Anthony Michael Hall: Believe it for Yourself
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Welcome to my little party, Mr. Hall. Thank you, Mr. Lowe. Good to see you, man. That's a kid who's been acting since he was eight years old right there. Welcome to my little party, Mr. Hall.

Hello everybody and welcome to literally glad you're joining me today. We have Anthony Michael Hall, the Mount Rushmore of three named actors. Pretty in Pink, 16 Candles, and one of the greatest performances I think ever, Breakfast Club. And you know, then on to things like The Dead Zone and

currently in the new halloween the guy is kicking ass and the youngest member of the brat pack era actors i'm dying to know what his um take on it was considering the guy was like i think like 13 when he did his first john hughes movies i wonder if he partied like i did we're gonna find out we're gonna find out all of that so let's get right to it anthony michael hall

Good to see you. I was thinking back to the very first time we ever met. I came and visited the set of... Fuck, which Hughes movie was it where you had the braces? I think I had them on a couple of them. Was it 16 Candles? Maybe Breakfast Club, maybe. It was 16 Candles, because Joan Cusack is in that with you as well. I had just worked with John on Class. Right. I don't know why I came out that...

but I can't, I just remember vividly meeting you and I, I was, I was a fan of yours already cause you'd been so funny and, and, and movies and,

Meeting Joan and thinking how talented she was. And I just remember sitting out on a lawn somewhere at lunch with you guys. And it feels like a bazillion years ago. That's a long time ago, man. Yeah, great memories. Wow. Awesome, man. In a minute. Chicago, all those John Hughes movies and some of the movies I did, we should have had second homes in Chicago. Don't you think? Exactly. No, I spent a lot of time there. I remember all those towns. Northfield, Evanston, Skokie. Yeah. Yeah.

Well, as you recall, that was where he was from, so he was very comfortable doing it. Evanston, I remember, is being particularly beautiful, right? No, it was really nice, yeah. And that's where also Redford had shot Ordinary People. Great movie. Love that one. The first movie that started the trend, I remember, was I remember Sean saying, Penn going, yeah, I'm going to Chicago to shoot this movie, Bad Boys. Yeah.

Well, congrats on the Halloween movie. Thank you, man. Yeah, super pumped about it. I mean, we shot it two years ago, and great experience, Rob, working with David Gordon Green and Danny McBride. Huge Danny McBride fan. I love him. Oh, yeah, for sure. They were awesome. You know, they have a group of guys that comprise their crew, Rob, and that have been with them for 15 years on all these shows that they did for HBO. So they have a really tight-knit group. We shot it in Wilmington, North Carolina, which was a great place. And the movie's been in the can for two years, so it was just so cool.

And so exciting to be a part of such a big franchise and the fact that, that, you know, really met its target. You know, the audience is loving it. Yeah. I think it's at like 118 million bucks after 20 days. It's a great feeling. Great to be a part of. Yeah. No kidding. I mean, the Halloween movies are a huge part of my, of that period of my life. I mean, I remember where I was when I saw the original. I mean, it was one of the first movies I had on like beta max. Remember beta max, right?

That was 10 minutes after the eight track cassette, I think. Yeah. Well, I think I might've had the soundtrack on eight track set. Um, so Jamie Lee Curtis had the original Halloween slate. She used to, she collects the slates apparently. Um,

Did she talk to you about that? No. Did she tell you that? I didn't know that. No. She collects the slates of all of her movies that she's ever been in. And the one of all of mine was always so envious of was the original Halloween slate. And I love hearing this, the stories of how that, that, um,

franchise was, I mean, they made that for nothing. The first one, just nothing. Yeah. And I think they shot in Pasadena, believe it or not too, right? They shot here in town. And off Hollywood Boulevard, I just passed it coming to the studio off Hollywood Boulevard, a street called orange Grove. Yeah. And a lot of the trick or treating the exteriors, I think of the Strode house or action orange Grove. Got it. And then Pasadena as well.

Donald Pleasence. Are you down with Donald Pleasence? How great was he in those movies? Great actor, man. I mean, because I've watched a lot of the old versions. He was fantastic. You know, he really was. He was great. He just had such a presence and that great voice. Yeah, he was fun. He also had one of the great ad campaigns for, I think, Halloween 3, where they clearly just paid him to be there for like one day. I just remember the ad campaign was him going, it happened once, it happened twice. Yeah.

