Inside of You with Michael Rosenbaum - Ep 10: Colin Hanks

Episode Date: June 12, 2018

Colin Hanks (Dexter, Fargo, Life in Pieces) discusses what it was like growing up as Tom Hanks son, his mom finding Jesus after her divorce, and the time Madonna sat on his lap when he was 13 years old. Colin talks to me about leaving Roswell to do the Orange County movie, the emotions he dealt with while making the Eagles of Death Metal documentary about the Bataclan shooting, and how he was able to learn to handle his depression. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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I've got to tell you. Thanks, I think. Yeah, I think too. This week, I got a great guest. Every week we have great guests, but this guy I've known for a while. Ooh, can I guess who he is? Yeah. Is it Colin Hanks?

Yes, it's Colin Hanks. Good guess. You could read. Thank fucking God. Colin Hanks is on the show. You know, we're hockey fans. He was supposed to do a movie that I was going to direct that fell apart and we never made it. I've hung out with his wife. He's just a top-notch guy.

Well, he's on the show and he was so open. Didn't you notice that? It's nice when guests are here to talk about like stuff that most people don't like to talk about. Yeah, how long have you known him? I don't know. It's got many years. It's got to be 10 years or something like that. But, you know, he talks about everything. Of course, you know, how could you talk to him without mentioning his dad, super famous dad? Who was his dad? I don't remember. We talk about like the early days when his, you know, biological mother and his father, Tom, were together and there was just a lot of crazy stories and how they split up because, you know, Tom Hanks, of course, met Rita Wilson, his soulmate, and, you know, he was going to a private school, right? He was going

to a private school in upstate California, and he was playing backup goalie because pretty much everybody had to be on the team because it was a small school. It was a small school. But people used to yell stuff at him like you know come on forest and stupid shit that people say and you know people are idiots and i don't think they even realize it but just there's so much great great stuff you know his mom uh found jesus uh after tom hanks and her broke up and uh just a lot of stories him being a dad him not being able to sleep that well anxiety all the stuff that we hear about from our from our uh the people we admire and uh you know again it's it's nice to see i don't want him to have these things but when we talk about it

and he's so open it shows you that you know even you know the big guys the big stars the guys that are working all the time it's not that easy it's just not that easy for anybody life is a pain in the ass sometimes but it's so so precious isn't it Rob it is um I think you

made up that sleeping stuff did I? Yeah I thought he had problems sleeping and that's someone else no dude he fucking won't listen to the podcast let's get inside Colin Hanks it's my point of 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.

It's normally around like hour 40 per every podcast that someone has to look something up online. No, he'll do that the whole time. He doesn't know anything. this podcast we got that done first yeah we we threw that right out there are you comfortable yeah thanks for allowing me to be inside of you Colin hanks uh i want you inside of me this i'm just quoting wet hot american summer the movie really yeah i don't really want you inside me that was a really fun movie but i'd much rather have you inside me than me than you inside yourself yeah i'm gonna think about that for a second how do we meet do you remember how we met i do remember how we met

we met at a ranger's game we met at a rangers king's game at staples center no no we met in new york yeah that's right it was when i was living in new york and what year was this 2000 this is right after you got married no before so when 2005 oh my god this is way back you have a good memory well it's pretty rare like i mean you know when you find someone else that is really into hockey you tend to like remember that yeah it's exciting right it's like oh my gosh you're you're in the business and you like hockey oh he he's a hockey fan yeah rob is a big black hawks fan oh and black cox that's unfortunate yeah both you you uh so we met at the range again we sat together right and uh then it wasn't too long after where you invited me to your house or how many years then we uh then yeah i don't know within a year and a half maybe two years then we moved back to l a haven't been invited since well I've had two children you've had two children and a wife and a wife Samantha I got yeah I got very lovely had kids she liked me or is that she did yeah yeah oh I thought I was nice yeah oh good good I actually says hello she's like what why haven't we seen him yeah well we could see each other we will we

we will now I'd like that I'd like to rekindle my friendships uh in a public forum do you do and then take it private good do you have a lot of friends people always say you get a lot of friends I think I know a lot of people. I don't hang out with them all the time. I do know a lot of people. Do you think since you were sort of a guy that's been in the industry forever, that you know many people? I would say, do I have a lot of friends? Maybe not, but I definitely know a lot of people, and I'm friendly with all of them. You're smiling. Were you serious there? No, I am totally serious. Now, I'm going to tell a story, and the first thing you're going to say is, well, why wasn't I there? But I had a 40th birthday party.

I invited a whole bunch of people. Well, wasn't I there? No, no, you can't. I wouldn't have even thought that. It's not like we hang out all the time. It's like, here, before you tell your story, I just want to say about your 40 ability, I've always, I instantly liked you. Mm-hmm.

We met, I was this fun guy, we're talking, we like hockey, I came in your house. I think we went to another game together. We did some, whatever, we had some nice. This maybe is like the fourth time. Right. That we're spending like a chunk of time together. Yeah. As opposed to like, hey, man, how you doing?

Good, good, good, good. And we enjoy each other. And I was like, I like that guy. I like him. I love to work with him. He's nice. He's smart. He's friendly.

He loves hockey. That's what it is. Yes. And if we see each other more frequently, great. Yes. But I always consider you a great guy. You're in at the 41st. It's going to be a much smaller birthday part.

I have a feeling you might not even have a 41st. It might be at like, uh... Maybe it's just a barbecue. It's going to be at, but maybe you want to make sure. But again, the 40th was a very public event. So tell me about the story. basically it was my wife is like what do you want to do for your 40th and I said I just want to have a space to invite tons of people and I just want them all to have a good time like that's it like just a space we had a bar well that was a big that that's that that's got to be all on you that was a whole big thing yeah that was hence the documentary on tower record so what music was kicking we had well I was very fortunate in that my a friend of mine happens to own a liquor establishment okay um and with that comes

business acquaintances like DJs that he he uses right and so Rio was like hey what do you want in the music and I said Rio you know what I like please just take care of it for me can I try and guess sure you know as much as I want to say there were a lot of 80s it probably wasn't it got 80s towards closing time because you need that at the end you need that to end a party you need you can't end with uh you know the 50s and 60s we started 50s and 60s yeah no there's definitely some grimy 50s and 60s a lot of rock and roll some old school hip hop for sure what kind of hip hop do you listen to when you say old school too short yeah too short i like my prime eras i think would be 80 86. NWA? Oh, yeah, yeah. 86 to like 99, 2000. Wow, you just, you went, there's a big spread there. That's like, that's a 15 year gap. But that is considered old school. And it's the best rap, I think. It was, there were stories. There wasn't like I. Yeah. I. I. Yeah. I'm slowly. I can't. It's hard. It's hard. But I'm like every now and again, I'll find out what the kids are listening to. Long story short. There was this whole big thing back and forth with my wife, like, you have to pick the music. You have to pick the music.

And then she just started emailing my friend saying, like, don't let Colin pick shitty music. So she's telling kind of like two separate things. Anyways, point of the story is, like, come closing time, I'm incredibly drunk and I'm listening to I want to dance with somebody by Whitney Houston. See, which never, I would have instantly said, like, no, not allowed, but it did. And by the time we left, everyone was going like, this is the best DJ ever. Oh, I'm on a dance with somebody.

And I dance with everybody that was on that dance floor. You dance with somebody who loves you? But yeah. So that was, yeah, because my wife was there. Oh, good. And then probably some other people, too, that love me. Right. You know, unrequitted.

