Inside of You with Michael Rosenbaum - TWD Badass Michael Cudlitz
Episode Date: February 16, 2021Michael Cudlitz (TWD, Clarice) joins me this week to talk, in part, about his growth in this industry from set construction on 90210, to acting in major serieses like Band of Brothers and The Walking ...Dead, and eventually leading to directing opportunities along the way. Michael opens up on the fragility of life and the importance of setting goals you can achieve while still here. We also talk about the idea of ‘polishing a turd’ with presence and effort, our mutual love of telling stories, and some pretty epic behind the scenes memories from B.o.B. and TWD. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Transcript
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Inside of you is what?
I don't know.
There we go.
You're listening to Inside of You with Michael Rosenbaum.
My voice is getting deeper, Ryan.
You just went,
Isn't that nice?
Well, I'm holding the ads because you started to read an ad
and then you decided to do the intro.
So it goes away.
It's one of those mornings you wake up really early
and you put on your Chebacca mask and you scare your dogs.
You do what now?
I have this Chewbacca mask that makes.
It makes noises. I put it on Instagram. For like sex stuff? Not sex stuff. I live alone. Well, you know, you could sit in front of a mirror naked with a Chewbacca mask and it makes noises. It was, you know, the noises. So I scared my dogs this morning. That was my morning. But it's been a very exciting week. My band, Sunspin. I know some of you are probably tired of hearing about it, but I got to promote it. I got to talk about it a little bit. It's just, it's a great album. I'm really proud of it. And we're going to do.
do a little bit of a contest so for releasing our new album which is now out on iTunes and
Amazon you could also go to sunspin.com and get cool merch like coasters stickers
shirts lunch boxes mugs trucker hats and you can buy the CD autographed all that shit but uh what
we're going to do is we're going to do a pretty cool contest where we give out some goodies for
free um sunspin goodies if you want to learn more about it go follow us on social media at at
sunspin band and uh to win some free merch and stuff and who knows might we might even do a zoom
or something where we play a couple songs for you so uh we're just trying to promote the album we're
not a rock's a big rock band where we made a really great album but to get out there into the
public is you know i'm using a platform such as my podcast and social to try and get people to listen to
it if it sucked i wouldn't tell you to listen to it i wouldn't mention it but i'm really proud of it
i think it's pretty fucking good if i may say so so take a take a listen have a listen am
on iTunes, all that jazz.
The handles at Sunspin band all over social.
And sunspin.com, you can find out.
You could book the band.
They could book a Zoom with us, Ryan.
A wonderful guy, DeFinnia, booked us for a picnic.
A picnic where we social distance and play an hour of music.
A picnic?
And I invited him to play some music of his own as well.
So we're going to do that.
And you can book the band.
We'll even fly across the world to see you, but it has to be the right.
time and when we're available and when COVID is safe and all that stuff. But it's exciting. It's
exciting to have something you're passionate about and just promoting it and talking about it. So
I'll leave it at that. Did you have a good week? I don't know okay week. Why is it okay? Are you
stressed still? You were stressed out the ass last week. I am. I think we're both stressed at this
moment. I'm having issues. I'm having some issues. I'm doing okay now. This is nice. What?
Just sitting here chatting with another human being. Yeah. Are you going a little
cabin feverish a little bit remember in the shining did i already do that uh you probably where you know
he says to jack nicholson's character well we had a guy this man um delbert grady you know
fine man uh good reputation and uh he came up with here with his family family man and uh two months
in i guess with the winner and he couldn't handle it he got what some people call cabin fever
And he killed his daughters with an axe and blew his brains out with a shotgun.
Well, I can assure you, I don't remember what J. Nicholson says, you know, it is part for the course.
It is part of the norm right now.
Anxiety is just like, you know, we've got, you know, I've got a lot of my sponsors who I cherish
because it's important that I have sponsors on the show so the show can make money so I could pay you and pay Bryce and do these ones.
wonderful things. And thank you patron. Thank you patrons out there for supporting the show.
If you want to join the wonderful family, I always message you after you join. It's
Patreon.com slash inside of you. Patreon.com slash inside of you. It's a really wonderful
close-in-the-family. But they've helped me through this because, you know, I'm on different
meds right now trying to deal with my anxiety. And I haven't always been one to get on meds.
But in fact, most of my life I haven't been on. And this is something that is just trying to
make me more even keeled so I don't I feel like anxious Ryan I feel like I'm fine and I use that
term loosely but I don't want anybody to worry about me I'm not worried I have a great therapist
and I'm just trying to I have that feeling where imagine someone's grabbing your shirt and just
kind of pulling you a little bit and you're like hey I just I want to relax but it's just pulling
you a little bit like I'm anxious I have to do this I have to do that I can't get it done
you know, it's almost like you're too anxious to get things done.
It's true.
You know what I mean?
I know exactly, yeah.
Yeah, you know what I mean?
How do you deal with it?
Not well.
I mean, yeah, but I know what you mean.
Like you sort of, you're so anxious about doing everything that you just do nothing
because you're worried about I don't have time to do all of the things.
So I just got to sit here and not do anything.
Wow.
That was articulated well because I understood you completely.
Maybe because it's my mind.
Sometimes a run helps, sometimes the guitar session helps, but then it's, these days it's hard to fully get rid of all of it, I've found.
Yeah, and the more you have on your plate, the more stress, the more, you know, but, you know, look, it's good to be busy.
I, again, gratitudes, man.
I always say I got a roof over my head.
I got two great dogs.
You know, and the stress of my old dog is probably kicking into my psyche a little bit.
But, you know, I'm blessed.
We're all blessed in some way.
You got to find something special and everything we do.
And I'm very grateful for this podcast.
I'm grateful that the people who do listen, my listeners, tune in and want to hear what I have to say and want to hear what the guests have to say.
Would I love it if, you know, the big guests that get tons of numbers would bleed over and people would continue to listen like that particular guest?
Sure, but I can't control things, Ryan.
We can't control things so we have to let them go.
like hey this is what it is be grateful move on enjoy it while at last be present be in the moment
so i urge you to try and be in the moment take a walk um not you the proverbial you i'm not exactly you
yeah fuck man fuck uh thank you for listening to the podcast guys uh you know please write a review
it helps more than anything uh what are the uh handles oh they're uh at inside of you pod on
Twitter at Inside of You podcast on Instagram, Facebook, YouTube.com slash Inside of You with
Michael Rosenbaum. And they're right here in front of me. So you can see them if you're watching
the video. And if you're listening, I also urge you to while you're listening, play the
YouTube. You know, we get a view for that. And vice versa. I'm excited about this guest because
I was a big Walking Dead fan. He's got a big following. And I didn't know him at all. Some of the
guests I don't know at all. And it worked out perfectly. I thought that.
there was a steady flow of conversation conversing.
And Michael Cuddlitz is a great guy.
He's got a new series called Clarice.
It's, you know, obviously Silence of the Lambs.
And it's really interesting.
I think he plays a detective.
And he talked a lot about Walking Dead, about conventions, about all the stuff.
So if you're a fan, you're going to love it.
But I urge you to stick around for other episodes.
And maybe just maybe you'll like the show when you want to stick around and tell your friends.
And that's, it's all word of mouth.
every actor and their mother started a podcast during this epidemic pandemic and i've had this
podcast for two and a half years now so i have been here done that so i urge you to uh follow us on
all these things and you know uh i think we should probably get into our uh wonderful guest
shouldn't we let's do it let's get into michael cudlitz it's my point of you you're listening to
inside of you with my
Michael Rosenbaum
Inside of you with Michael Rosenbaum was not recorded in front of a live studio audience.
