that any any maybe it obviously helped you well look i i didn't have i didn't have a uh a typical high school experience i didn't i didn't go to i didn't have a prom i a lot of my i mean my high school was entirely correspondence because at the time

I was traveling a lot, working on films. So a lot of high schools wouldn't have been stoked to have me, certainly not public ones, because I was going to be gone a lot. And so the idea was like, let's just do, there's this correspondence. I can do a lot of it online. It was a school based out of Ohio.

And then so all of it was like email and writing on my computer and then sending everything to my teacher. So you didn't have a lot of interaction with people. No. No. Your interaction was on set. My interaction was on set, yeah. And then I had, you know, by the time I was like 16, I had local friends in my neighbor.

I grew up primarily in the valley, lived in Valley Village for a while. And so had friends there that were not associated with the industry and were sort of, you know, local friends. But yeah, I didn't have like a traditional high school experience. But I also was traveling a lot and... On set, like there'd be teachers and things like that. do a lot of that. I wonder if that's actually beneficial. I had a more focused education. See, that's what I was going to say. I think it's more focused because when you're in school,

there's 30 people in a class. And you could not be paying attention, not be taking notes, but it's undivided attention. Let's talk about this. Let's, and you sort of, and the way you carry yourself is, you know, you're sophisticated. You, you know, are, you're articulate. And you know a lot, obviously from the New York Times crossword puzzles. But, you know, it's like, I, I think that could be very beneficial for someone growing up. I mean, they should get, you miss out on connection more with students and things. It felt like to me at the time even as well. I mean, I was certainly aware of the fact that I wasn't engaging in the kind of activities that one does in a school with kids your own age. But I was also aware, too, that I was getting this really focused

education that I was appreciative of. Right. So, and it was also primarily pretty normal to me at that time. I had been working as an actor since I was eight. So the idea of on-set education with a tutor was common. It wasn't new. And so there wasn't any kind of adapting that needed to be required in regards to the high school part of it. Did you ever experience like any sort of like anxiety through all this being on sets all the time and learning lines and the pressure? And do you ever deal with anxiety? Sure.

Yeah. Oh, yeah. it's funny I it's really interesting to think about it now because I kind of can't imagine how I managed to juggle those two things because you're supposed to do three hours a day of school on set as sort of the requirement right uh per the union rules right um and I don't think I mean and and so I was doing I was doing that and also remembering my lines and having enough time to to to divvy those two things up. I kind of can't imagine it now. I did it then. Right. It's sort of wild to think about. You know, they sort of think when you're younger, it's a little easier for you to remember things, to remember

lines, to, you know, elastic brain. Maybe it's just like you're designed for that, I guess. Yeah. We're easily, we're malleable, we're more malleable maybe. And I can't, like, it gets harder. The older you get, the older you get, you know, the hours on set. It's not as, it's not as, it's not as, I mean, it depends. I don't want to say fun, but it's not like when you first start and you're young and eager and you're on a set and there's free food and they'll get you what you want and you're acting with, you know, and you're on a hit show or a movie or whatever. Sure, sure. The older you get, do you feel like it becomes more of a job now to you or do you think you need an element of fun or something has to move you to do a role?

It definitely doesn't feel like a job. anymore. Like, it's not more than a job than it was, and I don't think it ever really felt like a job. Um, no, but I mean, I think, uh, my, my standards for, for what I am there for have remained the same, you know, it just takes wanting to, I don't know, being, getting really passionate about something. And, and, and that can be the role itself, specifically, or it can just simply be the filmmaker or that the whole package is really exciting and wanting to be a facilitator of that thing. A good example of that is something like Eternal Sunshine. Like, I remember, I'll never forget when my agent at the time called me and said that she had a Michelle

Gondry film written by Charlie Kaufman. And I like, I almost pulled over because that was too exciting. Like, I, I love Charlie's screenwriting. I was a big fan of Michelle Gondry's work as a, as a director of both the first feature that he did, but obviously his music videos as well. So I was like, what, it doesn't even matter what it is. I'll do the, I'll fucking cater the thing. I don't know. Yeah. So a lot of it for me is just wanting to be a part of something interesting. And it's the being a part of something interesting at any, whatever that point of interest is. And it can, like I said, can be a combination of elements. That's creatively exciting to me, and I want to be there.

