My Mom's Basement - EPISODE 94 - GREG GRUNBERG
Episode Date: December 3, 2020Resistance Pilot Greg Grunberg himself hops down into the Basement today to discuss the wacky year it's been for him, being Joe SIlver's driver as he got his start in the industry, acting in big vs sm...all productions, writing graphic novels, and much, much more. 3Chi: Use code ROBBIE at checkout to receive 5% off at 3Chi.comYou 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
Transcript
Discussion (0)
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.
If you've seen any movie, you've seen this guy.
He's been in fucking everything.
Movies, TV shows.
I'm going to come right out and say it.
The nicest guy in Hollywood.
We were planning on doing a podcast.
You guys know my interviews.
I mean, 20, 30 minutes generally.
We talked for an hour.
I could have talked for three more hours with this guy.
It was an amazing, amazing chat. We'll definitely get Greg back on the pod. Before we get into that,
let me just send out a quick thank you to some people that bought merch on Black Friday.
I sent out a tweet real late on Black Friday. I said, the next 20 people that buy a hoodie are
going to get a shout out on the podcast. And here's some shout outs for those people. Captain Insano, Joe Potenza, James McDougal, Ivan Canfield, Justin Krause,
Miles J. Murphy, Connor Ryan, Daniel Cunniff, Ian Coleman, Big Suey, Dustin Nelson, Branded
Lundegren, Andy Rice, Joe Oliveri, Chris Menig, Joe Dollinger, Michael McCalla, Loud Pack X, Thank you guys so much for buying merch.
I appreciate everyone who bought merch over Black Friday,
over the whole weekend on Cyber Monday,
the people that called into the telethon.
I talked to some great stoolies, some My Mom's Basement listeners. One of the guys, his name was Ethan. He was a good tennis player from Southern
California. Shout out, Ethan, if you're listening. I remembered that call. Don't think I forgot it.
We'll get some jujitsu guys on the podcast for you soon. And finally, before we get into this
interview with Greg Grunberg, let me remind you guys about 3Chi and their Delta 8 THC. This is
the holiday gift of the season. I'm
telling you, if you're getting your loved ones some gifts, get them 3Chi. They will love you for
it. What is 3Chi? It is a federally legal version of THC. Well, their Delta 8 is at least. Delta 8,
basically, it's the perfect hybrid between CBD and Delta 9, which is the THC you'll find in
marijuana. This stuff will get you high.
It'll give you that similar buzz and all of the medicinal effects of Delta 9 without the laziness, the anxiety, the paranoia, the mental fogginess.
This stuff's amazing.
I swear by it.
I use the vapes.
I use the gummies.
I use the tinctures.
All of their products are formulated by a biochemist in the USA with USA Grown Hemp.
You are supporting an American small business
when you support 3Chi.
And you're supporting Barstool.
When you use the promo code Robbie at checkout,
R-O-B-B-I-E, you will receive 5% off your order.
That's at their website, 3chi.com,
the number three, C-H-I.com,
and it helps the podcast stay run.
So if you're looking to get one of your loved ones
an amazing holiday gift this year, go with 3G.
They're Delta A-T-H-C.
And be careful with this stuff.
You will fail a drug test.
You will get high.
It's the real deal.
I'm not bullshitting you.
Promo code Robbie.
You'll receive 5% off your order.
All right.
Without further ado, Greg Grunberg.
Hello, ladies and gentlemen.
Welcome back to My Mom's Basement. I am joined by a very
special guest. I would say a friend of the program at this point. We did some content together during
the quarantine. We did a movie commentary of Rogue One together. It's Mr. Greg Grunberg. I mean,
I have to introduce you like this in the basement. Snap Wexley himself. Yes, thank you. Thank you.
Do not use the Mr. I don't need Mr. Anything, dude. First of all,
I'm only doing this for the swag. Okay, whatever happens here. I need is that is that beanie
yours? No, this is just a regular beanie. But the hoodie is all yours. We'll send you one.
Oh, my God. It's all you. So we claim that Star Wars got the Mandalorian and little baby yo on
there. Oh, there it is it is okay which i shouldn't
technically say we have someone that looks like the mandalorian someone that looks a lot like
baby yo don't come with a death star well you know mickey mouse so robbie we have i have three boys
and when they're growing up um you know you you have like a little birthday party and they want
a character to come and i remember it was always like let's get um bar I mean the purple dinosaur
to come the guys that would show up they never oh my god man I have stories there was a guy that
showed up and he was Darth Vader I think he was Darth Vader and he shows up yeah it was Darth
Vader and it was maybe 180 degrees outside.
I live in the San Fernando Valley in LA.
So hot.
He shows up.
He comes around the corner of the house.
He's already breathing heavy.
Super thin guy, but just weighed down by all this stuff.
He sits down and he goes, he's going to do balloons for them.
And I'm expecting like, oh.
Who's the birthday boy?
Please come and show me your birthday.
Yeah, whatever, something.
He sits down.
He goes, I'm going to make balloons for everybody.
Who wants a Charizard?
Who wants a Charizard?
He's going into these like Pokemon characters.
His voice is super high, like kind of effeminate,
like the sweetest, nicest guy in the world.
And I go up to him and I go, hey, hey, you know what?
Just don't say anything. Yeah, yeah out bro you're vader dude you're
vader get it down get the register down here so anyway i'm familiar with yourself right there i
mean if you put yourself in the suit get yourself breathing all heavy get yourself in the heat
yeah by the way very uh sad that you know we have darth vader has passed away yeah
david prowse himself may the force be with him i met him several times his son i believe it was
his son that was with him on various occasions at different comic cons because you know he was
always at cons yeah run into each other and um we were at a con and i actually i just feel good
that i was able to do this i didn't know him and i was such a fan and I actually, I just feel good that I was able to do this.
I didn't know him and I was such a fan and he signed this action figure.
I went and bought an action figure on the floor and I came back and he
signed it for me. Anyway. He asked me, his son, I believe, asked me,
you know, he's never talked to JJ. And I'm like, what? And he goes, yeah,
he's never, he never actually had a conversation with JJ. I mean,
they talked through an email or something, whatever.
And I said, he goes, he would love, I'm like, stop, stop.
What are you calling?
Are you kidding me?
I pick up the phone.
JJ is my best friend in the whole world.
We've talked about this.
And I call JJ's like, what?
Yes.
Oh my God.
I'm such a fan.
Such a fan.
Putting Darth Vader together with JJ, you know, for me to say JJ, he's like my brother.
It's a big deal. But to make that connection. I mean for Star Wars fans that's I know and I'm a huge
Star Wars fan so I was like it was just such a privilege to do that for him that man is so loved
and beloved and will always be um you know in the same way that Carrie Fisher we just they molded
all of those actors molded my
childhood. And, you know, yeah, so that was like a moment. And it's I'm just very, very sad that
he passed. This this year sucks, dude. It does. 2020 has been terrible. I was actually gonna
open the interview just asking you how this year's been for you. You know, as an actor,
like, are you struggling to get work? Obviously, you're not in a position where it's necessarily
horrendously, you know, oh, my God,'m struggling. I'm going to lose the house. But
is, has it been a strange year for you as well? Yes. It's, it's been a strange year for me because
as you look down my IMDB, you know, I don't say no, I just don't. You're in everything. I was
actually just downstairs and I said, Oh, I'm going upstairs to do an interview. And someone said, Oh,
who is it? And I said, Greg Grunberg. And theyberg and they said oh the name I don't know maybe I know the face I said you absolutely
know the face because he has been in everything fucking everything I've been really lucky dude
it's it's and then by the way that's the reaction I want for the rest of my life like who oh as soon
as they see the face they're like oh yeah he's been in this he's been in that and I love everyone
has a different thing that they recognize you from some people oh it's from felicity some people
from alias some people from star wars some people star is born you've been in all you're in every
star movie stars born stars exactly yeah you can't make a movie without star trek stars born star
wars yeah i've been really really lucky this year it's weird though because i um you know like i the
movie that's out right now that we did max reload Reload and the Nether Blasters, right?
Just a great movie, low-budget movie, whatever.
I said yes.
I went out to Arizona.
I made that movie.
That was great.
This year, I've turned down things.
I've turned down big things.
I just turned down an episode.
They were so sweet.
They called and said, we want you to be on.
It's an amazing character on 9-1-1 Lone Star I don't watch that show but it's just cool I grew up watching
Emergency and and yeah you know all those all those shows and I just don't feel it's as safe
as you know we're at the we're at the the end of this hopefully we're at the you know we can see
the light at the end of the tunnel there's a coming. I just don't want to be that guy that gets sick at the very end where it's like,
Oh, if you just had waited. So travel I've avoided. The one thing that I have done,
which is running like crazy. I did like 80 episodes of a game show called 25 words or less.
And it's on and I sit in a pod. It's very similar to this, except, you know, I don't,
it's not in my house, but it's on a stage and it's a 10 by 10 room with a camera and a teleprompter. And I just,
I play this game show, people try and win 10 grand. And it's really fun. Meredith Vera hosts
it. It's my dad's favorite. Like I'm in, I've really done some really amazing things in my
career. I've been so lucky. My dad, who's, you know, 87, he's like,
this is my favorite thing that you've ever done.
What are your favorite things to do now? Like as a guy who's gotten to experience so many different things, big roles, small roles, cameos, this, that, the next thing you've been in Star
Wars, like we said, a blockbuster, you've been in smaller, low budget stuff like Max,
what is your favorite stuff to do?
At this point, I definitely want to do stuff. I've
always done stuff where I add a little levity to things. I love comedy. I really want to do
comedy. I'd love to do my own sort of version of The Office meets Curb, like something where
it's small, but you just, you know, those are my favorite shows, you know, going back to like
Cheers and Taxi and these classic sitcoms where the characters are really rich and everything.
There's such an opportunity to do it now where you don't need that high production value.
And I have a studio in Hollywood here, a building that my band rehearses in and we shoot a bunch of stuff.
I direct a bunch of commercials and shorts and stuff.
And that's what I'm doing right now.
I'm working with a guy who actually is the writer on The Undoing,
believe it or not. Wow. Yeah, we're gonna get to that. I have it in my notes as well.
Dude, you don't have to segue. Jonathan Shapiro and I, we wrote a pilot together. And now we're
working on a couple things. But one of them is, and I'll tell you offline what it is, but it is
going to be so much fun. It's kind of just using my building for what it is. You're just going to
love it. And it shows me, it lets me improv and have a good time. That's really what I want to do.
Huge things, yes. Like JJ calls and says, hey, I got a great part for you. I drop everything.
I was going to say, how could you turn stuff like that down?
Yeah. I mean, you're in the same, you know, when, when you work with people that you love and they say, Hey Robbie,
I've got this thing. You don't even need them to explain what it is.
You love them. You know, it's going to work out and projects evolve.
They always change. So no matter what script you get,
I'm working on something right now with Jack Coleman from heroes, you know,
he, and he's, he's in the band with me as well. Yeah.
And he wrote an amazing script for Nick Marzoc, who is singer songwriter and in the band with me as well. Yeah. He wrote an amazing script for Nick Marzoc,
who is singer songwriter and in the band as well,
but he's a young up and coming singer songwriter.
And it's kind of his experience going through the music business and it's
funny and everything. He sent it to me. I read it. I'm producing with him.
And, and that's really what I want to do. But again,
big projects pay the rent and I I've been really lucky and been smart. And,
you know, a year like this, though, does test you. Yeah, you know, you go, wait a minute,
you always talk about you should have enough money and enough security so that if you don't
work for six months, you're okay. None of us are that way. I have three boys, I've got, you know,
one's in college, one's working, the other is in high school, they're baseball players, they eat up a storm.
I mean, it's like, it's hard, man.
It's hard to stay ahead of it.
And this year, thankfully, the game show and other projects that I did, you know, again,
I'm not struggling, so I'm not going to complain because there are people that are really hurting
out there.
But it's been a, yeah, it's been an interesting year.
I've done a bunch of projects at home through Zoom, through this and that,
just doing what I can.
Yeah.
First of all, thank your co-writer for The Undoing
because that was just tremendous television from start to finish,
which I want to talk about, but I figure we'll save that to the end
because if people haven't watched it, we'll save the spoilers
so they can listen to the whole interview without having it spoiled.
If you haven't seen The Undoing, it's a must-watch.
People, go on HBO.
Six episodes. It's a miniseries, which is amazing. You get infested and you get a conclusion to the whole story. Tremendous. And I'm very excited for that music show you just teased because as a musician myself, big music fan, there's not enough movies or TV shows that actually show like that in a fictional sense. The music business, the music world, world concerts stuff like that i mean you were lucky enough to be in maybe the goat which is the star is born shows that side of the music business like none
other i actually saw an interview with you recently where you talked about your opening
scene with bradley cooper that movie and how it was improv and you're just talking about your own
sons how cool is that for them like their dad is talking about them and a star is born with bradley
cooper yeah it was it's one of the biggest rock stars in Hollywood.
Yeah, Bradley and I have known each other forever since Alias.
He was on Alias.
People don't remember that really.
He played Will Tippin.
And he was frustrated at that time
just because of how talented he was.
And, you know, he wants that break.
He wants that starring role.
And then he got a bunch of things.
But we're in the car and we're just driving
and he gets in the car
and we knew that we were going to do the beat.
The beat was written that he asked me, he's like, there's no booze. And I'm like, oh, sorry. And now we're just driving and he gets in the car and we knew that we're going to do the beat the beat was written that he asked me he's like there's no booze and i'm like oh i'm sorry
and now we're going to look for a place to get a drink but other than that we didn't know and he
goes let's just talk about your kids and what he's so smart because you think about that character
right he's a rock star just gets off stage on top of the world yet he gets in the car and in 30 seconds you realize
that his driver has more going on and is richer in his life than he could ever be because he says
he's like how's Benny Reen so my son Benny uh used to call him Benny Reen's he's like how's
Benny Reen's doing and I'm like oh he's good you got a scholarship which my son got a scholarship
to LMU to play center field and whatever so So my kids are, and then my other son's playing baseball on it.
And I'm just talking and bragging about my son.
And you know, we see my eyes through the mirror,
but you see that he doesn't have shit going on.
And it also comes off so natural too.
Like it builds that relationship between the driver and the performer as like
such a grounded thing right after he gets off stage. Like you said,
so tremendous that movie, it's one of those movies where i saw it in theaters i don't know if i could ever see again it was one of the one of my favorite movies i've ever seen but man it wrecks you
emotionally i know and and when he first told me he was doing it um he called me up and he goes
look i'm doing this thing you were joel silver huge producer in hollywood right for years and
years one of the most successful i was his driver for a year. I literally drove Joel Silver around.
Yeah. Yeah. That was one of my jobs when I was like 19. And so Bradley remembers that. And he
was like, look, my character needs a driver. It'd be really great. Kind of a nod to what you used
to do. Ron Rifkin's going to be in it. Ronnie's a good buddy of all of ours, you know, from Alias.
And he said, you want to do, I'm like, Bradley, anything you want me to do, I will do crap service
on this. So I show up and then, you know, working, I'm a big Lady Gaga fan too. And so I was like,
and it was shot so small. It was a real movie, all the trappings, you know, the trailers and
all that stuff but it
really felt like we're in summer camp here we're doing something if you have something to add add
it you know Bradley knows what he wants so I I was like hey why don't we do this and he's like
nah no it's like you know it's like there's no egos here so I would throw out an idea he would
and being in the car and then having having Gaga like uh you know stephanie say how was that i'm like you're asking me
everything i i'm like what she was so down to earth she's such a good actor it's incredible
i mean i'm telling you dude that movie oh my god yeah bradley obviously and also everything he does
he brings it and he makes it even better and better and better.
But that like, she was so beautiful in that. So vulnerable, so great.
And anyway, it was, it was just a great, great experience to do that.
And also there's a funny story.
We were shooting in front of that supermarket.
I was just going to say my role is tiny,
but I always try and do something where you remember, you remember the role.
It doesn't matter, you know, try and make it.
So in that short amount of time you go, oh, I like that guy,
whatever.
So I had those moment, the moment at the door and I'm eating Cheetos at the supermarket or whatever.
But we're shooting that beautiful, classic, old, vintage supermarket and I'm standing
there and she's singing and I keep turning around and he's like, stop turning around.
And I go, Brad, she's singing so beautifully i would turn around
he's like no no we've been through this you're my driver music is our thing just don't turn around
i'm like okay so it was hard it was really hard not to turn around anyway they're setting up the
camera they're moving the camera and she's just belting it out you know standing just singing
acapella you know just singing by herself and down the street between takes some guy yells shut the fuck up it's like
it's like two in the morning and i'm thinking this guy has no idea lady gaga is singing for him
oh man wow that's hysterical so i want to get back to the beginning with you like i know you
met jj as kids when you guys were like four or five years old did you always want to go into
entertainment even like when you're growing up making Super 8 movies with him? Did you know you
wanted to be an actor? Were there other dreams? I mean, I loved being creative always. But my dad
is kind of a hustling, smart businessman. My dad was one of the first people to go into solar
energy business. He was in the clothing business forever. And then he shifted to that and then went back to clothing business and, you know,
hustled in and out of businesses. Not all of them worked, but I got my entrepreneurial spirit from
him. So when you've got that, and then I went to San Diego State University for business, and I,
I got an opportunity to run a mailroom for Dino De Laurentiis up in LA. I was working for them
during the summer, but then they were like, you know what? We really need full-time. We need somebody. We love you. We trust you.
Will you come up here? So I had to make a decision. I left college, came up, was doing that. And now
I'm kind of in the business and JJ's finishing college. We both finished college. We're sharing
an apartment together. And, you know, I opened a frozen yogurt store because I-
Yeah. Because business, I left the business a little bit I really, yeah. Cause business,
I left the business a little bit to run that store was on Melrose right in the
middle of all the action. And that was just miserable. I mean,
it was great because I was business,
but when you're breaking your butt and somebody walks in the door and they
order a child's cup of frozen yogurt and you know,
you just made 40 cents profit.'re like what am I doing yeah
what am I with the dream of opening a bunch of stores but at the same time I was gonna say at
that time did you have the dream of entertainment were you even thinking that or were you just
straight hey I would like to make money I want to survive I'm an entrepreneur well a little of both
I mean I you know in elementary school was always in school plays. I always wanted to be an actor.
So, but I never thought I would do it for a living.
I just didn't, even though growing up in LA and being surrounded by the business, JJ
and I were best friends since we're age five, four.
And so his dad was one of the most successful TV producers.
I used to go to the set with JJ.
We would, we made a super eight films that I would star in.
And, you know, know i was we were always
that was our creativity that was our outlet and but at the same time i was like okay you know i
never thought okay i'm gonna do this for a living i remember um i went to the set of happy days
i've never actually shared this this is really funny um through a a friend of my parents knew
tom bosley who played the dad on happy days and
and so we got to go to the taping and i remember i'm at the taping of happy days and i'm just
watching how much fun the actors are having how and i'm i'm little i'm like whatever 11 12
and they said hey he's like tom bosley was hey you want to meet uh you know now henry winkler's
a friend of mine so we i've told him this story but he's hey, we want to meet, you know, now Henry Winkler is a friend of mine. So I told him this story.
But he's like, hey, you want to meet Scott Baio?
And I was like, yes, I want to meet Scott Baio.
So I remember meeting Scott Baio, who now, you know, we couldn't have further opinions about the world.
I don't know him at all.
But now I follow him on Twitter.
And I'm like, this guy's crazy.
But at that time when I met him, he said to me, he's like, what do you want to do? And I said, I want to be an actor.
He's like, don't let anybody stop you. Don't let anybody stop.
If you want to be an actor, I'm looking at you right now. You can do that.
I remember him saying that. And I don't remember much else. I mean,
I love, I kind of remember the episode. It had pinky Tuscadero in it.
I remember. And, and like, Henry's asked me all these questions.
We traveled together and he's like, what what else what other night did i meet you and i'm like i don't even remember i remember
though chachi telling me you're gonna make it and that's all it took i guess huh that's all it took
but that's that and also when i was driving for joel so now i'm acting you know elementary school
and junior high and stuff and then then I, I didn't act,
always had ideas for movies and things.
And JJ would always bounce stuff off of me because he went to school for
writing and directing. He went to Sarah Lawrence.
I went to go visit him once or whatever. But I remember I'm driving Joel Silver,
right. And I'm driving in the car and, and I, we went up to Stallone's house.
So we went into his house and like, I have we went up to Stallone's house and we went
into his house and like, I have stories on all these people that are just told normal
stories, like not party drugs, alcohol, none of that.
Joel never, he never surrounded himself with those people.
He just didn't.
He was a business, right?
Businessman.
But, um, but like driving, I remember I'm driving on Mulholland, windy road up in the mountains with Stallone, Schwarzenegger, Cindy Crawford, Madonna, Demi Moore, Bruce Willis, all in the back of this because we just come from an award show.
Greg, this is like the president, how they don't let the president and the vice president travel together.
Those people should not be allowed in a car together and going through my head as the you know wannabe actor is if i go off
the cliff here and i jump out before the car goes off i get a better shot at some of these roles
i mean it was it was it was nuts to think but my point is that what i learned hanging out with
like you know bruce willis in the editing room on, you know, last boy scout and, and, and seeing all these people, you know,
with these projects. What I learned was they're regular people, man.
They all started the same way. Yes. They're incredibly talented.
They're very unique, but if they can do it, you can do it. If you just,
you know, don't listen to people that say you can't do it,
you're going to have to hear that over and over again, but just keep going,
keep going, believe in yourself. And then you really get a sense people that say you can't do it. You're going to have to hear that over and over again, but just keep going, keep going, believe in yourself.
And then you really get a sense of that when you're around them,
you're like, Oh my God. And then,
then you see them trip on a step and you go, isn't human. Oh, he's normal.
And they make a bad joke and you make fun of them. And now you're,
so it's, it's,
it's helped me as an actor because I don't get starstruck anymore.
I worked with Al Pacino a couple of years ago or a year and a half ago.
That was intimidating, but he was just the most generous, incredible guy.
But over the years, that's where I was like, okay, I think I want to do this because they can do it.
They've done it, and I'm funnier than that guy.
Yeah, actually getting to see that, being in the car with these people.
Joel was incredibly generous too.
I never went in socially to the places where like for dinner or whatever, but we would discuss
things in the car. He would discuss producing the producing side of the business. And he was doing
obviously the biggest movies in Hollywood, but he just never held back. He always, it was there to
answer a question for me. And that's, that's what you need, you know? I'm sure you were asking the
right questions too. I feel like that's a big part of it. If someone can tell that you're passionate about something
and you're really looking for a route in,
I feel like people in my experience are always willing to help.
Yeah.
Now, a guy like Joel, though, had people working in their specific jobs,
didn't have any interest in moving people up that weren't on the business side.
I was a driver and I was really good at it.
I grew up in LA.
I knew all the back alleys and the ways to get around traffic and all those places. And he wanted me as a driver
and I wrote a script while I was working with him. And there was a little bit of heat on the script,
just a very little bit, but we almost sold it. And I realized very quickly, the only way to move
up at a company like that is to move out into the creative side and then approach it as you have a script you're doing now you're taking you seriously it's it's tough it's hard to you
know to to do that um but he he was always like i said very generous he never um like never would
not share some information with me and never you know say don't worry about it you know and keep
me at arm's length he always kind of included me and asked me my opinion and said what do you think
of that guy what do you think you know guy? What do you think? You know,
kind of thing. Anyway. Yeah, it was yeah.
I mean, I guess I just picked up here and there, you know,
from different things and then it doesn't hurt when your buddy becomes
successful. And Matt Reeves created Felicity with JJ.
I have known Matt forever.
I helped produce his master's thesis project at SC with Brian Burke.
Oh, wow.
Brian went on to produce everything with JJ and, you know,
so these are my friends, Jesse. So many of your stories I was going to say are interesting. Brian went on to produce everything with JJ. And you know,
so these are my friends, Jesse. So many of your stories, I was gonna say are interesting, because it's not like, oh, yeah, when I worked on this big movie with Matt Reeves, I met him. It's
like I edited his essay or whatever. You have so many of those interesting stories. I feel like
more than anyone in Hollywood. I've heard from you. Yeah, I'm just an old dude. People that you've
met like outside of it. So so many of these wacky ways in. So let me ask about that specifically, you know, JJ, since you're four or five years old, right? Did you
know at some point, I feel like everyone thinks that their funniest friend or their most creative
friend is the funniest guy in the room is the most creative guy in the room. But with someone
like JJ, like seemed like a guy that was probably destined for greatness pretty early. Did you
recognize that? Did you realize it? Or were you just like, oh, no, JJ's super creative? No, I think we all recognized it. My dad, there's a funny story,
went to Shakey's one night and a pizza place out here, right? And we're in there and my dad takes
a napkin and JJ was nine, 10. And my dad wrote, I am JJ's manager and will collect 20% for the
rest of his life and said, JJ, can you sign this
napkin? And it was a joke. And I remember that being funny. And it was like, what? And to this
day, my dad's like, remember that? We all knew. We all knew. JJ's just one of those guys who,
he's all about the work. There's no luck. Absolutely none. He'll say, oh, you know,
right place, right time. And people believe in me, but you can't, he's a force, man. You can't stop him.
He's, he's just so he's, he's just a wonderful person. Everybody wants to work with him,
but he's also just a very, he's very smart in that balance of entertainment, but also
stuff that you have to think about, you know, you really don't see a lot of his stuff coming.
I don't care. Anybody says you don't walk into a JJ movie and go, I know how this is going to end. You just don't. No, you're going to be satisfied, but you really don't know. He's
all about the mystery box, which if people haven't seen his TED Talk, it's the best TED Talk you'll
ever see. It really is. I'm a JJ geek, so everyone in the office knows that. Everything, it goes back
to Cloverfield for me. That was the first thing of his that I saw that, you know,
he was involved in or whatever.
And I remember watching that.
I was so young on like a bootleg and just being like, oh my God,
this was an experience.
That movie, it feels like by the time you're done with it,
you're exhausted because you just went through that city with those characters.
And I kind of dove into everything he did since.
My brother is a huge alias person.
My sister-in-law loves it as well.
So I saw some of your stuff on that.
What was for you the most proud you've ever been of him as his friend?
Wow.
I got to say, I mean, this is going to sound like, oh, sure.
But, you know, my most proud is finding, I i think one of the greatest people in the world
to be his wife um katie mcgrath is i just what a sweet answer greg you're gonna make me cry on
this podcast i know i i really you're gonna be like fucking star wars oh yeah no no no you asked
me you asked me a life question i mean this is really yeah you can tell uh the character of somebody by
how thoughtful they are how much thought they put into um you know the people that they choose to
be around and their friends and it really is true like if you look at who they're hanging out with
you're like okay it either raises them up you know a few notches in your book or it takes them down
and man i mean he he dated some very amazing people, you know,
when we were younger and everything, but Katie is just, she's, you know,
she's CEO of bad robot. She's, she started times up. She's, she's just,
she's so smart, but so humble and so sweet. And my son works there, Jake,
you know, who's their godson works at bad robot. And there's works there, Jake, you know, who's their godson, works at Bad Robot. And there's just that choice, that casting is the best casting JJ's ever did.
Nothing will ever come close.
And the work that they do to help other people, and it's so huge.
I mean, so huge, the things.
I can't even, I don't even know like you know good robot is a side of the company
that is devoted to helping others and they have the you know the defense fund and all of this
stuff and time's up but it's just incredible it's like you realize you realize okay yeah
you know he entertains the world he knows how to tell a story he's one of the best writer director
producers around I mean it's just crazy to think that my best friend is like the Spielberg of today, you
know, whatever.
But much more importantly, all the stuff he does to help other people.
That to me is the best.
That's beautiful.
They should renew their vows and play this answer at the wedding.
That could be like the best man speech.
That was absolutely.
I was his best man.
So look at that.
There you go.
You did it again.
You had practice.
Yeah, this was a much better
speech than i gave at night i can guarantee you um so let me ask you about this you've done some
writing as well you wrote a book for scholastic called dream jumper when you start to actually
write things what is your process like for something like that i'm sorry oh shit you got
it right there wait and then i'm sorry right there. Shit, volume one and two.
So when you get into the fiction and sort of large-scale stuff like that,
where you're writing a full book or something, it's so intimidating to me.
How do you start?
Do you write an outline?
What's that like?
Okay, so I had never written anything long-form like that, never.
And graphic novels, I had seen a few, read a few, very few.
I did not know the graphic novel world comic
books yes but not not in depth like kevin smith you know he and i had a show called geeking out
and kevin goes deep cuts on things and i'm like i don't know what you're talking about like i like
the tv what that character on tv is oh no this goes back 50 years to the he knows all that stuff. Um, I, my son had a dream and by the way, every idea I have,
I'll call JJ up. He does the same for me most of the time, but I'll call him up and go,
what do you think of this? And most of the time he'll say, uh, do you love it? Is it really cool?
I'm like, yeah, he's like, write it. And I go, no, no, no. Before I write, he's stop,
write it. And I learned from him that the energy it takes for me to pitch you something,
all I want is a reaction. That's all we want. We all just want people to react. I want to make
people laugh, cry, whatever. I want someone to pat me on the back and go, fuck, this is really good.
Yeah. That reaction will carry me to write the script. So if I pitch you, all the air is out
of that bubble now and it's not going to float man it's like just write it this
one my son ben uh who's in college in baseball he woke up he was 12 he had a terrible dream and
he woke up and i was like what's the matter he goes it was so real so real i said what was he
he goes i was like a superhero i go oh you were like batman superman he's like no it was me i was
me at 12 my me and i said what did you do and he goes I was in my friend's dreams helping them
through their nightmares and I was like what and he goes yeah that kind of sounds metal son I know
you're scared right now but uh yeah that's what I said I go daddy's gonna go get his laptop we
gotta pay for college I mean I was so excited I was so intrigued and I said and then I kept
thinking about it I couldn't stop thinking about it I told jj i go what about a kid that can jump in and out of his friend's dream save them
from their nightmares he was like wow that sounds amazing sounds like a graphic novel though and as
an anti freddy krueger in a way like a totally it's scanners for kids it's a great concept yeah
it's really cool and through the eyes of a kid who's just like my character in heroes you're
discovering this power. Like,
why do I have this power? First, you think you have, you know, night terrors and you think,
you know, we have a great setup in the book where he can't sleep. He's falling asleep at the dinner
table. He's falling asleep at school. So his mom says, I'm gonna take you to the sleep study place.
Meanwhile, he had been drawing pictures of the people that he was seeing in his dreams, drawing them in, you know, caricatures, little, I would wake up and do a drawing of them.
He goes to the sleep center and the door opens and the guy who runs the sleep center turns white and sees him because everybody in the sleep center had been drawing pictures of him.
So you're like, wow, that's cool.
I dig that. Now, those details, right? So I had this concept,
I had this idea. I'm starting to rattle ideas around in my brain, started to do bullet points
and stuff. He says, write a graphic novel. He goes, own it. It sounds like a graphic novel,
and you can turn it into whatever you want, but own the IP, have a book. I'm like, I'm not a book.
So I'm down at Comic-Con and this really amazing
illustrator and comic book guy, Lucas Turnbloom, brilliant, by the way, brilliant artist, but also
great storyteller. He's signing autographs. And I know him because through my charity work with
epilepsy, he wrote and created a comic strip about an office and a bunch of people that you get to
know. And then four volumes
in one of the characters has a seizure and you go oh so you realize oh anybody can have a seizure
like yeah it's not about epilepsy it was about this office and anyway he was so generous i wanted
to go thank him and then i'm seeing this long line and i'm like wow i didn't realize he's a big
comic book guy and then i go hey dude can i pitch you something because i don't know graphic novels
i don't want to copy someone else's idea i go go, is this, has this been done? And he was like,
that's fucking brilliant. He goes, let's talk about that. So that's how it started. And a year
goes by where we don't talk to anybody. He illustrated the entire book. And then we went
and looked for publishers, but it was, it was just like a script. I mean, getting back to your question, I'm sorry.
My answers are so long. No, it's fascinating story. I loved it.
You know, it's just sitting down going, okay. And always, by the way,
always everybody can come up with a great opening.
Like all the movie opens this way or the TV series opens this way,
or we introduced this character because he gets knocked in the head and turns
into a witch or whatever the hell it is. Then you go, Oh,
and the ending can be this but dude this is
the stuff all this stuff in between that's the hardest part and when you you go talk about your
fate your favorite movie it's so hard to make a movie where you know um the second act is brilliant
it's just hard it's like okay that at the end of the first act you have this great twist and okay
but now how are you gonna fill this and it so anyway, we really worked all that stuff out and we had all of it.
And then we went out and there was a little bit of a kind of a bidding war with the publishers.
And we went with Scholastic because they're in every school and they're a huge.
Of course. I think like Scholastic book fair, that's instant rush of nostalgia.
Yeah. And we're in the catalog. Dude, are my books in the catalog?
Dude, the catalog, that's like the best. You. And we're in the catalog. Dude, are my books in the catalog? Dude, the catalog.
That's like the best.
You see what you're going to get beforehand and everything.
Yeah.
I love that.
So it's now, it's available everywhere.
Dream Jumper books one and two.
And it's really interesting because there's evil side.
He doesn't want to become, you know, his dad was,
he comes from a long line of dream jumpers.
He's not the only dream jumper.
So there's a bunch of stuff without giving stuff away.
I think people really enjoy it.
Like I said, you can get it on Amazon, get it at Barnes & Noble, anywhere.
I love that.
All right, so let me ask you this.
This is a movie you wish you were in with a very small role.
So for me, I think it would probably be Empire,
and I would want to be a protocol droid.
I've always said I've got the arms that are tiny enough
to fit in one of those protocol droid suits so it would be a great excuse to be like
nah I can't work out I'm keeping them small for a role you know what movie and from history would
you like just a tiny Roland to be like yeah I was in that I had a cameo dude I mean if you're from
history history go back to be godfather if you want it to be. Oh, yeah. Two of my favorite movies.
I would have loved to have been in Willy Wonka and Chocolate Factory.
Yep.
That movie, just the original.
Of course.
I mean, it was just everything to me.
And Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.
Those two movies.
Chitty Chitty Bang Bang is the only movie that has an intermission on the DVD.
There's a musical.
The car is on an angle. It an intermission on the DVD. There's a musical and the car is on an angle.
It says intermission.
It's like, and you have time now to go to the bathroom and come back.
You're like, what?
It's amazing.
And the characters are amazing and rich and everything.
But if like more of like a modern, I've really had some great moments working with people.
I really want to work with Tom Hanks. Same birthday as me. We're July 9th boys. A little fun fact for you.
There you go. There you go. Always proud of that one. It outweighs that OJ Simpson is also on the
same day. Yeah. What's the date? It's July 9th. Me, OJ and and Tom Hanks. July 11th. Oh, shit. Same week. Look at that.
Cancer, what's up?
Oh, yeah. That's a good, there's a lot of good July people.
A lot of good July people.
We did a movie, a Coen Brothers movie, I say together, but it was me and J.K. Simmons,
and I had this small role where I played the director of this commercial,
and I was basically playing Joel Silver, like just yelling at people like,
what the hell?
It's great.
And got to work with the Coen brothers.
But anyway, I didn't get to work with Tom Hanks.
He's in the movie.
I'm in the movie.
Coen brothers.
I'm thinking, this is it.
My career is set, you know?
No.
And this is before The Hollow Man.
I think it's before The Hollow Man.
But yeah, I mean, like a movie with with albert brooks i like defending
your life um you know there's okay if there's a movie and i bet you haven't seen this movie
okay uh the idol maker nope can you write that down please robbie yeah the idol maker
yeah idol maker or the idol maker um i love, and trust me, I need them in 2020,
so I promise I will watch this.
Let me tell you, that will be one of your favorite movies of all time.
Wow.
Ray Sharkey.
It's so good.
When was it released?
Oh, in the 70s.
Okay.
80s maybe, late 70s.
It's so good.
Justin Timberlake was thinking about redoing it remaking it i think
they might be still talking about it i guarantee you and you're gonna call me and you're gonna be
like where's this movie been it's so good you you've seen defending your life yes okay um there's
also another you know albert brooks movie called real life if you haven't seen Real Life. I don't think I have.
Write that down too.
Okay.
Oh my God.
I love this.
I'm going to report back.
Yeah.
Charles Grodin.
And then, I mean, it's going to give a plug to an early movie I did.
You have to find it called Group Sex.
I wrote it, produced it, starred in it.
And it's Tom Arnold and Henry Winkler and Odette Annabelle.
I feel like our sense of humor is very very uh
oh my god i wrote that you wrote and directed i'm in on yeah dude i co-wrote that movie directed by
uh we we wrote it together larry trilling who's a brilliant filmmaker you have to check that out
but anyway um yeah i mean i didn't really answer your question but any of those movies that just
you know i've worked with some of those people i was in the muse with
albert brooks i was you know i was sort of in the mood you know this movie with tom hanks but there
are very few people that i kind of go man i really wish i worked with them or or a movie that i was
in but the chitty chitty bang bang willie wonka those two for sure good answers but what would
you love to have been a part of any batman movie just being like the kid that looks
up at batman just has that shot where he's like oh my god that's batman you know yeah kind of sick
if you're that kid dude can you imagine i mean that's like that that old uh that commercial
your friends with matt reeves give him a call greg i will do i look like i know i'm 22 but i look like
a child your total man child i mean those look we're shooting episode 7 episode 9 and there
were people that just did exactly that they were like J.H. I have to be in this whatever it takes
whatever Daniel Craig's in the movie I we're uh shooting and we're in the base and and we're under
the Millennium Falcon and and there's I mean there are hundreds of people around and there's creatures and it's just the dream to be actually in that world walking around
even between takes you're just like are you doing you know these guys did not take off their helmets
and they're just it was incredible version of Galaxy's Edge because everyone's kind of like
in the alien suits around you and stuff yeah get the full experience that's exactly what it was I
mean everywhere you looked you know then you would see the cameras and stuff but it was it was cavernous and it was just and was
it was moldy and misty and it was exactly what you'd expect i mean one of the biggest it's the
roger moore stage it's incredible at pinewood um the uk but i hear oh that's not far and i'm like
that's gotta be jeff garland and i look over and there's this character and he's all blue and he's a big
guy. And he's like, Oh, and I walk up to him and I go, Garland.
And he goes, grunny.
I couldn't tell it was him until I heard his voice.
And it's, there were people over and over again.
Lin-Manuel Miranda is in the movie.
And Lin, that's that moment when we all,
they all get back from the successful mission
and Lin is celebrating and everything, they called me.
JJ told me that he was going to be in it.
And I was like, I'm such a fan of his.
And I just wanted to meet him.
And so they bring me to set.
And I'm like, okay.
And JJ's like, all right, so Lin, you and Greg, you'll hug and stuff.
And I was like, oh.
And I meet him.
Greatest guy, instantly.
Just like greatest guy ever, you can imagine.
And then JJ comes over and goes, oh, right before we're going to shoot.
JJ goes, oh, shit, I totally forgot.
I said, what?
He goes, you died.
You're dead, bro.
Yeah.
Well, I'll tell you what.
I have a pitch for you that fills in the gap between The Force Awakens and Rise of Skywalker.
I know we had some comics and some stuff that filled in the Snap Wexley story.
I've been saying we need an Ewok movie, just like Ted.
Basically remake that movie, but it's an Ewok.
Maybe he's got a Boston accent.
He's a stoner.
I think what better roommate than Snap Wexley?
I'm not kidding.
It's Snap and this Ewok right here.
Don't you tease me.
Watching Alias smoking weed
in between the episodes. Perfect. Dude, I'm in. That's the Snap Wexley story right there. You
and an Ewok sitting on the couch. Low budget, right? We could just do you guys on the couch,
you guys in the apartment. We don't need galaxy ending stakes. And then at the end of the movie,
it'll be sick. You'll get a call from Poe Dameron. It'll be like, we need you to snap, get back here.
Exactly, what has snap been doing?
I wanna see top gun of X-Wing pilots.
That's what I want, the resistance pilots.
I wanna know, I wanna live with them.
I wanna go home with them.
By the way, on the Poe Dameron series,
they go on and on about Nora, my mom, and my wife,
and the this and the that.
It's like, they've got all these characters.
Why not do that? I've talked to Charles Sewell about this. I'm like, the that it's like, they've got all these characters. Why not do that?
I've talked to Charles Sewell about this. I'm like, Charles, let's go.
Like pitch it. Let's do it. Yeah. Come on. Five years.
Even we've got now the video games, the squadrons video game,
everyone's flying as X-Wing pilots. They're in style right now. Right.
Yeah. Yeah. The time is now. Come on, dude. I agree. All right.
And then special thanks Robbie.bie yeah that's all i need
that and protocol droid maybe right no tiny suit in the background yeah but not not no fox because
you really didn't do a lot of work just robbie yeah just robbie all right so let's talk about
music before we get out of here you're a drummer you've been drumming since you were a kid right
since you were like 12 years old i read yep i was hitting uh i was using paint cans with my buddy uh david levin
who's an incredible musician here's a guy who's just an incredible singer-songwriter guy growing
up together he was fans that's another one of these guys that like you just grew up with it's
crazy you had this connection man it's crazy and i had this connection with a guy that didn't really
he hung out with some of my friends, but he was like another, just,
I was friends with a bunch of different people, right.
And coming up and he and I got together and he needed a drummer because he
was playing guitar and it was Warren Ziv on music and Tom Petty and that
kind of thing and his own originals. And I learned to play the drums with him.
He went on to work for Bob Dylan's trust and Bob Dylan to re-record Bob Dylan's songs and send them out to the country artists, hip-hop artists, to try and sell the music, sell his songs.
Because he's at such an expensive library.
David's incredibly talented.
Like, an amazing musician.
But anyway, yeah, I've been playing forever.
And then I created Band From TV, which is this charity band with other celebrities that play music.
And you don't expect them to play music.
It's such an amazing concept.
Yeah.
If you look at the Wikipedia page of the people that you guys have had join you on stage, Hugh Laurie, right?
Who's a singer.
And he doesn't play piano as well.
And guitar.
He's disgusting.
Crazy.
Crazy talented.
House is a musician?
Exactly. An amazing amazing musician by the
way um but but it goes on you know james denton and adrian pasdar scott grimes bob guinea started
the started the band with bob guinea bob the bachelor dude bob had his own band called fat
amy years ago and then the bob guinea band these guys started in music and then you know music
didn't pay the bills so they were doing
other things at the time now bob's a host and does a bunch of things but scott grimes is like
has albums you'd never know i'm doing a show i'm doing a show from my building it's called
the woodshed and we were just on sammy hagar's show if you look up sammy hagar rock and roll
road trip amazing i just played with sammy hagar and rick springfield it was like a dream a dream
you're living the dream, man.
You really are.
Look at that.
Dude, it's amazing.
Do you ever make it out to LA?
Very rarely, but like in post-corona times, possibly.
Okay, because you got to come out.
Do you play music at all?
Yeah, I'm a bass player.
So we actually have a band at Barstool.
I feel like this is such an interesting connection.
It's called Pup Punk.
And we formed this band because I'm such a fan of Blink- and the music of that era some 41 simple plan jimmy eat world where
there's a lot of teen angst and i always said it's so funny we should create a parody band
where we're all older but we're still singing about not remembering the combination to our
locker so we did that and we were originally planning on doing one music video and then we
were going to film a behind the music that how we broke up and the first music video is so much fun to do that we
said fuck that we'll do the behind the music one day let's keep making music and now we play shows
and we do basically just covers we do blink covers every sing-along that you could imagine from the
early 2000s who else is in the band come up there it's four guys from barstool that much like you
guys it's like we all love playing music but it doesn't pay the bills so we figured out a way to make it pay the bills sort of with
barstool i love it dude we'll have you come up and do some covers if you're in new york post
corona yes yes i don't care who your drummer is fuck that guy he'll go side stage don't worry
we'll bring you up for the encore ours is look for the over the over the years, and we've raised over $6 million for charity,
each one of us has a charity.
Recently, before pre-COVID,
it turned into a band called The Action Figures,
and everybody on stage has an action figure.
So you can't, unless you're on a Star Trek, Star Wars,
whatever.
What a flex that is.
From Dan Fogler to me to Adrian Pasdar,
and I mean, we had a bunch,
so many people that joined us on stage stage and we play Comic-Cons.
And it's just so great.
So much fun.
Dude, we have to play music together.
A thousand percent in.
It'll be great.
The rhythm section, you and me here.
Come on.
That's all we need.
It's perfect.
Right.
And before we get out of here,
I want to ask you just music wise,
who were your biggest influence?
Who are your favorite bands
that now you always find yourself going back to even years later well without question
dave matthews without question you seem like a dave matthews guy yeah carter and it's not like
i can ever play the drums like him i just there's no way but i watch and my and my jaws on the floor
my brother's a drummer and he's been a drummer for 20 years and Carter Beaufort, he considers the greatest drummer a lot. I think he is. I mean, now I, when I was interviewed by
music magazine, they were like, ah, these actors, they're playing music, whatever. I said, Stan
Lynch, who was the drummer for Tom Petty and many others, Stan has such a solid meter. And we get,
we're going back to when you don't go in the studio and hit the bass and and and they
fix it now they just use your yeah no this is like it's not no correction yeah there's no
correction you can hear the mistakes but there's no mistake like stan lynch is one of the greatest
i think one of the best drummers ever i've gotten to speak to him and told him that he was like man
he was so flattered i said dude i love though growing up i love listening to blues brothers
and the commitments and all that kind of music I love.
But Tom Petty, again, Warren Zevon.
But Dave Matthews, today, John Mayer.
Dude, I've gotten to know John.
I mean, come on, man.
Come on.
I put on a John Mayer album.
That's it.
I'm lost.
The John Mayer trio, which goes so, so under-talked about,
is one of the greatest albums that's been put out in the past 20 years, I think.
I agree.
I agree.
He's just so friggin' good.
He's talented.
There's a lot of people.
I got to meet a lot of people through Gibson Guitars.
I gave me guitars to raise money for charity for epilepsy.
I have talkaboutit.org, which is a platform so we can talk about
and remove the stigma attached to epilepsy and seizures.
My oldest son has epilepsy,
so when I'm trying to raise money for the epilepsy foundation,
Gibson guitars gave me all these guitars and I had the most incredible people
in the world, finger paint them. And I sold them.
They're one of a kind pieces. I mean,
That's so cool. I'm going to have to look these up. I haven't seen them.
Oh, well we sold them years ago, but I still have a few of them,
but from like Lisaisa kudrow
you're like what but she did smelly cat right so you've got of course yeah
to brian wilson the edge sting um pete townsend i have look at this over here wait i'm gonna show
you something hold on shit there's the kit right there yeah there's the kit there's the band yeah
up there one of those is Ringo Starr.
It's got stars all over it, and Ringo Starr signed it.
And the other one is Steve Martin banjo.
He drew the arrow through the head, and he signed it.
And those I had to keep.
The other one I kept.
Ringo is a must.
I'm a Beatles fanatic.
Like, that's insane.
Insane.
And even though he was the drummer,
I mean, it was like to get him to do a guitar.
Of course.
And then also,
the other one I have is Pete Townsend from The Who.
He used to smash his bass, right?
So I sent him a guitar.
He smashed it, sent it back to me in a bag,
but he had his high-speed photographer
take pictures of him smashing it.
So I have these new pictures of Pete smashing it,
and then he's sitting on the ground going,
look what I did.
And then he signed it. It's like, these things are priceless to me I sent money to the epilepsy foundation I couldn't let
these go you know of course yeah there are some and so anyway music has always been just my I love
it so much man and you'll love this show that I'm that we're getting on we're definitely getting on
it hopefully it'll be on access but it'll be somewhere called the Woodshed,
which is the space that we have in LA.
When you come out, you're not gonna believe it.
I mean, I can't wait.
You're gonna be like, what?
I'll send you pictures privately.
Oh yeah, yeah.
But when you come out, it's like this man cave.
It's a recording studio.
I've got a bar there.
We shoot there.
It's beautiful.
It's just incredible.
I can't wait to see it.
All right right and last
question before we get you out of here i know we've gone long i appreciate the time oh please
the undoing we haven't gotten to it yet but it's over so listen if you haven't seen the undoing
shut the interview off we're gonna spoil it now we gotta talk about what actually happened because
i think it's fucking brilliant the way they put it together and hugh grant holy shit i mean everyone
not only him nicole kid, Donald Sutherland, the performances
across the board, the Sutherland scene where he says, I'm an old fashioned cocksucker.
Oh my God. So, okay. So I thought, and I, and I, I texted you and I texted my buddy,
Jonathan Shapiro. Jonathan Shapiro works with David Kelly and they wrote together on this.
And first of all, the quality of that show, the acting, the writing, the directing,
the forced perspective, those shots,
those establishing shots.
I love those shots.
Yes.
It looks like the city's kind of tiny
and it's like a miniature.
Oh, so cool.
The way they shot in Central Park.
All of it.
Brilliant.
I thought Donald Sutherland was going to be the,
ultimately, because I thought he'd invested in her as an artist.
And I thought that they were going to go down that route.
Like she was going to she was fucking everything up.
So he and if she dies, her artwork becomes more valuable.
So he had all these reasons.
But no, that wasn't the case.
But they did such a good job.
They made you think everyone did it at some point throughout the six episodes. I mean, I good job. They made you think everyone did it. At some point throughout the six episodes,
I mean, I was even, I was like, the fucking kid did it.
And now looking back, it's like,
I feel so bad for putting on the little kid.
Like, no way he could even overpower Elena.
I know, but I didn't even know.
Even the blonde friend, everyone was thinking Sylvia,
the friend, because she had that connection
with Donald Sutherland where they would talk sometimes.
They did such a good job of just making you think
it would be everyone.
Yeah. And also the way Nicole Kidman played it,
she bugged me at the beginning because she's such a great actress,
but when cops, when, when, when detectives are asking a question,
I know she had something to hide because she didn't reveal that, you know,
the, just the hotness of the two of them together. First of all,
that actress, that actress.
Oh my.
What?
Like, where is she from?
Italy.
I looked it up because I thought, where is she from?
And it makes sense that she's from Italy.
They just produce beautiful people over there.
She has everything.
She was just, I mean, yes, I don't want to be superficial, and, you know, but she's absolutely stunning,
but also just the perfect, where her eyes, you look at her and you go,
like she would walk into a room.
They would keep coming to her there at the foundation.
She kept like that crooked head look you're talking about.
Yeah.
Unbelievable.
Just unbelievable.
But when Nicole Kidman was asked by the detectives of these questions,
she would be like, why are you asking me that question?
Why would he?
Cooperate.
And I know that was a red herring, but at the same time, you're like,
come on. Like that was the thing that,
the only thing that kind of bugged me, but then I was so sucked into this.
Yeah. It was just so well done. I was. And then at the end, the big reveal,
I was like, well, that was, it was kind of a quick psycho turn. Yeah.
That's the one thing. Did you find that at all? That it was quick.
You were like, what? I mean, it was interesting because the one thing did you find that at all that it was quick you were like what i mean
it was interesting because the way they did it i thought they did a good job of being like he's got
for the last time when she turns to him the lawyer turns to him and she's like because you forgot to
hide the fucking hammer like the look he had after that was i felt like they got him there
the whole transition of him in the final episode to the point where he even accused the son
he brings nicole kidman into that separate room yeah that's like unraveling of him into a maniac
holy shit made me actually want him to play grand admiral thrawn i know everyone's doing the fan
casting for him right in uh delorean or whatever right hugh grant I'm like you could have him play a shark from Jaws after
that I want I know I know he was so good and and it's it's a role that by the way he brings some
baggage I mean this guy in his life remember Hugh Grant got arrested and was like he did some shady
shit which as an actor sometimes it helps you know when it's almost like Robert Downey Jr.
and Iron Man right yes him when he got cast in
that role like the way he was falling into the alcoholism and iron man too and stuff people were
like oh this is kind of like robert downey jr like he's he's playing himself it's gotta work like
that i mean look your credit to it a lot of your roles are very much like yourself you just said a
star is born yeah definitely i'm always but i have played there's a couple skeletons in my closet
nothing like me are those more fun or more or super difficult for you when you have to go completely
opposite your personality? Right. So I got asked to play this, this role in a movie called the
dark room. And I was, uh, I was just at night, I was, I was taking pictures of women and then I
was, I was dragging them to this cabin and I was killing them and torturing them. And I was like,
I never want to do that again. Never. I just not, it's not,
I'm not comfortable doing it. I didn't have fun doing it.
I love that.
You're literally too nice to even act like a mean guy, Greg.
Exactly. But you know, that's,
I'm at a point where those roles have some people have been like,
no one's ever seen you like this before. And I'm like, yeah,
they're never gonna do that. You're not not you're not trying to be daniel day
lewis over here no i'm just trying to make people laugh i'm the best friend come on cast me as that
i love being that well you do a fantastic job of it i think you made a lot of people laugh on this
podcast today we'll have to get you back on soon you're always a pleasure to talk to dude i'd love
to talk about your new projects when those are when those start getting in motion when you start being able to talk to those, we'll get you back on.
Okay. Awesome, dude. You do such a great job, man.