WTF with Marc Maron Podcast - Episode 1063 - Woody Harrelson

Episode Date: October 17, 2019

Living in Hawaii gives Woody Harrelson a pretty good perspective of what life should really be about. It’s a mentality that influences the way he chooses projects, the way he engages in activism, and the way he fulfills is spiritual side. Woody and Marc talk about this mindset and how it evolved over his career. He talks about the offer he turned down that would have kept Cheers on the air, the process he went through to get into the mind of a psychopath for Natural Born Killers, and the way his life changed after playing Larry Flynt, as well as some talk about Kingpin, No Country for Old Men, and Zombieland: Doubletap. This episode is sponsored by Living with Yourself on Netflix. Sign up here for WTF+ to get the full show archives and weekly bonus material! https://plus.acast.com/s/wtf-with-marc-maron-podcast. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Death is in our air. This year's most anticipated series, FX's Shogun, only on Disney+. We live and we die. We control nothing beyond that. An epic saga based on the global best-selling novel by James Clavel. To show your true heart is to risk your life.

When I die here, you'll never leave Japan alive. FX's Shogun, a new original series streaming February 27th, exclusively on Disney+. 18 plus subscription required. T's and C's apply. It's a night for the whole family. Be a part of Kids Night when the Toronto Rock take on the Colorado Mammoth

at a special 5 p.m. start time on Saturday, March 9th at First Ontario Centre in Hamilton. The first 5,000 fans in attendance will get a Dan Dawson bobblehead courtesy of Backley Construction. Punch your ticket to Kids Night on Saturday, March 9th at 5 p.m. in Rock City at torontorock.com. all right let's do this how are you what the fuckers what the fuck buddies what the fuck nicks what's happening i'm mark maron this is my podcast wtf how are you is everything okay is is it okay out there is it how's the water how's is the water nice what's happening i got woody harrelson on the show today

yeah he came over and uh we hung out he asked for some um his people had uh had us go out and get some vegan snacks but he didn't eat them so you know know what happened is my buddy Frank, who works for me, he picked up some chocolate-covered coconut cookie snacks, and I threw them in the freezer. And you know where they ended up? In my fucking mouth. I can't have that shit in the house. I'm not going to complain.

You know, it's healthy. But Jesus Christ, Woody, why didn't you eat it? So, yeah, Woody's on the show today he's got that zombie land double tap is opening in theaters tomorrow friday october 18th by the way no nicotine for how long has it been does any is anyone keeping track could somebody please tell me how long i've been off nicotine. It feels like a while. It was several pounds ago. I feel like it was like, when did I get off it? August 26th. How long is that? I'm looking at my phone. Sorry. Seven and a half weeks off nicotine. And I feel okay. Goddamn hungry all the time, but you know, we've covered that. I'm all right. Nicotine free, almost almost two months that's fucking nuts can i stay with it

by the way yeah i'll be in nashville today and tomorrow uh tomorrow's the show i'll be out in the streets doing something if i'm not too tired depending on the travel day goes looking forward to hanging out in nashville for a day uh the show is, I hope it's going to be great. And Atlanta too. I got to spend a day in Atlanta too, which I don't mind. I got a buddy there. Looking forward to it. I am looking forward to it.

I'm looking forward to dumping this material too. I got the special taping on the 30th. I got the Masonic in San Francisco on the 26th. And I'm going to have those posters. If you're from San Francisco, bring cash. I don't know if my square thing works. I got to, man, that's another thing I got to look into. I haven't sold posters in a long time, but I guess I'm going to sit there, do a meet and greet, and sell.

I got 100 or so, about 100 of these hand-printed posters, and I'm going to move them if you like them. They're kind of twisted, kind of cool. But, so, yeah, so i'll see you guys at one of those dates i just got done with the litter box project um once a week now here at the house i have a litter box project i have three large litter boxes two old cats with uh kidneys weakening so the turnover is pretty fast but I've been using the pine, just those pine pellets, the pine litter, straight up compressed pine pellets,

because I've decided that's healthier. I've decided that if you change your litter every week and you use the pine with no scent, that it's natural. It's better for them on all levels, better for the fucking floor but that means every week i gotta dump three massive fucking litter boxes and do a litter box project but that wasn't the only cat related issue today i had monkey on that fucking medicine for the uh hyperthyroid and i didn't realize because i'm an idiot and i don't listen and i don't quite take in stuff that uh that's sort of a lifetime thing if it works and you kind of fuck with the dosage to keep them level because basically the

hyperthyroid trip is that there's some sort of benign tumor in there that's causing more thyroid to be created and you take the pills and it takes down the thyroid production. But, uh, i don't know you guys i drove monkey over there fucking 15 years old 15 and a half years old i'm gonna get him the radioactive iodine i'm gonna go fucking do it when i get back from the tour i'm gonna go down to the west side one guy does it he's legit he's on the level i'm gonna radiate my fucking cat and get rid of that goddamn thing for good i don't know how much time he's got left but fuck it it's not a money thing so what am i waiting for if the prognosis is good i'll go get him zapped or radiated or whatever they do and put an end to this and no pills and maybe i'll get a couple more good years out of him and

i'll put on some fucking weight so that took up the morning it's very traumatic and then sitting over there with all the other sick animals man and I'm talking about the people pow wow man everything's becoming sort of hazy kind of a blur I don't even know what I've been doing for the last few days. I don't know if my, I get home and I regroup. Had to deal with the cat. I've been watching some TV. I've been watching Succession. That finale of Succession was very satisfying.

I don't know why, that show, I got to talk to some of those people. They're really fucking blowing my mind. And this isn't, it's not even a paid ad. This isn't an ad this is just me engaging i watched the fucking finale of succession twice it's just there's

something about the language and the emotional kind of uh horror show that it is it's a very specific tone of language that they're using i'm not sure what it is i get it's some sort of take on shakespeare or something i don't know what's going on, but I do enjoy it. And the Culkin kid's doing good. And the guy who plays Kendall. Everyone's so fucking good in that show. I like watching satisfying shows. I've been watching more TV lately.

I've been letting myself watch TV. I've been playing some guitar. I've been eating, cooking, just trying to take care of myself. I thought I was coming down with something. I don't know if I'm coming down with something. Whatever it is, just trying to take care of myself. I thought I was coming down with something. I don't know if I'm coming down with something. Whatever it is, I hope it don't come down on me until after, after the special taping, moving towards the special taping. Everybody all right? Oh, so when I talked to Woody, I guess I should bring this up because I know it's out there and people know about his dad, who was a convicted murderer.

And, you know, Woody had somewhat of a relationship with him. But I didn't know if I was going to get into it and, you know, what he would say about it or how comfortable he was about it. But I did sort of ask him about it without telling you what was up. His dad was in prison for murder. And I didn't get much backstory, but I did bring it up. And I just wanted to let you know, you know, that was what that's the backstory on on it because i guess i was nervous about bringing it up and i didn't sort of set it up properly and we didn't stay on it very long it caused sort of a tense moment but that was what was going on with that but aside from that i think we had a nice chat and uh zombie land double tap

it opens uh tomorrow friday october 18th this is me talking to woody it's a night for the whole family be a part of kids night when the toronto rock take on the colorado mammoth at a special 5 p.m start time on saturday march 9th at first ontario center in hamilton the first 5 000 fans in attendance will get a dan dawson bobblehead courtesy of Backley Construction. Punch your ticket to Kids Night on Saturday, March 9th at 5pm in Rock City at torontorock.com Death is in our air.

This year's most anticipated series, FX's Shogun, only on Disney+. We live and we die. We control nothing beyond that. An epic saga based on the global best-selling novel by James Clavel. To show your true heart is to risk your life. When I die here, you'll never leave Japan alive.

