The Viall Files - E1111 - Paul Walter Hauser – Balls Up!

Episode Date: April 17, 2026

Welcome back to The Viall Files! Today on this extra special bonus episode, we're thrilled to be joined by the legendary Paul Walter Hauser to get into his hilarious new comedy with Mark Wahlberg, Balls Up, on Amazon Prime! He also gets into his faith, relationship with his wife, fatherhood, and what makes an actor incredible. It's a great discussion you won't want to miss! "Don't make me air snatch you." Want ad free episodes and incredible bonus content?  Start your 7 Day Free Trial of Viall Files + here: https://viallfiles.supportingcast.fm/  HEY! YOU! DO YOU NEED DATING AND RELATIONSHIP ADVICE?  Email [e-mail] and be a part of future Ask Nick episodes! Subscribe to The ENVY Media Newsletter Today: https://www.viallfiles.com/newsletter  Listen to Humble Brag with Cynthia Bailey and Crystal Kung Minkoff now!  Listen on Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/humble-brag-with-crystal-and-cynthia/id1774298881  Listen on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4NWA8LBk15l2u5tNQqDcOO?si=3b868996930347e8  Watch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@humblebragpod Listen To Disrespectfully with Katie Maloney and Dayna Kathan now! Listen on Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/disrespectfully/id1516710301 Listen on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0J6DW1KeDX6SpoVEuQpl7z?si=c35995a56b8d4038 Watch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCh8MqSsiGkfJcWhkan0D0w To Order Nick's Book and/or learn more about the show, go to: https://viallfiles.com To advertise on this podcast please email: [e-mail] or go to: https://advertising.libsyn.com/theviallfiles   Episode Socials: @viallfiles @nickviall @nnataliejjoy @paulwhausergram @the_mare_bare @justinkaphillips @leahgsilberstein

Paul, welcome the show, man. It's good to be here. Am I pronouncing this right? Vile files? Vile files, that's it. Most people get it wrong. I get it wrong. If it were Veal files,

it doesn't have the same ring. Yeah, it doesn't roll off the time. You need something that rhymes the veal. The real veal. The real veils. Oh, we're very excited to have you, Paul. I'm a huge fan of yours. So I hope that's okay to say.

Sometimes it feels weird when you kind of out yourself. Kind of indifferent. It's just, it's nice to hear that from people, but I also try not to place my value on that. That's tricky in this industry. It is, yeah. Am I popular? Am I doing well?

Do you know me? What's my tomato meter? I mean, yeah, I mean, in this industry, it's really tough to. Going deep, going deep right out the gate. No, it's tricky. It's tricky. And in any facet of occupation, that that can be a temptation, but it certainly doesn't wield very good results, probably. Have you always been kind of cognizant of that, or did you have to learn

about that self-awareness at some point in your career. I think I was aware of it, but I think you become better at it the older yet, the more you mature you don't flip out over the things you used to be so kind of hyper-focused on. I feel like, did it change more for you once you had kids and you were like, oh, no, that too, right? Definitely kids help. And I think the other thing is like you just, I've been very lucky to it. it's easier to let go of that stuff after you've had some success than if you've never had some. But as you learn in our industry, it's really weird where so many things are out of your control.

Maybe the company that funded your movie went bankrupt. Maybe it got acquired in some merger acquisition thing. Maybe they switched editors midway through. You can only control it. You can control, which is your performance and how you treat people on the day when you make it. I mean, again, I mean, I've been such a. big fan of years for a long time like Richard Jewell Blackbird I I Tanya once again like you don't you don't have those auspices unless you're handed those scripts like it a lot of it people think

I'm being faux humble when I say like oh it's God's grace or it's happenstance but I mean that that that is what that is you either get those emails and phone calls and divine appointments at a random party or outing or you don't yeah have you and when because you started in comedy right yeah yeah Yeah, I did stand up for off and on for like 12 years. And then I did improv at UCB in LA. I did one level of the four. And I did two levels at the I.O. Theater in Chicago. That's where Tina Faye and Chris Farley and all these people came out of.

And do you remember, like, as I know, like Richard Drewall, I think a lot of people think that's like was your big breakout role where it felt like things really changed for you? But like from your perspective in your career, was that like the moment where you kind of had like a, a pinch me moment where you thought like I have like a future in this business or was there another role that you had that made you that gave you that feeling I mean you always are somewhat correct slash delusional in thinking you have a place in this business or that it can happen you have to be to move to LA and do all the things but I think the first thing that made me think oh I this is becoming real was I did a show called kingdom with Frank Grillo and Nick Jonas back in the day okay yeah yeah and I did like 24 out of 40 episodes and that was like

Oh, I got to quit my waitering job. Like I quit my day job in 2015 for that. And that was like a big like, oh, this is like real. And then I Tanya was the first time I was a part of something that was more in the public consciousness and kind of on a microscope level where people went, oh, we're actually, everyone's going to see this movie, you know. Itanya got me in the door for Hollywood. I think Richard Jule is where they shut the door and locked it and said you can stay.

and then Blackbird was like, hey, we have this whole other part of the house. Do you want to come to that? And it was like, that's fun. You know, you hope to get to take the tour along your career. Like at what point, because I'm sure, I mean, you get like, you know, every actor, you get you smaller roles and you get bigger roles.