And so, but that was a scenario in which I said, there are so many people here. I know so many. There's some I haven't seen in a very long time that I'm literally seeing for like two seconds. Right. But I'm just so glad you're all here. and if I think I said I love you all I hope you all have the best time of your life tonight a night that you'll never remember and if the cops come I don't know a single fucking one of you that's perfect and that was it that's perfect yeah and it was a great time it was a good time I'm sorry

I'm sorry you weren't there no no it happens it happens well barbecue let's barbecue this barbecue you have a new house yeah well it's old now how old is it like seven years wow I haven't seen you I mean it's not like a you know a decades old castle such as this it is it's like a little castle listen i i i was a little nervous about this interview because i figured okay this is colin hanks the object that's sort of the goal of this show is to get inside someone to i i i sussed that out well what it is it just the title gave pretty much gave me everything i did that give the way inside of you with it didn't ruin it well it was sort of like i like it's becomes therapy for me maybe for the audience maybe even for you and i was

like well you know this guy has probably been asked everything repeatedly yeah i even went online it was like it always comes back to well let's tell us about your dad and how is it good and it's like how do you be original other than just telling the story yes telling the Colin hank story yes so i think we we just kind of need to start from scratch where do we want to start i kind of want to go way back okay as we go a little something like this hit it who was that who's thinking about i mean there's so many so I mean, that's, that's a, that's a universal break. It is. It's a universal break. It's a universal break. You knew it. We were there together.

I was there. I was there. So take me back to like growing up. You're happy, healthy? Yeah. I mean, look, I sort of feel like I had dysfunction. I want you to know that. I had some dysfunction in my life. I have a crazy mother. I have the whatever. So people think, oh, it's a perfect. You got a perfect child. Yeah. Yeah. No, I mean, I had, look, I think everybody's got some disfunction. function. If they don't, they're lying and or boring. Here's how I would break it down. So basically, grew up in Los Angeles when I was a little kid. My parents split up when I was pretty young. And then my mom relocated to Sacramento. My dad stayed here in Los Angeles. And I would basically sort of commute back and forth on like weekends you know how hard is that for a child honestly do you recall being miserable um it wasn't great but it also in comparison to what do you know what i mean

i sort of feel like kids are so resilient and they have the benefit of not knowing what's normal what's normal or what's not and then as you get older then you start looking around around and you go like oh maybe this shit isn't normal yeah you know what i mean i kind of believed everything else and i go wait yeah yeah it's all wrong and then all of a sudden you're looking around going like oh this is significantly different than than what everyone else is sort of going through and that's just like marital you know homestead life yeah but then i have this other 12 sides on the 24 side of die of life yeah that are just different you know just different factors that sort of go into the tasty fucking goulash that is that is my backstory well is it did you remember seeing guys

that your mom dated and it was weird because i even remember my mom or your dad dating girls and going oh this is sally and you're like hey sally yeah it was weird because or they private well no i mean they were all pretty private it was strange because you know my my parents probably really should never have been together why um Because they weren't really compatible, which is not to say that they didn't give it a shot. It's not to say that they didn't give it a try. How many years were they married? They were married.

Oh, God. I don't even know. I mean, let's put it this way. I was three at the wedding. Okay. Do you know what I mean? Yes. So there's that.

And then, I mean, they were probably married like five or six years. Right. I don't even know. But then he, you know, met his soulmate working who, you know, right after. Well, no, like they had been, they got married. My parents got married and they, you know, we moved around a bunch and eventually we settled in Los Angeles and then he was working and I had, you know, I have a sister and they had another, you know, they had another kid. And so there was time where they really tried it. And then, you know, he went and met his soulmate on a job and said, I can't, you know, do this anymore.

And it was very honest and very, you know, as honest as you can be. It's like you, well, I mean, I am paraphrasing a large chunk of this. Nobody's perfect shit happens. 50% of marriages end up in divorce. Well, yeah. And he's young. How old is he? Oh, he's super young.

I mean, he's in his 20s. I mean, I couldn't even imagine being married. I mean, barely now. Like I want to try and find someone now I'm 45. Yeah, no. And not to make it a like once you're married and have kids, you all of a sudden have this supervision or superhearing or anything like that. But so much of the experience that I've had as a husband and as a father, I now look at

pretty much anyone who got married at like 19. And I just go like, oh, you poor kid. Yeah. You poor kid. That's what happened to my dad. He was 18 years old. He married my mom who was 23 with two kids. Yeah.

Of course he went berserk. of course my mom they were fucked I was destined to be fucked oh absolutely I'm hanging in there and especially I was having a conversation with someone

just the other day One of your friends with the party No no no no this is something We were having a barbecue at my house And oh interesting You hear that wrong No we were we were No it was just

They're kids Their kids are friends with my kids I had to have kids to be friends The kids were having a play date Yeah, yeah. Get a kid and we'll hang out. But she was telling this crazy story about, like, the whole family decided to do the genealogy spit in a tube and come back with DNA. Yeah, 23 and me and things. Yeah, yeah, whatever.

And they ended up finding, like, a half-sibling that they had never heard about before. Like, their parents had a half-sibling, and she was telling me the story of, like, colleagues. the place going like, hey, so can we get more information about this person because everyone in the family says that this person like is like trying to like rob us or something like that. And then the person said like, look, I'm going to tell you something. On the record, we cannot give out that information. Off the record, it's always a sibling. It's never like a con. It's always a thing. and so we start i started asking questions and i'm like how old were these people when this happened they're like oh 24 so it's like oh you mean they were children they were children

they were children having children and so like anything for my own personal like history and you know my parents relationship i just now look at it and go like oh yeah i totally understand was everyone trying to just do the best they can okay great then i'll i'll accept that answer But, I mean, there had to be a phase where you went through. You were like, I remember this, and you were a dick, and you didn't do this. Oh, yeah. And you had this transition, right, where you had to confront your mom and your dad and say certain things. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, there's all, yeah, there's all of that.

I mean, that's, I mean, that's what, you know, the late 30s and 40s are for. Yeah. Oh, so that happened, like, recently. Well, yeah, I mean, because that's part of it. You know, once you get to be a certain age and you start being. more aware of your own mortality and the mortality of people around you, you start looking at things much, much differently, both within your own life and the lives of your family members. And so, you know, with that comes, you know, a certain amount of self-reflection

and therapy or at least, you know, hopefully, you know, deep conversations with the people that you may have issues with. Is it something like you have something on your mind? And it's like, I'm just going to talk about this. I'm open enough to say, for instance, my dad, you know, we had a conversation. He's like, you know, blah, blah, blah, I never spanked you or anything. Are you, are you kidding me right now? This is the person you actually spanked, and you're telling me you didn't spank me. He's like, well, I didn't abuse you.

Well, you didn't abuse me, but you spanked me. You don't remember hitting me ever? I mean, so there was, there, it was definitely a little difficult. I was very uncomfortable. I have this, one of the things that I've been thinking about, first off, I'm sorry to hear that. Yeah, thank you. I mean, no, I wasn't abused. No, no, no, no, no.

I know what you mean, though. I'm just trying to be a good person. Yeah. Say, like, hey, that, I hear you. Thank you. Of course. Thank you, Colin. I have this weird thing where I think it's a little unique because both my dad and my

stepmom and stepmom is really, I mean, that's unfair. She's been in my life, she's been in more of my life than not. So, mom, mom. Yeah. And then my birth mother, who is no longer with us, but they were all actors. And so with that comes a certain amount of awareness and self-reflection in people in order to do what it is that we do. Do you know what I mean? Which is not to say that we all don't have her blind spots, everybody does.

But, you know, I think there's more of a willingness to sort of look at that kind of stuff. You know, right when you were talking about this, something came to me. And it's almost like I thought when people are in this industry, when you're an actor, a producer, director, when you're in the entertainment industry and you live in Los Angeles. Or creative. Or creative. I would even just say creative. Creative.

That when you decide to have a child, you're kind of saying, regardless of what I do, they will be a little fucked. They're just going to be fucked because my life is so different than John who's going to work in Indiana where I grew up from nine to five and coming home and having dinner every night. I'm gone for three months. I'm gone for six months. I'm gone for this.

