SPEAKER_01 0:00

I went for dinner with my family afterwards and I got a text from a text from Mitch saying uh Captain Price question mark and I was like so it was a few hours you know you know how it goes back and forward, whatever, and then that's the offer come in and it's just been what is it about those calls that you get?

SPEAKER_04 0:18

It's too I just got the rush right there.

SPEAKER_02 0:20

It's so exciting. You're like, what the fuck?

SPEAKER_04 0:22

It's just a dream, isn't it? Really?

SPEAKER_06 0:27

AJ, you're like giggling the entire time you're running. I like I am? You're like, yeah. I was like, I was just so happy.

SPEAKER_03 0:34

I was like, this is so cool. I'm like, holy shit.

SPEAKER_05 0:36

He's like, you're like he's laughing his head off. That's who that was. Well, hello there, and welcome back to the show.

SPEAKER_06 0:43

It's good to be with you. My next guest is an absolute stud. He's the voice of Captain Price in Call of Duty Modern Warfare. He played Joe Bear Graves on six, and he's about to show up in the House of Dragons. He is Liverpool-born a schouser for life, and in my humble opinion, I think one of the most talented, most versatile actors in Hollywood today. This guy is an absolute stud. Please welcome to the show, Mr. Barry Sloan.

SPEAKER_00 1:15

Welcome to the AJ, but the show don't know. He's totally kidding.

unknown 1:32

Welcome to the K.

SPEAKER_06 1:34

So you're a scouter, right? Yeah. Yes. Yes, look at that. There's there's like I'm a big UFC guy. And Patty and Darren, you know, those are those are so those are just I mean, I was I was bummed out on the last Patty Pimbleton fight. I thought I thought he I thought he I I mean he's such a a warrior, but Gaithy's just like an animal too.

SPEAKER_01 2:00

But it's true, like you know, what like he was what he was stepping up to, you know what I mean? But he's you know, he's he's he's a warrior. He'll he'll walk forward into the next one and and smash his feet.

SPEAKER_06 2:13

His weight fluctuation is fucking mad. Like he is like any he looks like um like like like the the fat twin. Like is this guy is this really him? You know? Yeah, exactly. Except you wouldn't say that's oh no, no, Jesus, no. But he looks happy, he he looks happy. Come on, yeah, hey Fanny. Hell yeah, yeah, yeah, fat bastard. No, no, he's uh no, I'm a huge fan. I love him. He's just entertainment and his and his entrance song. And even like, you know, you had like the guys like Michael Bisbee. Is Bisbee a Scouser too, or is he though? Michael Bisbee?

SPEAKER_01 2:48

I think so. I don't want to I don't want to say yes if I'm not correct. But yeah, maybe.

SPEAKER_06 2:58

As an actor, there is nothing worse than showing up to work on set when you gotta play some sort of action here and you've had no sleep. Since I've got a ghost bed, I can go to work and look like a badass. A serious badass because I got my sleep. I'm telling you right now, you want to sleep through the night, show up to work, and absolutely dominate. Dominate. Get yourself a ghost bed. You're gonna sleep like a baby and show up like a champ at work and crush all your goals. Go get it. Go to ghostbed.com forward slash buckley, code word buckley at checkout. Start feeling like a champ. Three pillars of discipline: spirit, mind, body. In that order. That right there is the foundation of a company I started called Born of Discipline. It's incredibly important to me. This company incorporates my faith, the lessons I learned from my father on discipline, pain from regret, or pain from discipline is something my dad always said to me. And I've incorporated that into my life, and I want to share it with you. Go check it out at bornofdiscipline.com. Get your merch. It's it's great stuff. Go get it now. Get it while it's good. I mean, you were where you were born in Liverpool. You were I mean Kevin Keegan he'd he'd already left, right?

SPEAKER_01 4:16

Uh yeah, I was born in 81, so um I was kind of born around the the the the peak, the peak time. Right, right at there.

SPEAKER_06 4:25

Because he was leaving Anfield and and and the but that was like sort of the most magical like time. Like I I remember because I was born in Dublin, like Kevin Keegan, Georgie Best, you know, and my dad was a Liverpool fan. I just decided to go Man United because it was different, you know. But that was just what's that?

SPEAKER_01 4:47

Because you wanted the 90s to be enjoyable. Is that why?

SPEAKER_06 4:50

Yeah, exactly. I mean, I enjoyed, I just yeah. I've never actually been to a match in Liverpool before, and I hear it is like a spiritual experience.

SPEAKER_01 4:59

Yeah, it's unbelievable, you know. That ground, it's just got so much history, and you know, then they're building these incredible stadiums now. I mean, Everton um have just built an incredible stadium on the on the dock down the front there. But what you know Anfield and a lot of the British uh stadiums have is like they're built right into the streets, so you've got the terrace house right close up, you know, and there's that intimidating walk as you walk past all these houses, you know, people peering out the windows as you're trying to walk down to the stadium, you know, it's just got that vibe to it, which the new stadiums are great, but they just don't kind of possess that energy. Yeah, so um yeah, and inside it's like I I took my son to his first game last year, and you know, seeing his face was blown away and the noise of it, and yeah, it was great. How old are your kids? I got a 16-year-old daughter and um my son's 10.

SPEAKER_06 5:46

So nice, yeah. It's a it's amazing. Did now did you go to games with your dad?

SPEAKER_01 5:51

Yeah, yeah. We used to go to we used to go to the pub more to watch the game as we uh as we grew up. But um, but yeah, yeah, I mean the you know key part of our you know relationship is the is the football, really.

SPEAKER_06 6:05

We kind of have that back and forth. I I remember like back in gosh, what year was it? We were back in Ireland for the World Cup. But I remember that the priest the game was like when Mass is supposed to be on. And before the game started, the priest stands up and he goes, sorry, Lord, you know, we're not gonna make it to Mass today, but we're here to support Ireland and I'm blessing the pub. And he like sticks his finger in his Guinness and like and then father son always there, and that was my American friends are like, What is this? I'm like, that's just the way it is.

SPEAKER_01 6:40

Well, it's great. It it's great, man. The Irish energy is like the Irish energy is you know, Liverpool's. I mean, it's the first port out basically, so you know, the the Irish heritage is is huge. You know, my my grandparents um were Irish and you know. Oh no way, so you got some Irish in you as well. Yeah, 100%. I mean you go, and my wife is an old grady, so you know it's all every very much uh Irish heritage throughout the city. And I think that's why we have um Liverpool is very much a city that kind of stands on its own or feels it feels like it rebels against the rest of the UK. You know, we have a we playing which is uh Scouts not English, so it's like it's like a little little island of its own, you know what I mean? Which we'll we'll we'll we'll we'll fight against everything there, yeah.

SPEAKER_06 7:25

Now like you're the only person in your family that became an actor? You're the first in the fa in your family?

SPEAKER_01 7:32

I'm the first one to be paid for it, yeah. I think I think there was a lot of people who could tell a good story. Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 7:38

But it's I mean, I think we we all learn it from, you know, it's it's amazing too as as actors, you know, growing up in Ireland, they're just in the pub, or like, you know, I I have memories as as a as a child, like, is as long as like you would just go to the pub with your parents and like and then at some point in the night the spoons would come out and you know, the baron and like it would just be a jam session, and that was just the way it was, and there was a story, and there was someone, it was there's all and the and the the the music is such that of you know it tells us it's such a a a journey that you go on that the you know that the old Irish you know Danny Boy or Sweet Molly Malone or any of these any of these old classic songs. Was it like that for you growing up in in in Liverpool as well?

SPEAKER_01 8:22

Yeah, I mean definitely the you know the energy in the pubs and the you know the singing and there was always people at you know family family parties who'd get up and sing a song and so many Liverpool's just a city of comedians, so there's always somebody who's telling a joke or it's trying to make someone laugh or you know. Um yeah, it's a it's a it's a city. I mean, look at the the BAFTAs have just been. I think I think four of the four of the eight nominees were were from Liverpool, so it's a very, very week for us, really. You know, Stephen Graham is obviously killing at the moment, and people might not be able to fully understand me at this at the speed I'm speaking at, but Stephen's uh helping that accent kind of get around the world a bit more now.

SPEAKER_06 9:04

So it's it's so funny when uh first time I took my wife to Ireland, we went over to the IFTAs, and um my cousin David is straight doubling. Like, how are you going there, buddy? You know, uh yeah, yeah, just super thick, right? And he comes into the house, we're staying at some very nice hotel. Um and uh he comes in, he's got like pink hair, this like full mohawk, you know, his Doc Martin boots on, the leather jacket with all the pins on it. And uh I can't remember the hotel, but it's like Burr Henry Collins State. And I'm just I know Dave is a legend, he's just gonna show up, right? And uh and he walks in there and he's like, fucking hell, okay, some fucking champagne strawberry. And he's just like, oh, is this this is this is and my wife for like 20 minutes is just staring, she goes, I don't know what he's saying.

SPEAKER_03 9:56

I don't know anything he's saying.

SPEAKER_06 9:58

Like, I'm like, and and then she has like four or five pints again, and she's like, I can now understand him. You know, I went but it was so good. And then I would be like, Dave, Dave, Dave, place an order and we'll order like some food, and I'll go hide. And then you answer the door in your underwear. And so he's like, All right, so you know they opened the door like Mr. Buckley. And he has like, he's got like he's got like a he's got like a joint hanging out of his mouth, and he's like, Oh, it's just there's such a good crack, always just dying. But it's uh it's it there there is something though over there of like you live how's how's the saying go? You you you you live you work to live or w live to work. Is that that it's the the people there that they there's such they just find the moments where you know the the the simplicities in life, you know, like you're not there's there's something I always say where you if you can sit across the table from someone where in at the local pub for eight or nine hours and just be having a conversation and you're not in this fucking rush to to get off to the next place, but you're just having a chat, just catching up. There's something that's lost that like you know, in America or other places where we're always trying to rush to the next big thing, but you know when you go home, you'll go to the local pub and you'll sit there and you'll catch up with everybody for hours, night after night, and it's a new adventure and a new story. It's something that you know we it's so hard to find over here, but I I feel like um it's it's an experience that my wife is always like I just could sit there for hours. I never thought going to the pub would be such a uh an experience, but every night it's a whole it's a whole new thing.

SPEAKER_01 11:50

Did you well open open up? I think there's a I don't know, there's a there's a there's a trust in that and and Liverpool's got a lot of those same qualities to what you'll find in Ireland again with the with the lineage really, but um yeah, people will just listen to what you've got to say, you know, they're interested. You there's time for you. You know, I sometimes find, especially in our industry, you know, it can be in in a lot in in our eye specifically, you know, someone's looking for someone more important to talk to, or for an angle or for an inn, or do you know this producer? This you know, there's always like a I'm really interested, but I'd rather be speaking to the guy still online, you know. So that kind of thing. Yeah, um but that's not to say those people can't be found. Um I feel like the more I've gone through my life, you kind of you start to attract people into your vibration a bit more, you tend to find those people uh over time, and and you know, that energy is everywhere, it's just a massive uh waiting for it, you will get it.

SPEAKER_06 12:55

So it's funny you bring that up because I it was something that I I'd written down that I wanted to talk to you about. So it was I don't know when it was years ago you did this like meditation thing, right? Where you started doing things, and I was like, oh fuck it, I'm gonna try. I was in this weird space, I've been just drinking way too much. And dude, I started doing what you like, you're like, it was like you started it was really hard. It was really hard to do out of the gates because I have ADD and I can't sit still, but it is such a it's like it was a muscle, but dude, you were like my little like yogi. I was like, what's she doing today? I'm like, I was like, I was like, this guy needs to start his own app and he's your voice. And I was like, all right, I'm I'm gonna I'm gonna go meditate, Barry.

SPEAKER_01 13:40

He's fucking doing it again. I'll have to. Yeah, no, no, I I really appreciate that. But you know, I I always make it clear that you know, I'm fortunate, you know, Katie, my wife, she um that's what she does for a living. She's a Reiki master, she's a spiritual healer, she's you know, she's a yogi. She, you know, leaves books around the house that I can pick up and I've kind of by proxy um learned a lot in that space. Um, but yeah, it's all about and I've tried to be an advocate where I can, uh for mental health, specifically male mental health when opportunity arrives. And anytime, you know, first first and foremost, when you first try a meditation, you know, your head's gonna be noisy. I think people get pulled off by that. It's like I can't shut it down, I can't, you know, it's never never really about shutting it down. For me, it's always about observing the same shit that's going around again and again and again. How do you mean that? What do you mean so you sit in you sit in the space and it's gonna be noisy? You know, the only time it's not just when you're fucking dead. So it's a good sign that got this going on.

SPEAKER_06 14:43

It's really noisy, Barry. It's very noisy in my head.

SPEAKER_01 14:46

Well, I mean you know, you can see me there's I've got a lot of that energy as well. That's why I why I meditate, you know.

SPEAKER_09 14:53

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 14:53

But uh it really is that it's a case of like sitting with it for one day, and if you do 20 minutes, you know, it might be 19 minutes of noise or 19 and a half minutes of noise and 30 seconds of was oh shit, I was meditating. But then the more you work that muscle, just like going to the gym, you know, you might one day get five minutes out of 20 where you time just snapped. You go shit. I was out there for the minute, and it's literally just a moment's silence, you know. But while the thoughts are there, you know, it's a really interesting moment where you just go, ah, that's repetitive. I'm saying that thing again, or I'm thinking that thing again, or or you know, at the best case, what you can do. I was speaking to a friend of mine the other day about this, is like, you know, if you if you have like a negative thought pattern, if you if you name it, do you know what I mean? It's like um when I quit and drinking a while back, like um I had I used to call it Liam Gallagher, would be on to me and be like, we need to go for a pint, and I'd be like, Liam, we've discussed this, it's not the right time, we're having a break. We'll just go and get it smashed. I'm like, no, you're 38 years old.

SPEAKER_06 16:01

Dude, you're like you're like uh you're like Michael Keaton in multiplicity where it's like that guy comes in and say, Hey, what are we doing?

SPEAKER_01 16:09

That's anybody. But if you you know, you you can use the same thing when you get a negative thought pattern, it's like just we're not we're not going through that again. We're not doing that same thing. We've been doing that for 20 years, we don't do that no more. And you just listen. And the more you take control of your own mind, you know, you're not the part you're not in the past and just seeds of your own vehicle, which is important, you know.

SPEAKER_06 16:28

Well, that that I think you said something once in the thing, and then it freaked me out. I'm like, who am I talking to in here? I was like, whoa, who's this? I'm like, I don't I remember it, and that I think it was that was kind of one of the first times I felt like I actually went into meditation because I lost thought of everything else, and then I was like trying to, I'm like, I'm talking to somebody. Who the fuck is that? Like, and I was like, I was like, whoa! I'm like, what like well, I'm like, what's happening to like I'm having a conversation with something that's answering me, but it's a real conversation. I'm like, what am I talking to?

SPEAKER_01 17:03

But sometimes it's two people talking, but you realize that you're all just the person sat in the corner of the room watching the two people having arguments, and then it gets really trippy. You're like, oh wow.

SPEAKER_06 17:17

What do you do in those situations? Because those I haven't like I'll get to certain things, but I I I I it get it, I'm like, what is this me creating this in my head? Am I now because this is something I'm I'm like, you know, or then I'll fall asleep. I'll like be like, whoa, and I don't know what happened, but it always gets crazy. Like I'm like, okay. Like I I've yet to get to place where it's just like foom. But I'm like, all right. Um and I've had some things where like I'll I'll like feel like I'm opening uh uh a door to where I've been before, and like okay, I'm gonna go, and then but then it gets noisy. Like I'll do little things and I can get still. Um I I've I've I found like if I do like morning pages, you know, where I just get my thoughts out on a piece of paper and write it down, that keeps like you just say like a fluid thought, you know, and like I'll do that helps. Um but when I close my eye, it's dude, it freaks me out. I'm like, I'm always like, who is this who's these who who is who's controlling this? You know, because um it's you're objectively standing back looking at your own thoughts, but then who's in who's this? What who is that you think?

SPEAKER_01 18:26

I mean, uh you know, at the there's many schools of thought on it, and you know, I would never ever profess to have any any form of answer. I just just an understanding of what it is to mean. I suppose uh I I lean into uh it would be a more of a Buddhist uh way of thinking. Um Alan Watts kind of Randas school of thought that ultimately I believe you know it's the universe itself that is split off into many different eyes. You looking at me, me looking at you as the same entity looking back on itself, God if you if you will, um Virgin Ottawa, um and it's just uh it's it's but they they it's in the the Vedas, uh I think it's and it's indifferent or the or the when I get it right, the yuchas. And it's it's like it's in a period of dream at the moment, so it's it's in a dream state. First of all, if you if you were omnipotent and you could think and know everything, eventually that would get quite boring. So the the basic idea is you would you would have a dream and you would try this and try this, but ultimately it wouldn't be that exciting because you can do anything, create anything. So ultimately you would get to a point where you would say, Okay, I would like to dream and not remember that it's a dream, but I would like to experience every conceivable thing that is possible to experience good and bad pluses and negatives, um and kind of wake up after 60, 70 years, god god willing, and um and be like, fuck, that was a trip, let's go again, you know? Yeah. So it's it's elements of that, but you know, it's uh yeah. I I've I've wandered into somewhere else, but that's that's kind of what it is, yeah.

SPEAKER_06 20:12

So when you when you met your wife and she was like, you know, because my wife is the farthest thing away from she's a nurse. And she met me and she's like, oh, she's like, ugh, an actor. I'm like, ugh, a nurse. I was also I was also approached, I was drunk for the night before. I was in Vegas. There's she was a hot girl in the hot tub, I was wearing a suit from the night before. I grabbed a beer, I hadn't slept, uh I grabbed two beers actually off the trait, and I got into the hot tub in my suit and sat down beside her and was like, You want a beer? And she's like, Why are you wearing a suit? I'm like, Well, are you wearing a bikini? And that was my entry. That was it, that was the only way I was getting it. So um um, because if I had been dry outside the tub and told her I was an actor, she would have walked away. But the fact that I was in the suit with my shoes on, she was in. How how did how did you meet your wife?

SPEAKER_01 21:03

We were set up on uh we were set up on a blind date, actually. We'd um we had mutual friends. I was working on a show and a friend of mine was was dating a girl who was very good friends with Katie, and um they said, You two will you two will get on. You like you're fucking she's she's mad too, they said. And I was like great. Um and we met, we met in a bar, and I was I was a bit I was late, which she made up for on the wedding day, but I was a little bit late, came in with jangling chaise in a nervous way, and she, you know, we we hit it off, we hit it off. From that night, it was like Fantastic. And it's time I'd had a blind date, so it does work.

SPEAKER_06 21:41

Yeah, yeah, it it it's crazy how it is, and then you you I always think back to that moment like you know, we've three kids now and and you know, just the the journey that we've been on and and how unexpected it that moment was, but I don't remember life any other way. Now, like without the kids, without you know, what I I appreciate more so now is from having kids, and you know, I got grew up, you know, incredibly close to my father. He passed away twelve years ago, and that was probably, you know, one of the darkest sort of journeys I've been on losing him. Um but I feel like having kids just gave me that purpose again, like that real drive and just like that wonder of it brought me back to like myself, you know, like mourning my father, but then seeing my kids and be like, huh, like I've gotta be present for them. You know, same way for the drinking and all that sort of things that would would would hold me back in the way that it it had before. I'm just have you binge drinking after my dad died and got to some really dark places. But my kids really they just I found this this joy and this this wonder like and as an actor too, just looking at your kids and be like, they just don't give a fuck. They'll do anything at any time, and fearless of anything, you know, especially my twins, they're out of control. They're they're little heathens, you know. So i do do you find that with your kids too when you stare at them, you're like, wow, this is just like to be a kid.

SPEAKER_01 23:21

Yeah, they're incredible. I mean, I think I mean you you you're created to actors. I think the best actors I've ever worked with are like children. You know, there's an there's a innocence there to them, they're still very, very childlike. And I think the more you can cling on to that childlike one, the the the far better creator you'll be. Um in terms of you know, if you give, you know, you tell you tell the kid that we're gonna play a game and you say you're gonna be, you know, you're gonna be this, they'll just go, okay, what's that? and you'll say it, look how great, and they'll just be, you know, you don't uh overthink it, they'll just be that character, you know. Um I I I mean for this industry becoming a father um was the most important step in my entire career. It just made everything. Um my career really kicked off round at the same time. Um I was in rehearsals for a play called Jerusalem, which was on in um at the Royal Court Theatre in London.

SPEAKER_06 24:16

It's an Irish play, Jerusalem, right?

SPEAKER_01 24:18

Uh no, it's actually um I mess away. I mess away. Risen by Jesuit. Yeah. And it was funny when we when we performed it, it's got it's got the highest uh cunt count in uh British theatre history. It does 100%. And we performed it eventually, we performed it on Broadway, and you'd get you know you'd get quite a lot of you know elderly Jewish ladies turning up knowing what the play was. Just Jerusalem, oh I'll go to that, that'll be great. And then we're stomping out there, you could just see them on the front row, like, okay, right. This is not this is not fiddler on the roof.

SPEAKER_05 24:58

No, this is not this is not this is this is some scouse fella throwing sea with you might get you might get fiddled on the roof, but that's about it.

SPEAKER_06 25:05

100% it's possible.

SPEAKER_01 25:08

So um, so yeah, so uh Gracie during rehearsals for that um was was conceived and and you know we found out uh Katie was pregnant and um and some my whole my career kind of doing this was kind of in time with Gracie kind of coming into our life as well. Um I've not really known uh anything. The whole American side of my of my journey um it's been as a father, which I'm so grateful for because I don't know what LA would have been to me if I'd gone to 22, 23. I think it might have been a different spot.

SPEAKER_06 25:40

You were 25, right, when you went out to LA?

SPEAKER_01 25:43

Uh well I got no first role. So when I was about 28. 28? 28 ish, yeah. And that and then so you did your and then yeah, then went back to went back to then booked a pilot, went back to the UK, but then booked a pilot, which didn't end up going.

SPEAKER_06 26:01

What what was your what was your first role? Like in American television?

SPEAKER_01 26:05

In American television, um well it was I booked, it was a pilot for ABC called Gotham. It's by Michael Green, directed by Francis Lawrence. It was yeah, the myself, Brian Cox, Lenny James, and an actress called Megan Kent. It was about this magical underworld in New York, it was so fucking cool, man. It was still one of the best shows I was ever part of, and it went through the and we first experienced a pilot season, so I didn't realise, you know, me being me, just like whatever. I'll make you know, was told to make a tape, made a tape, booked the lead in a pilot, first go. And I was like, oh, this is fucking easy. This is just just you know um, so anyway, so it goes, we make the pilot, and it doesn't end up going, but obviously ABC had seen something, they were quite happy, whatever, so they offered me um they offered me revenge and they offered me once upon a time in uh whatever it was once upon a time, I think it was called. And they said then it's like gotta be this or this. And um, and yeah, and so I I I went on Revenge. I I remember I hadn't seen the show.

SPEAKER_06 27:10

I loved Revenge, like that's I think where I first started watching your act, and I was like, and I had no idea you know where you were from, like your accent. It was like, you know, uh, and uh it was a that was a great show, man. A great show.

SPEAKER_01 27:24

Yeah, it was fun. It was it, you know, it was it was great people, and I'm still close to a lot of them now. And it was like that was my that was my first experience of Los Angeles as well. So it was like, and again, I didn't know, I just thought this was what it was like as well. So I go to LA, we move out, you know. I was there for I think I was there to do four Fs by the end of the fourth F they made me a regular. I was like, okay, this is fine. Yeah, but it's the way it's supposed to be. I'm renting a place in Santa Monica, and I'm driving to Marie uh to to um to the to the studios down in Manhattan Beach, and I'm thinking that's right, it's just it's so beautiful down there. Eastern thing, you know. Did that for two years. I thought, at least I could do this. Never work in LA. It's so hard. You're like accuracy, this is fucking easy.

SPEAKER_06 28:08

What are these pussies talking about?

SPEAKER_01 28:10

Well, I but then I never worked in LA again, or maybe I did one one other job, you know what I mean? But it was like that was it. I didn't realise that was my my LA gig, you know. So um, yeah, that was that was great fun. And um, yeah, like I say, still still close to a lot of the cast there, you know. It was it was really nice, really lovely bunch of people. Yeah, enjoyed it.

SPEAKER_06 28:31

And then uh then six was six shortly after that, right? We feel the clock ticking, don't we? It's almost summertime, which means pool parties, beach, all of the madness. But you've taken the foot off of gas a little bit because you haven't had to rip the shirt off in front of anybody. Right? You don't want to be the dad in the neighborhood that's goddamn no titties. No, no, no. You want to be jacked. So, what I would recommend is you go see my friends at PRX. Now, as a listener of the AJ Buckley show, get a little gift. If you go to aj.purex.co, you get 50% off your labs out of the gates. They'll dial you in. They know everything about hormone replacement, all the stuff just in time for summer for you to get absolutely shredded. Go to aj.purex.co, get your beach body on for daddy. If you get a truck or you do off-roading, do any sort of add-ons to some sort of pavement princess that you might have. I highly recommend going to Total Off-Road. I go to the one here in Charleston and I go see Dan and TJ and the rest of the crew there. They are the best people in the world to do anything, any modifications, any build on your four-wheeler that you have. We all work really hard for our money, and what we want at the end of the day is quality service. It's a huge honor to have them, one of the sponsors of the show. I'm forever grateful for all the work that they do. Go check out Total Off-Road. They are all across the country. Anything to do with off-roading, those are your guys.

SPEAKER_01 30:07

Yeah, there was a couple little things in between. I did I did Longmire, which was nice. Oh, Longmeyer, that's right.

SPEAKER_06 30:13

Yeah, with Chris Chulak.

SPEAKER_01 30:15

Yes, 100%.

SPEAKER_06 30:16

Chris Chulak and Jimmy. Yep. DP Jimmy, yeah, yeah, yeah. Like Jimmy, D. Because Jimmy and Jimmy. Dude, I mean, Jimmy Murrow is the fuck. He's the legend of legend.

SPEAKER_01 30:28

So fucking cool. He's just a fella. You know what I mean? But I mean that's what was that role was so important for me with doing six because I was walking on a set, I was in Santa Fe, come out as a Brit, going to a show set in Wyoming. All the castle out to ride the horses and fucking, you know, talk the talk, walk the walk. There was actual cowboys on set, yeah, you know, off fight coordinator was literally the Marlboro man. You know what I mean? Like that was his job in the past. And um, and so I had to like, you know, I had to learn quick, I had to, you know, vibe with that and and and learn the the the pace of that, you know, playing playing that kind of uh American guy. And um I I loved it. I loved it, I loved shooting at home science of fight, it was great. Um but then yeah, six, I mean, my god, talk about a life-changing experience.

SPEAKER_06 31:24

I remember because I was pinned for like we were like, you know, like you get down to the wire the thing, but for bear as well. Oh, yeah. Yeah, yeah, it was a it was a crazy, but and I I was always this, it's like I I'm a big believer in this. There's no in especially sitting on the other side of the camera now, it's like there's there's no such thing as competition in in actor. I feel like when there's a writer has written something and the person walks in the room, and before they say anything, that energy or whatever that the character that they've thought about and they felt is that person. And when I saw your performance on six, I was like, bro, that's him. That's the like the presence of yourself and just each how each person was cast in that show so perfectly. And what people don't understand, it's like it's not just you getting cast, it's you with these other people to create this sort of this magic. But it it really is. It's like it was really freeing as an actor to that when I started um producing and directing and stuff, but being on the other side and and having people come in and be like, it has nothing, it's just like that dude. When they walk in, you're like, please be able to talk. Please fucking you're the guy. You know, it's like just fucking say your lines.

SPEAKER_01 32:36

It's funny, it's funny because I remember in the audition saying something like that. I think Bruce McKenna and all that, they were all in the room and we were chatting and and I'd given some kind of, I was doing it, doing a big actor spiel at the end of the tape, and I was like, you know, and I really, really just want to, you know, I'm really excited to kind of you know get inside somebody else's skin. And and Bruce was like, really just really like you, you know, so really, just really want you to be in like your own skin.

SPEAKER_09 33:02

I was like, okay, all right, fine.

SPEAKER_06 33:05

Yeah. I mean, I mean, and that that show was like that was six was the I mean it was the inspiration for for our show. I mean, you and you guys did it at such a level with the Blackhawks and the and like set that tone out of the fucking gates. It was such a well done fucking and with Goggins as well, too. I mean, talk about a run of a career that he's on right now. But that if you think about it though, from the start when he did six and that performance he gave there to after that was like media work, like he was just like Yeah, we we caught we caught him on the upswing for for sure.

SPEAKER_01 33:39

Um, but you know what, that that I was I've spoken about this before in in numerous interviews, but like what they did with us um, you know, picked they picked me off from my house. It was in Santa Monica at the time, and jumped in the back of a van and picked up the other five guys, and you know, we know what it's like. You you would have had exactly the same thing on your set day one where everyone's trying to be fucking big, man. You know what I mean? No one wants to back I'm playing a fucking seal, you know. Oh yeah. I don't give them a no one wants to like show too much, yeah. And then they drove us, they drove us up to Encinitas and we wanted seal fair. And I thought, I thought act is boot camp, act as boot camp, like you know, yeah, some shops, bit of bit of a few beers and some guns, it'll be great. Yeah, here you go, hold it, hold my and we did go for a meal that first night, and and Mitch Mitch Hall, our um our seal seal team, the DevTrew guy came in.

SPEAKER_06 34:34

Great guy.

SPEAKER_01 34:35

Yeah, first night, and we were having a few things and he went I wouldn't have any more. And we were like, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_10 34:46

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 34:47

Yeah. He wasn't fucking jogging. And then and then we were basically in Hell Week for, you know, it was like it was a it was a it was a tough, tough thing. Like it was a truly, truly li crucible moment in my in my life, you know, and and uh Katie was was pregnant with Lennon at this point, and um it it was it was me looking at looking at myself as you know with my ego in front of me and uh all broke in in different different ways. Uh literally the first day that they're putting you in a push-up, sit-up, pull up competition with these other five guys, it's hard when you've just met a bunch of dudes. Oh I mean, yeah, and like if you're playing, if I'm if I'm the fucking team leader, if I'm the fuck, you know, like there's an expectancy, and I had I had you know the Broyles come up to me saying, you know, just make sure that you keep dragging these guys on, you know. Cut to me, like, fuck this, I'm not fucking you know, there was moments when I was just like, I don't fucking need to do this, you know. It was like I was one moment where they woke we got woke up at 4 a.m. and there was like a hose in my face, they were like, Who was the third? Who was the fourth president of the United States? I was like, I don't know, I'm fucking English, man. You know what I mean? I don't know the answer to your question, you know, and I'm just trying to hold it together. But um, but because we'd gone through this, you know, this trauma, literal trauma thing together, yeah. By the time we got on set, uh, we didn't have to do much. We just kind of look at each other and it was it was there, and we had each other's backs, and I'd seen them, I'd seen them break and cry, and they'd seen me go the same. So there was no there was no macho shit left, you know what I mean? It was like we broke and so we could just play these guys, and then by the time we got to just wear the cool fucking gear and run around, and you and I can't wait to get onto this with you properly, because like it's just a dream, isn't it?

SPEAKER_06 36:47

Really, just I would just I mean, I look back and just been like Yeah. Oh dude, just you get on your go to work in a Blackhawk or a little bird sitting on the step, fucking flying over trains and fucking shooting guns. I had to I'd uh the 249 and the 556, I was all I had all the big fucking. I was like, what the fuck? It's like dude, every there was never and I mean this as true as my kids take a breath right now. Every single day that I walked onto that set, I looked up to the sky and I was like, thank you, God. I was I just loved, it was just, it was awesome. And it was, it's like it was the friendships, it was just going with your hanging out with your like we were just having a fucking laugh. Like we'd be shooting very serious scenes, and we'd get it done, and then we'd be doing scenes where we're trying to like we're always fucking with each other, playing pranks nonstop. Like it was just fucking, and then when you let us loose, it was what like you did not want, like it, we would fucking go. It was like because the team guys were like, You want to, you need to come with us, you're gonna be out with us tonight. I'm like, okay. And then I'm like, You're fucked.

SPEAKER_01 38:06

Yeah. You can be having a serious conversation with them, and you can get the eyes, and you can see in their eyes, they literally have seen a world that you cannot comprehend.

SPEAKER_06 38:16

Yeah, but they're like strange, and it's there's a there's that look, and it's it really is. It's something, and it's uh it's a thing. And I have to I really mean it, man. You did the in one of the the it was uh um uh what was his character's name? Uh I did an arcos with him. Uh oh. Uh Buddha. Juan Pablo, I love Wampum. Dude, you and him had this fucking brilliant fucking scene where uh after he dies and he shaves his head and you guys are dude, and you had this fucking uh brilliant moment and you had that fucking stare. And all of a sudden I was like, dude, you guys, you guys what what I loved about your show that I thought our show missed, ours was very procedural and very clean until we got off the um, then we could go and sing. Then we could go sing. What I loved about your guys' show, especially with the Goggins character and all that stuff, it just had that grit and that you guys, that storytelling, and uh um uh the girl Olivia uh she was fucking brilliant, and the shit that you guys had together, that intensity too, like it was just like it was very it was so grounded and real, and it was the first time I think I before like the our show hadn't even been conceived yet, or that not that that I knew of, but it just had this rawness. It felt like you're watching a feature on television. And it really even like the marketing with you guys in the dark and like with like all those things, like the National Geographic, like kind of look, it was just fucking, it really set the tone, I think, for every show that's been made like that since.

SPEAKER_01 39:53

Yeah, I think and I think that's because they well, first of all, you know, both um David and and Bill Broyles had served. Um so it was really important to them to make sure that they were they were telling a story about the cost of it as much as the glory of it. Yeah. Um and then you know, they they allowed Mitch and and Steve and and Andy, you know a lot of voice, a lot of say. You know, and Mitch had Mitch had just come off Zero Dark 30, so you know, he had that stylistic and and Bruce, who was one of our lead producers, Bruce McKenna, was one of the writers of Banda Brothers and at the Pacific, and so I knew that like that I was never gonna question any of the writing, you know what I mean? It was all it was all there, yeah. We just we just had to turn up for them, but but yeah, I mean, you know, we had we had one like that begin the beginning of season three. We were flying around in a in a black hawk, hanging out the side of it in full gear. And it and then and I'm just like, this is just a dream, like, yeah, you know, and then it actually in one take, you know, it drops down and you've got to get out, and then you're running across the field, and then they explode a fucking car, and you're just like this unbelievable.

SPEAKER_06 41:09

Dude, I got told once by the fucking sound guy, they're like, AJ, you're like giggling the entire time you're running. I like, I am. They're like, yeah. I was like, I was just so happy.

SPEAKER_03 41:20

I was like, this is so cool. I'm like, holy shit.

SPEAKER_05 41:22

He's like, he's laughing his head off. That's who that was. Yeah, I was just like, I'm like running out of the thing.

SPEAKER_06 41:29

I'm like firing guns every time I fire, I'm like, whoo hoo! He's like, dude, you're laughing the entire time. I was like, I'm so sorry, but this is just so cool.

SPEAKER_01 41:38

Like, yeah, it's just so much fun. You know, and I think that's what you know, that's why they knowing knowing Mitch and the guys now, you know, that's why they that's why they dragged us through it because it was like they knew how much fucking fun we were gonna have, you know. Like it was it was gonna be there for us.

SPEAKER_06 41:54

You guys hiked a mountain though too, didn't they put you through a camp where you like hiking?

SPEAKER_01 41:58

Yeah, for the for the trainer for season two, yeah. They they just said we were going for a walk. And again, they we were in Vancouver that second season.

SPEAKER_06 42:06

So I I that mountain, so I've attempted to go where you guys went. That that is a no-joke. And you guys like spent the night up there, or like what what what happened on that?

SPEAKER_01 42:15

Yeah, yeah, we spent we spent the night up there, and we had Steve was one of our guys as well, team's guy, and he's fucking one of the funniest guys ever. Incredible sniper. Um, and he was like, Yeah, so we get up here, and the important things is when you get in the bag, you know, you want to lose as much because of the s basically your sweat um kind of freezes. So you want to use as much of the top layer as possible because you know it's a button. So we all get out the next day and we're freeze and putting our clothes back on. He's fully clothed, and he's like, Oh, can't believe you guys fucking fell for that grave. Sat there with his coffee at about 19 layers on, you know what I mean?

SPEAKER_06 42:58

Yeah. Did somebody like for I remember we've seen an Instagram video where like someone forgot a towel or forgot something, and you guys had to go and like get in the water or yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 43:07

We went in in the in the glacial water, yeah. And they were all convinced it was me that had that had gone for a shit and left the paper, but it I guarantee you know it was definitely not me, you know what I mean? Because it was like there was it was there was bears out there as well, which was so one well then we we camped the next day at the this base camp place, and it was it was on a farm, so the guy had let us like stay in this it's like it was a it was the the uh just this shell of a building, so it was old stone or whatever. And so we stayed in there and we'd been good while we'd been hiking for a few days. This was like a celebration, so they'd gone out and they got us some steaks and we had some beers and you know other things. And I'm thinking, well, we've been like taking all our shit away from the bears and all our food for days. Like, why have we now got a freezer full of steak next to where we're sleeping last leading bag? And I'm asleep in the morning and I've got the bag and I hear on my Head and I'm like, oh my god, I'm gonna die. You know what I mean? And this is going like this, trying to come out the and I come out and hit the farmer's dog there. I never gone so bad. I was so scary, man. But it was it was all right in the end. Because the second one, because we'd earned it, you know, they they just you know, we got to sit with them and and and light a fire and and kind of they just talked as talked to us like like like team members, you know what I mean, properly in the second season and like really kind of opened up to us. Um yeah, that was still that was that was such a gift because you know how often do you get to spend the amount of time that that we were afforded, you know, with these guys, you know.

SPEAKER_06 44:43

It's it's it costs you a lot of money. Yeah, it's it's it's one you know it's one of the things in my career that like I've it'll be a tough, it tough journey to to you you're always it's every journey is its own new one, but that was just such like oh like just you know, just the access and just the the the things that we did and it was just you know I mean my my daughter, like I would FaceTime them like you know, if we were overseas or whatever, I'd FaceTime them. And so they like this is when they were babies, so they just uh thought, you know, I this is what I did. My wife called me and she was like, So Willow today at school, I got a call from the teacher, and um she said she wanted to talk to me when um she came to pick up Willow, and uh she looked very concerned. She's like, So we were asking the kids what their parents did, and um came to Willow, and Willow said, My dad kills terrorists and keeps America safe. Yes, she's like with and she's like, no, he kills terrorists and keeps America safe. So and then the then when I would come back, I had a because you know, kind of like you just we didn't shave like fucking the beard. So this lady, this lady's like, although I've seen that dude before. He's uh he's look like the weird pervert to get to the cards, like he's like the creepy man. Yeah, so it's just so crazy how the kids interpret like what it is that you know we do um as as actors, and you're like, oh, that's what you're on TV. Oh, because it it's such a you know what they see and what they they do. Is that a transition too for your kids?

SPEAKER_01 46:31

Like especially when you're doing it for a big chunk of time. I mean, yeah, they they came out uh you know, when Lennon was born, they were out during season two and they were there and we had a black hawk one day and they were kind of sat in there and you know and at the time, you know, they they're just yeah, they're just part, that's just what you do, you know. They're they're they're used to it now. I see my daughter's 16, so she I've done some theatre the last couple of years that she's actually come to watch, which has been nice and kind of being being a part of that, which has been lovely, yeah. Um tough. I think it was tough for her to watch. One player is it's this guy, he's basically having a nervous breakdown every night. So I don't know what that is to kind of see your parents in that state. You know what I mean? Even though she's she's very interested in the performing arts and um gets what it is.

SPEAKER_06 47:17

She's got the bug now too.

SPEAKER_01 47:19

Yeah. Yeah. I mean, you kind of if you've seen, you know. Yeah, you've seen that it's a viable career choice, you know, that that you can make a living from it. That and then you you meet a bunch of people, your that's friends that are cool, charismatic, funny kind of people. It's like, well, why, why wouldn't you? Kind of, you know. Does it give me an option?

SPEAKER_06 47:40

Does it give you the nerves up here to be like, oh, it's such a because we know what it's like, you know, this the you know, and it's one thing for men, right? It's a different journey for women because it can be so subjectified, you know, and and um and for men, there's a there's this other part of our career that that we're sort of stepping into now. Like I feel for the first time in my life, I'm just just starting to understand who I am as a man. I'm just kind of like, oh, I'm kind of, oh, this is how do I I have 24 hours in this day, if I'm lucky, if I make it to see the next sunrise. Who I'm gonna spend time with, how I spend that time with, and and how I operate, and it's through a window of when my kids are at school. It's like that's when I get to get with if I'm so lucky that I can can stick to that, or if I've got to go do something for work, it's gotta move the needle and really if I am gonna miss a football match or something or a recital with my daughter, I've got to be able to look her in the eye and be like, it was worth it, right? Because it's gonna help you down the road. But if it doesn't hit those boxes, I'm out. I'm I'm I'm out and I'm okay, and that's my piece. And it was only because I'm just figuring out who I am, which is cool in the sense that I can be on this discovery with my kids at the same time, being like, I'm just figuring out me, guys. Like, I'm you guys are they're like, I'm you know, things just happen at school with your kids, and this and I'm like, like, dad, I'm like, I'm like, I'm almost 50, and I'm just figuring myself out. It's okay. So you do have those conversations now with your daughter. She's six. I mean, that's my daughter's 12, and I'm having crazy conversations. I can't even imagine what it's like at 16.

SPEAKER_01 49:18

Yeah, I think it's exciting. Uh and so then that's that you you're you're meeting a new person all the time. And what is your call? You are. Yeah. What is required of you as as a as a father is different at at each junction, you know, and and you're relearning, you you think you think you've cracked it, right? Because you're like, okay, that's that's required this, and there's a bedtime at this time, and you do the story, and you know, then that none of that's required anymore, becomes something else. And then you learn that bit, then they change again, and you're like, okay, what do you need, family? Now, you know, and then I imagine after a certain point it just becomes about staying relevant in the life, you know, and being and just being that kind of um uh example. And I think I think that's it. And you know, with with Gracie, I was you know, I was away a lot with work, I have been. Um I've been at home more so with Lennon um just because of where our lives and our careers uh have been, and and you know gratefully I've I've been able to take more periods of uh been able to say no to more things just yeah because of uh fortunate you know experiences. But um, yeah, I I love it. I love you know I love allowing myself to get it wrong as well because you know it's true. It's okay. How do you supposed to figure out parentshood? You know what I mean? It's kind of impossible.

SPEAKER_06 50:41

I I I've said this a bunch, it's like that you know, to I to myself, it's like when I realize that every other dude is just winging it too and just trying to figure it out, and we don't have the answers, and be a little more forgiving of myself because I beat myself up thinking because everybody from afar looks like they just got their shit together, like they're fucked they're crushing it. But when I really I'm like, oh, you're fucking scared too. I'm I'm freaking out. I don't know what to say, I don't know what to do. But you know, it it's uh I'm I'm hoping that I'm pointing the ship in the right direction. I'm hoping this decision is is is gonna work out right, but I'm fucking winging it, bro.

unknown 51:21

I don't know.

SPEAKER_01 51:21

I don't want to but that just that just takes us back to where we where we started the conversation earlier. You know, it's the the only thing you haven't got access to is the voices in the other people's heads that look calm. Yeah. Do you know what I mean? Yeah, just you just it's like a duck, you just can't see the fucking legs, you know what I mean?

SPEAKER_06 51:38

Yeah, yeah. My uh my mom is uh she's um she did a lot of uh therapy with people, and um, we had a group home growing up and and she would just say uh um uh the difference between someone that they would call crazy and you, son, is you have the ability to stop that other train of thought to come out. Some people just don't have that filter. So you're exactly the same as them, they just have to say it. So that it's it's just you just have a little goalie that goes, that person does it, but you're thinking the exact same fucking thoughts. And I was like, oh okay. Yeah. Yeah, and it's like that you just have this thin little thing that you're able to control, and they don't. You're exactly the same, it's the same makeup, and that's the unfortunate part of that, or not, or it's a beautiful thing that they have that they can speak so freely. Um, I was like, okay. It's it's it's uh it's it's it's it's a journey we go on, but there was there was one thing I want to talk about because I love this, and I'm sure everybody talks to you about this the Call of Duty.

SPEAKER_01 52:45

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_06 52:46

How did that happen? I mean, that is, I mean, you you stepped into some iconic shoes, you know, of that. Can you walk me through the audition and then realizing, did you know who'd played the role before and and and and all that that journey? How did that take place? Because when I saw you were in it, I was like, this is fucking perfect.

SPEAKER_01 53:06

Oh my. Well, thank you. But it was it well, it came from uh Mitch again, Mitch Hall, who'd been our advisor on six, um was brought in by Infinity Ward who were going to be making um warfare. So um and they were obviously asking, you know, do you know any any guys, but you know, British guys obviously were looking for this time um and so I went I went in for the meeting and it's very hush hush, so I was just told that it was um it was Infinity Ward, it was a triple A game uh and it was a it was captain, so but it wasn't Captain Price, and there was no real you couldn't really tell. There was like a big basically a huge monologue, it was like a two-page monologue, basically that was it. So there was no other character, there's nothing. And then you kind of like you walk into this space, it's in it's in um it's in Woodland Hills, and it's like a very unassuming kind of small studio space, you wouldn't know anything was going on there. And you walk in, and it's a huge studio floor with 200 cameras or whatever all around. And they were like, Okay, take the space and um give us give us what you got, you know. And I remember thinking at the time, I mean I I'd done a lot of theatre, so I was I was I was quite relaxed. I was like, okay, I'll use the space or whatever. But I think and I've spoken to them since, you know, a lot of actors go in there and shit their pants because basically you're expecting this, right? You're expecting the camera, you've thought about, you know, you know how to use that lens, you know, you know, we all get to a certain stage, you know, to play the game. And this was like, use it. I want to see the whole fucking space, you know. And then it was like, okay, take this weapon, clear that room, you know, blah blah blah, you know, all that stuff. And fortunately, you know, I'd I'd had the training, so I'd I was like, okay, whatever, I'll do it. And then it must I felt like it was going quite well. And I think there's footage of this as well. So then I'm doing the audition, and Taylor, who was our director at the time, he comes over and he said, I want you to send, he gets a piece of paper, and he's like, if you just say, if you just do this down the in the and it was like, you know, under the command of fucking Captain Joan Price, or whatever. And I was like, I went, so that's a fucking nick and drop. There you go. So then I said that's I was like, oh, right, Captain Price up close. So I did the meeting, felt it went well, you know. Um, and then I went for dinner with my family afterwards, and I got a text from a text from Mitch saying uh Captain Price question mark, and I was like, Oh, I don't know, mate. So it was a few hours, you know, you know how it goes back and forth, whatever, and then the offer come in.

SPEAKER_04 55:41

And it's just what is it about those calls that you get? It's too, I just got the rush right there.

SPEAKER_02 55:47

It's so exciting. You're like, what the fuck?

SPEAKER_04 55:50

It's like that.

SPEAKER_06 55:51

It never gets if it's if it's more than one member of your team.

SPEAKER_05 55:55

Oh, you know it's so good.

SPEAKER_06 55:57

Hey, we're we're waiting, we just we gotta patch another person in. It's like, hey, how's the weather? How you and then it's five people I think about fortune. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 56:05

They get straight to it, they're just telling you that you know something else has come up. But um but when you wait for come in from New York, you know, you don't like that you never heard of before, and they're we gonna patch this person and this person.

SPEAKER_05 56:17

Who the fuck is me?

SPEAKER_01 56:18

You sure you get the right he's definitely getting a cut. You're like, oh um, so then yeah, so then we we got going on that, and you know, it it's such it's such a fun space to work. And I I I say often it feels like what I imagine the movie industry must have been like in the 20s and 30s. It's yeah, it's kind of kind of run by people who love video games, who play video games, who are passionate about it, you know, even though obviously I'm not naive to think the money people haven't moved in and like Activision isn't a fucking huge conglomerate who's then bought by fucking Microsoft. Like I you know, I get the game. But on my day to day, when I go in there, the people who work for that studio just love what they're doing. And like, you know, last time when we when we when we finished, was it two or three? We got taken over to the um to activism offices where you know all the animators and everybody's there, it's like three floors, and people kind of walked us around the desks to meet everybody, and you know, it's such an incredible thing because it's a collaborative performance, so you know, acting is is quite a solid side of the thing. You know, we we've just celebrated getting to do it at a show like like six or or seal team where yeah, it's literally a bunch of guys all the time together, tight knit, and that's that's what the base of the show is, it's important, but often more often than not, it's you doing your bit alongside other players and bringing your bit. But this is like I do my bit, but you know, animators moving moving that performance, voice, you know, uh the writers, the producers, the the lighting, the the landscape like it's it's all taking that performance and putting it inside that computer blows me away. And they're incredibly playful and really, really open.

SPEAKER_06 58:02

And they've allowed me to kind of find this guy and is it is it in a sense like doing a like it's it's more of a the theatrical performance, like the theater, like you're on stage in a sense. It's it's this it's just I've never I've never done it before. Is it you've all the the cameras and stuff on your face and all that?

SPEAKER_01 58:20

Yeah, you wear you wear the it's like a the full black suit with the dots on. Um and now it's got to the point it's easier when when we first started, you they had to dot your face so all the different dots are, and then the helmet with the camera that comes and sticks out here. Now you don't need the dots, which is nice. Um do you go to the lamp chops? No, you can't you have to be clean shaved. That's why that's why at the moment, you know, well, when I'm when I'm filming, it's um I'm usually clean shaven at certain points throughout the year because bastards, you know. You look, this is one of the things um you don't look cool doing it. It takes away every bit I spoke about about SEAL team or six, like just putting the gear on. You're a fucking shape. No, so it's like dead easy, right? You I used to put my gear on for Joe, I'd be like, fucking fucking all my catches.

SPEAKER_06 59:11

You feel the character happen, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 59:12

Walking on a moon, smoke a cigarette in the morning and vibrant like this. And then but on this, you are wearing a black leotard with loads of dots on it, a helmet with a camera here blocking you, and that's it with no set, you know, very minimal set. So you'll have like the you know, the DOP will come in, he'll basically show you the the camera so you'll be able to see the world through the screen. You can see what's there, but like oh so you can see what the DP's looking through is is has what the the the uh that alternate universe on the not not fully rendered to what it will be, but you can see where there's a vehicle here, there's you know 200 people coming out of this embassy. Yeah. So it's it's you know, it's like it's like black box acting, really. So you can, you know, if you're n if you if you haven't got the chops, you you can you can get caught with your pants down because there's not there's nothing to hold on to. The only thing you've got to hold on to is the other actors' eyes, really, because that's all we're employed to do. They can animate the shit out of it, you're there to bring the soul. So you've got to lock in on the person you're talking to and fucking hold it, you know, and that's what that's when it counts.

SPEAKER_06 1:00:30

Um and that's you know, that's John to cut you off there, but that's where I feel where we're gonna be okay with like AI and all the stuff, but there's there's a soul in performances that come through when it's when it's AI, you can tell there's nothing there. It's just it's empty. That that performance of the thing, I think no matter what, that's where we're gold. Yes, AI's here. There's nothing we can do about it. It's just part of what the thing is. But the with the what you just said there, I'm like, that's that's the thing I was trying to. It's like it you're missing the soul. Like it's and that, and you when you guys play like there's so much of that in there. That's why the fucking game is so good.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:11

You and I do a scene, you know, it's my subtext that makes the dialogue interesting. It's how you fucking take that information through your synapses, like how you want to react to it. Because there's a million ways your synapses can do this. Um and I just, you know, I think I think AI will be able to make a physically sound film that's bland as people will watch while I fucking text someone, you know what I mean? Yeah, but but I I think true art has to and will win out.

SPEAKER_06 1:01:44

Um because there'll be a moment where it'll be like it'll fart and then it'll be like, oh, that stinks. But there'll be relief and then yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:52

You know, much much like much like the organic melon or the organic app, you know, you can go and you can pay for that, or you can have a shitty one that comes in a packet that's got a two-year shelf life, and you think, ugh, I don't know, what's what's good for me? And I think I'd always, if you can afford it, uh on the side of the nice apple, you know. Go to the farmer's market, man. You can get bags of it for fucking cheap, bro. It'll be there, and I think people seek it out, and I think the same will happen with Spotify, you know. I think there's there's fucking artists on there now that are clearly made by AI and whatever, you know. Yeah, you know, but I think people will seek out, um, and I say this to young actors all the time, it's like learn fucking theatre because that is where people will flock to in their hordes to see live human, can't be fake, can't be ripped off human performance talents.

SPEAKER_06 1:02:49

I could not agree more, and I think you're one of the first people that that has sort of said what was in my head. I feel like there is this yearning for people right now. They want human interaction, that analog, that they just want to be these events and and you know, just to to to feel this again, to have that we're because we're so inundated with all this other stuff that at first it was like, oh, it's but we just see the damage that it's doing to our kids and all the the the the the social um quirks that we're getting from it, where people don't pick up the phone, they just want to text, you know, they just they don't want to have a hard conversation, they just they they it everything is you know safe, you know. Um but being able to go to a theater, you know, uh and and see that, I dude, I could not agree. I was just thinking about that at the other day. I'm like, there's gonna be this renaissance, there's gonna be this resurgence of performance, and it's the way that we have to survive against what it is. And I don't believe it's this big battle. I just think it's AI will be an interpretation of something, and us as humans will be our interpretation that will always be there for what we are.

SPEAKER_01 1:04:01

Yeah, you have to look, you know, you have to you also have to find a way to work with it. You know, there was a generation of actors, generation of of of uh silent movie actors who were incredible, who when the microphone became part of the deal um had a terrible voice, you know what I mean? Oh yeah, I heard about that.

SPEAKER_06 1:04:19

Like that guy's not gonna work.

SPEAKER_01 1:04:23

So you have to find a way to be able to do both and and and move forward, and the industry keeps moving. Um but you know, I think it'll it'll bring back a rebellion, you know. I'm a punk, right? So I I'm into fucking going against the system in whatever way you can and kind of uh it'll you know, like the 1970s American film, you know, kind of that movement of the the films that came out of that time, which was rebelling against the way the country was at that time, you know, great art came out of literal fucking rage.

SPEAKER_06 1:04:57

Did you ever read uh Raging Bull Easy Rider?

SPEAKER_01 1:05:00

No, right.

SPEAKER_06 1:05:03

I'm gonna send it to you. I will. I'm gonna I'm gonna send it to you. It's be a uh uh I'd I love getting this book for people. It's one of my favorite books of all. It is a trip, dude. It like talks about like you know, how they made, you know, like with it with Easy Riser, they just there was no agents, there was no nut. They were like, hey, you want to make a movie? Like, yeah, like roll camera, get on bikes, you know, half of them like they were taking acid while they're making the movies and just but they were just making it was just this renaissance of filmmaking, you know. And uh um, you know, uh uh uh Robert Town and Shampoo and all these, dude. It just you're like, wow, it's the most magical book. You know, cocaine was a line item. I mean, it's insanity. It just but you're like, you know, Jack Nicholson during the shining, the stories behind that, you're just like, what is happening?

SPEAKER_05 1:05:58

That's great.

SPEAKER_06 1:05:59

Oh, it's a It's a it's a great put it by the toilet, bro. It is the best. It's the best toilet. Oh, this is great. It's good. You might get hemorrhoids at the end because you'll be sitting on the toilet for a while. So maybe, you know, in our older age, we gotta be careful of that stuff, you know.

SPEAKER_01 1:06:12

100%. But you gotta you gotta take your wins where you can get them. But um, yeah, I and I do I do think I think society will do that. I think it would be a case of um, you know, going against the the the bigger studio system. I think people want to, you know, make good art. I think that'll just push through, you know, and it'll make actors dangerous again. I mean, I think you know, if you go back to actors were regarded as very dangerous within society in terms of what they were capable of doing, you know, capturing people's attention, telling a story, aging people, bringing people in, and and people have just always wanted to be pulled around the campfire and be told a tale, you know?

SPEAKER_06 1:06:48

And so that's where the story started around the campfire.

SPEAKER_01 1:06:51

That's where it always if AI does whatever it does, that's fine. Yeah, exactly. That that primal need of storytelling around the campfire cannot be done by something else.

SPEAKER_06 1:07:03

As they said on the teams, adapt and overcome, and and you get through it. You know, you figure out what it comes, and then you you can't. There's only so much you can people are throwing up in arms like, listen, you can control what you can you can control. I I know Matt Biz would always say he in uh um um No Easy Day was like the his three foot rule, only worry about the three foot feet in front of you, and that's that's what you can control right now, focus on that, and that's it. And that's you know, AI, yeah. Is it could it do some great stuff? Great, could it do some of course can we as humans do great stuff? Can we do better? Yeah, but we've got to find what we can control. Otherwise, there's again, I always go back to the 24 hours in the day. It's like, what what do I have enough time to deal with right now? And it's not worrying about that shit. I can't. You know, it's like it's gonna whatever way it's gonna work out, it's gonna work out. And I I I I know in my heart it's going to work out. It'll work out. It's played itself out like everything else does. Speaking of AI and all the other big shows, another massive, you know, the the Game of Thrones franchise, the House of Dragons, dude. I mean, you're going from one epic to another epic. I mean, bro, this is next level. What was that? What's that experience like?

SPEAKER_01 1:08:16

I mean, you know, it was it was it was incredible. I mean, the scale, kind of the size of it. I mean, I'd been on just the year, I think the year before that done Sam Man for Netflix, and that was that was a that was pretty good. Did you work with Boyd? No, we went in the same season. We were in the same season, but um, yeah, different different. He's a good buddy. I love Boyd. Great, he's fantastic, really like he's brilliant in that show as well. Um, and uh so so that that was a big set, you know. You kind of walk on there, you're like, Oh, okay, you know, you you've had that before, you know. You walk in, you go, okay. This is the big you know, yeah. So it was one of them, but um, but House the Dragon was like, okay. First of all, you can't you can't get your hand on a script, you know, it's like 18 codes to get sides, and then at the end of the day they come back and they they knock on your trailer and like we have the sides and they lock it back in a box and they take it off. No shit.

SPEAKER_04 1:09:10

Are you serious?

SPEAKER_01 1:09:11

Yeah, yeah, yeah. You can't take them anywhere, like that goes with you. Um you can't have principal script sides. I mean, I'm pretty sure Matt Smith got them, but uh most people um yeah didn't get um obviously it's you know, can't talk about it because they yeah, you get in trouble, but but I had a great time working on it. You know, the scale of the sets. Um and I I was a I was a big fan of Game of Thrones, so yeah, it was kind of when the opportunity was coming up, I was like, Yeah, this would be this would be wonderful, you know. I'd love to be a part of this world. And yeah, it's it's just it's just what you'd imagine it to be, you know, for anyone who would like to do it. I can I can assure you that it is as much fun as you'd think it would be. And um yeah, it's it's great, and it's such a great bunch of people, and they know exactly what to do. A lot of the a lot of the crew worked Game of Thrones, so it's like a like a fun.

SPEAKER_06 1:10:04

So w one of my mentors and the actually the the guy that um moved me down to Los Angeles, called my parents, it was David Nutter who directed a lot of he did like the Red Wedding and all the other ones. So David Nutter cast me in a movie and then had called my parents and said, Hey, he come down to Los Angeles when I was 17 and I stayed I lived with his house and um he got me my agent and stuff like that. So and then just seeing the journey that he went on when he would go do Game of Thrones and even just like the how long how many days it would take to shoot an episode. I was like, How many days? He's like, Oh yeah, the the dragons even like like like there's like fucking epic things. There people are in different countries, like second unit here and this one. Like the scope is just insanity. Now, were you where did you film your one?

SPEAKER_01 1:10:47

Were you in Croatia or Ireland or we filmed it uh 90% in uh the Warner Brothers studio lot in um Leavesden? So it's just out about 35 minutes outside of uh London. Yeah, and there's some some in some filming in Wales, uh like exterior stuff, but um pretty much everything was on the studio, so it it you know that it's it's all there, the world is just is just there. Um yeah, it's it's unreal. But but like time like that is true, you know. You kind of you'd get there and and you talk through the scene and and you know, we might spend we might spend an hour kind of talking about the scene and the beats and and then trying things out and and just the pace, making sure I think you know, with something like that, when they know, when when they're certain that there's gonna be a lot of eyes on it. It's not like a new show coming out that maybe people will watch. It's like you know they they afford you the time to make sure that that the the scene is gonna be the best it can possibly be.

SPEAKER_06 1:11:58

When you walk onto a set and you see when you walk into set and you see 16 techno cranes just sitting there, just like you're like, all right, that's like 10 grand a week per crane, just sitting there. We might get used. It might not, we don't know. We're gonna bring it in. You're like, holy geez. This is a whole whole nother level of of uh of things. I I always ask this to the guests that come on the show, i is is in your journey acting, you know, dad, being a father, whatever, who's your n who's been your North Star?

SPEAKER_10 1:12:38

It's really important for people throw out.

SPEAKER_01 1:12:41

I mean, my father has been key in terms of my work ethic and my understanding of how to conduct yourself in terms of professionalism, you know. Um I've always prided myself on that and I've got that from him, you know, when he's working tons and tons and tons of different jobs, job to job to job, he's never stopped. He just's a fucking beast, you know. Yeah. Just gone from this job to this job to this job.

SPEAKER_06 1:13:10

They don't they don't make men like that anymore.

SPEAKER_01 1:13:12

Nah, no, and and and and it's always about like you know, be a good person to work with, and and and I've always tried to do that because you know, you know this, at a certain level, you know, everyone's fucking talented. It it stops being about that. You know what I mean? You've got to have chops to to get to a certain level. But people don't have to work with you.

SPEAKER_08 1:13:31

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:13:32

You know what I mean? It's like they just don't. There's so many. So like it was always, you know, get be on time, no, no, no, your shit, don't let anyone down. Always wonder as I commit. And um yeah, and uh and and my wife is a true inspiration to me. Um she saved my life on more than one occasion. I I wouldn't I wouldn't have the stability or I wouldn't be where I am as a man without uh without a shadow.

SPEAKER_06 1:14:00

Amen to that. Is there uh is there a quote? One of your what's your one of your favorite quotes?

SPEAKER_01 1:14:10

You know, I will I've got so many favourite quotes, but because of our shared experience within those teams, one that's always stuck with me, and I and it it can be something huge or it can be something very small when I'm getting my son to like tie his laces properly. It's it's the slow is smooth and smooth is fast. 100% alone. And I use that in data that I use it on set now so much. If I'm rushing through a fucking scene, it just runs through my head, slow the fucking pace.

SPEAKER_06 1:14:44

Isn't it true though? Slow down, allow it to breathe, you know? Yeah, yeah. It's a crazy thing. I think I realized when when I saw when I like because I always just had this idea of the team guys, and then it just applies in life as well of like, oh, they're in a gunfight and they're freaking out, they're like they're fucking locked in, they're just having a conversation and they're getting the job done.

SPEAKER_01 1:15:10

That's a long that's a long form warrior bloodline that has stood while forced towards their ancestors with swords. Like there's been like that on the planet for an awfully long time, and that they're real. And that's true.

SPEAKER_06 1:15:27

And I and I really believe that I believe you are born with warrior blood. That is it's not you're like, you know what, I'm gonna go sign up and go like I'm sorry, I'm just I know I'm not one I would shit myself. I would literally defate in my pants and run the other direction. Uh and it just that just you know, I've been in fights and but that is a war fucking different story. No, those guys who are like they're elite, right?

SPEAKER_01 1:15:52

Well, they're you know, I equated it to to to you know, NFL players, you know, they just they get pissed if they if they they hit a pass and you're not on the end of it, they're just so angry that you didn't see the pass. They can't fathom that you didn't see the pass. Like, how the fuck are you not on the end of this? You idiot. Yeah, it's like unforgiving brilliance. And it's you know, there we are.

SPEAKER_06 1:16:17

Yeah, it's uh it's a it's a special thing, and I and it really is, man. I mean, dude, I I I I'm I've been such a fan of yours from afar. Um, I really hope we get to to play in the sandbox together at some point on something. I I really really do. Whether it's on stage or you know, something, uh I I just I love what you're doing, man. Uh I I love your work. I think you're just such a rare talent. Um uh it's just such an honor to get to to chat with you. And you have with that meditation, dude, from afar, uh it was something that I don't think you intentionally knew what you're doing, but it hit me at a very odd place in my life, and I was like, maybe I should try that. And inadvertently it it helped me on my way. And I always I never wanted to like say it through it's I always wanted when I like when I when I get a chance to say thank you, so I appreciate you being open and honest about your own struggles or own mental health, because I've gone through it, I'm sure you've gone through it, and you know, there's a lot of men out there that struggle with it daily. And we come from, you know, a generation, you know, what we learned from our dad is like just hold it in, hold it in, hold it in. Don't cry, men don't cry. And I think being vocal about that, um, but you've been very vocal. It it just, you know, if you're a man out there struggling, it's good to have a buddy to go and talk to. And and I think what you've represented in the sealed community, what you continue to represent as an actor, as a man, as a father, it's fair play to you, man. You're you're a stud.

SPEAKER_01 1:17:48

Okay, mate. It takes one to know one, and you know, you're doing exactly the same for so many people out there with opening up this conversation. Every time, you know, guys with a with a platform to do so uh get this out in the world, um, it really does make a difference. And the more of us that can speak about it and remove the stigma, the stupid fucking stigma that's there, then the better will all be.

SPEAKER_06 1:18:12

You know, even your boy Patty Pimbleton, he did he's uh he's did done great one of the best at doing it. His his after uh his speeches after every match got me choked up one at times when he was friended. It's just the pain that he felt on that, he was like, he just wishes like you know, if you're going to just talk to somebody. Yeah, and and be good to yourself.

SPEAKER_01 1:18:35

We have to practice what we preach because even guys like you and I who are vocally like this, what can still happen when two guys meet, even if you've got it on your chest and you know to do this, you'll still beat around the bush and we still miss each other. Yeah so we really have even when we're aware of it, we still gotta do it. We'd still not rat we'd still mostly not rather say, How are you, brother? genuinely. We can get away with it. And we've all so we've all got to check on ourselves as well as everybody else. Um so I don't want to preach because it it is yeah, it is difficult.

SPEAKER_06 1:19:07

But um, I will say just we're working progress, is what we are.

SPEAKER_01 1:19:11

100%. That coming to you from me doing the meditation, um, that was just a universal God um uh putting your eyes to it. Um we're all just conscious of each other. So um much appreciated.

SPEAKER_06 1:19:23

Yeah, much love, Barry. Uh uh continued success. I hope our paths cross uh in the near future, and uh all the best to you, man. I I I can't wait to see what's next for you, bud. You know, this is what I love about podcasting. You can prep all these notes and do your research and and and think you know somebody from afar and be a fan of their work, and then you get on camera with them or you sit down to have a conversation and it just goes off another direction, like you've been old buddies for a long time. Um, I really enjoyed that one. And uh I love when conversation just goes where it may. You know, it's like anything. You can't, it's like trying to hold time, you can't do it. You just gotta go with it. Be like water, be like water. So um I appreciate Barry coming on the phone. Coming on the phone, coming on the podcast. Um, and uh can't wait to see him House of Dragons and Captain Price. I mean, this guy is just crushing it on levels. And the meditation thing, um, it's something I work on. I'm still stuck at it, but it it does when you can get the little glimpse of it, a little lightning in the bottle. Highly recommend it. And if you're out there and you're struggling and you're having a bad day, um we all go through bad days, man. We do. But when you see that sunrise, just know right there and then you got another day, figure it out. God's got a plan for you. Um, and there's places you can go to get help. There's crisis centers, talk to a mate. If you know there's somebody out there, if you're you're another another man, you know, brother to brother, you know, as Barry said on there, it's like it's our duty to check in on our friends, especially the guys that are coming home, our first responders, our special operators, anybody that has served, um, just check in on people. It's nice to have somebody around me go, how you doing, bud? You doing okay? So, wherever you are out in the world, if you're hearing this voice, I hope you're doing okay. God bless you. I love you. Thanks for watching the show. Till next time.