Inside of You with Michael Rosenbaum - Prison Break’s WILLIAM FICHTNER: Putting the Work In

Episode Date: June 14, 2022

William Fichtner (Prison Break, Black Hawk Down) joins us this week to share his multi decade journey through Hollywood working alongside legends on the screen and how it all started with a random referral while in college. Ficthner gives insight into his process and how, without fail, he always puts in the work before playing any role; expanding on this with a story of his blind character in Robert Zemeckis’ Contact. We also talk about favoring performance over appearance, entering an industry as an outsider, and not chasing people’s approval. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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responsibly. You're listening to Inside of You with Michael Rosenbaum. It sounds kind of sexual, but it's not. You know, some people think that the inside of you have had people that told me, I had a shirt on that said inside of you and people were like, that's wrong. Like, the person's like, it's a podcast and talks a lot about mental health and stuff. Well, there's always a little chuckle at the end when you say, thanks for let me be inside of you to your guests.

Yeah, thank you for allowing me to be inside of your mind, inside of you. It's always taken a little bit sexually Is it? A little bit But it's for fun I'm not gonna lie It's not that I don't think about that It's just that I really

Try not to think about that It's fun to say at the end It is fun, it's fun to say People have a sense of humor If not, don't listen Yeah Big guest today I love this guy

And if you don't know him You've seen him in a lot of movies And a lot of TV shows He is spectacular I had the privilege Of working with him in a movie We did a movie called the neighbor and uh it was a joy to work with him he's an amazing intense giving loving

person uh all in one uh and i loved his stories when you get someone who's a little older and i don't mean old like an old man i mean older just who's lived who has stories his stories of how he got in acting and how he made it are just brilliant i loved it uh before we get into that letting you know that i'd love you to join patreon uh ryan what's patron Patreon is the place where you can support the podcast. It's exactly right. You can go to patreon.com slash inside of you. There's different tiers.

I send merch. We talk with my patrons who join. And if you join, I will send you a message right after thanking you. You can get merch boxes and Q&A's live on YouTube with me. And there's just a bunch of stuff. Check out patreon.com slash inside of you. Join today. Support the podcast.

It means a ton. digging this podcast. It's a small podcast and you're really loving it. And you're like, hey, I want to get back a little. So be it. We really appreciate you. Also, the inside of you online stores around. If you want to buy cool merch, signed memorabilia, small bill scripts, Funko Popplex, Luther's,

lunchboxes signed by Tom Welling and myself, or just inside of you tumblers, inside of you. There's a lot of different inside of you things. So you can do that. And I appreciate all your love and all your help. Thank you for everybody that came out to watch the band. My band, is called Sunspin.

You go to sunspin.com, check it out, get a Zoom with us. We played two shows on a week ago, two weeks ago, and it was a joy. We played a lot of new stuff. We're working on the album. Thanks for all the support, the love. The album's going to be coming out in a couple months. We're working really hard on it, and we hope you enjoy it. And without further ado, why don't we just, why don't we get into it?

Ryan, are you doing well? I didn't even ask you today. I mean, what an asshole. How are you? I'm fine. Are you? I'm doing all right. Yeah.

Yeah, sometimes I just, sometimes you just are exist. Sometimes you just feel like you're existing. Yeah. We're not doing much more than existing. Yeah. But you know what? Existing is enough, isn't it?

You're alive. It is. It is. It's good to be alive. It's good to be alive. I mean, there's a lot of great things about being alive. One of them is you're alive. As long as you can take that second to say, yep, here I am.

I'm alive. And that's, um. That's the key. I should feel good. You wake up in the morning and you just go, oh, no, that's not a good way to start your day. But if you wake and go, hey, I'm going to make my bed. I'm going to have some water. I'm going to go outside, take a deep inhale and exhale.

I'm going to go pet my dog. I'm going to go downstairs. I'm going to make myself a cup of coffee. I'm maybe going to call my grandma. I'm going to get up my computer and see if I got any emails. That's a good one to keep doing. Call the grandma. You got to keep calling her until you don't get to call her.

She loves to hear from you. I love my grandma. I just talked to her yesterday. She's like, I'm bored at this assisted living place. These people are old. I'm like, well, she's 94 in June talking to me about how old people are. She's amazing, though. I love her.

And that's all I have to say about that. Hey, let's just do this. Without further ado, let's get into the great, the amazing. I love you, Bill. Let's get inside of Bill Fickner. It's my point of view. You're listening to Inside. Inside of you with Michael Rosenbaum.

Inside of you with Michael Rosenbaum was not recorded in front of a live studio audience. So you're seeing all this shit. You see the goalie mask. And the first thing you said was you played goalie? Because I have a Jason Vorhe's mask from Friday of the 13th. You were a goalie. Well, that's what's, you know, when did this film come out? Probably 78.

You know, because they don't wear masks like this anymore, which you did in the 70s. And then they started getting into like baseball catchers sort of things. And then neck guards. The neck thing because of because of the goalie for the Buffalo Sabres. Clint Malarchuk. Yes. That got the skate and the neck.

That changed the way to do that. But back then, this was it. And all you had on the inside of that were like eighth inch like little like pads, almost the stuff you put on the bottom of furniture legs. and you wore that that's what we wore that was it did you ever get hurt like what about slap shots i never got like if you got hit hard enough you're like like like in a cheekbone you could split the skin didn't happen to me we remember the famous goalie for the boston bruin's gerry jerry chevers yeah um he got hit so hard on his mass that he that afterwards there was such a mark on it

he took like a like a sharpie a magic marker and he wrote and then he did the little like stitches on it and then the next time he got hitting the mask he did it and by the time the guy retired his entire mask was stitches everything yeah everything just marks all over his face uh you know i was the first thing i was going to say is i think you look fantastic thank you no no you do i mean i was like looking you up and all this stuff and i know you've done so much freaking work i mean everybody recognized you from so many things but i couldn't believe you're 65 years old 65 in november that that baffles me i i just always picture you and it's funny because i i'm going through like a little midlife thing i think you know i'm turning 50 in july do you remember turning 50 did it bother you

um no 27 was the only birthday that bothered me what was 27 because 27 was like you know i wasn't in my early 20s i wasn't in my mid 20s i wasn't working i was going into my later 20s and it was I just remember, 27 was, you know, on November 27th when I was 27, I was like, this sucks. 50, I kind of had a good time. 60, I woke up and I just, I smiled all day long. I just giggled all day long. My wife's like, you want to do anything special? I'm like, honey, you know what I like to do every day?

I go to the why. Michael, why do you think my hair looks like it does? The reason I couldn't come in earlier is because you had to sign up. for your swim time at the Y. I had an 11 o'clock swim. I had to go right from there, boom, hop in the car and come here. Do you swim every day at the Y?

Monday through Friday. How much do you swim? How far do you swim? I don't really go by distance. I go by time. I'm going to guess. 30 minutes. Minimum.

Minimum. And if I have time, today, 30 minutes because I wanted to get here, 30 to 40. You know, some days are a little quicker than other days. It depends on the night before. But minimum.