I'm volatile. I'm in my head. I'm doing these characters. I'm whatever. There's got to be that element. The way that I tend to look at it is it's really different. Yes. There's a lot of preconceived notions as to.

what it must be like or how rad it is, which some is true, some is not. Ultimately, you try and make it the same. Do you know what I mean? I'm dealing with it with my kids where it's just like, look, this is daddy's job. This is what he does. So he goes to work. And he works so that he can buy food and clothes and things like that. And so you just try and like focus on the simplest things that. possibly can. This is what I do well. This is what I enjoy doing. This is why I do it. I'm very fortunate that I'm allowed to do it because not everyone is allowed to do this. And I do this not because I can. I do it because I worked very hard at it. And I continue and I will always work hard at it. You know what I mean? And that's something I've noticed. Yeah. And that that I think

is everybody does. Everyone tries to instill in their kids. Everyone does. And that goes for, you know, it's the same thing as, all right, well, I have to go to a way to work for six months. And I'm going to try and come back and visit as much as I can. Well, that could be any job. You know, that doesn't have to just be, you know, oh, I'm going to go wear makeup and prance around and pretend to be someone else, which is what I do. But there are other people that are like, I'm going to go away for six months and, you know, go Arctic drilling or, you know, go for a hunt for fucking crabs or like whatever, you know, that takes you away from your home. you know and some people deal with that really really well you know some kids do some adults do

some people don't do very well with that you know and that goes for the kids as well as the adults so you know it's all about i don't know just trying to figure shit out 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 a personal finance app that helps find and cancel your unwanted subscriptions monitors you're spending and helps lower your bills so you can grow your savings this is just some wonderful app there's a lot of apps out there that really you know 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 um i don't know how many times that i've had these unwanted subscriptions that i thought

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Go to quince.com slash inside of you for free shipping on your order and 365-day returns. That's Q-U-I-N-C-E. dot com slash inside of you free shipping and 365 day returns quince.com slash inside of you do you remember your mom and your dad at a young age or even like adolescents saying i love you do you do you remember like it was there was a lot of affection i love you i'm proud of you i want you do you remember hearing all that yeah yeah yeah how important was that very important You know, I mean, I think that is something that I definitely fucking try and drill home as much with my kids. I think that's the most important thing.

As I can, like, to the point where they're like, yeah, we get it. And I'm like, okay, good, it's working. No, but I really love you. Okay, good, they get it. I'll see in six months. But, yeah, I mean, yeah, that shit's fucking important. You know, that kind of stuff, one of the most important things is to just try it and give your kids as fun and worry-free life as you possibly can. I remember, you know, hearing that quite a lot from all of my parents.

And I think what's interesting is maybe when you get older, you don't hear it as much. Or you don't remember it as much. and so that's always, you know, something that I want to try to remember to say as much as to my kids, even when they're super annoying. Did you, did you have a lot of issues as a child in high school growing up trying to, you know, figure out here is your dad's a movie star and your mom's, you know, they're split up and now all these things are going on. How do you have normalcy?

I mean, did you have any idea what you wanted to do? Yeah, well, I mean, I was pretty fortunate. Because growing up in Sacramento was, was kind of brilliant. Yeah, it was, it's, it's an amazing place in its simplicity and its genuine nature. Do you know what I mean? So, you know, my dad lived down here. My mom and me and my sister lived up in Sacramento. And like I said, we would sort of go back and forth odd weekends and summers and stuff like that. But so growing, Growing up, I was pretty much just sort of surrounded by, you know, normalcy, essentially. Do you know what I mean? I grew up in a neighborhood where all the kids played, you know, with each other and hung out. And, you know, a lot of my closest friends that I've known for the longest are all people that I lived within, you know, seven blocks of. So to have that be the sort of backbone of my younger years, that's a.

really sort of cemented a sense of this is what we should all strive for as adults which you know the irony is is like you know a lot of those other families like got divorced and then and have horrible demons on their own you know no no one's free of that but that's that's the vibe that's the thing that you know if you you know if you are trying to get back to something in your life by providing it for someone else like that would be the thing what were you a good student no I was a horrible student I well I wouldn't say horrible student I was I was perfectly in the middle but never great that sounds like me yeah I mean lower than that yeah I mean I would have to take classes over again and I wasn't a great student I had really bad ADD yeah

yeah I still have that same here yeah that's a great Giants Cup by the way isn't it it is it's gorgeous that was just an ADD joke um Rob Rob is pretty he's 28 yeah so young 29 but he's just got it together he's so focused he's so he's married he's got a kid he's I look at him and I we talk about this all the time but it's like Rob how do you do it how does he just does just do it right Nike uh so in high school you're kind of a little would you I wasn't I don't know if you lost is the right word but your your grades are great what are you going to do uh what was cool was i actually went to a pretty small school which it was it was called sacramento country day school country day school country day school and it was

um was it in the country no wasn't no but everyone sort of assumes that sacramento was all the country right right right i had a pretty small sort of world there in in sacramento which was which was which was pretty great. The perfect amount for me to want to sort of rebel against in all of the good ways, but then also really, you know, small and good in order to sort of instill some stuff. So for me, you know, I did all, well, not all, but I did the school plays that I wanted to do. What'd you do? Well, I had two great theater teachers, one of whom was an old college friend of my parents,

this guy C.B. Davis and he was probably like one of the more creative sort of out there awesome kind of guys who like kind of has his shit together you know but not in comparison to the super anal teachers that are there

but he's a warder when you go to his house well you know he's the guy that like reads James Joyce and he was also the Latin teacher eccentric yes yeah he was in his he was in a trick and so we would do stuff like we would do a collection of like james thurber plays we called the thurber carnival and then one year we actually staged hitchhiker's guide to the

galaxy oh my god which was probably the most fucking ridiculous thing on earth but you know a couple of the high school stoners came and thought it was amazing were you good i that is not for me to say I mean, did you feel like people were like going, hey, you're, you know, you're, the reaction was, normally you don't do things if you're not, you try them and if you're not good, you get out of them. Well, the thing with the school was is that there were so few people, it almost didn't matter. Do you know what I mean? And it's not like everyone gets a trophy because everyone needs to feel good. It's everyone gets a trophy because, well, this is everyone. This is everyone in the school.

everyone's a part of this is this is everyone so you know like i was uh popular maybe to some yeah i i've always sort of been a sort of a social butterfly so we didn't have like super jocks we didn't have football team so there's no like any like cliched high school things that a majority of people have we didn't have so i you know was the backup goaltender for the soccer team but that That was just because I... Backup goalie. Because I never played soccer and they needed a backup goalie. And they wanted to kick balls at you. And I'm like, well, if I can use my hands and I don't have to, like, run and, like, kick the ball a bunch, like, I can do that.

So I was just like, oh, be the backup goaltender and I'll find a way to, you know, be a part of it, the team. And so I would, like, come up with, like, little inspirational speeches and shit beforehand. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You would put something together to motivate the team. Yeah, as the backup goalie. Yeah, as a backup goalie. Yeah, I was... Hey, most inspirational two years in a row.

Really? Yeah. Fuck yeah. But again, everybody got a award. Everybody was there. Everybody was there. Were you always tall? Yeah, always lanky.

And what do you, six, three? I am six, one, and a little change. Right. If that's possible. I'm six on the dot. Six one, yeah. Always lanky. I mean, there was a period where I went through like insane growth spurts.

Like, I have like the gnarliest. stretch marks on my back and my really? Yeah, my knees are really fucked up and my feet are flat and do you play any sports at all anymore? No, I can't. You just can't. Too much pain? Yeah, I really can't. And that started pretty fucking early. Did that bum me

out? Yeah, to a degree because there were, I mean, even back then I was like, all right, well, I'm not very good at these sports, but I'll play because I have to, but I was just instantly just like, oh, I'm already behind a curve here. Right. And it's not because like, you know, it's not because like my parent I had a single mother who didn't think to like put us in t-ball right but it's because like I have horribly flat feet and I've just grown like a foot and a half in the last year like I'm in pain

yeah like I'm literally the definition of growing pains right now was your mom dating like at this point no she no she you know she only dated like maybe one other guy for a brief moment Frank and that was it yeah no no no I don't I don't remember no I remember just but she never really dated I remember like a dude for a little while um but no she uh she ended up finding jesus and dated him for a long time and that was it really yeah she got real religious got real religion how religious found religion like pat robertson on the tv like did that had to affect you like thumping that affected you yeah yeah i mean but like what what what a what great stuff to rebel against you know What kind of, give me an example of something that was just like you don't see unless you have an overbearing sort of, not I won't say overbearing, but a very religious mother who's sort of like, I'll give you an example. I'll give you an example. In order to be allowed to go to the 1993 edition of Lollapalooza, I had to fill out a religious book, like a question.

and answer like learning book of what you were going to do there no not about what i was going to do there just about the bible so it was like read the bible and then answer all of these questions and like i didn't even half ask it i think i like one eighth asked it and eventually you know a lot of religion no no no no it made you sort of when somebody forces you to do something it makes you kind of pushes you back doesn't it inadvertently at the time it just made zero sense to me it really just didn't, I didn't understand how you can be one way and then all of a sudden be like another way. And that to me was just, and of course, looking back now, you know, there are tons of stories about people finding God and then all of a sudden devote your life

to, you know, Lord and Savior and all that stuff. It's fine, whatever. And that's great. Whether you don't, whatever, it was just too much. It was just too much. And that really turned me off of the idea of well it has to just be this god and all the other ones are wrong right yeah yeah that's and that that i that i just i don't i don't agree with what was it's a great thing yeah i don't know if there is or not right i don't i don't think anyone really does right until you know and we don't know until we're not here okay but i do believe that life throws so much stuff at you that there is comfort in knowing that there is someone else who is looking out. And that faith in, it's all going to work out, whatever gets you through the night,

as a wise man once said. Right. And believe what you want to believe. Let me ask you this. Yes. I'm a Sagittarius and never on Sunday. That's a two-family there. How did old Tom take this?

When religion, he's hearing about this. He's got to be hearing, like, religious mom over here, ex-wife. And you're probably chirping at him saying, I can't deal with it, the religion, all this stuff. Did they ever, was there, did they ever talk about that? No, I mean, I think more than anything, oh, God, I mean, I don't really remember talking with him too much about that in particular. How's your mom? Religious. Great. Let's move on. It's going to get it in an out, burger. That would be amazing. That would have been amazing. No, you know, I think more than anything else, it was probably just along the lines of, hey, look, you know, you got to live with her.

If you ever need anything, you ever need to talk, I'm here. But, you know, just be a good kid and, you know, I don't know. He's a rubber. Yeah. Would he ever say something like that? Oh, yeah. Oh, he would say that. Don't be an idiot.

Oh, yeah. Yeah. You don't want to be three years old going to your folks wedding. Oh, yeah. Or you don't want a three-year-old. Yeah, yeah. Oh, absolutely. Right.

He would say he was good like that. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Because at that point, he was saying, like, hey, look, sorry, but that's how you got here. So don't. So, and it was the best thing that ever happened to me. But I want more for you.

Okay, so you got religious mom. You got school, your backup goal, you're giving motivational speeches, you're part of the theater group, everybody's doing it. You're kind of finding yourself, you're popular, you're decent looking, your growth spurts, you have stretch marks, your knees are in pain. Wow, you've been listening. Yeah. That's great. So are we recording now? Yeah, now let's start.

But now the flip side is, at this point, dad's famous. Well, that, yeah, that had been, been sort of always sort of going in the background. Right. Because even when I was before my parents split up, you know, he had been on bosom buddies. Right. And so that was a thing. Do you remember the theme song to that? Yeah, no, it's Billy Jolson.

Yeah. So was he one of those guys who was like, hey, come on set, experience it. Were you always doing those fun things? Again, it wasn't like, hey, come experience this. It was, hey, this is what I do. This is what my life is. And yeah, be around, you know. Did you want to be around? Yeah, of course. I mean, I had the luxury of being able to, my dad had a job in which I could go with him to work. And that was totally fine. What was the one person you remember meeting that you were the starstruck for the first time? Like, I want to meet that guy you're working with. Or I want to meet this guy. Somebody.

Like, I'm sure you weren't impressed in the beginning. Kids are never impressed. But then there's that one person that dad's working with. And I'm impressed by that. Oh, um, I don't know. I mean, if I was being totally honest, I was probably like Madonna. Because that was like right when I'm like 12 or 13. Well, what was that?

League of their own. Oh, yeah. So I'm like 12, 13. Did you get to meet Madonna? Yeah, of course. Of course. Did you kiss her? Did she give you a little hug, a little kiss?

I'm like, sit on my lap every now and again. She would sit on my lap every now and is she playing backup goalie for the first? Well, this is even before the backup goalie. I mean, I was like in, I think I was like in middle school. But, yeah, that was probably like the, yeah. You remember that. But that, dude, come on. That's more.

Oh, my God. here is the icon of the opposite sex right now yeah pointy bra thing the zeitgeisty you know fogg the blonde ambition it was that they filmed that in evansville indiana yes they did that's where i grew up that were you there i would show up but i never got to meet anybody i was just you know i was there i was in evansville i was in evansville at bossy field yes that was that's that's that's 10 minutes from my house no shit that's where i grew up man newburgh indiana about 15 minutes from evansville and bossy field which is still there and every time i'm there i always drive by bossy field where

they film league of their own and it's like still one of them besides being i think the number two most obese city in the country um and manufacturing the largest coffins in evansville indiana and i love it i love being there but but league of their own and that and don't and don mattingley's yeah maddingley's restaurant's not there anymore no but it closed makes sense it makes sense it wasn't great food um yeah you get your your drugs at hooks and your food at schnucks yes yes how did you know that well because like look snucks there is a thing one of the things that I really

remember about you know when I was really young I don't have too much you know it's all sort of vague how are we there hazy we're there for summer we were in Chicago for like the first part of the summer and then Evansville for the second part we could have been friends we could have yeah um I was older though but like when we would go on you know there was a string there

in the early 90s where it was like one summer was Chicago and and Evansville and then the next summer was Seattle and then the next summer was Buford, South Carolina. So that's League sleepless in Seattle and then Gump. Like those were three summers. Right. And so what we would do is it was summer camp. Do you know what I mean? Like we would go someplace else. Like I would spend summers with my dad and he would take jobs this is back when you know actors could do this but he's i want to do this job in the summer and so that i can take my kids with me oh my god and so i would go we would go out and we'd do summer and so we would live in these great towns and and that that was before like he was he was known he was established for sure sure um but that was sort of

before things really became surreal. And Evansville, I think, is probably where that was the first time where we went like, oh, this is now reaching like a weird thing. Because like when someone lands a hot air balloon on your fucking lawn, like, hey, do you want to go for a hot air balloon ride? And you're like, no, get off the lawn. Really? Is that what he said?

Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. I remember a hot air balloon in Evansville landed on the front lawn. and then someone came up with like a like a hay bale ride like a whole bunch of people like hey you guys want to go for a ride and we're just like no can we have some privacy and they actually needed to like get a guy to like sit out there on a chair at the driveway and like tell people that like so that wasn't not comfortable well that was the beginning of that kind of you're like wait something's changing like that's that that was the beginning of that that stuff happening but we have all of these memories of these cities. And so, you know, we're, as a family, we're just driving around and going like, okay, so wait a minute. So it's Hooks Pharmacy, because they get you hooked on drugs. And then schnux is where you buy the food. So you get your drugs at hooks and your food at schnux. And then it just turns into like family patter. And we have that. It really is. I love it. Yeah, we loved it.

It was incredible. That was like that was an amazing summer for us, you know. And that was what it was. you know what i mean it you know we had no idea that that like those three movies were going to like start a whole change it probably changed your life as much as well yeah well yeah because once you know i'm the backup goaltender then i have pretty much everyone from you know the opposing schools yelling you know run forest run at me are you fucking kidding oh yeah oh yeah now honestly you probably hated it. Oh, yeah. Still do. They still do that? It does not, uh, it, I, what I will say is, it does not surprise me. Right. Nothing surprises you. Nothing surprises you. Nothing surprises. And nothing gets under your skin as much anymore. The only time that I think about it is when I think about

what people are saying and if they only understood how inconsiderate that would look that maybe i would hope they wouldn't say things like that yeah like for an example someone uh said uh uh just the other day like on twitter's like the fucking worst for it you know all this time i've been like a fan of calling hans i had no idea that he was tom hanks's spawn and i went oh so now i'm just spawn like it's like i'm paying you a compliment because i didn't know all this stuff but now this and like and when you say that I go like, okay, I understand like you're not actually really, you know, you're not trying to be rude.