Let him out again, it'll happen thrice. Nice. Nice impression there, Mr. Lowe. No, he's classic. He's great. And Jamie Lee was awesome. When we shot, just the way it worked out scheduling-wise, because you know how it is, we never shoot things in order, but we were about two weeks into the production, and we were shooting stuff at the hospital that we doubled, the Haddonfield Hospital for in Wilmington. And all of a sudden, I see these two bloody hands on my face, and I look through my fingers, and it was Jamie Lee.

She was just awesome. You've met her many times. Yeah. Great lady. Yeah. Super chill, really down to earth and really cares about people. She's really got a great spirit. Really nice lady. You know? How is the shape? Is he a good person? Is he as frightening as he appears on screen? You know, it's interesting. We kind of gave each other space because you know that thing where it's like, you just have to make, you have to believe it for yourself, whatever the context is. Right? So when you're doing a comedy, it's much more loose and you're hanging out with something like this. You know, you really wanted to kind of psych yourself up or at least I did.

So I kind of gave him space. I gave the shape space. And the actor is James Jude Courtney. He's a great guy. We've become friendly after making the film. But we also have that great guy, Christopher Nelson, who does all the effects. And so there was like a whole camp around him. You know, you had a whole team of people. And he was great. And, you know, it's really interesting how he kind of

Puts on the mask and it all just kind of comes alive. But I know that was really cool for everybody. We all looked over, we'd see him there. It was like kind of trippy. The thing I always loved about it. And, you know, a lot of it is established, you know, from the original Halloween is how slowly the shape moves. Like everybody could shape barely walks. Right.

He needs Advil. Yeah. He's a stiff, very, very stiff person. Yeah. Like there's that great scene where he rises up like behind the couch and it's super slow-mo, but why is that so scary to me?

It's so scary. It's really interesting. It's that element of suspense, right? So it's almost like with a horror film, it's the moments you're waiting for, right? It's the buildup. It's also that great Carpenter soundtrack. It's all those elements. Really cool. That soundtrack is absolutely amazing. That and the thing. Yeah. And I think he collaborated with his stepson and another gentleman, and the three of them did the new one as well. And it's incredible. I mean, they released a whole album and

Really cool. It really works. And it's kind of been modified too. So it kind of has the same exact melody and the whole thing, but people love that, man. It's incredible. I also loved the dead zone. Thanks, man. Yeah. Loved it because again, it comes from one of my favorite movies. I'm always walking around going, the ice is going to break. Or the other one we always, you know, I grew up with the sheens, right? And yeah. And whenever Martin would start acting like a pill, Emilio under his breath would turn to me and go,

The missiles are flying. Hallelujah. The missiles are flying. Because, you know, his dad plays the insane candidate who launches a nuclear war. That's right. In the original film. Yeah. In the original film. But the fact that what you guys did with it as a series was so cool, I thought. Thanks, man. No, we had a good run. We shot that in Vancouver from 2001 to 2008.

And then the last season was cool. We went to Montreal. I love Canada. I'm sure you've shot up there a lot. So Vancouver was great. It's actually where I met my wife. And then the last season we went to Montreal, which was also a great city. But we did 80 episodes of it. It was amazing. I never thought I'd have a TV show. 80 episodes is a lot of episodes, particularly today. Yeah. In today's world, it's a lot. It is.

So that was a great blessing. It was really fun, man. I mean, it's a great, great show. You know, it really developed me too as an actor, I felt because I struggled through my twenties, you know, cause I made an impression. Obviously when we all started out in the eighties, we had projects and things going on. And, and because of Johnny really put me on the map, but you know, there was a lot of touch and go and,

kind of down periods in my 20s. So by the time I got that in my 30s, it really meant a lot to me. And I also felt very, you know, really challenged by the work. It was cool. Some episodes I'd play five or six parts. You know, it was just crazy. A lot of fun. Yeah, you got to really...

strut your stuff and that and that's it's super cool um going to the very very beginning vacation we all know the chevy stories i've had chevy on the show and i've known chevy for flipping ever chevy crashed my saturday night live hosting literally crashed it do you really like in the middle of the show live like just walked in wow what year was this rob this was when um

I'm going to say that, and this one would have been, I feel like this was like 96, 97 ish. Tell me the story. I don't want to hear this. This is great. What happened? So it's the goodbyes.

