The Ariel Helwani Show - Skylar Astin

Episode Date: March 17, 2022

One of Ariel's best Hollywood friends joins the show this week to discuss Astin's acclaimed acting and singing career. The Pitch Perfect star tells Ariel what it was like growing up as a guy in musical theater, and also about his first big break. Then, Astin tells a great story about how he was selected for Pitch Perfect, why the movie franchise took off, and his well-documented relationship with then-co-star Anna Camp. They also discuss stories about his burgeoning solo music career, upcoming roles, and how he was nearly cast in an NBA show and a documentary about former UFC champion Chris Weidman.You can follow Astin on Instagram and Twitter @skylarastin.Skylar Astin is a New York-born actor, singer, and songwriter. His first big role was as Georg in the Broadway show Spring Awakening. He then earned a role as Jesse in cult favorite Pitch Perfect, which catapulted him into the national spotlight. Since the 2012 hit, Astin has appeared in 21 & Over, Pitch Perfect 2, and Zoe's Extraordinary Playlist, among others. He's also set to play a role in the upcoming 18th season of the award-winning TV show Grey's Anatomy. On top of that, he recently announced he'll star alongside Geena Davis in the pilot of a CBS show.For more episodes of The Ariel Helwani Show, please follow the show on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or on Ariel's YouTube channel.Theme music: "Frantic" by The Lovely Feathers

Hello friends! Hope you're doing well. Welcome back to a brand new edition of the Ariel Helwani Show. I, of course, am Ariel Helwani. I hope you're all doing well. It is Thursday, March 17th, 2022. Happy St. Patrick's Day to you and yours. And, of course, thank you very much to my good friends,

the lovely Feathers, for this great song. It is called Frantic. I love love them and one day they will reunite and they will look back on this program for being the sort of catalyst to their reunion now very excited about today's program we've got an actual hollywood superstar on the show today my friends i met skylar astin many moons ago as he was blowing up with pitch. You all remember that film from back in 2012. 10 years, unbelievably. He's a big MMA fan, a big pro wrestling fan as well. We have a lot in common, a fellow Jew from New York. I mean, we could have easily grown up together. And actually, way back in the MMA beat days, he was the first non-journalist to ever appear on the show,

which was a great thrill. It was amazing getting to be friends with someone from Hollywood and actual successful movies. This was tremendous stuff. And over the years, we've remained friends, but I've never had a chance to actually interview him about his life, about his career. Anytime we've done something, it's been about MMA or pro wrestling. So I was really looking forward to this. And I think you will really love the conversation as well. He has been through a lot. He's had ups, he's had downs. Of course, a lot of people know him from Pitch Perfect, but he's done a lot, not only in film, but in television and Broadway as well. Very successful actor who is still very young, who still has a lot more to accomplish and a lot more to do. And actually, as we speak, he just found out about a huge gig that he scored on Grey's Anatomy, and it's 18th season. He's going to be a part of it beginning next week,

March 24th. So, very exciting times for Mr. Skyler Astin. We spoke about his love of the New York Knicks, singing the national anthem before a Christmas Nicks game last year, his love of MMA and pro wrestling. But really, it's about a dream, following that dream, an unconventional dream, and then making it in Hollywood and on the big screen, all that and more. It's very inspiring stuff. I hope you appreciate it. I hope you enjoy it. I appreciate his time very much. I enjoyed every second of it. And it's another one of those conversations that I've always wanted to have and do. Now, finally, I get the opportunity to have him and do him. So without further ado, here's my conversation with the great, the multi-talented, the one

and only Skylar Astin. Enjoy. Usually when we've talked on the record, on a show or something like that it's always been about fighting combat sports mma a little wrestling uh today i actually wanted to be more about you and your great life and career uh but we do have to commiserate just very briefly right off the top about our beloved new york knicks It's tough. What is going on? It is tough. I mean, we text often about this,

and it's the opposite of last season in that last season we had such low expectations and that we far surpassed them. This year we're like, man, my goal for this team was to get through the first round of the playoffs. Now we're nowhere even near the play-in tournament. And we strung a couple wins together last week, but I don't even watch every game now. It's gotten to that point

where I got to kind of catch the highlights, if anything. You're one of the biggest Knicks fans I know. Even though you don't live in New York anymore, you still watch all the games. I see you tweeting about them, posting about them. The question I have for you is, was last year the anomaly or is this year the anomaly? Basically, like, is this going to be the weird flip of the radar? I will be back to last year or was last

year just a freak thing and we're back to being a horrible team? I hate to have it be the latter. I fear that it is. Unless if they could turn it around. I mean, Julius scored a record high, like 46 or 48 points the other day against Sacramentoramento i'm just i'm just what i'm just worried um so i'm managing my expectations but yeah they just don't have the chemistry and and and last year felt very special the camaraderie felt really unique and the fact that that just like goes away in its sophomore year with tibido seems pretty uh pretty scary for me as i think him gone? Thibodeau? Yeah. There's a lot of people who want his head.

Well, there's a lot of people who would blow up the team and we start over again. How many times have we done that over the past 20 years? So I don't know if that's the answer. I want to kind of stick

with this defensive mindset and maybe just get more pieces. I love Julie. I like want to believe in Julius, but if he's got to go, we got to get a new star to build around. I actually don't have the answer for Yael. I don't mean to start on such a neurotic note, but I don't know.

Growing up, were the Knicks your favorite team of all the sports? Yes. The Mets gave me a run for my money in the Subway Series era. I was always fighting against my Yankees fans. See, the thing is, growing up in New York, there are some choices within the teams, but my choices were predetermined by my dad. So I could have been a Giants fan. I could have had Super Bowls under my belt against Tom Brady of all people. Instead, he owns my Jets. You know, same thing with Mets and Yankees. I have all my friends in the 90s celebrating and going to parades all the time, and I can't get out of the wild card. One last thing on the Knicks. This past Christmas, you sang the national anthem at Madison Square Garden on the Christmas Day game. I can't even imagine for a longtime Knicks fan, a guy who grew up in New York, that honor to me, other than doing it at the NBA finals, or maybe for a playoff game, like there is nothing greater than that. Can you even describe what it

was like when you first got the offer to do it on Christmas day? Uh, yeah, it was exciting. Well, first of all, they gave me an option. They gave me an option of the warriors, uh, December 14th. And that was when the Knicks were kind of hot. So I was like, Oh, maybe they could beat the warriors. Uh, then there was potential. And then there was of course the hawks game for you know i thought trey young would be there and no christmas day is it's a it's a tradition even with my family we've been going for years um and and to be able to do that the people at uh shout out to freya grant and the people over at msg they're they're so hospitable and uh they've been treating me really well there i've sang for a rangers game thankfully i have sang for a playoff NBA game, a couple. I sang for the Lakers last year and for Barclays. But to me, it wasn't

official. It wasn't a real bucket list cross off until I really did it at the Garden. And then more specifically for the Knicks at the Garden. Do you get paid for those gigs? No, no, they have offered a couple times because they've had people drop out to fly me in, which I would take a free flight in a second and just just to see my folks, because that's where my family lives. But no, it's the honor is all ours. Right. You know what, though? I don't know. Maybe like Super Bowl spots, you know, all star game spots when they get these like multi platinum recording artists. Maybe they give them a fee or a car or something, but I'm just kind of happy to be there. My ask is like, how many of my family members can come to soundcheck? Can I get my nephew on the court? You know what I mean? Those kinds of things. And they're, they're always pretty amazing about that. Once I get through the anthem too, then it's just like open bar and I start to have a good time.

And, and, and for like a gig like that, like how long do you have to actually prepare for? Prepare the national anthem? Yeah, I don't know. I think you're too- I mean, I just became an American citizen, so I would have to prepare. actually prepare for prepare the national anthem yeah i don't know i think you're too i mean i just became an american citizen so i would i understand i understand a lot of people would have to prepare by the way i i generally would like especially my first one i think was a few years ago at dodger stadium and to me the two qualifications of the anthem is make sure you know your key and your starting pitch because that thing climbs so if you start too high, you're going to go full Fergie.

And then, which I was actually there for with Jace. Wow. And the words are tricky. I was doing this thing with the Dodgers after the Dodgers game with my friends that were there and we were hanging out at my house afterwards and I was quizzing them. I was like, don't sing the melody because that'll help you.

But just say the poem, go ahead. And they were like, donzerly, like they were saying words wrong and like swapping verses. They kind of, they were repeating themselves accidentally. It can, you can get in your head about that one. Cause the words are strange.

So something that the Dodgers do well, that not everyone does. I did it for NASCAR and I was free balling, but they put the words for the audience on the jumbo trunk or on the screen. And in the Dodger stadium, it's right in your eyeline. And that is a fail-safe.