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out. Hey, guys, it's me, Michael Rosenbaum, and I'm wishing you all well and saying thanks for listening to the podcast. I really appreciate it. And for those of you who really love the podcast and listen to it every week, I'm asking you to join patron if you'd like and support the podcast. There's a lot of patrons that really keep this podcast going. And it's thanks to them and for keeping this thing going.

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slash inside of you we could use your support and you're the reason while we're still here so uh thanks and take care do you learn lines pretty easily i do yeah i do but i i i'm pretty anal about my preparation process um so yeah i just try and give myself a lot of time just so that i don't you know so on the day i'm relaxed and don't have are you good if they just hand you like a page of dialogue and it's like a little monologue and you're like, on the day, on the day, I would get nervous. On the day, that would be terrifying. Terrifying.

It's happened before and I'm like, oh my God. The good news about on the day is that everyone's aware of the fact that that's happening in the last minute. Do you know what I mean? I would just, for now on, if somebody goes, you're getting me a cue card. I'm just going to read it. You won't, you won't notice. Put the cue card behind the person and I'm not going to stress myself out learning a page of

dialogue right now. Yeah. That's what I would say. Fair. I would. Hey, listen, that's fair, given those circumstances. Given those circumstances. That's fair.

Yeah, I, um, it's funny. I always get pretty nervous on days where there's a ton of dialogue. And then I, I, I will have given myself the right amount of time and I often find, ah, I've got it. I've got it more than I realize I have it. Right. Do you mean? Yeah.

No. And I'll try new methods too. Like, I've, um, I've, I've recorded dialogue on voice, voice notes and then listen to it back. Yep. And, like, gone for long walks and just repeat, repeat, repeat, which I found really great. Yeah. You know what else helps? I just gets in there.

I record the other person's line. Sure. And I'll say, like, look, we need to take care of this right now. And then a beat and then their line. And then I beat and then I give my line. And until I can hit those beats and know it that fast, I'm not done. That's great. Yeah.

Yeah. That's awesome. I mean, everybody has their own way of doing it. But to your point, I still get nervous. I have dealt with anxiety in my life. I'd never had crippling anxiety to where I need medication. It's never gotten in the way of anything, really. Well, it helps you when you have that.

What do you do? Do you exercise? Exercise certainly helps. What do I do? I mean, if it's something that I'm anxious about, I try and prepare for what it is that I'm anxious about um i don't know there's in some cases there's not a whole lot you can do beyond just face it and not run away from it yeah that's key my uh one of my therapists said it's okay if

anxiety's there i go no it's not no it is but they're in the back seat yeah and you're fucking driving yeah so they could be there and then you can know i know it i feel it i know you're there but i got this yeah you can be there and so it kind of puts things in a perspective like It's okay to have that. It's going to go away. I think it's actually really helpful. When we're talking about this kind of anxiety too, not crippling anxiety. Which I've had, yes.

It's brutal. It's brutal. It's where on my 50th birthday, I went to, and I'm much better now, but I had a birthday party, and we were all going to this restaurant, and I could barely get there. And when I got there, I said to my friends, I'm having the worst anxiety attack right now. I've got to go. I've got to just. They're like, hey, we're here.

It's all good. And there were like 30 people there. And it was, they were so awesome. Wow. But I was miserable because it just wouldn't go away. It was just so. And I was on different meds.

I was trying something else and it did not work. It kind of like, you know, made it worse. But I know what that's like. And it's just like you feel this helpless feeling. But, you know, I kept saying, I know this is going to pass. I know this is.

is why I'm experiencing it. I'm aware of this. And, you know, you just have to, sometimes talking about it helps. Yeah. Sometimes, you know, especially talking to a therapist. Talking. Yeah. Yeah. I haven't been to a therapist in a while, but absolutely that helps. Panic attacks are wild. I've had a couple in my life. The first panic attack I ever had was completely unrelated to anything. I was just driving from my house to a meeting. I wasn't about the meeting. No rhyme or reason. I wasn't thinking about it. I'd had coffee, no more than normal. Do you know what I mean? Like I ran through like a list of what could this be? But I was on the phone with a friend and I had to pull over because I started this, this like warm feeling came

into my chest. My heart rate started to rise and I was like, what is this? And it felt like anything could happen. Like I could crash the car. Hard attack. Like something, it felt like this buzz of something could something is happening that's out of my control so i was like ooh better pull over yeah um pulled over rolled down the window kept this conversation going without letting the person know what i was going through breathed got fresh air into the car and it went away and but from that moment the tricky thing about those things entering your mind is it now the possibility of that is real like that can happen now yeah do you know how to yeah and you're yeah And your brain can go, is it happening?