FX's Shogun. A new original series streaming February 27th exclusively on Disney+. 18 plus subscription required. T's and C's apply. You live in Hawaii? Yeah. That must be fucking great. Oh, it's so fucking great. I love it.

The people are extraordinary, and of course, it's, well, it's the most beautiful place I've ever lived. Which island is it? Maui. And you've been there a while? Yeah, since 98. Because I go down there to, I've only been to Kauai, and I've been there like three or four times with three different women at different points in my life. You can mark them all. I can't.

Well, that was when it was good, and then it got bad. I remember that trip was right before it got bad. But it's so pretty there, but there doesn't seem to be a lot that, like, you can't really live there. But while you were there, were you having a loving, romantic time, or did things start to just... Well, no, the trips were okay. The last trip I went on was literally, like, the month that we planned in January, and it was the month that Trump took office. So I was, you know, panicking for 11 days in Kauai. It was up against the beautiful backdrop of Kauai. I was like, what is this fascist theater?

What's with the signing stuff? What's Bannon going to do? Are Jews safe? It always comes down to that question for me. So that ruined it that time that's yeah i could see how that would put a damper and what do you do like like okay so you shot this i don't even know when you shot to zombie land double tap or but you seem to always be working so what do you you just what do you take like three months and just hang out yeah

in hawaii uh how does it work oh you mean the way we the way we did that the way you live your life though like you know it just it seems like you're away do you have a place here too uh yeah i have a place here but i i'm not here very much i'm mostly in uh you know well i'm mostly working or back home right you. I pass through here on the way. But yeah, I, you know, like that one, I went, I think it was a couple, two and a half months in Atlanta. That's not bad. Yeah. You know, a lot of stuff filming in Atlanta.

Yeah. And then you just go do it, knock it out, go back home, hang out. Knock it right out. Nothing to it. Then, yeah. Do the zombie jokes and go home home wear the hat i'm done that's it uh no but this one pretty special just because you know this movie probably more than any movie i've done yeah i mean a very uh uh vibrant shall we say, passionate fan base.

Like they really have a thing about this film, the first one. And so because the first one was a success, they wanted to do another one. And for years they kept trying with different scripts right different uh iterations of it and it just never was never right right and so finally they were they were getting mad at me because i was i was the one just saying uh yeah this is a page one rewrite you know they weren't so said- How do you determine that? What is it?

How do you determine? You just read it and you can tell. But I was just like, you got to get the original guys back, Rhett and Paul, who had gone off and written Deadpool 1 and 2. Right. Now- To get the humor element balanced. Much more. Well, they just understood these characters. Now. To get the humor element balanced. Well, they just understood these characters.

So those were the guys who really cracked it and made it. And there was still plenty of work after their first script, and they did a ton of work on it. And it's just also a very cool collaborative thing when you get on set with Ruben, who's our director, fearless leader yeah and uh it's a great experience so it's fun super fun people yeah and we're making each other laugh we're trying shit all the time sometimes you can't even get through a take because you're laughing so hard at the other you know right sure yeah well it's funny though like you have this now so people

know you there's a whole generation of people that know you from these movies. Like, you're Woody from those movies to them. It's the depth of their experience with you, probably, in one way or another. Well, maybe. Yeah. And it's just weird because, like, you somehow. Because there was, like, probably a good decade or two where you were Woody from Cheers. Like, there was a whole generation of people.

That's how they identified you. I had done other things too, Mark. No, I know that. Okay. But you're right. I mean, Cheers, of course, being the most. I'm making a point. I'm making the point is you transcended, you know,

fairly quickly the sort of trap of only being TV famous. Well, it might have seemed quickly to you, Mark, but can I tell you, it was six years I couldn't get arrested in any other capacity other than Cheers. So I was worried that I was, you know, a good part, but I thought maybe I'll always just be Woody from Cheers. It happens. Which, not so bad, but yeah, I was thinking I could do more.

Yeah. I thought maybe more. Yeah, sure. Well, I mean, the problem is you're Woody from Cheers years after Cheers is over. That's the big fear. It's like you got the good gig for six years, but the big fear is like 10 years after, like, there he is. What have you been doing? Yeah.

No, I still get that sometimes someone will be like uh man why haven't you done anything lately i said well i've done a lot so i'm doing my part you got to do your part and watch it but no uh i will say that uh toward the toward as cheers was coming to an end yeah i was on an eighth season, so that was the 11th season. But right in that window, the 10th or 11th season, one of the execs from Paramount took me to lunch and said, we've got an idea. Yeah. You'll take over the bar because Daddy's leaving. Right.

And you'll take over. I said, this is at the very beginning of the meal. Right. I said, there's no show without Ted dancing, I promise you. And then we had to sit through the rest of the meal where I've already kind of said no to this offer. But it wasn't like a Frasier thing. Right, right. That's a different thing. Right, right. That's a different thing.

Right, right. That's a whole different world, but to be in that bar and be without Ted? Now, Woody's bar? Right. That wouldn't have been it. They were asking you to sort of like, this might kill the show,

we just want you to be there when it dies. Yeah. And so you just said no. Yeah, absolutely not. Well, that was the best thing you ever did, right? Who knows? Awkward lunch after that. That could have been a different.

Yeah, it was awkward. Are you getting a dessert? No. No? Do you still want to eat? But where'd you, I grew up in New Mexico. You're a Southwest guy, or you're a Texas guy, right? Yeah.

Yeah. The whole childhood, right? Yeah. Yeah. The whole childhood, Texas. Yeah. Yeah, well, until I was 12, then we moved to Ohio. But I was, in fact, I'm thinking lately about moving back to Texas. Yeah? Yeah. Nostalgia or to help?

You know, I don't know. I love it there. I love great people great people you know there's some people there you don't want to talk politics with no but uh generally incredible i mean you've yeah i think that's true time yeah wonderful i always find that you know i was surprised i was just there i did houston dallas austin did shows and yeah i mean you know there's there's political problems everywhere and there's people with certain points of view. But, you know, Texans are their own thing.

And, you know, they are good people. And in the state, I really think they live in their own country. And I think that gives them a sort of disposition. Well, that is true. I think a lot of Texans look at it as a separate country, too. Yeah, on both sides. Well, it's big. You know what I mean? like what how do you how often can you get out you know what i mean where do you live there where'd you live though when you grew up well i grew up in uh houston

oh yeah uh i was born in midland but grew up in houston yeah so you so you like, do you come from Cowboys? No, we were more in a suburb of, yeah, so still city. But maybe wore boots. No boots. No boots. Yeah, they call them kickers, I guess. Is that what they? But what do you think is driving you back there? Just because you, I mean, you live in Hawaii, man.

I mean, that's sort of a weird kind of like, you know, but this is nice, but Texas. I love Hawaii, too. I love Austin. I just love that city. And, you know, I'll still come hang out in Hawaii, too. You've got a good life, man. Yeah. Unbelievable.

I still am shocked constantly. Do you have brothers and sisters? I have two brothers. Older? Older and younger. I'm in the middle. They still am shocked constantly. Do you have brothers and sisters? I have two brothers. Older? Older and younger. I'm in the middle. They still around? Yeah. Yeah? Everybody get along?

Oh, we get along great. In fact, we all went. My younger brother is 56, named Brett. Yeah. And Brett decided to get back into go-karting after. At 56. At 56. At 56. And, you know, that is one rigorous sport. Yeah. You're talking about the little motorized cars, right?

Yeah. But, I mean, they can go up to 150 miles an hour. There's no roll cage, nothing. If you wipe out, it's a disaster. You know, they're real low to the ground. Yeah. You've seen them. Sure. And so he's gotten back in.

Now he's the national champion, 46 and over, 45 and over. He's a real, he's just an athlete, overall athlete. Yeah. Just an amazing guy. My older brother lives in Texas. Oh, yeah? Yeah. He wants to move to Austin, too.

