James Marsden (Actor)¶
Published on Mon, 1 Apr 2019 10:00:00 +0000
The actor talks about everything from how he got his start in Hollywood to how he ended up a total watch nerd.
Synopsis¶
This episode of Hodinkee Radio features an in-depth conversation with actor James Marsden, known for his roles in X-Men, Westworld, and 30 Rock. The discussion begins with Marsden's early career, including his bold move from Oklahoma to Los Angeles at age 19 with little more than ambition and a Honda Accord. He reflects on his journey through early television work, including the pilot episode of The Nanny, before landing his breakthrough role as Cyclops in X-Men. Throughout the conversation, Marsden reveals himself to be a genuine enthusiast and self-described "nerd" about various passions, particularly watches, but also cars, guitars, cameras, and even espresso machines.
The episode takes a deep dive into Marsden's experience filming Westworld, where he played the character Teddy for two seasons. He discusses the emotional complexity of the role, particularly when his character was reprogrammed midway through season two, and draws fascinating parallels between being an actor following a script and playing a host following programming. Marsden also opens up about his relationship with IWC, his evolution as a watch collector, and how he discovered Hodinkee as his "Bible" for watch education. The conversation reveals a thoughtful artist who brings the same intensity and curiosity to his hobbies as he does to his craft, whether he's calling a barista champion to teach him latte art or studying photography theory on message boards. His genuine enthusiasm for mechanical objects and craftsmanship, combined with his preference for "elegant simplicity," makes for an engaging discussion that seamlessly weaves together acting, horology, and the philosophy of being a passionate enthusiast.
Links¶
Transcript¶
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| Unknown | Whether you know him as Cyclops from the X-Men, Teddy from Westworld, or Chris from Thirty Rock, you almost certainly know James Marsden. He's got those leading man looks and he's got the acting chops to back it up. I first met James a year or so ago when he dropped by the Hodinki office on a trip to New York City. As you might expect, the guy is charming as hell, and when he walks into a room, he completely owns it, whether he's trying to or not. It can be a little intimidating. But then you get talking to him, and you realize that he's actually just as big of a nerd as the rest of us. James has been an IWC brand ambassador for a few years, but he's full on watch crazy, rattling off reference numbers and talking movement preferences like it's nothing. We knew immediately that getting him on Hodinky Radio was a must, and during a recent break in his shooting schedule, we were finally able to sit down and make it happen. I'm a huge Westworld fan, so obviously I couldn't help but ask James about the show and what it was like to play an Android cowboy, but we also get into his early career, his obsession with espresso machines, and why we both think that the nerdier you get about things, the more enjoyable they become. I'm just gonna go ahead and say it up front. I don't think this is the last time you'll be hearing James on this show. If I hadn't had a flight to catch, I think we easily could have talked for a few more hours. Alright, let's get into it. I'm your host Stephen Pulverant and this is Hodinky Radio. This week's episode is presented by A. Langenzoner. This year the German watchmaker is celebrating the 25th anniversary of the Iconic Longa 1, a modern wristwatch unlike any other. Stay tuned to learn more about the Longa One later in the show and visit alonanzona.com for more thanks so much for joining us. Good to uh good to have you here. Yeah. Uh thanks for having me. Always good to sit down with you. We've been trying to do this for I think probably a year now. Since too long. Since we were recording pilots. I think like this this interview has been coming longer than the show's expectation. It was because I think I did the bit for H |
| Unknown | odinki magazine, the photo shoot and there was talk of doing the podcast. Um I think we were th threatening to get together that long ago. Yeah. |
| Unknown | And um Which actually I guess was a year ago this week because we had the whole Hodinki team out here a year ago, the week before Basel World |
| Unknown | . You know, I'm so busy. Um just one of those things. But yeah, I guess I'm always here and you guys are most of the time in New York. But I'm glad we're finally getting to sit down |
| Unknown | and chat. Yeah, me too. Um I thought we would start with kind of uh your your backstory. You know, you've been been in LA for a while and you have what in some ways is it is a sort of like almost cliche story, but in a great way where you like you loaded up your car and just drove across the country, |
| Unknown | right? Yeah, it wasn't a van. Okay but it was a car. Yeah, yeah. Uh I did. That's kinda how it happened. And I was just kind of young and and n naive and confident enough to think that it would actually happen and work. Um and when uh yeah I moved I moved here from Oklahoma. I grew up there in Oklahoma City and um went to college for three semesters to get the college experience and then this was always w something that I wanted to do. Was it OU? Uh Oklahoma State. Okay. Yeah Oklahoma State. Oh man, I shouldn't say OU then. But my allegiance was never I I shouldn't say that. But it you know, I never really got into the you know yeah the the the the fights between the two uh colleges or whatever but, uh I didn't really um but I figured yeah I'm 19 I you know now if I'm gonna give it a shot might as well do it now. Yeah and uh and I did I met um some of the Cameron family, Kirk Cameron, and his uh sisters when I was sixteen uh in Hawaii staying at the same hotel. And uh we kept in touch. We got to be friends and kept in touch. So in my mind I was like this Oakie who was sixteen years old, like they can use the cock of the walk because he had connections in the Hollywood business, you know. So uh we kept in touch and and um they were encouraging to you know you should come out give it a shot. You've you're you're funny, you got a good look, whatever. Um and I did. I just I packed up my 1984 Honda Accord hatchback and and uh hit the road. And when I tell that story, most people go, that must have been terrifying for you. That must have been uh and actually was quite the opposite. 'Cause like that is all I could think |
| Unknown | of that of doing. I mean the nice thing when you're nineteen, right, is like you don't know enough to know how stupid that is. Well yeah, it's not. Right? Like you don't know en |
| Unknown | ough to be scared. Well, yeah, because when you're young and dumb, you you know, you're just you you're overly confident. More confident than you should be. But that confidence sometimes you know is uh fruitful and and ends up you know helping you. Uh because if you if you're not looking down, you're too, you know, naive to think about how how the odds of actually this happening are so great um against you. You know, but uh it would you know but you've got nothing to lose. You're like, well, I'm just I'm right at the bottom of the mountain. You know, I'm I'm not gonna fall anywhere. I'm just gonna come back to Oklahoma and finish school if I doesn't work. Right. My dad and my my mom were very supportive, and uh my father um helped me out with a place and you know he said hey I'm gonna you know help support you financially for a certain amount of time and if it doesn't work out you know uh maybe think about coming back and mm you know getting a real job. Yeah. Um but uh yeah and it uh again I just uh got I I got lucky. Like he he knew someone who was a casting director uh that you know he grew up with in Kansas and um and the guy sent me out at uh he had a friend who was a manager who sent me out on auditions and and I again I was just like, Hey, I'm the new guy and I'm gonna take over this town. You know? N |
| Unknown | ice. So so you got out here, right? You're in you're in your hatchback, you you have a place. Yeah. What do you what do you try to do like? What is what is that I I have no idea what that looks |
| Unknown | like. I mean you know it was a modest little you know uh apartment with a Murphy bed you know the things that bed that folds out of the wall. And um and I but I was going on three fo orur auditions a day. And some of them were just general meetings with the studio people. And so the guy I was with was like a legitimate manager and yeah. Um and I had some really nice headshots that I had made in Oklahoma. If you could imagine. Uh so those were thrown away correctly. Does that exist anywhere? Do we is that a thing that that you still hunt? If you hunt uh hard enough on the internet you can find um they're they're really good. Okay. Uh I yeah. I did like modeling for the Sunday paper in Oklahoma. Yeah. It looks uh uh I uh what you imagine that would look like. Um so uh but yeah, I actually I started getting good feedback relatively quickly and I think because I came in and was just like we talked about kind of overly confident. Um and now I'm forty five years old and I'm like, Oh my God, I could screw up at every turn. Just play it safe, play it safe. But when you're young, I said you just you know, you take chances you normally wouldn't. Um and uh and I got offered to test for a uh um soap opera. Okay. And and um the manager was saying, we're getting too much good feedback. You don't want to do this. And in my mind, it was like, this is a, this is the most regular job as an actor you can have, right? This is like a three-year contract and you're getting paid and you're working, you're saying no to being a working actor two months into being in LA. And uh my father heard that, and he's like, wait, what? You're saying no to work when you should be, you know, at home working at Dairy Queen. Like uh nothing wrong with that, but uh so then we started to v you know be a little more selective about what kind of stuff I was uh going after and it was like no you want to be on like a network show or try to find an independent movie and all this. And so I slowly I did some guest spot things on like Party of Five and and say by the Bell the New Class and Blossom, you know. So you did turn down the soap opera. I did. Well I soap opera we would know. Yes, Days of Our Lives. Oh, wow. Um and uh it I d it wasn't so the way it works is y you they get you on contract so that when you test it's their decision. So basically I I may not have still gotten the role. Okay. But they test like two or three people. Okay. But they make you sign before you test so that they they can't go, Hey, we want you and you go bye. Okay. You know. So but uh so you have to go into it as if you're getting the job. Okay. And uh but um but yeah, so I was doing uh you know other little things here and there, the nanny. Okay. With Fran Dresher. The pilot episode of the nanny was actually my first job. Wait, you're in the pilot? Okay, we're gonna have to dig this up. I'm gonna I'm gonna make sure we link this in the show notes somewhere. You might have find a |
