Podcrushed - Noah Centineo

Episode Date: January 29, 2025

Noah Centineo (To All The Boys I've Loved Before, Sierra Burgess Is a Loser, Black Adam) brings his signature vulnerability and charm to the pod. He talks about the time his dad encouraged him to beat up the kid who bullied his sister (a noble quest, but a scary one) and the sobering moment in a New York hotel when he realized his entire life had changed forever.    Follow Podcrushed on socials: Instagram TikTok XSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Lemonada. So I go to school next day, and I go to this kid, and they say, you know, I'm supposed to, I'm supposed to beat you up. All right. Good start. Good start. Welcome to Podcrushed. We're hosts. I'm Penn. I'm Sophie, and I'm Nava, and I think we would have been your middle school besties. Staying up late, writing letters to all the boys. Navas loved before. Clearly, we're better friends because she only loved one boy.

Our guest today, Noah Centenio. You've seen him in films like Sierra Burgess is a loser. But there's, of course, his breakout role as Peter Kivinsky in the 2018 smash to all the boys I've loved before. Most recently, now Noah is starring in the second season of his show on Netflix called The Recruit. most famously he's he's here today on pod crushed you're going to want to hear this one please stick around it's a breakout roll breakout roll yeah does anyone else ever get that nagging feeling that

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Learn more at trinom.com slash podcrushed, spelled trinom.com slash podcrushed. Why do we do what we do? What makes life meaningful? My name is Elise Loonen and I'm the author of On Our Best Behavior and the host of the podcast, Pulling the Thread. I'm pulling the thread. I explore life's big questions with thought leaders who help us better understand ourselves, others, and the world around us. I hope these conversations bring you moments of resonance, hope, and growth. Listen to pulling the thread from Lemonada Media wherever you get your podcasts. Start us at 12, paint us a picture of Noah. What was home life like, what was school life like, just, you know, how you saw the world.

12 years old, 7th grade, middle school, Bach, Middle School of the Arts. The only reason, I'm going to go back maybe two years to 50s me. Yeah, please. My teacher, Ms. Radan, she worked with me all year for my audition to get into the middle school. She prepared this monologue that I talk about how I'm having the best day ever. I woke up. I don't know why I was just in the best mood ever. And I was in the shower.

I was singing. I don't usually sing the shower. but today's I just said to myself today's gonna be a great day and it's this whole day I walk out of the school bus people are looking at me girls are giggling at me

get to my class and my teacher pulls me aside and um and like you know the blood drains from my face and um I I swallow my pride and you know

I zip up my fly or whatever you know it's this like my been the best day ever everybody's looking at him and it's a man and then his fly was down all day And she worked with me on that monologue for an entire year.

I mean, every day after school, after our rehearsals for whatever play. We were doing the Jungle Book in fifth grade. She would work with me on this. And like a couple of the other kids that wanted to audition for the middle school of the arts. And yeah, we went there and we auditioned. And actually, all of us got in that auditioned from my elementary school because of our theater teacher. Wow. What a credit to your teacher.

I know. Yeah, that's amazing. Yeah. Well, I'm just curious, like, that's a significant level of dedication. So I guess I'm just curious where you think that came from. Well, I started acting when I was eight modeling and commercials. I fell into it. My sister wanted to audition for John Robert Powers.

I remember that. You know them? Yeah. I mean, I remember the name. I remember the name. They did have, like, radio. advertisements that say something like, hey kids, do you want to be like

Selena Gomez and Justin Bieber? Come on down to John Robert Powers. And my sister, like, I guess she heard it or received, we got something in the mail. And I got forced to go along with her to the audition. And they asked me if I was going to do it. I was like, no. And they were like,

we think you'd be good at it. And I was a child. And I was like, you think I'd be good at it? Sure, I'll try it. And so, tried it. And, you know, they signed us. it doesn't usually work out i don't think for a lot of for a lot of the kids you know they're not like a phenomenal agency by any means you know what i mean um i do know what you mean but they actually do fine because they just accept they onboard so many people and then they set them up with soap and sitcom workshops and casting director workshops and then sometimes it you know something it works anyway um long story short by the time that i was in fifth grade um

I had done like an independent film, I had done a lot of commercials and modeling, and I liked it. I liked it a lot. And I knew that I wanted to do it and do it seriously as seriously as I could. My father was a very hardworking person. At that point in my life, you know, he, let's see how well he was I. He had already, he started as a pastor, then kind of left the church. I was a youth counselor started his own church did very well and then when it made his coffee shop

like entrepreneur and that coffee shop kind of he needed his change and so he went into loan consulting but he doesn't have a college education and he somehow became one of the top loan consultants at Washington Mutual

so my father is very driven Can we interview your father next? What a life. It sounds incredible. He would love that. And so I think I learned it from him. He always kind of instilled in me and my sister.

You want something. You have to work harder than anyone else to get it. And so I was also very, you know, I feel like very fortunate that Ms. Redan put all of her energy, so much energy. into us um so yeah so then that was it i got accepted i was a theater major to performing arts middle school um we started learning set design um wardrobe right just like designing wardrobe um we had an improv class that we did all all year um we it was it was like block program so the classes

were an hour and a half long you know we had a semester and um you know the community de laarte and they trained us. I remember doing like monologues from Hamlin and the Jabberwocky monologue and just, you know, all these really insane things. And so I guess at 11 or 12, I was in seventh grade and I dropped out in middle school for three months to go to L.A., similar to UPenn.

Was it pilot season by any chance? This time I was auditioning for an independent film. Okay. And I got it. And so I went out and shot it during the school year. And then it was the following year in the eighth grade that I dropped, that I left again for pilot season with three months. Did you go back?

Did you ever finish? Yeah, yeah. So I went out three months. I brought all my homework with me and my curriculum. I was with my mother and kind of was doing my work on my own. And, you know, auditioning for two to four things a day, for every day for three months. And got zero callbacks.

Wow. No, not. And everybody, I just remember everybody kept saying, he's just green, you're a little green, still too green,

too green. And so I went back. Noah, how did it feel? Because I remember being a little kid and this continues to the state of being really bad at sports and always being picked last

or just like, you know, you're the last person so no one picks you, you just like end up on a team. And always feeling like so horrible about that rejection like that's such a sting how did it feel to like handle rejection at that age and

in like a profession that you're aspiring towards i was accustomed to rejection by this point i think i mean i had been auditioning since i was eight and um it was always fun there was never there was never like this i have to do it i have to you know it wasn't this there was never a lot of desperation. And that came later, for sure, what I'm, when I fully moved to L.A. and was like, this is what I'm doing with my life. Now I have to, you know. But at this point, it was still fun. It was still curious. We're still exploring. I kind of felt lucky to even be, you know, living in L.A., right? So for me, I had already, I was already winning, just being, I was excited to just be out of school and to be auditioning for that. I never really, I don't even think

I expected to get anything. I think it just... That's great. You know, I was always told, like, it's extremely competitive out here. There are kids that are, you know, I've been doing it for forever. And so then I went back home.

And then that summer, I came back to L.A. For episodic season, you know, once they pick up all the pilots, then they got to shoot them. And then, again, there's a lot of guest star opportunities. And I auditioned for four things, and I booked three of them. And one of them was a one-liner on a Disney Channel show.

I don't know. I think this is important to say, and forgive me if I'm ranting for too long, but the audition for that show is called Austin and Alley. And the audition for it, the casting director Carol Goldwasserman, she knew me from pilot season, from my self tapes that I submitted in and I got there and the line was like I'm throwing away trash and Laura Marano who plays Allie comes up to me and she goes um oh do you like throwing away trash I love doing that too and I'm like okay and that's the whole thing I just say okay wow

Carol worked with me I mean Laura wasn't in the room of course Carol worked with me on that line for 45 minutes. Wow. Got exactly how she knew I needed to do it. And then she said, okay, just do it just like that. She pressed record and we did it and I booked it. That's incredible. It seems like an extraordinarily

kind and kind of unusual thing to do in that scenario when you have so many people auditioning. But why do you think she did that? I was the last one of the day. And I think she saw something that she wanted to foster.

My whole career, I think, has been that being very lucky at people helping me, you know, doing things that are out of the ordinary. Even at John Robert Powers, when I was 9 or 10, I did a casting director workshop, and at the end of it, I got in the elevator to go home. As the doors were closing, a hand just reached down and stopped it from closing.

And it was one of the casting directors from the workshop. And he said to my mom, he said, listen, I want to help your son get a, like an agent, like a different agent, an agent that I think will really do great work for him. And he did. And he was right. Then I started to work a lot more. So there's been so many moments. like that in my career that have allowed me to sit here and talk to you guys on on crushed it was all

leading up to this no one yeah i was gonna say it's quite a quite a quite a quite a genesis story but now here you are literally so there's there's there's this formative story that's very real you know you you you you were becoming an artist a performing artist you were becoming an actor and it worked in time and so of course that's super valid but then there's also like you know there's the there's the kid who who otherwise might have done something else or the kid who had more ordinary experiences, more common experiences. So I think we want to spend just a bit of time there,