And I mean, this is coming from someone who's done Broadway and I can memorize lines, no problem. But like there is something about having it there where you could just kind of let loose. And the fact that it's there means you'll never even need to look because you just have it there just in case. I love that. I highly encourage arenas and stadiums around the country to do that.

Yeah. And then I just always have my phone right here just for my starting pitch for my voice members. Jose, Jose, Jose. And then I get my phone to take the picture and then I sing right to LeBron's face. Wow. That is fast. Is there like a bucket list anthem gig?

Like one that you would love to do? I mean, Super Bowl. Super Bowl. Yeah. Right. I mean, Knicks finals. anthem gig like one that you would love to do i mean super bowl super bowl yeah right i mean knicks finals any of my teams in big situations and i want to like scream myself horse after home of the brave and say let's go knicks or let's go mets or let's go jets and really really dig in because there's something different about doing it in your hometown greatest one of all time greatest anthem of all time yeah probably probably whitney houston super bowl i think it was super bowl or maybe it was like olympics i have a feeling no it was

super bowl 91 it was bill's giants in tampa during desert storm that's right because that's right because i'm like she was wearing a usa track suits in my head it was very patriotic what about marvin gaye that was a tremendous one remember Remember that? Amazing. Incredible. I mean, there've been some really good ones. It's just randomly like a challenging song. And I think the key is to not do too much with it. I mean, I mentioned Fergie and I hate that she's a casualty. I also feel the karma of even talking about a singer in a bad way, but, but I mean, come on, you can't do Jessica rabbit at jazz night for,

you know, don't sexify the anthem. Don't over riff. Don't change the melody too much. I always throw in a couple little embellishments and kind of get ahead of the audience. But but other than that, actually, one time when I started singing at the Rangers game, some some dude just goes, voice of an angel right after I say, can you see it? It felt really good. I felt like I was like, you know, at a wwe crowd and someone was like cheering for me when i was walking down the ramp so you you you were born in new york grew up in oh by the way so sorry ariel i have to say wrestlemania would be a great one too oh yes i feel like that one's actually doable they love you over there now i think so or or don't they do like america the beautiful

yeah yeah yeah ray charles my god that would be great that would do that'll happen and we do have I think so. Or don't they do like America, the beautiful. Yeah. Charles. I got, that would be great. That we should do. And we do have to talk a little pro wrestling as well, because we are in WrestleMania season. Every time a Dipperstein name drops you on cheap heat, I get a little jealous. I'm like, wow, this guy's at, you know, a wedding with Bray Wyatt. I mean, what a life.

And so we'll get to all of that, but you grew up in New York, Rockland County, good Jewish boy from a good Jewish family, Skylar Aston Lipstein, Aston, the middle name. No secret. You went with that. Yeah. Your agent told you to go with that. Fine choice. Fourth grade, fifth grade, what did you want to be? Like, what was your initial dream job, your dream career? Did you always want to be this, or did you want to be something before all this? Baseball. You wanted to be this or did you want to be something before all this? Baseball. I think baseball player. Baseball player and the pipest of pipe dreams was

counting down five, four, three, two, one for the final shot when I would shoot on my Fisher Price hoop in the basement. That's me. That's everyone's dream dream, but I'm 5'10 and I'm okay. And I'm a streaky shooter at best. But baseball, I was actually decent at. And like made my high school team and won state champions. And like won this, before the Little League World Series was like a thing. There was this thing called the Tournament of Champions. And it was when champions from each district would square off against each other. And a big highlight of my life, way before I ever even got into acting or doing anything glorious in the singing department was in the semifinals game of the tournament of champions.

We were down four, three in the top of the last inning. I was a center fielder at the time, first and third one out straight away to center fly ball. And it was a catch and throw situation. And I threw a strike and got this kid, Lauren who was like this fast runner. He was their leadoff runner. I got him out at home plate. And then I went, I had to throw on my helmet because I was leading off that next, that

bottom of the inning. I got hit by the pitch. I wonder why. And then Matt, Matt Purper hit a two run walk off home run. And that was probably the singular, most like incredible moment to have in like young in my life it's even to this day all my high school or middle school friends you know i'll get an award or i'll get a big movie and they'll be like yeah but the throw it's all about that throw it was a pretty unique experience because we had like a very militant coach who didn't even let us celebrate after we

won our own little league championship but he jumped out of his skin his big glasses flew off and it was like a it was a big momentum swing for the team. And it just felt pretty cool to like invoke that reaction with like a crowd of people watching. Yeah. I love that. I love how much you remember it, the detail. So, so who introduces you to acting? How do you find out that this is something that is of interest to you? So I used to growing up in the tri-state area, I used to go to Broadway like once or twice a year. And I saw all the Phantoms and the Les Misses and the Cats and the Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. And then when I was like nine, I saw a play that is actually often mocked because it's a little campy, but I, especially at nine, thought it was incredible. It's called Jekyll and Hyde. And obviously everyone knows the story

of Jekyll and Hyde, Dr. Jekyll and Edward Hyde and this actor Robert Cuccioli I had really great seats because it was a Hanukkah gift and I just remember at the very end there's this confrontation where he's arguing with himself and he's really going through and I think that was my first kind of like thought of you know through watching movies and stuff of like oh there's someone there's a human being behind these characters pulling these strings and I'm not just watching this like glossed over magical story where I get to just kind of see these people as the characters. I'm like watching this man, Robert, you know, do this incredible stuff with no special effects, maybe a couple of light cues, but just through posture performance and changing his voice. And that kind of blew me away. So that was like my first, and I've,

I've actually gotten the chance later in life to tell him that he was like a huge inspiration to me as a kid and so I always like liked it and I think my mom who you know like could recognize that and I played piano since I was five and I would do like piano recitals and then later I'd kind of start singing with them like doing a little Billy Joel you know doing the friends theme and I would always do like funny things to the recitals. But then when I was like 13, I was coming from basketball practice and I was around, I know these details are really weird how I know like the timestamp about 545. And my mom had been telling me for weeks about the local play Godspell in two towns over that I should audition for. I was like, mom, I don't know. It's kind of lame, scary. I don't know if I want to do that. It ended at six, the audition. So she's like, look, we go there and, uh, you know, I'll take you to Toriello's, which was this really great Italian restaurant.

And, um, if you sing, you know, I'll take you to this restaurant. So I'm like, oh, this is gonna be great because the thing's going to be over at six. I'm not even going to make the audition. I'm just going to get this awesome Italian meal. So I go to this audition in literally a basketball uniform and dry sweat. And when they were running late, thankfully for them and me, because it did change my life. I sang happy birthday. I did the monologue. And since there was a lack of guys and I had a good singing voice, I got the lead role of Jesus. Wow. Of Jesus. Of Jesus Christ. A fellow Jew.

That's right. One of our best. And so I, I like, I, I was able to, uh, kind of do a 180 that year because at first it was a little strange and weird and the people were very different, but, um, I totally got bitten by the bug in, in, in performing that show and went from going to a very big sports camp, all boys, to the next year going to theater camp, which was still, I know people that it's like a very prominent theater camp called Stage Door Manor. And that's kind of when my life just turned around. And I continued to play baseball through high school, but slowly started to phase sports out and theater and acting really became the center of my life. So what is it like? Cause I grew up, you know, similar kind of surroundings and sports was 24 seven on my mind,

right? If we weren't playing basketball, we were playing football, we're playing hockey, we're playing baseball. That's all we're talking about. I'm collecting, you know, like it's 24 seven, right? You start to go in a different direction. Are you shunned by your friends? Are you feeling a little awkward? You the you know one of few guys a part of the like how do you have the confidence to say you know what i'm gonna leave this stuff behind and i'm gonna go here which you know isn't the common route for a teenage kid growing up in that area totally and i don't need to tout myself as a hero but yeah as like a guy in a new york public school it was weird to do the music the school musical and and i don't know where the confidence came from honestly because maybe I don't even know if I would do it the same now

or maybe I would actually knowing what I know but I think I just believed in like my ability and I was excited to invite people from the baseball team and my high school friends to the musical and they went begrudgingly and said the things that you'd imagine them saying and of course towards like at the end when they would see me, they'd be like, dude, that part when you kiss that girl, you guys like really kissing? You know what I mean? And then it became almost like the cool thing to do to see the musical. And now there's like a plaque of me outside of my high school in Guys and Dolls. And yeah, I was comfortable.