Like, I saw an interview with you, and you were just kind of talking about, maybe it was the YouTube video you did with your wife, which was, like, really touching. Oh, yeah, or we talked about our marriage. It's like a video ministry thing called I Am Second. Yeah. It's on YouTube.

Yeah, but you were just kind of talking about how you just kind of how you saw yourself, you know, versus like how you got into acting and, you know, compared to like your other siblings and kind of being the funny guy. At what point did you kind of see yourself as like, I could be like a leading person in a movie or I could be like the main, you know, the key person because at first, you know, you're kind of doing like these character actor at work and you're kind of dominating the scenes that you're in to be like, you know, doing a movie with Mark Wahlberg and being like the two main characters, like in Balls Up.

Yeah. Yeah. no, it's interesting. I remember growing up, like, certain movies I watched, certain people stuck with me, even though they weren't, like, the lead role. And one of those people I would go on to work with briefly, I didn't have any scenes of there,

but I vividly remember Alice and Janney had one scene in Miracle on 34th Street, the film from, like, 94 with Mara Wilson, a little girl from Matilda. She's now a human woman at the time, a little girl. I remember her in that, and I remember her playing The Principal in 10 Things I hate about you with Julius styles and Heath Ledger.

And I just remember thinking like, that woman, every time I see her, whether it's those or drop-dead gorgeous, like American Beauty, she's always so good every time I see her. So that was my benchmark of that they probably won't let me star in movies, but like, I'm going to be the best person if I have five minutes. Yeah. And Paul Giamati and my best friend's wedding has a scene with Julie Roberts in the hallway. They share a cigarette and like it left an imprint on me yet. 13 years older, whatever, when I saw that movie, I thought, that's the key.

The key is to be really freaking good. And then maybe they throw you a lead role eventually. But either way, like, I'm going to try to be that good all the time. And then Richard Jewell and Blackbird and Luckyest Man in America and stuff like this balls up came my way where I was like, oh, man, awesome. Like, it happened, it happened period. Now it's happening more than once. And selfishly, selfishly, you. It's fun to be the lead, and I would like to keep doing that.

But, you know, you've got to provide for your family and you're lucky to be in the business at all. So you take whatever good stuff comes your way, hopefully. You were talking in that video and you were talking about actors that you also, like, saw yourself in. I hope this is okay for me saying. But like to me, I feel like you're the Philip Seymour Hoffman of our time in a way. I hope that's not too heavy to say. But like the same way you described, every time I would see Philip in a movie. movie, like no matter what the role.

It was just like, villain's sense of a woman or... Just whatever it is. He would steal that scene and I've always really enjoyed your work and felt exactly that way about you. No cooler or higher praise than that. But yeah, I mean, I feel like a lot of actors say that, but how are you able to make that a real thing? Because I think every actor is like, hey, I want to steal a scene.

But like what... I don't think it's intentional. You just, you just, I think some people kind of have the sauce. There are eight, nine-year-olds who crack me up or they sing a song and you're like, wow, they have something. So it's a little bit of that. If it's innate or born into you and then you have to mature that and you have to come prepared, whether that's having your lines memorized or having ideas or being able to do something

on the fly. I remember on my first film, I was doing a driving sequence. It had me driving a real rickety kind of busted down vehicle. I forget the make and model, but there was something to where the car broke down. mid-scene and the director, Dustin Lance Black, who won the Oscar for writing milk and wrote this movie, the first one I was in, he didn't yell cut. So I just started improvising in character, like the car had really broken down. And after he yelled cut, he was like, dude, that's genius. And it was like, that gave me a sort of a tick and a motivation to like always be prepared,

be right, to improvise. And some of the actors I admire most, like the late Catherine O'Hara or Christopher Guest, they had that improv thing where they can be put in a Christopher guest movie and just go off. So I thought well, why not bring that to every genre you do and at least have it ready? So that's something I do that

might stand out. There are things in movies or trailers where I go, oh, they kept that. And it feels like a little internal badge of honor. They liked your improv. That was your baby. That was your creative. Yeah, yeah. There's a moment in I tell you where and Stephen Rogers wrote this perfect screenplay,

it certainly didn't need improv. But there was a moment Naitanya where I say, the original line I say to Sebastian Sand was something like, I have this friend Derek, he could do it for about $1,000, talking about the hit on Nancy Kerrigan. And I thought, wouldn't it be funny if he said,

I shouldn't even be saying his name, Derek? Because it's like who, like, who would be suspicious if you just say the first name? So it's like a little joke I threw in on take two or three, they were like, oh, keep that. We like that. And that was cool.

I felt connected when watching that movie. I was on Dancing with the Stars with Nancy Kerrigan. Whoa. We got eliminated the same week. Well, I was about to ask how did it go. It sounds like it might not have went how you wanted it. It wasn't the worst thing that happened. I don't know.

She was the Olympic season. I made it like to the quarter fine. I was like top five. Was it Nancy Kerrigan or Tanya Harding? Nancy Kerrigan. Okay, they both did it. Oh, Tanya Harding. Because Tanya Harding did dance with the stars, didn't she?

Yeah. I think she did. She probably did. I think she did after the movie came out. She had like a brief resurgence. That's fine. Nancy did pretty well, but I imagine Nancy probably wanted to go farther

than finish the same as the former Bachelor. Yeah. It was a flex for me. Less for her. Less for her, for sure. Don't forget, Vile Files Plus now offers ad-free episodes for all Vile Files episodes

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So your initial rise to stardom came with The Bachelor. Yeah, I was on reality TV. Yeah, my buddy, Elon, E-L-A-N. Al-L-Gale. Yeah. Close friend of ours. Yeah, I love him to death. I just made his acquaintance recently, but his big start was The Bachelor, and now he's

killing it and film and reality. Yeah, we're doing some work together. He changed my life. Yeah, I like that guy a lot. He's someone I just want to be around. He's so fun. very funny, very interesting. Yeah.

How did you meet him? I just got set up on a general meeting on Zoom with him. My buddy Julian Sergi, who is one of my dear friends and we co-write movies and TV together. He had a meeting with him. He's like, you got to meet this guy. And then we didn't. It was a love fest. And now we're trying to develop something with him.

That's incredible. Now, when you're doing improv stuff, is it harder to do when you're doing improv stuff? Because I feel like people assume improv with comedy. Like with balls up, I, you know, with balls up. I can't help but wonder if like half that movie was you guys improv. No, no, no, no. We had a great script. I would say like 90, 95% of it's probably scripted and balls up.

But we played around a little bit and found some stuff. And with comedy, it's a little easier to improvise because at the end of the day, you're usually trying to get the joke, get the laugh. But in drama, I do it too just to, in drama, it's about keeping it real. Yeah. And if you can have a real moment in a dramatic film, maybe it'll be funny or maybe it'll be powerful in its own way or something. And deliver me from nowhere,

the Springsteen movie I did, there's a moment where Jeremy Allen White, Esver Springsteen says, like, I want the original. I don't like this. And he, like,

storms out of the studio. And they kept the camera rolling on me and Jeremy Strong and Mark Maren. They didn't yell cut. So I just went, you know, because he's saying, scrap everything.

I just care about this thing. And there's a beat we take of silence. And I just said, I was like, man, I really love born in the USA. And it was just genuine. It wasn't trying to be super funny, but like it gets one of the biggest laughs in kind of a non-laff movie.

And non-laff movies, you need some levity sometimes. So that was an honest moment that just happened to be funny. When you got the script for Balls Up, was there like, this is nuts. No fun intended. Multiple.

Because at first you're watching, you're like, what am I watching at first? And you see Molly Shannon. But then the premise is so like, it's a comedy playground. I was saying to now, I remember watching the movie. You're like, do you, if this, if this actually happened in real life where a guy stopped a goal from like a World Cup, like this would be one of the most insane, like it's an insane premise, but it's based off of like, what if this actually happened?

Yeah, it's based off the reaction of unhealthy tribalism. And I don't think that's really that out of the orbit. it. I remember in the late 90s, early 2000s, you would hear stories about kids who, like, brought a switchblade to school, threatening some other kid for their Beanie Baby Pokemon card. And it's like, that's just, that's evocative of the psychotic nature of fandom. And so that part isn't so crazy. The crazy part is, of course, you know, there's an alligator and there's, uh, they're getting shot at on a boat and that stuff. And the, like, condom that's covering the balls, too. It's like, I mean, I didn't expect that.

either you know like why haven't you why hasn't anyone thought of it is like the the the through lines so funny yeah multiple people came up to me they're like that seems like a good product i'm like maybe i don't know i literally i lost my virginity to my wife i like waited so i'm not a condom guy in general i don't really know much about them speaking of how many kids do you have three three two boys two boys and then the youngest are is our eight-month-old baby girl and they are A whole bunch of fun. Is this your first? No, we have a two-year-old little girl, and then I'm pregnant with twins.

Two more girls. Would have been gangster if you just said, what do you mean? Yeah. I'm like, oh, F word. Amazing. Four girls. Three girls. Oh, sorry, I thought four all together.

It'll be three. Okay. Have fun with that. That'll be interesting. How did it change for you going from boys to girl? Not much. The only thing that really changes that I can already tell I'm more lenient and defensive of my daughter.

She'll probably get away with murder. whereas the boys, well, although the boys are near committing murder, they're psychotic. They do a lot of things that pet my peeve, like my son Harris will just pour his drink, drink or beverage out on the floor because he's just fascinated by water. He has autism too, and like water and horses are like certain things that, that kids with autism sometimes connect with and water is one of them, but he'll literally pour his entire LaCroix on our couch cushion. And I'll be like, buddy, why?

Why? Now no one can sit there. We have company coming over. And then my middle child, my three-year-old Jonah, Jonah Maverick, he, man, he just, he's so sweet and empathetic and entertaining and interesting. But also with that comes the Tasmanian devil spirit of like not being able to turn it off. And especially when you're trying to get him to bed or the baby's sleeping. and he'll just be walking around the house going, Nipples!

That's how I was going. Because you heard us say nipples once and now. He says it all the time and we're like, oh my God, what is happening? Has being a dad, like, grounded you in a way that you didn't expect? Or did you kind of, like, you know, for me, just being a dad for the first time. Like, I always wanted to be a dad,

and then all of a sudden it happened. And it's just like, I have found it to be really just calming because no matter what I'm stressed about and I'm often stressed about a lot of things or it just feels like the world's heavy. even coming down on you but like that is a one thing going home it does it does grow on me in a great way i think it helped me reprioritize in a way um which a good relationship or or children will do it also it also makes you have a better fortitude for things things that you thought were hard

really aren't hard in comparison yeah but i think i think too it's really i don't know I think it makes you a better person in general, maybe. Yeah, I hope I answered that correctly. I'm teaching our two-year-old to go, pretty, please, to her dad. I'm like, use your eyes. And so she'll be like this, pity-piece. Yeah, you can weaponize them or make them part of the Peace Corps. It depends.

It's funny, though, the things they pick up on, too. And you just, sometimes the thing you're most perturbed by is a character trait that you yourself inhabit that they're somehow sponging. You see it in them and you're like, oh, that's me. Yeah. I'm like, oh, my poor parents. I probably didn't give them enough credit, obviously. Well, those, what's the, it's the insurance commercial that really hits for me.

Like, you know, are you growing up to be like your parents? Yeah. And as I get older, I like, I feel it in my bones. Like, I'll do something. And I'm like, oh, fuck, I'm my dad. Yeah. And it really just like, I used to never think I was like my parents. And sometimes quite literal where, like, I remember the story.

Growing up, we had these friends called the Kunitzers, Ryan and Megan Koonitzer. And Megan tells this story about me. She was over playing with my sister, who she was in the same grade as. And she said she overheard from the bathroom. My mom said, Paul Walter, why did you poop in the tub? And I might have been five or five or something. I don't know. But I said to her, I go, it feels warm.

And I didn't know, I don't even know how to interpret that because I'm, I'm so far away from four or five, but she said to me, she goes, if you do that again, I'll make you eat it. I assume that worked as gangster of a response as that is. But yesterday, my son pooped his swim diaper, my three-year-old, in the swimming pool for like the 12th time. And I've told him so many times not to do it. And I'm like, why did you do it? And he goes, because I pooped. There's no real reason. He's just because I poop. And it's like as I'm having that moment of having to change his diaper and go through all this insanity of watery poo-poo, I'm just like, my parents apparently went through this once or twice of me, maybe more than I know.

Did it make you want to say next time you do this? I mean, any threat we give him doesn't work usually. And that's the psychotic magic of my three-year-old that I was a little bit too earlier. That's fun. He's not one for authority or correction. You just couldn't do his thing. I see in myself. It took me a long time to get corrected on a number of things.

If there's anything from you and your wife's relationship that you hope your kids take on to their future relationships, what would you hope it would be? Having a relationship with God, not to be annoying and like shove that down people's throats. It's just, I don't know. I have to believe in God because people in positions of power fail too often. and I'm exhausted from the amount of failure in our public officials. You can fill in the blanks as you hear that. And the other thing I would say is a sense of play. My wife and I were able to laugh about the pain.

We're able to laugh in the pain. We're able to make things fun. And I just think you can't stop dating your spouse. You've got to keep finding ways to make it fun or interesting or just convivial in some way. Because I see a lot of marriages and my own went south, you know, vastly because of my behavior. And I corrected that and got sober. But I just see a lot of marriages that go south. And I really think there's a lack of effort.

It's something, you know, it's called the pursuit of happiness because the root word is not happy. It's pursuit. You know, you have to pursue each other, I think. Yeah. And it's always encouraging to, you know, I said a, a, watch that YouTube video and, you know, people are often afraid to kind of talk about the dark times or sad times. And it's very inspiring when someone like yourself and your wife kind of are open about that because you guys seem like you're in a great place now. And that's, you know, it's not always

easy to get through those moments and get to the other side. And I think nowadays, in this day and age, I feel like couples date, they hit a wall and then they end, that does end things, you know, and they don't know how to kind of work through some of those issues. So what I'm about to say is, a lot of people in the Manosphere would take offense to it and think that it's me being feminist. It's actually just me being honest. And some people can't handle honesty. Honesty to them is a differentiation from their ideology and thus they feel the need to lambast verbally and punish be a keyboard, anybody who doesn't align with them. But the reality is such, the vast majority of the problems in the world are because men and especially wealthy

men don't take responsibility or accountability for their actions. Give me 10 minutes to Google. I'll find you 7,000 answers for what I'm talking about. So the same way that if someone says something untrue about me, I will violently hit back. You'll never see, if someone were to accuse me to something I didn't do, you will never see me put out a statement where it's like an attorney proofread it or something. Yeah, on a black screen. It will be me being that bitch. they say, to whomever is slandering me. Because that's welcome to the real world. That's how I respond.

I'm not an actor. I'm not an entrepreneur. I'm a person. If you say something, that's not true. I'm going to be offended. If you say something that's true, I need to take accountability for it. And just the same way that I'm quick to fight back, if it's untrue, I will be the first to sit down and swallow whatever chew up food I put out there.

and be the first to say, yeah, I screwed up, let's talk about it. I think that's hugely important. Yeah. Yeah. Well, that's what really well said. And I imagine being a father of two sons, that is something that you kind of think about as they get older. Dude, yeah, I'm going to ream the ride act.

If they crash the car or I find them with a bunch of marijuana in their dresser drawer at 14, like I'm going to come down way less hard on them than if they do not take responsibility for something. I don't mind you making mistakes, but, you know, you got to own it. You got to own it. You go through the pen. You know, surgery isn't fun. We all hate going to the dentist. We hate going to the doctor.

We put off checkups and stuff. And it's like, dude, you are going to thank yourself for walking into the fire and walking through it because if you wait, something way worse is going to happen. And we see that with diagnoses. You know, you don't want to get a breast exam and then you have breast cancer. You know, that almost happened to my mother who fought breast cancer. And she had a moment where a friend told her, you need to get checked up if you haven't. She did and she found something.

It's like, you know, nothing is gained from putting it off, I suppose. How did you meet your wife? Hinge, the dating out. Really? Yeah, thank you, Hinge. Shout out. Shout out. How long was that?

We met and went on our first date, July 19th, I think, of 2020. no 2019 July of 2019 then we reconnected during COVID when we both our job stopped and we were both

in L.A. at the same time and it was and we didn't forget about each other it was just we were busy with other things

and suddenly no one was busy with anything. That's kind of right around when we met. Yeah it was I think you know

for the many problems I have with the COVID fallout among them transparency which I don't think there was

and that's not a partisan issue. I think it's pretty bipartisan to say we were not told the entirety of that story. I am grateful for the fact that it made me pause and forced me to fall in love, which I was so career obsessed at the time. I don't know if I would have seen what was in front of me. The gift that my wife, Amy, is and was, had it not been for COVID shutdown. How does she kind of keep you grounded as your star continues to rise? And I feel like this is really the only beginning of your career. How does it? She keep you centered and keep you grounded so you don't like kind of lose yourself

and this kind of crazy city that is Hollywood. She's the perfect person for me because she both appreciates what I do for a living and will celebrate it with me. And has even been a part of it. Like she worked for a record label at one point. She worked for a production company and was an associate producer on a movie with Dennis Quaid and Queen Latifah called The Tiger Rising. So like she gets it, but she also.

will tell me like time to put the phone away. Time to let's let's pray. Let's stop and eat a meal with our kids. Let's eat at the dining room table, not in front of the TV. Like she has these wholesome sort of like black and white values that are helpful for me for sure. Nallie does the same thing. It's like those little things that you feel like you know you need.

The little things matter so much. Yeah. God they matter. I'm always, I tell Nick all the time like don't walk in the house on the phone. Like finish your phone call outside, finish it in the car. So that way when you walk in,

she's like, Daddy, and you can be like river. And it's not like, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, it's tough, dude. And I never would have thought about something like that unless she made a thing and now it's like a thing. I will say it's not all of our fault. If you look at the sort of evolution of the cell phone, it started out pretty harmless.

We had it because we needed to text or call people. And what if you're in a jam or what if you need to hear about something that's time sensitive, et cetera. But then it's like they put a navigation system on there. So you're using your car to navigate. And then they put music on there. So of course, you're going to use it to play music. And it becomes this ever evolving snowball where we have to use it for our jobs. So suddenly it becomes work-centric. Then it's like, you can't not use the damn thing. You can't escape it. You can't like clock out, you know. And maybe you could if you did a hardcore caveman reversal, which some of my friends have.

And that's a testament to their character and that they've done it, I just haven't found a way yet. If you were to talk to Paul in, say, 2018 or before things really made it for you, what would be the thing that would surprise 2018 Paul the most if you were to give them a heads up on where things are today. Like the time machine aspect?

Tell yourself what you're doing. So much. It's weekly, if not daily, that I have an awesome wife and three healthy awesome kids that I lost weight and got sober that I mean there are days I was too it's just stupid there's so many things I just I mean the fact that I'm promoting a movie where I got to co-star with Mark Wahlberg

and be directed by Pete Farrelly and have a script from the writers of Deadpool and Zomeland the fact that Amazon Skydance flew my family out to be with me during the shoot in Australia and put us up in a nice house. Like, I've been so blessed and fortunate. And then the fanboy in me, I'm texting wrestling heroes of mine like Mick Foley and Diamond Dallas Page. And I'm texting with Dave Batista and Sam Rockwell.

And it's just like, it's very cool that people I really admire are friendly with me and have helped me or want to collaborate. Sam Rockwell, that's a cool one. Is there anyone cooler than him? I don't know. Him and Michael Shannon. are like the top of my coolest. We actually had a boy category. We actually had Becky Lynch and Seth Rallens

loved them on the show a couple months ago and I heard that you were good friends. You like you train with them. I did a training session with them in L.A. and the ring was not soft. It was way harder than any ring I've ever been in. I took a bump on my back and I said, nope. I'm done.

Not doing that. Not during a practice round. But they've been super sweet and supportive of what I do and I, them in return. And it's been a fun. friendship those two. Yeah. You've won an Emmy already, right? Yeah.

Is like winning an Oscar or some of those like actor awards? Is that like on your bucket list of accomplishments? I feel like it's just a matter of time before you win like an Oscar. Or do you is or is that kind of superficial stuff that like you don't bother with or would you be lying if? I'd say yes to both. I mean, it's equal parts. A bucket list thing and it'd be fun.

But also like think of how many performances we love that are worthy of winning that haven't won. It's kind of hard to take award show seriously when you don't nominate John Goodman for Best Supporting Actor for The Big Lobowski. Yeah. Yeah. What a brilliant, fun, nuanced, specific, memorable performance. And it's like, really? You don't nominate him?

Like, I kind of don't care after that to some degree. As far as, like, the supporting actor to leading actor thing. I feel like there's been a trend of a lot of roles that would typically be lead. being put in the supporting category and I was just wondering. Yeah, sometimes that's like if they're, if they're going up against each other like a co-star thing. I remember Ford versus Ferrari came out like six years ago and that was like a do we dominate Christian Mail or Matt Damon?

I think at the end of the day they both went for leader support. I forget. Yeah. And I just feel like hearing you talk about kind of like, like for lack of a better term like the character actor, right? Like John Goodman, Catherine Ahera. Like there's so much more to do with that and it's such a specific thing versus like a

typical like lead role that I just feel like there's like there's not as much of a value in that even though like to your point like it is so much like the core of like art it's probably a money thing too I mean prettier people lead films usually and and they put butts in seats which makes the money which keeps the circus going around so that's probably more where that is but if if you introduce me to uh Richard gear and Steve Bishemi it's like I'm more flabre Orgasted or excited to meet Bishemi probably just because I love those roles more, even though Richard Gear is a super handsome, wealthy, leading man who's brilliant in his own right.

How does Amy, like, celebrate the release of your movies? Like, when Balls Up comes out, what is, are you all going to, I mean, I imagine you probably wouldn't take the kids, but part of its celebration, part of it's just respecting the space because, like, sometimes I really, the same way I'll respect her space and, like, you know, she'll go to a women's conference or a nonprofit thing. or needs to go out for appetizers and drinks with the girls for three hours or whatever. Like she really gives me the space to do the press stuff. And if I need to be creative and run my lines or do what I'm doing.

And then celebration-wise, just like just being a cheerleader, just being there for me. And sometimes also if I'm not, if I'm not gobsmacked by what's going on, she'll kind of remind me, like, do you realize what you get to do today? Like, that's so healthy. Yeah, that is nice. Do you watch your movies back? Do you watch your work back? Are you kind of like, I don't want to see it. Usually sometimes I'll just watch it once and I'll be like, that's enough.

I don't need to watch that again. And then some stuff I watch all the time. Like I love it, I like, I'd watch that once every year and a half for two years. Like, I love Curella. Curella was a great fun. I love Naked Gunn I'll probably watch once every year and a half or two years. And by the way, some people are like, oh, you watch all your stuff. the actors who say like i can't watch my work i'm just like well you're not going to learn anything

because you learn by watching your work and if you don't study yourself you don't know what you need to eliminate or refine or add you know there's a reason a chef some of these chefs by the way are brilliant they're unbelievable what they would do with a tiramisu or an african stew or what have you but if they don't dip their spoon in and taste it they don't know what to add or something subtract. They don't know if it's ready sometimes. And you see that all the way across the board. So I look at it more from that culinary standpoint of I'm taking the temperature and I'm tasting this. And there are times too where like I thought what I, not everything I do is awesome. But what I did in something like I Tanya, I don't need to be nominated for Best Supporting Actor.

I know I did the job. I tasted that and went, yep. Do you think sometimes the fear of watching it is like an insecurity about the performance? because I feel like with stuff I've done, I have a hard time watching. I think deep down I just don't have the, I feel like there's something wrong with it. I think I've graduated to a point where I know when I kill it and I know where I fall short.

And so there's a comfortability in watching or listening. Press more than the actual acting work is harder sometimes because I go, oh, I shouldn't have said that. Or, oh, this might be taken this way and I get mad of myself. Is there an actor or director you have not worked with yet? that's kind of on your bucket list that you hope so many can you give us one i'm dying to work with martin macdonna okay i'm dying to work with uh anthony hopkins zanzel washington there's just people that i think are that i would have a good time with too that i go you know i would love to

work with somebody just people that feel like similar to me where we get along like we could be friends you almost want to yeah yeah one of those like i watch revolutionary road and you can kind of be like, whoa, Kate and Leo, but part of me is more fascinated with, oh, Catherine Hahn and Michael Shannon. Mm-hmm. Oh, we're just because I think they would get me and like me more. That's its own weird insecurity thing of like when I worked with Sebastian, Stan and I, Tanya, my first thought before meeting him was like, this guy's so pretty.

He's going to hate me and be annoyed by my sense of humor. He's not going to get me. We're not going to get along. And that's its own trauma damage of my own. Sure. Because then we did get along. So I don't know what that is, but I have that thing to. with like, I'm more apt to believe that Michael Shannon would get me and like me than Brad Pitt.

That makes sense? Yeah, yeah. Yeah, I think it's super relatable. Yeah. I always get weirder with, you know, it's like you get weirder with people you'd want to date. You get weirder with people your fans of or you're like you, you want them to like you, you know. You're going to leave here and I'm going to be like, how did that go? Yeah, that's one where you're like, do you think he'll call me?

I love this little triumvirate here. I would come back anytime. Are you kidding me? Do you feel like you? see that path for yourself at some point directing any? 100%. Yeah, I already have scripts of written that I want to direct. And I got into producing in part to learn the trade and learn how movies get made behind

the scenes. And that can be deeply frustrating, but also rewarding and fun. It depends. I think I've learned that as a producer, I'm not really the money guy, but I am the guy who can do creative control, who can give notes on that. the script who can text or call an actor to get them to sign on. And I found myself advocating for the casting crew during filmmaking, where if they have an idea or someone's being bullied or treated unfairly, I'm the first to speak up and be like,

this is bullshit. Like, we're going to do something about this. And I'm proud of that. I really like advocating for people because I didn't even realize it until recently. People look at me like, you know, I had somebody say from the makeup. department hair and makeup, these lovely women I worked on a movie with recently that I produced. It's called The Very Best People. And great cast, it's like me and Jake Lacey and Carrie Boucher, Catherine Moriarty, a bunch of great people. But I had some people take me aside and they were like,

just so you know, not everybody treats you the same. And I was like, what does that mean? They're like, people show their best selves to you on set. And then they go and they mistreat somebody else who's lower on the totem pole. And it really messed me up. And I started, I got choked up and it kind of like felt like a bit of like a loss of innocence for me because I just treat everybody the same I think and to know that people weren't being treated the same kind of really upset me emotionally and and in the justice tick that me and my wife have so I just I'm definitely the guy who is is going to be super chill about staying at a bad hotel motel. I'll be super chill about the food not being,

all the things that you hear people complain about, like their trailer, I will never complain about. But I will be an absolute monster if I hear that you're mistreating a production assistant for no reason. That makes me go absolutely berserk. Love that.

That's awesome. I love how you're using your influence and power. Yeah. Well, I don't know how people worked at some of these people that you hear called out, like whether it's a Kevin Spaceer or Harvey Weinstein, like, I am not okay with. with whatever is going on.