you know, and particularly, particularly, like, you know, what we do is, it's always my idea. And sometimes Nevin Sophie, they don't want it. And I'm just like, no, we need it, we need it, we need it. First crush, first crush, first heartbreak. It's all pen. Oh, yeah, this is always chopping at the bit to know. first crush ever not celebrity right just first crush no i mean but you know some people

i'm going to be honest with you celebrity crush is a cop out but some but but but but it but i tell you my celebrity crush like trinity from the matrix i don't know yeah that's fair yeah that's a good one um the the the animated character from uh atlantis like Of course, it's always an anime. My first celebrity crush was Eric from the Little Mermaid, for sure. Yeah, they're gorgeous. First, I was in kindergarten, and her name, her name is Haven. Oh, what a name.

Oh, wow. A beautiful name. Yeah. And we had like a little, we had like a little... In a fair. We hold hands. I remember sitting at the lunch table with all my friends, and she, like, walked behind me, And, like, just, like, put her hand across my back.

And I remember, like, being embarrassed in front of my friends. I was like, but secretly, I loved it, you know. What were your parents' feelings about crushes and relationships and dating? My mom, you know, always told me, you know, to not have a girlfriend. There's plenty of time to have a girlfriend, just focus on school and focus on work. Um, you know, you don't, you know, I think, and my dad was always like, play the field. The pastor. Start a coffee shop.

Yeah, I'm like, me, play the field. Yeah, okay. Yeah, I was, I was, I was really nervous and, like, innocent kid. I didn't, I don't think I, I, I technically, my first kiss was when I was 11 or 12, but it was, it was on screen. Oh, that's right. I read this. Yeah. that's a really common for child actors

so common I know a lot of people that way totally yeah and but my first real one I think I was 15 that's sweet 14 15 yeah no do you remember your first real like heartbreak if it was sort of in the high school middle school era I think I remember having a huge crush on this girl I think her name is carly and I played soccer growing up

She played on the girls' team, the same age group. And I had just the biggest crush on her. And I think we were, like, talking, we were texting. And then, I don't know how I found out, but I found out she didn't like me anymore. And it hurt. And then I was like, I was like really upset. And then I was like, I'm okay. It's fine.

I'm not really heartbreak. I don't think. I think I think I was dating someone and I thought they must have been like 18. It was my first love and so, so toxic. So we were just bad news. It was we both never felt such a rush like love. You know, and you first feel it. It's so insane.

And, you know, we trust, like how do you trust another person with that at that age, you know? I was an idiot and we were both just young and out of our minds and um and but at this point like it hadn't gotten bad or anything it was just pure obsession and um and then she like posted a photo on instagram in her ex's car and was like let me drive it like i stole it or something and i remember the feeling of betrayal oh yeah of like I let you

I let you into this like you I've never and I you have it and then you post like that how could you do that to me I just remember the feeling of it messed me up

for a while what was interesting is that she always swore that nothing happened and she was just posting a photo. I'm just, I used, we're friends with him still. Like, I know it's his car, but I was just posting a photo for Instagram. Like, I swear. And then her friends were like, yeah, but no, she slept over at his place the other night. Like, he like held strong. Like, it was just, you know, so it was so using, do I trust her? Do you, okay, like, if you didn't do anything

with him, but still you were sleeping it. It's like, how do I go about this? You know, and we talked about it and I don't think I ever I don't think I ever really trusted her again just you know regardless if she did regardless if she didn't I think and the lack of sensitivity and posting it and yeah yeah and we're friends like we that was 10 11 years ago or something

you know so we're friends like of course of course but there's nothing like that first feeling of you know if it's betrayal or if it's just heartbreak whatever you know it's yeah I remember we broke up and got back together and broke up and got back together

and broke up and she was like hey can we talk like I'm downtown I was living downtown at the time I was like yeah yeah come over

she came over and we sat in my place and I was like how are you she was like I'm good like I'm good and it was devastating

because I was it was not good I was so lonely I was so upset and I was like good that's amazing like I know

so great you know she's like how are you I was like I'm not I'm okay you know but that's

I'm fine you know and she left and it was the that was the first time the one was betrayal anger jealousy rage all these things

right I was alone in hotel room like she's cheating on me right this was like she left and it was felt like someone put a shotgun

into my chest and pulled the trigger. I never felt that, you know, that here before. So I feel like, but that was weird. It was like I was upset

that she was happy without me. How could you, how could you be okay? Yeah. We love each other. You know, we're not too.

How could you be? So, yeah. This is fun. I'm not thought. This is fun. I hope we have adrenaline with you. Yeah.

Yeah. 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.

