Austin Nichols

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Welcome to work in progress. Welcome back to this week's work in progress. Friends, we have a dear one on the podcast this week. Someone I've called a friend for over 20 years, been on plenty of adventures with both on screen and off, been an advocate alongside and watched bloom into such an amazing phase of his career. I am so proud to have Austin Nichols on the podcast today. You all know him from my world playing my husband on screen on Wontree Hill, the iconic producer, director, writer, Julian Baker, and he has an incredible history in film and television as an athlete in sports movies like Matchpoint and Glory Road, as an offscreen advocate for global green and an onscreen victim of a natural disaster in the day after tomorrow, early in his life. Tomorrow, early in his career, Austin has become not only an incredible advocate, but an incredible director. Most recently, he directed the series Walker in Austin, Texas, his hometown. And now those worlds are collecting on his latest project, a feature film. He has spent the last five years lovingly bringing to the screen called The Longshot. It's about sports, friendship, love, ingenuity, the city that shaped him and how important the spaces in our communities are to not only our communities, but to us, to our friendships and to our life. There is so much to talk with Austin about and reminisce about. I cannot wait for you all to hear him share his stories of what it took to make this film and how he feels now that it is finally on screen. Let's dive into all the behind the scenes tea from The Longshot with our pal, Austin Nichols. I'm so happy you're here. It's also so cool to get to talk about everything that's going on, because I feel like we've been talking about this movie for years. And like to sit here last night, like Ash and I made a bowl of popcorn and like pulled it up on the screen and I was like, oh, we're watching Austin's movie. Oh, that's so cool. Thank you for watching it and my God and having popcorn. That's that's what it's all about. You know, we want people to laugh and we want people to have fun for our zoom. Just spiritually, it felt correct. I love it. I love it. OK, before we dive in to now and and all the good things, we got to go back and I don't mean like 20 years back when we met. Like literally 20 years now, because I was 23 when we met and I'm 43 now. That's insane. Yeah. Yeah. Like our friendship has been a voter for two whole years of its life. I don't know how I feel about it, but I want to go like back back. I know some fun facts about you, obviously, because we've known each other for 100 years. Everybody likes to giggle about you being Austin from Austin. But for our friends at home, our dear Austin Nichols was actually born in Michigan and then moved to Austin, Texas and became Austin from Austin. I want to take our our listeners and our friends back to way before they knew you, like before our show, before the movies, like let's go back to. Y'all have just moved from Michigan, you're settled in Texas. You're eight or nine years old. Paint us a picture of little Austin's life. I mean, it was really sweet and normal. You know, I was a normal kid who was playing with, you know, a he-man and a Skeletor Castle and G.I. Joe's and like, you know, every once in a while, me and my buddy would build sand castles and get black cats and blow up the little army guys in the sand castles in his backyard with little fireworks. You know, and just totally normal. I played sports. I went to school, had friends and it was a really, really great place to grow up. Yeah. My my family was very into water skiing, which is the thing that comes up because it's this very strange sport. But my mom was a 19 time national champion and we lived near Lake Austin and that was it was normal to me to just go out and go water skiing when I was I started when I was two or three years old. Yeah. Like my parents kind of like put me on the skis while they were skiing. And I was like, oh, look, the baby can ski. And so that was just very normal to be going out there and banging around on water skis and and then wakeboarding changed everything. But I mean, my sister were competitive water skiers at a very young age, going to tournaments. And I got really into it. Probably at about 13 or 14 and decided I wanted to be like I wanted to win stuff. And like so I really had to train and started going to train with people, coaches in Florida and Louisiana. And it really kind of the peak of it was when I qualified for the Masters. There's a big tournament in Georgia and it's like the Masters of Golf for water. And I qualified for that when I was like 16, 17, went there, skied and that didn't win. But it was sort of this like, OK, I accomplished something, you know, in the sport that I wanted to do before retiring at the young age at the at the at the ripe old age of 17. Because then I I had switched years and I'd started studying acting at 15. And that started to kind of eclipse water skiing and the sport stuff. And I saw a future and I saw, oh, this is something I can do until I'm 80 years old. And right. Nobody kind of told me that it's really hard and you might be broke. And you know, why are you making it so hard on yourself? Why don't you go work at, you know, in this realm or do this job? But for some reason, acting really got its its hooks in me. And I started going to acting classes in Austin, Texas. And when I was 17, we went to Sundance with the family and I have family in Salt Lake City. And I see this woman. I snuck into a party with my sister and I see this woman across the way, looking at me. And it was Joan Green, who was both our manager, the manager for both of us for a very long time. And she said, she said, do you have a film here? And I go, no, I've never made a film. And she introduced me to two agents that night. And she really changed the course of my life because I knew I wanted to act, but I was going to stay in Austin, go to UT, go to film school at UT. And she said, no, you need to come to Los Angeles right now, like as soon as possible. You have to start when you're young. And I talked to my parents and they said, OK, and I switched gears and moved to LA when I was 18 years old. Yeah. God, Joan Green, man, she she was the linchpin for us. Huh? Yeah. I mean, she changed my life and, you know, with her for 13 years. And I couldn't say enough amazing things about her. She was so supportive and so there for me in so many ways. Yeah. For for the pals at home, because obviously, you know, this story. But similarly, I was doing a little play in high school. My senior year was when I got really serious about acting. You know, it was it was freshman year. So I was around 14 when I started doing theater at school. And we did this play my senior year that that seemed absolutely correct to me. You know, I had this theater director, Tim Wright, who just he gave us, you know, Sondheim and then he gave us really crazy avant garde plays about what was happening in the world the year before we'd done one about Tiananmen Square and then my senior year, I'm doing this play about an ACLU lawyer who has to defend a Holocaust denier based on the First Amendment. Like hard hitting shit for a 17 year old, you know. And yeah, to us, that was just part of what we were doing. You know, my our history department was incredible. Our theater department really worked alongside it. And I didn't know how radical Tim was. He was just my theater guy. And I guess it was kind of uncommon for like kids at a prep school in Pasadena to be doing such material. And we had a little write up in the Times and Joan Green read that article and came to see my play. And she's the reason I went to USC instead of Tulane. So she literally changed both of our lives. It's incredible. It's so cool. I don't know if you ever told me that whole story. That's really cool. That's really cool. I have always been so jealous of anyone who has a theater background, because when I was in Austin and I was 15, my first acting class, one of the things this teacher had us do was do a Velveeta cheese commercial where we have to put eat broccoli and we have to eat broccoli without Velveeta cheese, and then we have to put Velveeta cheese on the broccoli and eat it with and go, oh, my God, it's so good. Yeah. And this sounds so stupid. But all the kids know when none of the kids could keep a straight face. And I was so committed to the to hating the broccoli and then loving the broccoli with cheese that after we were over, she kind of made a big deal about how how well I did. And kind of and it was really embarrassing because she kind of like called me out in front of the class and she's like, this kid's going to work. And I was like, what? But wow, such a strange thing, but ultimately, probably really smart of her to do was, well, this is real world stuff like you're going to be going out for commercials. Yes. But I never had I never had the theater, the theater background and the theater training and have always been so obsessed with it and like so secretly jealous of people who, you know, have been on the stage because it's the ultimate and it's the best training ground there is. It's really special. It's funny you say that, though, because I even feel a little bit of that, you know, I know my path was my path, but. The fact that I went to USC for the BFA and, you know, did the auditioning and got into the program and the whole hall of blue. But I didn't actually like it and I transferred into the journalism school. I think I needed more variety in my studies and I love that. But I have a little bit of that. Aw, like kind of wishing I'd had a really hardcore collegiate theater education. So it's interesting because I think about that in a different way. And then I'm telling you about high school and you're like, I'm jealous of that. And I never really thought about how much of it I had. Yeah. And also, the more you talk to actors, the more you realize everyone's insecure and think they're missing something. And it's so silly because we're all just we all just love something and we're trying to do it. That's all. Yeah. You know what I wonder if it is to and I'm curious your perspective on this as as an athlete, because you were competitive. In sport, you know when you're the best because there's a there's a measure. There's a scale. Like if you win the medal, you were the best. Yeah. But as an actor, you make something. You watch it after you've made it, which I think is part of why it draws creative people. Because if you do the competition and you win the medal on your skis, you're not going to go back and watch your tapes unless you're like reviewing them with a coach, right? Right. And I wonder if it's the making of a thing that takes on its own life that we love, but also that kind of fucks us up because there's no way to measure how good you are. It's just. Yeah. Opinion and luck. I struggled with that and maybe still do for most of my life, most of my career, because I was always trained like, OK, you practice, you practice, you practice, you get better, you get better, you better. And it's math, it's mathematical, it's measurable, right? Yeah. And it's not like that in show business, you know, like. And for me in particular, I found that the more I trained or the more I tried to read books and hack the system, it didn't really move the needle. And for me, the things that click are when I'm not trying or when I'm. Yeah. When I'm not studied or when I'm not rehearsed or when I'm. You kind of just live in in my own skin. And yes, that tends to be what people respond to and why they want to cast you. Yeah. And for so long, I was like, got to get better, got to get better, got to get better. And it was like, why isn't this? Why can't I see improvement in like getting roles or big, bigger, better movies or shows? It wasn't like that for me. It was just kind of like, hey, you know, just be you. Yeah. Yeah. You know, I think that's actually why I shifted out of the program. In college when we were at a sea, because only focusing on acting was making me crazy about acting. And then once I started focusing on all these other things I was interested in, I was an interesting actor. There you go. But when I was trying to be interesting, I was a basket case. That's it. I there's something about an authentic person living an authentic life and like whatever it is, whether it's journalism or whether, you know, I'm I'm really into archery, you know, but when you see somebody who's doing something that's life and they're really into it, yeah, that's what we're interested in. Right. Yeah. Nobody wants to see me practicing my monologue in my bedroom at 3 a.m. No. Totally. Do you ever think about that? And I wonder about this. I think about it a lot watching a lot of apocalypse content. You actually worked on The Walking Dead. Like, do you ever look at look around and go, what happens in the apocalypse? Like, are they going to eat us first? Nobody needs a monologue in a crisis. Good point. I've always wanted to do a show that is hyper realistic like that. Yeah. Where maybe there isn't a lot of talking. It's just reacting and running and, you know, action. Yeah. That'd be really interesting. I don't know if it would work, but that's a really interesting idea. No, I know in the dramatic structure, we need characters and we need them to be talking. Yes. Or else, you know, it's hard to connect. Absolutely. Yeah. And now a word from our sponsors who make this show possible. Zolaire O'Malizah Mab has proven to significantly reduce allergic reactions if a food allergy accident happens. Zolaire, 150 milligrams is a prescription medication used to treat food allergy in people one year of age and older to reduce allergic reactions due to accidental exposure to one or more foods. While taking Zolaire, you should continue to avoid all foods to which you are allergic. Don't use if you are allergic to Zolaire. Zolaire may cause a severe life threatening allergic reaction called anaphylaxis. Tell your doctor if you have ever had anaphylaxis. Get help right away if you have trouble breathing or if you have swelling of your throat or tongue. Zolaire should not be used for the emergency treatment of allergic reactions, including anaphylaxis. Zolaire is for maintenance use to reduce allergic reactions, including anaphylaxis, while avoiding food allergens. Serious side effects such as cancer, fever, muscle aches and rash, parasitic infection or heart and circulation problems have been reported. Please see Zolaire.com for full prescribing information. Ask an allergist about Zolaire. This is an advertisement for Zolaire paid for by Genentech and Novartis. It's getting warmer out and I have been doing a little spring reset with my closet lately. I love a spring cleaning and I'm really focusing more on quality over quantity, building a wardrobe of pieces that are well made, versatile and easy to reach for every day, which is why I keep coming back to Quince. The fabrics feel elevated, the fits are thoughtful and the pricing actually makes sense. 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With just one dose, a leaf gives you long lasting body pain relief for up to 12 hours. From sun up to sun down, a leaf's got your back. Try a leaf, use as directed for minor aches and pains. What was it like for you deciding to pursue acting? Because you mentioned your amazing mom was such an incredible athlete. Your dad is like an unbelievably renowned radiologist. Your mom, similarly, I think to my dad, turned what one could call a hobby into a career. And your dad has this very serious career. And then here you come, Mr. Prize winning athlete who then is like, I'm going to go make movies. Like, how did it go over? Because I know how it went over in my house. Yeah, you know, my parents were surprisingly supportive. And I was bracing myself for the opposite. But the message I remember was if you if you buckle down and bust your butt, the way you have for sports will support will help you and we will be there for you. And we're going to be behind you 100 percent. That's so cool. Still go to college. Yeah. You know, you get to get a degree. But, you know, so there was always that sort of like, look, we're behind you. But this is a murcury, a strange world and not everybody can make a living. Right. So they were very pragmatic about it. And and ultimately just, you know, really big cheerleaders for me, both of them. And that's rare. I was very lucky to have that. Absolutely. Do you think that's why you decided to get your degree in English? You wanted to be adjacent to the arts, but also have like a practicality to your studies that my dad would not agree with. He would be like, what are you going to do with an English degree? Teach. He was so rude about it. But I was like, look, I mean, I started communications. I didn't know what I was doing. I didn't I hated it. I didn't know what it was. And I changed over because I loved. Literature. Yeah. And I started reading all these amazing books. And I started reading Shakespeare and I started writing papers every week. And I and then I started taking creative writing classes and my writing to develop, which at the time, I didn't really know was going to be helpful. But it was. Yeah. And it wasn't until I love this story. It wasn't until I did a movie with Sigourney Weaver, where she played my mother. And she goes, I told her I was an English major. She goes, I was an English major. And I go, really? I was just so thrilled to have like a hero say that they had done the same thing. Because then Sigourney started saying it gave me such a base and a foundation and a strength for text and breaking down text and understanding text. Yes. Like any time a script or a play comes to me, I can sit down. I I know what I'm doing. I know how to look at this. I know how to translate it. And just the sheer amount of reading you do in college in that major sets you can set you up for success. So yeah, she said it to me. It made me feel like, OK, maybe I didn't waste my time in college. Yeah. