In this episode of Streamed and Screened, we dive deep into the latest entertainment offerings, from new movies and TV series.

A trio of musicals are dropping, including "Schmigadoon!" on Apple TV+, "Up Here" on Hulua and "Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies" on Paramount+.

New movies like "Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves" and "The Super Mario Bros. Movie" are in theaters and no gaming knowledge is required.

We also chat about the return of HBO's hit show "Succession," which is back for its forth and final season, discuss the early success of "The Night Agent" on Netflix and talk with actor Jesse Metcalfe about his role in the film "On a Wing and a Prayer," which will get a limited theatrical release and is streaming now on Amazon's Prime Video platform, just in time for Easter.

Where to Watch

About the show

Streamed & Screened is a podcast about movies and TV hosted by Bruce Miller, a longtime entertainment reporter who is now the editor of the Sioux City Journal in Iowa and Terry Lipshetz, a senior producer for Lee Enterprises based in Madison, Wisconsin.

Episode transcript

Note: The following transcript was created by Podium.page and may contain misspellings and other inaccuracies as it was generated automatically:

Transcript generated by Podium.page
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0:00:03
Welcome everyone to another episode of streamed and screened and entertainment podcast about movies and TV from Lee Enterprises. Rises. I'm Terry Lipshetz, a senior producer at Lee and cohost of the program with Bruce Miller, editor of the Sioux City Journal and a longtime entertainment reporter. Bruce, Spring is here. Weather is getting better, but it it seems like we might be heading back to the movie soon. A lot of good stuff coming out. You know, we're in that period now. Where you're gonna see new stuff that maybe won't be Oscar bait, and it isn't quite holiday fair, you know, like, or it's lie is big time, Memorial Day is a big time, Labor Day is a big time. They all have tentpole, which are kind of considered the big money grabbers. Features, but there will all be also be a lot of these ones that, you know, there's a place for them and they'll make money. So we're starting to get into that era. And we're also seeing, like because of the holiday period, there will be a lock out there so that everybody has something. You will find something for grandma, something for mom, something for dad, something for the kids, and if you hold a bunch to the theater, you'd say, well, that's just all those separate ways and see what we wanna see. So there are enough enough movies out there to keep us kind of interested, but there are also TV series that are are popping now too. And I don't know why this kind of Third season is rising up, but there are a lot of things that are happening. In fact, it's odd. There are three new musical series. That are popping right now. What what is that a second season? But Schmigadoon!, did you see Schmigadoon! last year? I did not know.

0:01:42
This spoof of Broadway musicals. So last year, they did forties and fifties. This year, they're doing sixties and seventies. And it was supposed to be called Shnicago but they realized that they couldn't change the name without, you know, kind of confusing people. So it's called Schmigadoon!, but it's said in Chicago. Okay.

0:02:02
It spoofs musicals for, like, a pippin, a hair, Jesus Christ superstar, and it's about this couple that kind of wander into this goofy town where they all will act like characters from these shows. He and Michael Key and essentially strong are the are the two who enter into the world. And then it's just a herd of Broadway people. Then the people who are behind the cameras on Broadway or behind the scenes rather have made a thing called up here. And Up Here is kind of a What would it be like if musical set in New York City? And it's big names, the people who did Frozen hamilton, you name it, they are doing something, and it was their big pandemic project. And so they did this whole thing, wrote this whole thing, got it all together, and now it's finally premiering.

0:02:56
And then finally, the the last of the three big musical shows coming out is Grease Rise of the Pink Ladies. And that's a prequel to the grease that you see as a movie. So it set four years earlier and how did those pink ladies kind of come to be a a gang, if you will, and what do they represent? It's a way for them to kind of correct some of the myopic views of the movie. So you're going to see a much more diverse cast. You're not going to hear the songs from Greece except the title song. And then you'll see other characters. And there is hope that at some point you will see Sandy and Danny come into the thing in, like, your three or your four if it lasts that long.