You know, you can start to trick yourself. Well, that was the worst thing that ever happened. And it's all, it's all mental. It's not real. Well, it happened to me on set. Oh, God. And I was the lead, and I had this big scene for the finale of the episode. And it is the biggest pan attack.

And we're about to film. And I go, oh, my God, I'm freaking out. I can't do this. I can't do this. I don't know. I can't control it. And I just said, hey, I really got to go to the bathroom right now. And I like, can you wait until after this take.

I go, no, no, I really got to go. I'm sorry. And I ran into my trailer. And I just was like a drug addict looking for a Xanax. And I finally found it, but it doesn't work that way. No. It's not instant. Yeah, yeah.

I don't know how I got through that day. But I also came out of nothing, right? I think it's a combination of exhaustion. Yeah. Not enough sleep. Yeah. Not eating right. Those are all really important.

Worrying and everything just kind of spirals and it becomes the perfect storm. And you're just like left with. hell yeah and i remember the first time i got one i thought i was something's wrong with me and the doctor came in and said uh yeah you're i think have you ever had an anxiety attack before and i go what and he says i think you're having an anxiety attack and that scared me more yeah because now i'm like going when is this going to happen again yeah like you said it's feeling's horrible it's not a pleasant feeling no it's awful no but it's you know people who listen they it really helps them knowing that people like yourself or, you know, we've had anxiety.

We're human beings. We freak out. Totally. You know? Dude, I'll tell you this. The big, the first day of any film, any new film or TV show, whatever it is, first day of work, I'm always anxious. I think everybody is. Everybody is on here.

Often. Yeah. They always come on and they're like, the first day. It's always the first day. I, I've, oh, I, no, even, even, it's so funny. I just finished work on season three of Yellow Jackets. So it came back again, which was great. And I had first aid jitters again.

I've already been there. I know all the people. Like, I know the character. There's nothing to, you know, but fully get a feeling of I could be fired, you know, a little bit. I don't know if it's so much imposter syndrome, but it's this feeling of like, it's a little like maybe this is when I fail. Like this isn't, this is when I'm not. Oh, this is going to happen. I'm going to embarrass myself in front of these other actors and this.

It happens all the time. I'm not going to be good this time. Yep. I'm not going to be what they always expect. Sure. And I, and I, after a day or I've done it, you know, I've like, express the character for the first time. It gets out of my system and I'm in the new environment and I'm already kind of getting

comfortable with everybody. It's generally gone in 24 hours. And then I'm back and it's fine. But yeah, it without fucking fail. It happens every time. And then maybe that's a good thing. I do think it's a good thing because there's no complacency, zero complacency. I'm never, I'm never phoning it in.

Like, I, I, I'm, I care too much to not, to not fuck it up, you know. And if you're not feeling these things a little anxious, a little bit nervous, a little, you might be a sociopath. There's a possibility at that. You, uh, dressed up for the audition for Lord of the Rings. You actually, they made you dress up. They didn't know. It was my idea.

um who helped you with that so i i um i knew that they were holding auditions i'd heard you know when peter jackson was first announced i was i was working in austin on um the faculty i remember it was summer of 97 and so it was just announced and it was they didn't start casting for like another two years or another year and a half um but i remember thinking it was so great that peter was going to adapt it, because I was a big fan of heavenly creatures and his other genre work. Anyway, my agent called and said they're holding auditions for Lord of the Rings. Peter's not going to be coming through, so it's not like a meeting. It's going to be a proper audition with the cast and director, Victoria Burroughs,

who was the local cast and director in Los Angeles. And I just remember feeling like this feels so significant. I need to do. do something different. And I just intuitively felt, for me, the idea of going to a casting office where you're invariably going to be against a white sort of static office background on VHS with either the casting director or the casting director's assistant reading offlines. All fine, by the way, but that's just what it would have been. I just felt like, I don't know that that's going to be the perfect environment for me to, A, be comfortable. But B, to just sort of stand out a little bit, to sort of showcase my enthusiasm and passion

for it and maybe go a little extra to sort of get a little bit more attention for it. So those were my reasons. And I said to my age, and I said, I think I'm going to do my own tape. And she was like, okay, I'd never done this before. She was, okay, well, you know, definitely do that relatively quickly. Like, be expedient about it. like don't just languish in the process and then. Yeah, a lot of people didn't do this. Now it's part of the norm. It's, but then, that wasn't, it wasn't as common. Although I think a lot

did for Lord of the Rings, interestingly enough. Right. So I, um, I went to a dialect coach. I was working on the dialect. And then I picked up, uh, went to the bookstore. There was a book of artistic renderings of characters from Lord of the Rings and sort of hobbits in general. And there there was this sort of chapter on hobbits. And, you know, I'd read the Hobbit. I hadn't read Lord of the Rings, but I was familiar with the idea of them, even represented in animation or in drawings, the sort of like knee-high almost pants or like, you know, quarter-length, whatever, you know, waistcoat, suspenders, that sort of thing. So went to Western costume in the valley and rented those things.

You know, that kind of, those sort of pants, quite similar, actually, to what ended up being in the film. I'd love to see the tape because it's been, I mean, it's been over 20 years since I've seen it. Then...

What was your backdrop? We shot... So my friend George Wang, who directed Swimming with Sharks. I love that movie. Great film. This is, no, this is Sweet and Low. Did I ask for Sweeten?

No, I wanted this. No, damn it. There's a million people who would want your job. Remember that? Oh, God, yeah. Go ahead. You know that's based on his real experience working for, I believe, Barry Josephson.

And what being the assistant to a high-profile producer was like, specifically this person. Oh, my God. I know, Barry, really? I believe so. Wow. I think that's out there. I don't think that I'm revealing me. It's old, old, old dudes.

Anyway, love that movie so much. And he also helped on the faculty, which is when I met George. And then our friend Mike, who we also met on the faculty, was offlines or was acted opposite being played both Gandalf and Samwise. So the three scenes, audition scenes. One was Gandalf. And it was slightly altered from what it was in the film. So one was like a generic Gandalf visiting Frodo at Bag End. And then two, along at varying stages of the journey, just to showcase a little bit of the arc of Frodo's experience. So, you shot on film?

No, we shot it on DV cam, but we shot the first one at my then house, and then two other scenes in Griffith Park. And we shot them from a variety of angles so they could be cut together like scenes proper rather than it just being kind of one-static show. And so George then went to... This is what it takes to be an actor.

Well, I credit George with this too, because he he took the footage to the Miramax offices that night and used an extra editing bay and cut the footage together for me. So I didn't do that part of the process. So major, major credit to George Wang for that. And then I had, you know, output to VHS. I had two VHS copies, one for myself and one to give to Victoria Burroughs. I then drove that to Victoria Burroughs and gave it to her. It then got FedEx to England because I think that's where Peter was. When did you hear back, like, did you kind of send it going, all right, that was it. I probably won't hear back. I sent it feeling like I put my best foot forward. I sent it

feeling like, it's the best I can do. Feels, you know. And then what happened? Tim's new scrambled egg loaded croissant, or is it croissant? No matter how you say it, start your day with freshly cracked scrambled eggs loaded on a buttery, flaky croissant. Try it with maple brown butter today at Timms at participating restaurants in Canada for limited time. TD Bank knows that running a small business is a journey, from startup to growing and managing your business. That's why they have a dedicated small business advice hub on their website to provide tips and insights on business banking to entrepreneurs. No matter the stage of business you're in, visit TD.com slash small business advice to find out more or to match with a TD small

Business Banking Account Manager. The title of the book, The Talented Farter. Yes. This is a wonderful story about a little boy who's only gift, his only real talent, he's tooting. It makes his teeth sound like everything you hear in everyday life. So little Michael loved Halloween,

but nothing frightened his friends more than when Michael would stink up a good scare. Can you hear that? Oh, I heard it. It is a lovely story, and it's, beautifully illustrated by my friend Heath and Simon Schuster's putting it out. It's going to be in tons of bookstores and available on Amazon. I'm so proud of it. A couple months went by, and I heard that they, I was told that they were coming through Los Angeles, that Peter and Fran

were seeing people in person that they had seen tapes of that they liked. And I was one of them. A callback, basically, right? You get to read again? I did. So I, I did. So I, I went into the office, and I have to say that this is what made me emotional. Obviously, meeting Peter and Fran was a joy. I was a huge, again, like I said, huge fan of Heavenly Creatures. Fran wrote Heavenly Creatures, so it was great to meet them in person. But I remember getting to the office and waiting and speaking to someone that worked for Victoria Burroughs about the tape. And that person confirming to me that the things that I wanted to evoke, you know, came through in what I did.

And to me, that was the win. The win was, I kind of went out on a limb in a way that I haven't before. And I did this thing and it was received in a way that I, by this person and conceivably by others, in the way that I wanted it to. And that felt amazing. Wow. That felt amazing. And made me kind of tear up like, oh my God.

Like, holy shit, I did this thing. And it like, it really came across. Because you could have easily put all that hard work, and most of the time, it doesn't work out. Yeah. And then you met with Peter. There are plenty of people that made tapes for themselves, you know, even on Lord of the Rings, which, like you said, it was not in the era of self-tapes and the way that things are, it's almost more self-tapes than in-person auditions. It is. But then Peter, you met Peter.

So I met Peter. Audition. So I think I did a scene or two for them. And then it was, I don't remember the timeline. a month later, I got a call from my agent who said, stay by the phone, you're going to get another call. You knew something. I knew something.

And then the phone rang, and it was Peter's assistant at the time, Jen Blankin, who said, hi, I have Peter Jackson on, hold on the line for Peter Jackson. And I'm like, stumbling to. You look like you're a little bit emotional thinking about that now. It's so wild. And then Peter gets on the phone. and, you know, hello, Elijah, would you like to come down to New Zealand and play the role of Frodo? And that was it. And I was like, yeah. Did you cry after? No, no, but I hung up the

phone and jumped around a bunch and, you know, probably screamed at the top of my lungs and then, you know, told my mom who was also, like, knew that something was happening, you know. Was that the biggest moment of your life? At that point, yeah. Besides, obviously having a child. at that point it was the biggest moment of my life because it felt like you know it it um even that without knowing what it was going to become because there's no way any of us could have known that it would be embraced in pop culture in this significant way in cinema um but at that moment you know i knew that i was about to embark on a journey unlike anything i'd experienced before to be a part of something truly special and quite massive in scale.

And I knew that. I remember meeting Sean for the first time. We ran into each other at a hotel in L.A. Coming and going from a wig fitting. And we ran into each other in the lobby and instantly embraced. I'd never met him. He's that kind of guy, isn't he? So lovable.

They're the best. And we just instantly hugged each other because we knew we were about. to go on this thing together. It was like already bonding, you know? Yeah. And he asked me, he's told the story many times, but he was like, he just said to me, are you ready? Are you ready for this? And I said, yeah, which he was really amused by at the time that he's subsequently talked about because he was like, he really seemed ready. And I think he was. Jeez, it's just, you know, some other cool things. I got to bring up just because I think it's cool. You worked with Doloresa Serriardin from the Cranberries on two videos.

I love the cranberries. I didn't actually get to meet her, though. Oh, you didn't? I didn't get to meet her. Were you a big cranberries fan? I was a fan. Yeah, me too. And the video was for ridiculous thoughts

that Samuel Bayer directed. Samuel is extraordinary because he, I mean, notably, he directed the Smells Like Teen Spirit video. Wow. So that was cool for me. Yeah. I was like, holy shit. I got to work with this guy

who directed such an iconic piece of popular culture from one of the great bands of all times. time. So that was amazing. And it was intense and fun. And yeah, it was great. And I was a fan of the band. And the song's cool and the album's great. I love the lead single zombie was great. So yeah, to get to be a part of that was a treat. And you're, I mean, it seems like you were the go-toe being in a music video guy because you like did the Beastie Boys make some noise. You did forever your girl, Paula Abdul. First job. First job was the Paula Abdul. David Fincher directed that. How is he then? I have no recollection. No recollection. None. Because you're probably like,

what, six? I was eight. Eight. And I, you know, he hadn't made a film yet. So there was no kind of, there was no, it's David Fincher yet, you know. It's just Dave, just Dave Fincher. It's the director on set. But yeah, he was, he was great from what I remember. I don't know that, you know, the reputation for a hundred takes had happened yet. Not on forever your girl. But my memory, my memory was of getting to meet and work with Paul Abdul, you know. Yeah, she's a friend. She's all, she's amazing.

She's so sweet. She's so sweet. All right, this is shit talking with Elijah Wood. These are my top tier patrons to get to ask questions. Rapid Fire, if you want. Patreon.com slash inside of you. if you want to support the podcast on can't think of the name of your podcast inside of you yeah Howard Stern mentioned it one time he goes yeah this interview was from the inside of you

with Michael Rosenbaum podcast a double entendre there what is that of yes of course of course he yeah charlie who are your heroes or who's a role model or who as a child was a role model who's one now any any of those um gosh heroes I mean you Music tends to be... You love music. Yeah. My heroes are probably mostly in music. Oh, man.

Favorite band of all time. Of all time? It's hard to beat the Beatles of all time. Yeah. It might be... Modern bands. I also think it's hard to beat Radiohead just in terms of a run from... Certainly the Ben's until now is just...

it's irrefutably great. There isn't, there isn't a misstep, you know? I'd say Depeche Mode. The cure. Yeah, sure. Love those guys. Yeah, me too. I mean, I'm a, I'm a, I'm a huge,

the probably favorite artist of all time is Prince. Yeah. You know, that run from the late 70s until 89 is perfect and extraordinary and constantly surprising and amazing and influential. What are you playing in your car if you turn on music usually? Um, I, uh, what I do a lot now is I listen to, I'll do like my liked songs on Spotify on, on random, because it's like 2,000 songs. You know, it's a lot over time. Um, and that can, it's all stuff that I really like. Uh,

I don't know. I don't have a go to of what I listen in the car. But you like 80s, you like 90s. You like, I love jazz. I mean, I love everything. My musical taste is, I'm less exclusionary than I am inclusionary. I love all, all music. Flortatious B says if you weren't an actor, where do you think you'd be right now?

Well, musician, you're musician. I feel like it would be something creative. I, I, what I get most in some ways out of working in film and TV is the creative process, is working with a group of people towards a common creative goal. I like the collaboration of that. I like working with people. In many cases, people more talented than I am to be inspired by and draw from and be lifted by.

Yeah. Always surround yourself with smarter people, I say. Smarter and more talented people. And that's going to lift you. It's going to elevate you. Totally. And I just, I love that creative process. I love being on a film set and like seeing something come together

and being a part of that. that machinery. So if it weren't, if it weren't in film, if I wasn't an actor, it would have to be some, I would imagine some creative process. Raj says, what are you most grateful for? Wow. These are not easy. No. What am I most grateful for? I mean, Jesus, man, the list is endless. Like, my gratitude runs deep. I just wouldn't, I wouldn't be the person that I am without my mom. I'm beyond grateful for my family and my kids and my wife. Like, they are such an extension of me. They are, they are the most important people in my life. There you go. You know, I'm, I'm so grateful for, I'm so grateful for my collective experiences that have led me to where I am now, that have

shaped the human that I am and have shaped me as a creative person, you know. Ben Jay, the Oxford murders is a terrific movie. How did you get involved with this movie and do you have any John hurt story? So you could just, if you want. Uh, John was great. John was intimidating. Um, yeah, he was, he was intimidating, but, but in that kind of, um, he didn't mean to be. He was, he was a, he was sweet, but just, you know, intense. Intense. He carried himself with an intensity. He didn't necessarily, like, give you a ton of warmth, but he was lovely. And we had a lot of dialogue together and he was he was great i i'm grateful to have had the opportunity to work with such a legend and he was awesome uh my only regret is that i didn't get to see him after that you know we

we made that film together there were a couple of exchanges about trying to see each other and and and that never happened uh i've got to see this movie the film came together because of alexia who's a legendary um genre filmmaker in spain um He's made many horror and genre films over the years and is sort of like kind of the godfather of that in the modern sense. And he reached out with this script and had a great deal of enthusiasm. I really wanted to work with him. And that's kind of how it happened. Razi, what's a unique memory you have about working on Wilfred?

Oh, man, Wilfred was so great. I mean, four years of three months out of the year having a giggle, you know? Like, unbelievable crew that was pretty much the same for four years. Wow. We had the same filmmaker, Randall Einhorn, no, you know this from TV. TV, it's like every two episodes as a new director. With Wilfred, a precedent was set very early on that Randall was going to do the whole thing, but it wasn't planned that way.

Jeez, that's difficult. So Randall did the first four, I think. and then another director came in and did two, and then Randall came back. And then nobody else came. So it just ended up being that Randall was going to be the sole director. And he did all of it, which was very unique. As you know, in TV, that just doesn't happen.

Yeah. So what that does is it sets an environment that is... Consistent. It's consistent. It's... There's a, especially if the person is lovely and great, which Randall is, he's the fucking best. he's one of my best friends

that creates a really fun atmosphere where the ship also is being steered by someone that everybody trusts so there's this great sense that you're all heading in one direction together which in TV you know there's a lot of different voices at times

so that was lovely like the lovely consistency of it and an atmosphere that rises or that descends from the top and he was so great and everybody at FX was great memories that stand out, I mean, you know, every day was some absurd sequence with Jason Gann as Wilfred. And the fun thing about that character and that what Jason brought to it was the character

is always changing because it's always like he's fucking with Ryan. He's, you know, he's a mad scientist in one scene. He's something else and another. I'm always fucking with Ryan. I'm always fucking Ryan. I'm we call him the Ryan. You know. And we call him the Ryan.

on the other show. That's amazing. So, like, you know, it, there was always this really fun, what's it going to be next? And that, and also just being, you know, the recipient of that madness. Yeah. Because the dynamic is such that my character was not driving the ship. It was Wilfred. And I'm reacting and having to, you know, keep up appearances.

It was just a, yeah, it was a joy. He didn't love being in the suit. fair enough. It was fucking hot as shit. Yeah, that's gotta be tough. But we had so much fun. I could have kept doing that for years. It was just a joy. Man. It was really fun. My favorite bits, we do this thing's called the couch beats, which seasons 1 through 3, every episode ended with them on the couch with some dumb joke getting high. And we would film all of them in one sequence and in like a day because they're just these like 30 second pieces. Little like it'll either be.

a sight gag or it'll be a funny thing that someone says. Right. So we'd just shoot them all and we would have like, you know, here's another idea. And there'd be like new script pages just for these couch beats, which are just essentially ways to interject a joke at the end quote. And Randall had this beautiful idea of shooting on super long lenses. So the camera would be like a hundred feet away on like a 400 prime. So it just compresses everything.

And then we're on this couch. It was rad. That's cool. And it was a gas, man. just like stupid silly shit on this couch. I can tell how much fun. It's like you want to be there again right now. It's really fun.

That's awesome. Really, really fun. What's next if you're allowed to talk about anything? Sure. What is next? Well, season three of Yellow Jackets just finished it. You love those ladies? Oh, they're great.

And look, this is the first example of something that they'd done a season of TV. I watched it as a viewer. I'm good friends with Melanie Linsky and adore everything that she does. So I was like, I'm definitely watching this. And I love the whole cast. Christina Ritchie and everybody. So I watched it as a fan and loved it. And then got the call that there was a role that they were thinking of me for, which was just a thrill.

That was a, I'd never happened for me. I'd never been a previous watcher of something and then get to join the thing that I already enjoy. So that has been really, really fun. And just to play in that sandbox is great. And I bear none of the, at least so far anyway, although maybe it's going to be different this season. I bear very little of the narrative weight, you know, certainly enough in that first season that I was in.

