My Mom's Basement - EPISODE 70 - PAUL WALTER HAUSER

Episode Date: July 20, 2020

Robbie is joined by one of his favorite actors in Hollywood this week, Paul Walter Hauser ('Richard Jewell', 'BlacKkKlansman', 'I, Tonya', 'Kingdom'), and they cover a variety of topics in the Basement - from 'Kingdom' finally hitting Netflix, to Paul's love of Jack Nicholson, to working with Spike Lee and Clint Eastwood, to a whoooooole lot of graps talk that ANY wrestling fan should love. 3Chi: Use code BASEMENT at checkout to receive 5% off at 3Chi.com My Mom's Basement Merch: https://store.barstoolsports.com/products/my-moms-basement-tie-dye-hoodieYou can find every episode of this show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or YouTube. Prime Members can listen ad-free on Amazon Music. For more, visit barstool.link/mymomsbasement

Hey My Mom's Basement listeners, you can find our episodes on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or YouTube, and Prime members can listen ad-free on Amazon Music. I think after you listen to this interview, you'll be even more inclined to check it out, because we really discussed, like, how it's made for the hardcore MMA fan. But even if you're not a hardcore MMA fan, you know, don't shy away. Don't be afraid to jump in, because you'll enjoy it as well. Before we get into that interview, let me tell you guys once again about our presenting sponsor, 3Chi, our amazing sponsor, 3Chi, who are keeping the lights on and supporting My Mom's Basement more than anybody these days,

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But if you go to 3chi..com right now that's the number three chi.com again to shop for your delta 8 vapes gummies tictatures oils whatever use the promo code basement you'll receive five percent off either tweet me dm me I'll try to give you a shout out on the podcast if I forget dm me again and I'll try to do it again I'm really not you know trying to forget anybody I want to thank everybody for doing this stuff, but there you go. That's 3G. Now let's get into this interview with Paul Walter Hauser. It's a long one, so I want to get right into it. Waste no more time. I hope you enjoy. All right, ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to the show. I am joined now by one of my favorite actors in the industry,

truly, Paul Walter Hauser. You might've seen him in Richard Jewell. He's been in I, Tonya. He's in Kingdom, which is an MMA show streaming on Netflix right now that I'm in the middle of a complete binge. How are you doing, man? How have you been through the quarantine? Oh, man. I'm pretty fortunate. Even though I haven't made a lot of money this year, it's been tough and it's been strange. I got engaged and that was a crazy moment. I've been enjoying seeing kingdom a show that i put a ton of work into we finally got it on a big platform like netflix which has been gratifying and uh yeah man i'm just still dreaming out loud hoping that the future is going to look a little

a little less dim and that we'll all be able to get back to doing what we love i'm excited for you you're still doing at least a version of what you love. Like what we're doing right now, which is cool. Yeah. Getting to do the zoom interviews, you know, it's not the same, but it is what it is. You make what you can of it. Congratulations on the engagement, by the way. That's awesome. She's pretty awesome. But kingdom is an awesome show that I've been telling my listeners to check

out because like you said, it's a show that a've been telling my listeners to check out because like you said it's a show that a lot of people put a lot of work into years ago and it was on direct tv so not a ton of people saw it maybe and now it's on netflix and it's kind of blowing up a friend of mine joseph benavidez he makes a cameo in season two and him and his wife megan olivi have told me for years now like you would love would love this show. And my God, they are correct. Man, Joe and Megan are buddies of mine too. And I really liked the show. Part of the show's authenticity, amongst other things like the Jonathan Tuckers and Matt Lorias and Frank Grillo's being in absurd shape that very few actors are capable of. One of the authenticities of the show is that we do have real MMA people in the show. There's, you know, I think the first episode, Cub Swanson.

Cub is in it, yep. For Nick Jonas. And we got guys like Kenny Florian doing commentary. And I believe Matt Hughes and a few other people have some cameos and stuff. So I really am proud of that show for a number of reasons. But one of them is, I think if you are a fan of MMA, you will see that we're putting in the work to make it real. I know a lot of police officers watch cop shows

or cop procedural dramas or whatever, and they kind of laugh off 95% of it. The hope is that we did some justice to the mixed martial art world. I think you definitely have. You could tell from the first episode. Like you said, you got the cameos there with Cub and some real fighters from the UFC, which is very cool. But there's also some stuff subtly in the dialogue

where it could just be two guys talking in a gym and, oh, you know, he's training with Craig Jackson now. And it's like, oh, that's a real coach that I recognize. Like, this is actually, it feels like it's in the real world. And you know who, Oh, that's a real coach that I recognize like this is actually, it feels like it's in the real world. And you know who else did that? Well was Aaron Sorkin when he was doing West wing about, you know, two decades ago now he was dropping in a lot of historical and relevant political jargon and information that wasn't just filler.

It was part of the story and and to a smaller stakes degree, we did that on Kingdom. I got a really nice message from Phil Brooks, CM Punk the other day on Twitter. He told me he was just watching the show to watch it and didn't even know I was in it. But it's such a funny link because Joe Benavides was in the show. That's how I became friendly with Joe and Megan. And then when I was in Chicago doing a Netflix movie called Beats with Anthony Anderson, I saw that UFC was doing an event, I believe at the United Center, I'm pretty sure. And I asked Joe, is there a way you might be able to sneak me in a seat or two, a ticket or two? And Joe got me like 15 rows from the page. Ridiculous seating arrangement ever. I've never been treated like that. It was incredible. I went with my buddy, Robbie Pesky.

We sat incredibly close for the fights, but you know, my buddy Robbie doesn't know that world as well as I do. And, uh, and we were there from the very beginning. So like we saw every prelim type fight and the whole night was damn near six hours. I mean, it was like being at WrestleMania. I mean, it was crazy. And that very night I got to see CM Punk do his second bout, which unfortunately did not go the way a lot of us had hoped. But yeah, very ironic that now Phil is messaging me about a show that features me and Joe Benavidez.

It's very, very full circle. It is full circle. And I'm with you. I mean, we will get to the wrestling later. But I was, I'm sure like you were when CM Punk is walking out the cult of personality to the cage. You're being like, come on, man, just give me something. This would be incredible. Yeah, it was.

It was heartbreaking. My buddy, Charlie Saxton, who I did a show called Betas with, he played Thomas Jane's kid on that show, Hung, on HBO. Really good actor. Charlie, and also a huge wrestling fan. Charlie Saxton told me the first fight against Mickey Gall, he said watching Phil get beat up was like watching your dad get beat up. Yeah.

Heartbreaking and personal about it. Dude, it was so sad for me. At that point, I was setting up rings for an indie wrestling company. I was just trying to, like, get my foot in the business any way I could. And we watched that fight in the locker room afterwards with, like, a ton of Punk's friends and stuff like that. So everyone was really enthusiastic and cheering for him and wishing for the best. So it was heartbreaking. Endless friends and stuff like that. So everyone is really enthusiastic and cheering for him and wishing for the

best. So it was heartbreaking. Endless love and credit to that dude. And, and selfishly, I want to see him get back in a ring, whether it's a smaller promotion than UFC or if it is the choreographed fighting of, of the sports entertainment world. That's really what I'm itching for him getting back in the squared circle. I want to get back into acting with you though, because you've been in so world. That's really what I'm itching for him getting back in the squared circle. I want to get back into acting with you though, because you've been in so much. My first exposure to you was Black Klansman, which is a hysterical movie, a really poignant movie. And then I saw you in

I, Tonya, you're hysterical in that. Like I said, been watching Kingdom, Richard Jewell, you won this huge breakout performance award for. What was it that made you want to get into acting? Who were your favorite actors? What were your favorite movies growing up? What was it about acting that made you say, I want to do this? Because I've seen interviews with you and you've said you've been all about it your entire life. Thanks, man.

Yeah, no, I really knew I wanted to do this in whatever capacity. I didn't know if it would be comedy or dramatic acting or maybe even something off camera just because I love the process so much, and I'm such a fan of the industry and what it does. But I would say growing up in the 90s, you know, early 90s for me, my heroes were Daniel Stern from Home Alone and City Slickers, Jim Varney, who played Ernest in the Ernest movies, Chris Farley, Steve Martin, you know,

the jerk and father of the bride were really big movies for me as a little kid. So it was all about comedy. And then around the mid 90s, probably 95, 96. I remember seeing a few good men, and as good as it gets for the first time within a couple of years of each other. So my guy right out the gate was Nicholson. Yeah. I just thought, you know, I thought this guy, even when I hate him, I love him. And that's a gift. That is not a normal thing.

It's usually one or the other. And I thought, you know, he's towing such a sensitive line between playing the character that's on the page, but also clearly putting himself into it and having little brilliant moments of uh these segregated improvisations and and i think i i think that's really the the key to what i try to do i i don't know if i'll ever be as good as nicholson or phil hoffman or all the guys adore, but I do know I can taste and smell the formula. And I try to bring that. I try to bring comedy to drama, drama to comedy.

And I'm always trying to bring a piece of myself and improvise and find different things. Yeah. It's so interesting. You say that I actually just watched the shining for the very first time, I think last week, maybe two weeks ago, I'm kind of in, in my quarantine quarantine that's kind of my thing i've tweeted out like a bunch of times hey i'm looking for classic movies that i've never seen like i i just watched uh sleepless in seattle like some of the big name movies that i've just never seen before and oh my god the shining it deserves the credit it gets i immediately went

down the rabbit hole of watching documentaries and reading articles about, you know, them filming the staircase scene 127 times or whatever it was. So it's funny that you say Nicholson's your guy because I've just got that kind of Nicholson fever. Well, if you like Nicholson, which I'm sure you do, I would give you three films that you have to watch immediately. Okay. One is One Flew Over the cuckoo's nest i've seen okay i've got one out of the three okay another one is the last to detail with randy

quaid and jack nicholson it's a um it's basically a judd apatow comedy in the world of like the military oh wow that sounds very intriguing or something it weird. It's like, it's like Apatow meets Duplass where it's, it's about male camaraderie, but there's a lot of heart and some brokenness with all the comedy and stuff. And then I would say the third one is you got to watch as good as it gets. If you haven't seen it,

haven't seen it. All right, I'll put it on the list. He's a, he plays an OCD guy in his like late fifties or whatever, who falls in love with a waitress played by Helen Hunt. And, and it's a really, it's just one of these fun movies where, you know, as good as it gets almost reminds me of Seinfeld where it's not even about the

plot. You can watch these people read the phone book. It's, they're so interesting, you know? Yeah. I'll, I promise you I'll add them to the list. I appreciate the recommendations. Now, moving forward into your acting career, I, Tonya was probably your first major motion picture that you were prominently featured in. Would you say that's accurate?

Oh yeah, for sure. So when you get to I, Tonya, you already had roles here and there on TV. You had some roles, smaller roles in movies. You had the role in Kingdom. Were you prepared? Did you feel for that major motion picture experience when you got on set? Was it a culture shock of sorts? You know, I was always hungry for this kind of thing. You know, I wanted to be an actor as soon as I could, you know, as soon as I was a teenager, I was like

ready to do it and wanted to do it. And I really envied people like Elijah Wood, who like were child actors who came up and, and got to graduate from, you know, the Huckleberry Finn movie to someday doing a Peter Jackson epic, you know, like, I wanted that. And I didn't really get that because I lived in Michigan. The industry didn't really come there until my early 20s, and it was short-lived because of a tax incentive that kind of got squashed. So I had wanted to do it for forever, but the reality is such. I was not ready to be the actor I was in I, Tonya

without the experience of something like Kingdom. I really needed those 25 episodes or whatever I did of Kingdom to really stretch me and teach me and prepare me to take on the specificity and all the things I did in I, Tonya. So I'm forever grateful that those are linked in my sort of chronology with my career that they came around the right time. Because, you know, had I gotten an I, Tonya type of opportunity at 20 instead of, you know, 30, I don't know that I could have done it. Not to the degree that I did it. So, yeah, I wasn't like Haley Joel Osment where I could have been nominated as a kid

playing opposite Bruce Willis. That's, I was not a good enough actor. I needed that time to prepare and to get ready. But what was funny is when I got the Itania audition, I remember looking at a photo of the guy, and I was like, I can play this son of a bitch. I know it in my bones. I assume they give it to Jonah Hill or Josh Gad,

and I was very delighted that they gave me their trust and cast me man I was too I really enjoyed that movie and it's one of those movies that I point to as a phenomenal soundtrack I feel like it doesn't get talked enough about how amazing like the rock and roll soundtrack is on that wait wait till you see Cruella it's from the same director, Craig Gillespie, same editor, Academy Award nominated Tatiana Regal. And, and there, I can't say much about it, because it's Disney, you know, it's like, Star Wars movie, they'll stab you in your sleep. But, but there's going to be a terrific soundtrack for Cruella in the same vein of those memorable songs, you know? Man, that really excites me.

I'm a huge music nerd. So moving on to Black Klansman. I love Black Klansman as a movie. Quick question. Yes. What is your favorite movie soundtrack of all time? Almost Famous. Good freaking answer.

Yeah, yeah. I got to go Almost Famous. I love the obscure ones too. I love the like movies that weren't good, but the soundtracks that were good, like Godzilla 2000. That's like a crazy poll. Yeah, Godzilla 2000's got Jimmy Page

raging against the machine, Puff Daddy. Yeah, I think Batman Forever has an awesome soundtrack, which I'm a Batman Forever nerd. I love Batman Forever, so I don't want to trash that movie. Yeah. You know why that movie's great? There's so much composition that's great about Batman Forever. A lot of people would laugh it off.

But the color schemes, the costumes, those tilted sort of cant, suede shot selection from the late Joel Schumacher. Throwing it back to the 60s? Yeah, yeah. And the casting. I mean, come on. Jim Carrey playing the Riddler.

What a blessing that was getting to watch that. I'm a complete forever nerd. That scene where they're in the kind of fluorescent room with all the skeleton type goons is like, when I think Batman, I'm like, that's one of my main things that I picture because it's just such a flashy thing that, you know, as a kid captures your imagination. I cannot wait for Matt Reeves new film it's gonna

be it's I think it's gonna be a game changer the way Batman Begins was I think it's gonna be special I think so as I mean I got my computer right now is resting on two copies of The Long Halloween which is the rumored basis for it so I I'm as excited as you are. But going back to Black Klansman, a movie that I love, you're working with Spike Lee, one of the most iconic directors of all time. And I'm sure it's maybe a cliche question you've gotten at this point. But what was that like for you? Yeah, no, good question. I mean, these are the questions I ask other actors when I meet them. You know, if I were to meet Willem Dafoe I would immediately be like so what's Wes Anderson like Bill Murray you know Spike Lee I was a big fan of Do the Right Thing

in 25th Hour I had only seen maybe four of his films when I went to audition for Black Klansman but you know I know he loves movies he and I talked about loving movies. Like we both talked about loving Sidney Lumet in my audition who famously did dog day afternoon and, and, uh, I believe network and a bunch of other great films. And I just kind of improvised a lot in the audition. I took some risks cause I thought, you know, I got one shot with this guy. Let's see if he hates the real me or likes the real me. So I'll be the real me

which is I take those liberties and I try things and and he really got me he really understood what the heck I was all about and doing and I didn't have to explain myself I just had to be myself and you know that's not always the case I've had a lot of directors I've worked with mostly in television where you almost have to like explain what it is you're doing. And a guy like Eastwood or spike or Craig Gillespie, who I've worked with twice now, I don't have to explain myself to them. And that's, that's kind of my favorite collaboration. It sounds a little selfish, like, like I don't want to go to the trouble, but, but you know, art is art at some point you can't explain it.

And you have to do it in the hope that it's seen and understood. so um yeah there was an immediate little connection there and we kind of got each other and and when we filmed it in New York I think I might have filmed five six weeks on it uh thrill of a lifetime man working opposite Adam Driver under the direction of Spike it was it was crazy I loved it yeah I was gonna say Adam Driver in that movie is also phenomenal I mean there's so many good performances in that movie. Topher Grace across the board. Everyone in that movie is. Alec Baldwin, starting out the film.

Alec Baldwin. I mean, I laughed my ass off the first five minutes of the film when he's giving the whole spiel because, you know, it's almost like a dark SNL digital short the first couple minutes of the film, you know? Yes. It's very tongue-in- yes it's it's very tongue in cheek and it's very funny but it's also appropriately uncomfortable because of course

this is based off real stuff you know it's wild yeah yeah and then eastwood another one were there similarities between someone like clint eastwood and spike lee because stylistically they're very different right like if you watch a spike lee movie and a Clint Eastwood movie I feel like if you enjoy movies you'd be like oh I could immediately tell which one is which are their directing styles similar and working with actors yeah no you're right about the dissimilarity in the sense of some of the tonality and stuff and the visual choices or you know I i think comparing eastwood to spike would almost be like comparing tarantino to uh like uh catherine bigelow or something you know that you know it when you see it but totally having said that they as men and as filmmakers that they have so much more

alike than uh and in common than different and and you know, I think Clint and Spike both have a great sense of humor. They both love actors and they give their actors a lot of leeway, a lot of latitude to be creative and to explore. And, and at the end of the day, they're trying to have these little families, you know, Clint and Spike would both set aside these nights for dinners with the casting crew and and have these little dinner parties where they're trying to feed everybody and get everybody drunk and and get everybody dancing and laughing and and you know that when you hear actors say oh we became like a family

you know that's not a cliche that is a thing that happens. If it doesn't happen, you know, maybe you're on the wrong film and you wish you were working with a spike or Clinton. You're counting the days until you wrap, you know? Yeah. I mean, I, I would assume it went well with black Klansman, obviously because he got the invite back for five bloods. And now I guess you might be a part of that Spike Lee joint family, which what an honor. I will smoke that joint till it runs out

like we join is a is is a great high I I hope he asked me back you know he he's just a sweet guy he'll once he called me to just check on me after Defy Bloods came out and he said he's just calling the cast and wants to see how they felt about the film and what their family and friends were saying and you know he he's he's a thoughtful guy so is Clint I mean here's a story nobody's heard I was at a bar in Burbank Tony's Tony's darts away or something it's like a craft beer bar they also serve like vegan or vegetarian food but I was there with Rockwell and Clint Rockwell said to me he goes he says to me we're getting off the plane when we landed he goes hey um hey Paul what do you think about getting a little hair of the dog what do you think about getting a little pop get a little nip over at

Tony's uh because Rockwell loves craft beer and I said yeah I'm game and he goes what do you think about Clint coming with you think he'd do it you think he'd come with you know the guy's like 90 years old he's got a billion things to do among them sleep after making a film yeah just wrapped and gotten back and he goes i'm gonna ask him i go go ahead see what he says and clint clint's like yeah i'll follow you there and you know clint doesn't have like gps it's not like he's got a nav system on his phone it's just like getting my truck and follow you and we're like and all the producers are looking at us like we're, we're about to take their kid to the, to the carnival. Like, like, do not go lose my kid. Don't kill Clint.

We'll go together. We'll figure it out. We'll, we'll get there. But there was a moment where Clint and I and Rockwell are sitting, we're eating, we're eating disco fries and drinking beer. And Clint's telling us stories. There's a homeless woman to my right who looks like she's had a life. You know, the woman, the Gabourey Sidibe from Precious. I mean, she looked like she lived a worse version of that life and was asking me for some money. And I think I gave her 10 or 20 bucks. No, no. What I did was I said, I have a tab, go order whatever you want. Just put it on my tab. And I told the bartender. And Clint looked at me and was like, what was all that about thinking I was being like

hustled or scammed, you know, like a dad? Like, are you okay? What happened? And I told Clint what I did. And he goes, oh, and he pulls out his wallet and he pulls out a bunch of dollar bills and says, give her this. Like he saw what I did and he felt compelled to love on that total stranger too and gave her 10 or 20 bucks. Man, that's so wholesome.

Moments like that though, you know, when people try to attack Spike or Clint in the news, or yesterday I was defending Sebastian Stan. I saw that, yeah. A bunch of his fans got all mouthy about something, which I'm sure there's where there's smoke, there's fire, but you know, there's nuance to these things. Of course. You can't just lambast somebody because you feel like it.

So when I hear people try to take down friends of mine, I'm always like, I got 50 stories that I can tell you about these people's hearts and minds and humanity. So I'm quick, I'm quick to shut that down. I really love all those guys. Yeah. Hearing that Clint Eastwood story warms my heart because I can't unsee him as the guy from grand Torino. So I love hearing that he's actually a good guy in real person because after that performance, I'm just like, that's who he is.

And he comes from a different generation too. Let's point out like, of course, Clint Eastwood, a lot of these guys did a lot of hard partying and they lived some lives that we couldn't imagine. I'm sure they don't love everything they've done. They've probably had some bad behavior pre-cell phone footage, but you know, that doesn't mean we can judge them. These are good guys, or at least the ones I've met are really good guys. And I want to get into wrestling. First, I do want to recommend everyone check out the movie that you were in, made by Clint Eastwood, Richard Jewell. This was

a movie that I watched during quarantine, and I was blown away by it. I didn't really know much of the story. I was born in 1998, so pass me by that way. But it was frustrating to watch as a movie, and that's like a compliment, because that's sort of how it's meant to be perceived, at least that's how I took it. The whole time you're watching it, you're like, I cannot believe this is real. And you go to the computer and you look at it and you're like, this is real. This is actually what happened. It's a mind-blowing movie.

It's really, really well made. It could happen to anybody, man. It can and it will. I mean, history, we're doomed to repeat it usually. So I'm glad that film got made. It's not a perfect film by any stretch i know people have their uh critiques of it but i'm i'm eternally grateful that we got to tell the story yeah and i thought you were phenomenal in it but let's get to wrestling because you are a massive

wrestling fan i've noticed it from your twitter you know i heard that oh yeah paul's a wrestling fan he likes wrestling and then i followed you and i started digging into you more and more and i was like oh no he he knows wrestling like he is in on wrestling let's call it out Paul's a wrestling fan. He likes wrestling. And then I followed you and I started digging into you more and more. And I was like, Oh no, he, he knows wrestling. Like he is in on wrestling. Let's call it out. There's a difference. A lot of guys who say they're wrestling fans, what that means is they have like an old ultimate warrior t-shirt and they tell you that they went to WrestleMania in 94 or whatever. And they saw Sean and Razor's ladder match when they were a kid

that's usually what that means I I'm I'm a real wrestling fan dude you walked down to WWE backstage and the first thing you did was reference the code of honor with Booker T which like I was like oh there you go you're calling out ring of honor you dissing him with the total non-stop action so that was great when did your fandom begin are you one of these guys that is a lifelong fan i have an uncle an uncle uh robert ziff my mom's brother um he was a fan he grew up watching uh the southern territories probably everything from jerry lawler to nwa rick flair stuff so he was a big fan he showed me clash of the champions when i was like five years old in florida so there was a clash of champions i saw in the early 90s that i have vivid memories and depictions and i've looked up the cards to try to figure out which one it was but but like i remember

jushin thunder liger arn anderson el guante, a range of these characters, some that looked like my dad and some that looked like cartoon characters, you know? And I was so fascinated by it. I was really taken with it and started, I was buying the toys before I was even watching the shows regularly. Well, they look larger than life, right? Like superheroes, basically. Yeah, yeah. So, you know, I would say from about 1992 until now, there's been like 28 years of consistently watching some programming. And I was a WCW kid. I was going to ask you about that because I saw that Sting was your favorite wrestler. I literally have written down in my notes, were you a WCW kid. I was a WCW kid for Sting. Sting and Ric Flair were very just polarizing, memorable people. Surfer Sting

or Crow Sting do you go? Oh, Surfer Sting all day. Crow was amazing, but Bischoff and Russo and all those guys, they really fumbled and gave preferential treatment to too many of those NWO guys, the Kevin Nash's and such. So I really wish a guy like sting had been the real locker room leader and had

been booking some stuff, but he was, unfortunately by the end of his run, he was, he was fighting guys like Scott Steiner who could barely, you know, do an arm drag, let alone theensteiner he used to do and then you know he had he was he was putting over guys like vampiro and having these it's just about to say the vampiro stuff was no good he he wrestled the demon the kiss demon at one point they were they really kind of buried him by way of creative and they did the same thing to rick flair bischoff notoriously did not see the value in Flair. And then Flair goes to Connecticut after their purchase by Vince,

and Flair had an incredible run. Just had Ric Flair on the podcast, and we talked about that, and he very much talked about how Bischoff broke his confidence, he said. And what led to his incredible run, he said, was The Undertaker requested a match with him at WrestleMania 18 and said said i want to show rick flair that he's rick flair and that leadership you know taker was the locker room leader for forever that leadership was missing in wcw the inmates ran the asylum and there was a never-ending pocketbook checkbook, and horrible creative,

and that's just a recipe for disaster. So I was glad that Rick got his run with Taker. He put other guys like MVP over. He had that phenomenal match with Sean. The match with Sean, I've rewatched it within the last year, year and a half. His match with Sean is as good as anything, man. Agreed. I mean, told the the story pulled off the

moveset great timing back and forth Sean was bumping like crazy but not in the disrespectful performance manner with which he bumped for Hogan you know yeah it was perfect man it was and look at the ending of it right and immediately burst into like the wrestling zeitgeist of the I'm sorry I love you you reference that to any wrestling fan. They know the exact match and the exact moment you're talking about. Goosebumps on my leg when you said it. I mean, and by the way, I want to, I want to really draw some attention to a match. I believe it was battleground WWE battleground, and it was either 2015 or 16. I't recall the year probably 16 kevin owens fought sammy zane they have their whole history from the indies from canada roh and it built up really well

and they had those fight forever t-shirts with the half faces as one face yep and the match they had at battleground i literally got choked up and damn near cried. Because at the end, there is a similar moment. Very similar. Sammy gets him in that sort of exploder, Taz-like suplex. Kevin no-sells it, gets up and goes and pulls back to hit him. He hits it again, the Haluva kick. And after the first Haluva, he holds Kevin's limp body.

Yeah. And sets him back up and it felt like he was putting the dog down you know incredibly yeah your buckle takes his time closes his eyes when they open it's half pain half relief and then second aluva kick wins people were on their freaking feet it was one of the greatest matches the last 10 years and nobody talks about it i don't talk about putting chills in my arms you just describing the finish of that could put chills on my arms you know that's goosebumps me and caleb landry jones or jesse plemmons need to go make that biopic the kevin owens

sammy zane movie yes please do oh my god kevin owens has told me that's one of the only times in his entire wwe career where once he got to the back after the match was over he celebrated he said usually he's very calm cool and collected just yep I know what I did in the ring he said he got to the back and just unleashed a scream that was like you know who the fuck we are and and the way Vince treated him after his match with Jericho at Wrestlemania which I was there for in uh Orlando so was I yeah yeah. Garbage, garbage. Agreed. I got a lot of problems with Vince,

and one of them is how he treats his superstars. Kevin Owens has given so much to that company and been one of the few truly consistent people along with New Day and Charlotte Flair. She's one of the consistent players there. I hope that when his contract runs out, I mean, Kevin can do whatever he wants. He's got a wife and kids or whatever. So, like, if you've got to make money, make the money.

But I hope he considers multiple companies when the clock runs out there. Yeah, he's one of my favorites as well. Before we get you out of here, I just got one more question for for you i saw you posted a list of dream roles on twitter recently and two of them as a wrestling fan really sparked my interest and they were mick foley and dusty roads two of my favorites of all time and i just wanted to ask you when you put these out as a dream role and you're a movie nerd and you're a wrestling nerd like you are you know in a good way i'm saying that of course do you have anything in mind are you picturing this is what the first scene of my mick foley movie is going to look like this is are you saying i want to cut the hard times promo

as a monologue in a movie what is intriguing about those two guys to you well for one you just got to go with the similarity of look and know that there are people i'll never get to play. You know, I'm not going to play Ted Kennedy. I'm not going to play fill in the blank. I would watch you play all those guys though. After I watched Richard Jewell with my mom, I said I would watch this guy play the fucking shark from Jaws. It's funny. You said that Chris Nolan talked about Heath Ledger's involvement in the dark

night. And he said it was akin to the shark in jaws where his intention with Heath was to bring him in and out of the film to just cause chaos and leave. Yeah. I thought that was pretty brilliant. Dusty, I'm friendly. I'm very friendly with Dustin and Cody.

Well, I, I have a dream to make a Ric Flair biopic that I want to write, produce and direct starring Ryan Gos want to write, produce, and direct Starring Ryan Gosling Oh dude That's one of my dreams What are you doing in quarantine? Hang up Start writing it, hang up the Zoom call right now

I would but what will happen is I'll write it for free I'll put my whole self into it And then someone else will go make it And the rest is shit But I want to do a Ric Flair biopic I have a take on it that's incredible i've pitched it to a few people gosling would be rick flair and i would either want to play arn anderson which i would have to drop about 60 pounds and get in that shape um or i would want

to play dusty and keep the physique and then get everything else down. But my take on the Ric Flair biopic is that the third act of the film is just moment for moment a full, like, 20, 30-minute Broadway or whatever between Dusty and Ric with a bunch of color. And you would shoot it the same way that a Rocky movie or Creed ends in the big fight. You're watching Ric and Dusty go at it and then share cans of beer in the locker room covered in blood afterwards, you know?

But then the Mick Foley biopic, that version, I just think to me, that's just like a, an I, Tanya type comedy. It's a larger than life story. It's hallmarked by all these insane moments,

but really it's about a guy who wanted to be loved like we all do. And he had it with his family and found it in his family, found it with the fans when he got over and won the championship and all that. But at what cost? And at some point you're measuring the cost of the violence you inherit in your body and what you're willing to do and having to make a decision of choosing your family or choosing the thing you love that's actually hurting you. So whatever that is, I would love to tell that story.

I would love to get a James Mangold or somebody to direct that movie and, and let me play Mick, you know? Yes. I would love to see that go through all the air, show the flashbacks of the C4 matches in Japan and the crazy, you know, jumping off the roof onto a bunch of mattresses, going to see Snooker at the garden. I would love to see that. I think, I think it's about dreams,

but what happens when your dream does come true and then what toll does it take? And when do you have to say enough is enough? And, and I think, I think hanging up, lacing up the boots is the first act. The middle is all the crazy stuff. And the end of the film is deciding to hang up the boots you know yeah the final run all right i really appreciate the time you've given us on this podcast um tell the people where they could find you and tell the people what you got coming out that we could look forward to yeah uh instagram handles at pw hauser uh twitter handle is at paul

w hauser uh you can find me in the five bloods and kingdom on netflix right now you can find me in cobra kai which will be going to netflix by the end of the year i have a new movie coming out called eat wheaties with tony hale i don't have a date on that yet but that's a uh very endearing uh indie comedy love tony hale. I did a movie called Silk Road where I play opposite Jason Clark. That's a true story about the Silk Road scandal. That'll be out by the end of the year as well. I don't know when. And then there was one other thing.

Oh, I did a tiny guest arc on Reno 911 on Quibi, which is on Quibi right now. And then Cruella will be out sometime next year. And I can't wait for people to see, to see me in a big splashy Disney movie. That'll be the biggest thing I've ever done, you know?