You're not trying to, but can you see that maybe that is not the most polite? I think that's what people do. Mostly, I think they say things without thinking a lot of times. They just don't think. And so that, that is the only time when I think about it, does it piss me off? No. Do I understand it? Yeah, totally.

Well, first of all, I think that. Do I care? Not really. Well, it probably pisses you off less because in the beginning and all this stuff, you're finding who you out who you are you're figuring out who Colin Hanks is your own identity and now you're a dad a husband you're a good actor you're an established actor you work you're a director you make you've you've created like this is me yeah I think it's got to be harder growing up going uh it's always it's got to always be that you know there was a there was a period there where

it was I think a little eye opening in that when I was younger again because because you don't know any better. Right. You would ask, like, did I always want to be an actor? You know, I did all the plays and, you know, wanted to accept the musicals. It didn't do the musicals. Can you sing? I can, but I don't, I don't subject anybody to it.

I'm dancing with somebody. I don't, yeah, I don't really want to do that. Go ahead. But, you know, so for me, acting was just something that I thoroughly enjoyed. I really love doing it. I love getting lost in it, and it can get really exciting and being creative like that. I literally get high off of it sometimes. You do?

Yeah, sometimes. Those moments. And when I was starting out, it was the thing like I wanted to do. And, you know, I remember my dad sitting me down and basically saying, like, look, if this is something you really want to do, I am telling you that you can do it. Like, you are good enough to maybe have a career in it. but you have to want to do it more than anything else. If there's something else that you want to do a little bit more,

then maybe you need to do that. Great advice, wow. Which is really good advice. And so it got to the point where I like, you know, was trying to decide, okay, is this really the course that I want to take? And I said, yes. And I sort of never looked back. Looking back on it now, I didn't really understand the ramble.

of what that would mean going down the road, this sort of the, the, the, the onslaught of, oh, so-and-so's kid wants to do this and what that really is like to go through. Sure. And maybe naively, I was thinking, like, oh, well, maybe that'll be like a thing for like the first few years, but then eventually, it'll be fine. And I think now I've realized, like, no, this is not anything that will ever go away. It will never escape it. And it's only increased the older I get and the more I look and sound like the guy to this day. So I go to events, you know, like big public events sometimes when, you know, he's like getting an award, a metal, a shiny thing. you know, and we'll just be around like a bunch of people and I'll just have, you know, all these

people come up and he says, oh my God, you look and sound just like him. And I just sort of have to say like, no, I'm actually younger and much better looking and just try and move on. Do you know what I mean? I just try and just use it as quickly as I can. And let's, can we talk about it? Let's talk about the weather, the food. This is a nice event. Can we just let's just let's just, let's just not so i think eventually once things blew up for him there was definitely an adjustment period where i realized that from that moment on and this was even just like in college that the rules were a little bit different for me in so much as i don't necessarily have the freedom to be you know completely uh you know you no no no not no i could be me what i guess what i'm saying is to have the animit what's the

anonymity yes to be able to make a fool out of myself in public and have it not be a thing to like i had to learn that there are people there that would say hey you know he's you know making an ass out of himself or he's really drunk and I could maybe sell this information to, you know, that kind of stuff. And that was, that was a little bit of a rough lesson. Well, not only that, but did you think you inadvertently sort of resented him for no reason other than this is what you were feeling? Yeah, sure.

But really, it wasn't so much resenting him so much as just, I think, resenting just the reality of the situation. And how that's not fair. Well, I have like a thing with my father where it's like it's always been sort of, it felt like a competition. He always felt like I always wanted to get his approval. And I think, you know, I think a lot of kids deal with that where it's like my dad was 1420 SATs, worked hard, never missed a day of work.

And here I am kind of like this ADD kid with low grade point average and like trying to figure it out and not that bright and felt stupid. And just what am I going to do? And then I found acting and then it was beneath him. It's like, you're going to be an actor. It's like, come on. Yeah. And then it was.

it was just like all of a sudden I started making a little money and then there was always this weird thing and did you ever feel like there was also that all that with the approval thing like you still wanted to get also his approval you want to show him that you can do this was there all that on top of it um not necessarily I sort of feel like more often than not it was a sort of a scenario in which once I was sort of told like hey if this is what want to do, then you can do it. So I started doing that and started landing jobs. I'm not going to land a job that's going to be bigger or better than what he's got. Do you know what I mean? And I really, you know, and everyone's like, oh, following in the footsteps. I'm like, well, no. People are just, think about it.

People are just dick. Well, those are just, again, I would label that as like, think about what it is Think about it, which is not... It's a story. They want to turn something. They want to... Not what people do. What I admire something you said, which I didn't know about, was that you would stay summers with him all he was working.

Yeah. Now, for me, that sounds like frightening to have my kid around while I'm filming and not be focused so much on work and so enveloped in my work that, you know, I'm not paying enough attention to my child and it'd be stressful, but he would have you there for the whole summers. I think that, that was kind of cool. Yeah. I mean, I wouldn't necessarily show up every day, but, I mean, there were long stretches

when I would. But then, you know, eventually you get to a point where you're like, okay, well, this is kind of boring, just hanging around. So I'll work, I'll work craft service. So I work, yeah, I would work craft service. Yeah, yeah. How old are you when you were doing craft service? I work crafty on League of their own.

Get hooked at hooks. What does it do your drugs at hooks? Yeah, you can get your drugs at hooks, you foodish nukes. You foodish nukes. But yeah, I worked crafty. at a on league of their own i love it paid um a little bit on sleepless and then i was actually like a like a full time for real's pa like getting paid to be a pa on uh paula 13 and those were all the mission i only worked i worked like a month and a half two months during the pre-production of that

and then the the first few weeks which was all mission control stuff so i was like helping wrangle like you know 40 character actors did you think when he got forrest gump and then i'm going to move on did you think god dad don't do this voice it's going to no you're going to fail no i literally no had no idea had no idea any of that was going to happen no no no idea that it was going to be what that what what what it became he didn't know no one knew no one no one no one fucking no. I mean, he didn't even decide to do that voice. That voice is purely based on the kid. The kid that did it. But would he do that voice around you all the time? No. Never. He wasn't like one of those method actors. He's like, turns it off. No. Yeah. His, the biggest lesson that I've learned

and I don't say from him, but via him is, hey, it's a long day. Show up on time. Have your lines memorized and hit your marks. and then just try and be as delightful as you can and try and be as helpful as you can and you don't have to beat yourself up i mean you can you know if you need your space do it but don't you know don't don't do it to show off do you know what i mean right um just do just do just do the work and and and show up and be willing to throw it away and and that's what you do you kind of throw it away at the end um or do you stay in it i've toyed with every version of And I have found that what works best is being as prepared as you can beforehand, which sometimes is not at all. And just trusting your instincts and doing as much pre-work as you can. But really, you know, just try to do your best. But don't obsess over things. If you obsess over things too much, then you end up getting in your head. But that is also something that I think I learned. just like doing theater classes and stuff in college where you just see people that are so overly

dramatic and they're drama students and they're just like you don't want to be like there's all of this other fucking shit and you just go like dude that does not mat like let it go that does not matter that is a huge waste of time a huge waste of energy and your acting is telling me nothing but the way you are is telling me everything do you know what i yeah um so that yeah that was just sort of like a way to to not do stuff. Do you learn lines easily? Um, when I am when it's written well when it's written well, yes. Um, when I'm in the thick of things and, and let's say the machine has been up and running for a while, yes. I, I can tend to pick it up kind of quickly. But every scene is like, oh, fuck, how many lines I have? Yeah. Okay, shit. All right. So there's these five lines

and then, and then, and what do you run them with? Uh, I don't run them with anybody. I don't like running lines with people. You don't. No, I will run lines when we're about to do it. I would much rather just sit there and write all the words out. That's pretty much, that helps you if you write them out. I have a book that is all of the lines that I have said in auditions, it's like every audition and almost every, every job, cohesively going back from like 2003. What the why just because that was how I would learn lines and so that would be the book so you just turn to the next page this is the next audition so you write a little note on the left page I didn't get no no because I know which ones I didn't get um no it would just be uh this is so fucking weird it would just be the name of the project and the date that I went in and auditioned and it's only my lines and it's broken up you know how you beat sheet like lines yeah um it's basically all of those characters lines and then the And there's, like, paragraph indentations based on, you know, the beats. And it's, you know, auditions for, what's the one that always makes me laugh whenever I flip through it?

