Mark Bell's Power Project - EP. 519 - Young Rock's Bret Azar

Episode Date: May 5, 2021

Brett Azar is an American stunt-man and actor who has been featured in films such as Terminator: Genisys, Central Intelligence, and is currently playing the “IRON SHEIK” in NBC’s ‘Young Rock�...� series. Bretty Azar went to the University of Rhode Island where he studied Theatre and Film. His impressive 6’2” 265lb physique helped land him the role as Arnold’s motion capture stunt double in Terminator: Genisys. Subscribe to the NEW Power Project Newsletter! ➢ https://bit.ly/2JvmXMb Subscribe to the Podcast on on Platforms! ➢ https://lnk.to/PowerProjectPodcast Special perks for our listeners below! ➢LMNT Electrolytes: http://drinklmnt.com/powerproject ➢Piedmontese Beef: https://www.piedmontese.com/ Use Code "POWERPROJECT" at checkout for 25% off your order plus FREE 2-Day Shipping on orders of $99 ➢Sling Shot: https://markbellslingshot.com/ Enter Discount code, "POWERPROJECT" at checkout and receive 15% off all Sling Shots Follow Mark Bell's Power Project Podcast ➢ Insta: https://www.instagram.com/markbellspowerproject ➢ https://www.facebook.com/markbellspowerproject ➢ Twitter: https://twitter.com/mbpowerproject ➢ LinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/in/powerproject/ ➢ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/markbellspowerproject ➢TikTok: http://bit.ly/pptiktok FOLLOW Mark Bell ➢ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/marksmellybell ➢ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MarkBellSuperTraining ➢ Twitter: https://twitter.com/marksmellybell ➢ Snapchat: marksmellybell ➢Mark Bell's Daily Workouts, Nutrition and More: https://www.markbell.com/ Follow Nsima Inyang ➢ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nsimainyang/ Podcast Produced by Andrew Zaragoza ➢ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/iamandrewz #PowerProject #Podcast #MarkBell

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Starting point is 00:00:00 This episode is brought to you by our friends over at Piedmontese Beef. And Seema, let's tell the people about how we've been getting a little bit leaner lately. You know, it's really, really awesome because with Piedmontese, because there are a lot of their cuts of steak that don't have a crazy amount of fat. They do have some cuts with good amount of fat, right? If you're doing keto or whatever, but if you're trying to diet, they have a lot of great cuts of steaks that are pretty lean. So you can eat multiple steaks, right? And get really full, get a lot of protein, but not to get a crazy amount of fat. So if you're actually trying to diet and get leaner, which has been happening to me,
Starting point is 00:00:34 I've been getting leaner without really trying just because I've been intaking a crazy amount of fat because all I eat is Piedmontese. Yeah. Same here, dude. It's been awesome because, you know, I'll come home and, you know, like, like most people I'll be like pretty, you know, not run down, but you know, enjoy it. And I've, I have been really enjoying it. I've been having a lot of flat iron steaks, a lot of Bovets. And I look in the mirror and I'm like, all right, like what's going on here? Like, you know, I, I've noticed that there's been a change in my physique and it's like, wow, like, okay. Like the scale is not like going
Starting point is 00:01:19 through the roof or anything. I'm enjoying everything I'm doing and I'm looking better doing it. And it's just like, okay, like what's the secret? Like, okay. Like maybe it is Piedmontese. You know, like I,
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Starting point is 00:02:00 And if your order is $99 or more, you get free two-day shipping. Highly recommend it head over there right now maybe he's born with it maybe it's pete montes what up power project crew this is josh setledge aka settlegate here to introduce you to our next guest brett azar brett azar is an american stuntman and actor who has been featured in films such as Terminator Genesis and Central Intelligence and is currently playing the Iron Sheik in NBC's Young Rock series. Brett Azar went to the University of Rhode Island where he studied theater and film. His impressive 6'2", 265-pound physique helped land him the role as Arnold's motion capture stunt double in
Starting point is 00:02:45 the film Terminator Genisys. Brett is also a competitive heavyweight bodybuilder and has competed at the Garden State MPC competition. Brett Izzard is also ranked as the number three worst cook in America. But that is a different story for a different time. Please enjoy this conversation with our guest, Brett Azar. Joe seems pretty interesting. Like, it has The Rock on there now, and he talks about his old days, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Starting point is 00:03:13 Kind of does, like, flashback type stuff. Makes you wonder, because, like, in this show, I think the premise is that he's running for president at the time, and he's going through interviews, and he's talking about his past, then it pans to like what actually happened in his past so it makes you wonder this dude actually gonna think about running for president like four to eight years because he very well could win yes subliminal subliminal yeah get everybody watching young rock get it to 15 seasons and then he runs for president it's the master plan yeah so we're rolling now but yeah just like how uh like falcon and uh winter soldier made you want him to be captain america seems like that show maybe makes people want the rock to run for
Starting point is 00:03:59 president you never know man yeah how are you guys doing today? Good. What? Oh, you got a poop. No, I got, why will end up doing that on this podcast? Um,
Starting point is 00:04:17 there's just certain stories that you don't put on the podcast. You know, I talk about a lot of things on this podcast. It must be really good. It's, there are certain things. Put it out for the newsletter? No.
Starting point is 00:04:26 Oh. Even worse. In letters? Woo. No way. In print? In print? A paper trail?
Starting point is 00:04:36 But yeah, how are you doing today, Mark? Why you got to turn around on me? I'm doing good. I actually got some good sleep. Slept in. Wanted to get my running in this morning. Pause. What is sleeping in for you? Yeah, it wasn't very long. Probably around 6.30 or so. Okay.
Starting point is 00:04:56 Yeah, I woke up around 6.15, 6.30. I don't set my alarm in the morning, so I just kind of wake up when I wake up. Probably woke up about a half an hour later than uh what i've been doing over the last few weeks and i was like i could still go run but i didn't want to try to time crunch it and have it be all screwed up because i run a certain distance and then i was like i'd have to really be moving to kind of get through that in the right amount of time and i'm like I don't have it in me to do that today. So that's kind of the way I treat my running. Those. I just,
Starting point is 00:05:27 when I, there'll be a day where I just don't want to do it and I just don't do it. And I'll get back to it tomorrow. I try to do it five or six days a week so far. So good. But also, so what? Because I haven't been doing it for that long.
Starting point is 00:05:39 You know, it's just been a short period of time. So how's your body feeling with the running? Good. I feel really good. My only thing I'm feeling is every once in a while I feel like my hips be super tight. But staying on top of stretching has been helpful. So I need to continue to do that. I do need to actually stretch my hips more, though.
Starting point is 00:05:58 So that'll be something I need to kind of work out a little bit more. But everything's feeling good. Feeling like a tank. We got Brett on here? Yeah, we're connecting with him right now. No way. Oh, he's got the delts out for the show. Look at this guy. How's it going today?
Starting point is 00:06:19 It's great. Oh! Looked like you just got a pump. It was feeling good a just now yeah right look at that bicep yeah I know I'm surprised it didn't come on here with a stringer it's close enough
Starting point is 00:06:41 right it's kind of a stringer yeah yeah oh yeah it is a stringer yeah there we go it's close enough right it's kind of a stringer yeah yeah oh yeah it is a stringer yeah there we go it's a venice hey you just get done with some training uh this morning nope i just woke up oh there you go just woke up with that pump i like it yeah how long have you been training for and how'd you get into some bodybuilding? In high school, I was an athlete, captain of the football team, captain of the baseball team. So I kind of started lifting that. But then when I got to college, I was trying to pursue theater and acting, but I was still a gym rat.
Starting point is 00:07:27 And the guy who ran the gym at URI asked if I ever wanted to compete. And I was like, well, Arnold has been my hero ever since I was little. So I was like, you mean like Arnold, do the acting and the competing? Yeah, I'd love to. So I started competing when I was 18 and fell in love with competitions and fell in love with the extremes that you can put your body through. And then stuck with acting through college at the same time. So I was like this meathead actor. And then did well competitively,
Starting point is 00:08:00 won a few contests in New York and New Jersey, got to that point where i was gonna go national level and all of a sudden this was this was 10 years ago um my girlfriend at the time ex-girlfriend now had an interview with a modeling agency in new york city and i went with her and the guy was like who are you and i was in shape because i was competing i was like i'm just the boyfriend you assign this and he signed me to the modeling agency whoa that day i could see why it's your And the guy was like, who are you? And I was in shape because I was competing. I was like, I'm just the boyfriend. He goes, sign this. And he signed me to the modeling agency that day. I can see why it's your ex-girlfriend.
Starting point is 00:08:30 She didn't want you getting all that attention, right? Well, I told the agent, I'm like, well, I'm not like a model. I don't want to model. I'm an actor. I love acting. It's always been my passion. And he goes, well, we got a small acting division. I was like, all right, I'll give it a shot.
Starting point is 00:08:44 And the next day he said he booked me on a commercial for ESPN. I was like, whoa, we filmed it. And we were, my girlfriend and I were driving back home to Rhode Island. He called me again. He's like, you got another audition. I was like, oh, I can't be doing this. I got a full time. I was running my own business at the time, personal training.
Starting point is 00:09:02 And he's like, well, what do you want to do with your life? I was like, acting has been my passion. So he's like time to put up a shut up basically so i closed my business i sent all my clients away with other trainers and moved to new jersey within two weeks to be closer to new york city and uh girlfriend dummy oh well i mean good um has acting been uh challenging like once you started to you know dive into acting and then you started to i would assume like take like acting classes and stuff uh and you found it to be really challenging the the classes and stuff aren't the challenge because that's my passion. That's what I love to do. So memorizing monologues, learning scripts,
Starting point is 00:09:48 that's all part of the passion. The hard part is the high risk, high reward part of it, where you're not working full time anymore. So you're kind of in that like limbo of like, okay, when's my next job kind of deal. And that's where the,
Starting point is 00:10:04 the worry and the anxiety comes from with the acting world it's like all right i'm i went from a full-time job working all day from 5 a.m to 5 p.m but now i'm kind of like a homeless jobless actor you know i'm struggling entrepreneur we call it nowadays yeah dancing at strip club to make grocery money yeah but then uh thankfully you know patience and persistence and a vision to pursue that passion i booked that the terminator job um back in 2015 uh for terminator genesis and ever since then it's been pretty good how long has that been something that you wanted to do? You said it was your passion.
Starting point is 00:10:46 Has this been a passion since you were a kid? Is there something that really inspired you when you were a kid to start getting towards this? You don't see a lot of athletes that are like, Ooh, I'm into theater too. How long has that been for you? Ever since I was little. If we're going all the way back, it's literally all because of Arnold. Okay.
Starting point is 00:11:11 My childhood was kind of messed up to start with. My if I'm going to get a little personal, my father murdered my little sister when I was younger. And so my family, my mother and my brother and i started from nothing uh clean slate kind of deal but i was raised by my mom and my grandma my grandfather was a traveling salesman so he was never around so i didn't have a father figure but he had an arnold movie collection so i was five years old watching true Lies, Commando, the whole bit. And I started impersonating Arnold from elementary school. And I always told everyone I wanted to be that kind of person.
Starting point is 00:12:00 I don't want to be the bad guy like my father. I want to be everything that Arnold is. I don't want to be the bad guy like my father. I want to be everything that Arnold is, the good guy, the body, the muscular body, the hero, the role model. And that just fell into my life of, okay, I want to be an actor. I want to be a muscle guy. I want to be everything that Arnold was, but you know, in my own way. You know,
Starting point is 00:12:31 we've had a lot of people say a lot of different things on this show, but we've never had anybody say anything quite like that before. So what do you mean by your father? If you don't mind talking about it a bit, what do you mean by your father murdered your sister? Yeah, he was, he was a bad dude and nobody knew about it. murdered your sister yeah he was he was a bad dude and nobody knew about it um he was uh on the behind everyone's back he was a drug dealer he had issues um so when i was i was uh we were in living in massachusetts and i had i was the older son and i had a younger brother and he had a twin sister uh geneva and my mom came home one day and they were infants um but my mom came home one day and geneva was in the crib covered
Starting point is 00:13:13 in blood and he said he he was sitting there and uh he said uh well she stopped crying and turns out he threw her into a wall and cracked her skull open and killed her. She was just a fucked up human being. Is he still alive? He's still alive. When we went to court, when my mom
Starting point is 00:13:40 was in court for all this, his family raided our house and took everything we had. So we moved back with my grandparents with nothing and started from scratch. So my mom is the strongest woman in the world.
Starting point is 00:14:00 To go through that, I can't imagine what kind of pain that was. I got fucked up just thinking about losing my sister, but to lose a daughter like that. Yeah, she's the, for her to still be, for her to raise us and for us to be successful human beings, she's, she's the, you know, she's everything. How did your mom do that? you know she's everything how did your mom do that did she have some sort of conversation with you guys or um did you guys seek counseling or was it just like hey i'm just gonna go back to life they threw me in therapy right away um just to make sure that because i i witnessed it and i would act out certain things that happened because I was home alone with him.
Starting point is 00:14:46 They were like, we're going to make sure Brett doesn't grow up totally messed up. They got me right into therapy, learning about ethics, morals, and all that to make sure I wasn't thinking the wrong way. The whole time, I'm watching Arnold movies. Even as a little kid, I was like, yeah,
Starting point is 00:15:04 I get to the chopper that was good my kid i remember that my kindergarten teacher called my mom like concerned because i would draw arnold and predator and like guns and they were like thinking about guns i was like but it's arnold but um yeah to fast forward just to take that moment though of arnold literally being a father figure to me and being what i want to be when i grow up to get the role to be arnold meant so much more to me than anyone could ever imagine just getting a movie role like this was it it almost felt like a divine intervention like my sister was like here you're you know you live that life you did it right this is my gift to you kind of thing um it was a full just manifestation of of you know everything i put out in the universe what do you think that you did
Starting point is 00:16:07 differently um than i guess a lot because there are a lot of uh individuals in the bodybuilding industry that are trying to get into acting that are trying to get past fitness right so for you um maybe potentially it was that opportunity you got in new york that cascaded into other things but what what do you think you were doing differently than a lot of these other guys who just aren't getting any looks? I think it's mindset. I think it's your focus and where you truly hold your goals. A lot of guys, yeah, I want to be an actor actor but it's not like everything to them you know they they want to pursue bodybuilding and become a pro i was a hundred percent i want to be an actor
Starting point is 00:16:54 i was doing bodybuilding on the side and i was doing well but it wasn't my passion and i just had that that faith in myself that i it was it's It's like that law of attraction to me. I'm a big believer in that. The mind can really do wonders. I just believe that I didn't care how. I didn't know how. But I knew that one day that what I wanted to do was going to happen. And that's everything that I wanted to do.
Starting point is 00:17:23 I was even in high school like when we were full-time athletes my friends would all call me hollywood you know it was it was always that yeah i'm gonna be an athlete i'm gonna be fit i'm gonna be a gym rat but i'm gonna be an actor and i'm gonna be a successful actor and it's just a matter of faith and persistence and patience and consistency. Yeah. In Los Angeles, I think everyone has a headshot, right? Everyone is kind of seeking out to be an actor. So how were you able to kind of break into the business? How how you're able to break into some roles that that now kind of has you maybe on the front of people's minds for future roles?
Starting point is 00:18:06 I don't know. I want to say luck, but, you know, luck is just one day of a lifetime of sacrifice. You know? It sounds to me like you've been willing to move around and willing to do a lot of things to, you know, where maybe other folks may be not so much all in. You got to take the risk. You know, I, I, I went from a totally financially stable life living with my girlfriend to not knowing what, you know, I had to go bounce the strip clubs.
Starting point is 00:18:42 I had to, uh, I didn't like, I still don't know when strip clubs. I had to... I still don't know when my next job is going to be. But if it's what you truly love, then pursue it. Otherwise, I'd rather fail trying to achieve what I love than regret not trying at all.
Starting point is 00:19:04 I think that's where a lot of people shy away because they, they're too afraid of failure and they'll just, you know, not sacrifice and not take a risk and then regret it. And I could not let myself regret anything at this point. I just, I'm too grateful for the life that I've been given and the opportunities that I've been given.
Starting point is 00:19:32 I'm going to take chances and make the best of what I can. I find it really interesting that a lot of times in acting, they'll say someone's too big. They'll say, you're 6'2 to I think 260 or something like that. Right. And so they'll say, you know, it's hard to get acting roles because you're going to make Tom Cruise or somebody look look tiny and things like that. But I'm sure that you probably hear this all the time, but you have a unique look and that's probably what people are looking for. So meanwhile, you hear, you know, some of these people with these kind of negative commentary negative commentary of like oh you'll never be able to be an actor because you're too big and meanwhile this is the thing that helps land you roles it seems like oh yeah and and yeah my
Starting point is 00:20:14 look is versatile i mean apparently i didn't realize how much i looked like iron cheek until i made the mustache and shaved the head but uh it's really it's for me being the big guy i always rooted for the other big guys to get more work and to see you know that become a mainstream thing where now everybody in the marvel world is working out and all those guys are putting on muscle you look at hemsworth he's got guns bigger than mine camille manzani and so when I see guys like Batista, like the rock, like the rock being the most successful actor pay financially, like,
Starting point is 00:20:51 that's like, he's, he's bigger than me, man. He's, he's got three inches on me and a couple inches on his arms and everything. So when I see guys getting that work and getting mainstream popularity,
Starting point is 00:21:01 it's like, yes, let's keep going guys. Like, let's, this happen let's bring back the you know the the 80s era action hero and all that um it's i did face a lot of that at the start being oh you're too big you got to slim down and i was i just stuck with being me and i was like it's not it wouldn't make me happy to not work out to not you know push myself in the gym every day if if it's gonna make me happy then it's what i'm gonna do and and fuck the rest i'll make it work um and i'm glad i stuck with it because if i didn't then i wouldn't be happy with myself
Starting point is 00:21:44 i think a lot of it is if you're happy with yourself and you're, you're focused on your goals, it'll find a way. How did you get that 2015 role? Like what was the process? How'd that all end up happening for you? They, um,
Starting point is 00:21:58 they reached out to my agent and well, they did like a worldwide search for a guy and they kept it super, um, on the DL at first. They were like, hey, we just need measurements of your guys. So we sent in measurements and it wasn't just like bicep chest. It was like elbow to wrist and shoulder to elbow. It was like every body part was measured. And so that was the first round.
Starting point is 00:22:22 They didn't say what it was for. Second round came out and then there was a picture that and they didn't say what it was for second round came out and then there was a picture that looked like arnold like the silhouette and i was like all right that looks like schwarzenegger and then they did another like measurement thing um and then the third round they asked everyone to video themselves doing the rise the t1 stand up and scan thing and i was like oh this is fucking terminator i'm gonna make this good so i did shot for shot that opening scene even with the three punks and i had three um mannequins lined up and i did the rise and i walked up to the mannequins and i showed my feet like i did it like every scene correct to the movie just on my phone.
Starting point is 00:23:07 And then when I got up to the mannequins, nice night for the walk. Looking clean, right. The clue is given to me now. And I did the voice and I think that's what won it over. They asked me later, they were like, can you do the voice when we're filming? I was like, yeah, I can do it. It's fantastic.
Starting point is 00:23:23 I can do it anytime you want. Because they didn't know if they were going to dub in Arnold or just use my voice. So they wanted to make sure I had both capability. That's awesome. What was it like spending time with Arnold? I know some people that know him from training at Gold's myself. And it seems like he's a pretty awesome guy. What was your experience like?
Starting point is 00:23:44 He's amazing uh the first time we met um we walked i was in wardrobe uh we were in wardrobe and i walk in he goes look at this guy he's all pumped up i was like well what do you expect man like i gotta be 1984 arnold when he's in the off season like 250 pounds so i'm trying to force feed and get as big as I can and then when we were filming so that whole scene with Genesis where old Arnold fights young Arnold
Starting point is 00:24:14 I walk up to the three punks nothing clean like cool is given to me now old Arnold shows up you won't be needing those and then we have I turn around we have this locomotive on locomotive fight right
Starting point is 00:24:30 in Terminator 1 the original Arnold kills those three punks and takes their clothes in Terminator Genesis I never get clothes so I have this big fight with Arnold and I'm naked you would think
Starting point is 00:24:48 that Hollywood would have something that would like harness you and they could CGI it they gave me a sock and a drawstring so my filming days were called sock and dots day because I'd wear a sock and they'd put dots all over my face for the CGI.
Starting point is 00:25:07 But I turn around and I run towards Arnold and it's Arnold shooting a shotgun and I'm running towards him and they get shot and just swinging away. Grapple up and I'm throwing kicks and punches and i stand over him and i'm just in the breed with a side with a pantyhose on it's not it's still anatomically correct is what i'd say um so he and i got really close really quick uh and now when he sees me out he's always like i don't recognize you you're wearing too much clothing so it's our thing where he knew me as the naked guy around set for a while oh my god it's fun like that's funny because they probably had a massive budget but they just couldn't find something that's that's really that's man that's mad weird. I mean, they gave Jai Courtney, who was playing Kyle Reese, he had
Starting point is 00:26:08 a travel through time scene. He fell out of a circle. But they gave him this nice triangle thong thing that kept them all... But I got a sock. Did you get a chance to train with Arnold at all? Work out with him?
Starting point is 00:26:24 Not on the project. Arnold later invited me out to California to work out with him and go to breakfast. I mean, the guy's a stud. He really is. When you're in his circle, when you start working with him professionally, he takes you in like family. So he would have us over to his trailer and he would start telling stories. At one time, we were at his trailer, his entourage, and Joe Manganiello was visiting. And he walks outside and he goes, a bunch of studs out here.
Starting point is 00:27:00 It's like stud union. Let me get something for stud union. I was like, stud union let me get something for stud union i was like stud union that's badass so i ran home and i made on custom ink i made stud union t-shirts and put everyone's last name on the back and had them ordered and they flew in i gave them out on set to everybody who was there but he goes back into his trailer he's like let me get something for stud union he comes out with cigars he passes them out we all sit down he starts telling stories about the 70s about him and franco visiting prisons and
Starting point is 00:27:30 um how he would he would challenge anyone to a bench press competition but he would tell the prisoners you know you're strongest when your heart's going so he made everyone sprint laps around the track before, and before they could catch their breath, he would start the competition. And, uh, Franco, he would be like,
Starting point is 00:27:51 you know, you guys can like, you guys can leave whenever you want. You realize that, right. Talking to the prisoners. And they were like, what are you talking about?
Starting point is 00:27:58 And Franco would go and bend the bars and, and like stuff like that. You never, you never hear about that. Just getting those stories straight from arnold was just incredible yeah that's amazing um what are some things that you maybe learned from him just in observing him and being around him and having him be your idol from the time you were a kid what haven't i learned you know i just what I learned. The best conversations I had with him
Starting point is 00:28:27 weren't about training. It was about finances, actually. We would talk about how he invested his money at an early age. As soon as he had money, he started investing it with real estate in California and credit.
Starting point is 00:28:42 It was the strangest conversation I thought I'd ever have with him, but he was all, he was just like, you know, he was, and it was really cool. Cause it felt like a father, father,
Starting point is 00:28:53 son talk. Like, he's like, all right, sit down. Once you start making money, you got to do this with it. You got to do that with it.
Starting point is 00:28:59 I was like, I never had that talk with, you know, growing up with anybody. It was kind of, it was, it was special. And then, and then we'd throw in a couple weightlifting stuff,
Starting point is 00:29:08 things that are in there. But yeah, that was... There's nothing I haven't learned from Arnold. It's a whole wide variety of things. Just be professional and be respectful and and crush anything you're doing you know um growing up as you're idolizing arnold um did you have the confidence to tell people that like that's who you want to be when you grow up or you know did you kind of like shy away from actually like verbally telling people that you
Starting point is 00:29:45 wanted to be, you know, like Arnold? No, I was, I was impersonating Arnold even in regular conversation, um, like pumping iron. We would just draw quotes, even that, like that stupid, uh, YouTube Arnold's pizza shop thing. Like, yeah, you love the pizza? Can I get that pizza with nine millimeter bullets on it? Like, I would just throw Arnold quotes into normal conversation through my entire life. So it wasn't anything hidden. It was and I would always, you know, I was the gym guy. I was the. Yeah, I never hid the fact that I loved Arnold. Um, and I wasn't ashamed of that.
Starting point is 00:30:27 So, I mean, moving forward, I don't know, like, um, how you ended up being able to play the iron chic, but was that like, how, how did all that end up happening for you as you progress there? That was so random. Cause it was, you know, we were mid COVID. Everything's on lockdown in the States. There was no acting whatsoever. And the gyms were shut down. My gym actually closed for good. So I went over there and I tried to buy all the equipment that they were liquidating.
Starting point is 00:30:58 I put it in my, in my driveway. So I would work out just, I wasn't leaving the house at all. We were in New Jersey. So we were on like hardcore lockdown. We could go to the grocery store and that's it. So my girlfriend and I, my fiance now, Linda, we were at home and we were just, you know, day to day was boredom and training. And I was like, you know, babe, I've never shaved my head before in my life I think now would be a
Starting point is 00:31:27 good time to try it we're not doing anything important so I shaved my head and I bick it and we both look at and I'm like yeah not a good look and she was like yeah not a good look let's grow it back three days later I got the call to audition for Iron Sheik. And I was like, all right, there must be some kind of like workings up there for me to actually shave my head before I got this call to be, you know, almost looking like Sheik already. And they did the first audition. And then I got the call back and they were like, can you do the voice? So I went on youtube and i watched his promos and it was kubu kushner yes but it was it was i was trying to makeshift the accent like as best i could off the off the top of my head i put you in camera clutch
Starting point is 00:32:17 i'll break your back make you humble yes exactly but so they saw that and they were like okay there's something to work with there and then they called back again and they were like but we're not like looking for promo chic we're looking for like behind the scenes chic so can you do his voice and like tone it down so i watched his documentary where he's talking to his his family and it was all yes i'm here i'm having chic yes come here come over here Papa Sheik. Come here. Come over here. So it was that soft voice. And they were like, yeah, all right, you got it. And I was like, okay.
Starting point is 00:32:52 We filmed in Australia. So because COVID was shut down all over America, they flew us all to Australia. And we did a few months out there because they had COVID like down. They would fly you in. And once you get there, the military or the police or whatever, whoever would take you from the airport, escort you into a bus, drive the bus to a hotel, walk you into your room and lock the door behind you. And you weren't allowed to leave for two weeks out of your room. And because it was NBC and The Rock, I got kind of spoiled where my room was a apartment and my living room was filled with a 300 pound weight set and an exercise bike.
Starting point is 00:33:42 The three meals a day that they provide you with the government turned into just order whatever you want from the grocery store and the cops will deliver it for you. So that's, I, you know, my two weeks was nothing but training and eating. And I walked out of quarantine after two weeks,
Starting point is 00:34:03 shredded, I dropped 10 pounds in two weeks. I had the ab veins going and everything. And all the other, I walked out and all the other actors were playing. The rest of us were just like, she, what the fuck,
Starting point is 00:34:14 man. And then, so they all got on it in the gym with me. And I, it was being part of that cast was so special because we were all living together, which is totally unlike any acting job i've had usually it's like you know when you wrap you go home to your separate ways but when we
Starting point is 00:34:31 wrapped we all went home together and you know we spent all our off time together on the roof doing barbecues um i would every time i went to the gym i would put in the group chat sheet the gym and then the other guys would roll in. It was special. It was camaraderie beyond anything I've been a part of in an acting job. Did you meet The Rock at all? Was there any of that? The Rock was still filming in Atlanta. Our time with him was all through Zoom.
Starting point is 00:35:04 He would do the script reads with us and he would talk to us individually about what that character meant to him as a child and what he felt the portrayal should be. But I met The Rock, I met DJ earlier a few years ago. I was his stunt double when he did SNL. a few years ago. I was his stunt double when he did SNL. Oh. And we did like one of those like pre-filmed skits that SNL does. So we spent a day together.
Starting point is 00:35:36 I remember we had a long lunch break and I opened up my gym bag. I was going to go hit the gym on the lunch break. I opened my gym bag. I got a brand new supplement, brand new pre-workout from Xtend. And he loves Xtend. He loves Xtend. He's got that banner in his gym. He looks at it and he goes,
Starting point is 00:35:51 he gave me the eyebrow. I was like, here, just take the damn thing. Go try it. He took my pre-workout. That was a special moment. When he was doing central intelligence up in Boston, I had a friend who was on the crew and he was like brett come by so i walked in i wasn't supposed to be there but i walked in on set and everyone thought that i was a certain agent wally and they were like oh that's agent wally i was
Starting point is 00:36:20 like yeah i'm agent wally and then the rock stunt double ton away his cousin thought i was one of the stunt doubles so he was like oh you're the other stunt double come here so i went and hung out with ton away who introduced me to the rock who introduced me to kevin hart i was hanging out with those guys and then somebody was finally like who is this guy over here where's your identification sir and then hunaway was like that's that's on a swish thing his body double you don't know brett and i was like oh yes i'm in this is it and and so i got to hang out for the day they threw me into a scene just randomly um but i got to talk you know i got to talk working out with the rock and and working out
Starting point is 00:37:02 with kevin hart because at the time he was super into fitness and he was doing his marathon runs or whatever it was. That was a really cool moment. For not supposed to be in there and turning into a day where I was hanging out with DJ. There was one thing he did that
Starting point is 00:37:22 made me put him to a whole new level of how much I loved him. We were filming our scene in the office where in Central Intelligence, he jumps out the window. He's got Kevin Hart in the mailing bin, and he jumps out the
Starting point is 00:37:37 window. The director yells cut at one point, and he puts his hand up, and his assistant throws a protein shake that does it he chugs the whole thing he throws it back let's go and i was just like that's what i want my career to be like if i can do that during a filming session i've reached the top that's so sick that's amazing yeah like uh popeye you know chug it down his spinach and getting right back to it right it was for a meathead actor to witness that i think i took a special versus everyone else
Starting point is 00:38:12 because i was just like you know you know that's that's dedication like the guy you know you know he's gonna get angry if he doesn't have that shape right so it's just like he just reached out his hand caught it chugged it threw it back action he's like fuck yeah that was badass that's fucking awesome you mentioned uh you know being on lockdown uh in australia and having the access to the good food and to some gyms or to weights and stuff like that how have you been able to stay in shape like what are some things that you do personally with your nutrition, with some of your training that keeps you lean? Cause it looks like you kind of look like this ish all the time. Yeah. That's, that's the big thing about being in the acting world is if you're not ready, then you don't get the job. So I I'd stay lean year round and to do that
Starting point is 00:39:05 diet wise it's pretty easy I got the hookups with Icon Meals so I get some good protein year round but my trick is my basic meal that I have three times a day is 8-10 ounces of some kind of protein
Starting point is 00:39:22 usually it's steak, salmon, or, uh, or, or chicken or Turkey, um,
Starting point is 00:39:35 with the microwave frozen vegetable mixed bags, two of those. So it's like 24 ounces of a vegetable and a little bit of light Mayo and a little bit of this shit. And a little bit of this shit. If you guys don't know about this shit, put it on everything. White cheddar popcorn seasoning. Makes anything taste good. White cheddar popcorn seasoning. Oh, yeah. Have you tried some of the seasonings from Icon Meals?
Starting point is 00:40:02 Those are really good, too. Oh, yeah. I cook with those. Tequila, lime, and all that shit. uh icon meals those are really good too oh yeah i cook with those tequila and all that shit the vodka they're really good um i like um even their what did i put it on their their um the cinnamon oh yeah yeah the cinnamon butter whatever the hell it's called that one's really good too yeah that one, that one I ran out of really quick. Throwing protein shakes. Yo, Brett,
Starting point is 00:40:31 I really want to know this because, okay. Earlier I asked like, you know, what are you doing differently? Like, obviously you're, this is something that you've wanted to do for a long time. You're extremely passionate about it.
Starting point is 00:40:39 That makes a huge difference. But I know because of who you are, there are probably a lot of individuals that are really wanting to get into acting that are like, yo, can I get something actionable? Like, I'm curious, like what other than, you know, you've been in it, what are some things that you did? Like you literally like concrete things that you did that you think a lot of other people are literally just if they had these things if they did this while they were working with their agent any like specifics that you think you know make a difference for you in terms of your success you gotta show you gotta show legitimacy to
Starting point is 00:41:15 you wanting to be an actor so you gotta get the professional headshots you've got to take the classes and and classes that will make a casting director an agent say okay these are like the creditable courses these are the credible teachers in new york city um it's it's costly you know it's those are those those classes are expensive but when an agent sees that you've taken those classes with those credible you know schools they take you a little more seriously and for a lot of people it's like i don't want to spend that okay now you're on the risk of someone saying he's not really serious about his career acting um it's not just gonna fall in your lap you know like for me it kind of did but i did everything
Starting point is 00:42:08 behind the scenes for that moment for it to fall in my lap you know i took theater all through high school so i had that um once i started taking classes i took the classes that stood out on your resume and even if it's something like if you're active in a community theater, if you're active with something that's acting on the side and shows that you're not just sitting around waiting for someone to notice you, that plays a big part in it. Even if it's creating your own content, it shows that you're proactive in your pursuit. It shows that you're more serious than just, I'm going to work out and look good and expect to be signed kind of thing.
Starting point is 00:43:03 So yeah, it's on you to be proactive with that that brings up a question actually i had uh you know there are some people in like the youtube space or like you know tiktok or whatever that are working on their own projects and stuff there may i don't know all of them or really any of them personally, but it seems like almost like they want to build a social media following and then kind of find like a backdoor into acting. Do you think that is, I mean, I guess there's multiple paths, but do you think that that's a legit path or should it be like, no, you actually got to, you know, get the headshots. You got to do the classes. So you got to, you know, get the headshots. You got to do the classes. You can't just rely on, you know, your YouTube channel blowing up if, because, you know, I mean, that shit's pretty hard to do as well.
Starting point is 00:43:50 So I don't know if you have any opinion or advice on something like that, that maybe somebody might be trying to kind of go that route as opposed to the route that you went. I don't, I don't want to say it doesn't help. It absolutely helps to have the social following a lot of, you know, some gigs are looking for that to make sure that if they hire you, they can get an extra audience out of you. But I think the legitimacy factor is in the, you know,
Starting point is 00:44:19 the big name acting classes and acting schools. So even if it's, I mean, they can be fun, too. I mean, you got Upright Citizens Brigade, which is a comedy improv school that all the SNL guys go through. I learned more from that than any
Starting point is 00:44:37 other acting class. And it's one of those, you know, it's legitimate. I mean, you have all those acting techniques, the Meisner technique, and I think it's all bullshit. But I would take the class, and I would sit through it, and as much as I hated it, but if it was going to teach me just one little thing, if I got one little thing out of it, it'd be worth it.
Starting point is 00:45:05 But, yeah, the social media thing, it'd be worth it. But yeah, the social media thing, it's not going to hurt you, but it's not going to put you at the top of the list by any means. You've got to show legitimacy towards the actor. A lot of people
Starting point is 00:45:22 will also kind of say that you have to live in Los Angeles. Doesn't you have to live in los angeles uh doesn't seem like you live in los angeles what are some of your thoughts on that i i chose the new york route i moved to new jersey to be close to new york um but and now there's a big uprising enacting in atlanta there's a good one in Orlando. Chicago is a big hitter too. You can do it from anywhere. Especially now with COVID where everything is basically
Starting point is 00:45:51 Zoom calls and video auditions. I haven't been into New York City for an audition since March of last year, right before COVID hit. Everything I've been doing, I booked Young Rock on my phone. You're getting the real work with video auditions.
Starting point is 00:46:15 So you can do it from anywhere. You don't need to be in LA. We were talking about diet. If you get an audition at home and they call you to L.A. to meet you, you fucking go. But you don't need to, you know, live in L.A. to get the L.A. jobs. We're talking a little bit about nutrition. You were talking about how you eat meat often. Have you found that to be effective to keep on muscle mass and to stay healthy?
Starting point is 00:46:46 muscle mass and to stay healthy and um you know some people find that when they eat meat and just kind of stick to meat and vegetables and things like that that they uh just feel healthier in general have you noticed big impact from things like that i've got i've got a special relationship with red meat because when i was before right before termin Terminator Genesis in 2014, maybe 2013, I got hit hard with Crohn's disease. And I was anemic. I was bleeding out, you know, every day. It was the worst pains I've ever had in my life. They wanted to put me on pregnazone for months and months. And I told the doctor to you
Starting point is 00:47:26 know screw off and not take a nap um and he's like all right then i'll see i didn't want to take any medication for it and the doctor he was the specialist in crohn's disease said okay i'll see you in a month when we take out your colon i was like i'll never see you again and i went home and for two weeks i sat in my mom's basement this was i was trying to pursue acting at the time too so i i thought my life was over i thought i couldn't work out i couldn't act i couldn't go to auditions i went home and cried in my basement at my mom's house for two weeks and i drank amino acids and i ate cereal because that's the only thing that my body could digest and then as i that was like a you know a moment in my head where i was like okay i need to reevaluate shit because crohn's
Starting point is 00:48:13 disease is related to your stress level it's genetic but it's a stress trigger and i'm a type a personality and i'm a perfectionist so i realized i was, there's a lot of spilt milk that I'm putting too much weight on. So I let go of some shit. I realized I reevaluated my thinking of, of how I approach things. And, um, I'm more focused on just doing what makes me happy versus doing what other
Starting point is 00:48:39 people want and what would, what I think other people would want me to do. And that helped a lot but once i started feeling better they said like stay away from red meat if you have crohn's disease turns out that was the only thing that didn't hurt me i needed a higher protein higher fat diet so i stuck with red meat and just red meat and mush. I can't do raw vegetable, but I could do just to the point where it's mush.
Starting point is 00:49:13 And actually, I didn't go to red meat first. I did egg whites. Destroyed me. I was still bleeding out terrible bones. And then I went to chicken still destroyed and it wasn't until i did steaks that i was like i have good energy i feel good it was i ate nothing but red
Starting point is 00:49:37 meat for about a a year straight whoa and that's when i got terminator and i was still kind of And that's when I got Terminator. And I was still kind of halfway healed filming that. But it was, you know, everyone was watching me on set. They were like, if there was red meat, I had a pile of it. And they were like, oh, so that's the trick. I was like, yep, just eat meat. They were like, aren't you worried about cholesterol? I was like, nope, I'm worried about dying and Crohn's disease.
Starting point is 00:50:05 And I know that this doesn't fucking hurt me. Um, so it was, I always eat red meat every day. Was that anything you heard, uh, from an outside source or is that something you investigated yourself or just stumbled upon it?
Starting point is 00:50:20 Um, it was, it was half and half, uh, cause a lot, you know, I know about the carnivore diet and um but i don't know if that was back then that wasn't as mainstream it was
Starting point is 00:50:34 what did i research there was something more related to it wasn't pale it was a paleo it wasn't pale. It was a paleo, but it was just, you know, it was just me figuring out, okay,
Starting point is 00:50:51 what's going to hurt me and what's not going to hurt. Um, for a time, junk food was the only thing I could eat. Yeah. It's not weird. Yeah. Cause it was just so processed that my body didn't have to struggle to digest anything.
Starting point is 00:51:04 And then my energy level sucked and i was anemic because i was losing so much blood so the red meat and the iron and that actually boosted my energy like it just it was night and day and um for a while it was it was uh hamburger meat just because it was already ground a lot. But it wasn't super lean either. I was eating the 73% or the 80% red meat and I was getting healthier. So now my diet, I have fats are good. It's whole egg, it's salmon, it's
Starting point is 00:51:44 steak, it's peanut butter and peanuts all day long um but it's not keto because i'll do i'll do vegetables and i'll have you know the mixed bag it's carrots it's it's there's sugar but then at night before bed i have my anything goes snack or meal and it doesn't matter what it is it's any carb i want any junk food i want whatever i want right before bed and then i pass out that's that's i love it happy so i mean you've been able to work with arnold you've been able to work with the rock like for you what are some like potential, either collaborations or if you've ever thought of, Ooh,
Starting point is 00:52:27 I'd really like to play this and like a Marvel movie or some shit. Like what are, I mean, that's obviously on the list. Like, yeah, the other big guys would be a big, like Batista,
Starting point is 00:52:38 uh, Jason Momoa would be a cool guy to work with. Um, but as far as the role, everyone asks me what my dream role would be. It's either the baddest bad guy or the best comic relief, best friend, buddy, sidekick thing.
Starting point is 00:53:01 And Batista gets a lot of those. Batista's role on Guardians of the Galaxy that would be what I would want I love those character roles and now to think about it I wanted to be the ultimate bad guy and I wanted to be the comic relief and the Sheik
Starting point is 00:53:18 was actually both of those in real life because everyone fucking hated him and in real life he was a prankster you know he was the funniest dude you would know at the party um so it was really special to get that combined into one character why does iron cheek seem so angry or is that just like for fun is he just pissed off just because it's funny he's working the gimmick man he's Working the gimmick, working gimmick. Uh,
Starting point is 00:53:46 you know, he's, he's in real life. He's a super lovable, lovable, quiet dude. Um, he's an introvert.
Starting point is 00:53:57 So he's for him, for everyone to know him as his gimmick, as the chic, as the rambunctious eccentric guy, he's an actor. Like that's's that's how i see it he's he's a freaking great actor because he can make an entire nation hate him because of his acting you know that's that's skill that's talent respect the talent yeah in a sense he was like The Rock's uncle, sort of, right? Yeah. He was one of that crew
Starting point is 00:54:29 where he was more of an uncle mentor to DJ. You nowadays... Oh, I'm good. I was curious, what does your training look like? It's still old school Arnold, as far as splits go. Um, well, not, not so much. Arnold does the super setting, but I do, you know, the basic chest day,
Starting point is 00:54:58 back day, leg day, arm day, shoulder day, but set wise rep wise um i pyramid a lot but i don't count my sets like i might be on one exercise for an hour until i absolutely hate it and i'll just wave load either higher lower you know if one set felt light and i wanted to go heavier, then I'd go heavier. But really want to drop down and get a three-rep heavy fucking set, I'd do that a couple times. But I'd stick with the same exercise for a lot of sets, eight to ten sets probably. A lot of people can't work out that way because they get bored. But it's what I love. it's more like time under tension um just destroying your your both on the eccentric and concentric i just love to stretch the shit out of it and make it hurt and then squeeze the hell out of it on the contraction um and i felt that works for me actually when i was in california i
Starting point is 00:56:07 ran into uh ulysses panda panda and he trains the same way he does like eight to ten sets per exercise so i worked out with him and i was like finally someone else who gets who understands this like it's it's not about you know three sets and you're done it's if you's not about, you know, three sets and you're done. It's if you're not satisfied, if you're, you know, if you don't crush yourself, you're not going to grow at all. So there's no improvement without challenging yourself. Do you ever like audible? Like if the, if that particular exercise just sucks that day, doesn't feel great, just move on to something else.
Starting point is 00:56:39 Like, fuck this. It's more of a, I don't have a set exercise schedule. It's more of how I feel. And I go by the mind muscle connection. If it's not connecting right that day, then I'll move on to something else and destroy it on a different exercise. But I, you know, I, whenever I start a workout, I assess what I'm doing. I'll go, I'll take wrist straps and hang from a pull-up bar. And if my back pops a certain amount of times, I know it's going to be a good day,
Starting point is 00:57:15 but I'll hang there and I'll just stretch and I'll let the body tell me what's sore and what's not. And whatever's least sore is probably what I'm going to hit that day. What are your, like some of the favorite types of body parts to hit? Do you do just one, like one every single week? Uh, I i know some guys they just totally skip legs like often so how do you don't let friends get like that fair i'll do legs twice a week okay because i like i like a day that's um more secondary exercises um and more just a squeeze and a burn and then i like it that's a heavy pressing squatting kind of day uh primary exercises do you have that work that works best for me so it's more like a you crush it on one day with heavy squats and dead
Starting point is 00:58:02 lifting and uh whatever else you want to do that day and then the secondary is more like an active rest i mean you're still getting a burning workout but it's not as heavy on the squats maybe you're just doing a leg press um you're not dead lifting it's it's more of leg extension leg curl all those secondary things where you can really get a good stretch, but it's not going to debilitate you. When you do get a gig, does the studio or anybody, do they try to recommend a trainer for you, or do they just look at you and be like, he's going to be fine? Yeah, I get the second
Starting point is 00:58:43 block. I haven't had anyone recommend a workout for me yet yeah and then do you have anybody right now like in your ear saying like like oh dude don't get any bigger because right now you're the perfect size or is it just kind of like they'll just let you i'm not i'm not i'm not trying to get bigger. Where I'm at is perfect. I'll let the role decide if I need to get leaner or puffier. There's no option to lose muscle right now. It's just getting leaner or fatter. But the muscle is going to stay there. You mentioned wanting to play a bad guy.
Starting point is 00:59:22 Who's the baddest bad guy? What's one of your favorite bad guy. Who's like the baddest bad guy? Like what's your favorite, one of your favorite bad guy roles that you've seen over the years? Well, I'm pissed at Tom Hardy. Cause Tom Hardy gets all the roles that I want. He's got Venom. He's got Bane.
Starting point is 00:59:39 He's pretty damn good as Bane. Like that was fucking spectacular. But that's my role. He needs to back off is what you're saying. Like, come on. I mean, to have a guy that's actually six foot two with
Starting point is 00:59:57 you know I'm mad at Tom Harkin. And Venom is my favorite Marvel character of all time so for that to happen I was just like what's one of your favorite monologues I'm always impressed
Starting point is 01:00:16 when I see that in acting when somebody's able just to kind of go off for a certain amount of lines it's impressive to watch. What's one of your all-time favorites? Robert De Niro,
Starting point is 01:00:31 when he's playing Al Capone in Untouchables. Untouchables. Sounds right. A man becomes preeminent. He's expected to have enthusiasm. Enthusiasm.
Starting point is 01:00:49 Enthusiasm. What are mine? What are my admirations? What is that which brings me joy? Baseball. Yeah, baseball. There, a man stands alone at the plate. Follow him. there a man stands alone at the plate following him
Starting point is 01:01:06 there he stands alone in the field what is he part of a team looks, throws, bats, hustles all part of one big team now he may bat himself a live long day Babe Ruth, Ty Cobb and so on
Starting point is 01:01:24 but in the field Now, he may bat himself a live long day. Babe Ruth, Ty Cobb, and so on. But in the field, what is part of a team? Look, it's a nice day. The stands are full of fans. And what does he have to say? I'm going out there for myself. But I go nowhere without the team. And then he takes a baseball bat and he smashes the head in on the trader.
Starting point is 01:01:55 Man, you can tell you love it. That's the crazy, like, I mean, you're right. A lot of people do say that they want to get into acting or they have a look, but you've done a lot of study. You know what I mean? Yes. I mean, study you've got to do that if you don't do that then it's not you don't earn it you know it's it's you gotta earn the goal it's it's not like you can just have this i want to be this you have to do everything to be proactive to get there and then one day you have that one day of luck and that one day of luck is only because of all the bullshit that you've dealt with the entire time getting there and that's that the fact that you say that's a crazy thing because i i know quite a few people that want to do that but they're all hoping to catch a break
Starting point is 01:02:36 because they state when they like see other individuals um who've become successful like oh yeah someone saw them on the street or someone saw them in a Starbucks and boom, everything went from there. Like a lot of people really like, I think that's a big assumption in that industry and the acting industry that like, that's why people want to be in LA because they can get discovered. Right. Whereas, you know, they, they're not putting in the work, but if someone can discover them, they'll be all good to go. they'll be all good to go. It's bullshit. I mean, yes, you do need to catch the break.
Starting point is 01:03:10 I certainly did catch the break. But I had this, you know, it's that whole iceberg theory. You only see the top of the iceberg, and underneath is a whole fucking thing that you put behind it. And if you don't have the legitimate you know all the legitimacy backing you up it's not going to happen if i told you before i'm big on the law of attraction and you put that idea out there in the universe of what you want and it'll happen for you but it doesn't happen if you don't actually put the work in you know it's not something that you can have the dream but you need to take the steps towards the dream
Starting point is 01:03:53 in order for everything to click for you and then that click is your moment of i caught a break but because i definitely did landing terminator i caught break, but I was in the gym three hours every day. I took the acting classes. I did everything I fucking could for that break to happen. It didn't happen out of nowhere. And you sound exactly like Arnold. I dealt with my family totally disowning me because I went from financially stable life to homeless,
Starting point is 01:04:24 jobless actor. And they were like like what the fuck did you just do and i dealt with why are you always in the gym where is that going to get you you're not going to make it as a competitor like you're not going to do that professionally and and i was like yeah you're right that's that's not my that's not my passion but i love working out and i know it's going to lead to me to success one way or another. And it was the whole Arnold thing. Like it's, it's, if you don't get your workout in, you're not going to have a good day. You know, it's just, uh, yeah.
Starting point is 01:05:02 Do your time for your lucky break. I heard kind of more recently that Jack Nicholson, when he got on the set of a few good men, he just like slaughtered everybody in a sense of like, I think everyone just kind of thought it was like first day. People are just kind of setting up in different positions and people are getting learned the roles, but he just like sat down and just like blasted out his,
Starting point is 01:05:23 one of his famous monologues that he did in that Guantanamo Bay scene. And, uh, it just was like, it gave notice to everybody else. Like, oh shit. Like everybody, you better, everybody better step the fuck up. This is going to be a really great movie. If everyone, you know, can kind of match his level. Have you seen anything, you know, uh, being on all these different sets from whether it be a writer, director, actor, where you're like, that's some next level shit.
Starting point is 01:05:50 Like you did mention the rocket and the shaker cup thrown to him. Has there been anything else that you've seen where you've been like, man, that's that's another level. I need to bring my shit up. Like you got really inspired and excited by maybe something you saw on set. Um. fired and excited by maybe something you saw on set? Um, well, in terms of with Arnold, you know,
Starting point is 01:06:19 just the fact that he would do anything to get his workout in there, there was, uh, so it's not really acting really. No, I love that. That's great. Uh, there was a, a bolo out acting related. No, I love that. That's great. There was a bolo out for Arnold. Arnold went missing
Starting point is 01:06:29 and he wasn't, he was supposed to be in his room or something and it took half a day or it took a few hours and they found him in the hotel gym. He ran away to the hotel gym to get his workout. I was like that's the legend right there. Like, fuck it. I'm going to go get my workout. He like that's that's the legend right there like fuck it i'm gonna go
Starting point is 01:06:45 get my workout he like escaped his his security guard you know like he slipped security he shook everybody yeah that's awesome um so that was cool i mean i mean i know i know dj wakes up at the at 3 a.m just to get his workout in on filming days. As a meathead actor, that's inspiring. You do what you have to. In terms of acting, James Spader was a fucking badass.
Starting point is 01:07:17 I did Blacklist with him and he runs that show. He not only nails his part, but he knows everyone else's part. And it was, that impressed me because he knew everyone's lines, like,
Starting point is 01:07:36 and how he was like, how he had this whole image and he wanted it delivered. I actually, I caught him off guard though. So he walks up to me in the scene and I'm guarding a door and I'm not letting him by and he goes is it true what they say about steroids shrinking your dick
Starting point is 01:07:52 I was supposed to just stand there and mean I am and I go you want a check and he cracked up and he was like alright we can't use that that was good but alright I'll give you that one and from then up and he was like all right we can't use that that was good but all right i'll give you that one and from then on i got to like many he was we were kind of like buddy buddy that
Starting point is 01:08:12 day and he was telling stories and shit but he was an impressive actor what are you doing now to like continue to improve your game as far as being an actor because obviously you've done all these classes um i mean you've done all these classes. Um, I mean, you've gotten some great roles. Uh, I would assume that like, and this happens in every industry.
Starting point is 01:08:30 Once people get to a certain point, they kind of maybe get comfortable and they're like, okay, I, I, I can finagle myself through this. Right. But what are you continuing to do to keep on top of your game,
Starting point is 01:08:40 to learn new things? What, what, what does your learning process as an actor look like now that you've done a bunch of stuff i watch a lot of television and not for the enjoyment of the show but for the writing and the acting so i i like whatever is up for the awards for sag awards like being in the in the in the union you get all those screeners so i study characters and and the way they deliver certain lines and i'll try to get the script so i'll read the scene
Starting point is 01:09:13 before i watch the show so i have an idea of what i would do and then i watch what they would do i'm like oh that was fucking good like i get that so that that's what I like to do. I'll try to get a script of a show or certain scenes, and I'll read it, and I'll play it out myself, and then I'll watch it and see how they delivered it and compare it. That's one thing that I do, stay proactive with it, and I enjoy that. What drives you every day? What gets you out of bed? Fear of failure.
Starting point is 01:09:51 Um, just knowing that again, it goes back to my sister. She sacrificed herself for us. You know, that's, that's the way I see it. She's my,
Starting point is 01:10:02 when I pray, I pray to her and anything that could happen to me that I know it's, it's, she's the way i see it she's my when i pray i pray to her and anything that good happens to me that i know it's it's she's got a hand in it and so knowing that the opportunity that i have to be here and not be with a or not be dead not be with a drug dealing scumbag father that would probably be you know abusive and i wouldn't be i wouldn't have a good education i wouldn't be anywhere near what i've achieved if i had been stuck in that kind of life um so taking every opportunity i can every day beat on the ground and start kicking ass kind of thing.
Starting point is 01:10:45 Um, waking up and saying, thank you. You know, first thing in the morning, that's, that's, that's, that's what I must do.
Starting point is 01:10:56 Yeah. I'm, I'm thankful that we got a chance to talk to you. Cause I think in like a year from now, you're not going to have time for little people. I guess you're going to be, you're going to be best thing is little people. You're going to be the best thing is little people. Everybody. Yeah, I know.
Starting point is 01:11:07 There are no little people. Young Rock just got signed for season two. That's fantastic. Congratulations. We're on for that. That's great. All right. Well, thank you for your time today. We really appreciate it. Go get jacked. Have an awesome day and
Starting point is 01:11:23 take care. Likewise. Thank you. Thank you so much awesome thank you catch you later later guys wow i love the stories of people man the making of superheroes yeah and i think that guy's gonna end up in like a superhero movie looking all jacked like that yeah no he has a very very handsome face and then just jacked as hell just the fact he'll be in a marvel movie at some point he can turn on a voice just like that i'm like what the fuck that arnold shit was crazy and the iron she was it's it's yeah you could sound like he he puts in a lot of student of the game yeah yeah he hit a full-on monologue, right? Mid-podcast. Right? Yeah. Damn. Just because.
Starting point is 01:12:07 Yeah, very, very cool, and just interesting to hear Arnold's stories. I like Arnold running away and hitting the gym. That's great. He's like, fuck this, I'm out of here. Yeah. Doesn't tell anybody where he's at. That should have been the first place they looked, though. The gym, right? You would
Starting point is 01:12:23 assume. They should have been like, check the surrounding gyms. That should have been the first place they looked though the gym right you would assume it's been like check the surrounding gyms that should have been like where's their protein and where are their gyms let's investigate that that's probably where he's at yeah this what happened to him when he was younger man that like yeah that was wild i think what he said at the end made a lot of sense you know his you know not that his sister had any sort of role in any of it but kind of sacrificing herself like if if that incident never happened he may have lived with his dad for longer and that could have potentially been worse uh for the entire family you know and just i don't don't even understand when people say stuff i just don't even get it i'm like i don't understand
Starting point is 01:13:05 how you fucking survived or your mom survived or i don't get any of it because it just seems like it's just seems like it's just way too heavy way way too much to deal with you know yeah but he did yeah he did i think people just uh figure out a way and then his thing with crohn's disease i was just gonna say to say, yeah. That was really interesting. I wish we had asked what year that was. 2014. Is that what he... Oh, my bad. I missed it.
Starting point is 01:13:31 Well, it was right before he got the role in Terminator. So it could have been 13 or 14. Wow. Early on. Yeah, because he turned around and ate a bunch of meat, and then he ended up on Terminator, basically. Uh-huh. Yeah. That's incredible.
Starting point is 01:13:44 And it's funny. It it's like don't eat red meat when you have crones it's like that's the one thing he's able to eat right so yeah i've heard uh mike baker share stories about people doing the same thing like damn it's nuts oh there is something different about just committing to eating meat for sure uh i don't think it's always necessary though for people and it's probably not even at this point uh not even necessary for brett he's kind of moved into eating other foods so i think it's uh i think it's always worthwhile to just do it you just mess with it and try it out you know but if you don't have any issues uh and you're feeling good and you're making good progress, it's probably unnecessary torture in a way. I like what he said about his nutrition and about his training.
Starting point is 01:14:32 It was all pretty simple. Sounds like he's been a pretty big dude most of his life. Sounds like he's been in pretty good shape most of his life. So he was never really behind to where he's ever really probably had to do anything that crazy or drastic with his nutrition. He probably sounded like he got into like bodybuilding at a fairly young age and lifting and sports at a young age and just was able to build on top of that and continue to get more jacked and leaner all the time. Yeah. I love, you know, when you ask what he eats, he's just like, well, eight to 10 ounces of protein and 24 ounces of vegetables. Again, I think you said about three times a day, right?
Starting point is 01:15:11 Like, damn it. No, I want the secret though. Like exactly how many, like, but no, it's, dude's a savage. Is it fasted cardio that you're doing? What's going on here? Tell us the secret. I need the exact bro split. Yeah.
Starting point is 01:15:24 What fat burners are you taking? When you do lateral raises, how high do you go? That's the question, right? People ask, right? I will say, though, that dude's energy is pretty infectious. Because you can tell it's not really manufactured. He's just a really vibrant individual which is pretty damn awesome kind of reminded me of um uh lance lance keys yeah like i kind of like similar like head shape when i see yeah yeah that's the first thing i can in my head my mind
Starting point is 01:16:00 acting is a real bitch you know i think it's really difficult i've never had any training in acting but i've done stuff where i've had to act before and it's brutal that's really tough um i did like a little bit of theater when i was like in high school and stuff like that is fun but i'm also uh i guess inexperienced when it comes to that stuff so i I'm sort of shy with that because I don't not, I think if I was familiar and had a better skillset, then I would probably be okay. You know, but,
Starting point is 01:16:31 um, I've always been fascinated by it. I've always, it's always been something that I wanted to, uh, mess with, just take like a course or something just to learn more about it. Cause I'm like,
Starting point is 01:16:40 even doing stuff promotional for like slingshot, I'm like, there's, yeah, I could sit here and talk about the product, but I don't really know what I'm doing. And I've been in front of a camera nine zillion times, but that is way different. You know, there's, there's so many different forms of, of communication through like a camera or through social media. or through social media. I mean, you could film yourself in your car, which is way different than, and you can have an amazing message and you can sound incredibly smart.
Starting point is 01:17:10 You could be a doctor or something and just nail all these points and sound wonderful. Or you could do something more high-end in front of some cameras, in front of a couple of people, and that's a little bit more stress. And you got a whiteboard behind you and you're writing shit out.
Starting point is 01:17:24 Or you could be on the goddamn like today show and you have to like you know uh you know explain something on a high level about back health or something like that or we've had friends on there like gunner peterson and stuff like that who have to kind of drill these set points but you know if it seems to do something like that is going to talk about nutrition and talk about lifting going to talk about jiu-jitsu so it's like okay i'm scared as hell this is crazy there's a lot of lights here i know there's millions of people watching but the millions of people aren't in the building there's only like there's only 10 people watching you a couple
Starting point is 01:18:00 people instructing you on where to stand and when you're going to go live and all that. And so incredibly nerve wracking. But now imagine if they say, all right, and Seema, you're from Texas and, you know, Mark is from New York City and you guys are getting together for a cup of coffee. not mad but you're agitated about you know like and they start giving these it's like how the small cues how the fuck do you do that but if if you were to if you were just to be agitated and you came in you were a little frustrated it would be easy for everybody to see that and you wouldn't you don't have to act it out but then you don't know how to draw upon that i find that really fascinating you got to figure out a way how do you show you know how do you show how do you convey that sometimes without words? I guess you can convey it with your eyes, your body language, even just the way you talk, being short with people or something. I don't know, but it all sounds really interesting to me.
Starting point is 01:18:56 And then on top of all that, if in SEMA, if you don't get this shot correctly, there's Mark's time. There's the DP. There's Grip. There's the director. There's studio time. There's studio money being lost. Every time you fuck up, this movie is now costing a lot more. So I don't know how much that plays into some of the nerves and stuff.
Starting point is 01:19:20 I'm sure people get fired all the time. They probably only have a paragraph To spit out And they probably like fuck it up And don't deliver it the way it needs to be delivered And they're like alright we gotta get somebody else in there Their one break that they finally got And here it is and they can't get it out
Starting point is 01:19:35 Mom's spaghetti Oh my gosh all over the sweater already Getting anyone going to the next line? That's as far as we get yeah i think we're okay because i don't know that yeah i was gonna try but then i was like i don't got it yeah all right there all right andrew take us on i can't remember any well we went backwards yeah we vomit on my sweater already, Mom Spaghetti. Something he forgets what he wrote down. Words won't come out. Time's up.
Starting point is 01:20:09 Over. Blow. Something like that. Something like that. I think we skipped a couple lines. Well, you just got to do like what kids do when they're like. Yeah, I just make up. Mm-hmm.
Starting point is 01:20:17 Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
Starting point is 01:20:17 Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
Starting point is 01:20:18 Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
Starting point is 01:20:19 Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
Starting point is 01:20:19 Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
Starting point is 01:20:19 Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
Starting point is 01:20:22 Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. We can get in the industry okay thank you everybody for checking out today's episode uh dude you guys heard our guest talk about how uh kind of going carnivore helped his crohn's disease um we preach the carnivore diet and just being meat-based and and the absolute best way in our opinion is to hit up Save Plants Have you guys had the Biltong Piedmontese stuff yet?
Starting point is 01:20:50 Biltong? Yeah it's like jerky basically. I haven't had the Biltong I've had the beef sticks It's like flat jerky and then the beef sticks We gotta have them send it to you guys but Biltong is a little bit different than jerky because it's like softer.
Starting point is 01:21:06 From South Africa or some shit? I think so. Yeah. It's amazing because it's not like dried out as much. It's a little bit more moist. It's like a sheet of steak, right? Yeah. Yeah.
Starting point is 01:21:18 Basically, it's a sheet of steak. That is true. Yeah. They asked if we could talk about it more on the podcast i'm like i don't think the other guys have had it yet so i was like all i can do is talk about it then they get mad at me and sema's gonna put me in a european french lock i don't know i made that up but if you did make it up you could name it you know like if that was your thing camel clutch you can put me in a camel clutch. There you go.
Starting point is 01:21:45 That sounds real sus, man. Well, you know, it's Iron Sheik. Well, you could wear a sock. Here, wear my sock. Yo, you'd think they'd have a better budget, man. But that's only an ankle sock, bro. They probably do, but they, I don't know, maybe because the cameras have to get, I don't know. I think everybody just was excited about, you know, just seeing what they were seeing.
Starting point is 01:22:08 You know, they were like, let's go. Let's go with this. Let's just tell him all we got is a sock. He's in great shape. It's going to rally everybody up on the set. So let's do it this way. It didn't sound like he got me too'd. So I think it's okay.
Starting point is 01:22:19 Yeah, he's all good. Oh, fuck. Yeah. Okay. So, yeah. Where were we talking? Oh, meet all that good stuff uh piedmontese.com p-i-e-d-m-o-n-t-e-s-e.com at checkout enter promo code power project for 25 off your order and if
Starting point is 01:22:32 your order is 99 more you get free two-day shipping please follow the podcast at mark wells power project at mb power project on tiktok and twitter and again that newsletter down in the description and podcast show notes got some more fire coming your way so please make sure you guys subscribe to that ASAP if you haven't done so already my Instagram and Twitter is at I am Andrew Z and Seema where you at you listen on Apple go review go review yes thank y'all and Seema on Instagram and YouTube and Seema yin yang on Twitter Mark I'm at Mark Smelly Bell strength is never weakness weakness never strength catch you guys later bye

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