I try to lead like this generally. Like I've always had different groups of friends. I like to bring them together. And I think it's like I try to, if I'm comfortable with it, everyone else will kind of get out of their comfort zone. And like, I mean, I've had like Sage Northcutt at my house with like Beyonce's dancers, and they're like teaching him how to dance. And like, I love that kind of stuff, like bringing people who are different kinds of have different abilities and talents and interests and bringing them together, especially through music. Sage, what a weird name drop that was.

Weird name drop, right? I know his wife, Amanda Layton, and I are on the Trolls series on Netflix and Hulu. We've done over 200 episodes. So I've known her since way before they were even together. And I remember when she's like, I'm dating this guy, he's an MMA fighter. And he's like really nice. I'm like, and this is after he was already like your,

he'd been on your show a million times. I know some Sage Northcutt is. And they're like a perfect match. So yeah, that's why Sage was there. Wow. By the way, when you were in high school, I mean, like, you know, you're a kid, you're growing up, uh, is it beneficial to be, you know, if you're, you know, trying to go for the, the, the girls, the dating scene, is it beneficial to be on the football team or

is it more beneficial to be on, you know, on stage? Like, did this work out for you or did it work against you? It works well for me there is a very very healthy ratio of i mean women to men and let alone straight men straight boys whatever you want to put right right especially at that theater camp i mean it was uh yeah no i was i i always like had like a girlfriend okay but definitely a very pretty one and, and yeah. And options. So slim pickings for them, for you, you had, you know, the pick of the litter. Yeah. Yeah. There's like four of us. Wow. And I could sing and, you know, I could do, I could do enough.

Now, what did you like better singing or acting? Two different things, right? Not all actors can sing. Not all singers can act. You could do both. Which should you prefer? At first, it was all about the singing. I didn't really even know too much about the acting. In fact, my second play I ever did, my director was like, Skyler, you realize you're playing a god in this play. So don't you think you'd walk a little differently? And then I kind of fell in love with the physical score of acting and changing the way you breathe, the way you say words. And now I think of them very symbiotically, especially when you're doing musical theater, of course.

But I've also been fortunate enough to do enough work in TV and film that have musical elements. So I like that I get to scratch that itch. But even moving forward, I love acting just as much. I can't pick one. And now that I have an outlet and I'm writing music, I'll always kind of have that. And I can kind of save myself for musical projects that really interest me. So at what point does this become like a thing where you're like, oh, I'm enjoying this. This is fun. This is a passion.

I really like it to you start thinking like, wow, I can actually do this as my job my living will be like how do you make that switch when does that happen so when i was 14 years old i had this agent who signed me out of this um wow 14 yeah it happened really fast like from 13 to 14 i went from from like truly like doing like sport soccer basketball baseball to just doing like all these plays like three at once one time i was in literally like honk pajama game and flame is all at once going from rehearsal to rehearsal just loving it and then um yeah when i was 14 she would send me like i was still going to public school but once every like six months she would send me an audition for something that they were seeing younger people

for. And this one in particular was my first ever professional staged reading for a show called the me nobody knows. And I was playing a little I had to age myself up to play like 1617. Whereas a lot of people were aging themselves down from like 2423. And was, I was a part of this play. And I remember even the audition, I was seeing this guy who I just seen on Broadway in rent playing Mark, like with my mom for like a gift for like a birthday gift. And here I am like auditioning against him, or at least he's going out for another role. And it was at that moment where I like realized that like, Oh my God, I'm kind of a part of this in a way, or at least I'm a contender here. And then when I was able to book the job, I really felt like I was a part of the community. I was the only person in that cast, even though it was like a week-long workshop of

a show that didn't even end up really going to Broadway, but still just to be in the room and to be with these people who had had successes and were going to leave rehearsal to go to their Broadway theater to do their show, I really felt like I was finally slowly becoming a part of the community. And from there, I was like, oh, my gosh, I could do this. And that kind of kept me going until I finally got my first Broadway show. Which one was that? That was Spring Awakening was my first like big original Broadway show. I had done Les Mis when I was like 16 and this like special performance which is a broadway

credit with a kind of an asterisk on it but my true like i've done like hundreds and hundreds of performances was with it from its workshop through off broadway through the transfer through the tonys and the grammys for spring awakening you obviously are talented enough to like you could have been a super young actor like a child child act, like a five, six year old, you have the talent. It didn't work out that way. Is that a blessing for you? Like you've obviously heard of the stories of the kids who grow up. It doesn't work out. There's very few that it actually works out for them. Are you happy that you got into this? I don't want to say late because you were in your early teens, but that you weren't one of those kids that started when you were five, six, so that you would have the longevity that you're having now.

I'm very grateful for how it all played out. I think I had a healthy childhood. I'd like that I learned like played sport. And it's not like I'm glad I was a jock and then turned into a theater guy. I'm actually glad that I learned what it was like to be a part of a team. And like had my dad coaching or assistant coaching or whatever, my little league and my basketball team, because he really instilled like work ethic and being a part of a team. And that really translates well to being part of an ensemble when you actually start to do theater. And I think that like theater, people have the best work ethic of any actors. Because once you make that transition into TV and film,

there's kind of a built in hierarchy and you can get away with acting, you know, not the most gracious. And I don't think that that'll take you very far. So I'm really grateful for not only like being brought up through sports, but just have being brought up by parents who weren't like stage parents who weren't just trying to like get me, you know, to tell me at a young age, like, you gotta meet this person and you gotta be famed and you gotta do this. I think I would have approached things a little differently. And I think that's something that I've been told. And I do believe is that like, I was brought up in a way that makes me really gracious and humble. And I haven't really changed. That's what a lot of people say in childhood. Yeah. So I think a lot of people

would say, oh, your first break from the outside looking pitch perfect. But I don't know if you would agree with that, right? Like, what's your first break in this business? That's the break. Yes. And it's funny because we've had that cast was like loaded with talent. I mean, people have gone on to have insane careers. Jonathan Groff, Lea Michele, who did Glee. It's like people would think, oh, Glee, right? That's like your thing. And we both would say, no way, Spring Awakening. I mean, we just celebrated our 15-year anniversary. There's going to be a HBO documentary that is done as a kind of retrospective where they were filming our reunion concert. But also, it's going to really look back at what it was and really let people

know because this was before the age of Twitter and Instagram and, you know, it couldn't be what Hamilton is. It wasn't what Hamilton is, but it was a huge Broadway generational hit and it was cool and it was rock and roll and it was kind of like rent, but a little different and really dark, but also like the people that loved it, it really meant a lot to them. And the people that were performing it, we were always told by older Broadway actors and people in the business, like you won't truly understand what this is until later in life.

And I feel like we're all truly, especially at that mile marker of that 15 year anniversary, we're starting to understand its impact and really be grateful. So yeah, I like very proudly talked about that time of my life and how formative it was and how it really prepared me for everything else and other successes. Think about this situation. So imagine being the Beatles of 49th Street, but then once you get to 50,

if you get on the subway and nobody knows who you are, there's this anonymity with being a Broadway star, especially at that age, without having any like TV and film credits where um it really puts things into perspective because people are pulling at my shirt and trying to get my autograph and they just saw me do this thing it was like a very um very like angsty sexual even show so it had it had a rabidness to the fan base um like we had some incidents, you know? Wow.

Well, like stalkers and stuff? Stalkers and people constantly, yeah. A lot of stuff. I mean, people in the audience, you know, masturbating in our balcony once. What? I've had room keys thrown at me. Yeah.

Damn. It was intense. And I'm like 17. That is wild. And are you ever like so uh you say like sexual and all this stuff your parents are probably there for some of the shows right is that awkward for you i mean again we've prepared them for doing other things later in life when i'm on girls and doing a sex scene or you know i, I, I, my grandparents, you know, who were alive at the time saw me do a circle jerk on Broadway and I literally had to lead it. Yeah. It was a crazy scene.