I don't know their personal lives. I would never know that. That's why you don't fault people that have worked with Weinstein. Like, I don't know what the hell he's doing at 10 o'clock on a Tuesday. Come on. That's ridiculous. But if I see it or I'm party to it, uh-uh. Yeah.

Uh-huh. Ugly street version of me that grew up in Saginaw, Michigan, in a horrible neighborhood riddled with crime slash the Christian vibes of wanting to follow. of Christ and not put up with a bunch of crap under the name of religion. I will be a beast if you bring that out of me. Midwest guy. I'm from Wisconsin.

Yeah, you know, dude. Like somebody, like somebody, you're on a city bus and somebody mistreats some woman. You go up and you do some. Yeah. You don't pull out your iPhone and film it like a coward. Yeah. I'm not, not on that train. That's so well said.

Well, I know you got to get going, but I just want to thank you for balls up. You don't, we haven't gotten like a good buddy comedy action comedy. Dude, they're just fun, whether it's like Senator Bullock and most McCarthy in the heat, which I love. I love that movie. That was so funny. Yeah. To like Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker and Rush hour, it's a time honored tradition in the subgen

genre of buddy comedy that I wish we had more of them. I think sometimes that people make them, but they're kind of like half cooked. I think chemistry is everything. And thankfully, I was friendly with Mark and he invited me. to the movie and it shows. I think we have good chemistry. You do. You guys have a great chemistry.

And there's one more question that when you were singing that duet in the movie together. Go-Tie. Go-T-A. Did you guys know that you made that great music together? Because it honestly sounded ironically really good. Like you guys should maybe go on tour. Was that improv? How did that come to be?

So we saw that in the script and I was excited from the jump. I don't know that Mark was as excited as me. maybe if it was like rapping NWA he would have been a little more into it or something his vibe bunch but yeah we recorded that in a in a studio sound booth thing in Australia and

he went very glum and kind of like I don't want to be here with the character choice and I look at it like you know I'm here and just kind of went full jazz hands and got into it and that the juxtaposition of the two makes for good comedy it's so good the movie's called Balls Up

it's out to day on Amazon Prime. Yes, April 15, Amazon Prime, direct to streamer. And yeah, the nice thing about streamers, though I'm a theater guy, and I go to the theater as often as possible, nice thing about a streamer, you can sit in your underpants and you can be checking your phone if you need to. It's a great watch. It's hilarious. Heat up leftovers in the microwave and watch a movie. You got Sasha Barracone, you got Molly Shannon. You got Mark Alder, Benjamin Brat. There's so many people too. You might not know their names, but you'll, I'm search after the movie because they're so funny.

My favorite line in the movie was when your character gets, you're like, I got Abigail Breslin. It's Shirley Temple with Double Gratine. That was one on set where I kept, I like improvved a bunch of lines of what that could be. Abigail Breslin was the scripted line. It was by far the best, but I did it where I was like, this is a Rand Paul.

I just kept trying to think of other people. Abigo Breslin was just so, like, Oh, my, it was the writer of Zambi Land, you said? Yeah, um, Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick, uh, the writer's Zomelan, Deadpool movies. They, they wrote in all these funny one-liners and I was so grateful. We just had gold. It was so good. Yeah.

There's another line, what is it? There's just, there's just some lines that like also, sometimes they don't make you laugh on the page. And then you do it and the performances bring it out. And yeah, I just, I, I hope the people watching listening, like, please don't think this is some broie ranch fest comic like this is very much a poor quadrant movie where we're just there to make you laugh like i i am a christian practicing person and i still love south park yeah and the idea is like don't take it too seriously just have fun you can you can still love people while while watching a psychotic joke or two throughout it sneaks up on you it starts and you're kind

like what am i watching and then you get really into it and then the next thing you know you're just like having a blast. It's a really great movie. Yeah, yeah. In these dark, uncertain times, please just throw it all away. Grab your one-hitter or your bowl or your, or your, you know, bag of checks mix and sidle up on the couch and watch something that'll make you laugh. Well, Paul, I appreciate you taking the time. This has been a ton of fun for all of us. And God's blessings upon your little one. Thank you.

Another beautiful, smart, strong, empowered woman entering the world. Hell yeah. And we pray blessing over that in Jesus' name. I can't wait for you. You already know you have a kid. It's the best. But twins. I know.

God is entrusting you with a lot. Truly. But you're equipped. We hope. We can do it. Yes, we can. Yes, we can. Somebody said there, like, anytime God sends a man a baby in his life,

he sends a breadbasket. So some monetary and exciting situation of some kind will present itself at the right time too. Yeah, well, we're very grateful. We're very excited and we're also just excited to have you. So appreciate it taking the time. The Vile Files. If you're not watching and listening, what are you doing? What are you doing? Don't make me air snatch you. Don't make me air snatch you. Period. Period. Thanks for listening. Thank you.