30 five days a week really yeah and how do you feel i'm it's why i do it you know just you know for i i i don't know i like it when it comes to fitness in my life it's it's it's not even like a question well man am i going to work out today it's a given i mean it's just a given it's just what i making out so you're going to swim or work out every day you know i'm going to take it there's there's always going to be one day a week whether it's saturday or sunday where something's going on and it's like all right so that's the day then i'm I'm not doing something. Or I'm driving up north or something.

And I got to drive 500 miles. I'm not going to do it that way. But that's not necessarily true because a lot of times we leave here. We drive the 500 miles up to Truckee. And, you know, there's a beautiful outdoor fitness center in this area where we live up there, where we have this house. And they have two exterior lap pools outside. So you get up there.

It's 15 degrees out. There's a snowstorm and that pool's about 80 degrees. Oh, I'm in that pool. swimming with the snow coming down that's that's that's that's when it gets heaven so part of the smile on the face is like i mean you feel good for the most part you wake up and you feel good you have like do you feel like you have a lot of energy throughout the day are you one of those guys get you get tired i get tired all the time i'm always tired i think i'm eating wrong i'm probably eating wrong i'm not exercising enough i'm not doing the right things but you think swimming is is something that

i should i think i think some sort of fitness for everybody i mean i think you know you live up here in the mountains to walk these hills for 45 minutes oh man that's like yeah i don't do that i mean that would be that would be awesome no seriously you would do that yeah yeah i would do that around here i mean i'd do that with my dog at home out in glendale you know i go take a walk up in the mountains um you know to me to have my body in motion is is just i'm alive you know i want to stretch i want to You know, I just want to be, it's just everything about the way I feel. You know, the way I look, listen, you know, you look the way you look. You know, the age that we get, we get older.

I don't really. You don't care. Not really. Do you know, you're not concerned about, because most actors were concerned about our looks. So, you know, the right makeup, we got to look good. Do you want to look good? Do you always like, or do you kind of like let it go and like, I'm worried about my performance? You guys worry about that shit.

Listen, as long as my hair is not too neat, I'm happy. You know, as soon as me, you know, my wife's like, why don't you cut your hair? And I'm like, why don't you back off, Jackson? And I don't care about, I mean, listen, I got a good buddy of mine. You know, I'm this close to telling him, hey, buddy, back off on the eye shadow. Come on. You're talking about Kim? I'm not throwing names out there.

I'm like, come on, Alice Cooper. Let's just calm down. How old is he? I didn't say it's Kim. You didn't say it's Kim. Don't tie that together. You think he's going to listen to this. Don't tell you. He just mine. He listens to everything. Coatsy is a year and three months younger than me.

Wow. Kim Coates. And you met on Black Hawk Down. And you and him and Eric Banna became really close friends. Forever. Just from that movie. I talked to Coetcy almost the entire ride from the Y to here. What do you talk about? You know, we catch up. He's been out of town. So, so, you know, but Coetcy, he's also that guy that, you know, you know i got a lot of close friends and and i got one that i wrote uh my film cold brook with cain de vore uh you know cain's like my little brother right uh you know but coates he's that guy we always we gotta have that one guy where something's troubling me or something i i talk to coates i talked to him about it put you at ease put you to ease it just we're we're those kind of friends but all the movies you've done you a handful of people you become close friends with

you know not more than that it's i mean you know what it's like we work with a lot of incredible people over time but you know when you finish something it's no guarantee that you're gonna you know that you stay in touch life goes on you know or you know there's only so many hours in a day yeah and the people that we're close to and you know and then i have kids and kids and you know all of that so you don't get as many that's that are going to be you know friends forever you know it's not like you don't you don't miss them you know i've just worked with some great people in Austin and who'd you work with uh well I worked with Ben Affleck and I have before right uh and I worked with this actress uh would you work with him on

Armageddon Armageddon right and uh I worked with this actress um Elise Braga and uh you would know her from Elysium and many things she did this that series for five years about uh they shot at New Orleans shame on me for blanking on it but she's uh really incredible. She plays the lead in this. You know, you work with a lot of great people and you hope that you're going to see them again. You don't know if circumstances are going to take you that way.

Right. You know, and I think when, you know, there is something about meeting somebody and working with somebody that's incredible. But there is that thing of, like I said, so many hours in a day. And then somebody's going to become, you know, how many Coatsies have I met?

I've done 50 films. I have won Kim Coates. One guy you just hit it off. One guy that's just like, you know, all right, you're my brother. You're the same age as me. We go through the same stuff. We're so similar in life and career. So you talk about prostate shit with him.

He's a guy you could talk to me. I talk about it with my friends. I was just dealing with some prostate shit. It's fine, by the way. You know, how was that colonoscopy? I got to tell you something. When he got that, you know, just what? Hey, how you do?

There's a lot. Not a lot of people you're bringing that up with. No, not a lot. Well, me on the other hand, I probably bring it up with everybody, don't I, Ryan? You do. I do. I do. You know, I look at you and after working with you, and I loved working with you, you're a very giving actor. You're very thoughtful, but you're also very present. And that's something I really, I wanted to step up. I wanted to do a great job because I, you know, I liked you. I was impressed by you and your work. So I was always, I felt like there was some kind of, you know, it wasn't a challenge, but I was like, you know, I got to make this guy like me. He's got to like me. I'm always that guy. I want people to like me. I don't think you are that person.

You don't give a shit. You do your work. If they like you, they like you. Are you that guy? I think so. It's not like I don't care, but it's okay. It's okay. And I want to be, you know, liked.

You know, listen, I think, you know, do the right thing with people and people will respect you and like who you are and want to work with you. And that's way more important. I mean, I don't try to be liked. I just think, handle yourself in a, respectable way with other people and they will like you inside of you is brought to you by quince I love quince Ryan I've told you this before I got this awesome $60 cashmere sweater I wear it religiously you can get all sorts of amazing amazing

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It's insane. Cancel your unwanted subscriptions and reach your financial goals faster with Rocket Money. Download the Rocket Money app and enter my show name inside. of you with Michael Rosenbaum in the survey so they know that I sent you. Don't wait, download the Rocket Money app today and tell them you heard about them from my show. I look at your career and I go, this guy must have been studying since he was in grade school. He must have been

an actor from sixth grade on in high school and college. And then I looked it up and I was like, wait a minute, you studied criminal justice and all this shit. And I was blown away. You weren't even going to become an actor it was kind of by it was a little luck wasn't it i i almost went to one play in high school but somebody got a new bong and we're like hey let's skip to play let's get to the parking lot right now and then we'll go right to the hockey rink um yeah i was a uh uh criminal justice major i i i've been asked this before and and i literally think i was a criminal justice major because i you know i got into a college because i had one high school counselor it's like you know if you tried a little bit harder you could probably go to college and i'm like

come on he's like no i'm serious so tried a little bit harder and then i had to pick a major and i'm like my father suggested you know criminal justice is yeah okay and no reason you know kind of like yeah that might be cool maybe FBI or something and by the time i graduated i was just like there's absolutely no reason to do this in my life i just was not in that headspace you don't want to be a police officer you don't want to do anything no i took one police exam i took a federal exam in the federal building in downtown buffalo and i think i got about halfway through it and i thought this isn't happening but back it up a couple of years when i was a junior in school um i went to two years to a school on long island called suny farmingdale which was a two-year

school at the time an ag and tech school and then after i left it became a four year and then i transferred up to another my dad went to farmingdale did he really yeah i think he graduated from farmingdale yeah and my uncle probably the same year as me maybe because he's well he's 70s he's older than you yeah um he probably graduated 69 seven or maybe early 70s so anyway yeah i transferred to suny brockport and i was there about two weeks and an admissions counselor called and said you're you're short a fine arts course and I was like what's that and he was like it's you could take you know intro to theater or intro to music or something like that in a lecture room and I'm like nah those classes were all pretty early and by that point I was like can we get something it's after like noon

and uh so there was uh there was an improv class and I thought yeah improv sure way they had an improv class back in in 70s in yeah and Farmingdale SUNY no they it's at SUNY Brockport They had a big theater department So I had to take one fine arts course to graduate I had to have one And I thought improv, sure, yeah, let's go improv class Took the improv class, teacher's name was Sally Rubin And she was a hippie, no doubt about it

Right And true story, it was like maybe a month into the class And she asked me one day, can you stick her on I want to talk to you after? and I thought, yeah, I hope I didn't do anything wrong. She likes you, maybe. So I waited after class, and she said, shut the door. She came over, sat down, and she said, listen, I really think you should do this.

And I was like, what? And she goes, no, I'm serious. I've been doing this for a long time. And I really, you know how to listen. You know how to be in a moment. And I just don't think you can teach that. And I just think about it. And I'm like, I mean, that's like saying to me, you know, you want to go to Mars?

And I'm like, I said, it was so foreign to you. So completely foreign. And I said, wow. And then I asked her, she said, you should, you know, maybe think about taking more classes. Because, you know, you have two years left, your junior year and senior year. So I found out there were, you couldn't take the other acting classes unless you were a theater major. But she went to the department head and said, I got a guy in my class. and I'd like you to meet him

and allow him to take other classes and so I met him the department chair for the theater department and he said okay and he let me take other theater classes so all my electives then I just took these theater classes and it's not like theater departments

are like super welcoming no you know super clicking a lot of clicks super clicky they were not interested in me my hair was you know way over my shoulders I left class I went to the gym, I got a 12-pack and it just was not my groove. But I didn't care because I like the teachers and I like the experience. If she doesn't call you in her room and says something,

she doesn't say something to you about your improv skills or you're listening or I think you should take this seriously. You don't do this. Is that right? I don't. I mean, I look at it as such, it's such a pivotal like turning point, like one of those moments you have in your life, we all have them and you think, am I, wow, you know, if somewhere inside of my head, I was entertaining that, you know, like, boy, wouldn't that be something special? You know, a little confirmation can make all the difference in the world. Huge. And I had that with her. And I graduated, took that police exam, finished about half of it, did a regional audition for the American Academy of dramatic arts.

I had to drive to Syracuse and do a couple of monologues for somebody there. And then like last week of August, I got a call and they were like, you know, you're in and... That quickly, you switch gears. Everything.

You started doing plays? No, I went and started studying. I didn't even... When I got to New York, I didn't even audition for the first, I would say, maybe at least three years. Three years?

You just studied? What were you studied? I didn't know what I'm... Like Stanislavski? No, I just wanted to, you know, find a good scene study. I went to the American Academy for a year, which at the time, if you went for one year, you only went to the second year if you were invited back.

I got invited back, but I didn't want to go. Right. I felt like a lot of young students that were there came right out of high school. You know, there was just this feeling like everybody was, you know, coming and, you know, they were going to finish their scene study. class and the limo was going to pull up. And here I am working a full-time job as the security guard. I got to use my criminal justice major. And the New York Kilton on 54th and 6th. I literally had a 40 hour a week full-time job. I had no money. 40 hours a week. And I would start that job at

4 o'clock till midnight and I would go to the American Academy from 9 until 3. And I did that Monday through Friday. And did you have a passion for it? I mean, did you feel something take you over like, I want to do this. I feel this. I'm good at this. Is this something that you gravitated towards? I think I might have, I certainly had that feeling around. I don't think I would have ever got on the bus and landed at Port Authority.

Were you nervous? Did you have anxiety? Did you deal with that shit back then? I felt like everybody knew, like everybody knew what I didn't know because I didn't do it in high school and I didn't do plays in college. I took a couple of classes. I felt like, you know, people seem like they. they had so much going on.

And everybody kept talking about, then I got in a great scene study class and everybody talked about technique, you know. I was like, can I buy that at the drama bookshunders? I don't know what the hell technique is, but I got to get me some of that technique. Oh, man. So I, you know, and I think this is a little of the growing up

in Buffalo sensibilities of not putting the cart before the horse. I didn't want to audition before. I felt like I had a clue or a way. Where a lot of people nowadays, they have no experience in their auditioning. People want to be famous today. They want to be famous. They want to be famous. They want to be famous.

I wanted to be a good actor. I still do. You know, I still, I want to be, you know, it literally is a mindset of its own to have that sort of, you know, desire, you know. So you put the. work in though i think when you were there you really just sort of dove in and did whatever you could because you people thought you were good at least this one teacher or your your colleagues thinking the same thing like they want to be around you or they like you're talented your did you feel

that i had a i had a similar teacher when i got to the american academy um i had a teacher there that said you know i walked with them after class one day and he said you're in it and I didn't know what he meant and then I got into a scene study class when I didn't go back and it was not the scene study class I was trying to get in but the guy I was trying to get in had it had an overfill because he had like a two-year waiting list and he put me in a former student named Peter Thompson he put me in Peter's class and then eventually I got off the waiting list and went to like you know the class and I was there about two weeks and I'm like, I got to get out of here.

People are talking to shrubbery, you know, making connections. I'm like, I'm getting it back to Peter. But I remember being in that, and, you know, all of these things that we're talking about, and you know this, just because, you know, you may have talent or something like that doesn't mean you're going to work or doesn't mean that, you know, your life is going to turn out the way it does. But I remember being in that scene study class with Peter. and maybe this is three or four years after I got to New York. So maybe I'm mid-20s now.

Right. And I remember looking around and going into that class for the first time, and there were people that I saw that had small parts and films. And I was like, oh, my God, I saw that guy in this thing, even though it was like a one-scene part, but to me it was like, it was everything. I can't believe. Oh, my God, that's the greatest thing ever.

But after about a year in Peter's class, out of the 20 kids that were in that class, I could tell you the four or five that were in it. They were all good, but I could tell you the four or five that were in it. And I knew I was one of the ones that was in it. There was a difference. It was just... What was the difference?

I don't know. I don't know. If I knew the answer to that, we'd write a book together. Right, right. It's just something. It's a combination of presence. It's a combination. But even with that, you know,

is there any guarantee you know i was i felt a little always felt behind the eight ball always felt like i was catching up and figuring things out because i didn't do it when i was younger everything felt so new and make no mistake even though i was in new york uh i wanted to i wanted to work in a movie one day i really wanted so you didn't really want to do plays as much as you wanted to do movies. I did. I wanted to learn.

I was, you know, theater was terrifying. But I was, sure, you know, I wanted to do that. I wanted to,

you know, I worked on a soap for a couple of years. Yeah, what soap was that? As the world turns. How did that come about? How old are you?

Take me back there. 27, 28, 29. I got to, I went to a reading, which is what you do in New York, you know. It's the difference of why I say,

say to when a young actor, oh, hey, you know, I'm thinking about doing this. You know, should I go to L.A., go to New York? I tell them, I'll go to New York. Get a, maybe it's different now. But back then, get a sense of, get a sense in a way of how to work, which I don't think is really part of television. You know, you walk in, you audition, you put something on tape.

They hire you for what you put. They want you to come in and do what you put on tape. You know, it's not an exploration like, you know, rehearsing a play or the rare time. you rehearse a film. That's only happened a couple few times in my entire life where somebody like rehearses a movie

before the day you're actually shooting it. But so I, you know, did a reading, you know, because that's what young actors, you know, you meet a young play. Hey, I'm going to do a reading of a play. Yeah, we all do it.

We're just gathering for nothing. And a casting director was there from, as the world turns, from CBS. And he said, you should come in an audition for this, and I'm like, I don't know, man, it was like soap. Am I really going to, is that where I'm going? I'm trying so hard. And I'm yet, you know, it seems like everybody that I knew was getting a small part in

a film in that. So now I'm like 27, 28. I still didn't get a role in a film. Got hired a couple of times where they wrote the part out, for real. One of them was the film Malcolm X. It was a part of a cop, like literally the day before I was going to shoot it. couldn't believe it. They wrote you out. They called me the day before they go, we got to pay you because, you know, it's screen actor's skill, but it did cut the part. Was it heartbreaking? Did you put the

work in? You memorized the lines? It was ready to go. So I went in and I auditioned for something for as the world turns and it eventually worked out for this dad role of this young lead woman that was on the show. And I was like, I'm a little young young. young and we got a really good chemistry together. Is this weird? But they kept calling me back and I went and I ended up getting it. God, I haven't thought of this in a long time. The day that they offered me, the roll on as the world turns, which was, you know,

for somebody doing theater or guest spots in television in New York, it was money like you'd never see. And you're not going to get in theater. and they offered me a three-year thing on as the world turns and I got a play on the same day the fifth, Lansford Wilson's the 5th of July

at Portland. No, the 5th of July. A 5th of July. In the Portland Theater, the rep company up in Portland, Maine. And I got to tell you, it was, that was a tough call. I really didn't know where to go with it

because I wanted to get things like working in regional theaters. And I was like, I got to take this as a world terms. I got to take it. Good money. I was not at six months. I went to the head producer on it, a gentleman named Bob Calhoun. He's since passed away.

He's a lovely guy. And I went to him and I said, this has been really great. We all called him Cal. I was like, Cal, can't thank you enough, man. It's just been so wonderful, but I'm good. I'm good. It's really, and he's like, well, you've got a contract.

I'm glad. Oh, wait. He's like, I'm glad you're good. What are you saying, Bill? And I've said, well, you know, I'm good. It's time for me to go. And, boy, did he lay into me for the next, like, five minutes. You got a contract, you got.

And I was like, whoa, I'm, you know, a little lesson learned. And I said, I'm really sorry, Cal, whatever. the proper, correct, polite way to go, if you can work it out to write me off, could you please? And a year later, the casting director came and said, so now I'm on a year and a half. Came a year and a half later and goes, you still want to go? And I'm like, yes, he goes, six months from now, you're marrying your cousin. You're off the show. That's literally what happened. Are you serious? Six months later was the wedding and they broke me off. Do you remember the first time you saw yourself on As the World Turns.

You know. Because you hadn't been, you hadn't done any kind of movies or anything like that. I still don't like watching my self. You still don't like, you've never liked watching yourself. No. Why?

I'm too hypercritical. I, it's harder to watch television because, you know, a lot of times, you know, especially if you're in a series or something, a lot of times you shoot it and it's on the air like two, three, four weeks later.

I remember every, day. I remember every take. And I, you know, I'll glance it. I'm like, I don't know why to use that take. Really? Well, you missed the whole moment. I mean, you remember everything. I remember everything. What the heck did you do that for? And so then I get critical about, about what I do. And a little bit too judgmental. It's different with the film. A lot of times of film, you know, you might catch a little piece of it and doing some ADR. But you may not see the whole thing for a year. And it's a nice amount of distance um so you kind of can separate yourself from it i think so but you know some things i remember um what i've learned is that usually by the time if you see a premiere or something or

you got to do a cast and crew thing by the third time you see it you know i may watch myself and go yeah it's not bad you know um but i still i you know i'm i'm in And I mean this, I'm truly not a person that has, that has, that sits down and just like, oh, man, I, I'm good. Damn. I'm fucking good. Obviously, I was blessed. It's not. You've never been that person.

I don't think so. You, uh, is there, is there a performance? You look back and you go, I'm sure there's a couple of them that you go, you know, I liked watching myself. I was, I liked what I did. I look back and I go, wow, like maybe contact or some movie or whatever it was. Is there some project that you go, that was good? I remember liking myself in that. Contact.

Besides that? I remember the first time that I, there's one movie I watched. The first time I watched it, I literally got in an argument with my agent because I was just like, why would you think of me for that? I was so, I thought I was so horrible. And then by the fourth time, because it went to Sundance, it premiered at Sundance, and it premiered at Sundance, and then there was a cast and crew, and then there was a premiere in L.A.,

so I happened to see it, like, three times in a matter of, like, a month. And then I look back and I think, it was probably maybe one of my favorite things. Well, was it? Go. Really? Yeah. Yeah.

And now I watch Go, and if I'm flipping around, every once in a while, it's on, I can watch Go, and I'm like, yay, you did all right, Bill. I'm saying, that's good. Yeah. Well, you know, listen, I listened to fast forward a little bit.

So I make, you know, five years ago we shot it. This little film that I made called Cole Brook. Right. You directed it, wrote it, produced it, play the lead in it with Kim Coates. Yeah. And so here we go. You know, three weeks after we wrapped and I'm back working on mom and I let the editor put it all together.

And then I was, then I spent every afternoon with him for the next three months, every afternoon working on and I found out in the first couple of days I found out literally on day two of editing because we went in there and I and I said oh I remember this take and I remember that taken I remember this take and let's put that together and then I went and got us lunch and I came back and he showed me what he put together and I sat there for about five minutes I'm like played again and he played it and this was the conversation that I had with Kear and the editor I said okay I'm getting what I'm doing right now and what I'm going to do is I'm going to screw this movie up because I'm going to cut myself out of it because I don't like watching myself so this is what we

need to do because right now what I'm watching is not a third as good as what your rough cut was so we're going to pick the things that we're going to work on the next day and at the end of the day, we'll talk about the scene or two of whatever we're going to go into tomorrow. And you're going to get here a couple hours before me. And then I'm going to work on with what you did because I can't cut myself out of the movie. I'm the lead in the film. So you pick the best things of me that you can come up there. Well, I mean, just whatever.

Right. Whatever it works in your mind. Whatever it was, I found myself, well, don't go to me. Go over there. Go over this way. And doesn't always work. It's like, it wasn't working. It wasn't working.

And I got it, like on day two. I'm like, don't screw your movie up, Bill. Wow. So I had to get over it, watch myself. This is what it is. What about your folks growing up or when you're doing theater? They got to see you do a lot of theater or movies and all this stuff, right? They've seen your career.

Yeah. What did they think when you said you wanted to go into acting? I remember when I told my mother and she was like, oh, well, okay, let's, let's, Let's get to pack up some sheets and towels and things. I told my father, who I didn't grow up with my father. And, you know, it was like I was speaking Swahili. I think he just looked at me like, what? Got to remember.

You know, we're talking back in the 70s. Yeah. You know, back in the 70s, I was in high school, 70 to 74. Nobody knew an actor. You know, outside of a kid that did plays in high school, but nobody knew an actor. Who knew a real, like, professional actor. You didn't know anybody in Chick-de-Waga, New York.

So, you know, it was so out of the blue to even take that sort of, like, leap. Especially when the first thing you thought was you're going to go into criminal justice, you're studying this stuff, and now you're like, no, I'm going to be an actor. Yeah, it was, it was, you know, I mean, I even remember with friends back then.

You know, friends that were really close to me, I mean, all of them looked at me like, you're going to what? I remember friends visiting me in my tiny one-bedroom apartment on the Lower East Side going, like, you live in this thing? Because they came down with their company car for the weekend, and I was like, and I remember thinking, yeah, I live in this thing. I love this little box that I live in, man. I have the best times in my life sitting up here figuring out how to make a scene work. I have fond memories of those that is hard as it was.

But, you know, yeah, it's a heck of a journey. I don't look at you as someone who gets intimidated, but was there a time in your life where, you know, working with these big actors, having to step up, having to prove yourself? Did you get nervous? Did you get anxiety? Did you get intimidated by anybody? I got to be honest with you, and I really mean this.

You know, you talk about people have asked me over at a time, and I'm a character guy. I play specific things in movies. I try to fully realize that piece of the puzzle. But when you work with the movie stars that I've worked with over time, they're really good actors. And that's all they want to do.

And there's a reason why they're big movie stars is because they're really good actors. Right. Most of them. You know, so I don't, I don't, I can't honestly remember that I ever felt like really overwhelmed in that sort of a thing. Back it up for a second now, too. So I moved to New York when I'm 21 when I started the American Academy of Dramatic Arts.

And as I said, all I really want to do, sure, I want to learn theater. I want to work in television and I did in that. But I want to work in film. I was 36 when I got my first job on a film. 36. 36 years old? I'm 15 years. wondering, is it ever going to come my way?

So by the time it came around and two years on as the world turns being in front of that camera four days out of the week, you know, I could have swore the first six months I was on as the world turned that the boom was picking up my heartbeat, you know, because I was just terrified, you know, trying to be smooth and just, oh, ha, ha, ha, this is like horrible. But after two years of playing Josh, the misunderstood farm hand, you know, I mean, I really like settled down in a good way. Right. And not in a way that was like I got comfortable, but I got okay about being, letting the

camera be in front of me. And now, you know, and then it wasn't, you know, long after that when I got a few bigger films and all of a sudden it's a crew of 200 people and the camera's right in front of your face. And I, to this day, say it's like, it's my peaceful zone. I don't mind. Hit 250 people on a set, shove that camera right in my face, and it's just... You love it.

It's just, it's an easy place because I'm thinking about, you know, my body's in the motion of what I'm doing there and what I'm trying to do with a role or a character or something. And it's all about that. And I don't worry about the rest of it. You just don't worry about the rest of it. That's crazy because I talked to... I talked to a lot of actors before, and, you know, they're just like, oh, yes, you know, we're working with De Niro or something. You're like, oh, shit, I'm working with De Niro.

And it gets in your head. But what was the first big movie where you're working with a lot of big stars? Contact. Contact. You're working with Jody Foster. Working with Jody. Matthew McConaughey. Yeah.

Who started, he was beginning the rise of his career, right? Yes. And not at all. You weren't nervous working with Jody Foster. it just didn't just an occur to you're there to do a part that was what you did well the interesting thing about contact was that i one of my favorite movies first film mine too and and not dated no it works at all the whole thing with the father at the end still makes me cry come on it did they download her and give her the image of something so they can talk to her and it's

in the image of her dad i mean that's just like unbelievable incredible first film i did was the underneath this little indie film with Steven Soderberg um you like that you hear that yeah it's my cuckoo clock i should have turned it off yeah i like it but go ahead so i'm sutterberg uh i worked on this film called virtuosity uh where where i learned that uh they cut 80 percent of what i did in the film was denzel and russell crow and uh they cut 80 percent of what i did out of the movie and it was really great because it was my second film and I learned right then and there. Then the next thing that I got was heat. And I remember my agent calling and said, this is a big Pacino De Niro film. It's a small role of a role called Van Zant. And I read it and I said, I'm in. He goes,

it's not big. And I said, no, but it's five scenes and you can't cut them out of the movie. Because I learned with virtuosity. I was, it was, you know what has to be in the movie to tell the story. It was inconsequential to the story, the part that I played in virtuosity. Heat, very consequential. And I still, to this day, can read something and go, you don't need that role in the film. And it sometimes can make a decision whether, you know, to go with it or not. But then I did this thing called Obino Alligator. Yeah. Kevin Spacey directed it. Yeah. Faye Dunaway and Matt Dillon and Gary Sinise. so i played a couple of tougher guys and then i remember at the time back then and thinking

i want to i got i want to switch it up i want to i want to do something else and i didn't work for eight or nine months and then i was living in new york and my agent said listen there's this really cool film with jody foster and they're called contact but they're not letting the script out. So if you want to read it, there's a part of this astrophysicist, you know, who is blind. And if you want to, if you want to read it, you have to do it at the casting director's office on Melrose. So People's Express was happening at the time. I got a ticket and I came out, read it in the office, put myself, you know, went on tape, got on a plane, went back to New York. I was back like a day or two. And then Robert Zemeckis saw it. And then they flew me back.

to meet on it, and it was me and a few other people, and it was like a month later, and I ended up getting it. And that was a huge thing and huge because it really shifted gears for me. Yeah, it just changed everybody's perception of you. Well, I mean, that and it was, and it changed, you know, quite honestly, it changed the way that I worked on things because a lot of times, you know, you know, supporting guys and films, and a lot of times, those are the last parts to get cast and you start working like a week or two. And I got cast in contact and they shot

the whole Washington, D.C. thing part of it first. So I didn't start work on a five and a half month shoot until they were like, you know, it was a month away from shooting when I got hired. And then it was a month and a half of things that I was not in. So I had two and a half months of playing a character like that. As soon as I found out I got it, I was like, oh, I'm so happy. happy that I have this sort of time to prepare. And I literally lived on the Upper West side at the time. And sometimes I would cut across 65th Street between Central Park West and Columbus. And I used to pass by the Jewish Guild for the Blind all the time. As soon as I found out I got it, I walked right down the street, walked right in the front door. And there was a guy

named Rich Paddock, and he was in charge of volunteer services. And I said, could I please see this gentleman? And I sat down with him. I explained the entire thing to him. I said, I got this role in this movie. I just want to be around. I want to get this right. And he just listened to me for five minutes going, what can I do? What can I help with anything? Just, I just, and he was like, cool. And he started to talk to me, gave me some books, talked. Talk to me about other things. He turned me on to some people to go to and work with, you know, with dogs. This is before, I don't even know if I'm going to have a dog in the film.

You know, I just anything that I could do change the way that I approach things from that day forward because that two and a half months was as fulfilling to me as shooting the film. And after that, I'm like, I've turned things down over time where they came in and they're like, they start in a week and I'm like, I'll never get it together. I can't put this together that fast. I just can't. So you were very lucky. It was fortunate that you had the time to really.

To prepare for it. Yeah. Did you have ever film yourself being blind before you actually played the blind part? No. Never. All I did was. Did Zemeckis ever say, Bill, you don't look blind. Can you try that again?

No, I got to, I do have a story about that. I want to hear it. I would sit. in my little tiny railroad flat on 80th in Amsterdam and once a day for about an hour I would I got these things like you know people sleep with you get on an airplane yeah and I would cover up my

just total blackness I sit on the couch and I just sit for an hour you hear things you know people say you know blind people you know they have their senses are better well they're a little more keen they're heightened they're heightened right um i found over the next like you know a couple of months of doing that that uh uh i found that i could make my way around the apartment a little bit i found that i was much keener to what i heard i i found that it was at times really lonely um and i wondered

about that you know especially the guy that i played that was based on a real guy that had his sight and then lost it and what's that like and not having it and and does that change things and how people feel about you and what you'll i mean my mind started to run the gamut and then and then the guy goes on to be like a world-renowned astrophysicist and what kind of commitment is is that and what kind of confidence then to go through that and end up at this place in your life and how special is that? And what does a woman think of you and everything that you can imagine?

I mean, I went through all of that stuff. And then here I am with my buddy, Rich Paddock, from the Jewish Guild for the Blind. And he hocks me up with people with dogs. And then he's teaching me cane technique, which in my man cave, I still have my original cane that he gave me. Really?

Yeah. And, you know, he used to follow me around. He used to walk around the block in Manhattan. And then he would just follow me. And he would just follow me. And he did tell me things. you know and so I did that whether I was ever going to use it or not and I just had this massive preparation so we get out there and then the other thing that I did was I was hoping that I would

do this without glasses on like sunglasses and so I started doing this thing where I practiced you know focusing on something six feet away just focusing on that box right there in front of me and just focusing on it and then and then whether whatever came in front of my eyes it wouldn't make a difference because I was just focusing on that and then I wouldn't blink or anything and I wanted to do it. So a trick. Well, I was just, I was finding a way of like not being affected of having my eyes blink or something. Right, right. So we go in this rehearsal process and like we were saying earlier, I was saying, you know, there are very few films that rehearse. Robert Semeckis rehearsed this for a whole Monday through a Friday before we started

shooting. Read through the script every day with everybody and going through that whole thing. And it was like the day before we started photography. And he introduced me to Gary and Millicent. She was blind. He was cited. They were married. And they were hired as my tech advisors, like the day before that we started. And, you know, I'm a young actor, really happy to have this opportunity.

you? Probably 39, 40 but new in the world of working on film. Right. And he introduced him to me is, you know, to be, to help me with, you know, everything

blind. Right. And I just remember saying, you know, wow, thank you. And looking at Gary and Millison, who were lovely. And but all I'm thinking of is did you really think that was going to show up and not have anything like semi-prepared? And Gary Millicent and they had a dog with them

and they had a dog for me there and, you know, they had canes to work with me and everything. And I mean, after like 15 minutes, they were like... You got this. Your way ahead. Yeah, you're like, yeah, go do your thing. And they were lovely. and they were around the entire time.

And there were times where I might have a question. Did Zemeckis ever give you notes? Or did you really have not many? He just kind of was like, you're doing what you should be doing. This gets back to like going into my first like class when I was younger because I never felt my first like scene study class because I never felt like I really had the lingo.

Right. I never felt like I could really hang with anybody and talk about, you know, well, let me tell you about my subtext. I'm like, I never. that scene study class you did a scene three times maybe you did it twice or maybe you just did it once because if you really knocked the scene out of the park Peter Thompson the teacher would just go that was great man you really realized it move on I used to do everything that I could so we could bring a scene in there and just do it once because I didn't want to get up there

and like get into detail and talk about like all the tech lingo so I would try so hard hard. And I think I carried that through in my entire life about working on something. Listen, if a director has something awesome to say to me, say it. I can't wait. Man, take me someplace. I don't know. But I'm never going to show up on a set. Like, you know, hey, what do you think I should do with this? I'm always going to have a road that I'm on. You want to put me on a better road? You want to make this road go further. Please do. Wow. But I don't wait around for it. You do the work. Oh, always. Always do the work. And if they want to take it. You want to you a little bit further oh i love that or a lot of times they're just like yeah do your thing um so

did he had a ton to say to me no and that's it that was that was great you know i did i think i bugged him one day when when he had the dog sitting under the desk and in the uh set dressing came out and had a big fluffy bed for the dog and the dog was on the bed and i was like excuse me Robert the dog can't be on the bed right now and he's got a million things

on his mind and he's like why and I said because the dog's working right now and a working dog does not sit on a bed the dog will sit on the bed when he gets home

but it's a working dog he's with me right now he's working with me and he doesn't sit on a bed he just sits next to me I think it bugged him he just looked at me like all right

get rid of the thing then um oh i love it all right this is called uh this is awesome and i loved and i loved working with him he seems like somebody great to work with have you worked with a lot of shitty directors or directors that you just like uh i don't want to work with that guy again no name you don't have to name obviously uh you know i'd be real hard pressed to find somebody to put on that list right off the top of my head i really mean that You've enjoyed most of the people you've worked with. For sure. But I'm a guy that enjoys...

Even Michael Bay. I enjoy the gentleman. I love working with Michael. He's, you know... No, I know. I just say that jokingly. No, but he is... He's intense.

He's intense. He's intense. And you don't mind that. I see... Michael's Michael. Listen, we finished Armageddon, and, you know, like a year later, he's like, I got three cameos in Pearl Harbor. Come on.

Fick. You got to play one of them. just play one of them and I read the three cameos and I'm like I'll play that one he's like yeah yeah thanks for me thanks we don't have any money by the way I'm like never have any money Jesus 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 reveal the grim we are wicked and grim follow and listen on your favorite podcast platform this is uh these are i have these patrons um they support the podcast in other ways they just help out the podcast so it's called patron you go to patreon dot com slash inside of you these are from the top tier patrons who have some questions it's rapid fire sure you can answer him as quickly or slowly as you want. Zach Pappas, Zach says, favorite memory of prison break,

which we didn't really get to talk about. Because you played a real asshole in that. You know, why you got to go there, babe? I'm sorry. I mean, you were tough. Misunderstood.

Misunderstood. I do you're going to say that. I didn't even say that. Favorite memory? First two scenes of the first season that I was in because I came, I was not in season one, but then I remember.

when I got when I got offered the job I'm like wait a minute it's I just they just broke out a prison after why is it called prison break what are we going to do and there was like it's an FBI agent first first two scenes when I got to Dallas just I remembered the character and thinking why is this guy popping pills he's the FBI agent and he's just got a whole other rhythm going on and I remember the beginnings of that and thinking this I like this a lot you like playing the character I did I did yeah and it was very separate from all the guys that were the prison break guys from the year before and that and I was I was fine with that I was just walking on my own road uh Carly Shibby says oh hell yes I love this guy

there's a lot of that a lot of that a lot of people were like oh my god you got this guy I love this guy question how is it working on Armageddon did you get any real space flight education. Armageddon, I remember, first of all, it's a Jerry Bruchheimer film, so you're going to get the best of everything. And you're going to get DOD approval. I mean, Jerry's made Armageddon, Pearl Harbor, Black Hawk Down. You know, you're going to get the best that there is. I remember being in Cape Canaveral, where we're shooting the scenes where we're actually getting in the shuttle. The shuttle, the real shuttle is on the launch pad one of them and here we are 280 feet up in the air at the gantry it's like

the plank that you walk across to step in and they're shooting this stuff and i'm like this is just around when cell phones are starting to break you know and i'm up there and i remember looking at our second second and i'm like dude you got to let me your cell phone let me your cell phone right now right now i get his cell phone and i like i dialed the number and my mother picked up and i'm like mom you can't believe where i am right now it's like it's like i'm on cnn and it's about to take up i can't believe it's a beautiful crystal clear day i'm looking at the waves rolling in and i'm my hand is on the shuttle i'm on the shuttle right now that's working on a jerry film and we had a lot of that stuff you know working at houston mission control it was up at edwards air force base incredibly

impressive. Carly also says, I remember the first time I watched him on TV, a show called Grace Under Fire, played a guy named Sparky, such a damn good show. Leanne, any fond memories of working with Rosie? That's me on the movie The Neighbor. We had fun. It was a little independent movie. It was, listen, that was, you know, five pounds of bologna in a two pound bag.

Yeah. And to get that, to do that in the time frame. Oh, yeah, we did it fast. And I remember Aaron, the director. said you got to meet with Bill before I cast you he's got to you know he's got to approve you and I was so nervous was like oh shit so he met at this little coffee place and then afterwards Aaron called me goes okay he approved you like oh good god you know listen no offense I just want it I'm like make sure this guy can do it who's in this whole thing yeah yeah you're the

lead guy you want to know yeah and I ultimately do you ever see the poster of what they finally came out with that film yeah yeah like me like leering out the window like it's like it's a you know like like I have a knife in my hand I was like talk about marketing missing the boat on what the movie was about yeah yeah well what can you do not the first uh let's see Lisa Hall what was it like working on the remake of the longest yard with Adam Sandler you have any funny Adam Sandler stories Adam's got a whole beautiful group that he works with and it's all in his world and guys and wonderful people.

I kind of was a little unsure of the whole journey until the day that's, you know, because I just, you know, I just trying to do something with the character and I think everybody wanted it to be a little more middle of the road. And I got that. That's, you know, that's their choice, their movie. And the whole thing,

the best day that I had on all of the longest shirt and I had a lot of good days come on I'm playing a football player I'm a football fan I was just a lot of fun I did walk up when the camera was rolling and you had these like

300 pound guys in front of you you know when when the stunt quarterback was not in going literally walking down the line to like Romanowski and Goldberg and going hey hey screen actors guilt S-A-G not NFL I'm in

I'm in the game now. But my son, Sam, who was like 11 at the time, came to, my wife, Kimmy brought him to Santa Fe, where we were shooting the prison stuff. And Sam was with me and just kind of, you know, looking around at the enormity of it. And a golf cart pulled up. Adam was in the golf cart. He was by himself, slammed on the brakes. He was like, because we were talking about us and my son, Sam's going to come visit.

slamming on the brakes he was like you sam sam's like yeah he goes come up we got stuff to do put him on a golf cart took off i saw sam about 45 minutes later he just took him everywhere took him on in video village showed him one i took him on the set he's the sweetest guy in the world he brought him back and i was like i love you adam sam you know who doesn't just for that moment yeah what a great moment for sam come on sue burne says what is your proudest moment in your personal life and your career well absolutely marrying Kimmy um yeah you've been married what 24 years i thought you said i thought you were going to say you've been married 24 times no he's 24 times 24 times me make up your mind would you not 24 years right 24 the summer um yeah uh

though i met Kimmy uh years before i married her like 12 years before and i knew her just for a few And then I didn't, I didn't see her for 10 years. And circumstances, I refound her. So I was really grateful about that, you know, you can't really go back in life. You know, we all know that circumstance. Sometimes when you miss something, you try to go back. But you can go back if you never really had it in the first place.

And I had met this girl and she was so beautiful and then life went on. And I, and I was married for seven years and it didn't work out. And then I found a way to find my way back to her. And I'm so grateful that I got. so grateful that I that it worked out and that I refound that woman and uh so personal life that's right up there along with you know having my two maniac children yeah and um and work wise uh i just to have made to to have made coldbrook and and wore every hat imaginable and like literally flew by the seat of my pants i just to put that all together i was just you want to do it

again i i'm in the throes of it right now and uh you listen you know any independent film you're going to make you need about eight miracles i've got like four so far i need a few more and i think they're all coming together and in a perfect world maybe i shoot it this summer we'll see this is something i agree with big stevie w says no questions just a thanks for being one of my favorite actors since go. Don't think I've ever seen him not give a great performance. That's cool. Thank you. I don't think, I think that's, you know, when you talk about, like, committing, like you just do, you do the work. It just speaks volumes. I mean, you do the work. You get it when you're on set, you're ready to go. I think a lot of people sort of kind of,

you know, let me be directed. Let me kind of figure it out while I'm on my feet. You know, they don't know their lines exactly. You seem like someone that knows your lines inside out when you you don't say yes i mean yes and then you know and then there's that other part of me that's like you know and that's the experience thing that we we both deal which is you want to know it but you don't want to know it's like you really know it you know you want you want a little bit of a little bit of everything um uh i mean who knows you know we we we we try to just find that sweet spot that sweet spot in our life to be alive you know what i used to call it when i first moved to new york and started acting i remember that i used to call breaking out which is when you had the lines

and then you had an idea about something or a rhythm about something because you know what it's like if you could tap a rhythm of a character there's there's 52 things that you could get specific about but you don't need to know all 52 if you find the rhythm right because then then you just go right and i think that's ultimately what we all look for and i i never stopped striving for that finding a rhythm and you don't always feel it but you try to get close to it you you call yourself a leading man but i i see you as a character man i'm sorry character but i see you as a leading man that's what i was going to say i i do i see you as i mean you've done so many great characters but there's no reason why you shouldn't be the lead in movies there's no

reason why you shouldn't be the love interest or the whatever do you do you do you need to when this is over you need to start calling the studios i mean do you what do you what do you where do you see yourself though honestly you're 65 years old there'll be 66 this november you feel great you're swimming you got a great family you want to direct again what else is there for you do you ever think you'll retire do you think you'll be you know once i hit 70 i'm done acting or you're going to go right to the end listen i i i had one of the best times that i had this past fall i worked with robert rodriguez for two months in austin on his new film called hypnotic and i have to tell you and i'm just i have to shout out for this guy he after that two months

he instantly went in like top three all-time favorite right with right with bridley scott who i always put it at the top of my list but put robert right in there he was such a joy to work with now there's a guy talk about like there's a guy that has such a style and he's such an earthy wonderful person i never experienced anything like going on set with him because when robert would tell me something i really wanted to hear exactly what because i really wanted to fall into the world of how he makes movies i i just literally not that i didn't prepare things but everything he told me i'm like i want to do that exactly what you just said i want to try to get that So I came back from that

Let's say I finished on a Friday Flew back on a Saturday You know People would ask me A friend, you're going to chill out I'm like, yeah, I'm going to chill out tomorrow And then I want to start something on Monday I mean, that's the way I am about everything

You know, a few things have come my way They weren't the right things But it was like four months ago Four months from me I'm going a little nuts I want to be engaged all the time Yeah There's going to be a time when I'm like

you know, I want to go fishing, and that day's not yet. I want to work all the time. I want to do things. Do I ever think that I, do I think I'll ever stop, you know, having the desire to work? I highly doubt it. I highly doubt. You love it that much. I just, it's just, it's what I do.

And, you know, and as we get older, you, you know, hopefully you're better. And I just have a real desire to be the best that I can be. I love it. Do you ever, have you thought of ever calling the hippie teacher? Is she still alive? So I don't know if she is, but so I graduated SUNY Brockport in 78 and I would say probably like late 80s because I had a, well, I always had a car even when I had no money in New York. I was at a junker. I had to have a car to go to the Catskills on the weekend to go hiking or jump in some. stream always but i remember driving home probably late 20s early 30s maybe and i stopped at a new york state rest area you know along the new york state through away and i walked in and there she was what sally reuben there she was and i walked up to her and i sat with her for a few minutes and we had a cup of coffee and i told her where i was and what i was doing and i it started to work and everything and it

It was really lovely and I'm sure we traded numbers and life goes on. But I did see her one more time after we left after we left school. That's, I don't know why that makes me a little emotional. That's kind of cool. That's just, you know. So cool. It's a cool thing that just on an unexpected moment. Unexpected moment.

Don't, yeah, long time ago. I love it. This has been awesome. I love talking to you. I learned a lot about you that I didn't know about that. We didn't get to talk about on the set, which we didn't talk about, I mean, we didn't talk about stuff that. I mean, I went to your house. I hung out with your family. Yeah. And now you have a new house up in where? Up in truckie. You got to invite me sometime. You got to have a big party,

have a big bash. It's so beautiful up there. Yeah, it's like, it's like my college age boy was like, you know, this place is us, man. I can't wait to go with the guys. And I'm like, no, no, no, no. No, no, No, you're not going with the guys. Oh, God. Bill, thanks for being on. I really appreciate you. What a joy, man. Pleasure to talk today.

Great to see you. Great seeing you. I just love the stories. I love the stories about the acting class. I love the stories about how he got into acting, how, you know, working with great people. His nerves and how he, you know, the confidence that he gets and how he does it. Just his process. Yeah.

Yeah, like when you talk to the seasoned vets, it really gives you some perspective. on things because everybody's path was different. Everybody's path is different and he definitely gives you some perspective. Thanks Bill. I really appreciate our conversation. I hope to see you soon. Again, join Patreon.

Support the podcast, patreon.com slash inside of you. Go to the inside of you online store if you want any merch. I'm on cameo. Blah, blah, blah. Go to sunspin.com if you want to get a zoom from the band or you want to support the band or get band merch. I think I've said it all. I'll be in Metropolis, Illinois.

June 12th weekend with Tom willing doing small little nights and signing autographs I hope you guys join there's a lot of craziness going on in the world like like always there's always something that just kind of is devastating you know and

we didn't talk about it but all the lives that were lost just you know it kills you and there's you feel helpless and you're like you know what do we do well there's things you can do there's places you can donate there's petitions you can sign

there's things that you know we have to keep doing something because doing nothing isn't working we've got to change some minds of some people in the upper you know Senate if you will we've got to change some minds and the direction of the country and where we're going

it just amazes me how I don't want to get political but I'm just saying how Australia banned the use of certain guns and they haven't had any massive shootings since every time this has happened happens like this is they said they send the facts about like what the other countries did yeah i just i just you know want want this to stop shouldn't it be a priority it's it's children we're talking about here

it's human life and i don't know it just it's devastating so look be good to yourself be good to others and uh thanks for listening to the podcast today i appreciate you uh join us next week we'll have another great guest and spread the word spread the word on twitter instagram all that stuff do we do the handles. Yeah, they're at inside of you pod on Twitter, Ancaddy Podcasts on Instagram, Facebook. That's correct. So write a review too. It really helps when you guys write a review about what you thought about the podcast. It enormously helps. It gets us up in the rankings. It gets people

kind of more awareness to us. So that really helps. And that's about all I'll have to say about that. So let's get into the top tier patrons. Let's do it. Here we go. Nancy. D. Leah. Sarah. S. Sarah. S. Sarah V That's correct

Little Lisa You Kiko Jill E Brian H Niko

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Suprimo 99 Moore R M Santiago M Chad

D W. W is correct. Leanne. Maya. P. Maddie. S. Belinda. N. Chris. H. Sheila G. Brad. D. Ray. T. Tabbatha. T. Tom. You got through the first page. These guys have been here, though. These guys have been here, so it's easier to do that. Oh, yeah. Lilliana. A. Talia. T. M. Betsy D Chad D L

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Andy T Cody R Gabbinator David C, John B, Brandy, D, Yvore, Camille, S, the... C. Joey. Fetone. M. Joey M. Willie Feef. David H. Omar I. Design O T. G. Eugen N. Lea. Leah, Leah, is correct. Chris P. Nikki G. Corey, Nicole, Patricia. Heather L. Jake B. James B. Bobbett. Joshua B. Tony G. Megan T. Mel S. Orlando C. John B. Caroline R. Rob E. Paul C. Christine S. Sarah S. Eric H. Spring. Hi, Spring. Jennifer R. Shane R. M.R. Mark M. Jeremy V. Andrew M. Rupert. No, Robert G. And Satoichi 77. Zatoychi 77. We'll find out in a few weeks if you got it.

Yeah, I'm trying. I'm trying. From the Hollywood Hills in California, I'm Michael Rosenbaum. I thought Rod Tears over here. That's Rod Tears. And a little wave to the camera. hey guys thank you for allowing to be inside of each and every one of you that's a joy it's a joy and be good to yourself i always say that but uh if you if you're not good to yourself who you're not going to be good to anybody else are you that's true yeah let's do it it's just uh it's okay have a good day we'll talk to you Football season is here.

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