That doesn't freak you out or mess with your mind? In theory, like I guess before and after, but while I'm doing it, I'm not, I don't know. There's like a power in theater. There's something really special about it. Like, um, and I hate to like use this circle trick as an example but basically like in tv and film you you kind of hand over your performance to the editor and and and a director can cannot kind of manipulate a reaction that you have earlier in the scene and put it in in a later place but only in theater can like the curtain go up and every note you've been given every fear you have it's gone you have a job you can't stop so once you're on that speeding bullet train like like you kind of can't think. Although once you've done so many performances,

it does kind of become habitual and you can think about other stuff like your grocery list while you're doing stuff. But when you're front and center, you're doing the play. I was in a hotel room two weeks ago with my family. It was a Saturday morning. My kids are in the room with us. It's a small room. And you don't really scroll through TV these days. It's usually like you go straight to Netflix for something. You go to Disney Plus, whatever, especially with the kids. And we're scrolling through and they rarely do it. And we get to HBO and Pitch Perfect is on. And I'm like, guys, I know that guy. I text with him. He's a Knicks fan. He likes wrestling. I was trying to be super cool. It is such a good movie,

man. It really is such a good movie. My question to you about Pitch Perfect as we get into this part of your life is, do you enjoy talking about Pitch Perfect? Are you happy with the memories? I don't know. I'm not sure. I've never really talked to you about Pitch Perfect? Like, are you happy with the memories? Do you like, I don't know. I'm not sure. I, I, I've never really talked to you about Pitch Perfect all that much. Is this a positive thing for you? Because I would imagine there's part of you that probably is tired of talking about it, right? Not so much. I'm not going to bite the hand that gave me a lot. You know, I, I, I'm very grateful for it. I love it. It's the only thing is the only, not eye roll, but the only thing that would, would not be the most interesting topic is that it's like the obvious, right? Like I get excited. It's like a fighter being told like, dude, I used to watch you in

Strikeforce. So when someone comes up to me and they're like, I know Spring Awakening or I saw Hamlet too, the deep cuts is what like really excites me. If you say I'm a huge fan of Pitch Perfect, then can you do the line from it? Like that's what I would expect. And it still is very nice. I mean, I, I, I don't like people that, um, look down on their successes. It's like the cool thing to do, you know, oh, don't mention that movie. It's like that movie got me a lot of stuff and I fought hard for that movie. I mean, I can even tell you about that process. Tell us the story. How did it, how did it all come about?

So by the way, taking Woodstock, I liked a lot. I don't know if that's a deep cut or not, but taking Woodstock was solid. That is with Spring Awakening's Jonathan Groff, by the way, Taking Woodstock I liked a lot. I don't know if that's a deep cut or not. I appreciate that. But Taking Woodstock was solid. That is with Spring Awakening's Jonathan Groff, by the way. Oh, wow. So, yeah. Okay, so the pitch perfect story is I auditioned just like everyone in town for this cool musical acapella movie in front of the director, a camera, and the casting director. And I sang acapella, because that's what we were supposed to do.

I sang Lean on Me by Bill Withers. I did the scene with a reader, and then I left. And I think I got good feedback and was told I'm in the mix. And then months later, I don't hear anything, which happens all the time, which generally means not going further. And then through that process,

I was also up for this other movie that I had gone through several hoops for called 21 and Over. And that was written by the Hangover Writers. And Miles Teller and I ended up getting it. And we were co-stars. And it shot in Seattle. I'm realizing how much you're going to love this story in a second. So I ended up booking that really cool movie.

And it was such a big deal. I was the number one on the call sheet. I thought this is going to be my swingers. I thought I was never going to be able to go to a bar. People are going to be trying to buy me shots because it's like an epic party movie. Miles Teller is like phenomenal. Our chemistry was amazing. It was that like Wilson, Vince Vaughn vibe. And Milan, my brother, big shout out to the Milan Moment, the Milan Minute, the Milan Moment. I think both. Yeah, probably.

It probably extends past a minute. It becomes a moment. But Milan came to visit me because it was like my first set. We were shooting in Seattle and it was just a really fun shooting experience. And basically, I got a call from my agent saying, hey, so they are doing chemistry reads for that movie Pitch Perfect in L.A. They have a favorite and they have another guy that's reading opposite him. They said that if you want, you can throw your hat in the ring, but you'd have to fly yourself because, you know, they know you're not in town. They're going to do it on a Saturday anyway for Anna Kendrick's

schedule so if you want to go you can and I could have totally in that moment is an interesting lesson because like I could have totally the moment being like f them we're not f them but like I'm already in a star in a movie and like what's to say I'm the dark horse in this thing and and by the way like especially at that time, like buying a ticket for, for the tomorrow flight, like that's a $500 minimum flight. My brother just got here to visit me. We were planning our whole weekend. Cause I had it off. We're going to watch football with the whole cast. It was gonna be so fun. And Milan gave me this pep talk. Your younger brother, by the way, my younger brother, by the way, gave me a pep talk. And Jersey Shore was really popular at the time. And there was this episode where they were talking about getting a girl.

And they called it pulling the robbery, where you steal a girl or something like that. So of course, Milan putting into funny terms is like, bro, you got to go there. I'll be fine. I'll chill with Miles. I'll chill with Jonathan. You go there, you pull the robbery. And I just like on a whim bought the jet blue flight, went in there, led with an open heart, met Anna Kendrick, laid it on thick, asked her if it was okay, if I could like be physical and really lay it on. I kind of had nothing to lose and went in

there and I guess kind of stole the roll away. And because when I got back, literally walking off the plane back to Seattle after like a whirlwind weekend, they're like, you got it. And it starts. Here's the only problem. It starts in two weeks and you have another like three and a half on your on this movie. And they worked the schedule out. I missed two weeks of rehearsal, came in, plugged in, became a travel and the rest was

history. Wow. What a story, man. Because, yeah, I would imagine a lot of people would be like, screw you guys. You're telling me I got to do this. I got to do that. I got to buy my flight. Get out of here.

Also, I got to say, like, for that year when I had these two really great movies in the can, I wasn't sure about Pitch Perfect because I knew I loved it. But I thought it was an acquired taste and you know like there was a lot of things that led to that thing being lightning in a bottle a lot of the cast a lot of the improv a lot of these like really special moments that even come come across in the edit whereas like the 21 and over just on paper was always just such a clear-cut obvious movie for me and for a while I was like yeah I did this acapella movie and we'll see but this movie 21 and over man this is gonna be the deal until my agents saw both and they're like hey i think you got it wrong i think this one's gonna be a huge and the other one's great and the other one did fine but like that would have been a big bummer if i put all my money on that and then this other thing becomes

a franchise movie how much fun was it to actually film pitch because you're all around the same age right you're all probably you know you're all very talented i would imagine just like that scene um in the in the pool right where you're yeah like i could imagine that was just an amazing night just totally fun like your old days of being with your friends rehearsing and whatnot you think so the rehearsal was really fun the making of the game was really fun going to that pool during the day when it wasn't freezing cold and it wasn't a night shoot and and just being us and and before they cleaned out the pool there were needles in was really fun going to that pool during the day when it wasn't freezing cold and it wasn't a night shoot and and just being us and before they cleaned out the pool there were needles in there we're like what is this but it was kind of fun because the director jason moore was like explaining

kind of the rules of the riff off and like you need to stay active because you're trying to find a word within their song to jump in and that was really fun in like kind of the improv games. But yeah, once we actually started picking off the sequence and shooting it over the course of two nights, it was very technical. It was very fun. It was very cold. I remember actually, I did my side, little movie magic for you. I did my side of the riff off when I'm supposed to be like flirting with Anna Kendrick and singing to her and serenading and taking off my jacket. They weren't there. They had to go because the girls had a turnaround issue. So I actually had the luxury of performing that to not an empty void of what was once a group of girls, but actually Elizabeth Banks,

who was a lead producer and directed the second movie in street clothes and a big puffy jacket because she's freezing with headphones, just trying to do all the girls parts and it's probably led to me having such a like big smile on my face but you know sometimes there's there's a little bit of movie magic that goes into it so yeah the sequence was really fun but also a big one um and there was the second riff off the second movie um the green bay packers were in and because they were a huge fan of the first movie and they begged to be in the movie they came in rolling in on a bus you know drinking red bull super excited like we can't wait we got our thing i was like hey you guys are gonna have to pace yourself because this is gonna be a long two days literally by the end of the second night they're like i don't

how do you guys do this because they don't understand like it's not glamorous it's not what it looks like once it's all in the in the frame and cut together there's a lot of a lot of stuff that goes into it at what point you realize once the movie is out is it right away they're like holy crap we've stumbled upon something great this thing is going to make a ton of money way more than project like did you realize that right away or was it a bit of a slow build it was a slow build um because we actually did like one of those limited release and then a wide release and then the theatrical uh performance was was good definitely like did well but we really shot that movie not like a universal studios movie we shot it like a gold circle films movie which was was our sub studio. So it really felt like a an indie. It was like a maybe $12 million budget or something like that.

And especially the first one. And so we had the luxury of having Universal distribute it and market it, which was great. But so after our numbers did well, and the movie was successful, that was one of the last years 2012 2013 where uh blu-ray dvds were like a thing especially in stocking stuffers so that christmas break i mean we came out in october and this was the time where they were like two months later just releasing the dvd with special features and extended scenes and it was really that that really blew up the movie because people were watching it all with their families over christ. And I was actually on a vacation with my family. And I was I was getting like it was crazy. I was getting like, like thousands of followers a day. And I just could like feel something happening, which was really really interesting i'm so happy to be with like my family too because we were like enjoying it and and also distracting me from it but that's when i was like oh my gosh this movie's this movie's getting huge so it really really over time and

then it got onto hbo and then every father and and and mma fighter i remember when i went to uh the anaheim card i think it was was Rhonda's first, first fight in the UFC. I think it was one 57. And I was brought actually cage side because I was promoting 21 and over, which by the way, even though we filmed that first, it came out months after pitch perfect was out. And even after the DVD had come out and I'm having Anthony Pettis and all

these people come up to me like, bro, my wife dragged me to this begrudgingly. Meanwhile, now every time it's on HBO, and I've heard that story now a bunch of times of like, I watch it every time it's on and it brings me and my daughters together. They think I'm cool. So it was like, once I realized that it had the attention of like the families and the daughters and the wives and the husbands, I was like, oh, this is, this is going to be an iconic movie. And then the sequel talk started to happen. And forgive my ignorance, because I don't know this world, but when you go down the movie

route and you start on Broadway, are you shunned from that world? Is it a faux pas to choose one path as opposed to the other? How does that work? Or is it okay? Can you go back and forth? No, I mean, you could definitely go back and forth. Of course, I mean, there's the purists inside there that are like, oh, he's a big Hollywood guy. But I mean, you could definitely go back and forth. Of course. I mean, there's like the purists inside, you know, there that are like, oh, he, you know, a big Hollywood guy. But I mean, that's where I started. That's my bread and butter. And I know that community well. Also, theater, people like to sell tickets. So a lot of times they will, they will, they will put unqualified TV and film people into Broadway shows. And that really can expose people, but they're trying to sell tickets. And I won't name any names, but it happens. And so something that I come up against a lot, which actually really bothers me is people, when I'm back there, I'll go to an opening night or I'll do something. And they're like, would you ever come back? Do you think you'd ever, you ever want to come back? I'm like, what are you talking about? Like I, I, I'm actively pursuing

it. I would love to be in a Broadway show. Unfortunately, the, the ones that come across, you know, that I've been sent or offered or whatever, um, just haven't been the right one. Cause I really want to make sure that if I'm going to spend all that time, um, I want to commit to something that I really believe in, but absolutely that's, that's the dream. That's the goal. I mean, I think I'd probably rather win a Tony than an Oscar. Really? I think that's, I think if I had to pick one, why is that? Cause I feel like the Oscar is the more famous one now, or am I wrong? For sure. And it would probably make me millions and millions of dollars. The Tony awards, the dream. That's the boyhood dream. That's the Shawn Michaels on my knees in 1996.

Because that's what, that's what you started with that was that's what i was singing in the shower for interesting that is okay so now as far as as as pitch perfect is concerned i think part of its interesting legacy um and i hope you don't mind me bringing this up but your life is so public is the fact that you ended up marrying one of the stars of the show so i feel like like people love that type of stuff right however she wasn't your love interest on the film your love interest was anna kendrick was that awkward i always think about that was that strange that you're like starting with no only for it's so funny how like audiences think that that's the layman they just think it's like was that weird and their names are both anna you're like i think i didn't think of that part

but well it's like because like anna kendrick likes me, I'm sure as a scene partner and a love interest, but like, I know that there's no vibe there in real life. So I don't, why would she be, you know, and it happened after the movie was shot. So the only for like the second movie did, was it like, we were now a couple at that time and we were a group of friends. So it's just a good group of friends accepting people that are dating, you know. What is it like to have your personal life out? Like you're on people.com. They're writing about you when you're dating, when you're not.

Like this is a very private thing. And yet it's news. And I see the people who follow you. It's like a lot of, you know, people who are very into you, right? They don't just love your work. They love you. They want to know everything about you. What is that like? I'm grateful that people are into me. That means that they're loyal. You know, I try to take it with a grain of salt. I definitely never let it

go to my head. And in fact, I don't love the personal life stuff. And I fed into it. And it's not that I fed into it purposely. It's like, I treat my Instagram like you treat your Instagram, you put your wife and your kids on there. I mean, I celebrate my loved one's successes, whether it's my sister, my girlfriend, my, you know, you, a very good friends of mine. So I guess it comes with the territory. I do kind of hate when people are like, well, that's what you signed up for. It's not what I signed up for. I signed up to do the Jekyll and Hyde thing. Like that's what I really, and it took me to doing a movie that went to Sundance

and to doing TV pilots and then moving out here to LA. And I want to be known as an actor. And I guess that once you're known enough, you become a famous person slash celebrity. And then these are the things that people care about. What I really don't like is some of these gossip sites that are just blatantly telling lies. I mean, that's crazy. If you want to pick up something I put up on Instagram and I become, I guess you want to call it public with someone I'm dating, then so be it. You can pick that up and you can speculate and you could say, oh, I wonder how long they've been together. I mean, I've been linked to people that I'm like, I haven't even met that person.

Or like that person's a dear friend of mine and i like know they're uh like like a widower and i like knew their husband you know what i mean and like that's why we're close and it's disrespectful to like that family and that's when it kind of rubs me the wrong way is when people are just lazy and that's just like you with journalism i'm sure people are just like not even checking sources and just like telling crazy rumors that have no truth to it. So I guess I can't like harp on it too much. And I used to tell people like, God, I'm such a name dropper. I used to tell people like Chris Weidman and when he was, you know, in his prime, because he was like, how do you how do you block out all the all the bad stuff on Twitter? And I was like,

you can't relish in the good too much because then you'll really dwell on the bad. So I really never try to let it get to my head. I mean, it's hard with social media because there are serotonin boosts that naturally happen when you denounce something and everyone's excited. But yeah, you try to take everything with a grain of salt because the truth is they don't really know who you really are. And they're just speculating. So a few years ago

obviously you know you were married no longer married right and this is all public um and i hope you don't mind me asking about this is this okay sorry i just wanted to know how that was to deal with this in the pub guy if i deal with it you know i'm just a regular guy no one cares everyone cares about you everyone Everyone cares about her. And you have to deal with this publicly. How did that go down for you? How did you handle that? Well, the actual divorce part was really amicable because I think we both really came to the decision that like we really tried and it just wasn't like we really weren't weren't meant for each other. And even though there was like a lot of love and passion, that doesn't always go the

distance. So I think that like, we made we made the decision to kind of you kind of have to announce it as you file, because unfortunately, filing just put, I think like a two sentence thing out there. I think her publicist and it kind of comes out concurrently on people and concurrently on, you know, the public record. And the thing was that I really think was smart for us was we had kind of been done for, you know, a few months at least. I mean, we've been separated and we'd even gotten out of our marital home. So it didn't feel like it's ground zero now. And everyone's trying to come to our house and take pictures like no one knew who we were where we were and it actually it wasn't as scary as you'd think i've had a lot more i've had probably scarier things like celebrity famous kind of things but stalkers or people outside of house you know what

i mean like than that i've been robbed um so so that was that wasn't that bad i mean divorce is hard breakup's hard like love is tricky but you know i'm a human being and even though it felt like it was on a massive scale um thankfully we were both working they're both employed and could like really put our our our effort into that and uh you know walk away amicably robbed by a fan i don't think so i think it was robbed by someone who was pretty desperate to rob someone okay but yeah broken to my this house actually really damn and and and you've had stalkers come to your house dang scary with pants of mine with pants of yours how i don't know they were how'd they get a pant

uh pants that like i wore in movie i guess god like well i just wanted you to sign your pants and i'm like this is not how this is done oh my god wow yeah okay that was an old residence thankfully okay all right um so all right so now you're starting to grow the the film is a massive hit there's a second one in the one, correct me if I'm wrong, your role isn't as big as in the first one, right? That's right. Did that piss you off? Only because we did film a big segment of it

and it actually ended up on the cutting room floor. What? Why? Yeah. Well, Ariel, there was this really beautiful... I don't know. I actually do kind of know, but it's not juicy or sexy. The truth of the matter is that in developing a sequel for something that has become now a franchise, they really wanted to focus on the girls and them coming together. And it was less about the Bellas versus the Trebles.

It was just more about them kind of coming together. And I know that there was a lot of schools of thought that since Jesse and Becca get together at the end of the first one, that why would Becca confide in her group of girlfriends if her happiness, if her boyfriend was there? Which, by the way, I kind of disagree with. I think that's a little short-sighted but that that's neither here nor there um they needed to tell that you know that's one part of their movie so they wanted to be really clean about it so they wanted to send jesse away to uh film school to follow up on that storyline so i actually go to

usc and uh there's a really really sweet scene i've never seen it with me and anna kendrick where i'm saying goodbye. And we were shooting it in Baton Rouge in July, but we were pretending it was Christmas. So there's fake snow. I have actual back sweat in this huge parka because it's 110 degrees in Louisiana. But some great acting. Like I remember like I'm not just talking about it. Kendrick was so sweet in it.