Right? Yeah. And he's been, he's, and Chevy's been around all week, sort of just showing up and like, it's, I'm thrilled. Chevy Chase. And I've not, I've known him a little bit, but I don't really know him that well. And I, that's, I mean, he's the, the godfather. There was no one funnier than Chevy. Handsome, funny, just all of it. And now here he is on Saturday Night Live. I happened to be hosting that week and I don't know what, but anyway, he was there and he hadn't been around a bunch and I could see,

The cast, the young cast going from, oh my God, that's Chevy Chase. Holy shit. To, wow, Chevy Chase is here again. That's so cool. To, is he here again? To finally, when he walks up on stage during the goodbyes. Wow. They were furious. Wow. So this reminds me, this is like, he was the original Kanye. You were Taylor Swift in that moment, right? He kind of just rushed the stage and-

That's also true. I also, but I think this, I don't know if it was the same Saturday Night Live or I must have a thing where I attract insanity. I also had Brendan Fraser do the same thing once. Wow. Where I was saying goodbye and he was yelling the name of his movie that was coming out that weekend over my phone.

Goodbye speech. Bedazzled! Bedazzled! Bedazzled! I'm like trying to say thanks to the cast and thanks to Lauren and thanks for what bedazzled! Listen, 12-step meetings are good for some people, right? We don't have to name names.

So you and Downey, people forget you and Downey were on SNL for a brief and shining moment. It was a beat. Yeah. 85, 86 season. Well, you know what it was? As you know, the trajectory normally for people is they're coming out of Second City or Citizens Upright, Brigade, all that, right? Or having a background in stand-up. I was asked by Lauren. I was 17. I'd just come off doing the three films with John.

on the heels of Vacation, which he also wrote, by the way. So the first four screenplays in my career were John, even though I didn't meet him on Vacation. So I remember just getting the call and being freaked out. I was such a huge fan, like you recounted. I mean, those guys meant everything to us growing up. I love Chevy, Bill Murray. It was like a treat to stay up and watch SNL, man. I was a kid in the 70s. It was just incredible. So basically, I got the call from Lorne.

And Downey and I had just finished Weird Science and I brought him to Lauren's attention. So I remember I kind of helped set up the meeting and

and got Downey his audition. And it was in Midtown Manhattan at the, uh, at the, uh, Bernie Brillstein's office. So it went from there, you know, so we got cast in the show. I mean, I was cast first and then I kind of brought down. Do you remember, wait, do you remember the audition yours or Downey's? I was just cast. It was really fortunate. You're already in. Yeah, I was in. Well, Lauren asked me to be a part of the show. And then what happens, I introduced Downey to Lauren. Um, what was Downey's audition? Do you remember? I can't remember because we were, again, we weren't standup comics. So I think he just did some characters. I don't know. He was great with voices and,

Like you with impressions and stuff. So I don't recall, but it was a lot of people and it was a very, um, you know, charged environment. Everybody's super pumped to get upon this, you know, to get on the show and a lot of people auditioning. And so, yeah, I remember that. Yeah. I remember Phil Hartman being there too, because he was friends with Lovitz and he was coming around even before he joined the show. So did you guys do any writing?

We did because after you get on that show, you quickly learn how competitive the environment is. It's like a lot of writers, they all want to be comics. The comics are trying to figure out who to write with and Lauren, you start pairing off with people. It's an amazing experience. As you know, you come in on a Monday, you start writing with a bunch of people. Two days of that happens and then we start turning in the sketches on Wednesday. There's a read through and then from there, Lauren starts picking the show.

But incredible. You know, I mean, the truth is one of the worst seasons ever, the season that we were on. And it was, and I think in fairness, Lorne had created the show. He left it after 1980, after the first five years. A woman named Jean Dumanian produced it after that. That was the Eddie Murphy years, Piscopo, Billy Crystal,

Chris guest, all those guys. So it was kind of like Lawrence first year back in 1985. So now it was, this was the first year of the, of the run that continues to this day. Exactly. Exactly. So season 11, now all the way up to season 46, wherever we're at now, it's amazing. I mean, it's amazing what he's done really is it's become an institution in our country. Obviously. Yeah. I'm so jealous that you got to do that. I mean, that would be the dream. It really would. I mean, it would be,

It's just the greatest rush ever hosting that show. And look, there are some years, as you allude to, that are better than others. But look, pound for pound, 47 years of, you know, and I don't think it is what it used to be, but nothing is what it used to be. I also think that people have this impression that it's very improvised, just the opposite, as we talked about. You know, it's very scripted for three days, and then you go into like four days of rehearsal.

People don't realize you come in at like 10 a.m. Do you remember when you're hosting? And you're like hosting 11, 12 hours a day for three days. And then we do the show live twice. We do it with a guest audience and they shuffle them out and they bring in the other audience. Amazing, amazing experience. And even when in the context of like, even if you didn't have a great sketch, you still had that rush of being with the cast, whatever cool band was on that week, the audience, everything was like, it's kind of like a fusion of rock and roll and theater and stand up, everything. And you were 17? Yeah.

Just a pup, man. Yeah, just a kid. Oh, my God.

♪♪♪

When Stanley Kubrick was making Full Metal Jacket, I remember this like it was yesterday. Wow. That was the movie. I mean, I don't need to tell you, and I've been dying to get you to tell me the insight on this. Sure. So it's Full Metal Jacket. It's Stanley Kubrick. He makes a movie once every 20 years, whatever. Yeah. And every actor on planet Earth wanted to be in this movie, but Stanley's a recluse. He doesn't see people and blah, blah, blah. It was insane. And-

All of a sudden, the next thing I know is Anthony Michael Hall's doing it. I was like, wow. Wow. What is the story with that? Well, what happened was I was doing weird science at the time and I got a call from Marty Bauer, who's a great guy. Of course. Yeah, you remember Marty. And he told me that there was interest for me to play a member of the platoon in this upcoming Vietnam epic that Stanley Kubrick was going to do. And I was just blown away.

I got a call the next day saying he wanted me for the lead. And then he'd be calling me on Saturday morning. So yeah, we were shooting universal and the lot there. And so it was a trip. So I'm up, it was like a 9am call. I'm up at 70. I'm like pacing. I'm like, you know, I'm like, it's like the voice of Oz, right? I'm waiting for, for Oz to speak. So I get the call, the phone rings and he just paid me an incredible compliment. Rob was amazing. So the first thing he goes, Michael Stanley Kubrick. And I'm like, Oh,

I had butterflies just hearing the story. Yeah, no, it's amazing. So he goes, I just screened 16 candles three times. And, um, you know, he said, I love your work. And I, he said, I, I think you're my favorite actor since I saw Jack and easy writer. And I was just like, yeah, I was blown away. I mean, I was just a pup, man. I was just a little kid. So that was awesome. It was really incredible. And then he went on to just talk about a lot of interesting things like Eisenstein, the great Russian director and chaplain and filmmakers that influenced him and, you

you know we talked for a while it was really interesting and then what happened was it became a very unfortunately very long drawn out negotiation it was like seven eight months believe it or not and at one point rob he had his lawyer contact my stepfather who was my manager at the time with a question and the question was has tom my stepfather has he read the book nuclear negotiations because the the negotiation process had been so drawn out

And everything was like chest to Kubrick, right? So unfortunately, it was not just about the money, but it kind of would have represented. He was very controlling, as we all know, and very detail-oriented, to say the least. And as you joked about, he did make a movie once every five, seven years. So it was just incredible. And ultimately, it didn't work out. And if I have anything close to a regret in my life, if anything, it would be that, artistically, that I didn't have a chance to work with him. And it just didn't work out, unfortunately. But yeah.

I did speak to him twice, and it was an incredible, incredible gift, even just being able to communicate with him. And I love that film. And as you know, Platoon came out at that time that Charlie was in, and it was a great film as well. But to this day, I love Full Metal Jacket. I mean, I just feel that way about any Kubrick films. Anytime you see them on TV, it's just worth another look. But it's also that moment in time where you're really in demand.

And there's a lot going on. And it's a year of your life over in England. It's already been a year of your life negotiating it. And it's when you're like, ah, ah. Yeah. Right? Well, you nailed it. That's exactly it. And I think at the time, because my parents were very, you know, I was raised in New York City and I had great parents. They were protective. And I think that that was a concern for them that, you know, could I deal with that emotionally? Because it was going to be quite an experience, even though I was a kid, you know, I was becoming a young man. I was only 17 at the time.

But yeah, nonetheless, incredible. But you're right. You just honed in on all the details. It was going to be a year of my life. And it's so funny. The sort of epilogue to this is after the fact, I run into Modine in New York. Who did get the part. He did get the part, right. And he played the Joker. And I said, man, how long did you wind up shooting the film for? He goes, 54 weeks. 54 weeks. That's right. Of shooting. A year and two weeks later.

And by the way, then you work in a Thanksgiving break and a Christmas break, and it's a lot longer than that. That's just shooting. Somebody else told me a story recently, too. I think it was, one actor was hired on Full Metal Jacket. He wound up, oh, it was actually Harvey Keitel, and I think he walked off. I think he wound up not finishing the film, and he was replaced with Sidney Pollack, the late, great Sidney Pollack. That's right. And even Sidney Pollack, when Sidney replaced Harvey, they said it's a month. Right. And Sidney's like, huh.