Right now he's living up there in the middle of an Odessa area. I don't know that area at all. Yeah, me neither. Is it? Yeah. I haven't seen it since I was three. Oh. Okay.

That's the weird thing about Texas. If you drive through it, you're sort of like, I guess this used to be a town. You just have these moments where there's just miles of like, what the fuck are these people doing out here? Yeah, it is. It's kind of rough. Endless. So Ohio, so when did you start getting interested in doing acting? Was that a college thing?

No, I was in high school and I was in the library and it was right around Christmas break. Yeah. So there was kind of a festive vibe anyway. Right. But, you know, it was packed. And some of my buddies from the football team said, Woody, do your Elvis. Yeah. And I said, I can't do my Elvis in here.

There's too many people. Oh, come on. Just do it. You can do it quiet. I said, I can't do it quiet. Well, anyway, they're like, just do it. You know, I'm like, well, you know. Well, bless my soul, what's wrong with me?

I'm itching like a man on a fuzzy tree. My friends say I'm acting wild as a bug. I'm in love. I'm all shook up. Right? Start singing it kind of you still got it kind of light oh thank you

light it first you know and then singing louder and then people start clapping and gathering around in a circle around me yeah and it was incredible like that suddenly the whole library by the time I got through with the song

was gathered around all clapping along yeah I jump up on the table and started dancing, which I don't dance to this day. Yeah. I don't know why, but I did it. And then I'd beat so he scares me to death. You know, finish the thing. And they all clap, and this gal comes up, Robin Rogers. And she was this lovely gal in the school who dated the best athlete and had never talked to me before.

But anyway, she said, Woody, you know, I'm vice president of the drama club. And I think you ought to come try out for theater. And I said, well, I absolutely will do that, Robin. Absolutely. And I mean, you know, really, it was in my pursuit of Robin that I became an actor. And then later she and I did date up until sometime during my freshman year in college. She came and visited me, and I still had like two papers to write, and she got really mad at me. That was it?

I haven't seen her since then. Chose schoolwork over robin and i didn't choose i just i maybe it was uh having procrastinated that schoolwork that yeah yeah that'll do it so uh so that was it that was the beginning of it and but you didn't do it in college or you did i did you did that then i then i went to hanover College in Hanover, Indiana, and the guy who ran the theater there named Doc Evans was an incredible director of theater and really knowledgeable about theater. And I learned a lot from him. And during college, I did almost maybe 26 plays during college. Really? Yeah, including like some semesters I did almost, maybe 26 plays during college. Really?

Yeah, including, like some semesters, I'd do like two one acts. Right, yeah, yeah, yeah. So you were in it. More than, yeah. What kind of college was that? What's Hanover? Is that a good, was that a smaller liberal arts school?

Liberal arts, but at the time it was Presbyterian. I was there on a Presbyterian scholarship. How do they judge religious scholarships? How much do you believe? Well, yeah, right. No, at the time, I was quite religious, and I was involved in the church. In Ohio?

We had Bible studies at my house. Really? I was one of the, you know. You ran the bible studies well no the assistant minister run them but he we do it at my house so you were really in it huh because i think about that stuff a lot now as i get older not that like i wasn't brought up with any god and the wheels would really have to come off for me to find one at this point. It would have to be a dying situation.

Well, I wouldn't call myself Christian anymore. I don't know. I guess philosophically closer to Buddhism, but I kind of like the Hindu gods. You know what I am. I'm a mixture of – I'm a Hindu-Farian. Yeah, I get it. I get a lot more holidays. But do you think, every day is a holiday in Hawaii. But do you find that, like, was there a point where, you know, you believed hard and then

it started to drift? I mean, like, but you still feel like you have that need. Like, I'm not sure I have that need. Some people are like, you know, I really want to find God. I'm like, yeah, it seems like a lot of work. I don't, you know what, I don't look at it that way, but I do, I feel like, I know that meditation is probably the most important thing you can do to achieve oneness with God.

And I'm not saying that I'm meditating regularly. I haven't achieved any kind of oneness. Yeah. You've heard it's good. Yeah. I mean, I think that, in fact, I stopped believing in God. I went from agnostic to just I don't know what I was. I just couldn't.

When did that happen? Well, the thing that led to it was I took a lot of theology classes in college. At Hanover? Yeah. Yeah, because I was actually, you know, there were people trying to get me to become a minister. Oh, really? And I was considering it. Who were those people?

Well, someone from my church. They knew you had charisma. The minister. They knew you could hold the audience. They're like, we need this guy. Well, I did a sermon when I was 17. And then I did another one when I was at Hanover College and in fact, this is kind of bizarre,

but Mike Pence was two years older at the same school at Hanover and he was the guy who kind of led me through it. Oh, really? He mentored you through your sermon? Mentored me through it, yes. Mike Pence did. Mike Pence. The frightening vice president.

Yes. Was he frightening then? No no not at all just a guy i we weren't buddies or anything right but uh you know he was very religious yeah oh he was so that he was the guy who kind of headed that it was kind of i don't know like for students oh huh wanting right religious thing right the really christian club very christian right yeah and uh but then you know the more i studied theology the more i realized how man made the bible was you know and it was it became very obvious uh and especially if you compare like Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, you find that, you know, like the last one that was written was John, which was maybe 80 years after the death of Christ. Yeah. I think Luke maybe was like 20 years. I don't remember.

This has been a long time since I studied this stuff, but you find out that probably Luke is the one with the most relevance toward the other validity if you compare it to the other chapters. Right. And then John is a little more, I am the way, the truth, and the light. Now, I stopped believing for a long time ago that Jesus was the son of God. believing for a long time ago that jesus was the son of god yeah i think i thought he was just an extremely evolved uh you know person right i believe he sure i think he lived yeah and i i think he had tremendous influence obviously but uh i didn't think i didn't think him saying i'm the son of the god he i think he meant we're all children of sure sure and we all

and he said you know like the miracles i do you can do also so right i always felt like uh there was something not quite right about declaring him god right and he had a problem with these guys who were like hey i wonder if i can still make a little something off this jesus story i know he's been dead a while but i knew a guy that knew him and right so that's what sort of tipped you to the fact that this was a male a construction of humans is that those books were written so long after he died there had to be a little bit of hucksterism involved well also there was a lot of influence by the what the the Nicene Council of the early church. Yeah. Where they were.

Sure. They they'd say, for example, it was the way it was originally written. There was one angel outside the tomb when Jesus rose. Yeah. But in Jewish law at the time, it had you had to have two witnesses for a thing to be a valid legal you know occurrence so they change it to two you know these are even if they're angels yeah even if they're angels but it's gotta be two but i'm saying the the when they're discussing this stuff in the nice thing they're they're they're slightly manipulating things to make it a little more

kosher you Of course. Right, right, right. When I started to understand, oh, it's not exactly every literal word that came from the mouth of God. John or Mark. When you realized it wasn't journalism, that Bible wasn't. It wasn't God journalism. Yeah, right. It was more, you know, anyway. People constructing this story.

All right, but you never lost the desire to have faith in something. Yeah, that's true. You just moved it around. Well, I did because at the time that all this transpired toward the end of my college career and as I moved to New York City, it was more convenient for my religion to be hedonism. Funny how things work out. You just eased into another sort of more exciting belief system. Tried to make up for lost time.

Could you imagine that, though, Woody, if you'd just been closer to Pence and gone that way, where you'd be now? Oh, like gone into politics or something? Politics or just more Jesus. Oh, yeah, gone to become a minister. I'd probably be a minister of a wonderful flock in Hawaii. And you would have somehow worked weed into it somehow. Well, that's the Rastafarian part.

Yeah, yeah. A weird hybrid of Presbyterian Rastafarian. Yeah, it'd be good. And vegan. So you're just going to reinvent a hippie commune and be a cult leader. It's not a bad idea. You can do it. Just have my own church.