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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 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 turn to symbiotica, these 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 out in a 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 podcrush for 20% off plus free shipping. That's symbiotica.com slash podcrushed for 20% off plus free shipping. As the seasons change, it's the perfect time to learn something new.

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when they sign up today at IXL.com slash podcrushed. Visit Ixl.com slash podcrushed to get the most effective learning program out there at the best price. Do you have any particularly, I mean, you've been vulnerable so you don't need to, you don't need to. But, you know, any of those like kind of classic embarrassing, like awkward stories, you know, the unique, kind of awkwardness and embarrassment you suffer when you're in middle school you know what i mean like

that's a unique sort of this one's dark i don't know if you want this one we want it yeah i mean if you if you're if you're willing to share it we know it's not all light here we want emily emily my publicist is like dude yeah do not i don't remember feeling in I'm very embarrassed in middle school. I remember feeling like a loser. I remember feeling excluded from like what all the cool people were doing. I was like moved to a new school and moved to Utah for eighth grade. I didn't know anyone.

Everybody was like, they had grown up together. It was this whole thing. I found a good friend. I found a couple friends of like kind of misfits. But before that, before I kind of found my pod. And I have an older sister who was. She was in ninth grade. She was at the high school, and I was in eighth grade.

I was in the middle school. Very small, 300 kids' school. And this kid who was very mean, probably because of reasons that are, you know, he was probably dealing with a lot. I was a whole life situation. He, like, came up to me, and he was like, he was like, fuck, man, can I curse? well you just did didn't you yeah I cannot he said you can no you can you can you can

it was like fuck man he's just so hot and I was like okay yeah man you know don't don't call her hot you know that's weird and disrespectful like you know call it beautiful or pretty or something and he was like oh yeah fuck you man like

I want to do this to her, this and this until this. Oh, dear Lord. It was brutal. Yeah. And I didn't, no kid had ever

said something like that to me about my sisters, said something like that to me about anything. And I didn't know what to do until I froze, right? And I'm feeling like all of these things.

And, And I just froze. And it was embarrassing and humiliating. And so I kind of just, like, go and sit down. And I go home, and I tell my mom and dad. And my dad goes, so would you do? I didn't do anything. And I got in a lot of trouble.

and he goes you know you're going to go to school tomorrow and you're going to beat this kid up and you're going to let me do with the consequences right no one talks to about your sister like that

you can't do that and you know God bless my father he grew up in Brooklyn you know but he talks to you step to them right you don't let someone take that which is fair like I appreciate that as well

And he's trying to teach me a lesson, right? Stick up for those that you love. And I'm like, okay, okay, okay. So I go to school next day. And I go to this kid and they say, you know, I'm supposed to, I'm supposed to beat you up. All right. Good start. Good start.

I don't want to do that. If there's a way we can side. step this and just get to the end yourself. Can we just, can you put like a little black eye? I've never been in a fight. Yeah. You know? And I don't like hurting people.

Like that's horrifying to me, right? And I think he apologized, but he was like, oh, what I think happens, he was like, oh, I'm so sorry. Like, he was probably being sarcastic. And in my head, I was like, he said, you're sorry, it's fine. can I just get you on video can you just write my dad it was

it humiliated and it disturbed me it disturbed me for years and years and it wasn't and it created this thing in me this it was shame guilt anger you know this fear of being belittled

and being taken advantage of and disrespected. And as I got older, it came out in really, you know, dark ways later on when people tried to then do that when I was in high school. And like your sister was, she was older than you? One year. Yeah. Yeah, when you're talking, Noah, the first thing that comes to mind is being cast. called like the only time i can think of feeling that feeling of like all the things i wish i could

have said or or having someone say something to you that's so shocking and degrading that you just blank you just don't know what to do um and i can remember having that feeling several times and there are a few moments living in new york in my 20s that i can recall like the person's face Like, I can recall what the person did or what they said to me. And, like, all the things I said to myself later that day or that night, like, what I wish I would have done back. And it really does, just look what you're saying, it really does stick with you. It really does, like, affect you for sometimes years to come.

So just to say that I feel free, young Noah, that's hard. That's really hard, especially when you go home and then you're told, like, now you have to do something that can put you maybe even in more like danger is a strong word but but kind of yeah i had some kid later on in high school spit his gum in my face and i did what i was supposed to do you know and it was brutal and just as terrifying and like the 13-year-old kid that did nothing and took revenge, you know. Yeah. I was 15 or 60, or happened, you know.

And, you know, luckily, no, there was no lasting damage, like, true damage, you know. But it was brutal and scary and terrible. So, yeah, it was quite humiliating experience. But I think that, you know, it taught me. So, like, I'm so happy to have had all of those experiences now as an adult. right where you get to kind of champion that kid and be like now's probably not the time to to be aggressive or to be violent you can deal with these things in other ways and whatnot so yeah you know this makes me think of what might also be a useful segue into like your career and I

laud this I think it's it's it's great dignified honorable like just how sensitive you are you know and how much you feel as you said I think like the horror of violence you know depict Victing violence, our industry tends to cast quite sensitive people to be the complex insensitive person, or rather maybe I shouldn't say insensitive. But, you know, violence is interesting because the way that it looks on camera is so different from the way that it happens in real life. But I think you balance and ground the character of Owen and the recruit really well with those. intrinsic qualities that you've got, I'm like thinking of the finale of season one. There's so many things tonally happening as is common in a lot of shows now. It's like there's, there's, there's

mortal stakes. There's like comedy to keep it life. There's action. And you know, you're sort of like reenacting tragedy and trauma constantly. And I'm curious like about some of those more intense moments. Was the recruit the, certainly I think it was the first time you'd done something that intense right the recruit was the first time i really had mortal danger yeah right people are dying like that's a that's a but the recruit even is it's not really an exploration of the the darkest deepest emotions that we have yeah of course what it's really like to confront these things right the recruits tone is humorous and it is and i can there is action and it is it gets dark and dense and deep and scary at times but for the most part, it lives in this procedural world of real, like, it's nice and it's light, I think, and it's good to, you know, it's not the lightest. It's not hilarious and, you know, but it does. It occupies a very specific space, I think.

I would say, I would say it's a fun watch. I would say that. I do think it's fun to watch. But your character is, always kind of getting himself into situations that he has to I'm just like the picture I have in my head is you like stop dropping and rolling out of a situation you're like let me squeeze my way

out of this somehow like improvising right into another one where is it stop jump and roll right into you're just panicked and stressed and in overreuth like almost dying and still it is actually it is fun and funny have you

Have you had to learn any new skills on the show? No, because so not really, because Owen's a lawyer. He's not a spy. He's not trained to be an operative or to kill people. He's a kid fresh out of law school that gets recruited to go to the CIA. So he's completely ill-equipped for the espionage and mercenaries and a stat. It's just, so no, like, if anything, you know, I did have to, I do have to learn more bite choreography than I ever had before.

And I love that. I had to, like, I've had to do stunts that I've never done before, you know, taking falls. So you're telling me you didn't study law? Yeah. You believe that? Bro. Well, there's one episode in the first season where you're speaking German. Like, I mean, that's...

And you speak Korean in season two? Yeah. Yeah. I don't know why Alexei has this thing where he's like, Owen speaks a bunch of languages. you know yeah and it was like a military brat you know I grew up on army bases my devastation in germany and then he was stationed in korea and the family just goes wherever he goes and so so yeah there's there's reason to it I just I'm like what are you gonna make me do in the third season yeah I'm gonna have to speak mangen or yeah oh wait actually I we

we saw a video it's four years ago now so things may have changed but you it was like a a GQ video and you said that China was one of your favorite places that you've visited. You did a project there. And actually, Nav and I both lived in China. I went to high school there. So I have a soft spot for anyone who has like positive

words to say about going to China. I just wanted to hear a little bit more about that. Yeah, sure. I went there when I was 21 and I was working on a Jackie Chan film. He was directing a film called The Diary and it was with his son, JC, and this amazing actress named Tini.

And she's like a huge Latin American singer. And we all just kind of like hung out and did this big film. And it was first time ever going to China, first time going to Asia, first time seeing Shanghai. Cool. Is that were you filmed? Yeah, we filmed outside. of Shanghai, maybe like two hours, two, two and a half, three hours at side of Shanghai. We filmed at this huge studio, actually, like a studio a lot.

And Jackie Chan has this whole big school that it's not just stunts. He also teaches every single job on a crew, every department. That's so cool. I didn't know that. And then all the kids and all the people working on the film diary came from his school. All his students. And I just, it blew my mind, you know, and I, like I said, I've never been to Shanghai, I never seen it before. And, yeah, so I loved it.

I loved it when I went. I'd say now when I'm 28, maybe not one of my favorite places that I've been to, but it was, it was an incredible experience, you know. I'd go back for sure. Oh, cool. I have two sort of recruit-related questions. One is, I obviously don't know you meeting you today, but I have seen a lot of your work. And I want to know how off base I am in this assessment. My assessment from watching The Recruit is that this character is the closest to the real you.

True, false, off base. You think he is? You think he's the closest to be? I do. I don't know why. That's just like my gut feeling. I think it's false. Okay.