You're in Montreal, Toronto, where are you?
Toronto.
Toronto.
You see me pretty good, huh?
Yeah, it's good.
Dude.
To be working right now is insane.
And we had a really great first half, and nobody got sick.
and this is for Clarice
yeah
dude I'm so pumped man
I'm a huge silence
of the lambs fan
I am like
you know I'm one of those guys
that like watch movies
and memorize lines
and then giving impressions to people
and they're like God
this guy doesn't have a life
you're not that guy
but I'm that guy Michael
I'm that guy
Clarice 6 foot 4 120 pounds
Lewis friend
you know I remember all that shit
like what was the thing
where he goes
oh agent staring
You think you can dissect me with your blow up a little tool?
You're so ambitious, aren't you?
But you know what you look like with your good bag and your cheap shoes?
You look like a rogue.
A wild hoarse in the row with a little taste.
The magicians gave you a little info bone,
but you're really not one more generation from pure white trash, are you agents telling?
That actually you're so desperately tried to share.
I knew the whole thing.
I'm a loser, Michael.
You don't do that, do you?
You don't memorize lines.
I don't. I have enough trouble in memorizing my life.
Yeah, me too.
by the way it's been one of those days right now that i got in i'm so out of it today that i actually
tried to put my seatbelt on in my chair here you put your seatbelt out yeah there's no reason for that
you're afraid you're gonna fall out i'm afraid this is going to be such an intense uh an interview
that uh so look i've always enjoyed your work man i you know it's a treat to have you on
and like you know you see you in southland and you see you in and all these i mean you have
the thing is with your resume you're one of those guys
you're like a real man i strive to be a real man michael but you build shit i'm striving to be a real man
dude you build shit you're from new jersey i mean these are real man essentials but no you've done
so much work like i look like the the list of work like even one episode one episode one of those you
just seem like the guy who just wants to be on set wants to work this is what you love am i am i wrong there
I used to joke.
It was a time when I was doing a lot of guest spots.
And I'm going to change my glasses.
Do it.
I got something out of that I can't really at all.
This is now time while Michael Cuddlitz changes his glasses.
Those look good, too.
Was those the same?
Yeah, I actually bought new glasses here before I left,
and I got them just before I ran back home.
for six days.
Right.
And I'm pretty sure I left them at home.
Well, you can have somebody send them and then sanitize your hands.
Yeah, probably just, they're like, they're cheap.
There's a, I'll probably just get another pair here.
I don't get about coming two weeks.
Well, I want to get back to what you were saying about those roles, but also, are you
the kind of guy that makes a lot of money now because you've worked your ass off and
you deserve it and you've done all this stuff, but do you still like cheap things?
Because I still love deals.
Yeah, I don't, I don't even get, yeah, yeah, I live pretty frugally.
Um, yeah.
Why is that?
Why is that just because you're...
I don't know.
I mean, I grew up in New Jersey, pretty blue collar.
You know, my folks each had two jobs growing up.
And, you know, I worked my way through school doing construction.
Did construction as my day gig when I was trying to get my career going.
And I don't know.
I guess I just, you know, I saw a lot of people, as I'm sure you, you know, you've been doing this a while.
We know we have friends that are incredibly, incredibly talented that,
just stop working one day.
And it's not because they choose to.
It's because they just stop working.
And I don't know what the math is on it,
but I'm very aware that there's potentially a shelf life on all of this.
Yeah.
So I just try to focus on the work.
And, you know, I've been really, really fortunate.
Started directing a couple of years ago.
And, you know, that's insane to me that they would even give me a chance
with the way that
there's so many great directors
that are not working
so to come into it new
in my 50s
and just sort of be like
all right
you know they're giving me a chance
which is crazy to me
so I just sort of feel real blessed
to be doing this still
and people still want to watch
Well, you know, it's fine.
Well, you're incredibly humble, but, you know, you look at the IMDB and you look at all
these things you're done.
You're like, holy shit, Ryan, my engineer, editor friend, sitting there and going, God,
this guy's done it all.
I mean, you've done.
I mean, this guy was building, like doing construction on Beverly Hills 90210.
Then was on 24 and lost.
And first of all, when you were working on Beverly Hills 90210, did you ever see the stars, like the big
stars?
And how old were you when that happened?
I was, uh, I was out of college.
So I was in
97,
87, 90.
I was probably 25.
Did you see Dylan and those guys?
I'm friends with all those guys now.
I mean,
I just talked,
I missed,
I missed Jason.
He was up here shooting private eyes.
And because of the COVID stuff,
we weren't able to actually hook up.
And we were going to,
we're going to,
at one point we said,
all right,
before you get out of town,
we're going to go grab a coffee.
and take a walk and, you know, be outside
and socially distanced and but be able
to hang out.
And it might have not happening because my work schedule
up here got so insane. But
I've
loosely kept in touch with
everyone else.
A little more with Jason. I was
very close friends with Luke.
Our kids grew up together.
The ladies I see
in passing
every once in a while.
Gabrielle lives in my neighborhood and we're friends um uh that's great rosen i just spoke to him
recently i can't keep in touch with all those guys basically i mean when you you see a guy your
colleague your peer like somebody like and i i didn't even know we're going to go there but you know
after luke's passing it's so sudden and you're like i mean to me that just puts everything in
perspective and makes you think like hey it really is and these these thoughts are sort of ephemeral like
I wish you think like that long.
I mean, obviously you can't dwell on things, but to know that, hey, like that, it's over.
Like that, it is over.
So what do we do?
We got to live every day and we got to, and you think those things.
And then you forget that.
You kind of go back to your same shit, right?
We all do that.
It's like, New Year's resolution.
It's like, oh, I'm going to work out and I'm going to not masturbate as much.
And I don't know why I went there.
But you know what I'm saying?
So, I mean, how do you approach those things when you see a colleague or a friend like
that how do you deal with that stuff are you pretty like solid like in terms of like upbringing and how
you deal with problems because i'm kind of all over the place and i'm i'm i think i'm kind of all over
the place too you know at times different parts of you're like coming to focus in different ways
and um that was huge you know the loop thing and i i don't i don't uh i'm perfectly fine talking
about this now um but at the time i wasn't uh i wasn't talking about um my
friendship with him and what an amazing person he was because there were a lot of people who
um were taking advantage of that um because there's time to get in the press and that sounds
shitty but i saw it and i'm not talking about his close friends there are there are close friends out
there is that that were much closer than me yeah that loved that man and and you know gave
wonderful tributes so i'm not talking about that at all but because i wasn't that close to him
I was very aware that this is, you know,
my relationship with Luke was very close
and very personal and wasn't in the press.
So why should my reaction to his passing
be in the press?
Yeah.
If for no other reason than to put me in the press.
Right.
And that just seemed kind of fucked up to me.
So I didn't do any of that.
So I haven't really talked about his passing.
And for me, it was a huge,
a huge wake-up call
because we're,
you know,
we're close in age.
I'm older,
which is he to make some more like,
holy shit.
Yeah.
But he passed from the same thing
that my mother-in-law
had just passed from two years ago.
So like six months
or eight months prior to his passing.
I get the,
I'm sure,
but I don't care.
Not shortly after my mother-in-law passed.
Luke passed.
and it was the same exact thing
and I was just like
that's not
that's supposed to happen to people who are much
much older
and you know
the fact that it did happen
was as you said
a huge wake-up call
and you sort of just go
yeah you need to
you need to
you need to have your short-term goals
as long as you long-term
as well as your long-term goals
if you only have long-term goals
you might not live to see them
that's right
no matter how you're working
So, you know, the, I don't know who said this, but there's a quote that says, you know, life is what happens while you're waiting for your life to begin.