0:03:41
So it'd be, like, freshman kinda coming into Right. So you say who is that one? Yeah. I don't think he would hire John Travolta to come in and play himself as a high school freshman. But, you know, strange or things have happened. Could they bring in John Travolta to play like a teacher, kind of. But it would also be bringing him back kind of because he started on Welcome Back, Kotter. And he could almost turn the tables on him career wise.

0:04:10
I like the way you think. Doesn't matter how that goes. Yeah. And they can get them to do a cameo or a thing. Huge. But I think it's got a built in audience as it is because kids love to sing those songs and it's filled with a lot of original content. A lot of original songs that were written just for this. So those are just three musicals that we've got coming on streaming and television networks.

0:04:36
And then you get all of the the kind of the creepy ones that are out there. There's a bunch of creepy shows HAR does really well. And for some odd reason, at last night, I watched a preview of a horror film that's how do I explain it? It's a gay bachelor party where they go to an old mansion and they are gonna have a say odds to call on a mother who killed her son in the house. The concept. I mean, how do they come up with this stuff? It was another pandemic project, but you're gonna see a lot of horror films around this time as well. So those are the big things itself. And then the big ones that we've got, duchess and dragons, honor among thieves, that's already in theaters. And it'll do really well because it's very adventurous. It's like an Indiana Jones film. So I never play dungeons and dragons. Did you ever Nor will I.

0:05:33
I think it has too many pieces, too many characters, too many things to learn. And this is very good at kind if it's like the the game at all, it pulls you through it, and it makes you understand what they're doing and where they're going. And it's kind of a dumb down version, I would assume. But it does allow you to kind of laugh with them and add them. And then there's a Hugh Grant. Remember how we talked about Hugh Grant at the Oscars and how he was kinda snarky with one of the interviewers? Well, that's That's the character. He was he was probably just coming off the set or whatever because he's very kind of Pattington too in his approach to this, but he's the villain, and he's trying to steal this daughter away from Chris Pine And they've got to try and rescue her. That's all it is. It's just to rescue, search and destroy. So it's some so it almost sounds like even though I'm not a Dungeons and Dragons person and you aren't It's entertaining. It's something that you don't have to be into it. Yeah. And Mario brothers is another game that they are are throwing out there this time.

0:06:41
And I think it's finding how you can make something that really has no plot have a plot. That's the the goal of all these things. Yeah. I could give you, you know, sorry or scrabble or something as a series or a movie. But what's the plot? You know? And at least with these are adventures of some sort where they're getting to somewhere, they're always on levels. We're always going to another level. With this. And I think that's what you'll find with these. They're realizing they've got to have a plot.

0:07:12
Imagine if they did monopoly the the TV show. It would be twenty hours long, and you would just be frustrated and hate yourself at the end of it. At some point, somebody tips the the gameboard. That's how it always I've never finished a game of monopoly ever because somebody gets mad at the person who buys up all of the properties and puts hotels on them and you have no money and so you're just bankrupt. And then they leave and they're mad. They're sitting in another room. And then you've got two people as well. Do we really wanna continue this if it's not we're not having everybody else? And then you just throw the table away. I've never finished it. I've never figured out who is the winner of a monopoly. It's such a frustrating game.

0:07:50
I'll I'll play it. My kids love to play it and then I'll get rope and Sure. Sure. That sounds like a grand idea. And I'll be the banker fourteen hours later. I'm just like, why are we doing this? This is the worst decision of by weekend. Right. You need something like Yatze, where it's done after a few roles, and then you're even gonna move by any more. That'll be a good Yatze, the movie. Yatze, the movie.

0:08:13
So I've been watching some shows too. Were you a fan or a fan at all of succession on HBO that is back? I well, you know, this is the last year. Right? I was not a hardcore succession person because it reminded me too much of reality. It is. It's like what's going on in the media world beyond us, way beyond us. But you see these it's very fox news ish, I think. It's like the the family that's running all of that. And that's all it is. It's you know, Logan Roy, who's played by Brian Cox, is the head of Waystar RoyCo.