Much more fun. It's just a little bit like the comic relief. Yeah. A little bit more interesting this season, so we'll see what happens. But that's fun too. It's just to kind of come into something and have a fun. character that doesn't necessarily bear that responsibility. There's a movie that I made.

So the filmmaker, in fact, the creative team behind Come to Daddy, we went and made another movie in New Zealand last year called Bookworm. That is now out. It's on streaming and it's in select theaters. Thriller kind of. That just came out. No, it's totally different. But it's written by the same writer.

I'm going to check that out. It's Aunt Timson directed it. our same DP shot it. So it's very much the same creative team. And I was like, let's just do this again. Yeah, yeah. This is a father-daughter in the wilderness story of an estranged, a father who's been estranged from his daughter reconnecting as she's, she drags him out into the wilderness to find

this mythical Canterbury Panther, which is an actual thing in New Zealand. Wow. It's an actual myth anyway. and he's a failed magician who's joining his daughter trying to woo her over with his magic skills and fails miserably because she's a precocious young 11-year-old who puts him in his place and has no patience for him. So it's got the essence of it is the kind of comedy of Come to Daddy. There's a lot of shared similarities, but without the darkness. So it's rated PG, it's four everywhere, is genuinely genuine. in like all kids, all family entertainment for everybody.

Great. I want to be in something that those guys do. It's, they're great. I mean, we're hoping to do another. There's like this, it's like a loose. Come back to daddy. Well, it's like a loose dad trilogy. This is another in a series, well, is the next film is this movie, right?

So it's like, come to daddy as a guy reconnecting with his dad. It's not his dad, dad. You just gave it away. Yeah, whatever. It doesn't matter. Just go see it. Shit goes crazy. And then this one is another father story.

So there's probably going to be a third eventually. I like it. Dude, this has been awesome. You're amazing. I could talk to you forever. This is so easy. I mean,

this is been really fun. Yeah, it's been great. So, I'm glad we could finally make this happen. We literally have been. And I said to you two years ago, I said,

don't stop pestering me because I might, I just got a lot of other things focused on. I might not. Oh, yeah. I know. And thank you for pestering me. But also, on the plane,

I was walking in the plane a couple, maybe a month or two ago. And all of a sudden, I hear, fine, I'll do your podcast. And I go, what is that? I look over and it's him just smiling with his wife going, give me a thumbs up. And I thought it was so funny. You've been awesome. Thanks, dude. Thanks, buddy.

I really appreciate it. Ever wonder how dark the world can really get? Well, we dive into the twisted, the terrifying, and the true stories behind some of the world's most chilling crimes. Hi, I'm Ben. And I'm Nicole. Together we host Wicked and Grim, a true crime podcast that unpacks real-life horrors one case at a time. With deep research, dark storytelling, and the occasional drink to take the edge off.

We're here to explore the Wicked and Grim. We are Wicked and Grim. Follow and listen on your favorite podcast platform. Elijah, thanks for coming on, man. You're a mensch. You're a gem. We loved having you on. So super duper, huh?

So cool. Yeah. So cool. Yeah, it's awesome, man. If you guys like this podcast, please support us and join patron, patreon.com slash inside of you. I'm going to read out the top tier patrons to end the show. These are the folks that give back. It's like a streamer, you know, and they like support this show and keep it going.

So as long as they're around, I'll keep doing the show. And there's a leaf blower. So let's just get into it. Let's just go right into it. Little leaf blowing in the background with my favorites. Nancy D. Little Lisa, Yukiko, Brian. H. Nico P. Rob L. Jason W. Sophie, M. Rajt, Jennifer, and Stacey L. Jamal F. Janelle B. Mike Eldon Supremo. 99 more. Santiago M. Maddie S. Kendrick F. Belinda and D. Belinda and Dave H.

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but thanks for supporting the podcast we love you patron.com slash insidey if you want to join a lot of perks a lot of fun and um from the hollywood hills in hollywood california i'm michael rozenbaum i'm right we love you happy freaking new year glad to be back a little wave to the camera and as every year we do every episode be good to yourself this is going to be a good year you're going to get through some tough times and you're going to go through some great times so let's shoot for the highs baby all right uh we'll see you next week Football season is here. Oh, man.

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