Podcrushed - Chase Stokes

Episode Date: October 9, 2024

Chase Stokes (Outer Banks, Uglies) joins us for a candid conversation spanning childhood sports injuries to living in his car in Hollywood. He hilariously recalls bombing his Stranger Things audition, only to later stand before those same execs to land his breakout role as John B in Outer Banks. Chase also shares how he was able to work up the courage to nail the most epic first kiss story we’ve ever heard.   Follow Podcrushed on socials: TikTok Instagram XSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Lemonada I basically used IMDB Pro and they used to have all the agents' emails on there and I made a fake Gmail pretending to be a manager and I emailed everyone at CAA, WME. Oh, wow. You name it. And I was just like, hey, I've got this great young kid from Orlando, Florida

and here's some headshots that like a friend took. That is amazing. And one person responded. And that was what, sort of open the door. Welcome to Pod Crushed. We're hosts. I'm Penn. I'm Nava and I'm Sophie.

And I think we could have been your middle school besties. Sike, you suck. I mean. Welcome, welcome pod crushers. Oh, it's weird doing it live and saying it to camera. I don't like that. I like it even less now. Saying pod crushers that way. Say it to Chase.

As we have today, what we're doing is a first for us. and a first for him. The first for us is that we're doing a live intro before the interview which is where it belongs. So we've finally gotten

our issue in. Chase, Stokes, you, my friend, this is your first podcast, is it not? You were breaking me in? All right. So you might know Chase

as John B on the smash hit on Netflix Outer Banks. He's also got three films coming out. Well, actually, Uglies, which is out now by the time this comes out. Also, marked men and valiant ones. So your star is on the rise.

We won't talk about your rising signs. We've already established. He doesn't know it. And we don't want to know it. Yeah, that's right. We're ambivalent about astrology here. We just lost and gained. That is like you have to come back.

I said ambivalent, okay? I said ambivalent. Keep it moving. Chase. Thank you for coming. Thank you for having me. You're welcome. Does anyone else ever get that nagging feeling that their dog might be bored? And do you also feel like super guilty about it?

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Hey, it's Lena Waithe. Legacy Talk is my love letter to black storytellers, artists who've changed the game and paved the way for so many of us. This season, I'm sitting down with icons like Felicia Rashad, Loretta Vine, Eva DuVernay, and more. We're talking about their journeys, their creative process, and the legacies they're building every single day. Come be a part the conversation. Season 2 drops July 29th. Listen to Legacy Talk wherever you get your podcast, or watch us on YouTube.

I don't know how much you know about what we do here, but we like to start at 12 because of this uniquely transformative period where before it, you're a child after adolescence, after coming of age. You are an adult, no matter how young you might feel. I still feel like I'm growing up. But can you give us a snapshot of

Chase at 12, like what was home like, what was school like. How were you seeing the world? 12 years old. Gosh, that was a very confusing time in life. I was, I played ice hockey in the southeast, which is already just the weirdest contrast. Yeah, it is. It's interesting. And you were very serious, right? I was, yeah. So my stepdad, he's from Minnesota. He was kind of like this pride and joy of the town he came from, played in college, had a really crazy injury. And, he passed it on to me. And it became my first love and was my first love for a long time. So I would practice all week long and then on the weekends we would go like upstate New York. We would go to Minnesota. We would go to all of these places, obviously not in the south where they don't

play a lot of hockey. So it was, I didn't have a great friend group outside of sports. So it was that. And then also that was a time where I was, I think old enough to understand that there was marital issues between my mom and dad um so there was that kind of through line at 12 years old and it was the oldest of i had two brothers and a sister um so it was kind of taking on like a parental role at a very young age too even so sports were were sounds like they were kind of dominating a lot of your yeah life right absolutely i mean and you also played lacrosse later you like broke your sternum you just sound like a very physical i tried to play lacrosse so after i had had i think it was eight concussions playing hockey and how

I can I like when did the first one happen do you think um probably around 13 14 really I would say um but then after that all ended I decided I wanted to play a high school sport and I had missed football tryouts and I had a couple buddies who played lacrosse and they're like you should you should give it a shot it's like hockey and soccer and basketball and I was like well I suck at the other two uh but I'll give it a shot and I made the team and tried and I think it was the the second week of practice, this kid hit me directly in the sternum with a lacrosse ball and cracked my serums with the ball. Yeah. I was thinking you got a shoulder to this. No. I just, I didn't know what I was doing. So I was standing in the wrong place at the wrong time.

And just hit me in the chest with a ball. And yeah, a little crack sternum. I wasn't necessarily the most athletic. I think it was just, it's what I knew in that space. If you were to give me a basketball or a football, it looked pretty absurd. So I kind of just found the lane that I think that I was decent at. Yeah, right. And then getting into the whole world of the arts, it was, I was such a late bloomer in that. It was not anywhere on the radar of something that was even a feasible career choice or a hobby at the time. What do you feel like you thought about?

Like, were you, were there movies or books or any music that was really resonating with you at that time? So it's interesting because my dad, my stepdad was. also a DJ. So he worked for a radio station. We lived in Atlanta for about 10 years and he used to do the weekend DJ parties for the radio station. So I used to sit under his DJ set up and listen and he would be like, what do you think the BPM is? And I'm like, uh, wow, 96. And he would be like, wrong is 103. He's like, you're fired. Go back to the truck and go think about your choices. And so I really was infatuated with music from from a young age. But I think it's, I think It wasn't until high school that I really saw that there was that world.

But hockey was my intro to it because you'd go on these flights or you'd get on a bus for 12 hours. And you have to occupy your time. And as the youngest kid on a team, you don't really talk to the older guys because you're not cool yet. And so I would just watch movies and I would watch TV shows. And that was my safe space during those years. I never had an idea or an inkling that that would be my intro into the world. But looking back, I think that much consumption over that. period of time in life was

absolutely what I think subconsciously drew me to it. What TV shows were you watching? Ooh, SpongeBob Rocko's Modern Life. Oh, Rocko's Modern Life. Oh, Rocko's Modern Life. Wow. Yeah. That's from when I I was, I mean, I was there for when it was airing, you know, on the day, live.

Yeah. Kind of a weird show. Very weird. Yeah. Very weird. Early shows that I watched it's weird in now doing a film that's in the dystopian world, I would like re-watch Hunger Games and re-watch Divergent. And then I got into really truthfully, like, fell in love with Indiana Jones. And that was where...

Can I ask which one? Raiders. Raiders has always been the go-to. And I just wanted to be some form of Indiana Jones in my teenage years. Well, actually, Chase, I was going to ask, because eight concussions, I feel like I would have quit it the first,

maybe the second. So I wanted to know, what's your relationship with fear? That's a great question. I think I run towards it still. I think I've also, I think I'm at number three in total concussions with Outer Banks.

Oh my gosh. By the way, I want to say, there's not surprising. Having, Navit has seen the whole series, I just started as having you on. we'll talk about this later but it's a very physical role

which I don't know that anybody viewing would just would think about and I can appreciate how incredibly demanding that is to perform through that so I do want to get into that but I guess like running towards fear do you have some sense where that might come from as you were growing up?

Yeah I think I think there was just a lot of uncertainty in my life from a very young age whether it be going through, like I was talking about, with divorce and kind of being the black sheep, so to speak, in my family. Like, I'm the only one from my biological father. And so I always felt a little bit outside of the loop of life in general. And so I just think that I found comfortability in trying things.

And failing wasn't so much of failure. It was more of a learning experience, and I understood that really early. so in talking about fear and running towards it I think there's more of an excitement with it than there is a nervous energy and that's just with fear but I think in our industry

there's a thousand things to be nervous about Chase you mentioned being the oldest sibling and that kind of pushing you into a parent role but I'm curious when you were younger maybe outside of your parents did you have anybody who could kind of guide you mentor you or was a role model for you? My grandmother, for sure.

When my mom and my dad got divorced, we moved into a retirement community, essentially. And you were very young, right? Very young. Yeah. Yeah. So we lived there until, I think I was nine, eight or nine years old. So a lot of those early life lessons were from women in my life. So that was mentor, mother.

number two, who taught me a lot about how to walk and talk. Were you the only kid in this retirement community? Yeah, I had like 38 pairs of grandparents. Yeah, I'm so curious about that upbringing. That's amazing. Everybody's like, oh, that must have sucked. And I'm like, actually, it's pretty sweet. Like, everybody has golf carts.

Everybody's super nice. It's a clubhouse where you just go and get food and a swimming pool with a bunch of old people. And then it sounds like, you know, it sounds like your stepdad was very present in your life. I suppose until, you know, your teen years. I'm a stepfather and a biological father. I understand the unique dynamics at every kind of, you want to call them blended families or whatever they might be, stepfamilies.

It sounds to me like, you know, like you really looked up to your stepdad as well. Is that maybe an overstatement? No, yeah. I'm not hopeful as a stepdad because I'm like, listen, I know my limits. Right, okay. I know I know them well. But it's sweet that you adopted hockey and this experience you had of like going to the radio station, as you said. I mean, I'm just kind of interested in that relationship there.

Yeah, I think, you know, not having a father figure as a young man as a confusing time and getting in your teenage years or even understanding what it is to be a young man. It was kind of cool because he was he was the guy who played the very masculine sport. He was the guy who knew all the cool music as an adult. He would teach me about what the top 40 songs are. And so I did. I think it was just a beautiful blend. And he never, I'm very thankful because he never, ever made it a thing to be a step-parent. He was just dad from the beginning.

And he still is. Like he still is. There's never been that separation. You know, we've had our ups and downs for a number of reasons as you go through life. but it was never a step-parent. My siblings are not half-siblings to me or step-siblings to me. They are my siblings.

It is the most beautiful. I'm very fortunate that we are all super, super-close in that respect. That's awesome. Chase, you seem to be particularly close with your mom. I feel like I've heard you describe yourself as a mama's boy. I am a mom's boy. Can you share a couple of really memorable experiences you had with her as a tween or things that stand out to you?

I remember being a, a young, like when you hit puberty and you start getting hair in places that you don't traditionally see hair on your body at. Yeah. Um, I was close enough to my mom to where I was like, mom, what do I do? Like, this is weird. Um, and she was so cool about it. Like as a mother to be able to have that conversation with a young boy. Yeah. I will never forget that because I, I just, that's where a dad would step in. Yeah. That's where a dad would come in and, and teach you those things. Um, I think it's, it's just layered with her telling me, And showing up in spaces where I don't think she knew how to show it for herself.

And we have had that conversation as time has passed. Like she just wanted to be a mom. I had that conversation with my grandmother too. I said, what did my mom want to be when she grew up? She goes, a mother. And so in knowing that, it's hard to just pinpoint a specific instance because my whole life is riddled with how my mom just always showed up. That's beautiful.

That is beautiful. Very lucky. That's, yeah. Were you going a lot between Florida and... So I have a very confusing, from birth to high school. That's at least... Okay. It's, I was born in Annapolis, Maryland, and then we moved.

I was born in Baltimore and lived in Annapolis for a few years. No shit. So as an Annapolis. I don't even know. I was two. That's it. He made that up. That's why you can.

My whole family, both sides of my family are in Maryland. Yeah, so a lot of them are on the eastern shore and Baltimore area, actually. And then we moved. We moved down to South Florida, St. Louis, Missouri, then Atlanta. And I did elementary middle school into high school, and just outside of Atlanta. And then I went from there to Orlando, and then back to Atlanta, and then back to Orlando. And then that's where I finished. So with all that moving, I would imagine, you know, friendships are important at every age,

but especially as you're going through this formative time of adolescence. You know, it's like, or if you don't have them, like, for instance, I didn't have a lot of them. because I moved to 12 to LA and started acting. But, you know, the ones that you make, they can be so impactful. Yeah. Or the fact that you don't have a lot of them can be impactful. I'm curious, especially because you're talking about so many positive, like, female role models and influences in your life. Like, were you, most of your friends' boys, were they girls, like, you know, whatever it be, there's always a dynamic there.

Do you see any patterns looking back? Absolutely I did I still actually my best friend from elementary school is still one of my closest friends on this plane

that's cool I actually introduced him to his girlfriend in fifth grade they are now married with two beautiful babies and so

Lee and then also one of my dear friends Drew we all met in fourth grade and we still talk to this day that's right through all that moving

as well yeah it was it was kind of a complex but that was the safe space I think when you're at that age you cling so tightly, especially with so much movement. No matter where you go, you just you hold on to whatever you can and you hold on so tight. And just like any relationship in life,

it ebbs and flows. But we had a group chat started really recently of photos that they had found in a shoebox of us all through elementary school. And it was so nostalgic and just wild to think, holy shit, like we really have kept us going for this many years. So I don't think, I know, I know, really gravitated towards women in friendships. I gravitated because I already had that. I had it in my mother. I had it in my grandmother and they were so present. And I think I just wanted to be a boy. And I was so influenced by the women in my life that I think there was a very confusing thing. Can I fit in with the cool kids or do I fit in with boys? How does this work? How do I develop these relationships? So that was, I'm very thankful that I did have.

you know, my, my sort of pillars of men in my life from a young age. I say that as we're all boys. Yeah, yeah. You have like a sweetness and a gentleness to you in person. And I could imagine that as a young boy, other boys might pick on you for that. Is that something you experienced? Were you bullied? Do you have any?

I was. Because I was at the time, it was just the only, the blanket term was, he's a feminine boy. And I think now I've registered it more. as I'm more in touch with my emotions, but I, yeah, I got my ass kicked quite a few times in middle school and throughout that time. And even with hockey, being a not super toxic masculine man and a very masculine environment of testosterone, I was 15, 14, playing with 18 to 20 year old guys. So I was constantly surrounded by that and picked on a lot. But yeah, definitely not a fun thing. I was watching a trailer for your movie that just came out,

Ugly's. And it has a really interesting premise where at 16, you get this surgery and you become pretty. And it made me wonder about your own middle school experiences. And your tween teen years, did you feel pretty? Were you, what were your experiences around like your image? When did you get all this work done? Started around the pandemic.

And it's been a fucking fun journey. No, I didn't grow vertically until the end of my junior year in high school. I battled crazy cystic acne all through middle school, like covering my back, covering my chest, all in my face. I'm terrified of needles, so I never did the acutane journey. My mom tried to do every topical you could ever imagine. And then I just realized it was hormonal and that's being a boy and you just grow out of it over time. but I know I didn't I didn't feel pretty I didn't feel attractive I didn't feel um any of those qualities so in reference to uglies um it was something that was kind of easy

to tap into for me not fun but it was I was like oh okay yeah 13 year old me would would totally resonate with this this film were there are there any like stories you can think of because I just feel like for me personally middle school adolescent lessons, like some of the first memories that come to mind are around how I felt about my body, about my image, how I looked, and like, you know, little comments that somebody, the person making them would never in a million years remember making that comment. But for me, it like stuck with me for years. I'm wondering if you had any, do you have any anecdotes like that? I have a like a very distinct memory kind of going back to the bullying. I sat next to this girl,

her name was Ashley for the sake of sakes being and she was very kind to me and I think that was part of the energy of being raised by women and we walked out of class and she said hey thank you so much for your help and walked away and her boyfriend was also in the class unbeknownst to me and he grabbed me like straight out of a coming of age movie by the straps of my backpack and slammed me into the lockers and said don't ever talk to her again wow and that was one of those pivotal moments i think for me to say oh okay got it like i'm i'm not a part of the cool crowd i'm not with the cool kids but it was enough for me to understand my lane it was enough for me to say okay all right well now i have to figure out how to not

navigate and get my ass kicked by this guy i just thought this girl was being kind and understanding friendship at a young age it wasn't like i thought she was cute or i was trying to steal his girlfriend In middle school, I was just acknowledging her as a human. But that was one of those moments for me that was really, I think, identifying of kind of turning into a little bit of an introvert and not externally giving too much at that point, I think was one of those moments in life that really kind of shook me to my core. Stick around. We'll be right back.

All right. So let's just, let's just real talk, as they say for a second. That's a little bit of an aged thing to say now. That dates me, doesn't it? But no, real talk. How important is your health to you? You know, on like a one to ten? And I don't mean in the sense of vanity, I mean in the sense of like, you want your day to go well, right?

You want to be less stressed. You don't want it as sick. When you have responsibilities, I know myself, I'm a householder. I have two children and two more on the way. a spouse, a pet, you know, a job that sometimes has its demands. So I really want to feel like when I'm not getting the sleep and I'm not getting nutrition, when my eating's down, I want to know that I'm being held down some other way physically. You know, my family holds me down emotionally, spiritually, but I need something to hold me down physically, right? And so honestly, I turned to symbiotica

these these vitamins and these beautiful little packets that they taste delicious. And I'm telling you, even before I started doing ads for these guys. It was a product that I really, really liked and enjoyed and could see the differences with. The three that I use, I use the, what is it called, liposomal vitamin C, and it tastes delicious, like really, really good. Comes down the packet, you put it right in your mouth. Some people don't do that. I do it. I think it tastes great. I use the liposomal glutathione as well in the morning, really good for gut health. and although I don't need it, you know, anti-aging. And then I also use the magnesium L3 and 8,

which is really good for, I think, mood and stress. I sometimes use it in the morning, sometimes use it at night. All three of these things taste incredible. Honestly, you don't even need to mix it with water. And yeah, I just couldn't recommend them highly enough. If you want to try them out, go to symbiotica.com slash podcrushed for 20% off plus free shipping. That's symbiotica.com slash podcrushed for 20% off

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Podcrush listeners can grab Rosetta Stone's lifetime membership for 50% off. That's unlimited access to 25 language courses for life. Visit rosettastone.com slash podcrush to get started and claim your 50% off today. Don't miss out. Go to rosettastone.com slash podcrush and start learning today. Chase, we are always curious about people's first experiences with crushes or love, heartbreak. Do you have any memorable? Yeah. Yeah, I think I've always been a little bit of a hopeless romantic. But I remember my it was fourth grade and I didn't know

how to broach that feeling that like ooey gooey I think I like you type of thing and I remember I had wrote because it was at the time where everybody's like

I heart whatever their girlfriend's name were in boyfriend and it was like a whole thing at this school I was at and I did it and I hadn't even approached her to tell her

I just thought like the act of doing this would be really courageous and maybe she'd think it was really sweet and it did not work at all she came up to me and said I'm I actually like somebody else and it was kind of an interesting

feeling because you kind of feel yourself crumble for a second but then there's a freedom of saying like oh okay well what can I do to make you not like this guy what can I do with a fun work and you're resilient so yeah that's amazing turning towards fear and we ended up

I think in fifth or sixth grade, we had like a little fling. And then I got my heart just ripped out of my chest. There was a new kid that came to school. It was new kids. Yeah. And he was a man, you know, like one of those kids that has facial hair before everybody. Oh, yeah. And I found out that she had been hanging out with him outside of school.

Mind you were in fifth grade. So what does that even mean? I don't know. It means they were actually just hanging out. They probably were. They were probably just talking. and I passed a note in our fifth grade math class and I like used cursed words in the note

and it got picked up by the teacher and it was the first time that I had gotten in trouble in school and he was like look I get it love is love is hard and I'm sure your heart hurts but you can't tell her to go fuck herself that's actually amazing that the teacher intercepted it and then that they had that sweet interaction with you Yeah, his name was Mr. Green, actually. That's weird how you remember.

Shout out, Mr. Green. Yeah, wherever you are in the world, Mr. Green. Thanks for that. Aw. Yeah. But that was, I think, the first time where I felt both sides of the emotion with the same person. Getting rejected into finding a way to make it work and then getting your heartbroken. And it all happening within like a very short period of time.

Chase, Kelsey has told an amazing story on a different podcast about the first time. you guys met in person. Yes. And in that story, you're like incredibly bold. And I'm curious, I mean, would love to hear it from your perspective.

But also... Or you could just go listen to that podcast. Yeah, notice I didn't name the podcast. I'm going to keep the listens on our show. But I'm just curious, when did you start to become really bold and in like love and in romantic situations?

Oh, I was sweating profusely leading up to that moment. Like that is... With Kelsey said you're saying. Yes. Okay. So we, you know, she's told the story about how she had DM'd me.

I was doing a movie. I was doing this movie with Nick Cassavetes, who directed The Notebook. We were shooting in Bulgaria. And so towards the end of the filming process, a freak situation happened. I got staff. I was in the hospital. And I hadn't responded to her in a little while. And I finally got back to her and I was like, hey, I'm so sorry.

I didn't text you back. I was in the hospital with staff. She's like, yeah, sure. Staff, right. Who gets staff? Yeah. Like, you're doing a movie. How does that happen?

and then I left and then I we kind of were texting back and forth for a while I'd always go back home after I shoot and stay with my mom for a little bit and then when I got to LA I just walked in the in the door and she goes I think it's so interesting that we're in the same city and I told her I was going to take her on the date the next night she goes and you're not here and I just said fuck it go do it get in the car and go go. And so I just said drop, drop a pen. And I drove down. Wow. I mean, both of you were bold in that. I love that. I feel like she was. She was such a force of nature. Yeah. She's such a bold human being. And she's so honest. And it's something that I've really, really learned over the past almost two years of being not just more honest externally, but internally with whatever you want. Like if you want that shit, go get it. If you want to go chase the big giant career then go chase it or if you want to sit at home and pick your nose and watch a TV show like also that's totally okay um and so i just said i have to match this energy like i really like this

girl i haven't met her and that's just a weird feeling and so i'm driving i lived kind of like above woodrow wilson and i was driving down the 405 and i'm like i'm i'm going to pass out i'm going to pass out. It's so beautiful. She's like been super funny. What if all of the things that have happened through this phone don't add up in person. I'm going to just lose my shit. So I got there and I was like, okay, Chase, you have to, you have to figure this out.

You have to pull something out of your ass right now to make this work. And I sat in the car and I saw her come up the stairs and she was wearing like a white plet fed and I looked and the valet guy is looking at me he's like hey man can I park your car and I was like dude I just need like 30 seconds to get my shit together he's like are you all right and I literally just confessed

to this valet guy I was like hey man I've never met this girl but I really like her and she's right there yes the one in the all white with the blonde hair I just need to get my shit together so I can make sure that this works and he's like you got it man and I was like

okay and so I just pulled the most unconventional move of all time and I just grabbed her and I kissed her and I said thank God you're real

and I hadn't even said hi I'm Chase nice to officially meet you and I just remember walking in after I did that and I was like

where the fuck did that come from dude yeah that was not around SpongeBob not on it's like all right

yeah and she was like something about that level of confidence was she was like it was the most attractive thing and I'm like

I don't know where that came from I think I blacked out I think I fully blacked out and just committed to the bit and then yeah the rest is kind of history well she allowed you to be that way actually I was just watching

Dune 2 with my husband last night and there's a scene I see the connection yeah I am the one no listen where Zendaya says to Timothy Chalame something like

use their character names I can't remember Does anybody know their names? Chani, Chani and Paul. She just touched it too. Chani says to Paul something like like will you stay with me forever

and he says like as long as I breathe and I was like you never say things like that to me and he's like well you never say things like that to me and I'm like yeah you need to allow each other

you need to that's true yeah she let you do that 30 minutes later though he's like marrying somebody else sorry spoiler oopsies oh wait I'm not

I haven't finished it yet you haven't finished it When did this happen? It's a long movie. She's doing chunks of Dune, too. Yeah. 30 minutes intervals. She's watching it on TikTok.

What do you think for us? She was doing there. Wait, I'm so mad. Surprise. It's really disappointing. That is actually a huge spoiler. We'll definitely have to cut that. Okay, well, anyway.

I think it's reason enough. We're not worried about spoiling Dune 2. It's pretty much. I think it's $70 billion. I think everybody saw it three times. Yeah. No, no. But the point was just that, like, you were able to be

bold in a way that you hadn't been before because Kelsey was bold too. Like you were going to match your energy. You were able to be bold like Paul was to, to Chani. Chani was bold to Paul too. They're bold together. It's just, it's a profit couple. It was really nice to hear your side of the story because when Kelsey told it on call her daddy, it's a great story when she tells it to you, it just, you sound so confident that you wouldn't know all the stuff that was happening prior to that. So it's really sweet to hear. I was so scared. I was so. so scared. I was so terrified. Dating is a

terrible space. It's the most terrifying thing. And I just was like, please let this work for all things living. And it did. And it's been like really the greatest chapter of life. That's awesome. That's really sweet. So the moral of the story is you go to

call her daddy for Chase Stokes the hero. Yeah. Welcome to Podcraft for Chase Stokes the sensitive intro. Get the honesty of it. I mean, call it like you want to see it. Yeah. Actually, I did have one question about your relationship with Kelsey and feel free to give as little as you want. Or as much.

Or as much, yeah. Pick your pleasure. Not with the business one. She came on Pod Crush and she's one of our favorites. And I'm just curious, I feel like with every relationship, you learn something new about love or about connection. And I'm wondering if there's something you feel you've learned with. Kelsey, that you could chair.

Oh. I think, especially with having big careers, there's so much opportunity to misstep or to forget or get lazy because there's so much happening. And it's been a chapter of life where you actively choose to show up every day. And I think, especially with the world that we're in, you have so much just handed to you so often that you can get in a state of mind. to where you can get really lazy and it's it's just not a relationship where you can do that and

I've been so fortunate that we have met each other in the middle of how we show up for this relationship how we show up for each other in big moments and in little moments and it's it's been a product of going through previous relationships and them not working and then re-evaluating and seeing you know, not to shout her records title out, but like it is. It's acknowledging patterns from times past and how do we take the good from those and the bad from those and rewrite sort of the reality of what now is. And she's just somebody who has made me show up in a better way than I ever have. And it is through like having to show up for a relationship in times where it's not easy. It's like taking a flight, a red eye like you're talking about and getting on that

plan and showing up when you know your person needs you. Or vice versa. She has done the same thing. It is such an equal playing field. And so I think that's something that I've really learned because it's so easy to just be like, I'm tired or I'll see you in two days, but it's been three weeks. Sometimes you just do it. And it ends up being the best thing you could ever do, not just for yourself, but for your person. Drop a pin. Drop the damn pin. I was watching your GQ interview like 10 things I can't live with that. I think it was from three years ago. Yes. And you had rainbow flip-flops. And in the video, you say that you were running away from cops in these, and you're going to leave it at that. And I wanted to know if we could go a little

further. Like, why were you running away from cops? When did that happen? I was in high school. And in Orlando, you're like 25, 30 minutes away from Coco Beach. And so a group of friends and I, we had met a lovely group of people who had come down for the summer and we would see them occasionally. And we had snuck into the Ron John Surf Shop Hotel's Hot Tub. We had found a way to kind of like Jerry Rig the Lock and get in. And so we were kind of the cool guys

who were like, this is very out of banks, by the way. I know. Ron John Surf Shop? There is some parallels between good old Johnny Bee and me. So yeah, we had snuck into the hot tub and

security came. And the only thing that I grabbed was my flip-flops and sprinted for, I don't know how, it felt like 16 hours, you know, it felt like I sprinted through the night and the next day. It was probably like six minutes. Yeah. But yeah, that was that story. And it was just kind of the quintessential in the summer kind of moment. Yeah. Did you have long hair? No. I didn't. I actually, I had your haircut. Truthfully. Yeah. We had a thing, our senior year, where, Um, me and my buddies, we buzzed our heads and, um, kind of did like the, the swimmers look

where you like shave your armpits and your legs. Oh, wow. And I have the legs of Frodo from the Hobbit. What does that mean? Wait, what does that mean? Are they thick, big? Little bushy. Oh, no. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Yeah. I'm not sure. Is like, where are we going to do this or so? Or. I'm just wondering the same. Yeah, a little context would have, right. No, no, no, no, no. You made sense. I'm just, I'm just, I'm just. so staying in high school just a bit longer i guess i'm curious about your transition from you know sounds like being full on sports yeah you know and then having uh i guess it was it a knee injury um it was a rotator cuff rotator cuff yeah okay um current knee injury actually

okay okay okay yeah uh so so maybe i'm just curious about like how much of a how much of a appointment or a break or like a frustration that was and then how acting came into your life yeah um i so i had actually gotten a concussion and rotator cuff injury in the same play and that turned into me saying this is not feasible i also was not academically like solid whatsoever so i was at the points where i was getting recruited to play at the next level but i just i was never going to get into yale with 2.5 GPA. It just wasn't going to happen. And a lot of the hockey schools were in that space. So after I'd gotten that injury and had the hard conversation, I realized I had to realign to something else. I was a senior in high school. And I told myself going into my senior

year, if I'm not playing hockey, I'm going to have the best last year of high school that I could possibly imagine. And how I found acting was I had been taking television production as my first period. So I was producing the morning announcement. And I would go out and shoot commercials. That was my first period. And I just took it as an easy A, because I truthfully needed the class to graduate. My GPA was so bad. And we had one of the girls who was an anchor, she got sick. And they said, Chase, you got to get on the desk. You're doing the show. And I was like, no, I'm not. Absolutely not. Because you're the only one who knows to run a show right now. You have to do this and it's a 10 minute warning so like go put on one of the smelly teenage like button up shirts and

do this and i just said you know what if i'm going to do this i'm i'm going to make fun of myself that was my self-deprecating humor and i did it and uh people were like wow you're kind of funny you you kind of did pretty well at that and i was like okay whatever and we just continue to make these commercials and um and then there's a commercial market there and that same girl who got sick. Her brother got strep over the holidays and she was like, well, you do this commercial with me and my family. And their whole family was the cool commercial people who did like the Universal Ride videos for the mummy and the Disney catalogs. And I did it. And I made like 300 bucks and got a free Disney ticket. And I was like, oh shit, this is cool. And then that's where

the whole idea sort of started to take shape. That's where the whole concept of, oh, maybe this is a career, $300. How long was the period from, you know, that, that injury and that kind of realization about your path into, you know, realizing this could be a path? I'm just curious, like, how long did you feel sort of like, did you feel adrift? Did you think about the future in a way with hope? Did you think about it in a way with fear or, you know, anything in between? I think there was definitely a lot of fear because I was watching a lot of people in my close life get the letter of acceptance or get the scholarship to go play sports or talking to friends back home who are back in Georgia who I'd still stayed in touch with. They're getting into the schools of their choice and I didn't have a plan. I didn't have a single plan.

I was avoiding it at all costs, whether it be community college, whether it be, um, any viable career i kind of had peter pan syndrome a little bit i had had so much fun my senior year that i didn't know what to do next it was like right in that period of time to where i said i either need to figure it out because i'm still not doing great in college i'm still failing classes or go for it just commit to the idea um and i i did i pulled my you know like a rabbit out of a hat. I basically used IMDB Pro, and they used to have all the agents emails on there,

and I made a fake Gmail pretending to be a manager, and I emailed everyone at CAA, WME. Oh, wow. You name it. And I was just like, hey, I've got this great young kid from Orlando Florida, and here's some headshots that like a friend took. It's amazing. And one person

responded, and that was what sort of opened the door for the career. Okay. Wow. Yeah. And then I got on the phone. So at this point, you're... How old are you doing this point? I was 19 turning 20.

So it was like a two-year period from, I would say, 17 and 19 to where I was doing odd-end jobs. I was trying to figure it out. I was making terrible, terrible, like little short films with friends from TV production. And taking just like the general basic classes at a community college. and then you would take your elective you would get like one cool class and it was screenwriting

and that's where it really started to and that's where I learned about things like IMDB and I learned fake managers yeah I was like oh you need an agent got it that's how I that's how I get on gossip girl yeah it was and so I just committed to this bullshit idea and that's how I got my my first agent when did so did you have an agent before you went to L.A.? is that yeah Yeah, so he had responded, and he said, okay, I'll give him a shot. Here's a self-tape. And I was like, what is it self-tape? What does that mean?

And he sent me a self-tape for the vampire diaries. And I went out and shot, I got my buddies and some cameras, and we shot the whole scene in the woods. And so I literally shot it, like, a scene. He went to the woods, I went to the woods, oh, yeah. And so I shot like, Wides, came in, did coverage, like, dirty overs. Yeah, because I just, I fell in love with film. and I sent it to him and he was like

I don't know what this is but this is the most effort I've ever seen put it in my entire career so he said let's get on the phone and mind you I'm still pretending to be the manager and we got on the phone and I was like I'm a liar immediately hadn't even introduced myself as the fake

this is like the kiss with Kelsey yes literally just like I'm a liar please don't hang up please don't hang up and so yeah he was like you need to come LA. Like if you can, you're a liar. You belong here. Come on to Hollywood, baby. Have you considered? I got a couch to

sleep on. Yeah, so I came out to L.A. and just got into class because I didn't, I didn't know what I was doing. My, like, education was the actors roundtables and actors on actors and anything I could find on YouTube because there isn't like a ton of acting classes in Central Florida, right it or not, chocker. And yeah, then I came on out. So that was around the time you were 20. So that was around the time you were 20 and then was it were you like 25 26 when you got outer banks uh yeah it was 26 what happened between 20 and 26 a lot a lot um i he got me an agent in the southeast and i was doing commercials um like really like money like the whole you go in and get your check and then they give you an advance like the money advance type of stuff did a commercial for like

wah-wah the gas station um and i was just doing little odd and then sort of stuff like that and then i would go out to l.a and then i would come back and then i would go out to l.a and come back and then i finally committed to to going out full-time and um it was rough like it was i slept in uh the the parking garage under the la fitness and on hollywood and island um i made friends in acting class and they would let me sleep on their couch. So I'd like up in Noho in the Arts District and that fun area. And then I got a job catering through a friend. And then I finally was able to get my own place.