0:08:50
And this fourth season just kinda picks up a few months after the end of the third season. So if if you watch the end of the third season, there was a lot of drama his the three younger kids who were looking to kinda up him up end him, the plot was turned, the tables were turned because Shiv's husband, Tom, kind of played the other side, Logan Roy. So it kind of picks up at that point. You know, the three kids are trying to make a deal for a company. The question is, is will they kind of hold him hostage he looks on load, but he's also gonna hold on to his Fox News channel, ATN. He's gonna hold on to that, and he's looking to make a move And then Connor, who's the older son, who's played by Allan Rock, who was Cameron Fry and Ferris Bueller's day off. He's looking to get married, but he's also running for president, and he's polling at, like, one percent. So that's not going well.

0:09:50
You know, we're back in the thick of things to session. It's one of my favorite shows that they've done in recent years. It's part of the reason it it's is is succession the best show ever to come off of HBO. No, but it feels like it's just another in a long line of very good programs. Do you see where I will end? I mean, can you see kind of hints that this is the end. Yeah. I mean, my assumption is that we'll get a resolution on the company in somebody's gotta come out on top. You know, whether he sells and the kids take over or or what.

0:10:25
But who knows? It could be just you know, like, reality is reality, and sometimes it's just, you know, something will happen at the end, and we're gonna be, like, what happened to Tony Saprano? We'll just cut to black really hard. And and like you know something will happen after it, you're just not gonna do a season five. It it could be, you know, if you may remember Rupert Murdoch just stopped a paper in London. It had so many lawsuits and everything and they just said, we're done. And maybe the ones that they do is they just you know, or somebody gets sent to prison. And then, you know, it's left open. So if they wanted to do a movie, they could do a movie, then you figure out who actually is the one that's running the place.

0:11:02
So who knows? Well, I'm glad it's good. It's it's one of those ones that I started watching and I was just too nervous by it because it reminded me too much of everything. And so I just let it go and I'm okay with that. I don't need it, but I know that those who love it are clearly devoted, hopelessly devoted. I am hopelessly devoted. I love it. And I I will I'm gonna be sad when it's off the air because it's just it's one of those programs that It had it even had large gaps in between c's and not just because of the pandemic, but because of the locations they were filming at.

0:11:35
So it always felt like season one ended, when is season two coming? Season two ended, when is season three coming? Because it wasn't on that traditional twelve months later, it's coming back. It's coming back at weird intervals. So it just feels good that it's back, and then I'll I'll be sad to see it go It's just great drama. And, you know, it it is the reality, you know, that that, I guess, you don't like. You you wanna get away from the reality. But I I kind of find it fun in just this context of of media and what's going on in the world today. And it's watching entitled people get annoyed about things that, like, what who how is this even a problem in somebody's life? I would love to have that when you're having.

0:12:17
Do you like the way they just drop an episode or do you really like when you could binge it? I go back and forth. I mean, I I like the binging concept because it just especially if it's a show that I'm watching with my wife, which is kinda going on right now with Netflix in the night age which I'll I'll mention in a moment. But for a show like this, I I just watched it by myself. She watched season one with me and kinda liked it, and then tapped out in season two. Just really didn't want to keep going with it. So from that perspective as a weekly program, I'm fine with it because we'll watch things together during the week. And then, you know, she goes to bed early and I might stay up a little bit. I'll watch it on my own. So I I don't need to have all ten episodes right there. So I like I like both concepts.