And a lot of people do that.
They're like, oh, oh, I'm going to, I'm going to, I'm going to, I'm going to, I'm going to, and you can't, I'm going to for the rest of your life because you are, you know, and you have to sort of live, at least partially where you are right now and enjoy that time.
otherwise you're going to miss it wow i love that i you you can't i'm gonna for the rest of your life
you're never going to do it i mean it's so it's it's really true it's you know i can i'm gonna as long
as you are right right right right there is stuff going on now absolutely have the long-term goals
as well yeah i just feel like uh i go outside sometimes and i just i force myself i'm like
why can't you just like look up at the sky and the trees i'm like because they're there they'll
always be there. They're fucking trees.
It's a sky.
And then you're like, that's 9-11.
That's the Twin Towers. I mean, I grew up in New York, I grew up in New Jersey, sorry,
born in New York, grew up in New Jersey, been in and out of New York City, my whole
youth and as an adult. And never did, you know, never did the World Trade Center,
never went up into the World Trade Center just to see the view, the observation, never did
Statue of Liberty, never did Empire State Building.
because in your mind that's always there i can always go do that tourists do that and i regret that
um so now i kind of i've been real fortunate with with what's been happening in my career lately that
i've been able to travel the world a lot and i i try to go see all the wonderful dumb you know dumb
tourist stuff that i can't like the cnn thing you go see the arch well at toronto the cnn n thing
right cnn tower exactly yeah you better be up there i'm actually going out there if it's open back up
after my current quarantine is over if they're doing any kind of social distance thing there.
But I'm going to do that before I get out of here.
Yeah, I could just see that.
I think that's important to do things that you don't.
I just, I do that all the time.
I just procrastinate and I just, you get caught up in your world.
You know, my therapist always said, Michael, your inbox is never going to be empty.
It's never going to be empty.
You've got to just like, let it go, let things go, do things be present.
And I've definitely gotten better.
I've definitely gotten better.
I think this podcast doing this has forced me to be present, to have real conversations.
And I think it's a blessing in disguise because I didn't even really want to do this.
And then I started being vulnerable and like real.
And then all of a sudden, people are writing letters.
And I'm like, really, this helps you?
I didn't, how am I helping you?
Me?
It's impossible.
It's got to be Ryan, my engineer.
So, yeah, I like what you said.
And I'm going to quote it repeatedly after I memorize it.
I have to take the time to memorize it.
Just don't do it in Anthony Hopkins voice.
Yeah, yeah.
Oh, yes, I will.
Never say you're going to.
You should.
You're living for tomorrow means not living for today.
And then do this after.
Yeah, at the same time, we did the thing.
Oh, man, I love that.
You know, I know you auditioned for band of brothers and you got it and, you know,
you just changed your life.
I also tested for it with Tom Hanks.
And I remember the building where I walked in and goes.
You were probably there that day when.
Spielberg.
When the role of.
people who were who had sort of at the beginning of their career then there were all these sort
of there was eight or nine superstars that were in there and we were all kind of going well we're
not going to ever get hired yeah i i you know what i i remember going in there and the landtana
building yeah was that it i remember it was just like this little room you went into a room and then
there was another room to the right right you go in and tom hanks was like get in here
and he just sat there and we read and then i came back and he was mixing and matching and he got you're
He goes, he goes, how do you feel?
I feel good.
He was just so sweet.
And what do you remember about the process?
Because at this point, you really were still at Cal Institute, right?
Yeah, I'd gotten, I'd just gotten out.
That was 2, 1999.
99, yeah.
Because we started, well, actually, it was probably 1998.
So you were like 29 or 30?
Yeah, no, 30.
Oh, 30, I think it was 35 when I did it.
Oh, wow.
You look a lot younger.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
That's been a blessing.
Yeah.
Awkward at times, but a blessing.
I remember, like, all of it.
And it was insane.
I was doing, I was working on sitcom at the time, doing just a day gig.
And they let me out in the morning to go do it because they knew what it was.
But they were like, if anything else comes up with this rest of this week for it, you can't.
so I let them know that
because we're filming
taped on a Thursday and a Friday
and so
you know Meg was like
yeah if it goes any further
it's not you're not going to hear anything
for a good couple of weeks
you know so the first thing was happening like we went in
and then they did as you're saying that mix and match
part of it and there may have been
it may have come back twice
I may have
come back a second time to see Meg
because they read us all for the same
two or three parts initially
that were not the roles that we were going to play
they were just stuff that was more flushed out
I don't know if you remember
some of the stuff we read was like
was stuff that was not in the show
it was stuff like back in town
it was in Dacoa before they left
and went overseas and it was in real time
and it wasn't just training they had like
it was kind of what they did in the Pacific
it was some of the slice of life at home
and then the slice of life of training and stuff
and they're playing around
I think with that early on
And then I think they realized they just need to do just the men in training with each other and build that relationship.
But I remember we went in and I read, I think the Compton stuff, the Buck Compton stuff was the stuff we read because it was a nice scene and a big monologue.
So you're kind of like, they were like, just play with it.
Right.
Because we weren't auditioning for Buck Compton.
Right.
You know, everybody was reading the same two or three scenes.
And then when we came back, it's when we got the different materials.
and he started splitting us up and mixing a match in and, you know, certain roles.
And there were some, you can even see what the guys, the way they looked like at the time,
you know, sort of dark air and lean and shorter.
And there was like four or five guys that were almost interchangeable in the audition process.
And then there were some guys who were definitely, you know, your bucks and your bulls.
And, you know, and those guys that were iconically described as,
or were described iconically as certain sizes.
and, you know, James Maddie, who played Perconi,
who's much, much smaller than me.
I love you, Jimmy.
It's not an insult.
You just are.
There's no way he would have been hired to play Bull or Buck.
And vice versa.
There's no way I would have been hired to play preconti.
But there were, it was a chunk in the middle that sort of was interchangeable.
I think those guys were kind of slugging it out for, you know, the same or different roles in the same group.
And then I remember when we all got back
and we got called in for our mix and match
callback.
How nervous were you, by the way?
Pretty nervous.
But probably not as nervous as I should have been
because I was so stupid.
I didn't really know what it, you know,
we didn't really know what it was yet.
We know, you know, it was Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg.
So initially we needed to something like this,
you're kind of like, this is going to be a career changer.
And I say this with all respect because
comes back around
I didn't give a shit about these guys
like in the sense of like some sort of
historical context or the families
or some legacy
I was like fuck this I'm going to fucking work with
Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg
is going to be great for my career
blah blah blah that's the
first thought because you're not
you're not seeing the whole project in his context
once we
we went through
we paired up mixed and mashed
and Stephen was actually at the final
on filming an old VHS or probably whatever the state of the art thing was at the time
and he's like doing handheld stuff and kind of moving around us and everything
and we came in and there was a bunch of guys there
who were auditioning who were stars and then there was a bunch of us who were not
and they obviously made a very specific choice to go with people
who were not associated with any other things necessarily in their career
except for David Schwimmer and choose sort of no-name guys to become these guys.
So people would know them as that, not go, oh, there's, there's, you know, whoever played
that role is doing that.
Why don't they do that more?
Sorry to interject, but why don't they, to me, they do it in horror movies, right?
They do it in horror movies because no one gives a shit.
If it's scary, I'll watch it.
I don't care who the fuck's in it.
But they have to put these huge budgeted movies that all go to the big actors.
No one cares.
Make a comedy with funny people.
I don't give a shit if they're not.