| Unknown | VHS player somewhere. It's amazing. So that was your first job. Yeah. What's it like walking? I mean, that's there I mean, Fran Dresher and then like that's that's a big I guess at the time it was the pilot, so it wasn't yet a big show, but what's it like walking into something like that? I me |
| Unknown | an, you know, it's nerve wracking, but I was also just I was uh I was just thrilled to be there. I was like excited that I was actually getting work and yeah. This is like what you know, it's two lines uh on the pilot episode. I was like a waiter in a at a party that's like got caught kissing the daughter on the balcony. Um and but but you know, I was like floating on air. It was like I'm I'm I'm working as an actor, as a uh in front of, you know, cameras, like not on a stage in the middle of, you know, Enid, Oklahoma. So I mean again, nothing wrong with that. Like that's what I did for like I was, you know, middle school. I was it was theater, it was musicals and and that's where I yeah, I first kind of felt like, oh, I might be good at this. Or it feels like I'm good at it. Um and whether I'm not, I enjoy doing it. Um so I wanted to always get better and um but uh but yeah, it started to grow from there. I book uh booked a T V show as a regular that's kind of like a say by the bell type of show called Boogie's Diner. We don't have to harp on this old stuff too much. Um but you know, I I'm I'm not ashamed to go there. Uh but it was like Jim J. Bullock and uh shot in Toronto uh for Canadian TV, but I was getting paid like like really good money to be on this kind of save by the bow the Save by the Bill show. And um I lived in Toronto for a year and a half and doing that and uh again it's like you know, you're you're a working actor. Like you you're you're already like the top you know whatever four percent of people that are in LA like you're 'cause you're you're you know you're workinging you're mak money doing it. Yeah you actually have a job. Yeah, it's not you know you're not working for Scorsese, but you know, it's it's work. Yeah. You know. And then you and then over time I just kind of got you know more selective about what I wanted to do and what my strengths were, and my um I I wanted to do more comedy and uh you know, I wanted to kind of diversify everything, do more film, uh, work with good directors, and and um I and I did this show called Second Noah on ABC. It was uh like prime time network thing for a while. And then I the the big one was X-Men. That was like nineteen ninety nine, I think. And wait, did that move that movie came out in nineteen ninety nine? Uh well, I booked it in nineteen ninety nine and then yeah, and then uh it it was released in two thousand. Okay. Yeah yeah so we shot for like six months in Toronto. Okay back in Toronto. Yeah. Um but that was like that was the first time I felt like I you know, kinda hit it on a you know, uh you know, in the big leagues. Like that was like, okay, this is a significant, you know, very big movie with a huge following. And um, you know, there's still a question mark w what the movie was gonna if it was gonna be good or if it was gonna work, you know. But the people involved were just like, Oh my god, it's there's no way this can't. You know, it's Hallie Berry and Patrick Stewart and some dude named Hugh Jackman from Australia. Some some guy, yeah. Right |
| Unknown | . So you you show up for that, right? And you said you you know, you you had this feeling of being, you know, like a middle school kid on on a stage being like maybe maybe this works. Then you're a working actor for a couple of years, you that's working, but then you end up in this in this film, right? It's X Men. It's a huge franchise, tons of name brand, uh kind of household names. Yeah. Is that just a whole like does it go up to another level there in terms of of anxiety and and trying to like find your place? I think so. I mean, you know, 'cause |
| Unknown | I think one of the I don't know, at that point I was a a little wiser than I was when I started. So I was like, Ugh, you know, it's that classic actor thing of like feeling like they're gonna they're gonna learn that I actually a a fake. Ye |
| Unknown | ah. You know, like I feel like that's that's not just an actor thing. That's that's in everybody, right? It's like the uh what do they call it? Uh imposter syndrome, right? Yeah. It's like you're you're gonna get discovered. They're gonna figure it out. |
| Unknown | Exactly. That you're not is you know that you're actually a talentless fool. It's that like the you know, not that I'm touting myself, but that was that quote the greater the artist, the greater the doubt. Like our you know, it's just that artist doubt thing, like greater artist, greater the doubt, perfect confidence is granted to the less talented as a consolation prize. That wasn't that that sounds like me saying yes, uh the doubt means I'm a great artist, but um but it's a common thing. It's like, oh well everyone feels that. Like Jack Lemon always thought hi every job was his last job. You know. We we always go, ah, we don't like to watch ourselves. And but yeah, so that was heightened at that time because it was it was a at the time it was a hundred, hundred and fifty million dollar movie. Uh maybe I could be off on that a little bit, but you're an essential integral part of it. And you know, you're like, okay, don't screw this up. Don't screw it up, right? Everybody else, I've seen them do their work. I've seen their their established, you know, serious actors and uh you know um get it right, you know. And f and a lot of it was, you know, me wearing the the uh the visor and you know, kind of being very serious and broody. Yeah. It was sort of Hugh's sh show, you know, it was it was it was uh kind of built around Wolverine's story. But um but yeah, it was uh it was nerve wracking, you know, 'cause you didn't and also like my friends that were like fans of the comic books and I I I d I never was into the comic books. I remember playing the video games and I I w I I quickly called my buddies who were comic book fans and said, Okay, what are the issues I need to read? What are the sagas? And they okay, read, read this, read this this. I can't believe you got cast the cyclops, you're so wrong for that. But uh um so, you know, they kind of uh gave me a quick study on all of it and I wanted to get it right and you know the fans are out there you know the pressure of like getting this movie right and yeah this is a beloved it's been around since nineteen sixty three and and um you know you just want to get it right and uh and yeah it, worked out and we did, you know, I d oh I did two well, I did three technically. Um, but after the second one the director went to do Superman and invited me to come along with it. And uh there was uh you know, I I was sort of stepping out of one franchise and stepping into another one potentially. Um but yeah, it's sort of you know that was the first time it felt like you were on the real global stage. Yeah. You know, the world is see |
| Unknown | ing this. I I think also one of the interesting things about that is is I mean acting is is so collaborative, right? Like you're you're in some ways limited by the company you're you're working with. What's it like to step in and work with people of that caliber for the first time? What does that do to you as as an artist and to your craft? Well, I mean, luckily |
| Unknown | I when I was first starting out, I was always more of a mimic. I felt like I was more of a mimic than a trained, classically trained actor, you know, I was like so I'm one of those people that you get in the room with uh uh uh you know, a room full of Brits and all of a sudden involuntarily I'm speaking with that accent, you know. And they're like, What were you taking the piss? I'm like, No, no, no, I did not know I was doing that. I just you know uh it's just kind of so I uh I you know I kind of flow with what's going on in the room. And um and when you work with the either the greats or uh, you know, th it sort of brings your game up. And um so there was yeah, there was a little pressure there of like, okay, well don't you know, if you're not good, you're gonna stand out like a sore thumb around these, you know, these great actors. But uh but th thankankfulfullyly it was it was sort of the opposite, which is like you sort of rise to the occasion and they when you work with you know uh great artists they they they make you better they make you better they make you uh they make you focus they make you pay attention and listen listening. So much of it is listening to what the other actors are saying and telling you um while the cameras are rolling. And and when they're not, but but really like when you're in the scene and just actually just listening to somebody and not thinking about what your next line is or what you're going to do or how you're going to say it. You know? So they sort of you know the experience uh teaches you that. And um so I was lucky to work with you know really talented people. And that's something you you know, that's an ingredient you always search for |
| Unknown | . Are there are there any projects you've worked on that stand out as kind of like turning points for you from that kind of educational standpoint, projects you worked on where you say, I picked something up here that kind of like changed changed me or changed how I approached everything going forward |
| Unknown | ? I mean, I was always I always marveled at the the the actors that have been doing it for forever and I'd watch them and you know, I did a couple of movies with Frank Frank Langella and I would watch him and I would uh you know, 'cause it is a this delicate dance of like keeping this little flame lit inside of you and it's j it takes so much focus to be there's so many things on set that are going against you. Um they're trying to bring you down. Like there's can there's cameras and there's cranes and there's dol you know, Dolly moves and and people lighting and noises and you know, and it's just it's it's so easy to be distracted. Um and uh so I recognize that it's a technical art as much as it is, you know, a performance art. So like Frank would come in and basically respectfully map out potential places he might go in this in this scene and ask the cinematographers, like, Am I boning you if I go over here? Or am I still lit? Am I, you know, here and he would just map out his whole all of his marks where he was going to go to, you know, so that then that was his playground to go in and be free to create whatever he wanted to create. So it was this mix of of uh attention to the detail of the technical part of what we do. And then you set that up and then you can be free enough to see so you have nothing that one less thing to be nagging at your in your head going, uh my, you know, pull pulling your focus away from what you should be focused on. And it's uh so I I don't know. I just I I remember that with Frank. Like he would he was he would address the fact that it was uh technical art as well. You know, you can't just all of a sudden because you feel it r you know, run into the other room or you know, walk over there and pick up a a you know, a vase it'cause 'cause you're angry in the scene and throw it against the wall. Like, no, we need we need twenty of those 'cause you gotta do it twenty different twenty more times. Um so anyway, so, you know, I would just like watch and and I was just always very observant of the people that make it look effortless and and what what went into making it look effortless, you know. And and then also the the the the courage to uh try something that might not work. I think that's such the I think that's the biggest thing, which is you know um Nick Casavetis told me when we were doing the notebook, he said, I've seen you know Sean Penn you know do a bad take. Like you you you have to be able to feel like you have a safety net to try things. And that's a good safe place for for an actor is to is to be able to have the freedom and uh to explore. And um so that was something that uh you know some of the the more seasoned actors that I have worked with I I I learned that from. You know, you gotta be bold enough 'cause if you just go in with you with uh apprehension about is this any good? Is it you're just gonna be safe and it's got gonna be interesting |
| Unknown | ? Maybe it's ignorant on my part. I I haven't thought about it before, but you talking about all the things that are going on on set. And like I'm I'm I'm aware that those are things that are happening, but you know, in when you're working in the theater, you the audience is there, you're performing for them. That's's that the end product. Yeah. But when you're doing something for for film or for TV, you still have a live audience. Like there there are still people there in the room that you're performing in front of. What what is that dynamic like? And and how do you know that ultimately the goal is is whatever that final the the take that makes the cut? That's that's the goal. But that for all the other takes you still you still have an audience |
| Unknown | , you know, of of some sort. Yeah, you do. You are there there, you know,'s forty people on set doing their own jobs. I mean th they're not you they're not they didn't pay tickets to come watch you do you know, they're on their phones and between during takes and you know, but you are, yeah. You're there with y you know, several people that are that are working and um I I I l I liked um the I like being on set for a TV film because you know that you do have that safety net of uh if I forget my line or something doesn't go right and I screw up or I try something that doesn't work, it's not it's not gonna be in the edit. You know, hopefully not. Right, right? Right. Um so it was a much safer place and it can be a little bit more um uh what's the right word? I mean, you know, it's it's more exciting to be in complete control on stage with the audience in your hand, you know? Like you go, I I this is me. If I if I screw up, I gotta turn it into something. Um and that's that's that kind of uh that can be that can be exciting, you know. It's it's a little more like surgical sometimes on on set where you're, you know, you come in and get a master and then they come in for coverage and you're doing the same scene, the same dialogue, you know, maybe like fifteen, twenty times. So it's that's that's the hard part. It's like how do you how do you keep that uh that creativity flowing and and your mind open to uh new ideas of how to, you know, how to make it interesting. Um, but also the repetitive nature of what you do. It's like you are gonna do it, you know, several, several times. Um but I like but yeah I like the kind of safety of that, which is, you know, you are you're on a set and um you know and you're you're piecing it together. And at the end, like, you know, the the director takes it to the editor and they they put the pieces together. You know, that's the other thing too, is you have to have trust in the director because yeah you can take, you know, a performance and cut together twenty different performances, you know, based on what takes you to unless the actor's doing the same thing every time. You know, so you want to be in the hands of somebody who's making good decisions about what what uh how to sort of craft or to uh you know to s to to um uh to someone who sees when it's you know has good taste and what what what's the right take to to print and and and |
| Unknown | put into the film, you know. Um so if if when you're on stage performing for a live audience, right, you have all that control and the and you know that can be that can be positive or negative. It's all in your hands. Is it liberating or is it stressful or or what kind of handing that control over to somebody else and saying, like, I have I have to trust you. Like I'm gonna put myself out there, but it's ultimately in in your hands what |
| Unknown | people see and and how people perceive this. Right. Yeah. Yeah. No, or if you're on stage in front of that audience, yeah, you it's it's in your hands for sure. Um, but uh yeah, it's it can be if you know, if you work on something where the you and the director aren't necessarily seeing eye to eye, it can be a little worrisome about like what, you know, uh what you feel a little if you feel like you need to control your performance a little more. Like, all right, well, you know, I just did this film um with Jim Carrey, and he's so surgical about, you know, he'll go we'll sometimes do if if we're having a scene together, he'll sometimes do a line several times j just to you know in ten different ways until he feels like, oh okay, that that was that was it. Let's move on to the next line. You know, to really like uh separate it out instead of like, hey, let's just like do the sc I mean, most of the time we were doing the scene back and forth and you know, getting it up on its legs and sort of feeling it out. But sometimes it would be like, ah, let me just go back and do that line a couple more times. And I I responded to that. Like I that made sense to me. When I when I act, sometimes I I think edit almost too much because it it can take you out of that sort of natural thing that happens, that magic that happens when you're when you're just riffing with somebody. Um but I can I can I can also see moments where it's like, oh you know what, let me just do this line 10 different ways and then we can move on to the next line. Um And that I guess in that way you can kind of control somewhat what your performance is. But who knows, you know, some some actors go sit in the editing room. Okay. And go, I don't like that take, you know. But then you you know Is that usually up to the director whether you needed to do that? Yeah. Yeah. I mean like if you really want to sit in on it, um most directors would be like, cool, but you know, I just don't believe that actors I mean, I I just think sometimes we lose objectivity about what are w what we're doing. Yeah. And we'll see ourselves on the screen and go like oh I don't like that because look at my neck looks weird or like this you know, I didn't like that take and you know, you don't have the objectivity that other people might to see like actu actually you know whatally that's the best performance in my opinion and everybody else in this editing room. So maybe just trust us on that, you know. Um but uh but yeah the people that love theater love it because, you know, it's them. There's no that's it. You're out there flying without a net. And and that's exciting and and the control of that. Do you get to do any of that or much of that anymore? I haven't. Uh you know, I not not properly since like high school or college really. Okay. Um I mean the closest thing to it was the movie hairspray I did, which is like we shot it like it was um we prepared for it and and trained with the dancing and the singing and everything, like you were preparing to do a a like we could have taken it on Broadway. Okay. And uh so and it felt like that. And then the cameras were just on long dolly tracks just going back and forth, watching us like we were you know, like the camera was in the audience at in on Broadway. Um and I just I just hosted these uh the Lore Awards in um in Monaco and I've never like properly hosted a show before and it was like the Oscars for international sport. And that was like, oh, okay. I'm remembering all those feelings I used to have before the curtain opened when I was doing musicals or or plays back in in college. And uh and I remembered how you have to like, you know, before you get out there, you're just like riddled with nerves. Yeah. Adrenaline just. Ah yeah. Then you just reminded yourself, like, this is what's exciting about it. This is what's fun about it. And then as soon as the curtain opens, like you, you know you sort of purge yourself of all the like all those like internal things trying to bring you down and then you're just out there and it's it's really it's it's it's it's very gratifying because when you feel the audience like what you're doing or getting what you're doing, if there's humor there or you know, um, it fuels you to sort of move with them and uh and it's just a completely different art than uh than being on stage and doing things take by take and shot by shot. Yeah |
| Unknown | . How do you get that kind of feedback when you're making a a film or a TV show? How do you get that kind of like audience feedback or or do you not get that and you just have to kind of like live live without it? Yeah, I mean sometimes you don't. I me |
| Unknown | an i i there's there's uh on set there's a place called video village where uh where there's a couple of monitors and there's the director, the cinematographer, um the you know, sometimes the producers, the writers, other people who just want to sit and watch, um, off to the side, um, out of sight from the actors on s on on the stage. Um you know, you'll do a take sometimes and you hear, yes, that was great, you know, moving on, we got it, that's great. And then sometimes the director you'll be like, Okay, that that that felt good too, you know, or is or is that just because we gotta make lunch now. Like we gotta get out of here for lunch. Yeah. And he's just trying to make sure you coddle you to make sure, you know. But uh uh so yeah, but that that happens sometimes. You just like, you know, the director will come over and go, I love that last take. I don't know about you, but that was that was great. I feel like we got it. But if you want to do another one, we can. And that always happens too sometimes. It's like, you know what? Nice. We've got it in the can. We we've got the performance. Um, let's do another one just for fun. And just you know, do something different. And sometimes, a lot of times, that's the best take. Yeah. Because then the then the knowing that knowing that you've got it in the can already, right? And you're just like free to do whatever you want and then you're not thinking about you know whether it's good or not or whatever. You just and then they of course sometimes come back and go, yep, that actually was the that was the best one. |
| Unknown | And now I'll look at this week's sponsor. The Longa One. If you're a Hodinki regular, there's no doubt that you can immediately picture the distinctive asymmetric design with its oversized date display. Most collectors today take this watch completely for granted, and to be honest, it's kind of hard to imagine the modern watch landscape without the Longa one. But despite what you might assume, it only came to life in 1994 when Walter Longa presented it to the world for the very first time. A Long and Zona, the family firm founded by his great-grandfather Ferdinand Adolf Longa back in 1845, had sat dormant for nearly half a century. The Longa 1 brought the company back to life, and in just two and a half decades has cemented itself as a true modern icon. This year, A Long and Zona is celebrating the 25th anniversary of the Longa One with a special collection of limited edition watches, but you'll have to listen next week to get the full story about those. To learn more about along and zona and the Longa One, visit alongandzona.com One thing I wanna I wanna make sure we we talk about and hopefully you're not you're not too sick of talking about it, but uh is Westworld, which is I guess your your latest big, big project. Uh so two seasons, uh third one coming up, hopefully. I |
| Unknown | think they are I'm gonna be very cryptic about what I say. I think they are uh gearing up here pretty soon to start the third season. Okay. Um unfortunately for Teddy he was at the wrong end of the barrel uh at the end of the second season. spo Spoiler alert, guys. Uh yeah, shoot. Sorry. That's fine. People have had time to see it. Yes. The statute of limitations is for sure. Yep. It's it's been a year. Um you've had your chance. Uh sorry if I ruined it for anyone. Um but uh but yeah I think they're gearing up for season three to start uh relatively soon. Yeah. Yeah. So how did you get involved in that project? Uh I was um they were casting uh they'd cast most of the other characters and they were casting the role of Teddy and and um and Dolores. And uh I got a cough my agent saying that um that Jonah Nolan wanted to have a Skype with you. I was doing a movie in in uh New Orleans, so I couldn't with him in person. And we had a thirty, forty-five minute Skype conversation about what the concept was of the show, where it could potentially go, and and he's the greatest at uh giving you information without giving you information at all. Like you thought you knew with the project for two hours and you will come away going, wow, that was a lot of info and I don't know still where this is going. Or I can tell you what it's, you know, gen you know, sort of generally about and he made a point to go look go back and watch the original Westworld movie from nineteen seventy three, but we're not doing you know, that's uh we're basically taking that concept and expounding on it and um and you know, we're gonna explore the future of AI and what it means to be conscious and be alive and and what it means to be human and these are the themes that are gonna flow throughout this. Um and uh we think you'd make a great teddy for this uh guy who's like a gunslinger, you know, but with a heart. The kind gunslinger. Right, right. Um and uh that's you know, the y y him and uh Dolores are like kind of the uh the the the romance of the show. It's like this like, you know, the the the heart of the show. It's their their like relationship. And um and then of course it grew to so many other uh other things and and um um but yeah it was uh it was stepping into something knowing the potential of where it could go and the conceit of the the idea of the show was was um very big, you know it, was ambitious and uh but you felt like you were in good hands, you know. And surrounded again by a tremendous cast of characters, Anthony Hopkins and Ned Harris and Danny Newton and you know, and the list goes on. Um and uh so yeah, but w but you all I had was the pilot. Uh I had that script and I didn't know where where it was going for the second episode, um, and for sure not by the end of the second season. You just kind of like roll with it, you know. Um so were they were they giving you scripts one episode at a time? Um yeah, I mean they typically they'll they'll give you the next um sometimes you shoot a little bit out of order, uh more so in the second season than in the first season 'cause it was so much bigger. The scope of it was so much bigger in the second season. Yeah. Um we had two or three units going on at the same time, and you would shoot a scene from episode nine and then come back and shoot a scene from episode two, you know, sort of all over the place. Um, because they would block shoot, which is like we have to shoot this location out. So any scene in this these ten episodes that take place at this location, let's go shoot them now. Um you know, so there's just many different cogs in this giant wheel that um um but uh but yeah they they wouldn't they wouldn't like withhold any of the the scripts or information. They would they'd give it to you. You get you typically get the next uh episode script a good week or two in in advance. Um so that you know, they they they want you to be able to prepare and do it. Yeah, and you you still have a job to do. Right, right. Yeah. And they're very, very respectful of that. Um but they also it it sort of things change as you go like the writing will sort of shift and and um they don't they're apprehensive about giving you something if it's not like fully, fully final draft, you know. Yeah. Um so they want to make sure they got it perfect before they give it to the actors |
| Unknown | . So since we've already already spoiled uh spoiled some of the uh the show. Uh if you if you haven't watched it, uh I would say stop listening, but y you can listen and you'll still enjoy the show, I think. You will. There's there's several many i there's many more storylines than just the Yeah. And having well I've watched it twice all the way through. Like I'm noticed you know, noticed tons of things I didn't notice the first time around. And I have a feeling I'll end up watching it a third time and seeing more often. I |
| Unknown | do too. I mean, I've I've read all the scripts, seen all the episodes, and I, you know, that's another thing. You read the scripts and And you have in your head what's what's gonna be happening. Then you s you see all the episodes cut together and like, wait a second, whoa, that that scene was actually an episode script of episode five, but it ended up in episode three and like, you know, they they get in there and they do their magic after the fact too. And uh and that so that so sometimes that's like you know, seeing a show that you you didn't for you go right. Whoa, whoa, I didn't you know Interesting. Yeah. So That's cool. I mean it typically you you you know the the the process is they you know they'll they'll shoot the episode and and uh that's what you'll see on the screen. But sometimes it's it'll surprise you |
| Unknown | . So the the one moment I wanted to make sure to to bring up was there's a moment in season two where Dolores changes Teddy. Uh yeah, re-reprograms Teddy. Um do you remember what you felt when you saw that on paper for the first time, where you realized this person who you you had tried so hard to become was now somebody else |
| Unknown | ? Well, full disclosure, I I th there was a conversation that took place before the second season started. Okay. Uh that illustrated uh in a very again Jonah Nolan vague way that there was going to be a something's gonna happen to the character halfway through the season, and we think this is gonna be fun for you uh and and fun to see Teddy go this direction. Uh so you know it was basically that kind of wording. It wasn't like she changes you. This is how it happens, you know. The the the details of it were not there yet. But it was exciting to know that there was a new dimension being brought to him. And it was fun as an actor to uh to get to play that. So that when, you know, and Evan and I got to be really close friends on the shoot and we would anytime the new script would come in, you know, on the some super encrypted email, you know, that you have to sign in and, you know, sign away your children's you know, thumbprints, blah blah. This will self-destruct and right after you read it. Um we would call each other after we read it and go, oh my God, you know, and and I remember Evan calling me just like she was upset. Yeah, she was like upset. It was like heartbreaking to see what was yeah you know, what was going on because it w it was at the end of I think episode four or five, where we have this like really kind of tender, loving moment where we're really connecting, and she realizes that you know he's he's too good of a man, he's too um virtuous and uh his moral code is too strong he's not gonna survive. So I have to change him if he's gonna survive in any way. So and then we were shooting it and that was hard. And you know, I I think Evan actually, you know, got teary-eyed. It was it was it was really powerful. You know, you you live with these characters for so long and they become part of you. And uh and uh you know and it's it's a show that can be relatively perverse and not even relatively, it can be very perverse. Um and um and uh uh violent violent and sad and and um um Um but uh you know so watching these characters uh evolve and their story start to unfold is uh is it's pretty em |
| Unknown | otional thing to experience. Yeah. I mean you would spend it at that point, you know, you'd shot all of season one, season one was done, and you know, you're halfway through shooting season two, and you've you've put all this work into you know becoming Teddy. Did did you have moments where you're supposed to be, you know, you're you're it's halfway through the season, you're you're supposed to be portraying the sort of new new Teddy, let's say. Right. Um and and old Teddy kinda wanted to come out. Did that ever happen where you know you you'd already kind of become this this person and uh |
| Unknown | Well y yeah. Um i in those moments when uh that would come it would not involuntarily come out, it would be actually um by design. Yeah.' Thd beere moments where I'd get with Lisa Joy, uh the other one of the other showrunners and writers, and um and Jonah's other half. Um they would come to me and say, it'd be interesting to see uh a little bit of now that you've you're changed and you've turned into you know Terminator Teddy or whatever. Um we just want to see a glimpse, just a like a flash of warmth um in your eyes that was you know from that that there's there's a teddy underneath still all of that that's trying to claw his way to the surface. Um and uh so that was deliberate some of those moments. But um but yeah, I did find myself sometimes on set, just going, oh, oh, this is uh yes, I'm I'm changed now. I can't I can't react uh in this scenario the way I would normally, you know. But one of the cool questions was when we started the season, um now that he was now fully awakened, um, was what uh what part of his identity is now chosen and what is res you know what part of his programming does he leave behind and what c on what part of his programming is genuinely him? Um and so that was a sort of existential crisis that he was going through for and they all were. Um but uh you know, Dolores and Maeve were further along in their paths. Yeah. Teddy was trying to play catch up a little bit. Um but it was an interesting thing to play because it was like now that you're aware and conscious of what you are and you know you must look at yourself in the mirror and go, what is you know what what is what part of me is real and what part of me was programmed and and now I get to sort of choose my identity. And some of what was programmed for Teddy was still there, you know. Uh and that's the sort of like uh dragon that he was wrestling with for, you know, for the whole season, which is like you know who am I what uh how can I stand back and watch uh all these atrocities that that that um that Dolores is like blazing down this path of like you know um like revenge. And uh and yet still he just innately um it was against his core. And and I think he ultimately realized that was beyond his programming. That's who he genuinely was as as a as a fully conscious entity or whatever you want to call it, you know. So that was fun as an actor to play and and difficult, man. It's you know, it's uh it's not an easy line to tow. You know, you're you're doesn't sound like No, no. But it's but it's rich, you know. It's it's really depthful and rich good stuff that you know. The first season there w there was a lot more of Teddy just being like, hey little darling, you So it was fun to sort of |
| Unknown | you know kind of dismantle that. Well 'cause it it sounds to me like in in a funny way you as an actor playing Teddy had to make some of the same decisions that Teddy as as a character had to make about about himself and about what was sort of core to him and and you playing him had to also make those decisions. There's a s sort of a lot of layers of kind of like interpreted uh humanity here |
| Unknown | . There was a moment in the end of the first season where Evan and I looked at each other and went, wait a second. We as actors are hosts. We we we follow a script. We we, you know, kiss people who aren't our significant others they yell cut and you do it all over again. You know, you go back the you know the assembly line and get sh whatever. And uh so it was like this realization of like, oh my God, this is what we're and they're like, you know, we're dragging our our you know our our emotional course over and over and over again and you're left exhausted at the end |
| Unknown | of the day as an actor. Does it does it take time after a role like that to like recover? Do you have to take some time off and just say like, all right I, have to kinda like let my brain reset here. Yeah. I |
| Unknown | I think the exercise was to just, you know, take the ha take the hat off once you leave work. You know, you just you go home and I go be with my kids and just get your mind out of that um really complex um and sometimes very dark yeah uh place. And um it's not a it's it's not an easy show to shoot. And um it's it's it's really complicated and sometimes you're in really kind of miserable conditions. And what I mean by that is we are very taken care of. Um and it starts at the top with Jonah and Lisa. Uh and um but you know, you're sometimes in the hundred and fifteen degree heat up in you know northern my north of Santa Clarita and you're out there all day long and people passing out waters and you know I don't know. Not I'm crying about being an actor because it's all right. Um but um and it's a it's an ambitious show. I think it's uh there's a lot of moving parts obviously and um and it uh it can be it's you know if the show wasn't as powerful as it is, um I could see a lot of people going, fuck this, man, I'm out. You know, crew crew members going, nope. No thanks. But everyone's gonna shoot something on a sound stage. Yeah. But you know what? It's I don't believe the best stuff just comes when it's difficult to make. I mean, I I I not always, but like I do believe that um and this is a nice parlay into watches. Uh um perfect. It's uh it's it's it's not an easy show to produce. It's not an easy show to um you know to to to act in. It's it's very challenging and uh and you're exhausted by the end of the season. Um, you know you, feel like you've you've you've run you know Ironmans for the you know the last like five, six months. Um but it's very gratifying because when you you know you're a part of something special and and because it's it really um it's it's so big and difficult to make, it's like exponentially gratifying when you see it up on the screen. Nice. Ye |
| Unknown | ah. Well, you mentioned Segwaying into Watch us. And this is Hodinky Radio. No, we don't we don't have to get there. We probably should, I I I think. People are probably wondering where the hell that is. But um you know, people people might know you're a uh an ambassador, a friend of the brand, I think is the uh the term they use |
| Unknown | . Yes. Um I th I th yeah, they use both. Ambassador friend of the brand. I'm not sure I know the distinction between the two. Yeah, me ne me neither. But uh yeah, one of those. But you're with IWC. Yes. And how long have you been with them? Uh I might get this wrong, but I feels |
| Unknown | like five or six years okay around there. Yeah. Yeah. But you're an actual watch guy. I mean, a lot of these people who you see as like brand ambassadors are sort of, you know, they get to wear a nice watch, they get a little bit of money, it's it's easy, it's fun. But you're like you're a real watch guy. |
| Unknown | I'm a nerd. Yeah. I I love 'em. I I love it. But I'm I'm that way with a lot of things in my life. You know, I'm a I I I love I'm a technician. I like um the details that go into um special things that why why this car is special, this guitar, this this piece of art, you know, uh this espresso maker. Like what you know, like what whate |
| Unknown | ver it is. Nerd nerds tend to be nerds about lots of things. Like I I don't know many people who are like really into watches but like don't care at all about cars or cameras or something, you know. Right, right. Well there's you know, there' |
| Unknown | s uh there's there's a lot of people out there that that you see um that wearing a you know, three hundred thousand dollar watch and they bought it because it's a three hundred thousand dollar watch. They don't know much about it or why it's special. They just like, Oh, this is you know, this is that name on there. And I'm wearing it and it's expensive. And that kind of drives me crazy because like I, you know, I have a nice little m m relatively modest collection and some of them are like, you know, fifty dollar Seiko fives. You know, like I it's a cool thing. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So this is a fifty dollar automatic movement, you know, watch that will continue to run as long as it's moving. And um, so I am fascinated with the details about why something is special and the sort of uh the craftsmanship that goes into all of it. Um so yes, I I um and I I think the expectations, I don't know, it when when I started talking shop with uh, you know, uh the all the all the all my friends and family over there at IWC they were like whoa how do you you you actually know that I'm like how do we make a you know forty millimeter perpetual calendar, split second perpetual calendar, and they're like, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Slow down, yeah. This is not what we're paying you for. How do you know this, first of all? Uh um so I tend to when I get into something, I immerse myself in the science of it all. Uh, because that's I just can't get enough information about it. Yeah. Um and uh and it and it watches became |
| Unknown | one of those things for me. So when when did you first get into watches? Was it before you started working with IWC? |
| Unknown | Um yeah. Yeah. Uh and I wasn't diehard before that, but uh they definitely sort of shepherded me into the you know um the the world of fine watch making, you know. Yeah. Before that was uh you know, I had a whatever high school was like when it was Casio, was it F ninety ones or whatever, the I forget. They're just like basic the Casio, you know. Um and uh and I had a Seiko because uh s because my uncle had a uh he said, Oh you want to wear a Seiko 'cause it's Okies spelled backwards. Oh, that's and then if you're from from Oklahoma, then you're that's cool. You're an Oki. So like oh that's cool. I'll wear a Seiko because it's Okies spelled backwards. That's cool. Um But uh my first you know, my first very nice watch was given to me in two thousand one um by uh David E. Kelly as a rap gift for the season of Ally McBeal. Cool. And it was an IWC and it was a Portofino. Um and I was like I've never been given that nice of a a gift as a rap gift. And it was like, whoa, that's this cool I'm gonna learn about this thing. What is it? Why is this like special? And um so it was just sort of happenstance that that was like the first real nice watch I got. Um and then my father gave me a uh Rolex Submariner and I don't even remember what you know what year it was. May I think it was from the eighties, and it kills me because we were shooting X-Men two in Alberta, Canada, in some crappy little hot. We were staying out in the middle of nowhere in this like little, you know, motel. And I left it on the nightstand and the uh housekeeper um made some money. That's rough. Or the you know the the housekeeping. Yeah that came back and it was gone. I was like, you idiot. What are you doing? But I was still in the mo I was still in the time where it was like I didn't like I mean I liked watches, but it wasn't like uh you know I I I was like, oh cool, that's you know, I know that's a nice watch. Yeah. I I wasn't like obsessive about it yet. Sure. Yet. That came later. Yeah, right, yeah. But uh but yeah, that was I had tell him that and he's like oh come on so I didn't want to think about like God what was that was like a 70s 1680 or something I don't I think it was just a 5513 I can I don't know. Anyway, I can't think about it just. It disturbs me. Yeah. But um so then I have a stylist, Alaria Urbanati, and she basically how that works is you know, if you have press coming out for a movie, TV show, the the the studio will will, you know they'll give a certain budget to have a stylist dress you for, you know, Jimmy Fallon or doing press junkets and all this. And part of that dressing is you know, she's you know, she's awesome. She like m puts me in these really great suits that, you know, I don't really get to keep, but I get to wear them for you know. Um and I remember her going, Yeah, you any wa what do you have any watches? You need a nice watch to wear with this suit. And uh and I W C was one of the the um companies that she worked with and was like here you know this will look really nice with that and i was like funny this is like the only other nice watch i have is is an IWC it was given as a gift and um um and then then that's when I started going, oh wow, because this is like, this has got to go back. This is like N now you know how |
| Unknown | we feel all the time, right? We we get to see these amazing things, but they they always have to go back. Yeah. Right. Yeah, you do, don |
| Unknown | 't you? You get to hold them and wear them and go back. Yeah. Great stuff that gets sent back. Um but I she dressed me for the Met Ball a couple of years ago and uh uh um this was when uh four or five years ago. So that was probably when I started with IWC and I was wearing a really nice I think it was a perpetual calendar. And I was like, What is this thing? And what do you mean it uh it it will keep time until two thousand four hundred and ninety-nine and Kurt Klaus who developed this, you know, uh I just then I started wondering why is this special and learning about it. And um and uh I was I did a couple of um you know press things where I they would she would out the IWC were kind enough to like give me a watch to wear for the thing. And then they invited me to SAHH one year. And uh and I I flew out and got to see all the the new goodies. And um that's when I was speaking to at the time it was George and uh but um you know everybody there on on board in the creative team and and I'd done my homework and they were like, Yeah well you know your stuff that's that feels good. We we want people that you know to to be aligned with this brand that care about it and understand why this is special. Um so I just you know I would talk their ears off |
| Unknown | . What's it I just w knowanna what is it like as a normal person going to SIHH? Going as not, you know, an industry journalist who's who's covering the show, like or as you know, one of these mega collectors who gets flown out and you know, shepherded through the whole thing. Like what is it like to go to SIHH? |
| Unknown | I mean it's like uh going to Santa's workshop for one f you know uh in one way. But y you know, as as a an ambassador or someone who's there to you know to you know take some photos and do some interviews, you you know, you're you're very well taken care of you you you uh they line up interviews with um certain publications and then you go to the booth and uh you take some photos you know and you look at the new collection that they're releasing and uh and it's it's it's cool. It's a surreal experience, you know. And it is very sort of isolated, like you're you're you know, you're there uh obviously all these other Richmond brands and whatever, but you're there with IWC. Right. And you're you know, you're um you're kind of in their world while you're there. So you don't really get to see everything else that's going on as much as you probably get to jump around and running running. Yeah, I mean and they wouldn't they wouldn't go look around at other stuff, but uh but you know, it is very, you know, IWC specific and uh and and rightly so it's like it you know uh I'm just uh but I do feel like a fan sitting there looking at the new collection. You know, it's um and I don't look at it like, you know, what's the most expensive watch you gotta hear like you know you just like oh cool this is uh amazing like this new Spitfire collection that just came out getting the case sizes down to like f forty one and the you know and uh in-house movements in that in that size of case. And just like yes, yes, yes. And I mainly say that because my you know I got little tiny wrists I mean we're part of part part of the same club there yeah but um but you know I uh I I like to see a lot more of these like in-house movements get into like some some smaller cases for my wrist and um so I just think they knocked that out of the park and then some of those green dials were really cool. But so every year like last year was the 150th the the Jubilee collection and all those like lacquered dials were just so dope. Yeah they were good. Uh the Paul Weber and all those. Um anyway, so I'm a fan as much as I am uh, you know, a an ambassador. And I think that they recognize that and like it. Have you gotten to see the new factory yet? The new manufacturer? No, no, no. Um I ha I was going to go on the tail end of doing the L'Oreal Sport Award thing in Monaco. Okay. I had to get back. So unfortunately I couldn't do it uh this time. But um but we're we're planning that. Cool. Um I've only been |
| Unknown | to the old one. Okay. Yeah. I know you've seen it ' Icause sent you a photo when I was there, but they have uh they have your photo hung right by the front. Oh really? Yeah, they have that big uh the big composite photo of all the uh friends. Friends of the brand with Klaus. It's it's all of you uh Right. It's |
| Unknown | like that's right. It was uh Lewis and Right by right by the front door, right inside. That's cool. That's great. I didn't know that was there. Yeah, um I'm excited to see it because it's you know I know you just went. Yeah, it's cool. It's cool. I've been twice actually. And Chris designed it. Yeah. He designed the whole thing because he comes from architecture um but uh yeah I'm I'm thrilled to um to to you know they're like family now they really you know they really are they so um I want to go check out the new manufacturer and see what that's all about. Uh but uh you know, I'll I'll I'm a geek. Like, you know, I I'm proud to say that I'm I'm a geek when it comes to this stuff. And so it's it's there's very f you know, there's a few things that I I could just never get tired of talking about. Yeah. You know, and W what are some of the other ones? Uh cars. Um you know, my son's eighteen now and uh uh we share a lot of the same it's fun to to share the same passions with your kid. And um you know, got into cars for a bit, like when he was younger, I yeah, I bought this like, you know, nineteen sixty three MG midget tiny little thing that I couldn't couldn't take outside on uh uh outside the neighborhood 'cause you would just, you know, if you got an accident, you were done. Yeah. Right. Um but uh we had a uh sixty six Corvette and a sixty seven Austin Healy um three thousand and I've sold them all since but it was just fun to have them for a bit and share that with him. So I get nerdy about that. Guitars I got I you know I have a nice little cool collection of guitars that I very cool over the years and you know I don't want to sound like this douche that's just like eh I got all this like this is all the stuff I got. Guitars. And then when I discovered Hodinky, it was just like oh these are guys that speak my language. Like you know We've definitely got a uh a thing. Uh and it's it's yeah, it's uh I guess made obviously Ben through I met Ben because I met John Mayer in the airport at JFK. And we were sitting there. Where everyone meets John Mayer. Yeah. And and we we started talking. He goes, Oh, and I mentioned a watch question because I knew he was a big fan. And um and uh he goes, Well, I gotta put you in touch with the scholars. And he guided me very kindly through my first like uh purchase of a vintage uh sixteen eighty and it was nice. Um and it's it was awesome. But uh but I just I was like I would wake up in the morning and go on your website and like 'cause it was just everything I I like I like things that are just um that there's soul and s and and heart that goes into the the the creation of these things and uh and that could be a guitar, it could be a uh it could be a car and or a watch or a piece of art or something. But um but yeah I'm definitely a hobbyist. There was a time where I was into espresso machines. Really? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I got some fancy Italian thing and I wanted to learn exactly the the to pull the perfect espresso shot. It's gotta be between twenty seven and thirty two seconds and like I just nerd out on the details. You were drinking a lot of coffee, I would assume. And I um I read that the uh uh there was a regional barista competition. I couldn't get my machine to microfoam. Okay. Quote unquote. Right. And uh I re I saw that the person who won the competition was from Glendale, which is like close to me. And I reached out to this woman and said, Hey, would you I can't do this on my machine. I can watch all the online videos, but do you mind I'll pay you to come to my house and teach me how to micro foam on my machine? And this woman shows up at my house and my wife's like, what are you doing? Well I'm learning how to make latte art.? Okay Can you imagine what this w |
| Unknown | oman thought when like you know, you're you're you're you're a pretty well known guy, right? Like when when you reach out to this woman and she's like, uh James Marsden wants me to teach him to make latte art? Like, not even cross my mind. I was just oblivious to that. I was just like, you know. She probably told her friends just to make sure that like if if nobody heard from her in a few hours, that she wasn't being like lured out to a warehouse by some weirdo. In hind |
| Unknown | sight, it's like this is kind of creepy. Who are you? That's amazing. But I was like and she helped me out and taught me how to do it. And you got it. Cool. Great. I just needed that. I'd need more than just the video online. Um but yeah, but so I I'm that and all my friends are like, You are the weirdest dude. I mean you just you're if you can't enjoy stuff like that though, then like what what are you gonna I love it. I just I I love it. And and I you know, I I get into something and I live it and breathe it and I don't do anything else. You're also a big camera guy, right? Yeah, camera photographers, yeah. It's another thing. Yeah. Um yeah, I got uh obsessed with uh obviously with Leica for the you know longest time. I still have an M6 that I shoot with and load it with film and the whole tangible process of like loading that with film and I haven't stepped into the full digital world there yet, but uh I have all these, you know, really wonderful M lenses that uh that can only gonna work on my M six. Yeah. But I know you can get some of the newer ones that you can use those old M lenses. Sure. But um but yeah um you know I just I I I like I like the mechanical feel of things too. You know I can't when it's this something when things get too digital it gets a little soulless for me. Yeah. Um Do you shoot when you're when you're on set or when you're working or is it mostly an an outside of work then? Um well I learned photography. This is another thing. There was there was a website called photo.net. Yep. And I think it's still there, right? Oh yeah. And uh and I've just read message boards about like, okay, what what's what is the what how I wanna understand why this photo out of these thirty-six shots was great. I I wanna so that I can understand the science of why it's good and so that I I don't believe in shooting a thousand frames and then luckily getting one good one. I wanna understand why that was good. I wanna be able to do it every time. Yeah. You know, the qual what the quality of light. Um the the the um uh the relationship between shutter speed and aperture and film speed you know like that that little triangle there that when that clicked I was like oh okay so there's the you the there's more uses to it No, it compresses somebody's features. Like, you know, it's it's more attractive if you're taking portraiture, like to shoot over seventy millimeters. Um by the way, I'm just probably people are probably tuning out right now. No, no, guys, people love this. You're you're appealing to the full base right now. Yeah. I you know, so that was another thing. I just like I immersed myself in everything that I could learn about it. And uh so that was a that was a uh a huge part uh a couple of years of my life where that's all I was thinking about and doing, you know, and and I just pin tech six seven and um Hasselblad five oh three system and um and uh you know sad,ly now they're not getting as much work 'cause it's all f film stuff. But then now there's like this movement back to it all. So Do you develop your own film or do you send it? No, that is one thing that um that I yeah, that everyone tells me, like you just get a dark room and I feel like if you're the sort of person who's |
| Unknown | calling strangers to teach you to foam milk, I feel like you can probably I feel like this is something you'd get really into |
| Unknown | . The reason why I didn't is because I wouldn't see m my wife and my kids ever again. I think I would just be in there. And I and I and I did it already with Photoshop. Hours would go by like that. Um so yeah, I'm a I'm extreme hobbyist. Okay. Um and w watches came into my life and that was something that I I |
| Unknown | uh treated the same way. So is there is there a particular moment in your sort of like watch nerd uh education that that stands out to you as like the the deepest, like c |
| Unknown | raziest rabbit hole you went down? Boy. I mean if there was one it was on Dinky on the website, you know, and that was like my Bible for for the longest period of time was like, all right, what what makes this special and why is this cool and what's a what's a Ratrapant and what's a you know what's um and uh and what you guys did there was like just just kind of isolating the cool stuff. I was like, yeah, that is cool. Why is that? Here's why. Well I took the date window out and this is like a you know time only this and that was perfect you know size at 40 millimeters and this now, you know, I just started like absorbing all that information. But I'm trying to get one moment that was that was like eureka. Like, oh my god, you know. Um but I mean I remember when you guys were doing that was I think I started watching when uh watching and reading was uh it was a there was there was a section when you were talking about this Italian watchmakers called squall. Yeah. Yeah and these bakelight bezels that were found from the uh from the 70s or something. Yeah. And um and I just was like, What is that? What's what's a bakelight bezel? I don't you know, and um so it just was like walking into Willy Wonka's factory. It was like, Oh my God, yeah, this is so what there's so many different identities that can exist in in in a in in a watch right like you know um you know growing up you just like watch what tells time. Well no, like there's you know, this is a you know, this is a pilot's watch, this is a racing watch, this is a a dive watch, this is a formal watch, a no, you know, time only formal watch. This is so it just was I don't know. I don't maybe there wasn't one specific moment, but it was just um um w you know some of these crazy movements you see now. Um you flip the the case over and you see and just like oh my God, look at these gears and look at these jewels and look at this and that and why is how painstaking the process would be to put that together. And it requires no batteries. It does no you know and that's not also taking a dump on on quartz like, you know, I that uh has its place too but uh but I I don't know. I just uh maybe there wasn't just one fully mo it maybe it was a sort of a slow you know snowballing effect um but um but yeah I'm yeah I'm still you know fully in the thick of it. And I like now that we see um because we do live in a world where we don't have to wear a watch, right? We we could we live at our phone, you sit in the phone. You have a phone, there's clocks everywhere. Like you don't you don't need a watch at all. No, you do it by choice. Yeah. This is like the one piece of jewelry I feel comfortable wearing. Yeah. And um and there's a there's a soul to it. There's a it's a t there's a tool there, you know, and it's a beautiful tool. Um and uh you know, in my like I said in the like my modest collection, they're all just you know, priced you know, it's not just uh uh expensive watches. It's like it's, you know, fifty dollar to you know like two hundred dollars SKX double seven the the Seiko dive watch that's just like you know a beater that you you know it's like a tank. Um but there's stories behind each one too, you know? For sure. I got my son into it for a while and it was like he has an orange monster and a um the uh Casio Frogman. And I remember for a long time he was wearing one on each wrist for like That's how you know you're doing your jobs. Yeah, six months. And uh so those are like his first watches. And he like you know looks at them with reverence now. Like this these are special. Like it's a moment I shared with my dad and he taught me about this. And I don't know. I just I I like all of that. And um so when I you know, when I discovered you all it was like, oh, this is fantastic. Um and watching you all grow and doing your thing has been really cool and exciting. |
| Unknown | And thank you very much. That's uh well deserved. It's been fun, you know, for us getting to watch this community grow. Yeah. You know, it's it's it's really I've been involved with Hodinki for you know about almost seven years now, six and a half years and it' its's night and day. I mean the community is is so rich and diverse and interesting now. And you know it's got it's got ways to go. It can grow so much more and become so much more diverse. Um but it's the people and I mean that was kind of the whole impetus behind creating this show is is the people who are involved in this weird little world of ours are not so little anymore. So interesting. Yeah, that's true. It's true. It's |
| Unknown | huge. Yeah. And you guys were like the beacon of like, you know, I mean that was like everyone found you and it like because you you could tell that you all cared about what what you were talking about. And um so it's it's fun it's been fun to see you all like Thank you very much. Grow and uh and and all of that and these all the collaborations and everything. It's just super cool to see. Thank you. Speaking of collaborations, you're wearing |
| Unknown | our latest collaborations. Look at that parlay. Yeah. It's uh we had to I mean we have to mention it, right? Um you're wearing the uh the IWC Hodinky uh pilot. Yep, that's |
| Unknown | the the Mark 18 Hodinky version, and it's it's incredible incredible. Again, perfect size for me. 39 millimeters. Looks so good. Um got the serotanium, which is you know zirconium oxide. Yeah, it's pretty awesome. It's not like a PVD, it's on it just on the surface, it's baked through the whole thing. And it's light as titanium and and and as uh scratch resistant as ceramic. Yeah. Am I right on that? Yeah. Yeah. You're spot on, honestly. But it's yeah, I love the the uh the no date. Um it's just dial so clean, so pure. I just I love it, man. I you know you see crazy watches being made nowadays and and I I can marvel at their engineering. I can. But uh I just I I'm such a elegance and sophistication and simplicity. And uh and I see that kind of theme going through a lot of the watches that you guys go, oh, check this thing out. Yeah. There's a balance to the dial. Yeah. Um, it's sort of elegant simplicity sometimes. And even in the most like crazy ornate movements, it's just um we kind of s speak the same language and like have the same taste. And I was like, ah, I'm gonna bug these guys. Perfect. Yeah, I love this. This is uh my my new uh my new favorite uh watch is getting the most wrist |
| Unknown | time at the moment. That's very very good to hear. Um so we're gonna have to wrap in a in a few minutes, but before we do our our hodinky questionnaire, which is how we how we wrap every episode, um what's next for you? What's what's coming next? Either either work wise or uh you know what's what's your next crazy obsession? What's what's coming down the pipe for you? Don't know, man |
| Unknown | . I wish my next obsession would be something like useful like you know I mean don't cook cooking. Don't we always share learning the you know the stock market or doing your taxes. I really need to get into learning how to do your taxes. Yeah. You'd be the best at filing tax returns. Or something that's not expensive, you know? Like um Um But uh I just I did this uh Paramount movie, um Sonic with uh with Jim Carrey finished that in the fall last year and that's uh that's coming out um later in the year. Uh it was fun to see him like do some of his vintage stuff, but all new, you know. Um it it was fun to see him i like having a blast, kind of doing doing his thing that he used to do, but f it feels a hundred percent fresh. He is a force of nature. Yeah, he is. Yeah, he is. He was at the best time with him and watching him work and |
| Unknown | being the recipient of Is he like that in person? Is the is the energy as intense in person as it feels like it would be? It's it's a there's a version of it |
| Unknown | . Okay. There's a version of it. But it is like he's there's a real piece about Jim Nam with his like uh he's he's very mindful of like um uh like just just being in a good place like he's mindful of his soul and like and and and he you can see him like enjoying being on set. Like I think it's been 10 years since he's I mean he did the show um on sh on Showtime. Um but uh but this is this first movie back and so I and I you know dumb and dumber and all these Ace Mature. These are like my classics that like hundred percent my comedy Bibles, these these um so being able to be on set and do these scenes with him and try not to laugh. And I didn't even think about that. I can't imagine sitting across from Jim Carrie and trying not to laugh. knocking this out right now. So that was that was fun. And uh and I did this show uh for Netflix called Dead to Me with Linda Cartellini and um Christina Applegate that Adam McKay is producing. Oh cool. Yeah, super cool. Uh love him and you know we worked together on Anchorman too back in the day. But um so that's coming out relatively soon. Uh uh springtime. Okay. You know, later uh springtime. I I can't say the exact date yet because I it may move. Okay. Um so watch out for that. It's called Dead to Me on Netflix. Um and that's kind of the two that are, you know, on deck at the moment. Okay |
| Unknown | . Yeah. Cool. Well uh we'll wrap things up. We'll do our our questionnaire and uh cultural recommendation to finish things off. Okay. Uh so question number one. Uh what's a watch that's caught your eye recently? Something you've you've been you've been looking out |
| Unknown | for uh what has caught my eye um somebody it's uh I've just seen so much good stuff uh lately. Oh the um I don't think I'll ever be able to own one and I think it's just uh the the level of absurdity in in a the coolest way is uh is I just can't stop thinking about it. Is that the is it it's called the rainbow daytona? Yeah the rainbow daytona. |
| Unknown | I feel like somewhere as you said that Kara just like sat up straight and was like wait some somebody's talking about the spot. |
| Unknown | It's and then once I sat with it, I was like, that is beyond cool. Like that's one of those watches you show to people and they're like, oh, I don't know, man. And I'm like, the more I think about it, the more I can't stop thinking about it. Yeah. And when |
| Unknown | you see it in person, it's just like it's a crazy idea taken all the way to like the most the most superlative version of that idea. It's just it's so well done and it's completely insane |
| Unknown | . Yep. But it works. And it's amazing. Yeah. Yeah. So that's that definitely within the last few years has been one that's like made me go, whoa. What is that |
| Unknown | ? Um so yeah. Awesome. What's the best place you've traveled in the last year |
| Unknown | ? Um, in the last year for travel. Um I went to Amsterdam for the first time. Oh, cool. That was really cool. Never seen it, never been there, and I could very easily live there. Nice. Nice. Okay. This is fantastic. And not for the things the reasons you think I might be thinking of but like everyone's on a bike. Everyone looks pretty chill and like, you know easy going um this city is beautiful yeah uh yeah that was uh that was a cool that was a cool place to to to visit um and then maybe Monaco you know yeah always always I've been there once before for the Formula One race, but Oh nice. But uh this was this time it was different. I get to see a little more of it. Cool. |
| Unknown | Um What's uh what's the best piece of advice you've ever been given and who gave it to you |
| Unknown | ? drive away and I go that was the you know um follow your heart it's so simple and and you know and hallmark sounding but uh just lead with that um uh yeah. That's the one that I always kind of go back to, you know, when you're when you're trying to figure out your navigate your way through life. It's like, yeah, that uh listen to listen to that. Um and it's what I uh you know bestow on my kids as well, you know. Um I remember my uh ex-father in law said, you know, that when we were getting ready to be new parents. And he said that you know, they um be open to your children teaching you as much as you teach them and 'cause that's definitely what uh what happens in this like these miracle children that that uh um teach you as much as you as you teach them and uh nice and I'll think of a couple of others. I I like that question usually but then I panic and I I forget I forget all of them |
| Unknown | . It's all right. Um and the last one before we do our cultural recommendation is uh what's your guilty pleasure |
| Unknown | ? Uh my oh man. This could go on. Um my guilty pleasure. Peanut butter? Peanut butter. Okay. That is a new answer. We have never gotten Skittles. Okay. Uh yeah, that's um that's the Oklahoma in me. Uh Skittles are great, to be fair. I mean Yeah. I I you know I could uh I could get a bar of Hershey's chocolate and put in a jar of Jeff peanut butter and just be like that's like I feel terrible. That's solid. But it's great. Yeah. Um but yeah, a more little more less lowbrow guilty pleasure. That's fine. I mean we're we're all about the the high low. It's uh it works. Um yeah, I don't I don't um I mean I guess cars I guess are my you know I I um I'm I'm trying to get into doing some like you know enthusiast racing. Uh cool. And uh I did a little uh a racing program with Ferrari last year and um um that's uh that's just another hobby though, mine not really a guilty pleasure, but uh but it's uh I think Skittles and peanut butter count. Yeah, I think that's gonna be I'm trying to make a you know silt purse out of a sow's ear here |
| Unknown | . Uh all right, and to uh to wrap things up, we'll uh I'll ask you for uh a cultural recommendation. So this can be something something, you recommend people go check out after they're done listening to the podcast. Uh it can be something you worked on. You can plug something, feel free. Or it can be something you you saw or read or visited or something that you you want to recommend |
| Unknown | ? Well I don't know why the first thing that popped in my mind, I mean one, I guess I've already plugged my shows coming out, but uh but um uh the Peterson Automotive Museum here it this is just in LA um uh and the broad. Yeah. If you if you have any sort of interest in looking at contemporary art and um the the broad is just and the architecture of the building too is just like phenomenal. Both both buildings. It's just um so if you if you're in LA, you know, uh I would can strongly recommend checking checking them out. Sweet. Well And then and then hitting a little John and Vinny's on Fairfax afterwards. Yeah. That sounds pretty good right now, actually. Yeah. If you really want to be be gluttonous and and uh have guilty pleasures. That's the guilty pleasure. And then grab some Skittles on the way home. That's a good spaghetti carbonara at at John Vinny's or the five six hour bolognays. That's yeah. It's not it's not it's not it's not peanut butter and Skittles, but it's it's a version of it. Yeah. That should be their tagline now at Donna Minis. Yeah, they're like, oh thanks for the uh yeah. Thanks the for the promo there. Um yeah. Anyway. Um get out there just finally s sun shining now in LA. Yeah, we'll still raining the past next time. Yeah, hopefully hopefully the sun will still be sh |
| Unknown | ining when we leave the uh the windowless uh studio. Sorry you had to you Hey, it's still it's still LA. I'm not complaining, and it's not ten degree New York. So uh yeah, no complaints on my end. That's true. But uh thanks so much for doing this, man. It's uh it's good to see you and uh we'll we'll have to have you back. I think there's way more than another hour of stuff uh we could talk about here. For sure. For sure. Thanks, man. You got it. This week's episode was recorded at the Network Studios in Los Angeles, California, and was produced and edited by Grayson Korhonen. Please remember to subscribe and rate the show, it really does make a difference. Thank you for listening and we'll see you next week. |