0:13:03
It just depends on the program. Do you feel like I've gotta see it right away when they drop it on Sunday night? Or Oh, yeah. Like, kids go to bed. Daddy go to bed. Everybody go to bed. It's Terry Scott. Watching his show now. Right? Everybody leave me alone to tuning into succession. Speaking of, you know, those bingible programs, Netflix dropped one. Kinda out of the blue. I wasn't really looking for it or paying attention for it, but it's called the night agent. And it's trending on Netflix right now. It seems to be pretty popular. It's got some good write ups on rotten tomatoes from from fans and reviewers.

0:13:44
So it takes place, like the concept of this, is that there is a FBI agent. He's played by Gabriel Basso. And at the very beginning of it, he prevents a bunch of deaths on a subway explosion. He finds a bomb. Right? But what happens is there's some accusations by conspiracy nutjobs and, you know, was he involved with it? So he kinda has to take a year off and and they fast forward a year to where he's working in the basement of the White House, sitting in a room with a telephone that probably will never ring, but one day it rings. And it's to to take a call from a like a devout agent in the secret agent and to kinda help them through a situation. Meanwhile, you have this other character Lucy Ann Buchanan, who's kind of a newcomer to acting, doesn't really have a whole lot of credits where whereas Gabe Gabbasa, he played J. D. Vance and Hillbelly, LG. So he's been out there before But Lucy Anne, a little bit more of a newcomer, she plays a cybersecurity person entrepreneur who loses her company, you know, so she's got this company at the start, fast forward a year, and she's staying with her relatives, her her aunt and uncle.

0:14:57
Who are all of a sudden murdered and she has to make the phone call. They're like, you gotta call this number, get help. And that number goes to Gabriel Baso in the basement. So it's it's a spy thriller. It's pretty intense. You know, it's who's playing? Who? There's the the thought that there's, you know, some some bad actors in the White House. What's gonna happen? It also stars Hung Chow. She plays Diane Far, the White House chief of staff. You would of course know her. She was nominated for best supporting actress in the whale.

0:15:30
So we've got a few names in this program. It's pretty good. I I've we've gotten roped in only a couple episodes in I'm not gonna drop any real spoilers. That's just the basic plot development to get you going through the first ten minutes of of episode one. But, yeah, it's it's a pretty good show and and we're gonna keep coming back to it. Did you ever see the Knight Manager Tom Houston. He played the manager of a very high end hotel, and he was also an agent where he was trying to dupe a lot of people that come into the hotel, basically. He had all this access to stuff fascinating series. They're gonna do another season of it. So if you happen to see that floating around, don't confuse the two, but it's very much that kind of duplicity that you wonder about. What's going on here? This is this is kind of fascinating. I'm I'm intrigued.

0:16:22
Let me rail for a minute about Netflix. Because they have the worst way of letting people know about something that's coming on. I mean, until you hear people talking about it, you have no clue that these things are popping. And they just will drop and they'll get foreign language series that were huge hits in, you know, whatever is Slavia. And they'll just drop it on there. And then you'll hear everybody talking about this. And maybe that's their their method. But I find it's really kind of undercutting because then you think, well, I'm missing out on something. How come I don't know about this? And then sometimes they'll do way too much where you'll see Adam Sandler on every talk show there is talking about the movie he did and it's okay. So I really wish they would be either a little more discriminating about what they push or help us through it a bit.

0:17:18
I don't remember ever getting any messaging because I'll get those emails maybe on a weekly basis saying, you know, based on the shows you've watched, hear something coming to Netflix that you might be interested in. I don't remember ever seeing anything for the night agent. You know, I've seen plenty of other things out there, but that one just we're we're literally out of things to watch because we kind of finished up one show looking for something new and we're just skimming through the Netflix and what's out there and we we kinda got sucked in by a trailer and thought, okay, well, let's let's give it a whirl. The categories that they have and that, you know, when you go to that kind of the directory page, you might like. And then you're thinking, what have I watched that they think I would like this crap? And there's a whole bunch of, like, goofy films that you think, I this is not me. Are you profiling me somehow? I don't know what you're doing. I don't know where you came up that I wanted to see elf part three, but, you know, it's on there. So I that's another thing that just throws me. And then you keep scrolling down because they have different different categories for things.

0:18:24
Shows people are talking about. Shows nobody's talking about. Shows you could talk about comedies that you haven't seen in a long time. You want to watch this. Now maybe you want to watch it again. You know what? It just keeps going. You think, oh, please. Please. Please. Please. So be careful what you watch because it might come back to haunt you. Yeah. There's my rant. Was that my rant for the day? That's your that's your rant for the day. But yeah. And, you know, it's funny how Prime Video, which used to be called Amazon Prime, but it's now called Prime Video, have been putting out an awful lot of product. In fact, I've been inundated with a lot of interviews. You'll see as we go along, but they have air coming out this this weekend, which will be huge in theaters. And that's the story of Nike when they pitched Michael Jordan to be their standard bearer for basketball shoes. And fascinating look at a true story with Ben and Matt. That'll be big. But they've got a lot of these other series too where they're remaking things, re kind of molding things.

0:19:31
And one of the things that I actually saw was a what they they consider a faith based film. Faith based film. Now, I don't know what that means to most people. I always think, oh, it's a religious film. You're trying to show me a religious film. Is that what it is? But it's not necessarily that. It's it just says that people believe in some kind of higher power. And this one is called on a wing and a prayer.

0:19:59
And it's a true story about a a businessman who takes a couple of lessons of flying lessons, but doesn't really, you know, think much of it, and then ends up in a plane with his family and the pilot dies. And he's gotta figure out how do I land this plane. Because I really wasn't paying attention that much when I was, you know, in classes. Because I figured I wouldn't need this. Right? So they get the dead body in the back of the plane, and then he gets behind the in the cockpit and starts trying to figure out how do we land this. And they bring in help from the outside. One of the people they find is somebody who actually flew one of those planes and he's played by Jesse Metcalf.

0:20:47
Jesse Metcalfe, you may remember was the gardener, the hunky gardener that Eva Longoria fell for in desperate housewives. And this is his way of trying to move into a different layer of filmmaking. So for him, it was a good move to let people see him as something other than the hunky garter. And then he was on a long time on hallmark channel. He he's been in every Christmas iteration you could find, and he was also in Chesapeake Shores, which was a series that they had on the Hallmark Channel. So I was able to talk to him and we have us his interview, I believe.

0:21:25
And you'll find out about what actually happened with on a wing and a prayer. I guess faith based, there's there's that element of Is there divine intervention to perhaps intercede? I think they're pitch on this is there are angels among us who help us through these kinds of situations. And the angels could be even the person on the ground that tells you what button to press at the right time. Gotcha. And the film also, it stars Dennis Quade. Correct? Dennis Quade, Heather Graham. So there are some some big names in this. Yeah.

0:21:55
Dennis Quinn plays the the guy who has to pilot the plane. Okay. Heather, the name is his wife. I replaced his wife. And, yeah, and you'll find other you know, they do a little bit before we get into the plane, they do a bit of back story. So you get to see what he's kind of a, I think, a very swaggerish businessman. You know, they're kind of or if you will would say they're kind of full of themselves. So I think it's a humbling experience for him when he gets up in the plane and realizes, hey, I don't know how to do this. He thinks he's a big barbecue guy and He wins barbecue contests and but not they have a huge in the film. They have a huge house that looks impressive, very impressive. And if he's going flying private, come on. He's gonna have a buck or two. Right? Right. End of the film, you get to see the real guy and the real people who helped him out. Okay.

0:22:48
So Dennis Quinn, he's it's interesting because he it feels like he's in these types of feel good movies he's done it before. He was in that movie, the rookie, that Disney movie, where he he was a a baseball pitcher. It it was a true story where, you know, he came back at ages like forty, whatever, and made it to the big leagues despite, you know, our injury. So it feels like he likes to do these feel good movies now. He likes to make money too. So I could be behind it. But I'm I'm tired of seeing him in these kinds of roles, to be honest. I'd like to see him as a good old villain because I think he's really good at playing a villain. And you know, maybe he doesn't have to be the star. Maybe he's like the third build, who always is a villain, by the way. If you ever look at a movie, Which one is the villain? Look who's third in the villain? They're always the one who's the villain. So maybe now with your when you're looking at the night agent -- Mhmm. We can see his third build. That's your problem at all right there. But yeah. And he gonna it's it's a feel good one for the holiday weekend and the holiday week.

0:23:56
It will be in some theaters and it will also be on Prime Video. So you'll see it on your Amazon Prime channel if you have that. If you bought enough crap on Amazon and you have the free shipping, you'll get this show. So you'll be able to see it. But it's it's nothing complex. It's something that you could watch while you're doing something else. And then you go, okay, that's good. I I understand what was going on there. It's a happy movie for this time of the season. So We have an interview with Jesse Metcalfe, so let's go ahead and listen to that.

0:24:34
Have you ever been in an emergency like this in any kind of transportation thing or not? I was on a private plane once where there were some concerns. I wouldn't say it had really gotten to this level. I certainly didn't have to crawl into the cockpit and lay on the plane. But I I understand people's fear of flying. I mean, I started flying at a very early age. My mom would ship me off to my grandparents at, like, six or seven. So I I don't have a fear of flying, like, at all. And actually, you know, after the experience I had, the wonderful experience I had on this home. I'm considering getting my pilot's license. I think it'd be really, really amazing.

0:25:18
Yeah. Look how good you are. You can help somebody. Yeah. What is that like when you're going through things and what is this? I don't know what these words are, what they mean. How do you you know, get a grasp on that so that you can convey it in the right way. That's that's a great point. You know, I had to look basically everything up. There's a lot of aviation jargon specifically for my character. And I definitely had to at least have a cursory understanding of what I was talking about. Certainly walked away from this movie with a greater appreciation for aviation and for pilots.

0:25:53
When you're sitting there and you're like giving them instructions, who are you talking to? Is somebody else reading the lines of things to you? Or I mean, because you're very into you're good at being intense in those situations. I'm like, Who is he talking to? I'm sure they're not there. Thank you. That's a that's a high compliment. I appreciate that.

0:26:11
Generally talking to, you know, either the assistant director or sometimes like you're standing. Really, anyone who's available to read the dialogue off camera and You know, I'll be honest with you. Not a lot of care is is taken when, you know, someone's reading this dialogue off camera. It's usually pretty flat and monotone. You know, you can you can ask them to pump it up a little bit. But it's really, you know, it's our job to bring all that emotion and energy to to our performance, you know. I mean, that's that's what we do as active guy.

0:26:46
I didn't get to meet I didn't get to meet Carrie, unfortunately. Hopefully, I'll get to meet him in the future, but I just basically looked up everything I could find on him, print interviews, what little video there was of him out there, I mean, the picture that was painted of him within our script was more than enough for me to grab hold of as an actor. Sure. You know, this coming at this time in your career, what is that telling you? Is it are you going in another direction? Is there something new that we're seeing with this film? Well, it's funny that you asked that. I mean, that's the plan. I mean, you know, I definitely want want to move away from the matinee Idol and move into more serious roles and, you know, work with you know, more producers and directors that I that I really respect. I mean, such a great team on this project with Roman Downey, Autumn Bailey Ford, Sean McNamara, who I I had previously worked with, and I was really excited to get the opportunity to work with again. I think it was just it was the right team on this one with the right script and I'm really proud of what they produced.

0:27:54
I mean, it's a very watchable movie that really keeps you on the edge of your seat. You know, they talk about this being a faith film or a faith based film. And I don't think that it's you know, I wouldn't use those terms for it. I think the faith is is underlying. Absolutely. But it isn't something that hits you over the head. You know what I mean? We're a lot of those things, they're like, oh, I'm not going to that. No. No. I I agree with you completely. I mean, honestly, I don't I don't consider this faith based movie at all. And I I think this this movie is of the caliber that, you know, could have gotten a theatrical release. I mean, it's just it's It's a different landscape these days. Very happy to have been picked up by Amazon Prime Video. They're really behind the movie. Yeah. I mean, you know, when people believe in a project and they know that the the the the content is good, I mean, it's just it's a it's a good feeling, you know, to have to have that kind of momentum.

0:28:51
Take me back to those days of desperate housewives. How how really unreal was that? I was it was incredibly unreal. I didn't anticipate the success of that show at all. Coming off of daytime television, moving into a nighttime show, but that felt very daytime. It was a easy transition. I mean, look, it wasn't the most challenging role in the world, but I tried to bring, you know, your vulnerability and and depth to the role. But, I mean, it was a it was a whirlwind, you know, that just, like, kinda swept me right off my feet. I didn't anticipate the success.

0:29:30
And to still be talking about the show twenty years later, I mean, I guess it's achieved some level of, you know, iconic television status which is something I'm, you know, I'm I'm proud to have been part of. Did it did it just kind of throw you coming so early in your career? Or was it You know, I I I had been in the business for for five years on daytime television, but, I mean, you know, daytime television and primetime are just, you know, their their night and day. Right. They they really are. You can we can work on daytime your entire career and he, you know, the average person might might not know your name. You know, so to to become a household name pretty much overnight was was definitely interesting.

0:30:17
Was it good to learn those lessons early on? Or do you say, oh, I'd be much more prepared now if I had that, like, real heat? Well, hindsight is twenty twenty, you know. So I I'd be much more prepared now, definitely. And I'd like to think you know, I'll I'll have some of those big opportunities again. I I mean, I'd like to believe that that the best of my career is is still ahead of me here. You know? Yeah. I I know I know I know I'm ready for it now. That's for sure. All we need to look at is this year's best picture winner and you look at those people and you say, all of them were at some point told you're out of the game and look at them now. They're on top of the game. So it's just It's very it's very only one project away, you know? Right. This could be yours. You never know.

0:31:06
Then you you have your kind of I I I love to see these different periods that you've had. You have your hallmark period. What is that world like? Well, I mean, the hallmark channel was very very good to me. They allowed me to executive produce some projects with them and kinda, you know, be involved in the creative and the casting of those projects. I really learned a lot during my hallmark period. And, you know, I'm I'm proud of a a lot of the work that I created during that period as well with this show that I did for them called Chesapeake shores where I played, performed, and wrote some of the music for the show. Right. I mean, you know, I I give a hundred and ten percent to everything that I do. I mean, I I'm one of those actors that really cares. Maybe I care a little too much, but, you know, I like to look back at different periods, as you say, and and be proud of those periods. So, you know, that that was a great time in my career.

0:32:06
In the learning process, do you go, oh, that's something I'll never do again? Or is it, okay, this is how I would change those things up if I did this again? Well, there's always lessons. You have to find the lessons in everything you do in life. But specifically in this business, You know? I mean, you wanna continue to become a better actor. You know, I I am very interested in doing more producing and executive producing. So you know, you have to learn those lessons, but it's really about it's it's it's it's about relationships and it's a it's a it's a very people oriented business. It's a collaborative art form and you have to work well with others. And, you know, I mean, those are the best lessons, I think.

0:32:50
What is it like when you wanna create something? Is it hard to actually get others on board with you? Or what do you to me, it'd be a big sales job. I'd have to sell others on my vision and I don't know that I could do it. While producing is a big sales job, isn't it? You know, I mean, generally, you're trying to find financing for ideas that you have. And that that can be a little soul sucking at times because as artists, you know, we don't wanna be, you know, making phone calls and sending emails begging people for money. You know, but there's also some great facets to executive producing or producing as well, you know, kind of like being in charge of the entire picture.

0:33:33
Which sometimes, you know, when you're just an actor on a project, you know, hire to do one specific thing, it can be a little limiting. Specifically when you see things that could be better or, you know, maybe, you know, holes in a story that could be patched up and you have ideas for that, you're not always you're not always in the position to share those ideas. Would would you ever not act? Would that ever be in the cards? Would I ever not act? Yeah. Yeah. I think I think that could be in the cards. I I think I would like to move behind the camera, you know, specifically in producing roles. And and and I have I have an interest in directing. I mean, I went to New York University for writing and directing teach school of the arts But over the over the years, I've seen how much work directing is. I mean, you're literally, you know, the first person on the set, the last person to leave and up all night preparing. So, you know, I I think producing might be my lane. Better. Yeah. Is another thing.

0:34:36
You know, and how they I forgive me for not knowing what this is like, but when they're judging you to to cast you in a role, based on a look, how how do you deal with that? I I would find that very difficult. Well, a lot of people say that there's a lot of rejection in our business, but I think you can't look at not getting a role as rejection. Because getting a role is like finding a needle in a haystack. You know, there's so many variables as to what our producers and directors and casting directors are looking or for a specific role. So I think, you know, you have to just put yourself out there, give the best audition possible, and if it doesn't go your way, just let it go. I mean, easier said than done, but dealing with the rejection would be the very difficult thing. Well, why wasn't I right for this. Exactly. I mean, hey, nobody likes dealing with with rejection, but that's life. It's life. Right?

0:35:32
What's next then after this? Are you already working on something? Well, I have two other films coming out this year. I mean, three, actually. One's called the comic shop. Which is kind of like a Kevin Smith esque story about a disgruntled comic book store owner who had some trials and tribulations in his life. It's kind of a interesting story. Then I have another one that's on the festival circuit right now called the Latin from Manhattan. And then I have a a a a a VC Andrew series of movies coming out on a lifetime where I I play dad in the early sixties. So it's it's my first dad role, so I'm kind of excited about that.

0:36:13
See, I've seen -- Oh. -- I've seen -- Oh. -- I've seen -- Oh. -- I've seen -- Oh. -- I've seen -- I've seen -- I've seen -- -- I've seen -- -- I've seen -- I've seen -- I've seen -- wonk long. I've I've seen some of the footage actually doing a ADR for the for the movies and I I play opposite this adorable you know, effervescent actor of Breck Bassinger, who's from from the series star girl. I play her father And it's very, very charming actually. I'm I was really, really pleased with it. I'm excited for people to see it.

0:36:40
Well, you know, if we're ever on a plane together and something happens, I'm calling you into action here. You're gonna be helping land the plane Okay. I know nothing about that. You might wanna call Dennis, but hey, you know. Yeah. I would run up and down the aisles going, no, we can't do this. This is not good. This is terrible, but it was very fun to watch you in this. I enjoyed it. Thank you so much. Alright, Bruce. Thank you for that interview. What else do we have on top? Coming up. Big big big kind of surprising thing. Rachel vice, Oscar winner, Rachel vice.

0:37:16
Is in a new adaptation of dead rangers. It's about twins who are in the birthing business, if you will, and if you may remember Jeremy Irons started in this film in the nineties. It was a David Cronenburg film Well, now, Rachel has the part where she plays two characters. And she's trying to get this clinic off the ground, a birthing center. And she has to appeal to various and sundry people and how it's a very kind of political world to be in the medical field, but it's also really, really creepy. So when you see this, you'll see the creep factor. One of the people we talk to is Poppy Lou who plays their kind of assistant, and she has a big handle on the differences between Beverly and Elliot Mantel. So we'll have that next week and we'll talk about some other kind of creepy ones that aren't coming. Alright. That sounds good. So we'll look forward to that. Thank you everyone for listening to another episode of streamed and screened.

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