I mean, Kristen Wigs amazing, but you know, if it's a funny script and you find some
no names, you're going to save a shit ton of money and make a funny movie.
Nobody really cares.
They have to put, like, something just happened, like I got, there was a role, and they gave
it to someone huge.
And I'm like, why?
You didn't need that person.
You got your money.
I'll do it for 5,000 cents.
I've had things come to me where I'm like, what are you doing?
No.
I mean, like, thank you.
I appreciate the offer.
Go hire somebody else and pay them really well.
Like, you know, I don't, I don't have time for this.
I don't, I mean, it's not that I don't need it.
I mean, you know, I need to keep working.
We all do.
But there are roles that I look at and there people come to me sometimes and offer them.
And they're just offers.
And they're like, hey, we want you.
And I'm like, I don't, this is not going to help my career.
I'm not going to really make, you know, that much money on it.
But it will help someone else's career.
Yeah.
Like it'll change someone else's life.
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But getting back to that other
The story with the band, yeah
The Band of Brothers
The you know
When it was all said and done
And then when we got the scripts
That's when you realize
Holy shit
This is based on a real book
And these are the men
And these are the interviews
And I can contact the family
And I can contact people who knew him
And you know
As I was told early on
My guy had passed
So I was talking to all his friends
talking to one of his friends one day and he's like
why don't you call him and ask him this
and I was like
excuse me
he's like
why don't you have you talked to Bull yet
and I'm like
well
one of us is wrong here
and I don't want to make you nervous
but I was told
that he passed away
and they're like when did he pass
away? I said well I was told
he passed away about six months
ago. Oh. And then I'm told, well, I talked to him two weeks ago, so I don't think your information's
correct. What? So I go back, of course, I'm like from freaking out. I just got chills. I got,
look at this, the hair on my arms, because I thought like, oh, God, he's going to be emotional.
It's like, I didn't know my buddy died and he's alive. Yeah, yeah, no, no, that's what I was put in the
middle of. I'm like, well, uh, okay. My mind is like, how the fuck do I figure this out? So then I
And then I'm like really, you know, sort of in a bind and a loss and in a weird place.
Like I called production.
I call Tom's company.
And I'm like, I just found this out.
And I don't think I'm the one who should pursue this.
I think you guys should make the initial phone call.
And they were like, yes.
Because we'd also like to go interview him because we did not know.
Right.
And then we found him.
Good work, Michael.
Good work.
it works. Thanks for finding out he's alive.
We're a huge production and we couldn't figure that shit out, but I'm glad
you called his friend.
Yep. And then, you know, and then ultimately,
I had to, you know, I had to make, reach out and call him.
And that was possibly the most surreal experience.
I literally, I was so nervous. I think I rehearsed picking up the phone and like,
what I was going to say first
because I was like
how do you
how do you
what's your opener on that
I am the guy
who's going to play you
in the movie
well I mean
what the movie
you don't even
really know about
because you were dead
up until 10 minutes
ago
um
how does you fucking start that
as a kid
you know
it's I
probably the most
adult thing
I was forced to do
uh
as a as a kid
you know as a kid
I was 35 year old man
A kid, as far as I was concerned, talking to, you know, an 80, 83-year-old World War II vet.
Jesus.
So he was wonderful.
Very short in his answers in our first encounter.
Was there a lot of blood?
Yep.
A lot of fighting.
Hey, so, you know, what do you do?
Tell me about the war.
Like, you know, what are the, you know, like, what are the opening questions?
I've talked about this a million times.
But hasn't talked about it at all.
That's the amazing thing.
And it's a person who has a personality who doesn't really talk.
Wow.
So he's not really communicative even when he does know you.
So here's this kid who's going to play him in the movie.
So you can imagine how that went.
He's like, how are you, sir?
Good.
All right.
Okay.
Sounds like talking to my dad.
In Stephen Ambrose's book
who we're turning into a miniseries.
Have you heard anything about that?
A little.
My God.
This goes on for probably 10 or 15 minutes
and it's excruciating for me.
I'm sure he's fine.
He's just answering the questions.
And then I finish up
and I'm like, okay, you know what?
I'm going to just let this go for a
and I'm going to mind if I talk to your wife and say goodbye and thank her because I talk to her first for a minute.
He said, sure.
Well, I wound up talking to her for about an hour and a half longer.
And if you want to get to know somebody, talk to somebody that loves and knows them.
Because we are who we sort of, we talk about ourselves in sort of ways that we want to.
to people to perceive us.
But if you want to know how you're really perceived in the world, talk to somebody else.
Oh.
You know, because they're looking at you go through it.
So I got more, more of what I did, you know, and how I portrayed Bull, Denver, was based on
most of the information I got from viewer.
Wow.
And then months later and into it, and as the project evolved and as it finally was
released, um, uh, Dan,
and his family became very close with our family.
And he opened up and we'd have great conversations.
And it was possibly one of the most sort of amazing work-related thing
that has ever happened to me, and ever will.
I don't expect anything to ever top the sort of experience
so far as creative work, you know, extended family and personal.
way that this project has affected.
Well, if you don't mind,
if you don't mind, I'd like to call him and talk to him.
Well, no, I have some bad news for you.
All right, what are you going to say?
Can you either say the right thing?
He passed a number of years ago.
He did.
Did they call you and tell you, did the Gira call you?
No, actually, how was it?
It's kind of terrible in the sense of the kid.
His kids passed before him.
They outlived their children.
awful um and and and then vera passed
then denver passed then denver yeah vera passed then denver passed then denver passed then then the son passed
the daughter vera denver denver oh man you know i just my it was uh it was amazing to have
you know be able to document everything and it was amazing to sort of uh become part of that
family's family because they were certainly part of ours well that's cool because you also
did the evening you do so much but you did the return
to Hardwick that's coming out on PBS you know so check that out it's about the bombers of
World War II and you you're the narrator so I mean you know you it's probably for you nice because
since Band of Brothers you haven't done many maybe military kind of roles right yeah that was they
actually reached out to me to do to do a small blurb in the beginning Michael Sellers who's
one of the grandchildren of one of the airmen and
A friend of a friend reached out and said, hey, buddy's got this reunion group, you know,
and they keep in touch with the men and the families.
And that's like, oh, my gosh, that's exactly like what the Band of Brothers guys do,
whatever they need, yes.
And like, well, no, we're going to tell.
He says, no, no, no, whatever you need.
So we did a couple recordings, and then he said,
would you want to do more?
I said, I'll do whatever you want me to do because I know what this is.
It's documenting the legacy of those men.
And, you know, not every bomber group, not every squadron, not every platoon has a band of brothers made for them.
Although it is representational of all of them, they don't get to tell their stories in such an amazing way.
And I felt very fortunate for the Medivisi company that we were able to do that for them.
And anyone who's doing any kind of effort to document and save that for future generations, I'm on board.
That's like a no-brainer.
That's awesome. Hold on. You know, my grandmother just tried to call me and it fucked up the whole thing.
Oh, you got to call grandma. No, I just got to like get you back for some reason. Hold on. I'm
going to press Zoom here. There it is. You're back. You're back. Hold on. I just want to make sure you're paned. Yeah. And she keeps, she keeps calling to. Why won't you answer your phone? Because I'm on the phone. So you can't answer for your grandmother? It was a doctor.
When my dad calls, my dad had his heart valve replaced.
It'll be four years this next coming summer.
And the phone rings, I pick it up no matter what I'm doing.
If I have my phone with me, yeah.
If I don't need to be, if I can't be interrupted, I don't take my phone with me.
I've been directing.
I've been sort of talking to the crew.
And, you know, a couple years ago when it first happened and my phone rang, I was my dad.