Tell me why. I think. Which character is the closest to the real you? The one who kills less people? the one who kills more people more people okay who I don't know

I don't think I've I mean Peter and they all have pieces of me that's the thing yeah you know I don't I try it's harder for me to take something from other people and make it

it's easier for me to kind of find the piece of me and then enlarge that um but Owen is me in a lot of ways like I think but I don't react like that in

like moral situations like very calm you know I like think through things or like act pretty quickly and then again I'm never taking fire so yeah who knows yeah um I think you're more calm and level-headed

you think than no one I think so yeah that makes sense in some ways you know and in most ways I do get like spazzed out for sure for sure i think i'm more emotionally aware than owen that's definitely true you know i think i'm more sensitive than owen yeah in that way i'm i'm pretty close to peter that makes sense okay and then my second question is in season two owen is like pretty radioactive and i'm curious paradoxically he sort of has nothing to lose and everything to

lose how did it feel to play a character who's in that spot it was awesome it was so it was so fun you know the first season of the show like any show you especially a spy genre lawyer world show you got to establish the rules of engagement the character is the tone you got to establish the world you have to establish just like so many aspects of what the show is and so there's a lot of you know um exposition right there's a lot of explanation and um for us for the recruit second season is okay we've set we've set all that up let's just do it let's do the thing let's get crazy you know and we did it's to me the second season's way better than the first season um it's six episodes it moves way faster and once it starts it grabs onto you and holds you until the very end um it's funnier

there's way more action in it um i think we just leaned into all of of the parts of the first season that audiences really responded to and also that we were like that work. Let's do more of that. Yeah. I agree. I definitely agree. I think the first episode even just starts off. It's like it's so strong and all the tone that it was

finding. All that kind of like the spectrum that it was sort of going back and forth between in the first season. The first episode of the second season contains it all in a way and it is so punchy. I mean I was like I was laughing. I was laughing how loud. I forget the character's name, the colleague

who's extremely stressed out. It is. Yeah. He's like Christian Brune. Yeah. He's great. He's really good. He's my favorite character in the whole show. Yeah, he's really, really, really good. I can't work with him. He makes you laugh.

Yeah. Like, it's just yeah, he's so good. He's my favorite character in the whole show. I love it. And even he, the way that he's refined from say the first episode of the first season where you meet him like you know just sort of guzzling coffee versus the way you meet him progressed

into his anxiety and hatred of your character actually to be honest I was really I was like wow this is this is like masterful comedic foil right here this is really this is really working he and Alexi really sing

together the Alexi Holly the showrunner writer they do they write he writes really well for him and he executes on the writing over and beyond. Yeah. I just went to echo. Yeah, I really enjoyed the first season. Watched it prior to us booking you,

just a fan. But the second season, we got screeners, and I liked it a lot more, too, and I found it easier to follow, and it was, like, riveted. And he has just the greatest one-liners. Can I just spoil one of them? It's just so good when he says, like, oh, I can't go because my cat is sick.

And then the boss is like, you don't own a cat. He's like, well, I'm in the process of adopting. going to Korea So good So good Such a good show So fun And it borders on like absurdity

Of course it does But that's why it's good It's right in it It just stays right under the line Of actual absurdity Yeah And we'll be right back In the late 90s and early 2000s

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Learn more at trynom.com slash podcrushed, spelled try-n-o-m-m-com slash podcrushed. We've been talking about the recruit, which is your latest project, but, or is about to come out. But you did mention Peter and Lara Jean, and I do have to bring us back to to all the boys I love before, which I love as a as a person who loves love I loved that that trilogy and I actually watched the first movie with a group of women who ranged I think I was I was in my mid 20s maybe late 20s um I watched it with a group of women that ranged in age we all like sat down got snacks it was it was an event and um I just wanted to know first of all if you knew when you guys were filming the first movie. Did you know it was going to be a sensation like it was? No. No, it was an indie. It wasn't even in Netflix. Wow. I don't think I knew that. Yeah, we filmed it independent and I had no idea. I had no idea. Tamara Lee casted me in it and I was just like, oh my God, a job. Like, I got a job. You know, I was shooting the fosters and we had we did 10 weeks on, 10 weeks off,

10 weeks on 10 weeks off that was our season and in the 10 weeks off I always tried to do something and I just happened to book to all the boys and then and then I remember I remember them saying oh hey like we it looks like we sold it to Netflix Netflix is going to put it out I remember being like they were like yeah and and now it was early like those were early days I think Netflix still and I had to think they had yet to have a film come out that had that really like the zeitgeist shows like Orange is the New Black did you know there are awesome cards back then right like those shows came out

like they were huge they had yet to have a real movie I think and I was so wrong I mean I was a kid what do I know I don't know nothing about the industry and then there were

there were whispers like people were really excited about it before it came out. But I think that was just what agents usually do right now. It's great. It's going to be so good. They're so excited about it. We're so excited about it. You hear that with your projects always, right? And then

it came out and yeah, it flew. It really went. We interviewed Jenny Hahn on the show. Did you get to, I know she in future projects, since

then she spends a lot of time with the cast. Did she spend a lot of time with you guys? Yeah, she was on set all the time. Yeah, cool. She's all the time. She seems lovely. You know, she's so great. So wonderful.

She really trusted. She really trusted, you know, on that first film, it was Susan Johnson and Michael Finanari and Matt Kaplan and the Westbrook team, right, Caleb and Dougie. You know, she really trusted them. And, you know, the role of Peter really comes from, I mean, I don't know if I've ever said this, but there was this guy, Caleb, who works,

I don't know if he's still at Westbrook, but he was one of the producers on the film. And the first scene we ever shot was the diner scene with the milkshakes and, um, with that really cool, like, camera shot from above that Michael from the Rari did,

which is, you know, he's just a piece. Um, and it was before the, the first take and we were rehearsing. And I think we, actually, I think we did one take. And then Caleb, like, Caleb pulled me aside and he went, listen, man, Peter, Peter's the guy, dude.

He walks in the room. He's got all the swag, all the confidence. He comes, he's just walking room. He walks in the room, you know what I'm saying? Like, he gave me, like, a three minute, like, this is, this is who this guy is. And I was like, got it. And that was the moment that, like, the next take, it was like, that's Peter. This is who he is.

This is how he's going to be. And it was, if that conversation had never taken place, I had no idea what Peter would have looked like. I had no idea. It's kind of crazy. Wow. Noah, you obviously are not an overnight sensation. You were working since you were a kid, but it does feel like working really hard. It does feel like when that movie came out, you did experience some kind of, like,

huge turn on the dial in your fame. And I'm curious if you had this experience of like holy shit this is awesome and then like holy shit this is way too much. Sort of did you have that experience? What was that like for you? Yeah, yeah. It was during

I forget what happened. I think I forget what came out first whether it was Sierra Burgess or whether it was to all the boys. Netflix released those two with the kissing booth kind of as a bundle summer of love marketing campaign

like a couple weeks apart a few weeks apart each and I was in New York which I'm here now and I remember doing like some different photo shoots and press things and then I got in the truck and went back to my hotel and I was like man I can't wait

to roll a cigarette I just can't wait to roll one and I just relax you know and I pull up to the hotel and there's a small army of people outside and there was like 30 people and they wanted to take photos with me and that never happened before um and so i kind of like did it i did the i did it you know i said hi yeah selfie sure i go up to my room and i like roll my i'm like rolling cigarette i'm not really thinking about it and then i finished and i'm like cool i'm going to go and i was like can i go outside like can i punk this

cigarette? Am I, what's gonna, is that bad if they take? And then it just hit me all at once. It was like, boom, you, you now have to think about things differently, you know? And that was the moment. That was like, this panic attack, which is crazy. It was like, my life's different. What the hell? What's going on? And I just, like, I like, I like, like, the bed was kind of low. So I, like, went down on my knees and I just kind of like put my head in my hands and leaned up against the bed and kind of I just kind of like sat there and I just like just breathed you know I was breathing and and I went okay I think this is going to just be a part of your practice you know this is just what it is people are going to be observing you you know I was like into meditation and all that

stuff I was like you're constantly observing yourself right people are just going to be observing you and this is your life and it's it's kind of scary but it's a good thing. This is a good thing. This is a great thing. You're going to be able to do so much because of this. And then I kind of just released it and I was okay. That was definitely in the moment, you know? But it took maybe 10, 15 minutes and then I was over. Did you go down and have the cigarette? Yeah, I went to the staff and I said, is there a place I can smoke this where nobody's going to see me? They're like, yeah, I take the service elevator. I was like, done. So I'll take the service. That guy. I just smoked for the one and so.

so you grappled with fame for about 10 to 15 minutes okay okay all right listen listen brother talk to me in 10 to 15 years alright get over it I've also separated myself from the person that people want to take photos with

of course it's a different person it's not me they don't know me you know who I am they never talk to me yeah yeah they see a two dimensional representation

to me they see interviews and they see characters and they say they say all these things and that's that's who they want take a photo with and that's beautiful that's fine like it's absolutely not me like it can't even be like i'm great like they it's not me i i try to do that i try to just completely no that's that's that's very much the right approach yeah it's really wise you great this it's also interesting how sets in this industry people treat you like your king or your royalty you know they treat you like your guy you're on set can i get you anything can i help you can't me are you okay dean you know

people just cater to you constantly, you know? That's true. And it's not normal. It's not, you know, it's not normal to feel like royalty. It's ridiculous. Well, you're treated a bit like you're unable to do things for yourself, I think. It's like, I actually want to walk the 30 yards to get a water. Can I do that?

Can I do that? And you discover sometimes that you can't, you know. No, no, what do we stay, this is that? I'm going to walk. I'd rather you stay here. I want to keep my job, and if I lose sight of you, then. Right. So, so forth.

But, you know, no wonder some actors and some people are just so, you know, egotistical maybe, or whatever, it's like to me. They lose touch. It's very rarely, you know, I think that is a protective response to reaction to the industry, to help people treat them, you know what I mean, into kind of being removed from anonymity, which is a inherently biological phenomenon of like people, like lions don't know who lions in other countries or whatever are.

Like animals don't know other. You know, it's not, this isn't a normal. No, yeah, of course not, yeah. So I think, you know, I try not to, you know, feel any type of way about anyone that, you know response to fame in whatever way either you know that was a weird tangent sorry to no no no no it was great it was actually quite brief for a tangent it was perfect yeah perfect pen likes his tangents really long i'll spend i'll spend a whole episode on a tangent if i was allowed

you know i'm nothing if not tangential so if you sounded like you had another question yeah um i was wondering if you've had any like story worthy fan experiences because i feel like This man doesn't want to think about fame anymore. Come on, it's intelligence. When you said you had a question, I was like, oh, probably better just move on to the next question. But I'm thinking about a friend of mine who's a very normal. You said, like, people have,

you try to, like, respect everybody's reaction to fame. I think people do have really odd reactions to fame. And they do things that they would normally never do. Like, I'm thinking of a friend of mine who's a very normal person, well adjusted. I'm right here. And she saw Leonardo. DiCaprio on a city bike, and she just lost her mind.

Like, she became someone who she's not. And she started running after him. I was like, Leo! And he was like, oh, my God. You know, he's biking faster. And I just thought that story was, because I know her in real life. I'm like, I can't imagine you doing that. And she was like, I know I'm mortified.

I think, like, people do such crazy things that they would never normally do. Are we sure it was an AI? Like, how was Leo on a city bike? I know, as I was saying, he's a pro-environment, man. He's an environmental end. That's right. I don't know.

I haven't really had. I've had some, like, you know, pretty gnarly fan. I've had, like, maybe two fan interactions that were, like, um, like a little rough and weird. But,

overall like people are very sweet like two is not a high number by any means you would think I would way higher um but people are lovely people get excited some scream some some cry sometimes which is crazy like you know and some are just really really sweet and like excuse me to like are you and you you know um for the most part people are pretty tame like I and I've even moments where I like just short circuit and spaz over someone that I'm you know been a huge fan of right like yeah so I I understand it you know I totally I get that that that you just lose your head and you're like you're you're the they're like I am you know you're right that's awesome nice to meet you yeah no we have a final question we ask every guest tell them tell it to me shoot

it. If you could go back and spend a little time with 12-year-old Noah, what would you say or do? What would I say? I don't know. I'll try to take him to... I don't know. What would I do? My dad took me when I was like five years old, the Disney World and we watched chimpanzees. And they opened, they opened Animal Kingdom like five minutes before the park was supposed to open for us. So we ran in there and we got tea and we sat there

was cold and we watched these like chimpanzees swimming around and it's one of my it's like a core memory one of my one of my

most cherished memories and I probably I don't know do that with myself I got to sit there that's really sweet watch chimpanzees do you think at 12

he would like that I was thinking I was thinking I think you would yeah that's good you would 12 year old

me, all he ever really wanted to do is drink tea and Reese. Oh, man. So yeah. preaching to the choir, man. How am I'm that? Thank you guys so much.

Thank you. Thank you for having me on the show. Thank you for any time. For joining us. Have a safe flight. Thank you. I appreciate it. I'll see you guys.

IRL, I'm sure, down the line. You can see Noah Centineo in the second season of the recruit on Netflix right now, and you can follow him online at N Centineo. Podcrushed is hosted by Penn Badgley, Navacavalin, and Sophie Ansari. Our senior producer is David Ansari, and our editing is done by Clips Agency. Special thanks to the folks at Lamanada, and as always, you can listen to Podcrushed ad-free on Amazon music with your prime membership.

Okay, that's all. Bye.