Yeah, why don't you just pull in the Zombieland fans? If you could mix the zombies and the herb. I mean, I tell you, it all makes sense. Yeah, it's going. So you go to New York from Indiana to pursue acting? Well, we went down to Houston to work construction for me and my buddy Clint. So the reason I ended up going to New York because my best buddy at college, Clint Allen, he auditioned for Juilliard.

And he told me before he auditioned, if I get it, will you come to New York, be my roommate? And then we had another roommate, Rob. And so the three of us ended up living on 51st Street there between 8th and 9th Street. He got into Juilliard, that guy. He got into Juilliard. Did he make it through? Because I had a slow plan. No, he went two years, and then he did a Broadway play for like a year and a half, so he kind of exited.

Is he still in the game? No, now he lives in Minnesota, and he got completely out of the game to go and raise his kids because his wife at the time was from Minnesota. And I got to say, I look at his life kind of admiringly. Oh, dude. When you see people that get out of the- It's pretty great, his life.

When you see people get out of this fucking delusionary business with some grace, it's like, there was a time where I think when you're younger, you're like, couldn't hack it. But now you're like, it must be great that you got out and live a normal life. Look at you. I know. And, you know, but I mean, I have, I love my life. No, of course.

I know what you're saying. But I also look at his and I say, well, geez, it's at least equally great. Of course. You know, like I might get to meet lots of people that people would want to meet. Sure. But in terms of just a day-to-day great life with friends. Yeah.

That's pretty groovy. Yeah, because a lot of times we get to meet all these people, but, you know, it doesn't mean we're necessarily hanging out all the time. Right. We meet cool people, but you're like, okay, that was good. I met that guy, and now I'm going to go back home. I mean, there's a lot of people who are going to be very envious I got to meet you. Oh, I think that goes both ways. That's very nice of you to say.

It's true, man. You're great, dude. I love what you do, and I love your passion and your conviction and the things you care about and the way you just speak your mind. It's beautiful, dude. Thank you, man. You know, it's a weird thing to feel compelled to do that. There was a moment, especially now,

where you're sort of like, we kind of have to. We don't know what's going to happen, but if we don't do it, you want to be one of those people? At least, like, you spoke up for fuck's sake. Yeah. I mean, you want to be one of those people? At least, like, you spoke up for fuck's sake. Yeah. I mean, you definitely do. You always have. It's like that thing where Papillon says,

30 years from now, when your grandson's on your knee and he asks you, what did you do in the great World War II, you won't have to say, well, I shoveled shit in Louisiana. That was from Patton? Yeah, and it's him giving a speech to these uh george c scott yeah george c scott and and but the point is we don't want to have to say you know when there's not a tree left and there's no such thing as snow and it's just fucking blazing hot at all times, and we're just dying off. You know, we don't want to say we didn't do anything. At the very least, right, you want to be like, we tried.

You know, we did what we could. Well, it's like this girl here, Greta. Yeah. You know, like I honestly, I'm pointing to my shirt. I have her picture on my shirt like I I feel like Greta Thunberg is probably I used to say to myself who's gonna save us who's gonna come and be the modern Martin Luther King and gonna really just change things yeah and turns out to be a 16 year old girl with Asperger's from Sweden you know like, like this girl is really making a difference.

So, you know, I like to think it won't be, we aren't all just lemmings, you know, heading toward the sea to jump off the cliff, but it feels that way. But I think maybe we'll make a, hopefully, a gradual U-turn. Yeah, I hope so. I do hope so uh you know there there it's weird that what i struggle with not even on my in my stage show right now is that is that in order to make the u-turn or at least in order to to sort of have a sensibility a logical response to it is we have to accept where we're at now in a way like and see it at

the very least you know instead of like you know just sort of like just entertaining ourselves or being distracted and being like you know trying to put it it's real what is happening is real yeah so that's the hardest thing i think for most people is to sort of prioritize as opposed to just sort of like i don't know is that is that important i can't think about that right now. I have to go to yoga. You know, like, the world is ending. Yeah, but yoga's good. Yeah, okay, they can coexist,

but we have to do something about the other thing. Well, but I totally get that as well because how many times I've just been like so, my mind is so overstimulated and so freaked out by everything that's going on. I'm like, I just got to smoke a fatty and just forget about this. Yeah, no, I get that. I get that. So I get that attitude.

But, you know, I look at like, you know, this girl Greta spent like a year, I heard, just like so overwhelmed. Once she knew the information, it's like we all got to get kind of yeah sick with the information before we can you know or something really catastrophic has to happen that's always my fear well that's already happening yeah but it's too slow i i watched this documentary last night which i i actually narrated but it's uh which one it's extraordinary it It's called Kiss the Ground. Yeah. And Josh and Rebecca Tickle directed it. But it talks about the relationship of the soil to global warming because the soil, the fact that there's so much desertification in our world, like a third of the world. We've turned it to desert. Just these incredible practices of the way we kill the soil and all of the pesticides and everything.

It's just so destructive to where we denature the soil and we kill all the microbes and things like that. This documentary is fucking great. I didn't know. It I just did that yeah but I you know I went and saw it last night that's how you learned it's extraordinary I learned a lot by narrating that documentary you learned that was my education but watching it was my education it is it's amazing it's devastating though right? It's devastating, but there is a way out. But the farming practices have got to radically shift.

Right. And if they don't shift, then we're going to make two-thirds of this earth into desert. Yeah. And it's not that far away. Yeah, see, that's the tagline that keeps people from watching things. Right. They don't want to get burned out. It's so funny. Whenever you hear that, like, I watched a documentary last night,

there's a 98% chance that the rest of that is going to be kind of a bummer. Whatever being said. I mean, honestly, even when I told you I'd watch a documentary, I saw your lids just get a little heavy. Oh, God damn. Well, I've watched documentaries, but some of them are just sort of like there's a certain ilk of documentary where it's like, I know I need to know that. But, man, I'm a little sad already. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Luckily, this one doesn't really make me too sad. A little hope. There's a little dash of hope. Yeah, there's a dash of hope. And it's going to change. It's got to change. I'm with you. I'm optimistic right now with you i'm optimistic yeah yeah so all right so let's go through some of this stuff because i want to

know about like uh so you're in new york you did you you did theater in high school but did you train more yeah well i so i did theater all through college and uh i and I also took acting classes. It was really doing those plays that I think really helped me to where I did get an opportunity in New York. So I was in New York 14 months before I got a job, which doesn't seem like long and isn't long in the scheme of things, but I got to say, I was at my wits end. I mean, I was pretty much done. I couldn't keep a job. I had like, I don't know, 17 jobs in a year.

Really? Mostly around restaurants. Runner, busboy, sometimes waiter. You couldn't keep on because you were angry or because you just was like fuck this I just wasn't good at this stuff it just wasn't my cup of tea they'd come over to me and they'd say

someone threw up over on table four go clean that up I'd be like you go clean that up I'm not going to clean that up and I'd get fired a limit to what you would do yeah there was a lot of uh you know eventually i decided i had a fight a bad fight and uh fish fight yeah uh i mean i you know i had a lot of fights especially in new york because someone just looks at you weird i had that

one time where i was just walking down the street one guy looks at me strange i look I look at him, you know, like, why is he looking at me like that? The next thing you know, we're fighting. Yeah. And I mean, literally, not even, no words. Huh. Just let's go. So, but that was at a time when I was more truculent, I guess you'd say. But I did.

A lot of fist fights? I had, I've had, I don't know, a hundred in my life. Really? Yeah. And you're just prone to it? No, there was a time where I did used to enjoy it. I used to enjoy fighting. Just sort of like, you got a problem?

Were you that guy? When I was, I was the guy who would, when I'd see someone bullying someone else, I'd go after that guy. Oh, yeah? You're like a superhero. I just had it in... I think I had it in my mind that I was just some noble. But no, there was nothing noble about it and it was terrible.

Did you ever get busted? What do you mean? Like put in jail for fighting. Uh... No, not really. I'm just talking about one night. There were times where there was a lot of discussion with cops. And there were times where my friends went to jail. Right. You managed to.

I somehow managed to. But anyway. It's the acting acting that's where the acting comes in handy when you're talking to cops that's when you realize but uh so i was so i'd given up and i had this bad fight and in the fight i lost my check my check was 137 dollars that's how much i made in a week yeah and i was at the time I was a short order cook this place called Pershing's in the upper west side yeah on Columbus Avenue in the low 70s and I like that job and I would just yeah I just throw on a burger yeah eggs you know yes nothing hard right and then uh but anyway so

I lost this job I then I lost that money and I I was like, okay, that's it. I'm going home. I give up. I can't do it anymore. And I had managed to luckily get this great agent. So she said, Marsha Bonin. And she said, well, let me send you on one more audition. And I said, okay. well, let me send you on one more audition.

And I said, okay. It's for a Neil Simon play, Biloxi Blues, but it's for the understudy. The parts are all cast. And I said, okay. But I'm leaving. I already had my date set. To go back to Texas?

No. To Ohio. To Ohio. To Lebanon, Ohio. Anyway, so I got the ticket and everything, and I went on the audition, and then I got a call to come back for a callback, which I went to the callback, and I was leaving two days hence.

And I go to the callback, so the lucky thing was the audition before, Neil Simon just happened to be sitting back in the back of the theater, unbeknownst to me. So that's how I got into the callback. And then in the callback, boom, they hired me. And, I mean, I was elated. I didn't need to be the guy on stage.

I was happy to be the understudy. Yeah. And so luckily I've been working since then. And that kept you in the game that that i stayed well actually uh i stayed in new york and then uh we went to la to uh at the allmanson so that won the tony 1985 yeah and did you ever get to go on and i so six months into it i ended up getting a uh hiatus basically to go do this movie yeah so i didn't go on during that six months uh but i went to do this goldie hawn movie called uh uh oh shit wildcats wildcats that's it wildcats. So I was going to do, I hope Goldie's not listening to this.

But then I, so I did Wildcats and I was going to go back and be on, you know, I'll get to be on Broadway. Because they fired the two guys I was understudying for horsing around on stage with Matthew Broderick, who they didn't fire. And so they were waiting for me to get back. And then it was like I run into this friend of mine. He had gone to my college named Leo Jeter. Yeah. And Leo was a real good actor. And he said, hey, you know, they're auditioning for the show Cheers.

Yeah. They got a part and the part's named Woody. And he's from Indiana, which is where we'd gone to college. And he says, you ought to go try out for it. I said, I don't really want to do, you know. TV. TV. I'm purist.

Theater. So, of course, then I watched it and I, whoa, this is a quality show. So I went in and anyway, I got real lucky. That was it? Got real lucky on that too. You loved working with all those people? Yeah. Because the thing about like.

Loved working with them. Yeah, I've interviewed Ted, he's a great guy. Incredible guy. Really sweet guy, fun guy, you know. So let me ask you just a question just from past news and then I wanna talk about some of the movies because you sort of evolved, like you're a great actor you're you know i always like seeing you and uh yeah i love some of the fucking movies that you you did and like

there are certain really kind of uh like i just i watched that one what i watched recently i watched one with kevin costner and i you know you were great in that the true detective was great i mean you're always very good and that you you know how to do it and go deep and show up. And it's amazing. Thanks, man. But in looking at some of the other stuff in your story, how did you, like, because you sort of evolved into this, you know, environmentalist, and you're politically active, and you're outspoken, and you take action.

And, you know, how did this all evolve? How did your father's situation play into it, like in terms of how you integrated that into your own life? Does that make sense? My father did the one thing he'd always try to stress with me is keep an open mind. So I tried not to close my mind. I still pretty much keep it open.

Yeah. So that was it. I think that was helpful. Yeah. But like, you know, his situation, was that hard to grow up with, obviously? Yeah. I mean, you know, it would be nice to be able to hug your father as opposed to talk to him on a telephone through glass.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. So he was in jail your whole life pretty much? From when I was seven on. Yeah. He was out for a little while my senior year in high school. So I got to see him, but he was only out for a little while my senior year in high school. Yeah. So I got to see him, but he was only out like a year and then went back. Yeah, yeah.

And never came out again. Did you, like, do you, I guess I'm just sort of, because you play a lot of kind of like morally dubious roles. Oh, yeah. You know what I mean? That's true. And, you know, there are just times where i wonder how much a personal life like assessing you you know sort of you know what you come from and how because i mean your father was in jail for a real reason it wasn't you know he wasn't set up or anything right

well i'd say there were some questionable uh uh things that the government did, but you don't want to go against the government. You don't tend to win. Is that what happened? I've had several things where I'm going against the government. And you feel the... You pay a lot of money to lawyers, and you just do not ever win.

Really? Including with my dad but um yeah i you know i it was uh you know it's just my you know it's not something where you think oh my god woe is me right terrible you know i just it was just a fact of my life you know sure yeah oh yeah yeah absolutely i i guess there's like i wonder you know when you're creating stuff like you know how much because like when i do it my like my dad's got mental and emotional problems and they're they're some somehow they're in me a little bit too and when i have to do that kind of work it's sort of right there you know i can

you know i don't have to go too far to find it. I'm not happy about that, but it's there, you know? Yeah, yeah. So when you start doing real kind of like these roles, especially like Natural Born Killers and shit, I mean, like, what do you got to tap to get to that place? Well, you know, that's interesting because this just happens to be the 25th anniversary of Natural Born Killers. And tonight at the Egyptian Theater, I'm going to watch it, which you're welcome to come. Oh, wow. If you want, I'll get you one or two tickets, whatever you want. And it'll be, we'll do a Q&A afterward with Oliver and Juliet.

Really? Yeah. Oh, that's wild. John Murphy. When was the last time you watched that thing? I haven't seen it since it came out, I think, 93. I haven't seen it since then. So that was when Cheers went off the air.

Yeah. Was when, no, no, I'm totally wrong. That was when we shot it, right after Cheers went off the air. Then I started on NBK. Yeah. What was coming out at that time was Indecent Proposal. That's right. So we finished that. So it probably came out the next year like 94 yeah but right because 25 years so um uh yeah so

i don't know i feel like um i studied all of the freaking psychos i studied them all yeah and uh i really eerily grotesquely got into their skin a little bit yeah i didn't i didn't like it i didn't like the person i was yeah you know i did i remember being at a this is back when you could smoke inside a restaurant and stuff and i remember grabbing someone's cigar and freaking putting it out in this restaurant in Paris. I mean, my mindset was extremely volatile at that time. In terms of the kind of work you do to get into demanding roles, do you always do that much research? I mean, do you really sort of try to, you know?

No, I mean, I would say I've been lazy sometimes. I like to think I'll never be lazy again because I hate myself when I'm lazy and I don't do the kind of work. Well, you know how it is. You want to deliver the best you can. But we're also getting old and it's nice to... Nice to just skate.

That's funny no I no I I honestly you just search for clues I guess right so yeah so you found yourself

kind of in the mire this sort of like the mire of the insanity the psychopathic insanity yeah how long did it take you to shake it

that took man that took a good yeah The psychopathic insanity. Yeah. How long did it take you to shake it? That took, man, that took a good close to a year, I would say. Yeah. Before I felt, you know, I don't have that shadow. In you. Well, I still got a little shadow. A little shadow. It's always there.

It's always going to be there now. You just kind of keep it quiet, right? Yeah. And working with Oliver, was that crazy? It was wild, man. Oliver, you know, I'm going to see him tonight, so I got to be careful what I say. Who knows?

He's probably got spies listening. But, you know, he was actually great to work with yeah i really feel like i mean it's pretty obvious he's right brilliant sure but you know he'd do things like so we have this one scene that's outside of this pharmacy that's this wildly lit pharmacy and and there's this glass all the way in front of it and so the you know my characters supposed to they they've captured mallory played by juliet lewis and so i'm kind of already pretty upset but i have to run along the other side of these windows and there's all these cop cars out front and they just are firing at me and so all of the windows you know get destroyed and uh you know so it was a major reset so uh you know oliver comes up

this will take an hour and a half to reset don't fuck it up rolling i'm like that's my pep talk. Come on. Well, he was wild to work with. But, you know, quite brilliant. And really also very, you know, he liked other people's ideas. Collaborative. Yeah, very collaborative. And we tried all kinds of stuff. And, you know, Downey, just so great, the shit he would come up with. And Juliet was doing things that I just thought, you know,

when I watched it later, I was like, absolutely amazing. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Just such great, great acting. And it always felt like the whole movie just always felt like right on the edge of chaos. Like it was just. Yeah. Now, I think wasn't even, didn't he even use Rodney Dangerfield? Did he use Rodney Dangerfield?

And wasn't there like a movie within the, wasn't there like a sitcom within the, wasn't that Rodney? Was it Rodney? Yeah, yeah. He tried all kinds of wild stuff. That was a trip, man. Yeah, and so like it's almost like it becomes a sitcom yeah right and rodney was juliet's father uh father and uh it's like satire elements you know like yeah yeah satire and that that section's pretty wild pretty cool actually

yeah it shows back to when Mallory and Mickey first met. But, you know, all of it was a satire, and really it was kind of pointing a finger at the media, saying the media creates these phenomenons, you know. Yeah, that seems true, more true now than ever, really. And, yeah, I mean, this phenomenon of our president is a really wild one, man. It is a wild phenomenon. And, you know, people think of him like, you know, someone just, you know, sometimes I play chess online, but I don't know the person I'm playing.

They don't know me, but they see I'm from America. You love chess? They're asking me. i love you play no okay and uh i'm not deep enough man and uh it's it's not about depth it's just about you know entertaining oneself but you're good at it um i'm pretty good yeah good yeah would you have to learn, it's sort of you learn patterns, right? You have to, like there's patterns, there's a series of moves. Yeah, you can learn openings and things like that, but the point I was gonna make is that the guy was like, oh, so, American, what do you think of Trump?

He's an imbecile. Well, some people have this collective opinion, I'd say, abroad, right, about Trump as an imbecile, as well as a lot of people here, I won't say my opinion, I'd say, abroad, right? Oh, sure, yeah. About Trump as an imbecile, as well as a lot of people here. I won't say my opinion, but I'll say this. I'll say this. Trump, the reason you can't just discount him, in spite of, obviously, his endurance, is the fact that he's doing everything that the big money people want

you want more fracking here's more fracking you want to drill off the you're there you want to drill in alaska yeah okay absolutely pharmaceuticals yeah let me help you you know he's helping all the big money people and those are the people running the show right so we think it's like you know first of all we're the only country the only democratic country where the person who gets the most votes doesn't necessarily win only one in the world yeah and he's accommodating big money he's accommodating religious fanatics and he's just keeping everyone else fighting and insane uh yeah i think that's a fair estimate divide and conquer tribalize you know you know but yeah but

the power of propaganda like who knew the mind was so soft i mean there's a lot of people that are brain fucked and they're not coming back it's fucking over dude it does seem that the mind is particularly here in america is very malleable malleable is the right word. But anyway, so I worry that even if he, again, doesn't get the popular vote, the way all this redistricting and, you know. Gerrymandering. Let's put like, you know, a million black votes in this district. So that only counts this much. Move it around. You know, whatever it is to make sure that they don't.

Well, not unlike the environment, there's a lot of work that needs to be chipped away at after Republicans have been diligently reworking districts and doing everything they can to undermine the system for 30 years, while we were sort of like, you know, a lot of us were kind of doing yoga and enjoying eight years of Obama. You really have a thing against people who do yoga. Oh, my God, these people are just horrible the way they don't pay attention and you're doing yoga it's important and i know it's important did you

ever meet trump did you like did you ever do functions with yeah no i did i had a dinner with them one time because uh uh you know um what's his name uh governor of uh minnesota uh at one point uh wrestler uh ventura jesse jesse ventura yeah sorry my brain obviously someone robbed my memory bank it keeps getting worse and so yeah it's uh i don't think i'm helping but i but so jesse ventura, he called me and he says, I'm coming to New York because I was there. Yeah. And I'm having dinner with Trump. Yeah. And he's going to try to convince me to be his vice presidential running mate.

Right. On the Democratic ticket for the 2004 election. This is in 2002. Yeah. So I sat through that dinner. Yeah. Yeah. Stupid dude. That was...

You didn't say it? You realize how a second can be fast, or a second can just feel like forever. You realize that... It was a squirmy second. Oh, my God. I was so... It's just that he just wants to talk about himself, and he does continually.

And the things I read that he says, it's almost like a God complex. It's a sickness. There's a sickness to it. There's a pathological self-centeredness that's, yeah. Yeah, it's a real issue. But I did Conan. I was on Conan O'Brien, and he was the other guest. And I just remember this was back in the 90s, you know, in New York. And, you know, I was the second guest, and we were both in our dressing rooms. And Frank, the segment producer, goes, you want to meet Trump?

And I was like, nah, nah. Like, even then, I'm like, I don't need to. So and i was like no no like like even then i'm like i don't need to so what was he like on the show do you remember were you there when he was on he was one of the you know a reliable clown you know back then for all of them for stern and conan and all the shows in new york they're like get that weird kind of like like self-centered rich guy to come be his weird self he's a clown yeah i mean i but i do think it's a dangerous thing to just paint him as a clown because i'm not really i know he's getting a lot done yeah in the wrong way and i don't understand that's what he was you know what he is now he is now. No, I get what you're saying. But I'm just saying, like, a lot of my friends look at him as this clown.

You got to take him seriously because he's. Yeah, because it's happening, man. He understands business and he's doing everything. Like we say, he's a business guy working for bigger businessmen and he's doing everything they want. He understands how to work up morons into a fucking rabid you know all the uh the speeches sometimes oh my god come on man but let's say let's not get down too far down that rabbit hole let's get out of that rabbit hole we started with the satire of the media causing like that natural born killers because uh but okay so i guess the other question is in

terms of like just some of the more career stuff so in order to do natural born killers because uh but okay so i guess the other question is in terms of like just some of the more career stuff so in order to do natural born killers you submerge yourself into the insanity of of those who have came before you in the psychopathic killing realm now when you did when you work with milosh yeah so you actually had to you spent time with larry flint he was available a lot of time with them because and i studied him and i read everything everything he'd all of the little uh things in front of the hustlers he'd write a little yeah uh forget just from the editor-in-chief you know like a and i and and put a lot of those little snippets from that into the script. Did he, as a person, sort of influence the way you approach your life?

Yes, he did. Because he was so bold and so he would get arrested without thinking about it. And I'd never, well, I guess I'd been arrested prior to that, but I never thought to go do, like, then I went and climbed the Golden Gate Bridge and got arrested. I knew I was going to get arrested. Yeah. Or other actions that I knew I was going to get arrested. For a cause.

Yeah, but I was more in the Larry Flint. If I hadn't played that part, I never would have done that. I was disinclined to want to ever get arrested. Right. So the idea of civil disobedience being an important way to carry and convey a message at the risk of being arrested, that was just a minor liability to making a statement that needed to be made. Right. Yeah.

And you learned that from Larry directly. Yeah, learned that from Larry. Yeah. And I still that from Larry directly. Yeah, learned that from Larry. Yeah. And I still, I love Larry. I think he's an incredible guy. I don't know why he doesn't just sell off all that stuff and be done with it. He's still involved?

Oh, yeah. Big time. Still in it. Oh, yeah. Yeah. But he's just a great business mind. He's involved. I think he's just a great business mind. You know, he's involved. I think he has 32 different publications.

I know there's a lot of, we've upset some Christians today, but now talking glowingly about. Yeah, you're going to upset Christians and women. It's one that you get a double header with him. Oh, my God. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Anyway, I think he's an incredible guy because he's so honest and so unafraid to say exactly what he's thinking. Yeah, I think no matter what it is, he definitely was one of those guys like, you know, there is a it's a different time now. But I think that what he was fighting for in terms of, you know, freedom of speech and freedom of expression and what it means, what the Constitution means and not to be fucked with. You know, he definitely had his time and was important, you know?

Yeah, absolutely. I mean, I don't I think all the pornography stuff is unfortunate. I don't I'm not a big believer in that. I think it's very detrimental both to the people doing it and to the people reading it. I just think it's – I don't think it's great. Now, there's some people who are holed up in their house, and they're never going to meet anybody. For those people, I could see how it would be helpful. Give the n- incels porn.

They're out in Glendale. You know, they're up in the top. I think if you frame it like anything else that gets you off, you know, you can't go too far with it. That's true. It's true. Yeah, of course. You know, you're getting off on it, literally. So if you're spending, let's say, upwards of three to 30 hours a week with porn,

maybe shift to it. Make some changes. But working with Foreman was amazing in terms of he sounds like a pretty amazing director, that guy. He was incredible, man. He just made you feel like he was like a father figure who just loved you and gave you first thing in the morning, big hug. Oh, yeah? Woody, come here, big hug. Today we're going to try.

It doesn't matter. You do this. You do what you want. He was so open and and yeah but brilliant i mean yeah boy that guy knows how to put together a film and and you know some of my favorite films you know sure and i guess it's weird when you shoot a movie you don't you don't always know what you're gonna get at the end i mean even if it feels good on set you're like i don't know how is he gonna put that together yeah yeah the whole thing with uh oh my god i loved the the way larry flint turned out uh yeah you know amadeus cuckoo's nest i mean he's a master well yeah i mean he's he's passed but uh

i still i think of him all the time yeah and what about those farrelly brothers oh i love those guys that movie that movie is so fucking insane, dude. Oh, the Kingpin. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh, my God. I love that movie. You know, it's ironic because when I first saw the movie,

and it's unfortunate, and as an actor, I think you can attest to this. Sometimes you shouldn't see the movie with anybody else around because the first time I saw it yeah i i don't know there were other people around and uh there were a lot of people from fox yeah i don't know i i just was thinking of all the shit that got cut out and i just said right at the end of it i just stood up and walked out the door yeah and in a huff yeah and because you were mad? I was mad, and I didn't think it was good, and I didn't talk to Petey for another year and a half.

Oh, really? Pete Fairley. Yeah. And then my daughter, I have a 13-year-old, but someone gave me this wild gift, which really showed me how much shit I'd done, which was they gave me like a grocery bag full for it for i don't know christmas or birthday of everything i'd done yeah including

on dvd or whatever cheers yeah all dvds yeah back when those were relevant yes but you know it was amazing how much stuff was in there but anyway i, I threw it on the floor. I took out Natural Born Killers and some of them. And then I said to my daughter, this is a few years back, I said, you know, is there anything you want to watch? And she pointed to Kingpin. Well, now I hadn't watched it. And Petey had said to me after we'd started talking again, just watch it again. Give it another chance. And I hadn't.

And so she got me to watch it. This is probably like, I don't know, three years ago or something. And so we watched Kingpin, and I was like, damn, that's a good movie. It's so funny. Such great art. They're great. The heart in those movies and the comedy, all of their movies are just phenomenal. Well, that tone of just like, you know, is gonna happen to this guy yeah that must be a fun thing to play just to sort of like oh god oh yeah

it was so fun man great working with those guys what was the other one that i was thinking about for classic moments forever is when in No Country for Old Men where you know he's going to kill you. Oh, yeah. You're just sitting in that chair. Sitting in the chair. Yeah, I thought that was – I remember Javier was so –

the stuff he was doing was just so odd. I thought, I wonder if he's got a real handle on this. Then I watch it later and it's just brilliant. Oh, because when you're in the room with it, you're like. Yeah, it's like he's got this thing, this little net around his hair. So he takes it off before the thing and keeps his hair in a certain kind of. And then the way he's talking is kind of very flat, monotone-ish. And I just say, what the hell? Yeah, because there's part of you thinking like,one ish and i just say what the hell yeah because

there's part of you thinking like how is this going to be anything but ridiculous right well i i don't know if i thought ridiculous but i didn't know if it would totally anyway uh of course you watch it later and it's just literally horrifying but uh and horrifying yeah and i watched wilson too i like that book that was good, thank you. I love that movie. Yeah. Well, I like the book. It's such a weird thing to make. Like, what makes you decide to do a movie like that?

Like, you know, because it seems like you can do whatever you want, and you do huge movies. I mean, Christ, The Hunger Games. I mean, so a little movie comes in. Is that something you do for fun, or you want to help, or you think it's a good script? Well, you know, it's interesting. I've gotten so many films that I've got for fun or you want to help or you think it's a good script? Well, you know, it's interesting. I've gotten so many films that I got to say, you know, these films I know for a fact no one's going to see.

You know, like I can read it and be just utterly certain no one will see this movie. Right. And, you know, like I could sit here and list off a bunch of them. Yeah. But then there's a part of me that says it doesn't matter. It's important to do what you think could end up being a great movie. Yeah. And I thought Wilson turned out amazing.

I loved it. It's such an interesting, quirky comedy. But, of course, nobody saw that. quirky you know yeah comedy uh but of course nobody saw that and you know it depends on the distribution which at the time fox fox 2000 didn't feel like uh shall we say revving up the engines for that one no they just sort of slipped it out there and see what it do it on its own well i got even fox 2000's gone no i shouldn't said that that. That's terrible. Oh, you were in that Out of the Furnace movie. Sorry, I'm just being that kind of interviewer.

Yeah, Out of the Furnace. Because I remember that's the boxing, weird hillbilly boxing movie. Is that what that one was? Yeah, that was a wild movie. Well, I met that guy Scott Cooper on a plane. Yes, that guy is amazing. He is amazing. Amazing amazing director yeah just and you

know he's an actor he's like you yeah he's a renaissance man yeah he does a lot of shit he is that that guy is he's one of those guys who just no matter what's going on he will forge he'll push through and he will make this thing great. He hasn't done anything but great. I think that's true. I think he does it well. He definitely has a style, and he definitely takes chances, and it feels like one of those 70s dudes.

Yeah, exactly. Like, we're going to fucking make this movie no matter what. In fact, I know I came and visited him. He was in Sanfe, and he was doing the movie, starts with an H. Hostages or hostiles? Hostiles. Yeah, yeah. Because I wanted to say hostages.

Yeah, hostiles. I like that movie. Yeah, I thought it was amazing. But they were right in the season. Yeah. And when there'd be a lightning strike, from the time of the lightning strike, 30 minutes before they could do anything. Yeah, right. If there was a lightning strike, from the time of the lightning strike, 30 minutes before they could do anything. Yeah, right.

If there was a lightning strike. Right. And then they'd maybe get 10 minutes after that, boom, another lightning strike. You've got to wait 30 minutes. Stop another 30. And they're out on the plains or whatever? And out on the plains up there above Santa Fe. And I mean, I know he was having such a hard time, but he made that movie and it's amazing.

And then this was three billboards. Was that something he thought was going to be like that or no? Or, you know, that was going to be a big deal. Well, I had no way to know. But Martin McDonough is someone no matter what he asked me to do ever. Yeah, I'll do it. Yeah. No matter what it asked me to do ever yeah i'll do it yeah no matter what it is yeah and

in fact so years before so i became kind of obsessed with i started reading these uh irish playwrights yeah he's kind of english but he's really irish. Anyway, I read all of his plays, and then I went to Dublin, and then I got a hold of him, and I said, I'd love to meet you. And so he came over from London. And anyway, we had the best time, and we've been friends ever since. So then later I was in London doing a play, and I like to think I kind of influenced him to work with the guy I was working with doing that play, who's John Crowley, who's an incredible director. I don't know if you know of him.

Theater director? Amazing. Yeah. Yeah, but theater, but then has done movies now. So he worked with him on his next play which was the pillow man yeah and he asked me to do the part in there that i uh billy crudup ended up doing it but i just i read the pillow man i said well the darkness has finally overcome the light he always has this incredible balance in his plays and yeah and, so I didn't do it.

Then I went and saw it later, and I was like, masterpiece. One of the greatest things I've ever seen on stage. You know, after that, I was like, anything you ever want me to do, I'm in. So I didn't know with the three billboards how, and then, you know, when I saw it, I just happened to be in London, and I got a text from him. He says, hey, I just did it, you know, i saw it i i just happened to be in london and i got a text from him he says hey i just did it you know uh it's not finished but do you want to come up and i so i found my way there and uh it was i just saw it on a little screen a little computer screen yeah it was like oh my god oh my god this is amazing i thought it was just mind-blowing how good it was yeah

and i thought yeah finally martin mcdonough is like the third coen brother yeah he is so great now yeah and great cast working with sam was good yeah and uh great love sam love yeah yeah have you ever worked with him we're working together on an animated thing now. Oh, are you? Yeah. Oh, great. I can't talk about it. I just realized. That's good.

Well, I'll ask him then. Yeah, it just started. We just did a day where we were kind of working off each other. Like I play, we're like best pals. Oh. It's an animated trip. That's good. He's a sweet guy.

You know, he's a real generous actor guy. He's a sweetheart. And McDormand Francis is like, that's intense. Yeah, he's good. He's a sweet guy. He's a real generous actor guy. He's a sweetheart. And McDormand Francis is like, that's intense. She's amazing. You seem to be, like, there seems to be a theme in some of these characters where you're just sort of like this, you know, like life is kind of weighed down on you. Weighed down on you, yeah. Like, even in The True Detective, that was fucking great.

Did you love doing that? yeah like even in that in the true detective that was fucking great oh thanks um i didn't love doing it as much as i loved it when i saw it right because at the time it was insanely long hours uh yeah i'm not gonna get into movie star blues and right right sure be flat minor or anything but i i will say uh and also and also Matthew was pissing me off because he was always in character and he would do shit that I just, I wanted to hit him. He knows this, so I don't care if he hears this.

He knows this. And it was just him being in character, being in that character. But then, you know, ultimately when I saw it, I was super sad about it. Well, how often does that happen when you work with people because you're not like staying character all the time guy no no i don't i don't do that yeah as soon as the take's done i'm like just let's tell jokes and fuck around have some food uh have some food uh but you know i take it seriously i just don't i don't i don't necessarily feel like i need to just stay if you need to do if you don't need to do that you don't need to do

that and when the highwayman i thought was sort of an interesting movie because that's another movie where you're like oh here we yeah gotta go to work again gotta go do this and it but but what about uh like when you work with someone like cosner is that like comfortable yeah actually uh you know he's he's a real professional i mean he told me when i'm not working he says i think about this like 15 hours a day really and and uh whatever he's working whatever movie's coming out when he's working and i mean he's working, whatever movie's coming out. Even when he's working. I mean, he's just thinking about it. And I thought, well, now, that's obviously quite an exaggeration for a fact. And then I realized, as I'm working with him, he does think about it all the time.

Like, he really. The role. It just, well, just the whole thing. You know, like how the scene will play out or what should be the prop in this. Or, you know know does that make sense here you know what i mean like he's just constantly thinking about so he was a real professional i liked working with him uh and and you know what was cool about that yes you know how netflix doesn't necessarily reveal how many people see things but they did let us know that in the first month 40 million households saw

that really in one month so they say no one ever watches alone so that's at least two people so that's 80 million people in a month yeah like more than almost everything i've done combined you know what i mean well that's an exaggeration but it really was right oh my God. You know, and now I don't want to be one of these guys who, you know, like I understand this concept of the death of cinema. You know what I mean? I think that it could very well be, certainly things have shifted markedly because of Amazon and Netflix. But on the other hand, I don't know.

If that's the way things are going, we got to figure out how to get on. But we don't ever want there not to be a time where people go to the cinema. Sure, go to the movies. Yeah, I went to the movies last night. Oh, what'd you go to see? The Breaking Bad movie, the new one with Aaron Paul.

You're kidding. Yeah, El Camino. They did it. They did a premiere last night. Of Breaking Bad? It's called El Camino. And it's more following his character. It's right after. It picks up right when Aaron Paul is driving away.

Oh, I have to see that immediately. Yeah, I know. Yeah, it's good. It's good. Great, great. Yeah, it's going to be on Netflix on Friday. Oh, I know. Yeah. It's good. It's good. Great, great. Yeah. It's going to be on Netflix on Friday. Oh, it's a Netflix movie. Yeah.

Okay. Yeah. So you saw it at the cinema. Yeah. Yeah. I saw it at that one in Westwood. You know, what is it? The Rialto?

That old one. Right. Right? Oh, that's a nice movie. Yeah, yeah. And they were all there. I get excited when I see the celebrities. They get excited when they see you too. They get excited when they see you, too.

Yeah, they do sometimes. I like GLOW, by the way. Thank you very much. I love GLOW. It's fun, right? Wild World. It's so good. They do it really well.

Really, really cool. But I will say I love this, though. I love that you still do this out of your house here in Glendale. I'm glad you came by. I think we did good. It's great talking with you, man. Good talking to you. Good luck with everything, and have fun in Hawaii, man.

I think, do you ever get a feeling like, I mean, I'm a little neurotic, but do you ever kind of get freaked out that you're in the middle of the ocean, just on an island? It's not like I'm just floating out there, a little floaty. No, I know, but I've had moments on Kauai where I'm like, an island it's not like i'm just floating out there a little floaty no i know but like like i've had moments on kawaii where i'm like we're far away man and it's a little island and if the water comes up we're fucked oh well yeah you worry sometimes about that but honestly i worry more being on the mainland it's like we look at like someone said to my wife one time are you looking

forward to getting back to the real world? And she was like, oh, no, this is the real world. Because I really feel like in Maui, that's how life should be. That's true. It's gotten a little scary. You put on your swim trunks. You go pick a fruit off the tree. And then you head down to the water.

I mean, that's how life should be. God damn it. I think you're right. All right. I'll meet you down there. Hey, Ken, Mike. Great talking to you, man. You too. Okay, Woody Harrelson, Zombieland Double Tap,

in theaters tomorrow, Friday, October 18th. Yeah, go to WTFpod.com for tickets to the Nashville show or the Atlanta show or the Masonic in San Francisco and all other things. You can go to the merch too and get stuff. Okay, I've hooked up a new box.

It's not a new box. It's an old box. It's kind of a repeater thing. I'm kind of digging around in the boxes. Oh, you guys, enjoy enjoy here's some three chords Thank you. Thank you. Boomer lives! Thank you. bonus podcast episode where I talked to an actual cannabis producer. I wanted to know how a producer becomes licensed, how a cannabis company competes with big corporations, how a cannabis company markets its products in such a highly regulated category, and what the term dignified consumption actually means. I think you'll find the answers interesting and surprising.

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