Can it be three weeks? And Kubrick said, it's a month, Sidney. Came over. He was there for six months. So Kubrick liked to play with timetables, clearly. Yeah. I had a little bit of my version of that where Roman Polanski was making a movie called Pirates with Jack Nicholson. And the same thing, the negotiation, it was easily nine months. Wow. Easily. And again, I was like, so I ended up not doing it.

Neither did Jack at the end of the day. You know, those great directors, they don't come around all the time. Yeah. Or those experiences. No, you're right. It's so funny. We share that in common. You made The Outsiders. I remember auditioning for that as a kid. Yeah. Oh, you would have been great in that.

How did I not? I must have seen you somewhere at those auditions because everybody was there for them at the same time. We watched each other audition. Right. Well, at the time, I was still a kid living in New York, so you probably auditioned out here, but that was a thrill. Oh, you were in the New York crew. Yeah, yeah. And then I wound up working with Coppola on SNL because Coppola was friends with Lorne. He actually kind of co-directed an episode of the season.

uh, on that 85 season. So I wound up meeting Coppola, but that might've been one of the reasons why it wasn't a great season. The hilarious Francis Ford Coppola. Yeah. Comic genius was directing SNL. Love that. I know it was funny cause he was kind of making fun of himself too. I mean, it was, he was great. He was actually really cool that,

But I think at the time, I was just too young because like see Thomas Howell, those guys were – they were all teenagers. I was just a little kid. I was probably 10 or 11, so I was too young. But just even all these experiences are incredible because I think that auditions teaches you just to take a better meeting, right? You really do learn in that process of – you learn to learn your lines and hit the mark and take a good meeting. So even in these –

where it didn't work out for us. It was always a great experience, you know, and he helped inform us, I think. My son is an actor, my oldest son, and it's a different world. They don't audition like we used to. It's by Zoom and it's, you know, you go on tape and you self-tape. The thing I learned, too, that over the years, I often felt like a lot of the casting directors are great. They would be sometimes better directors than we got to work with, you know? So I've always...

I enjoyed that. I think a lot of times in the room, the casting director is going to be really helpful and great. But you're right. In the old days, they didn't do that. You're right. I remember there was no video. And the executives would have to kind of shuffle the executives into the room. So they'd go through a series of auditions and callbacks and pairing people off and

And you'd come into a room and there'd be, you know, three people there at your next audition. There might be six people in the room or whatever, you know? For Outsiders, it was me and a casting director. Yeah. Then it's me and a casting director again. Then it's me and the casting director and Fred Roos, the producer. Right. And then it's me. And then it's the cattle call with everybody else. And then it just incrementally, like you say, more people show up in the room. Well, how was that experience for you, man? Working with Coppola on the outsides? That must've been great. It was great. I mean, I,

I was like, that's why I relate when you say you were 17. How much did you know at 17? I didn't know anything. I thought everything was like this. Yeah, I didn't know anything. I'm sure you thought like every movie was going to be vacation or 16 candles. That's the way the world goes. And that's definitely what I felt like on The Outsiders. I mean, we shot that movie totally in sequence, first of all, which is so bizarre. We'd be in the Curtis house shooting.

And if the next scene in the movie was across town, that's where we went. And then we would come back to the Curtis. It was nuts. You could never do that today. It's too expensive. What state were you in Rob? Did you shoot that in Oklahoma? Oklahoma. Yeah. Right. In Tulsa, you know, and Francis had doing us are like, you know, playing football, tackle football on the street to toughen us up and making us show up an hour before call to do Tai Chi, um,

You know, we had a wrap party every single Friday with flown in food from Italy and wine and Francis cooking. Wow. It was something else. It was great. That's cool. Yeah. Great group of guys on that too, man. Everybody went on to stay very busy. Tell me about this, the movie that you, the indie movie that you have, The Class. Yeah.

Are you done with it? Is it in the can? It is. It's in the can. We shot it this past summer in Chicago. This came to me from a writer-director named Nicky Solozzi. He's a guy who is from Chicago. He's produced some stuff in the past and directed some films. He wrote a really great script, and I was really taken by it. It's not a remake, but it's sort of a modified, sort of updated version of The Breakfast Club for a New Generation. It's six kids instead of five kids.

It kind of takes the framework, Rob, in terms of the three acts and certain things. And then it goes from there. So what they did is we cast Debbie Gibson, who did a great job, really nice lady. Oh, cool. And she plays the kind of the drama teacher. And I'm the assistant principal.