And so I lived up in Studio City. But it was just a lot of auditioning, staying in class, learning about how to actually do the craft and not letting that consistent. Like, oh, he's great, but he's green, getting that feedback for a while. So a lot of knows over that period of time. And we'll be right back. Fall is in full swing and it's the perfect time to refresh your wardrobe with pieces that feel as good as they look. Luckily, Quince makes it easy to look polished, stay warm, and save big without compromising on quality.

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self-tape process you do the auditions and at this time i um I was in LA and I would do this thing to where because I lived in the southeast or my parents where if you're in Florida, you can be a regional hire, which essentially means you can get hired and they'll pay you less than they would to fly you from L.A. And so I'd done the audition for actually Charlie Heaton's character, Jonathan. And they were like, not right, but maybe this other character. So I did the self-tape, sent it in. And I said, hey, we, we would love to see him in person. So through the ways of the world,

I'd ended up back in Orlando seeing family at the time. So I drove up from Orlando to Atlanta. I was so nervous because you're in a, it was like one of the first times I'd ever been in an actual soundstage or on a back lot. And I go in and it's just a room of people all staring at you. And I didn't see. a word. I literally did not

say a single word and I just looked at everybody and they go oh okay and I walked out and I sat my car and I called my agent and I was like please please let me get back in God. So hang on

you didn't say you didn't say anything like you got up there. I froze and and to the degree that they were just also silently acknowledging like you're freezing Yeah. No one said anything.

No. The only thing that they said was, okay. Okay. Wow. And just to be clear, so, because like I've been in every range of strange audition situations, you're in a sound stage. So you're not in a casting office. So you're at a stage where they're doing that,

which means, I think for our listeners, what that means is that there's a serious interest, right? So they're really, so when you know that, You're going in, the feeling, the feeling of going on to a sound stage when you've not been in one much, because they're very tall, right? They're just very, they're literally, actually, I'm remembering you being shoved up against the lockers by the kid. You're just, like, feeling so much smaller than what's happening. Yes. Yes.

And then was it very empty inside? Because, like, there's just, because you're not getting filmed by, like, a proper camera, right? Right. So it's like it's just weird on a tripod still, for whatever reason. sounds like it could have crushed your spirit. And so you come out and you said, you said, get me back in? Is that what you said? Get me back in?

Wow. And he's like, well, bro, you're right there. Just go. Yeah. Well, you know, that's exactly what you would assume you would do. Just give me another shot, please walk in the door. And I think I just felt so embarrassed. Yeah. Because it wasn't just the casting directors. It was the Duffer Brothers. It was the Netflix

executives. Like, it was a full-on test, essentially. Yeah, yeah, yeah. For this role. And I just said, please, I don't want to drive back to Florida and not give this another shot. And he called and they said, yeah, no, we're okay. And so I drove eight hours back to my mom's house in silence. You drove for eight hours in silence. You didn't listen to the radio. No, I was, I was so in shambles. Because it felt like the closest I had gotten to anything at that point. Yeah. Yeah, it was, it was fucking devastating. Okay, the wildest part about this story

is that your audition for John B was in front of the same executives at Netflix? Yeah. How, like, tell us that sort of, what a redemption art. You have lines this time. They're like. Like that guy?

You want ours? Yeah, you can take ours. Yeah, so I, a little bit before that, I had started working and I had booked enough jobs to sort of have a version of a sustainable income, which is actually not at all what it was. But I made the choice.

I said, I'm not going to go back to working at a restaurant. I'm not going to work behind a bar. This is my job. This is my career. I'm not doing it. And that set me back into like a substantial amount of debt. And by the time I'd gotten to Charleston, my bank account had overdrafted and all this shit, my mom sent me some money to get an Uber.

And I walked in, did the audition the first day. And they were like, great, cool. so come back tomorrow and we're just going to look over the material the next day will be the network test so we'll have the executives in and you know we'll do that whole thing we just want to prepare you so i felt good because they kind of at least told me to prepare i show up the next day and jonas pate who's the creator and directs the majority of our show comes in he goes hey surprise i'm like what it's like surprise are all here in the conference room i didn't want you to over prepare because i think if you were to to do that, you would be two in your head. I was like, I hear you freeze every now and then. So a little birdie over there remembered you. Surprise. So I'm standing there like, all right, okay.

Like, I feel good enough to do this. And I walk in and I saw the executives that were in the room for strange to things. And I was like, oh, I'm so fucked. Like, I'm so screwed. There's nothing about this that's going to go over well. and so I ended up just kind of

just shutting up for a second and saying you know what you've already done the absolute worst case scenario before it can't be any worse and so I did the first scene and I was so in my head yeah and I want for you know

listeners who have never done this before your ability to perform to act is so incredibly reduced, so impossibly reduced. Like, you have no talent. You have, when you're nervous like this, you become the worst version of yourself.

Yes. As a, dare I say, artist, as a, you know, it's just like, it's not there. Nothing. It's just not there. So that's, it's very painful. And did the executives remember you? Yeah, I got like that awkward, like,

you again well at least they said something this time you know yeah yeah they said words they're like we're gonna break the ice here we're gonna say them hi we could do better too hi

they're like how about we start with the slate how are you name and height can we get that out of the way first so we have something something to go off of yeah and we did the first scene

and I was so in my head that I literally stopped and I said can I take a second I just take a second and I walked out of the room and I knew that I was at the end the tail end of the mom conversations

of saying, you know, one more month and I sat on the curb and I just started sobbing. I thought I failed. I thought like this is it. This is where this whole idea of being an actor, being an artist or working in this industry

this is it. It had all come down to this moment and I had nothing left and I'm sitting on a curb in Charleston, South Carolina, just done. And Jonas came out. And by the grace of whatever higher power you want to believe in, he just looked at me and he saw me, he said, I don't know what's going on right now. But whatever version of you that this is, I want to work with that kid. So if you can bring any bit of what you're doing right now into that room, he goes, I'm going to fight for you. And I went back in. And I just got goosebumps. Yeah. And, and, and,

that was enough for me to feel like somebody believed in me as an artist to say, okay, I'm going to just wing it from here. And it ended up working out. And I never went back to L.A. I didn't even have clothes with me. So I had the wardrobe. You did this whole thing naked. That's really, I mean, it may be,

look at them naked to a whole different level. I was like, I'm Chase. I'm six foot something. And I'm naked reading for the rule of John B. share list that's really a testament to how much jonas wanted you and saw something in you i mean you're not always going to get that second chance no god from a creator you know yeah well i think too just there's so many options and i'm very aware that my physical attributes there's a lot of guys that look like me in this business who are far more talented than me and they could have

reopened that that casting process and gone a different direction um and there was another option there And he was a gorgeous human being. And he had a beautiful accent. And I thought for sure that he was going to get the job. We'd go through the audition process. And it was a very unconventional way of going about it. They had multiple John B's. They had multiple J.Js.

They had us all mixing and matching. And it was hours of it. And so we got in the car, Rudy, who plays JJ, actually ordered the Uber because he had already been he had been there so he'd gotten a relocation fee I don't know

was this weird thing where he was getting paid to be there I'd still don't understand I was waiting for that on my side so we all hitched a ride with him and I saw Rudy get a call

and he played it very coy he was like mm-hmm okay thank you talk to you soon bye and he hung up

and didn't just kind of like shrug your shoulders and was like okay I then feel my phone vibrate and I'm sitting on the passenger side behind him and it's Jonas and he goes Go get tan dude like you got the job

And I was like Oh my God and I hung up because the kid Was sitting next to me You froze again It seems to be a trend in my life No but you were also being compassionate He asked he was like Did you get it? I was like no

Different situation Different job He probably heard him It was so obvious Like it was so It was Jonas is such a specific voice And my phone was on full volume

You know It's on speaker Yeah Yeah I got a Bluetooth speaker actually And so he He for sure knew But I tried to not be that guy

Who celebrated too soon And Rudy just turned around And looked at me and he goes I was like So Was it the three of you? Just a three of us This is poor man

Yeah It's like a 20 minute to get this fucking a show. All right. Cool. If you guys have fun on this job, I will be going home. Chase, you have so many exciting projects coming up. Let's just stay on Outer Banks a little bit longer. I have two questions, I guess.

One is you shot, is it Season 2 in the jungle? Yeah, we shot Season 2 in Barbados. What was that experience like? Insane. It was also during COVID, too, so it was a little bit. Fusion 2 was also during COVID. Yeah. Oh, I didn't realize.

Yeah, we were one of the first three shows back in the industry during COVID. I think a lot of that was this, we always call it like the Little Boat Show that could within the cast. And we've always felt like sort of just on the side with Netflix. You've always felt like the Pogs. Yeah, literally. We are a walking talking pogue in the world of Netflix. And they were like, yeah, maybe this is probably a fluke of a show. Like, you guys just give it a world.

And if you don't make it through COVID, then there's not a big loss for them because we're not a super expensive show budget-wise. And we, our UPM was one of the people who wrote the whole guidebook on how to operate during COVID. Like we were flying by the seat of our pants. But it was a trip. It's, I mean, when the show started to think that we were going to travel and do the things that we've done, you never in the first 10 scripts that I see that coming.

But Barbados, it's such a cool island. The people are so awesome. They've sort of adopted us, which was really, really sweet. So lifelong friends, who I still stay in touch with down on the island. And also Rihanna's from there. So that's pretty bad ass. Dragging rights for the world. Yeah.

You talked about injuries on set. Did some of those happen in Barbados? Sure. Sure did. Yeah. I did get a concussion in Barbados. I also tried to do like a cool dukes of hazard slide across a cop car at one point totally misjudged the distance and dented the cop car with my ass cheek

and that was black and blue for a long period of time but no we did a stunt plane crash and then we're filing out of the plane and Rudy who plays JJ again we are kind of tweedledy and tweedled dumb in the show and in real life he's like hey dude I'm going to throw your bone on this take And I'm like, what? He was like, just go with it. I'm like, okay, here we go. And so everybody's filing out.

And Rudy has some of the best physical comedy I've ever experienced. And 2% of it makes a show, but it's just insane to watch in person. And everybody's falling into the water. And this kid just shoots himself out of the plane as hard as he could. And it's the doors open up and out. And so I'm holding it out. Everybody's kind of going into the water. And he goes, and I was like, oh my, what?

Like, flies out. And I didn't realize that the door had left my hand. And so the door came back and straight in the head and knocked me out cold. And I was in like six inches of water in this plane. And one of our camera operators, they have the footage. And he just like whips over. And I'm like, I like this. And he's like, oh, shit.

And I came to, jumped out of the plane, swam 20 yards. Yeah, finished the take. Wow. And then our director was like, you're good? And I was like, yeah, just immediately threw up. And they're like, get him to the hospital. Wow. So that was a fun journey of an injury.

So that's, I mean, it's a really physical show. You spend so much time in the water. Yeah. How much, do you spend a lot of time in water tanks? Or are you doing a lot now? Like open water. It's all open water. We've really only shot, I think in total over the four seasons,

I think we've only had five set pieces of all of the waterwork that has been on a tank. Right. And it's built on, we call it our stages. It's really like an abandoned Walmart type of situation because it's the southeast. You know, like sometimes they just create a soundstage.

And we have an incredible group of people behind the scenes on the show. And so they built a tank for us. And we've done all sorts of fun waterwork in that. So much waterwork. It can be really exhausting. I mean, I... Super.

Like, what's nice is that when you're in the water, you're supposed to be in the water, so you're, like, swimming actively. I think there's drowning scenes that, you know, the only waterwork I've done was with weights, I've been fully clothed with boots and pants and long shirt and loaded with weights

so that I'm at the bottom of the tank for, like, many hours at a time. Which is a different kind of weird, whoa. It's surreal. So I was curious about your waterwork because it's like, my one experience with it, I was like, this shit is crazy. This is so insane that they let actors do this.

And I was watching this thinking, like, of how all, knowing how like relatively green you all were, like, coming in and young, I was just like, they let these kids get in this water all the time on camera, like, ooh, oh, but it sounds like you have, there's like this kind of organic, open vibe. Yeah.