I was like, hang on a second.
All right, Mike, but you know what?
Don't make me feel like shit.
no don't make me feel like shit michael because now i didn't answer my girl you know i answer my dad
i answer him all the time don't you don't have to answer grandma i do mostly answer her i mostly do
answer her because she's my favorite person on the planet in fact i want to interview one of the
podcast because she's so i'm telling you i've never been loved that's one of those what a should
could no no i am i am i'm just she doesn't know how to do zoom and she's like isolating in in florida
so i have to figure that she's getting vaccinated tomorrow but i'm going to do it because i've had her
on the podcast before, like in the intros, but she's so cute, and I've never been unconditionally
loved by someone like she loves me. And when she tells me, she, I try to call her out on it.
Like I'll say something like, she goes, she goes, I, Mikey, I love you so much. I go,
yeah, you're old. You're saying this because you're old. She goes, no, I, Michael, I've never met
anyone. I've never known anyone like you in my entire life. And I go, I don't know what that means.
What is it? I'm saying that I love you. And I go, I go.
Oh, you say that to me.
No, I say this to you.
I know everybody in my family, this is for you.
I'm telling you.
And she and I have that connection, you know.
So it is nice, and I do pick up.
Where's she from?
She lives in Florida.
She's, you know, she's from New York.
She's from the Bronx originally.
The Bronx, okay.
The way you're talking, he's describing my Aunt Reva.
Aunt Reva.
I love it.
I love it.
Kogel.
Kogel.
You mean Kovil?
Are you, are you a Giants fan or Jets fan?
Say Giants, you're Jets.
I could see it.
Neither, because when I moved to New Jersey, I was like, you know what?
Fuck all you guys.
You're all playing in New Jersey.
I don't give a shit.
And neither one of you calling yourselves the New Jersey Jets or Giants that you're playing here.
Fuck off.
What a dick.
I love it.
Hey.
All right.
So, look, you got me, look, you were Southland.
You got a Critics Choice Award.
You're doing Walking Dead.
You got this show Clarice.
You've done it.
By the way, you're still.
pretty damn young and you've done all these great things um what is it that you want to do like
we talk about this is what i'm going to do do you see yourself ever retiring from acting or do you
want to be one of those martin sheen guys doing you know not yeah i don't see retirings i love telling
stories too much um but i definitely see myself slowing down you know um there's going to be a time
where i'm not going to be able to to do uh network television um the pace of it
is all
consuming.
And so I'll
direct it, you know, but I don't know
if, you know, probably, you know, 10 years
from now, if I'm going to want to do
the grind of a
22 episode show
and all the work that's required
to do it correctly.
And well. Are you good
at memorizing lines, by the way?
It depends. It depends on the project.
Sometimes
it's brutal because they're not
written well and sometimes it's like easy when they are written well so it's it's uh
it's about connecting with the character and the material and how it's written um i love the back
and forth the exposition stuff can sometimes can be a grind um although i have to say on on this
show since we had is serialized uh it's it's been wonderful there's just been just really
incredible dynamic scenes between characters, which for me, that's the easiest stuff to get.
It's just when it's just the wholesale bulk, like, you know, blah, blah, blah.
It's just like anybody could, any character could fucking say it because all it's doing is giving you
information.
That's when it gets to be paying the ass.
I used to say things like, you know, hey, can you give this to the Chloe character?
It's more exposition.
And like, Rosenbaum, you just don't want to memorize it.
I'm like, absolutely.
And I'm second on the call sheet.
So can we make this happen?
No, I wouldn't do that.
I would do that.
I wouldn't.
Yeah, I don't want, I don't want, I don't want to do all the exposition.
No.
Although, in my job right now, I do a lot of exposition because I'm the leader of the team, but it's, it's, it's, it's not, it's not your typical, um, exposition.
It's actually incredibly, it's, it's, and I told the writers of this, it's the best pilot I've ever read.
Wow.
And the scripts have been fantastic.
It's, it's, that's, you know, my, I showed it to my, I showed it to my wife.
I run everything by my wife.
And when she's read it, she's like, you have to do this.
You know, I was like, I think I'm going to do, like, you know, am I talking myself into this?
But I, like, I feel like this is like terrific.
She's like, but it's network.
Like, yeah, but it doesn't read like network.
Like, read this.
Tell me if I'm crazy.
And she read it.
She's like, you have to do this.
So is she someone who will, A, does she see everything you do?
B, does she ever say, is she always just like, you were great, great job.
honey great job or she ever like she just doesn't say anything like she'll tell you the truth like
eh you're okay yeah she'll she'll um she'll tell me when it's not when it's not there you know
or it's usually it's you know i've been very fortunate again i've been doing this a minute um
there's for television i think it would be it would be really hard for me to be like just awful
because awful to me is like a complete
you know
I don't know
it's just literally not understanding the scene
at all not
there's so many there's so many things
that if you commit to
you can pull yourself out of awful
even if you make the wrong choice
if you've committed to a choice
people are going to go well
that wasn't what I would do but
yeah you were bad but you weren't awful
it's very hard to be really awful
it is um it really is i mean if you if you are if you are present and you are you know trying to
tell a good story and trying to communicate with your other your other actors um but you you know
i know there's times where she's like you know oh my gosh i was like wasn't it you know i didn't
see you at all you know as i was able to completely enjoy that and there are times where she's like
well you did your job you did my job and that haunts you that just upsets the shit out of you
And you're like, what do you mean I did my job?
There you go.
Oh, man.
But I do the same thing to her, you know, like with her.
She's a writer now.
And I do the same thing with her.
And I'm like, you're, like, you're better than this.
You know, why are you, why are you being so reserved?
And she'd be like, no, you're right.
So I think, I think we push each other in good ways.
That's healthy.
Been together for, been together in 30, 34, 35, 34 years now.
Jesus, man.
That's incredible in this business.
yeah good for you good for her yeah well as i said she's perfect except obviously she's an idiot
that was so chris farley i'm not good you know it's funny we're talking about it's like well
she's worth the wrong guy here let's be honest well all the fish out there and this is what she
chose oh my god you're right whatever you're going to live with your choices yeah lordy baggourty
Inside of you is brought to you by Rocket Money.
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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.
Hey, you know, obviously we haven't talked about the elephant in the room, but Walking Dead obviously is one of the biggest things that ever hit television.
it's uh i know i watched through the first uh five seasons and uh you know it was a movie every week
it felt like i was watching a freaking movie and that's how i'd explain it i'd say it's like
i love horror i'm a huge horror fan as everyone knows and i go i'd be a zombie for a day i remember
even i actually read for something in it a while back but i remember i just loved that show and
when your character i will tell you this there's a couple of characters on the show they're all
really good actors but when your character came on there was something
just, I can just smell your character.
There's just something just real about him.
Just really grounded and got a little dirt, you know, a little dirty.
And I don't know.
I just really, I mean, I know a lot of people loved Abraham.
And it was such a great character to watch.
And did you first of all, when you got this, did they say, hey, this is just for a
recurring?
And then all of a sudden, this thing blew up and you're like, holy shit, I just lasted a couple
seasons here how many seasons did you do four i'm in the middle of four uh season four and then did all
of five all of six and then uh the beginning of the end of seven right right right so you know in
in in in walking dead math that's actually three and a half seasons because even when you know
there was when i was there there's 22 regulars 22 regulars 22 regulars over 16 episodes you would do
maybe five or six episodes some years um
So my first year when I did four, even though I was guesting, that that's basically just shy of what some people were doing for a season that were working season.
So I was told when I met with Scott Gimple, I was told that they were getting back to the, trying to get back closer to the comics.
because they'd gone really far in season three, I guess,
and, you know, with killing off some major players
who were actually still alive up until recently in the comics.
And so the idea and the feel of it and everything behind it
was that they wanted to get back to the comics.
But I knew in the comics, you know, after doing the research on that,
that he only was around
for you know
20 or 30
publications
I used to know the numbers
he came in and like
I forget
what it was but I feel like he was in at
30 something and died
at 90
something
while you read all of those you actually read all of them
I did I read up until
until his passing
and then a little beyond
because I got really sucked into it.
And so I knew it was great, you know?
And there was a bunch that had changed
from the graphic novels to the show.
It's interesting that the Darrell character
changed how a lot of the other characters
were dealt with.
Because what Kirkman had done in the graphic novel
was he would bring in characters
who would become confidants with Rick
and sort of, sort of like his new best friend,
not to sort of trivialize that, you know, his writing,
but that's the mechanism they served,
someone who would get close to him
and we could learn more about him
through the people that he met.
You know, and it was same thing with Tyrese
when he met Tyrese, he very, very close,
shared a lot, and through the sharing,
you learned a lot about him,
that he got killed off and that, you know,
then my character comes in.
So having the Daryl character there,
who is his true best friend,
confidant the whole time changed the dynamic of how those those characters when they did come in
how they functioned in the world so um i knew that my time would be sort of similar to what was in
the comic um it didn't really matter you know fans loved it or hated it you know Kirkman said
early on you know the the way we think that we show that this world is a dangerous world is we
kill people we love so you know i knew that i wasn't you know when did they tell you michael
It wasn't Rick, it wasn't Daryl, you know, it wasn't, that wasn't, well, when did they tell you?
When did they, they didn't do a pull, I interviewed this guy, Chris Jericho, big wrestler,
and he said that he knew that he was going to win the championship that day, they told him.
So did they give you like a week, week ahead, they go, hey, did they call you?
What was the real scoop?
I got a call when I was in, in New York, I think it was a break between, between,
We shoot our seasons in two parts.
The first part and the second part,
and there's a week break in between.
It's sort of the hottest time in Georgia.
The crew has already gone through eight episodes.
Everybody's just dead.
It's brutal.
It's August.
And so we take a week, two weeks off in August.
And then we come back and finish the rest of the season.
And during that time, I ran out to New York.
And I get a phone call from,
uh from scott he's like hey uh he leaves me a message hey uh you're dead no i take
the a d called the ad called the ad called matt godwin called he's like hey uh scott wants to set up
a uh a call with you for next week oh boy okay did you say why i would have been like why what do you
know it's like you know what it's about he's like no no it's just uh you know second
see sort of like where everything's at it.
Blu-low a call.
Okay.
All right.
Sure.
Next Wednesday.
Two o'clock.
Sounds great.
So then I immediately call Scott.
I'm like, hey,
uh,
call me back.
So he goes,
like,
hey,
what's going on?
I go,
you can't do that.
You can't be like,
oh,
hey.
I said,
if you're going to kill me,
kill me.
I want to know.
I don't want to be wondering.
Like,
I'd rather start processing me
being dead now than,
then wonder if I'm going to be dead
for another week and a half.
And then have to process.
I said, it doesn't matter.
You're already, like, I already assume I'm dead.
So either confirm or deny.
And he said, well, I said, okay, so yeah, so I'm dead.
Well, no, I mean, I don't, I go, yes, it's okay.
So we talked about this when I first came in.
I wasn't, I wasn't upset, per se.
I wasn't happy to leave the show.
You know, I would have liked to have continued if that was in the cards.
But I wasn't, I wasn't really bummed out about it,
because I knew it was coming.
So ultimately, I wish we had done a few more episodes with myself and Seneca when, you know,
when all out war happened because it would have been nice to actually see Abraham functioning as a soldier.
But that wasn't in the cards.
And that's, you know, we have to make room for, you know, characters we love die so new characters can come in that we can fall in love with.
That's the rotation of the show.
And I have zero issue with that at all.
Did you cry when you died?
No.
The day when you left everybody?
Did you do no emotions?
The day?
No, because it was really a celebration.
But there were times when I got sad knowing that I wasn't like if I'd see events that everybody was at, it was sort of be like, oh.
But I don't, I don't know if I cried.
And I'm a crier.
I'm a crier.
I'd tell you if I cried.
I fucking cry at mayonnaise commercials.
I'm a John crier.
I cried at Mandalorian last night.
I'm fucking crying.
I'm with somebody
and I literally turned off the lights
and like, dude, what are you doing?
I go nothing.
Are you going to cry for what?
Did you watch Queen's Gambit?
Oh, yeah.
Cry Central.
In the end, when she's doing the thing,
when she takes a deep breath and she looks up
and they all come down from the ceiling,
just weeping.
Oh.
Like a little baby.
Ball State University, brother.
I was like, oh, my gosh.
It was like the cavalry came in.
You know, it's like the same feeling you get
at the end of an action movie
when everybody shows up.
And you're like,
yes tears for fears man there we're yeah dude i get so i don't know what it is i get emotional sometimes
and i think i gotta call a doctor i shouldn't be of crying at this and then i realized well you're
just emotional i don't cry constantly but all of a sudden i look at my dog and i go i might not have
you i mean i know you're two years old right now and you got a long time but no but like my i have
an older dog so i'm always going oh my god i get like emotional of the thought of like my best anyway
we don't get into that but so okay so you you might have got emotional maybe a little bit but like
really you didn't get emotional. But, you know, I heard something from another actor in the show
a long time ago that said, you know, and not knocking AMC, they make great product, but they
used to hold you guys limited to the amount of conventions you can do. Is that true?
Some actors were when they got brought in after me, not literally after me, but sometime after
I was hired. That became part of the negotiation. And you got
you know a little bit more per episode
to not do
you know X number of episodes
I mean at conventions
why
I don't know
that's so weird
I know some people were
were
um
some people were doing them like every weekend
and it was interfering with the work schedule
and it wasn't the top
you know the top top people like Norman
Norman wasn't doing that
you know
his stuff was all scheduled out and spaced out
and they took a lot out of him
because he was a huge huge convention draw
so it you know it took a toll on him
just physically
doing that so
but there were some some people who were
doing quite a bit and I think
I think again I don't know because it didn't
it didn't affect me what I was doing
I didn't do too many of them when we were in season
if I did I tried to schedule
them around. As everyone does, we try to schedule
around episodes. We're not in. Yeah, right, right.
But what was it like the first time
you went to a convention? Because when you went to
a convention, it was probably the, I mean,
I can imagine you went for other roles,
but this had to be the biggest.
No, you didn't. So you hadn't been to a convention.
And so the first time they say, Michael Cudlitz,
what was your response? Because I guarantee there was
400 people in line.
The first time they,
well, let's back up even. The first convention
ever I was at was new.
or a Comic-com when my character was introduced.
4,000 people in, was it, Javid, Javis, Javis?
Jacob Javitt Center.
Jacob Javits. Javits.
Yeah, and I say 4,000.
I think that's a little bit under,
but it's like whatever that main room holds.
It's more than 4,000, but I don't know the exact number.
I know it's not the 6, almost 7,000 that's in San Diego.
They start talking about,
We're going to do a gag.
I'm basically going to go out there dressed as just some cosplayer.
I got like a cheap plastic cowboy hat and a sport jacket and a white.
What's the what's the face, the white face with the mustache?
Oh, the V for Vendetta?
No, what is it?
Yes.
Something similar to that.
Or maybe it's even more just an innocuous.
Right.
Just a white, like, mask.
Anyway, so I'm up there, and I have a microphone,
and they want me to basically do this iconic chunk of dialogue
from the graphic novel.
And the microphone is right next to me
where everybody can ask group questions.
So when they say, okay, everybody, come on up to ask questions.
I'm, like, right there, and I just stand up.
So I'm hiding with the microphone and the thing,
and they're talking about the show, and they're this and that, blah, blah, blah.
And they go on, I don't know, I open up to questions.
And I stand up and I stand up in front of the person, they're like, hey, what do you
and I turn around?
I'm like, shut up.
And they're like, what?
And I talk, I'm like, hey.
And so I'm like, start giving him shit.
I'm like, where's Abraham?
These people want to see where Abraham is.
You write the show, right?
And Robert Kirkman's like, look, at some point, I'm like, you know what?
Shut up.
Give me an answer.
Like, I'm really confident.
At this point, I find that later on, that Andrew Lincoln's wife was there, and she was like, oh, my God, there's a crazy man who's going to, like, pull out a gun and open fire.
And, like, it's going to be some crazy...
Shut off!
...the incident.
So, Yvette was monitoring.
Hardwork wasn't monitoring that time.
And she's like, I'm sorry, I can't hear you because of your mask.
And, you know, you take your mask off?
I was like, sure.
So I take off, drop the hammet, pull off the thing, drop the jack.
bracket and I'm standing there dressed as Abraham and the fucking audience because you know the
people who go to the the conventions die hard that's that's that's one breed of fan but the
fans that go to the conventions and then wait in line for nine hours for the panel
whole other level love love them they know love them they're committed man and they start
going nuts and I thought that was over and I was like holy crap this is insane and eventually
And it's like, you know, why don't you come on up here and just say hi to everybody.
I'm walking up.
And I remember this.
There's a thing online.
Everyone can check it out.
There's a photo of me at New York Comic Con.
I'll get the year.
I mean, walking across stage.
And I walk up and I hold up a fist or go to wave because they're all cheering.
Everyone's cheering.
And the minute I put my hand up, you know, I'm thinking, holy crap, this is insane.
I put my hand up.
And the wall of sound that hit me.
I was literally speechless.
Oh, my God, yeah.
What, holy shit, what the hell is happening.
What a beautiful thing.
I couldn't even, could not wrap my head around it.
That was my first convention experience.
That is so, and I'll tell you what, because I've had it with like small, but the fans, I love them.
I mean, the people, I'm a fan of shows that I think I'd go bonkers.
I love conventions.
I was going to conventions before I even became famous at all.
And I was like kind of that guy walking around.
And so when people love something, it's such an awesome thing to be a part of
because it's just a giant family of people that can relate to one thing,
if not only one thing, if only one thing.
And that's a beautiful thing when everybody can go, hey, like for this shitty year we had,
everybody can go, oh, we have this.
And that's something the grasp hold of.
And I think that's awesome, man.
I think that's so awesome.
And I bet it was, I could tell it's overwhelming because, you know,
it is. It's just for 4,000 or more people to just be going, we love you. We're in. We can't wait. You're like, oh my God, I already have people that love me. This is, I haven't even done anything yet. I've been waiting my whole life for this. Yeah, it's fucking genius. Listen, we're going to go real quick to shit talking with Michael Cuddlitz. And this is just rapid fire. And this is just fans on my Patreon. If you want to join Patreon, patreon, patreon.com slash inside of you. Here it is. Quick question. Shane M. What do you do to relax?
or whine down, Michael.
Whiskey and cigars.
What kind of whiskey?
Kind of my go-to right now is Woodford.
But I got a lot
in my lot of different whiskeys.
I'm a big fan of the small batch local distillers.
Will you email me something that I should have
if I haven't really gotten into whiskey
because I grew up in Indiana
and I drank like Jack Daniels, Jim Beam,
like whiskey or bourbon,
but I don't know what a good like anything,
you know what I'm used to cheap.
Yeah, like Blanton's is a great.
Well, just email me. I'll have you email me just what you drink and I'll, you know,
but the cigar I can't do it. I'm not a man enough. I'll choke to death.
I have a cigar bar now in Nashville.
You have a cigar bar in Nashville. What's it called?
It's called the Red phone booth. Wow. The Redphone booth.com and we are partially
open. All right. Guys, check that out. You have to check that out. Dave P., I mean,
I didn't ask you this, but were you satisfied with your character's death and Walking Dead?
Was I satisfied? Yeah.
Yeah, I mean, those are all what or should or couldas.
Way, way, way, way better than the graphic novel.
But, yeah.
Lisa H., what was it like working on Beverly Hills 90210?
Any fun memories of being on set?
It was great, actually.
If I did not move forward with my career as an actor,
I would still be doing construction for film and television right now.
And some of my closest friends are still doing it.
I always loved the feeling of walking away at the end of the day
and there was something there that wasn't there in the morning.
I also started acting on it.
I mean, it wasn't my first gig, but I did 12.
I wound up doing 12 episodes.
And everything I sort of learned there
has helped me be what I am today as performer and an actor.
I'm sorry, a director,
because I was able to see all size of it
and work with some really wonderful people.
Awesome.
Lee, M.P., which character that you've portrayed
do you identify with most?
I don't know.
Probably be a cross between John Cooper and Denver.
Southland.
Southland and Band of Brothers, those two roles.
Yes.
All right.
I dig.
Last two questions, Claudine.
And how did you find it going from playing Abraham
to directing on The Walking Dead?
Was that a, you know, what was that transition?
Because I had so much love from the cast and the crew, it was sort of seamless.
It was, I felt incredibly supported.
It was a wonderful, wonderful experience.
And I, you know, initially thought, like, okay, they're doing me a favor because they like me.
And, you know, but then when they asked me back, I was like, all right, that would be a self-inflicted wound if it didn't go well.
And it did.
I loved it.
And I'm doing it more.
I'm going to be going back again this year.
Awesome.
Jerry W.
My wife and I are huge Walking Dead fans.
Was the peace sign to Sasha in your final scene
an acting choice or scripted great performances
all the way through to the end, dude?
We actually filmed the end.
That's an interesting question.
We filmed the end of season six.
with, what was it, it was my POV.
So it was the victim's POV.
And it was always following him.
And then it looked, then it got hit,
whoever it was got hit and looked back up
and they got hit again.
When they came back into season seven,
they wanted some connection between me and Sasha,
but they had already shown
that whoever was being hit never looked at her.
so we were kind of locked into this thing that I couldn't you know the perspective of who it was couldn't look at her so that that was something that that I added because it was something that we ran through multiple times where we did the peace sign to each other was kind of our unspoken deal and then I on the night of shooting it actually ran it by Scott and Greg I said hey you know even though I don't look at her if we haven't shown you know what she's looking at I said if I'm looking straight ahead and I
shoot the piece sign down but we see that she is seeing it um that could be a great little
easter egg uh for the fans this is really really low in frame too it's like if you you barely see
it you know it's not featured it's not like you know who close you know beating you over the head
with it as it were um yeah it was really wonderful and subtle and they let me do it and uh it's
it was highly effective awesome uh last question really i said that but michael rosenbaum
has a question. How happy
was your wife when you shaved that mustache?
Very. She was more happy when we were able
to stop doing the red dye,
which we had to do a year after I died
because we were keeping it secret from the audience.
Did she taste it? Could she taste it when she kissed you, the dye?
Or smell it? I don't know about that.
But she could definitely feel the nastiness
of all of that.
Did she want to kiss you less because of that?
Oh, come on.
man, look at this.
If you want to kiss me less.
I love it.
Dude, this has been so fun.
I mean, I know we didn't know each other,
but I really enjoy this.
You're just a guy's guy, and you're just so humble and sweet.
And thanks for opening up and just talking shit, man.
I really appreciated this.
Absolutely.
Thank you.
This is fun.
Yeah, well, maybe we'll do it again in a year.
Yeah, we'll do it.
We'll check back in once Clarice is a huge year.
Yeah, it will be.
I guarantee people want to see that.
You know, whoever, the people who love it,
are going to really love it.
I'll tell you that.
It's dark.
We've seen pieces of it.
It's very much,
very much like the movie.
Good.
It's also has a little bit of a true detective vibe to it,
as a little bit of the killing.
It's not your typical CBS show.
Not a typical procedural, right?
It has a good thing because I prefer the stuff that's not on network lately,
as most people are.
When does it come out?
February 11th.
February 11, so you're quarantining right now,
then you're going to go finish some more episodes.
Yep, we've got seven more days in quarantine.
Oh, man, I love that.
What's your favorite line of silence of the lambs?
The one line you always remember.
My favorite line?
Besides Fava beans.
I just like, whenever I hear, when I hear Clarice,
I hear Clarice.
I hear him saying Clarice.
Every time I hear the name of the show, Clarice.
I think my favorite was when he goes.
I don't think I'll kill you.
Not today.
is far more interesting with you in it.
Yes, the last line of the movie, right?
And I like the line where he says, what did he say?
Who?
Multiple meigs in the next time.
He said something to you.
What did he say?
And then I can't repeat what he said.
But anyway, hey, thanks for allowing to be inside of you, man.
All my best to you and the family and health and happiness and keep up the great work, man.
Thank you.
A big hug to your grandma.
I will.
I'll give her a big hug for you.
All right.
Take care, buddy.
See you, Michael.
Thanks, man.
I found him fascinating.
What did you like mostly about Michael?
He just seemed like a good dude.
I also didn't know much about him.
Because he just portrays the tough guy very well.
And great facial hair.
No, I mean, always.
So it's always nice when, yeah, someone who plays like a stone cold badass on television
is just a genuinely nice human being.
Just a sweet man.
Yeah.
Yeah, I felt like that too.
It is comforting.
It's, you know, again, when you can open up as playing
a tough guy and you know you sometimes you feel like they're the intangibles they're untouchable
they're we don't know anything but oh he's tough he's got his life under control he's got
but you hear the hardships you hear the things that you go through you hear uh certain things
and it humanizes people yeah and i think that's important so thank you michael cudlitz again
if you enjoyed today's show please follow us on the handles ryan uh at inside of you pod on
twitter at inside of you podcast instagram facebook youtube.com slash inside of you with michael rosa
Yeah, please watch. You can watch these wonderful videos on YouTube and all that. And again, the band, our album, Sunspin, the album's called Best Days. It's on iTunes at Amazon. You can follow us, which I hope you will. If, gosh, if just a tenth of these people just said, okay, you know what, I'll follow your handles at Sunspin Band. And we'll go to sunspin.com and check some stuff out if you want to book the band or whatever. And just listen to the album. Tell us what you thought. And, you know, as I said earlier, we have a little content.
releasing the new album. We're going to do a contest where we give out some goodies for free.
If you want to learn more about it, go follow us on our social at At Sunspin Band, and you
can win some stuff and maybe even to Zoom with us. So, yeah, Bryce will take care of that and
we'll go online and we'll figure it out and tell all your friends. And my wonderful
patron family, thank you again. I made a mistake, Ryan, and I don't know if it's a mistake,
but I sent, you know, I have, for certain tiers of the Patreon,
I send merch boxes and I sign a little note.
And every couple months, they get a box.
Well, I accidentally sent two, I think, to most people.
So what do you do?
I guess you got a free box.
Yeah.
I mean, you're already getting a box.
Now you get another box.
I don't know what else to do.
Fuck.
I can't just say, okay, well, now you're not getting your next box.
I'm sure they'd understand.
But, you know, I love them.
And if you want to join Patreon, go to Patreon, P-A-T-R-E-O-N.
com slash inside of you um and become a patron i'll message you after i love the family we have you
get private youtube lives just for the patrons there's special discounts on merch at the inside
of you online store there's uh there's just tons of stuff and i message people back and uh some
people get to ask questions to the guest shit talking with rosenbaum or shit talking with michael
cuddlitz or whatever uh whatever you like um and then there's the merch and all the so you get a shout
at in fact i'm going to give the shoutouts now these are the shoutouts for the
Top tiers for the Patreon.
And here we go.
Nancy D. Mary B. Leah S. Tricia F. Sarah V. Little Lisa, Yukiko.
Jill E. Brian H. Lauren G. See they're flowing right here. You see this?
You have to stop them now, right? Didn't you?
Well, no. They're frozen. They're frozen. And then they will change when you reach to the bottom of the list.
Really? So as I talk, they go.
No, they stay. And then when you hit a certain point, when you reach the bottom, it changes to the next one.
Lauren G. Brian H. Nico P. Robin S. Jerry W. A wonder if it changed just now.
Robert I, Jason W. Stephen J. Kristen K. Amelia O. Allison L. Jess, J. Lucas, M. Raj, C. Joshua, D. Emily, S. J.P., Samantha. M. If I sound tired, if I sound tired, I'm a little tired, I woke up at 3 in the morning, but I still love you. And maybe for the rest of the names, I should give a little more emphasis. Jennifer N. Stacey L. Carly H.
Jen, S. Janelle B. Carrey B. Tab of the 270, not to be confused with.
Tab of the 273. Ashley Ryan, Kimberly E. Mike E. Marissa. N. L. Dunn's.
Ramo, Dan, Jack S, Slater, I love you, Ramira, I love you, Beth B, love you, everybody I love
you, San Diego M, Sarah F, Chad, W, Leanne, P, Rocheon, R, Ray A, Mayap, P, Maisha, Maya, Masha, Masha,
Maddie F, Ashley, Shannon D, Matt W, Belinda, and Kevin V, James R, Chris H, H, H, Anusha,
W. Ashborn, Amy C, Dave H, Samantha, S, Spider-Man, Chase, Y, Rage, Radha.
Alyssa C, Tabitha, T, Misha H, Deb A, Tom, N, Suzanne B, Henry S, KDF, we're almost done here, Liliana A, hi Liliana, we talked a few times.
Michelle K, what up, Marcos, he can.
Hannah B, Michael S, Talia M, Luke H, John S, Andrew T, Christy S, Claire M, Liz, L, Chad B, Rachel, Rachel, or Rochelle E, Nathan E, Brandon D, Taylor K, A, Neil A, Marlon E, Marlon E,
Meg K, Janel P.
Also, I just did, I forgot to mention, I did a Batman Beyond with Kevin Conroy, an old episode.
We did a table read for IGN that's going to be coming out later in the month.
Nice.
And I read a couple characters.
And it was a lot of phone.
We did it last night.
And it was, we had some technical difficulties, but they'll edit it and it will sound good.
Thank you all for listening.
Thank you all for supporting this podcast.
I will continue to do it as long as you are here listening or watching.
And from Ryan and myself here in the.
hills of Hollywood.
Hollywood Hills. The Hollywood Hills. The home of Michael
Rosenbaum. Oh, yeah, baby. Thank you for
coming around and hanging out with me. And there's a
camera right up there, a nice wave. And thank you for allowing
to be inside of each and every one of you. I know you're not
listening, Dad, but maybe one day you'll be like, oh, I'm listening. I love
you all. Thank you very much.
All right.
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