I was one of the producers on it. Great young cast of actors. We had Lyric Ross, a young actress who's on This Is Us, that show. Hannah Keppel from Cobra Kai. A young guy named Charlie Gillespie who has a hit show on Netflix called Julie and the Phantoms. And a couple other kids that were really fantastic. But what Nick did with the script, which I found really compelling, Rob, was that the stakes are even higher. So I think that when young audiences see this film,

You know, we're already getting offers from streamers and there's a lot of interest already, but the stakes are really higher for all the kids. So it's very contemporary. The conflict is great. The comedy is great. And I mean, he really did a great job and it's very much inspired by the breakfast club, but it's a sort of updated new version. That's so cool. By the way, I don't think there's ever been a better debut than Judd as Bender. Judd was great. Yeah. I mean, it's unbelievable. You guys are all great, but

but that's like Vince Vaughn and swingers. Yeah, no, Judd killed it. He was great. It's so funny because back to the audition phase, we were at Universal Studios,

in Midtown Manhattan. And I remember other guys coming in. We're friends of mine, Billy Marty, who was in the Lost Boys at the time. Oh my God, yes. Remember Billy? Yeah. Yes. Judd walked in, Rob, it was so funny. Dude, literally wearing the jacket, the gloves, bouncing the ball, the overcoat. We were all buying those coats at the old vintage stores at the time, right? Judd walked in like literally, man, to the tee, bouncing the ball, the handkerchief wrapped around the ankle, the boots. The unlaced boots. Dude, yeah, unlaced boots, wearing the Dickies pants, you know.

So he was kind of method. I remember he kind of came in with a, you know, with that kind of chip on his shoulder and he was great. And I remember John Hughes and I, cause John was so cool that after 16 candles and, uh,

You know, we just, we were so close. We really were really great friends. And there was no age gap in my mind, even though I was a kid when I think back. I'm 15. He was 35. It was like we were both kids. So anyway, he would include me in the audition process. And Judd walked in. He was just, he nailed it, man. He was awesome. He was really funny. And I think, too, a couple people had to jog my memory. But when we started shooting, he kept it kind of method. And he kind of, I think he started to piss Molly off. Or maybe it was Allie, too. So, yeah.

He had a talking to, I think, but then he settled down. He went all in, man. He was really like kind of method about it and very funny. You know, he's a great guy, Judd, as you know, he's fun. He's one of the, he's one of the funniest, smartest guys. I remember actually, you know, it's so funny, but we got into production that they sent us to a high school too. I think they thought that would be kind of fun. So we wound up being dropped off at a local huge high school somewhere in suburban Chicago to kind of get the feel of that. So I remember that happening too. Yeah.

It's funny. What was cool, too, is that one thing I liked that he did, Robin, I don't know how this was for you with other directors, but he would carve out time for that rehearsal period. So we'd have like a week and we just kind of sit on our asses and talk about the role and share lunch together. And it was great. We'd read the script and discuss it. And then it was cool, too, because he was getting ideas about how to block the scene. And so we kind of rehearsed on that set. It was a high school that had been abandoned.

And then they built that library set inside that abandoned school. I think it was Glenbrook North. That's the other thing that, you know, as the world changes and everything becomes about money is you don't get rehearsals anymore. Nobody's paying for two weeks of actors to sit around and talk about a screenplay. It's just not going to happen today. So true. In any context, right? Especially when you're doing a TV show, you're just going right to set. Yeah, exactly. Like it's a foregone conclusion. Yeah.

Now, remember, you know, all of the great directors used to, you'd show up, even if you'd done the two-week rehearsal. And we shot The Outsiders on video twice. Wow. Before we ever shot anything. Is that right? Wow. Yeah, on green screen. Wow. And still, you'd show up on the set finally shooting. And, you know, a genius like Francis will be like, all right. And you rehearsed and you were allowed to do what you wanted to do.

And then he would figure out, and he would say, I don't like it, or I do like it, or I want to put the camera here. But today...

And even the great directors, you show up and they go, okay, so you're sitting here. And then I thought you would sort of maybe enter from over here. And I remember the first time I had a director tell us what to do. Yeah. Before we'd ever done anything on a set, I could not believe my ears. I remember who it was and where it was. Now everything is like that. No one ever says to an actor today, okay, so why don't you guys do the scene? And then they-

No, you just don't have that latitude anymore. It's gone. It's so true. You just go right into a blocking, right? Yeah, you're right. You're right. It's a different time. Yeah. It's not that it's better or worse, but it is really, really different. It is. Because you would welcome that, you know? Because it's also that thing too for us when we were young actors, looking up to those people. We want to get a sense of

how they worked. And that was fortunate. Like you said, the time you had with Coppola or how John Hughes worked, he was great. You know, the, the rise of the storyboard killed the rehearsal. That's interesting. I mean, everybody grew up, you know, aping Spielberg and Lucas and Zemeckis and storyboards. And you can't make an Indiana Jones without storyboards, but you could sure the fuck make an ordinary people without one.

but I don't think they are today. You're bringing up interesting points. They're like transitions in our industry, just in terms of the logistics and how things are done. Yeah. And TV is just a foregone conclusion. There's just no time. There's no time. Yeah. You just come in. It's like blocking rehearsal. We're shooting it. And like you say, you're being placed like a prop. Like, okay, you're going to come over here. Yeah. Yeah.