And it was such a beautiful moment. There was a great callback to the first movie where she like sends me off with a copy of ET just showing that she like understands movies now. And then there were a couple like phone call scenes to tether together me being like, I don't think I could make the Copenhagen, you know, the big, big performance. And then in like, speaking of Chris Weidman, Chris Weidman fashion, I come with the American flag, and you don't know who it is. And then in like, speaking of Chris Weidman, Chris Weidman fashion, I come with the American flag and you don't know who it is. And then I'm there. And it's like, he came and it's like a big moment. But, and because of that, they had to kind of take me out of scenes that happened between that kind of chunk of the movie. So in scenes where I could

have totally been there with Adam Devine and Ben Platt and Rebel Wilson and Haley Steinfeld, it was like, oh, but Jesse's gone at this point. And we had to preserve that storyline. Whereas if they just made the executive decision, like this maybe isn't the best storyline, let's just keep them in the movie more. I would have been in it more. So right now there's kind of an unexplained reason why Jesse is like in the first act. I kind of set up the movie a little bit with like a song and have a nice scene with Haley and Ben. And then I'm just kind of gone. And then I'm just there at the end. So the movie is great. Obviously broke records. It's great. But the Jesse of it all, I don't think was, you know, I'm sure if they could maybe do it again, they would have maybe put me in, in, in different ways. I don't think I would have been the damn

lead of the movie, but I think I would have been in a bit more. And to be such a big part of the, the birth of this thing and now to see it kind of go on without you, what is that like? Do you mean with third movie? Third movie? Isn't there a series as well? Oh yeah. There is a series.

I, I guess, well, they have, it doesn't come out yet. I just saw Adam at the Superbowl and I was like, are you going to Berlin? Like,

and he's like, yeah, I'm going tomorrow tomorrow so he's there um it's their following bumper you know adam's hilarious like uh i get why they do that um i haven't been asked so i don't think i'm doing it i i don't know i mean they know where to find me it's like i'm grateful i'm not i'm not ungrateful for what i'm not a part of i'm grateful for what I was a part of. If I was a huge part of the first movie, which to me is like the iconic film that is the reason why there could be spinoffs and spinoffs. That's, that's what I signed up for. Everything else has been gravy. So the second movie was great, even though I wasn't in it quantity wise as much, I still got a song, you know, I still got moments. I still got to meet the Green Bay Packers.

And then, and then the third movie, none of the boys were in, that was just a real standalone. Like the girls are on a cruise ship and, you know, and they're fighting John Lithgow. And then this, this, this other spinoff for Peacock sounds great. I mean, my friend Renee is writing on it. And I actually know one of the characters from the franchise that's going to be in it, but a real side character, not like one of the main ones. I think it's going to be fun. I think, weirdly enough, I feel like if they called it something else, like pop star, like, you know, that story sounds interesting to me. But I think they were just using the IP of Pitch Perfect, because there's that great continuity there. And And there's Adam and there's Elizabeth Banks who's producing it. So I would have done the same thing. So now your career is in full swing and I'm assuming that there's opportunities coming left and right. When you look back a few years ago, when things really exploded for you,

was your head spinning at this time? I mean, you're still such a young guy. What is that like to all of a sudden be a part of one of the biggest movies? Everyone knows who you are. I see when they rolled out the red carpet for you. You're sitting in the front, as you said, for UFC events. Did you handle it all well in retrospect? Did you like who you were at the time? Do you wish you could have done things differently?

Honestly, humble brag, I think I nailed it. Because I truly don't think that I've ever seen it as like an overnight success. It takes 20 years to be an overnight success. I've already had successes that were like, not thankless, but people don't know, or like I've done my best pilots and they never got picked up. So like, it's kind of par for the course. And it, to me, it did the opposite. It didn't blow my head up. It almost made me be like, huh, this is what this is. Huh? And now I get to just kind of like ask Skylar Lipstein, reap the rewards of some of these things, meaning I get to take my dad courtside to the Knicks.

You know, I get to go cage side with Milan to the UFC. So those kinds of perks for me are exciting parts of the job. But no, I mean, I've seen a lot of people go from no one knows who they are to everyone knows who they are. And I've seen a lot of people go from from no one knows who they are to everyone knows who they are and i've seen a lot of people handle it different ways and i remember when we were doing the mtv movie awards like you know i'm not gonna wear some crazy stunt thing i'm not gonna like now be this crazy guy who's trying to have like a a red carpet moment or anything like that i i i just wanted to be classy be an actor and like continue to work because i think that like so the thing that i was saying to chris weidman is like you

can't relish in the good too much because then you'll dwell on the bad and maybe it's like the neurotic jew in me but i'm just like hey this could all go away tomorrow and um i don't definitely don't want to be that guy in 10 years they're like what happened to that guy he was in pitch perfect and then so to me i like still do not feel like i've landed i still don't want to be that guy in 10 years. They're like, what happened to that guy? He was in Pitch Perfect. And then, so to me, I like still do not feel like I've landed. I still don't feel like I've peaked. And I definitely don't feel like I'm like, you know, some like guy who gets to like sit back and be retrospective. I'm 34 and I want to have a long, long career.

You mentioned Chris a couple of times. Can I ask, and let me know if i should not be asking this wasn't there a chance or some thought of a potential can i ask about this or no sure i mean it's long i mean i this is a development of mine from 10 years ago but yeah didn't you want to do the chris weidman story and you star as chris weidman what happened i did um there's an agent that i don't think he works with anymore that signed him that signs a lot of people when they become big successes and not nothing against him. But he was trying to get Chris in like the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie to play Rocksteady. I remember I was helping Chris learn lines and how to perfect his tapes and you know i think that that chris was a new hot commodity

especially because he was the champ and and and then they wanted to get him in fast and the furious movie so i think this this this agent was like look what is this crap what is this thing this story of chris if anyone's playing chris in the movie it's chris and i'm like well that would really defeat purpose and it's not it's not at all about that. It was called grace of God. It chronicles the 2012 of Chris Weidman starting with the cold open would be him elbowing Mark Munoz in the face, like from a point of view, just seeing this Filipino wrecking machine and, and then fade to black after all the glory.

And then you just hear the tick of the lawnmower and he's just in long Island, cold open music starts to play hey chris how you doing and hey blue collar story of a guy that is just like a fighter but a family man and then goes through hurricane sandy so it has a little bit of a disaster element big faith element because chris is very religious and um just the story of how he had to live move back with his parents in their basement and then fight this uh this phenomenal flawless anderson silva figure this undefeated person and just the story of his shoulder injury through that just a great it's a modern day rocky it's the perseverance and it

ends of course with him kissing marie v in the center of the octagon you know as the champion and with his kids and everything it was a beautiful story i made it yeah i made a whole i got you know uh you know alec baldwin was getting it for ray longo and you know chick chickless for matt sarah i mean i had the whole thing in my head when i develop something i really go in and i don't just like say oh i want to make a movie about you like i wanted to get his life rights and i wanted to like option it and i want i had a whole deck and a whole thing but you know that happens you got to win like nine lotteries in order to get a development actually to get made and a lot of roadblocks and one of my first roadblocks was a guy that rhymes with

fat fader that sounds incredible the other one that I wanted to always ask you about was when you told me you were doing the NBA show for ABC, I was so pumped about that. What happened with that one? That's another one. I mean, like, again, like I. How do you deal with this heartbreak? It's ups and downs in this industry, Ariel. That's why when you get a big one like Pitch Perfect, it all levels out.