On set, because you're in real water. Yeah, I mean, we shoot on location, I would say, 90% of the time. That's interesting, man. That's really interesting. It's fun. It makes it really, really engaging. I think anytime you're on location,

that you just feel more. It feels so much, yes. And I was actually thinking that, watching that I know how budgets can look bigger than they are. But I was impressed by just the sprawling world of the Outer Banks that you see right from the get-go and how on location it all is and how just you guys are like right from the outset. It's like an action movie in this interesting. part of the world that like i've never known it's it's really like kind of exotic feeling it is yeah that whole the outer banks in itself is sort of a world in its own um in charleston where we shoot is

just such a beautiful city so we kind of luck out with having the most beautiful backdrop for just cinematically to begin with and then um you add in all the waterwork and it's just kind of a match made in heaven but it is it is really cool to kind of look at the the show through the lens of what it is. Even to this season, we still run and gun, guerrilla style often. It feels that way. Yeah, it's like shooting a student film sometimes. It's the same operators from season one. It's the same directors. It's the same sound department. I mean, it is, it's like a little family. And so it. And it sounds fun. I mean, do you guys all feel like you love doing it? Yeah, like it really is a blast. It's hard work, like you were saying.

It is a physically demanding show. You're in an action movie like 10 times a season, basically. It's amazing that you loved Indiana Jones because in a way you got... Yeah, I call myself like the Walmart Indiana Jones. I'm the wannabe indie. And if Harrison never let go of that role, he won't. But yeah, it's such a fun thing because you do get that all... Like you were saying,

you get all of these beautiful elements of filmmaking in a place where you don't traditionally see films being made. The last notable film, ironically, that was in Charleston was The Notebook. The Cassavetti shot. And everybody kind of fell in. in love with the backdrop with that. So it's just fun. We have a blast doing it. The city is a great food town too. So if you're a foodie, it's kind of the best. But it's been a fun run and a

really great place to kind of dip your feet into the world of making film and TV. The new season is out this week. Can you share one favorite behind the scenes memory from shooting this season? Oh gosh. We It's out in the world, but it's part of the second half of the season, but we shot in Morocco this year. And that was... And is it meant to take place there? Yes. Okay, cool.

Yeah. And that was just such a crazy experience and just where it takes these characters. And to be able to look back at the show. And the first scene that I shot was with Rudy and I come out of the house and I throw them a beer as we're waking up and then we go on the boat to go fish. And then to jump forward five years later and to be landing in Morocco and be in like the Sahara Desert

shooting the same show, that was kind of a trip. I mean, this whole season is fun for a number of reasons. But I think that and having the cast and continuing to travel the world was really cool. Were there any other stories of like just the extremity of being in the desert, shooting in the desert, I would imagine that can be quite challenging.

I mean, like sandstorms, you know, you don't have the conveniences of what you would have shooting here, especially when you're driving out 45 minutes to an hour into the desert to go shoot. And then driving another 20 minutes to go get to a location and driving through riverbeds and four by fours just to get to where you need to go to just not even base camp. It's like your holding area. But we did a similar version of that in Barbados. and doing it again in Morocco was pretty cool. You're entering this sort of second chapter of your career.

It seems like you have a number of movies that are coming out. And I'm curious, what are you excited for in this second chapter? Oh, I think I've been so fortunate to play John B for an extended period of time. And it's been the most beautiful ground to learn how to be a better artist. You know, I think TV, because of the pace that you shoot at, in particular with Outer Banks, we shoot so fast. It's taught me so much of how to craft a character in a way that I didn't know how to do and to operate on a set at a high level. So I think for me now, understanding story better, understanding character better, understanding the filmmaking process, I'm just excited to tell new stories.

I think for me it was always about chasing stories and growing up listening to great, storytellers in my family. My dad is, my stepdad is an incredible storyteller. That's always been what I've loved. And to be able to get to this next chapter and have the time and the space and the freedom to go and tell those stories is really exciting to me. Do you want to tell us a little bit about marked men or valiant one? I mean, those are a little bit on the horizon, right? Yeah. Valiant one comes out end of January. Marked men, we don't have a date for yet. But, yeah, Valiant One is about a kind of like the modern tech soldier, you know, sitting behind a desk on a base in South Korea. He gets a call to go check on a ground penetrating unit that detect seismic activity and realizes very quickly that something is not right in a weather pattern.

Helicopter crash happens and they are stranded in North Korea and have to get to the air. extraction point. And now my character is the highest ranking out of everybody who has survived the crash. So he starts his day at a computer desk and is now responsible for others' lives. So it's kind of a little bit of a non-traditional military film. It's definitely more, I guess, kind of like the unsung hero's journey. It would be the best way to put it. But it was fun. It was great. I worked with Lana Condor, who has become a dear friend of mine. And again, just telling a new story in a different space and in a different way. And then

Marked Men was with Nick Cassavetes who did the notebook. And it's a really it was based on a New York Times bestselling book. We had a little bit of freedom to kind of create a version of the book. It's still very true to what it is. But, you know, Nick

is just one of the great storytellers of our generation. And he's so interesting in the ways that he ebbs and flows from the notebook to Alpha Dogg to he just did a film this past year called God is a Bullet and it is

just like so vastly different in the stories and the sort of the themes of the film so to be a part of a film that he is going back into the romance sort of genre so to speak this is his first romance film since the notebook

was fun but also he's become like family to me and to be able to work with a filmmaker that I have admired for a long time to now getting coffee with him tomorrow and just catching up on life and doing that consistently is doesn't make any sense in my brain. Why would Nick Cassavides want to hang out with me? You think you're going to go to coffee tomorrow and just freeze? Probably. He's going to be like, hey, buddy, how are you? Try to give me a hug. I'll be like,

you're freezing again. You're doing it. Chase, chase. Stop. Stop, relax. I think we've come to a natural resting place so we will ask you our final question if you could go back to your 12 year old self what would you say or do if anything wow um i would this is a thing i do in therapy often actually it's called the dear me exercise and that's touch it on my hand because of that um i would I would put my hand on his shoulder, and I would tell him that I know that there's a lot of confusion and cloudiness in life right now. But all of this will service you at some point. So there's no advice. There's nothing I need to tell you.

Just step by step and keep doing the next right thing. And it all works out. Yeah. It's all going to be pretty cool. That's touching. I like the hand on the shoulder. Thank you, Chase. Thank you guys so much for coming through.

No, thanks for having me. This has been great. This was fun. Your first podcast. Yeah, you guys did it. We are so excited that you can now listen to Podcrushed ad free on Amazon music. In fact, you can listen to any episode of Podcrushed ad free right now on Amazon Music with an Amazon Prime membership. I'm just going to sit cross-eyed.

Yeah. Just float off like that Chris Pratt blooper. Or Amy Poller's talking to him. She's like, I need the briefcase. He's like, okay. Silver hair? There are so many good Chris Pratt, Parks and Rec. Oh, my gosh.

I love to just go on YouTube and you're like, best of Andy Parks and Rec. That's my favorite. I actively would use those bloopers. and laugh and tried to do the stair master at the same time. Oh, wow. Because I would laugh, and then I'd start sweating from laughing. And then I would be doing cardio too. Yeah.

It's kind of an interesting combo.