What was the one? Was it a movie? Yeah, it was, I remember it too because it was my worst audition story of all time. Oh, great. I want to hear it. What was the Paul Walker shark movie with the buried treasure under the plane? Oh. And it's like him and Jessica Alba and Scott Con.

Into the blue? Into the blue. Wow, Rob. You don't even look that up, did you? I did. You did. I don't, you dick. I remember, I have the lines for that.

And I've been holding on to this book forever. And thank God you blew it. 21% of Rotten Tomatoes. Better than my movie. The director on that brought me in. He paid me a very nice compliment. I think he's going to be like, he actually paid you to come in. I'm like, you get paid for auditions.

He paid me a very nice compliment. He was his, he was talking about how I believe his wife was like a big fan of Orange County. And then my sort of like joke at the top before I read was keep in mind, there were lots of shark movies at the time. So there were sharks with friggin' laser beams, right? And then the Sam Jackson, the sharks did something. The deep blue thing. Yeah. What was that? What was it that the sharks could do? They were like mutant sharks. They were like mutant sharks. Yeah. Yeah. And then in this movie there was a beat in the movie where it just said and the shark swims through the cloud of cocaine and then like on the next page it says and out of nowhere comes the coaked out shark and so

I had said well you know before we started just want to say we've you've done it because we have sharks with laser beams we have mutine sharks and now we have sharks on cocaine and that joke fell so fucking flat and again he just goes so you want to read and i just went like are you serious yeah he just didn't he found a fence to it look maybe the delivery was horrible probably maybe you were like this can i can i can i enact what you said sure hey man you've done it all you got a coked out shark yeah it was it was bad but so i have that so one of these days one of these days i think it would be fun to go on stage and just do like uh the highlights and because again it's just the line it's just one character's lines so i have no idea what the other character says that would be

hilarious but you could say and that like would you say the title of each and then do it title of each and read like an hour and a half maybe turn it into a musical i'll be in it i'll do it um after each one you say didn't get didn't get get no i like i said i know which ones you you know but i got like you know fargo scenes in there i got good guys scenes i got life and pieces scenes i've got dexter scenes by the way so i've got stuff for all the shit that i did get how cool is it i fucking booked that shit yeah i booked those shit and by the way how cool is it to be like such a nice friendly guy and like working on stuff and you know you're always working but then to be able to do these roles like dexter and the fargo like darker stuff where you're you're you're always working but then to be able to do

these roles like Dexter and the Fargo like darker stuff were you like did you always want to do that something like was somebody give me a chance to do some dark shit well yeah i mean it it was like a couple of different factors going on i mean you know i was very fortunate because roswell was you know happened and and that was really eye-opening and and and the teen movie boom was happening and so you'd sort of do roswell and then i booked the pilot and then i got cast in the first movie and then we did the first season of roswell and then went and did another movie and then went back to the second season and then and then Orange County came around and that was a scenario in which it was filming during the television season and I had auditioned for the movie and booked it but then

it came down to the negotiations of you know getting the contract in place and I had this television show and technically can't really do both at the same time and so I had asked to um i had asked jason cadems who went on to make the incredible friday night lights and and the television version of a of parenthood i basically said like look this opportunity is so great that i have to at least come to you personally and ask if there's any way that i could do this and and the show at the same time and i promise you that i will show up on time with my lines memorized, I will hit my marks, you know, and I will, you know, I'll do everything that I've always been doing. I have to at least ask that. What do you say? Well, I told him, I said, but look,

here's the deal. If the answer is no, I will still come here on time with my lines memorized and hit my marks. Like, I will not take it personally. But this opportunity is so good. If I don't at least come to you and ask this question, then I'm doing myself a disservice. But I have to at least ask. Yeah, obviously, you do it. And he let me do it. You know, I didn't ask to be written off the show, but he's like, I'm going to write you off the show.

And that was the time. And you made that decision, too. That was the time when I remember people saying, congratulations, you'll never have to do television again. You'll only be in movies from now on. And so I went and did that movie, and it was great and amazing. But while I was making that movie, my mom was diagnosed with cancer. And then two months after the movie came up.

out she passed away and so that whole period where it's supposed to be super great and awesome and celebratory was not for me then they go okay more movies and all of the movies are are not as good versions of Orange County and it's all kind of the same thing because and I know this now I'm still in the fucking teen movie thing like there's no other versions of that really but that was where what my sort of pool that I play in or my part of the sandbox is over here, but my experience and my taste is over here. And I spent a lot of time and energy trying to combine those two. And really what I didn't realize at the time was one was square and one was round

and I couldn't really quite get them together. And so I spent a lot of time and energy saying no to things and not being, in these movies that would probably, you know, were not remotely creatively stimulating for me at all, but would have been great for the career, but I just went like, no, I'm not going to do that. And I didn't. And so I didn't work a whole lot at that time.

I was lucky in that I would be able to eke out work. Are you depressed for this for a long period of time? Looking back on it now, yeah, sure. Yeah, self-medicating, sure. Yeah, all of those things, you know, as I get older, I go, yeah, I totally see what I was doing there. I totally get it. And I'm glad that I did it because at the end of that, you know, and it took a long time, but I was able to stick to the, to my guns a little bit and was able to go do a play in London, which was incredibly, you know, stimulating and important to me not only as an actor, but as an individual. And then I was able to like fight for a role on Madman. And then, Then, you know, and all of that work sort of started to pay off. And then, you know, the, the bit that I have is, you know, you spend all this time and energy to wait for that, like, truly great artistic show. And I got it.

And it was Fargo and it was awesome. Yeah. But in those seven years, anthology series were created. And then they said, great, you finally got this great television show. You're only going to get one year. It's going to be like filming a movie. Okay, bye. Right.

my god so it you know it was nice to be able to go off and and and do those things that were really different and it was eye-opening because there were people that were like oh i didn't know you could do comedy and i'm like well that's okay ever seen and then i realized like oh yeah you have to like show people that you can do comedy you have to show people that you can do drama or you have to honestly be on something that a lot of people see and they don't realize that you have been doing a lot of things that maybe they just didn't see them or they weren't as successful, which, you know, people are like, you should do more funny stuff. But there was a, there was a thing in there that was happening, too, which was, and I have such

amazing respect for the way that he dealt with it, but like Jason Biggs an American pie, right? Right. That's such an iconic, sorry, he fucks a pie. iconic funny thing that is was burnt into the American psyche is now part of it. And then we all did it. Part culture. And then we,

what? But it was something that actually Harold Ramos had told me when we were doing Orange County that, you know, you got to be careful what you do in these movies because they're going to follow you around forever. And I didn't want to go do some movie

that I didn't really like or that I was uncomfortable with. in which essentially you you know there's there's a period there where movies are just like oh well if it's a comedy that just means it's just let's embarrass this person as much as humanly possible do you know what I mean like he's got to fuck a pie and he gets caught or he you know shock value he gets stung by a thing and then he's got a piss on him you know like any of these things and I just go I don't want to do that I don't I don't want that to be out there I don't want that to follow me around forever and so that decision was made and that decision also meant that I wasn't going to work

for for for a while and that's that's that's that's fine do you know what I mean now I'm not as picky because it's not as important like that kind of stuff is is good and you know I was proud of myself for sort of sticking to it but now it's also sort of like yeah you know I don't care if there's a gif of me doing something that bad. There's enough. It's just everywhere. There's just sort of everywhere. You just can't with me too. I feel like, you know what?

I'm sort of an idiot. Yeah. I like to be silly and people catch me doing silly shit as long as my dick's not out. I'll just try to not make it be so bad. Your your ball's established enough though to where that wouldn't change your career. My balls? Yes. No, I don't whip it. I only whip it out for my friends. You're both established

enough to wear that wouldn't. I say your balls are established enough. I'm like, what are you talking about? No one's seeing my balls just my friends you know i don't take it back i don't want to have you at the barbecue if your balls are not not with families or no no no just to like no no no yeah yeah keep that outside of me look not inside of you do you do you go to therapy um i will go on and off when when when the time is needed yes what stresses you out uh uh Oh, God, that's a great question. Scheduling is really fucking stresses me out.

Really? Having to schedule shit, because I'm now at a point in my life both personally and professionally where I require someone's help to schedule my life. And I fought it for about as long as I possibly could. You didn't want an assistant. No. Because once you have one, then once you've tasted that, it's kind of hard to go through. for years and she's amazing yeah and it really helps me i don't think i could deal with without her

because there's just like there's certain things when you go away for three months it is such an uptown problem it is it is but if you know i mean it's it's yes but if you go do a movie for three months like who's gonna watch my best friend er my dog there's all these different but yes but you have a family you have kids and you have this it's an uptown problem but hey i bought dirt uptown So that's what I got. Exactly. But yeah, that really stresses me out. Yeah, I mean, if I'm being totally honest, last summer was actually, I spent a lot of time in therapy.

Good. I mean, not good, but, you know. Yeah, but it was this weird thing where for the first time in my adult life, I found out that I was going to be on another season of a television show um it was the first time well let me rephrase that the second time but um it was the first time where i knew i had just got we had just finished the second season of life and pieces we got picked up for a third and i didn't have any acting jobs lined up i had no jobs lined up and i said i'm going to have take this time off yes i need this i need some time off um not only for the family but i had been burning the candle at both ends doing the life and pieces show along with

um uh this really hard documentary and i just sort of said like i need to unplug and figure some shit out right now what was happening to you um did you do get anxiety yeah i do get anxiety yeah for sure But what had happened was I'd done, I did a, uh, uh, I did a documentary about, um, the Eagles of Death Metal, who are the band that were playing at the Bautoclon. And I went with them. I haven't seen this. Uh, oh, it's on, uh, you can, you can get it. It's, you got HBO go. It's on HBO go. Yeah. Or you could buy the DVD. All things must pass. I've seen. And by the way, everybody should see that. I text you immediately after. Yeah. I was genius. It was very kind of And I was like, wow, look at this guy.

It was pretty, yeah. Well, and that was all, the doc thing all started because I was unemployed in New York. And I was saying no to a bunch of things. And I was trying to find work. And I had a lot of free time on my hand. So I'm like, oh, try documentaries. It feels like documentaries are harder to make the movies. They are.

They totally are. It just goes in all these directions and you're, and things just kind of transpire as you're. It's totally. It's like the script's never written until it's done. It's, it's incredibly difficult. And the Eagles one was really hard because we were dealing with people that had literally, you know, seen the most atrocious thing that you could possibly see. People who literally survived a terrorist attack. And the pressures to get that right, not just for my friends in the band, but the essentially strangers that I became friends with, these, you know, these people that were at the concert there in Paris.

the pressure to get that right was really, really difficult. And, you know, interviewing people that about the worst thing that's ever happened to them and being that invasive but also wanting to be respectful. That's such a hard balance. That was a really, really, really difficult thing. Like, how do I ask them this? How do I make this question right or presentable or somewhat respectful? I'm literally coming into their home with five strangers and we're putting up cameras

And you can't get more invasive than that doing the most uncomfortable thing that you could possibly do So there was that and then there was but let's also do this funny show and let's also raise these two kids and let's also like everything's cool But then also let's try and sell this movie and get it into film festivals and like the show business element of like well why don't you just come cut this and do you really need this and you know just all of those kinds of things you're giving me anxiety now rob this is you hear all these things he's doing yeah so that sent me to some therapy and what did you take any medication because you take occasional xanax when you're uh i ended up eventually needing to to go on medication yeah and that that really helped yeah made a big difference like right away how long did it take to

kick in uh about three days three days it kicked in three days kicked in and you were fine and i just went, oh, thank God. Oh, great. Yeah. And were you so anti this, anti that growing up? I'm like, oh, I don't need this. I'm fine. I'm not going to be medicated. I'm not going to be in therapy. And all of a sudden things started to change once you realized. Well, there was a period about midway, you know, when I was unemployed in New York where I started really going to see a therapist because I was just the focus in time that was spent obsessing about work and obsessing about things that were out of my control was really starting to be unhealthy. Were you sleeping? Was that was that a problem.

Lack of sleep sometimes. Yeah. And I have a hard time sleeping sometimes. And so that sort of got me into, you know, going to a therapist when I, when I really felt that I would need it. And sometimes I feel like, okay, I'm good for right now. I, you know, I'm all right. And then there's sometimes like, I really need to talk with somebody about what's going

on. Because things get bottled up. Yeah. And so last summer was really spent doing a lot of therapy and then trying not to go on medication um and then eventually just hitting a just an insane wall where i would literally just be sitting in my trailer in total darkness just like not moving and i just went like i i'm not doing this anymore like depression like yeah yeah and like almost helplessness or yeah like because things get overwhelming like even if you to you i can imagine your head spinning i can imagine you being because

i've dealt with it yeah my friends that dealt with it uh rob you've never dealt with it but i can imagine you're just lying on a bed thinking oh my god this work how am i going to do this and then i got this and i got my kids and i love my kids and i got my wife and i got this i'm supposed to go this and i'm here and i'm like how do i got a little lines i got to go back home working all of a sudden you're just spinning out of control and you're not taking it like in an intelligent way right yeah sort of a rational way ultimately it took my wife to say hey you you're not you right now you're in your head too much i can tell that you you you're trying so hard to to please everybody to please everyone but yet you're you're not moving you're not pleasing yourself you're not happy right you lose um yeah and uh and you know I said no no no

no I'm fine and then eventually she says no you're not fine you really need to talk to somebody and then you know and then you reach that moment where you're like oh my god I'm sitting in a trailer by myself not moving and I'm miserable and I'm not talking to anyone and I'm not doing anything and you know i released that movie you know a year ago and all of this work that i did this summer was supposed to be great and i'm still not working so maybe it's time to you know start some medication so it started some medication and it's it's really truly been great it helps me function it helps me um be more of myself i had always been under the impression that like it uh it changes who you are and that is such a also absolutely not true

I just read that last night again. I was reading this book, the Feel Good book. It is totally not true. It helps bring out who you really are at your core, which is, you know, that person that genuinely wants to be creative and wants to be happy. It wants to be happy and doesn't want to be anxious all the time. It doesn't want to be. There's certain things that like I have to fix this.

I can't live with certain things. And then, you know, I started meditating. Yeah. Yeah. And that helped too. I do that every morning. know. I try to do it every day. Guided meditation helps when someone's talking to you so you don't have to feel like, then you get too lost in thought. I don't mind the lost and thought. I don't mind

the lost and thought. It's very easy for me to, you know, sort of get there. For me, unfortunately, it is quite simply, do I have the time to do it? Right. Yeah. I need 20 minutes. Do I have 20 minutes? No, shit, I don't have 20 minutes. Okay, I got to go. And sometimes I'm like, all right, I got 20 minutes before this next meeting, I guess I'll just pull over and meditate in my car. So I'll do that. Do you cry? Oh, yeah.

Oh, good. Oh, yeah. It's not, yeah. Yeah. No, I do. What was funny was I was thinking, like, when was the last time I cried because of, like, some sort of outside thing? And, you know, when I came back from Paris, I, you know, had a pretty big sort of breakdown.

But the irony is, is I probably cry, I cry all the time, but it's basically just like, oh my God, look at my kids. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's them just doing something or saying something or them singing passionately to a song I despise. Like, I've spent more time crying during horrible pop songs in the last seven years than I care to fucking admit. Well, look, this has been a real treat. I didn't know where we'd go. You know, I had read things. We were friends.

we haven't talked in a while. Yeah. I was a little anxious. Oh, buddy. I didn't know. You know, I was like, oh, you know. And then, but it turned in, it felt, it felt like it just went where it did. Yes, absolutely.

And I felt like it was, uh, I learned a great deal. Oh, thanks. I felt like I got inside you. You did get inside me. I did. And I feel like I, there's a chance I could be invited to a barbecue. You're definitely coming to a barbecue. Good.

Uh, I will ask a few questions that people take the time. There's, I mean, hundreds and hundreds of comments. I saw some. I saw some last night. I was going to tweet you like, hey, what do I wear? Is this going to be on camera? We are going to take a picture and you're going to sign some posters over there that we took pictures. So these are just some questions from people online.

And they don't have to be really well thought out. You can ask any and all of them, don't, don't edit any of them. You cannot hurt my feelings. Yeah. You cannot hurt my feelings. Ask him about the movie Careless and how he chose that script and about working with Jack Black and multiple projects. or if pissed as my wife that good guys did not have a longer run. There's a lot of things there.

Careless was a small little indie movie that most people didn't see. I liked it because it sort of seemed to have a little bit of a Lubowski vibe. That's, by the way, that's Green Lobowski was the person who said. Ah, interesting. There you go. It ended up not at all being like that. And it was a great learning experience. um totally wish that i could have worked on good guys longer yeah um because i love uh bradley and

and jenny and diana and matt nicks and all those guys i mean i had so much fun the crew on that show was i miss them tremendously um but i am glad that i'm not living in dallas full time it's not a not a knock on dallas at all i loved dallas but it was it was far and we had just bought a house. I remember that. Yeah, I know. Fly knees. What is it like working with James Brolin and Diane Weist? Great. I mean, they're national treasures. Both of them. But Jim's hilarious. And Diane is just the sweetest woman in the world. Who knows an obscene amount about Kanye West.

And like... Diane Weiss does. Yeah, she wraps Kanye. That doesn't surprise me. Yeah. She's like all in on Kanye. Mike Fager or Fagerstrom. Ask Colin about his vinyl collection. and he'll definitely appreciate the inquiry. Yes. Is it a big collection? It is a big collection.

I don't know the number. A thousand? Maybe. What's your favorite? Don't have a favorite. Literally don't have a favorite. What I do is when I go on location for work, I'll bring a portable turntable, but I won't bring any records.

And then I will go out to all the record stores, and then I label what city I buy the records in and so my collection is done geographically some of your best work i i particularly laughed at loud this guy said jacoboan how has drunk history been you did drunk history by the way the mr rogers you guys got to watch the shit it's but that's the one i saw yeah and i thought it was terrific and i thought well that's that wasn't that easy to you have that you have to know the uh the sort of the inflection of the voice it's it's so much fun it's one day it's amazing what they pull off. I really, I'm in awe of what that crew is able to do. But you got to learn your lines ahead of time pretty good. Yeah. Um, yeah, they send, they send you the like the MP3s of,

of the dialogue. Um, and you, I listen to it a few times, but I don't really listen to it that much. But then when you get there, they have an iPad for you. And you just plug in and I just listen to it over and over and over and over again. And it's surprisingly harder than you would think because you don't necessarily know when the person's going to start talking. So it's actually quite melodic. You have to sort of go with the melody and the rhythm of it. That would have been stressful. There are some people that are amazing at it.

And I would not consider myself. I thought you were perfect. I thought you were dead on. Oh, thanks, man. Angelica in Wonderland, would he ever consider playing his dad in a biopic documentary? In a biopic documentary? That doesn't work. They don't place anybody in a biopic doctorate.

No, you know, I mean, this is, this kind of goes along with what we were saying earlier. So many people ask like, hey, would you redo one of his movies or would you? That's ridiculous. And, and no, I wouldn't. Thank God you see. And people say like, you know, would you ever work with him? And I go, yeah, I have. I've done it numerous times.

Yes. He played my dad in a movie that you clearly didn't see, which is fine. but yeah no that would what movie was that it was called the Great Buck Howard with John Malkovich you didn't see it no should I see it

you would you would I think you would dig it because Malcovich is fucking did Malcovich was he weird was he like no listen to me Colin he wasn't weird I want to get lunch and we'll get some sushi he is one of the most delightful human beings

on the planet gotta meet Malcovich he is so great he is so kind he is malcovich there's no doubt about it but he has got a devastating sense of humor name this movie no what you couldn't possibly know frank is that they sent my friend my comrade to my home and well that's in the line of fire thank you he told me a great story can i tell a very quick story you know when eastwood's got him over the ledge and he's got the gun pointed at him and then he puts his mouth on the gun that was balcovich told me he's like

I was just fucking around with Clint Eastwood, because I knew that would make him laugh. Did it make a laugh? Yeah, it was a joke. It was a joke. And it was fucking frightening, right? What a great lesson there. Sometimes just joke around. Just put your mouth around a gun.

Mine or Estelle, just define happiness. For me? Yeah. Happiness is just hanging around with, uh... There's a warm gun with Malcovich's mouth around it. Sarah was trying to be serious. Sorry, go ahead. Happiness.

For me, I just like being able to be around and not have anywhere specific that I have to be at and not having the phone ring. I like that. First thing, when you do when you wake up, last thing you do before I go to sleep, Lindsayak. Oh, God. Last thing I do before I go to sleep. leap is tell my wife I love her. Um, and the first thing I do is probably go like, oh, fuck, it's time to get up. Um, as I've gotten older, um, I have got, I've resorted to just like, oh, I got to get up and I just splash my face with as cold of water as I possibly

can't. I like that. Uh, I think this is probably the last one or two. We can do as many as no, no, this is it. I got to get to a, I'm doing an Alzheimer's, uh, video. I'm doing an Alzheimer's video today. They're doing some kind of thing. Moonlighted Instagram. Is your brother still rapping? Yeah, I think so. I didn't know your brother wrapped.

Yeah, he was a rapper. Yeah, he, I believe he is. Yeah, he's also been doing some acting and stuff too. All right. So he's, yeah, he had an arc on, uh, shameless and Marin. And I think he's done a few, uh, Others, I think, like, Empire, I want to say, or power. So, yeah, he's working.

He's figuring it out. Actor Robert Ben at Bobby Ben, 007. Last question. What job would you have if you were not an actor? Oh. Backup goalie for the Sacramento Country. Sacramento Country Day School Cavaliers. We were the Cavs.

Probably like in the music industry, something along those ones. That makes perfect sense. doesn't you know probably not musician although that would be amazing if that had been the case but you know it would probably have been something within that within that world Rob this has been a pretty amazing story hasn't it yep I was really intrigued I feel like it's been intriguing for some but not for all in this room well I think you learned a great deal as did I and I felt like it you know at first I was like I don't want to get too personal but that's it but then it just felt right. That didn't get too personal.

I didn't think it got personal. It wasn't like that I ever did you. I could have been like I could have gotten too invasive. No, I only showed you like two of the ribs of the skeletons in my closet. And I have many skeletons and they all have how many ribs? I don't know. 14. Sure. Is that right, Rob? Find out. How many ribs are in the human body. Oh, let's let's end it with a Google search. Let's do it. End it with a 24 ribs. 24 ribs. 24 ribs. 24 ribs. You have the same, oh, yeah, yeah. You can get them all at Arby's.

Yeah. This has been a real treat. I really appreciate you, allow me to get inside of you. I appreciate it. I appreciate you being inside of me. Did you have a good time? I did have a good time. I enjoy your company.

I enjoy talking with you. I think it's so great. I think this is so cool what it is if you're doing. I'm so glad we didn't film this with GoPro cameras. Yes. Because if you did, I'd say, really, you're just hosting a public access show. Yeah, we were doing. videos at first. And now, no, no, and we stopped it. People were very upset because there were a lot of people that love the videos, but it was just, and I just felt, you know. I think it's better not film. And let me tell you why. And this, and this comes from the documentary thing. It is so much better to get to know someone and get someone to open up without a camera around. That's exactly why. That's why we did it. But I enjoyed the hell out of this. That was great. All right. All right. Let's take a picture. Okay.

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