Like, because after that, I still have to put myself on tape for some pilot that might not get picked up like this thing this thing was like and i was hot off a show and i actually got offered a couple really great opportunities that year and i picked this nba project which was a dead lock for getting picked up dan fogelman producing it who did this is us mike tolan who's like a huge sports guy peter gruber was producing it who's the owner of the warriors the nba was producing this pilot it was a seven years in the making for abc pilot um it was a buddy comedy about me playing a translator who knew nothing about basketball and this guy from the congo who knew nothing about america and it was just tailor-made, great cast. Ving Rhames was playing like the GM of the Warriors. And the best part about it was for a half-hour comedy on ABC,

we had the keys to the kingdom at Oracle Arena. Peter Gruber and the Warriors were like, anytime you come to use our practice facility. So everything just looked so legitimate. A lot of times sports shows, you have logos that it kind of looks like the Warriors, but it's not. This was just the Warriors. And it was a fictional warriors team but they were struggling and and and um it was just it just was it just was perfect it should still be on the air i mean

weird because it was their cinderella season and they ended up obviously winning their first championship that year and uh we were we were tentatively going to be scheduled for the rematch between i think the cavaliers and the warriors on christmas day and we were going to probably get a lead-in of 20 million viewers for our pilot um and dan likes to tell the story that the head of the network at the time one notes call the only time where he was like i wonder what that meant he's like so this british guy talking to all the producers being like so when they finally get to the match um and he caught and that was like a bit of a flag yeah dan's like oh i don't know if this guy fully this guy gets

basketball or understands like the cultural relevance of the nba in america and then in typical head of the network fashion uh the night before they announced their lineup he went into a room locked himself in notably their abc studio executives like crying banging down the door what are you doing comes out announces the lineup we're not there uh and you and then you know i was dan fogelman called me he's like you're not going to believe this i know you're going to think i'm pranking you but don't worry but we're going to try to sell it somewhere else but you know it's really hard with all the licensing and abc just kind of had it and then um uh dan left uh abc studios and did a deal with 20th century fox and that's what and this is us should have been on abc wow a little inside baseball for you wow yeah well because it just made no sense i mean

it really i mean i've been a part of a lot of pilots i could go either way it's all very subjective doesn't test well this demographic doesn't like it this was like this was it man i mean in every way and it was the one that got away for him this guy has had so many successes still text me like ah kills me and i'm like i know and then we've tried to get it done um like later years when there was new heads of the network but uh one year i was actually on a tv show and then another year uh something else worked just didn't work out yeah so it's these things happen all the time but that was that was a big one that was definitely like the one that got is that the biggest disappointment of your of your young career like the one that you think about the most? No. What is?

I don't know. But that one was probably not it. I mean, I didn't book the social network, but that's- You tried out for it? I got far for it. Wow. For which role? Mark.

No way. I was younger. Damn. Jesse and I used to go out for a lot of things. I mean, I've been promised. I mean, I don't want this to become an actor laments, but there are many roles, who was the head of the network at the time. And I was with Jimmy Kimmel and I produced this, or were developing this musical show about a former pop star who was like the second to the left in a boy band. So it's like not Timberlake, but like

J.C. Chazet, the one who at the time, you're like, that guy might be someone. But in my story, that guy was going to be played by me his name is johnny bosco he actually wrote all the songs too so that's so he was super talented and then he went from boy band to a really terrible lame singles career to hosting a vh1 show to bad theater tours to living with his mom in new jersey it was just like a real fun story that i wrote with jimmy wrote all the music for, sold it in the room. After three months of negotiations and finally outlining and writing the script and turning it in, everyone, Channing, head of comedy, head of development, all the other people that I had sold this to and had been working with over these months were all

replaced by brand new people. And at the final goal line we were just they were just didn't have any context they didn't know what the songs were they weren't at that pitch from singing in the room and making it and really bringing people into the environment and that happens a lot i mean when there's a new regime um i'll also say a big disappointment was having zoe's canceled that was a big disappointment because that just made no sense either. I mean, it's expensive. I get it. But we were a growing show

with a growing fan base. And not only that, I mean, you shot a lot of it in the pandemic, right? You're in Canada. Like you put a lot of time. How hard was that to do that? It's so hard

because you always have to be like, what a devastating year. So many people suffered so many different losses. So many people suffered so many different losses. So many people suffered so many different, um, sacrifices, you know, here am I being like, I had to go to Canada and film a show, but it was, it was, it played a, it was the most privileged, you know, cell I could ever be in, in that, in that situation. Like, I mean, that's just the quarantine aspect but being there for seven months landlocked and not being able to see family members not being able to actually really do

anything personally like i was i went to work and then i went home right and like that's it and like maybe i could maybe i can get away with seeing a cast member at my apartment because we're like well we're in the same zone in the same testing group. So we can maybe watch this, you know, world series together, whatever it was. So it was pretty isolating. And I think that we were like really doing it. Obviously, it's a high paying, awesome job. But it was also we were really doing it for the betterment of the show and really taking big swings.

I mean, we did a marathon scene in a pandemic. Like we were with no, with no vaccines. Like we were doing this with just testing and honor code. And, and like, we, we, you watch season one and two, it doesn't look like now we're all in like a teeny room and there's no extras. Like we, we, we did our show. So I thought that like, we, at the very least, we're gonna get a third season based on that. And then not only that, it was still, you know, Jane got nominated for a golden globe and we're getting, not only that it was still you know jane got nominated for a golden globe and we're getting we're getting awards that you know that network doesn't really get but anyway i digress i'm not this is not a time to be bitter but that was definitely a surprise and and definitely disappointment in good news though and i apologize for matcha there's probably

someone at the door right now so i apologize for the dog barking but uh in good news gray's anatomy this is very exciting legendary show 18 seasons yeah so check this out i don't know i mean i know a lot of people listen to this i don't know how many no no this is what is this what is wow swag dude and check this how did that come about congratulations wow one of the wardrobe ladies was like she does it and she gives a lot of it to charity it's kind of her her little side project i'm seeing a lot of the wardrobe ladies was like, she does it. And she gives a lot of it to charity. It's kind of her, her little side project. And I'm seeing a lot of the people where I'm like, how do I get one of those sweet hoodies? And she's like, what color you want? We got a hundred green. We got gray. We got red. And I was like, Oh,

I'll take one. And I've been, I've been wearing it around town yet because it was a bit of a secret for a while, but now that the cat's out of the bag, I'm going to be rocking that, rocking that hoodie. I gotta say like, it it's it's a show that um i watched actually uh when i was doing spring awakening it was uh so that's 15 years ago uh with my girlfriend at the time and i i watched the early seasons and i i fell off there's a lot there's a lot you know i haven't seen but um it's an institution and it's a really great working environment i love the people i'm working with can't even fully give away these specific

actors i'm working with because that's a bit of a spoiler in and of itself but um but the fan base is just like i mean they were telling me they're like you're gonna see they're gonna love your character but you're gonna see they are dedicated and even just in the announcement people are all who is he is he the new doctor is he the new love interest for this one and i don't know it's very but you're going to see they are dedicated. And even just in the announcement, people are all, who is he? Is he the new doctor? Is he the new love interest for this one? And I don't know, it's very exciting. Also, it shoots in town, which is just from a gig perspective, really nice that I get to sleep in my own bed. But also the people there are so lovely and welcoming from day one, I felt like I was a part of it. And, and, and also, it was nice. It was nice doing doing enough in your career. Sometimes maybe I sell myself short and don't think like anyone

knows who the hell I am. So the fact that people were like excited that I was there felt kind of felt cool, because I think that show is a star in itself. But to be on there and be appreciated and be welcomed, not just because of who I was as a person, but also what I had done in my career was really cool. When does that start? When does that premiere, like your role? I think March 24th is my first episode. So it's pretty soon. Wow.

And is it like, is it a limited run or is it just open ended now? How does that work? It's an arc. It's an arc for sure. But I don't know when it ends, actually. I truly don't because i was supposed to only go on for three episodes but i'm right now filming my third uh tomorrow you know i start the next episode and i read the script and it certainly doesn't have an expiration date in my storyline

so i was like i know and i i've heard that they were considering maybe having me on for longer but i can't say how much longer they were saying. Cause I, a, who knows if it'll happen and B that might even give it away. So. Right. Okay. You said March 24th, right?

March 24th. March 24th. I will watch my first episode of Grey's Anatomy. Oh, hell yeah. I've never watched Grey's Anatomy. Not big of a, you know,

the doctor stuff. It makes me a little squeamish. You know, I get a little, the blood, everything, but I will watch it for you. I want to ask you two last things and i'll let you go thank you so much for this this was great um could you paint the perfect picture for me sorry for the uh sort of

you know play on words but i didn't do that on purpose like dream scenario director role cast members love interest like the dream scenario but before it's all said and done i mean director probably an easy one i feel like everyone has that dream director that they want to work with well no i'm like already like fincher scorsese david lynch like all these people there's a lot i mean and then are we also talking theater because then it's like alex timbers um it's really hard to narrow it down movies got it okay um spielberg like spielberg yeah what kind of movie action comedy drama a little bit of all actually i think i want something that feels big and um just just to swing big i mean like like like, for instance, like a biopic.

And I've said this on other interviews, so I don't want to just be like the guy that's like, I want to play Billy Joel in a biopic. But like something like that. You see Taron Egerton and I see Rocketman and I go, that guy's insane. He's so talented. What an amazing actor. What an amazing job he did. But I actually see that and I was like, wow, that's a skill set I have. I can do the emotion.