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I remember working with a director who was a DP, director of photography, and he shot the abyss. So he shot water. Yeah. He shot backdraft. So he shot fire. Yeah. So he's like, I mean, he's like, uh, I'm not worthy. I'm not worth like the king of the game. And he was directing me and he wanted me to walk over and go to a window and, and, and stare at the window and open the blinds. And I knew he's a DP. He's doing that because he wants that shot. And it's going to look fantastic.

bad ass. But he was like, well, I thought when you, maybe you get angry and then you just need a moment to clear your mind. So maybe you sort of get up and clear yourself and you kind of come over the window to gather you. I'm like, bro, just, you just want me to walk to the window, right? Because it's going to look good, right? Well, yeah. Okay, cool. Just say that. It's cool. Right. Right. You want to get the cool shades on, you know, the,

The shadow of the level or blinds on your face or whatever. Yeah. I'm all about it. I'm just, I don't need, I don't need the handholding, but that stuff never went on when we were kids. Right. Nobody did that.

Kubrick wasn't doing it, I can tell you that. But it's interesting too, because even though we've had great opportunities to work with great filmmakers, also I've learned a lot from great TV directors too. There are a lot of great TV directors. You learn how they attack the coverage or shooting multi-cameras. It's just interesting. It's been an interesting process, the learning over the years. Absolutely, man. I think to the extent that the culture of storytelling that at least made me want to get into movies...

i.e. acting and probably you, now it has pretty much migrated to TV. I came across the other day when I'm bored in my trailer, I watch American movie classics and American Gigolo was on. Right. I hadn't seen that movie in a gazillion years, but I remember-

When it came out, it was the first time as a teenager, it was like, oh, I should really dress up. If I dress up, my life is going to – because, I mean, it is insane. The get-ups he's wearing in that movie. It was cool, right? That was a cool – I remember that movie, too, as a kid. I loved it. Richard Gere was awesome in that. And a very well-directed, very slick movie, right? It's very cool. It's Paul Schrader. Yeah, Paul Schrader. And I remember like, oh, man, yeah, I need to wear hard-soled shoes. Yeah.

Anyway, so, but there's a scene in American Gigolo where he's just driving down Hollywood Boulevard and he passes a marquee, flashes in the background and on the marquee is Norma Rae and coming home.

that tells you everything you need to know now if you're filming down hollywood boulevard and you pass a marquee it ain't norma ray and coming home on the billboard that time of the late 70s yeah that's interesting no that was a cool film i remember that as a kid i love watching that movie yeah very stylish movie yeah i like that oh the the giorgio marauder yeah marauder soundtrack yeah oh we're doing a deep 80s dive here kids

Yeah, of the good stuff. People forget all of the good. There's the 80s stuff that everybody remembers, but like Dead Zone. That's a deep cut that people forget about. What's your favorite movie of all time? That's too hard. Top three. Well, you know what? One of the first that came to mind, and it was because I had met Martin when we were doing The Breakfast Club, and I remember getting stories from a meal with Apocalypse.

I remember hearing those stories about his dad and what he went through. Yeah, I mean, that holds up. That's one of them. It's my third. It's Godfather 1, 2, and then – well, no, it's Goodfellas, The Godfathers, and Apocalypse. All Italian. Well, see, I was just going to say, my favorite filmmaker growing up was always Scorsese. I loved him, and my father and I would always watch Scorsese stuff together. I loved Raging Bull. That's one of my favorites. Anything by Scorsese. The early stuff is great. Yeah, it's hard to pick a top three, but I would think – yeah, Raging Bull, Apocalypse, those are some of my favorites.

just such a great filmmaker. I mean, Coppola was too. Incredible stuff that they did. Did, um, did Emilio try to get you to make, try to get you to work out every five seconds on breakfast? No, no. I think he was hanging with Judd. They were going out for beers and stuff. I had homework to do. I was still a kid. So I was going back. When I'd wrap, I literally would go back to the hotel. My aunt was my guardian at the time. She was traveling with me and I'd be doing homework. It was pretty pathetic. Yeah.

You remember studio school? Three hours a day. Oh, yeah. That was ridiculous, right? And they had this insane rule where it was like 20-minute intervals. Like, that's going to do anything. So, in other words, they wouldn't break you unless you could go in for at least 20 minutes at a time. So, it was all a joke. It was kind of ridiculous. Whenever I work with little kids now and they're like, all right, that's a break. And back to school. And they'd go to some horrible bunker on the edge of the soundstage. And you'd try to...

ignore the fact that they're walking away from what they really want to do and all these adults having fun and working so hard and they've got to read the periodic table of contents or something. God bless them. How did they do it? Yeah. At the time, Molly and I had this really cool lady named Irene Brafstein. She was no longer with us. She was a sweetheart. She was, she made it fun, but it was kind of ridiculous. Right. And I went to one of those liberal arts high schools in New York too, where it was like a correspondence method. They were, you know,

So you'd have your work cut out for you. So if you had to leave school, you kind of knew what you had to deliver. But on set, yeah, it's always kind of a joke. You have a three-hour minimum rule, which was, yeah, as a kid, it was kind of weird. It's the equivalent of being a little kid who's been allowed to stay up with the adults at a party. And you can't believe you're still allowed and you're hoping that they don't notice. And then finally somebody goes, hey, it's time for you to go to bed. That feeling right there, that's what it's like.

Good call. Yeah. Totally. Well, this is so fun. I'm so, I'm again, I'm psyched for you on Halloween. Thanks man. We got to figure out something to do together someday. I'd really love that. I would too, Rob. I would too. It's great to spend some time with you and to catch up on your show. Congrats on your continued success, man. You're always working. Thank you. You know, they haven't found me out yet. Yeah. Success is a job, right? That's right. You got to keep hustling.

What a great thoughtful guy, huh? That was so fun. I had a great talk with him. Thank you, Anthony, for coming on the show. What? 3,000 messages. We got to get to it. All right, I'm going to listen to some of these lowdown lines. Hello, you've reached literally in our lowdown line where you can get the lowdown on all things about me, Rob Lowe. 323-570-4551. So have at it. Here's the beep.

So, Rob, my favorite, favorite movie that you've ever been in, probably one of my favorite movies, definitely one of my favorite books, is The Hotel New Hampshire. And I'm so curious. I listened to this podcast. I read your books.

You never mention it. Why? Why? Why do you not mention it? It's the most brilliant thing. And you were so good in it and so beautiful in it. That's what I want to know. This is Julie. Thanks, Rob. Well, Julie, it's so funny you say that. I literally just assume nobody saw it because it came out the same weekend as Splash and nobody saw it.

Um, but what's interesting about that movie and thank you. Cause I love it and I'm really proud of it. And, and I, and I really liked the work I was doing. I was really young and, and there were, everybody had such high hopes for that movie.

Um, it was, as you allude to a great book, a John Irving book. Um, it was my first really important movie. Um, you know, it's like a prestige project. Every wanted, everybody wanted to be in it. Everybody wanted that part. Um, Tony Richardson had won an Academy Award, um, who directed it. And, you know, it was a big step from doing sort of teen comedies and stuff, which I had been doing. Um, and, and then, um, you know,

People didn't see it. But I love that you love it. And the other thing to think about when you think about that movie is that movie was a big summer studio release. I mean, if you really want to know how much the movie business has changed, look no further than that. The Hotel New Hampshire was an Orion summer movie. Okay? It's basically about a brother and sister who are in love with each other and end up sleeping with each other

who live in a crazy hotel with a girl who wears a bear suit. I'm not making it up. Summer blockbuster. Thank you for the call. Thank you all for listening. Hey, don't forget to subscribe if you haven't already to literally. Also, by the way, don't forget Parks and Rec Collection. For you Parks and Rec fans, brand new podcast. We take apart every Parks and Rec episode, episode by episode with Alan Yang, who is one of the great writers in the show.

So join me for both podcasts. Download them both. I'll see you next week. You've been listening to Literally with Rob Lowe, produced and engineered by me, Rob Schulte. Our coordinating producer is Lisa Berm. The podcast is executive produced by Rob Lowe for Low Profile, Jeff Ross, Adam Sanks, and Joanna Solitaroff at Team Coco, and Colin Anderson at Stitcher.

Our talent bookers are Gina Batista, Paula Davis, and Britt Kahn. And the music is by Devin Tory Bryant. Make sure to leave us a rating and review on Apple Podcasts. And we'll see you next week on Literally with Rob Lowe. This has been a Team Coco production in association with Stitcher.

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