SmartLess - "Tom Hanks"

Episode Date: November 1, 2021

We are very T.Hankful this week, with surprise guest Tom Hanks. Tom renames the show “HelpLess,” Sean practices his critically-recognized hosting prowess, and we begin the development process on Tom’s next two blockbuster TikTok films. There’s no crying in podcasts!See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

I'm gonna do this so today is oh sorry today yeah good today we're going to have a nice I was Sean no it's just the last time you started the last one I was gonna start this one okay we're just doing an intro so it doesn't matter to start so I'll just go let me just do it listener here is smart listen I think it's been three weeks since we've we've done this since I've seen you since I've talked to you and I have to say I've had some long drives in the last three weeks so I've gone ahead and done some quality control looking listening to our podcast I'm not great at it because I'm listening to them after

they've already reached the public so I'm picking up some long hauler miles I've got some five-hour energy cases I'm trying to get through okay sure so it's really been nice listening to you fellas you're both very talented and very funny on the podcast I'd really like to be more of a part of it but so I was very excited to part of it I was very excited to see you guys today but then this morning this morning this morning a real dark cloud floated over our family here is it possible to say that is it possible for a dark cloud to then give you a gut punch is that possible sure what happened yeah well why don't you

take it from here well Jason read something that I read we all read it oh god I read it I read it after you sent it to me here we go actually you know it Sean sent it that's sure I said that before I read it I don't think so Sean sent an article to Jason and me in the thread that we're in with some feigned exclamation points like yeah this is great for us and by the way I'm gonna put it out there if anybody thinks they're worthy of being in the text thread let us know and maybe we'll add you on the yeah we'll add you to the thread and Sean says congrats for us yay for us and it's a click to the

Hollywood Reporter smart list nominated great nominated for a bunch of podcast awards or whatever which is kind of neat because this is you know this is an embarrassment mom and pop operation yeah we're we apologize yeah the fact that we're getting any traction whatsoever let alone nominations just thank you yeah it's pretty great thank you and also it's embarrassing I think Jason's read it is kind of embarrassing so so then as you if you read further down in the story they're nominated best podcast blah blah and Sean Hayes nominated for best host okay which is the worst which the kiss of death because now it was like

well he's not really that great well you're I don't think they're saying it out of the side of their mouth either I think you come straight out the center and here's my thing today I can't wait to see you host yeah let's see what you got Sean this is gonna be the worst experience for me yeah well the voters are now listening right because the nominations are out now they really have to decide attention to his house my questions are still gonna be like hey where are you from yeah no don't worry we know that obviously resonates with the with the jury over there the I heart media people have made a bunch of

mistakes when Sean said when Sean said what's your favorite color I mean let's nominate that jackass yeah here we go geez I'm not gonna be able to come up for air for a while and we're thrilled for you Sean yeah we really are thrilled for everybody and I said this I said to Sean by the way I did say congrats man and he's like oh thank you and I responded I didn't mean it what are you doing I actually I responded with I didn't I didn't read the I truly didn't know I didn't read the article I just read the headline like most people sure it is true I think Sean might be the kindest man I've ever

out I possible no one deserves it more not around you too all right zip it up we got we've got a we've got a we've got an interesting guest today he's he's known primarily in New Zealand and in South Africa due to his success in Rugby okay Florida then came to love him when he pivoted his talents towards highlight and dog racing and then when he was in California he was attempting to be the first to successfully mend the San Andreas Fault he tried his handed acting and and while fame and fortune there has been scarce at best some call it a wipeout sure the critics have given him a few hugs so he has received a

couple of Academy Awards and seven Emmy Awards what yeah he's gotten himself a Tony nomination he turned it around he got a lifetime achievement award from AFI BAFTA gave him something the Golden Globes gave him the Cecil B. DeMille Award the Kennedy Center honored this this highlight player and Barack Obama gave him the Presidential Medal of Freedom wait so I should chin up I say chin up to this fella no idea this is the most the most highly decorated guest we've ever had I would say so yet he's famous and fortunate in our book okay please welcome the forever struggling but always diligent America's own and

Hollywood's best Mr. Tom Lamar Hanks yeah I know that Sean was the host of this podcast I would have bailed I said guys I'd like to but you know I don't like to work from home apparently you're working with one of the brightest hosts in the business yeah is there a name for this award is it does it named after somebody is it it's called the the aorta because it's from my heart media oh I okay that's not true but that's my pitch one of my heart-hitting nominee questions is where are you right now I don't recognize that room I'm a I'm in a tiny little cubby hole that is here in my vast compound somewhere in the

tri-state area I'm telling you dog racing really pays guys you got to look into it it's within a single days drive from Lakewood Ohio home of the Great Lake Shakespeare Festival wait you didn't is it true no no we already get a plot we already plugging a festival I mean well it's a long time ago wait did you really do dog racing no dumbass this is why you're not gonna win Jason was demonstrating his quote comedy chops yeah guys can I write or what huh we hang on I think Tom's on to something let's get into Jason's comedy you know I told I told some friends last night that I was doing this podcast and

first of all I had to re-explain your name we were yeah I said Sean who Jason what will huh what is the name of it yeah I kept calling it helpless based on the Neil Young song so but now I realized no no no it's it's smart less we really are helpless and the question came up about you will oh which is which was this question is has he started using a different voice professionally mm-hmm that in your early days you were kind of like squeaky you sort of sounded like Jane North in those old Dennis the menace reruns and you were hilarious but then you went off and voiced Batman and it's though you're

walking around with your own self-imposed EQ on your voice now yeah true or false will here I listen I like any good politician I can't just give you a straight true or false I will say that I constantly have a monitor in my year and I'm and I'm adjusting my levels my input levels right and so then I can I can monitor no you know what it's funny I recently you know I often watch a lot of my old stuff because I like to be entertained and he has trouble sleeping yeah no but I my voice has gotten it has but if you listen to Howard's it's because of abuse I guess are you do you still smoke well who's listening I'm

just learning I'm just learning we had Sean Penn on the podcast he's he's he went through a full pack of darts didn't he he did go through a pack of darts that's colloquial of her cigarette as Canadian as opposed to say coffin nail or or a nail a nail or bullet actually Tom this brings me to an actual question about the nail I noticed recently I was reading the 10th book in the in the gunter what's his name series by Phillip Kerr and I noticed your name on the back of the you gave a little blurb for the back of for the jacket of Prussian blue which I'm almost finished with oh that's a great one it's a great

one right Gunther help me Bernard Gunther Bernard Bernard Bernie Gunther series he plays a non okay be merciful on me on this okay he plays a non Nazi private investigator from 1928 Berlin through well after the war yes right it's a fabulous series by Philip Kerr the late Philip Kerr he passed away I know too early yeah and I read them all and just well I'm not a big I'm not a big like detective genre fiction writer me neither but this had that added bonus of very accurate sort of historical detail to it that that I really loved it's a tremendous historical fiction and you're absolutely right and I'm with you

Tom and I read I read mostly non-fiction in somebody recommended they said you love all this European history I think you'd like this I'm fully it like I said I just started at the beginning of the summer and I'm on book 10 Prussian blue and but he always refers to cigarettes as nails and he gets beaten up by these Nazis and then they look down and he's spitting up blood and they say what do you want he looks up and he says kind of get a nail yeah and you know what when he smokes one he looks really cool he looks really really cool what I like about those books is it fills in the blanks of his war years because some of

them take place well before World War two some of them take place after World War two and in the course of it you see what he went thanks guys for firing us out of the gate here at the start of the interview and our listeners love literature go Sean you're the host let's do it yeah come on by the way Sean I have my hand on my buzzer hand is right on my buzzer okay good I want to know what your fascination with with war is because your name is so synonymous I've never asked you this in my entire life why are you so passionate yeah you're the war guy the history of it's starting to highlight I think right dog racing you

know first of all we do a lot of them because none of the projects have to have cell phones or laptops so that alone makes the writing of them so much easier and there's much less special effects of having to put in those screens but it I have I get this question asked to me quite often and the answer always comes down to when in those formative years of say seven through you know when you're a little kid you know every single caregiver every single adult in my life would make references to the six two words three letters each the war and they talked about it as is this great dividing line

in their lives there was before the war there was during the war and there was just after the war and they talked about it as though it's almost like well that was when the black plague was walking among us you know for for a big chunk of their lives they had no idea where they were going to be in another six months they had no idea how long the war was going to last that's that's one big aspect of it the other part of it too is is that the bad guys lost yeah at the end of the day yeah just yeah we were able to somehow unfortunately necessarily kick the stuffing out of them and when bad guys

lose something it's that what is that power of myth of is it Bill Moyers you know and you know the world was on a quest to defeat people that were undeniably evil the governments of those places and many of the many of the populace so I keep getting drawn back to that and again I will say that from a storytelling perspective our present day is just so there is no shame left anymore you know truth seems to be a a malleable viscous kind of like it's a distant memory truth it seems like and actually you know what Tom is Sean actually within the last six months I don't know if you remember we were

talking about all the movies you've done at the war moves and Tom said do you think he'll ever make a movie about tiktok and you know because something that he thinks about for Sean and Scotty there's before tiktok after tiktok well you know if I did it would only be about 45 seconds long how long how long is your average tiktok and then I won't be I can't and then I won't be able to wait for the sequel Tom I know that I know that you would you'd never compare your experience shooting save a private private Ryan to those who actually fought you know in all of that and during all that but was there ever

a moment I'm sure I bet there was a few moments while you were shooting that where you got close to the feeling maybe of what it might have been like I mean certainly the product the result of that film took me there or as close as I I think I could get but I would imagine there were a few moments there were it just based on the quality of the production they managed to create some environments for you there and your own process of trying to get into the character and the realism of it where you you were kind of struck a bit by what these guys must have gone through well yeah but at the same it was all fake you

know sure but I mean you got to take that into account but when you were on the beach there in County Wexford in Ireland which is where we shot the Omaha Beach sequences oh so it wasn't wasn't right there well it was actually it was one of the places where they rehearsed some of it so that's one aspect how far was base camp from the beach it was way well I was gonna I was gonna incorporate that into the go so just light up another nail will take that pause we're there with 500 members of the Irish actual members of the Irish army there is landing craft everywhere and we're all storming storming the beaches and the

special effects crew had laid out these tiny little flags on the beach where they had set up air mortars and squibs little explosive devices things to avoid yeah and they actually said you know I be carefully right because you know this is going to become this is like a projectile it'll come out at a ground very fast so if you can try to avoid where the flags are you know I think I got that then they removed all the flags and we couldn't see anything oh my god where so we were just stumbling all wondering why so there's all of that and it's dressed the way it is and when you there were always four

or five cameras going and once the shot began and you're wet and you're cold and you're coming up and at a corner of one eye you see a guy catch on fire and at a corner of the other eye you see a guy blown 40 feet into the air and he loses a leg in the process literally we had you know amputee stunt people oh my god then there were they were amputated before you shot amputated thank god just to clarify even though there's harnesses and there's wires and why not machine guns are going off all around you and explosions are happening like crazy and it goes on for the better part of you know two or three or four

minutes and there was a there was a degree of sort of like odd fake and yet the same time terror that was going on yeah so we were shooting then they're all morning along I'm gonna say about on the baby the second day of shooting because the first day of shooting was spent in the boats themselves and I climbed up the steps to the bluff they had put in these wooden steps so we could get up to the base camp well that's for catering and craft services would not far as the crow flies but it was awfully high it was probably about six seven hundred feet up the bluffs and I went back and I found the other guys

in the unit who I would be meeting when we got up to the shale which was a you know the deflate that was at the top of the beach that's where I would come across Barry Pepper and Eddie Burns and Vin Diesel and the other guys and they were still hanging around you know outside the trailers the way actors do sure and I was wet and I was sandy and I was near death from the amount of noise that had gone on and I told the guys that you guys better hold on to your hats because it's really wild down there you are not going I mean when you see a guy catch on fire out of the corner of your eyes you're cut and no one said you

know no one's prepped you no one has said there's gonna be a guy caught on fire on this side and it's it all you're it was it was an interesting kind of kind of panic you know it's interesting and this is kind of folding back to what you were saying earlier one of the reasons that what I love about that movie and I love that move so I'm not embarrassed to say I love it so much and I've seen it a lot of times and one of the things I really love about it you kind of touched on this whole idea of it can't wait for the musical version no 97 by the way 1997 which is insane that's what I came out wow it seems like two

years ago but you had that moment where your character is a school teacher I think is that right or yeah yeah we just school but the idea that it doesn't matter what he is he's just a regular this is what the thing of this particularly this war there was the Great War which they referred to World War 1 as but then there was the war this war World War 2 and he was a guy who was called to do something extraordinary he wasn't a guy who was born to be a military officer he wasn't a guy who's born to be a killer he was a guy who had to go because that's what he had to do and people came in in this moment when

the entire world was at war and did extraordinary things and I always loved that about it and I think that for me it really captured what it is that that sort of makes me have such a it's weird to have say have reverence for the war but you have reverence for the bravery and what people did that was extraordinary things yeah you actually want to make an anti-war movie at the same time right that you're making a war movie right let me tell you a story I was I was night 18 years old I think and I was a Belman at the Royal Hotel in Oakland California and we had a guy who read his own dry cleaning service would

come and collect the clothes and take them away and then deliver the clean clothes he was always coming with you know dozens and dozens of shirts and pants that have been dry cleaned and I was working there one summer and he was gone for two weeks I'm gonna say his name was Mike I can't remember what his name was but Mike was gone for two weeks and somebody else came in every day and then then after two weeks it was in June after two weeks he came back from his vacation I said oh hey Mike where were these last two oh no I take a vacation every every every June I said oh oh do you do you go camping no no no I I get

together with with some of my old buddies and said oh oh where did you where did you go well this this year we we went back to this place that we had visited back when we were kids I said oh no where was that he said that it's in the it's in the north of France he was a paratrooper he was in the 82nd airborne wow this guy is nice well I'm this 1974 so go back 40 years so he's he's in his 50s and what he's telling me is that when he was in his 20s he jumped into he jumped into Normandy on D-Day and he was a paratrooper and now he's a guy delivering his dry cleaning dry cleaning for the hotel yeah I felt I felt

stupid and small but also that was a he was an example of that adult that caregiver that was part of daily life that you know that he didn't know if he was gonna make it back and he went oh he said and we go back he said this he said we go back to visit the buddies that didn't make it home so they're visiting the visiting the the cemetery sitter in so look that's a generation it was a it was a time that was loaded with all sorts of problems that of course we're still dealing with right now but you can't take away the fact that these were young guys who were asked to go off and liberate the world from really

really bad people and they did it yeah my grandfather I just I'll leave it at this my my grandfather who passed almost almost 12 years ago was really close with and loved dearly he I remember him telling me he worked with he was in the Canadian Army but he was attached to the Royal Air Force and he planned bombing sorties and they were stationed at various air airfields as they would move across as they you know after June 44 and he said one morning we wake up and there was constantly planes taking off and landing and stuff and they were right and he said one morning his tent the guy we shared a tent with woke up

came out of the tent and walked into a propeller of a plane in the dark and I said and he told me he didn't tell me this until I was about 18 of course and I said well what did you do and he said and he wasn't joking he said well I got a new tent mate and I was like wow and he was just like that's the way it went we had to keep going there was what can you do I don't want to go into place I was that's too much of a bummer of a story sad story true story very so anyway I think a perfect segue would be happy days right in order to make saving private Ryan happen or any of the other incredible movies that you have you I am

db reading son no no no no this is pure Wikipedia so so had you not booked that episode on happy days hey would you have not met Ron Howard and things that we would not have been gifted the highlight Ron Howard on happy days Ron had left the series by then what I the guys I met were Lowell Gans and Babalu Mandel who were the staff writers on happy days who wrote the the part who wrote Splash the screenplay of Splash and Ron was directing and they said hey mate want to take a look at that guy who got fired from bosom buddies you know bosom buddies was canceled something that Sean is going to experience one of these

days yeah don't worry Sean's canceled two programs I've been on so keep going and we will be right back and now back to the show Tom would you agree that the this the routine of a sitcom actor is the best job in show business do you miss it still to this day well it is it is kind of a skate it's a great hang I'll tell you that because look if you either shoot you will rehearse Monday Tuesday Wednesday camera block Thursday shoot Friday right or you rehearse Thursday Friday Monday camera block Tuesday shoot Wednesday is that kind of like that that second one shoots Tuesday yes you start on Wednesday what

you're saying is five days of the week yeah yeah unless you're working with Jimmy Burroughs and then you can take the first day off of rehearsal and really becomes a four-day work week and it's only three weeks a month so it's 12 working days a month these are really top-secret things man you should never let the civilians here are you blowing up and it's six hours a day now everybody's gonna want to be in showbiz there's there's there's there's craft service climate gets a lot of breaks you know it is it is an awfully awfully fun day given when we did bosom buddies Peter Scallari and I my dear old

pal one of the great shows we actually shot that show on video not on the film cameras film cameras in those days that was pretty much a bunt camera camera blocking day was just kind of like your stand and did it but we had four video cameras and we had to do the entire camera blocking day ourselves on camera because they did a line cut you know camera three and tighten up on four and four let's come back let's coming back to two and two you had to be there for that so you did you worked a long day and you did every line of the that week script over and over again and he and I just started goofing around so much that

that's that's where we first got we got yelled at a couple of times you know the the the director up in the booth you know he'd come in over that top voice of God hey guys listen we're working really hard on can you guys just cut it skip to the lines otherwise we can't get the line cut in we're trying check the tally lights on camera three Tom would that comes on that you know you speak and we didn't care we were just goofing around so much how excited were you when you got when you got that show what was that moment so young Tom Hanks and you get bosom buddies you booked it it's your job what was that well I couldn't

believe it yeah I was gonna be on TV you know right and I was gonna be up to that point as a Shakespearean actor I'd made I made less than ten ten thousand dollars in a year for an entire year and I was married and I had a kid and geez I made almost I made that in two weeks on on bosom buddies so the financial reprieve was huge when was the last time you did Shakespeare I did Shakespeare two years ago here in Los Angeles I played false staff yes with the Shakespeare Center Los Angeles Tom tell that story it was it was a video that I saw of you doing it I can't remember it was so funny you pulled some guy out of the

audience or something what was no what happened was we had it we had a medical emergency a guy a gentleman had a heart thing happened to him and all of a sudden the paramedics had to be called we were doing it at the VA Center in the Japanese Garden amongst the Eucalyptus trees here in West Los Angeles and you know that a guy had some sort of seizure and we had to call the EMTs and then we had to take a break in the house not the house lights the lights all came up and it was going into it ended up being about a 30 minute hold while they took care of the right and we were all backstage saying should we do something

and then when I saw that people were leaving oh no no no no no no I mean it was gonna it was a long it was about close to three hour show anyway but when I saw people I saw a lady pick up her purse and move toward the exit and I came running out trying to scream and she get back here take take thee thy seat or something yeah it was so funny but what was amazing was you were improvising in Shakespearean talk that was that's what my mind and it was super funny God it was so great it ended up it ended up being worthwhile and got enough people to stay and I think I ridiculed enough people that made some

lady cry you know out of laughter tears of joy what was the you know a splash by the way for your birthday years and years ago I sent you a poster and I superimposed my face over Daryl Hannah's and I said the note said you and I would have made a bigger splash but we only been the trailblazers but but you know what was that like what was that feeling because as a kid I was like oh my god every actor wanted to be Tom thanks everybody every actor wanted to be you yeah because you were in all of the string of these massive comedy hits right and big and splash and just what I was doing they asked me to they asked me

to be in a movie so I said yeah but did you but did you know when you started doing all those other movies started you did big and you did all these things and they were just getting did you know where you were going or no no we have no idea they just said no plan you were playing the lead and you are incredibly charismatic and you were you were you were compelling on screen like you were carrying things right out of the gate had you always had the confidence and these sort of the leadership qualities growing up I was just trying to remember the words I was trying to speak loud enough to be heard but Tom you are

you are you are such a relief listen I'll tell you I'll tell you the biggest the biggest lesson that I learned this was when I was at the Great Lakes Shakespeare Festival just a day's drive from where I am right now in Lakewood Ohio and which Dan Sullivan he's a who directed the the the fault the Henry the fifth excuse me Henry the fourth that I did his false death he directed that in 1977 we were in rotating rep and I was carrying a spear and I was doing everything that I was told to do and we had done that we had just opened a production of Hamlet the night before it was in rotating rep so you open the

shows about every two weeks and then you ran a different show every night that's what repertory means Sean and so we had opened up Hamlet and we all had to rehearsal the next day for a taming of the shrew which I played I played Grumio in timming of the shrew and all of the equity company the professionals were hungover exhausted because they had all been out partying the night before because they just opened Hamlet so everybody was like synambulistic and showing up at 10 o'clock and no one really knew their lines yet and everybody was kind of like shuffling around and Dan Sullivan yelled at

everybody he yelled at everybody said hey hey hey hey we've got three weeks to get this show up on its feet and you people are not even trying for crying out loud I can't do my job if you guys don't do your jobs you guys have got a show up on time you got to know your lines and you've got to have an idea I can't provide everything here so let's take a break mainline some coffee chew it if you have to right out of the jar but come back here with some friggin energy fuck I would cast you in the Dan Sullivan movie right now by the way sorry just for what it's worth that was okay so you look we're all we're all like

1918 20 I was 20 years old then and that lesson really super stuck to me if professional actors who have 20 years in the biz as they often said 20 years in the biz I've never been yelled at like that that was that was an important lesson all through all of these gigs that I had the hits thank you the Mrs. let's forget those I always that was always the thing that I thought be most important thing to do was show up on time know your lines and have an idea in your pocket for sure bring it that's that's all I did through all of those I didn't know anything so Tom when you went when you were doing all the strings

at the string of comedies back then and you do you remember what it felt like or do you remember that pivot moment when all of a sudden maybe you got offered a script or you had a kind of dialogue with your agent or what happened where you switched over to more let's say important films or more dramatic films and what a way to what a question is so great you were you okay I that was the era of you can make a movie for about $15 million and if you just said it was a comedy it seemed to do some brand of business whether it was actually funny or not it didn't matter yeah that was it was all you know anybody who had said

action and cut was trusted to direct a comedy movie whether they were funny or not and I'm I made a I made a ton of those in which everybody came at all the dailies were fantastic I think the audience is going to be standing on their feet at the end of this so Tracy dailies are the thing you watch as you're filming the movie they get the Russians the day before stuff and it doesn't matter if the movie was called monkeys make the sun go down everybody was in this is this is the funniest of all the cows of tumble town this is going to be a magnificent comedy because the good comedies that were made you know at the

time they all had they were all with former second city people you know and setting up live people and but there was this this you could take a setting this movie takes place on a ski slope this movie takes place on a school bus this movie takes place at a bachelor party and it will be a comedy and I made a I made a billion of those like that because we're just kind of like doing imitations of other people's funny movies yeah but here's the thing and I've said this about there are a few people out there who have this and you are one of them which is it doesn't matter what the movie was you are always good you're

always even even doing I joked about doing the Dan Sullivan no matter what it is you're committed and that always kind of shines through so I I know that you talked about those those misses I mean look if it wasn't for bad movies I wouldn't make any at all you wouldn't be sitting in your dad's library living back at my folks house but you know but it's true and you always you always deliver in that way because I always get the impression watching you that like you don't care what the thing is you're just doing I mean you're part of it and you're in the thing and who gives a shit what I don't want to I don't want to

discount some of the great stuff I met great people and we did we made we actually did some really funny stuff that that that really did work and yes always always fun also known as classics it was well you know it's funny you know they I don't think I we ever had a movie Splash was well reviewed and I don't think I had another decent review for about I don't know six or seven films but now you read about them and they're they're called classics you know they're called classic now didn't happen back in the day but once Philadelphia happened I would imagine some of the scripts that were coming to

you started to confuse things for you and your team well I got older you know that that's the other thing too I you know there's a type of movie you can make in your late 20s I turned here's a story I turned 27 the day of we wrapped the motion picture Splash it was the last day of shooting we were in the Bahamas we had a cake that was actually for the wrap hey let's celebrate the last day of shooting with a cake and someone I think with the tube of toothpaste added in icing on the cake happy birthday Tom because they found out it was my birthday so that was you know there's a movie that you make when

you're 27 and in your early 30s and one have done you know I made I made a number of them and which but you have to get older you know you can't yeah and I was able to age into Gary Marshall gave me a great role with Jackie Gleason in a movie called nothing in common and then David Seltzer wrote and directed with Sally Field punchline and then big came along that's great yeah but you get older and so and you start singing I will tell you I look I'm not big on this kind of stuff but there was one time I was sitting around with my crack showbiz expert who works for CAA and he said to me what do you want to do and I and I

said you know exactly like Richard that's a great impersonation there you go beautiful what do you want to do and I said I said I want to play grown-ups so I want to I want to play people who've been through bitter compromise because that was I was in my mid 30s by that point compromise Jason is a thing that people do yeah when you hear the other person's side and then you go okay I'm willing to shift my position a little bit and whatever we'll talk about it later until sorry time wait time you know what I was wanted to ask you and this is gonna be the dumbest question in the world but I'm guaranteed but that's

right in castaway right you the volleyball is named Wilson now you're married to the wonderful Rita Wilson who I love I adore we all do is is was that by design because it could have been called spaulding Jesus could have been it was written by Bill broils and that man that movie took about six years to figure out Bill broils and I started talking about it and we didn't we weren't shooting it until six years later and he came up with the idea of a volleyball and he named it Wilson in honor of my beautiful bride we've been married it'll be 34 years hold for a pause hold for a pause yeah thank you

well Jesus Christ that is a whole new level now you know but that brings me to Finch Finch seems like it's got some qualities it's I mean if I was a hack studio executive I'd say it's it's castaway meets Martian all movies are like that now all movies are like that yeah aren't they all essentially you take a it's this is on the waterfront meets pal Joey by by way of Paw Patrol they they're all movies are all come pop we have all but what you need is a is a relatable every man that is empathetic sympathetic can alpha and beta inside a page I mean you you are the man that could service all things I came up

through that era of which every genre movie was about somebody who could not be killed or defeated you know the cop that could not be filled I'm with you the fighter who could knew who never lost the and so I would you know a geeky guy with a big butt a big nose and a squeaky voice mm-hmm I took all the jobs away from will by the way I do have a big I have what's called a pro dumper yeah well you can't drive a spike with attack hammer as I have I just have a really quick castaway story that we might cut out of this but oh and Tom I think I told you this but I was working on Will and Grace with with

somebody worked on the show and we went after to his house after a taping one night and we got super super super stoned and will know this won't be cut yeah we had super super super stoned and he he said look I got a copy of castaway I got the DVD let's fast forward it to the plane crash because the effects are so crazy let's get totally high and watch like how do they do that right and so we so he just moved in this house it was this brand new equipment and we're and I'm sitting in the back of his screening room and he's up front he just moved into this crazy houses gorgeous and he had no idea how his own

equipment worked and so sitting in the backseat and he can't get the DVD to play and I said oh no that's is that a Sony totally high out of my mind I goes that is Sony he goes yeah I go oh their voice activated those are the new ones you don't even know what you have you have to speak the name of the movie into the machine after you put it in because what are you talking about I go just listen to me you have to say the name of the movie as you put it into the DVD player he's like are you serious I go a hundred percent I just read about these so he turns back to the machine with his back to me and he goes castaway and it

didn't play and he'd waited to be and they did it again he goes castaway and I turned behind me I was I couldn't breathe I was laughing Bob Zemeckis on that he needs he never cuts to the outside of the plane that's one of the reasons why that that plane crashes is good just from the perspective of inside the plane yeah I like that kind of stuff there that's Bob now Tom with all of your incredible set experience was that what drew you was it part of what drew you to the director's chair just just just the the effort to sort of streamline things because you knew probably more than a lot of the directors

you may have been working with no I think directing in that becomes sort of a bit of an ego thing because you become convinced that you know more than you actually do but Jason seriously yeah but then you try it you're like oh my god this is hard I believe every actor should direct I think every director should have to act I think we should all be writing and producing because you find out how hard it is to do that other job for sure from an actor's perspective it's like you know you got somebody saying that was pretty good try it again and you want to say to him do you realized I'm on a horse weeping

because my dog died and I'm trying to remember six pages of dialogue at the same you do you realize it's a little harder than it is man let's try it again that along with the same thing of an actress saying hey we gonna shoot this or what are we shooting or what right you have to realize that everybody has nine million things going on inside their head and then and also we look we're all storytellers at some point we we can have a sense of what might fit into our mouths a little bit better and maybe some options it goes back to the thing Dan Sullivan always said which have an idea in your pocket you know

have something that you can come out and say this isn't on the page but let me let me show you something else so since you have directed when you do come to the set as an actor with an idea in your pocket are you sensitive to that there might actually be a plan in place that that director and that crew has been working on for weeks and that your idea might might might disassemble the house of my son there might not be room for it so then you try it once and they say don't do that and so and then you don't do it right you know it's pretty pretty relatively easy stuff is that desire to direct still still still burning in you

or I can't say that I have the instinctive powers of being a director as an actor I think I know what I want to do read it and I think oh I know what direction I'll go to directing is a director requires a fidelity and a patience and an ability to communicate that after I've done it for the I've directed two feature films I've directed a number of episodes of the miniseries that we've done and I like those because I wrote them more I wrote on them at the same time but I think I think directors more so than than than myself as an actor they're they're born into it you know you had to think it's the greatest

job in the world yeah and oftentimes it's not yeah do you enjoy the producing part of it all with what what you guys don't really produce well but you guys churn out it's really you shouldn't sluff over it's the alliances that I make with other people that really do all the work but the amount of your bit you incredibly prolific as a producer you and Gary I mean it's it's you've employed an incredible amount of people you've put a lot of product out there that's not easy and that's it's incredibly admirable well I'm very lucky because we have extremely good people and we we do this you know we have a kind of like a

clubhouse office where we lean in each other's doorway and say you know is this really a feature film guys I'm not so sure it's a feature film shouldn't be like a 12-part miniseries instead so we can really examine the theme and then then you make nothing but a ton of alliances but here's I'm not a producer because this is what producers do every day they get on the phone and they try to convince somebody to do something they do not want to do right or they tell somebody on the phone that there's no way that they are going to do what that person on the phone really that's pretty much it's that it's that

dichotomy I always just say sure no matter no matter what they're saying right we'll be right back and now back to the show let me ask you how what is what's your feeling about this this transition that we're all in into a bit more of a streaming element married with you know box office you know theatrical you know going to the theater paying and paying some money for a ticket versus having it at home do you what is your opinion on that as somebody in the business and then also as somebody who is a who is a viewer is it do you like the fact that there is less pressure now maybe with not having to open on the weekend because

it's streaming do you think that's that's a pressure that doesn't come upon the actor because look the movies are always binary they're either double zero or zero one they either work or they do not work and if they don't work there's no amount of marketing or interviews that you can do right on podcasts in order to in order to change the zeitgeist the the pressure remains absolute the pressure is the speed of light in order to make a great story the audience I think if I can pontificate just a little bit here please doesn't care where they see it the business does the marketing the producers in the studios

in the the grand entertainment industrial complex you know they would you know they would like things to be exactly as they were but we have a business that is forever changing you know back in 1980 when you guys were still in junior high school and the concept of home video was just beginning here's a story that goes back a long way when we were the first year that Peter and I were in bosom buddies a VHS tape machine a player at home cost about $4,000 yeah wow and the only people that had them were incredibly wealthy rich peeping in the three-quarter inch for two well wasn't that by that time VHS was

just beginning and in an in in a neighborhood maybe a guy named Doug would open up Doug's video rental shop SHO PPE and on one side of one side of the rental space would be VHS tapes and on the other side would be a smaller collection of beta Sony beta max and eventually beta went away and it was all just VHS and by the time I think the next year VHS machines were only like $1,800 and then everybody was renting and the concept that you could it was great of course to be able to record shows after you went through this arcane kind of like process of on off recording timing up but the bigger thing

was is that if you had kids and you had a big VHS of Dumbo you know they would get up in the morning on their own and put in put in Dumbo and you didn't have to get a bit this was huge and the here we are in 2021 and the industry is going through something akin to that change because guess what as Gary Getzman my partnered plate on said you know sitting at home and watching something on your TV is not that bad right right right you know Tom you said to me years ago you said you know what Sean the business is always changing and you have to adapt and change with it not as an actor or the craft of creating

things just you have to keep an open mind and go with the flow of it otherwise why and if you fight it you're just why didn't you take that advice why didn't you do it because now you reduced to hosting is it heartless it's heartless you're known as Dumbo the host of we were very lucky we were very lucky at playtime because what our one of our first deals was at HBO and this was old-school HBO you know no commercials you could say anything you wanted to there was no language there was no there was no and at that point HBO doing so doing a series or a movie or a miniseries on HBO that was the gold

standard you had seemed as though you had all the freedom in the world and now you have even more of that all the freedom in the world but it still comes down to this very basic requirement you've got to be putting out a an awfully good product otherwise it will disappear into the mist like many of my early films thanks guys no no no but how are you not I'm surprised because they it seems like they've tried to gobble up everybody how have you not as when did Marvel call you and say Tom we need you to play you know Dr. Universe and you know we need you to do 12 films and you have to play Dr. Universe did that ever

happen because here's the problem I first of all they've never called me once I can't believe that no no never and I think that if one of these days they will and they'll say is there any way you would consider playing the secretary of defense a guy who comes and says please help us all for men we can't we can't survive I'll be one of those guys I don't get to play the punk gun foods God God bless you because you still make the kinds of films you have continued in an era where where most features are you know the feature film market is dominated by these huge some of those are great no I'm saying

they're great and I have a lot of friends who do them and they're not all great but some of them are I said some I said some but some of them are okay are good and I we all have friends who we adore and who are super talented who make those I'm not saying that but there is it seems like a shrinking market for films that stand on their own because it's a great story and has a great cast and blah blah and you seem to be one of those people you're in a very unique position that you are still making those films which I think is awesome we chastised we chastised JJ Abrams we were like go and make some comedies JJ you

know we were given him wants to but you know it's because Tom because you cuz time you are us and you have maintained being us you as first famous and as successful of you as you have become for as long as you have been you have still stayed very grounded it seems and normal and I would imagine that that is just something you're stuck with from when you were a little kid and you probably got a couple of parents to thank for that I would imagine my parents divorced when I was five years old this is where Sean really does his research he would know that Tom I don't know this what are you what did your

what did your folks think about you getting into the business tree as I call it you know I started doing it for fun in high school because I can't couldn't believe that you could go and do plays in high school and get credit for it you know this is school that's I remember specifically thinking that and first time I walked into a drama class and I did it because some friends of mine from junior high had been in the plays and I just said what I can come to school and do this this is screwing around this is goofing off I felt the exact same way I was like oh my god everybody's just laughing this is my

both my my dad who and eventually my mom cuz we lived in different places when my mom came and saw me and stuff they just they just thought well this is just wonderful you know this is look what Tommy found Shawn you've talked about that you did you just said you had that same thing right where you were like yeah amazing this is so much fun and I can't believe I get to do this in five six seven eight and then hit it Shawn hey now Shawn when you did you did promises promises on thank you everybody plaza never brought it out weird and it was a and it was a big hit and you said something to me cuz

Shawn and I see each other socially you know not just on this podcast so after you had done promises promises and it was huge because you played the piano on stage and you did all this stuff it was a big Broadway hit right a few a number of years ago and I said are you going to do it again do you have the desire to get up and do another Broadway show and you said something that was I I swear to I swear to God the only person I heard make the same sort of reference are you ready for this I read it as a quote from Lawrence Olivier okay you said I'm not sure I have the fire in the belly yes that's in order to get up and do eight

performances or something and I remember when Lawrence Olivier was older and he was always asked well will you ever get up and at the National again what having he says it no because it requires a stronger heart and he wasn't talking about medically he was talking about all the effort that goes into the fire in the belly well Shawn we could you would do the eight shows a week I remember you talked what you've we've talked a lot about promises promises but you said some of the same you were like I do it you did it for nine months or a year how long did you do it for a year a year remember you saying you similar thing

that you said to Tom you said the same thing I said would you do it again and you said I don't know if I have it in me yeah five six seven eight and then no no it's true Tom you know because and I relayed that to you about about the constant work ethic you have to jump from movie to movie to movie to movie over these decades and and they're all great and their and and your work like Jason said it's always always fantastic you always committed you're always in it and and I switched that that question back to you about filmmaking is do you still have the fire in the belly to travel and get up at five and stay in

this hotel and that hotel and and and you said yeah because it's what it's what I love to do and yeah I do yeah there's no other way of putting it there is there is look it's more fun than fun that was something that I learned a long time ago before I got my job at the Great Lake Shakespeare Fist work in the theater is more fun than fun and I thought yeah this is a this is a great way to to spend your day it's not just a lifestyle or you know life's work it's it's a life I love that and now listen out of all of the your entire repertoire yeah all of your credits is there one you what is your favorite movie Jesus no

no no is there one movie or experience that was extra special to you that will always stick in your brain you know I will say look yes they all are in so many way I look I've never had a rotten time making a movie I've always come away from a movie saying I can't believe they pay me to do this that was that was fantastic despite the discomforts in the five in the morning a little harder at the age of 65 I guess but the the experience of making that the movie that thing you do I cast it with a bunch of friends we had a great time it was the beginning of the beginning of the company that I formed so great I love

that movie with Gary Getsman and everybody else down at Playtone I could do that again and again and again that was that the first film you directed that was the first not the first directing gig I had but it was the first feature film yeah and it was it had music in it and it was very it was very personal because it was set in 1964 so it was but you know every every gig is magnificent the the ones that don't that may be disappointed a little bit or the ones where you don't get to spend enough time doing it like I was just I just did two weeks with Wes Anderson in Spain with the Wes Anderson

Repertory Company and that was fantastic and I was bummed out I said oh we got to leave we we've shot out my role I gotta I gotta go now I'd like to like to linger for a little bit I just got to do a couple days with our buddy Tyka Waititi and it was just the greatest experience and then it was just we did a show for HBO and then I just did his movie and I was like these were the it was like the greatest most fun month and then I'm like oh and it's over yeah and that was I just want to go and play with that game can't don't we don't we get to have that 90-day experience here somewhere you know pounding something

out and getting up and well you've given us not 90 days but a solid hour of your very very valuable time yes thank you so much thank you on behalf of of these two fellow smartless folks as well as everyone in America and the world for providing us all these little worlds that you have created that we all get to live in and they've all been there a podcast award for second bananas or third bananas that you Jason and I will battle for that one you have to ask questions like what's your favorite movie you got a monopoly on that I would say that in Canada this is known as Will Arnett's smartless that's true it's true wait why number one

podcast in Canada I think I just got voted Canada's favorite son I'm not sure but I'm putting it out there in case anybody wants to latch on to that and start making that a thing I'm happy to well it's a delight talking to you guys you too Tom I just words don't express how I feel I'm such a very kind very kind guys and you listen good luck on the is there a name for this award yet it's the I heart radio or it might be called the aorta who we up against that would be a big question there that's a great question hardcore history maybe up against hardcore sure fingers crossed so great to see you thanks Tom

very much good to see you guys hope that well we'll hang at all those places that people like us end up at sure all right take care guys all right buddy bye bye Tom I think he's gonna I think he's gonna make it that guy's got some charisma Jason let me just say this you've been complaining for a couple you've been saying man great cast you guys and then you just decided you pulled out at one of these what I now refer to is because I don't use this word you as the the topper card I'm gonna now call it the topper card he's he's he's that he's he's a blue chip that one right now what a delight I mean he's just like he

does have that thing and I kept trying to figure out a way to ask him this without him deflecting as he does so well so humbly I just kind of bailed on it because I knew he would just wouldn't like he's just got that he's he is us he is completely personable and authentic he is he's every bit a leader that you'd want him to be but he doesn't seem like he's too arrogant or cocky to like I don't know how does you mean us as a as an audience not that's three yes like he's just like he's the guy you want to follow and are never annoyed you know watching him or I don't know it's it's been so consistent yeah I don't see

myself as an everyman I'm special yeah well yeah I'm like the boss of the everyman you know so when I'm there when I see Tom come in I'm like it's great spending time with one of my employees I hope he keeps staying as prolific as he is I mean what he's doing like what at least a film here same same here that's what I meant about the movies he makes I love that he keeps making movies that are like it just seems like not a lot of other people are making and yeah his new movie which we talked on what is the the Finch yeah no no not the Finch just Finch Finch the bird yeah Finch it's on Apple and it's basically when is it on

Apple when is it it's not on now first week in November November 5th first week November 5th November 5th yeah so yeah so he's doing this movie Finch the sequel is gonna be the Finch I heard yeah no it's called Fincher it's called Fincher and David Fincher is directing it yeah are you kidding showbiz is incredible I know it's it's everything is aligned but it's about it's him and a dog and a robot and this is not the start of a joke but like could anybody pull off a high wire act like that but they do walk into a bar there is one bar walking to a bar the fair in fairness they walk but I saw the trailer to with

my almost 13 year old and we watched it and looked at each other like yeah absolutely yeah and don't you feel like he's kind of like our ambassador not just for the business and not just for Hollywood not just for Los Angeles but like America too like quintessentially American and like he's one of the few people we can all both sides if you will can agree on yeah yeah yeah wait what's the other side I just met like both like never mind everybody in America can agree oh yeah Lachan we are not political sorry please what are you trying to do you try to lose your award you try to wade me into deep water and then

you're gonna take me down like a crocodile and keep me under bye you can't fucking bail out like that you can't roll yourself out yeah you can't be saved by your own bell we've used every word that you could do with buy no not at all no but also you were just trying to bail yourself out of a sinking ship and you can't you can't use buy as as a as a some kind of you know instrument to bail out your sinking ship why not I just did yeah I guess I can sorry there is no rule in that you're right you can but do you think that when he first moved one of the questions I did get to here was what he was 1979 he

made a move to New York City and he was trying to be an actor full-time so I wonder if he was just trying to take a bite smart list is 100% organic and artisan Lee handcrafted by Bennett barbecue Michael Grant Terry and Rob on Jeff smart loss our next episode will be out in a week wherever you listen to podcasts or you can listen to it right now early on Amazon music or early and add free by subscribing to Wondery plus in Apple Podcasts or the Wondery app