I could do the comedy. I could do the comedy. I could do the charisma and I could do the singing, my own singing. So I feel like something like a Bohemian Rhapsody, like some stuff that you like, you know, I could do. But then I just really do it in a real mature way. I think it'd be really fun. And I think that that's like well within my grasp. But if I'm aiming large like yeah a huge big franchise marvel you kidding i want to work with the russo brothers um i i think they're amazing and not just because

they did end game but i actually really love their movie cherry with tom holland like they they they know how to direct did their cinephiles and i love people that love to make um movies um you know tarantino like these these kinds of people who just like love it um so i would love to do something dirty something gritty i would love to do something epic this is a this is too big of a well ariel i have way too many wants and desires love interest that feels self-sufficient why because it's like who's hot i mean honestly like no it's something you you want to vibe with you want to work with. Let's just go with Meryl.

Oh, yeah. Why can't I just be her young thing? Like, that's what I mean. Because, of course, I could say, what, the most beautiful, talented actresses out there, like Margot Robbie and people like that. Sure, who wouldn't? And not just because they're beautiful. And you meant Meryl Streep, right? Of course.

Who else? My mom? I don't know. and not just because they're beautiful and you met Meryl Streep, right? Of course. Who else? My mom. Um, but I, I also, yeah, I think it'd be really interesting to play opposite an older actress that just like, I could just learn so much from and,

and excite them and bring like a youth. Oh, that's tremendous. What an answer. I love that. And by the way, I was privy to something recently. I'm not sure.

Is this, is this also Marianne Cotillard? Sorry, Marianne Cotillard. So anyway, keep going. I don't know. Is this public? Is this not public? You sent me something. Is it public? Is it not public? When I send you. You sent me something to consume. I probably should have asked you this before we. Yeah, no, it's fine. You don't. This is the pre-interview, which we didn't. This is the pre-interview.

But it's okay. You already asked me about my divorce and like my biggest failure so wait what is the question this is what i you asked me something to listen to oh my music yes i didn't know if that was out there yet it's not out there the music isn't out there but the fact that i will be releasing it will be this is incredible stuff i played it for my wife your voice is unbelievable is it is it possible that you're a better singer than you are actor? Is that, is that possible? Cause you are an unbelievable singer. And I feel like you don't get enough credit for that, to be honest. I appreciate that. I think that's a fair thing to say. I try to like match them, but I think it's a thing that I feel like Jane Levy

put it best. She's like, Scott, you're like a superpower. So stop, stop like denying it. You know what I mean? Like, this is something that you can do and you can act which is yeah you know when's that coming out um i i need a bit of a release strategy but probably as soon as like april may oh wow and it'll be an album i think it'll eventually be an album but in today's day and age um when you're not with a label which i won't be signing with because i just think that that's a whole other, then it will really be backlogged. And who knows if they'd even like any of these songs and want me to start over, but I'm itching to get it out there.

So I'm going to release it by myself. But the thing is, what you have to do is kind of release it as a waterfall. So I have what you've seen, like six to eight songs I probably sent you. And they're all kind of ready. So I would probably release them single by single every like four to six weeks or something. Get in the algorithm. It's all about like Spotify algorithm, TikTok algorithm. It's kind of annoying, but it is a necessary situation because it really does. But something that I will be also doing is signing with a sync company to

get my songs in like TV shows and commercials and stuff. Cause not only is that a good revenue stream, but it actually does if it's big enough translate to, to streams. And I know the Grey's Anatomy editor has one of my songs. It's a very Grey's Anatomy song, by the way, it's like a big heartfelt ballad that would be perfect for their montage

stuff. So things are in motion. I have a songwriting session tomorrow with a really great songwriter. So I'm very much involved in that. And what I love so much about that is even what's different from my other developments, like selling a show or writing a movie, like the grace of God is that I get to just release it. If I really wanted to press upload, I could just do that tomorrow. And if I get five streams, I don't really care. So the fact that I know it will be,

it will be consumed and it will like brighten someone's day actually really excites me. Well, I can't wait for it to come out. Cause it's really, I mean, it is really good. It's, it's, I'm blown away by your talent and how multi-talented you are from the singing, the acting, not everyone could do that. Lastly most importantly dare i say right now true or false we're feeling aew more than wwe is that true or false true yeah that pay-per-view was why um because it harkens back to the time not just the attitude era um but it's it there are different brands like um wwe is the land of superstars and aw is the land of pro wrestlers and i think vince vince mcmahon would even say that um and and pro wrestling the way that they're telling stories

over there the way that they can kind of afford to tell stories over there it's kind of chef's kiss i'm such a fan um it's not as um it's not as family friendly i i'm sure if and when i have a kid like and i i will introduce them to wwe and show them the face paint and the ultimate warriors and that kind of stuff and the action more action figure style um and by the way the pageantry and i'll be at wrestlemania like i still love that and i i still watch but yeah aw is just a real pleasure. I love the talent over there. I love the guys over there. I'm friendly with Matt Jackson and

Adam Cole and some of the guys over there. They're really happy. They're happy doing what they do. I'm rooting for them. MJF. Tremendous. Supposed to have dinner with them tomorrow. What? What a name drop jeez i'm

sorry well it's just i just thought you're gonna say you're a fan i am a fan but i'm not but by the way through guess who dipperstein i mean that guy i've never met him i'm just a fan listening to the podcast but we have to we have to do a big shit off when we finally get together in new york the three of us it'll be a i mean me you peter and dipperstein that's a dinner you could do as a little seder at jace yeah absolutely it's a meet our meeting of the dons the donsteins well this has been tremendous um you are an unbelievable mensch i'll never forget the day before my career changed forever the day before i was banned from the UFC, you drove, I believe it was to the Forum in Inglewood and drove me to Dodger Stadium.

I was meeting someone there just to hang out. You didn't go to the game. You didn't go to the Forum. You just drove. And it was like a Friday afternoon traffic. That's the kind of mensch that you are. And I'll never forget that. It was like the last thing before everything changed the next night when I got banned and kicked out of the building.

And to your credit, you remain friends with me, even though you're a friend of the family as far as the UFC is concerned. So I appreciate that. Of course. I would do it again. I'd always give you a ride. I'm happy to do it. I appreciate that.

Congrats on all your success, on your unbelievable career. I'm so happy about this Grey's Anatomy thing. I can't wait to watch. I can't wait to tell my family that I know you. And I hope it goes on for many more seasons. And I can't wait for the music to come out. Well done on everything. And very soon, we'll be watching you at MSG sing the freaking national anthem before game one of the NBA finals. Hopefully, before we're not like 50 years old or something like that or something like that. Hopefully. Exactly. I'll bring my grandkids. I get nachas when I see you doing those things on the big stage for, for the teams that we love. So much respect. Thank you so much

for doing this, Skylar. I really appreciate it. Of course. All right. How great was that? Shout out to Skylar Astin. What a talent. Amazing singer, by the way. He might just be a better singer than he is actor. And that's saying a lot. Much respect. I have a tremendous amount of admiration, love, and respect for him, his family as well. I know his brothers, great guys. They are very talented in their own right. One, Milan, is a chef. The other, Jace, is a great designer. They are just an amazing family, great, warm, loving people. And I really appreciate his time and his candor and his friendship. Again, it's not all highs. There's some lows as well, but he continues to overcome all of them. And he's doing great, like I said, Grey's Anatomy and a ton of other stuff in the works as well.

So, if you haven't seen Pitch Perfect, I highly recommend it. If you're a parent, your kids will love it as well. You probably have, everyone's seen that movie. It's very fun. It's very catchy. It's very entertaining. And I just watched it a couple weeks ago, and it was just as good for the 50th time as it was the first time. Again, thank you so much to Skyler for his time. Go check out all his work. I'll be watching Grey's Anatomy next week. I hope you will as well. Thank you to the Lovely Feathers for their music. I love them very much.

Thanks to all of you for your support. If you want to go watch this interview or some of our other interviews, we've got a ton up now. We've got Daniel Ricciardo and Kelly Slater and Mario Lopez and Blake Snell and Charles Oakley and Biggie and Rene Paquette, so many others, and many more big ones to come. Go to youtube.com slash Ariel Hawane. That's where you can get the interviews in video form. Please subscribe there. Please subscribe here. Follow, rate, review, comment, all that stuff. It means a lot. I appreciate you all more than you know. Thanks to the production team. Thanks for the love. Thanks for your time. I hope you enjoyed this episode.

I hope you have a great weekend. And I will talk to you all next week. Take care. Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh,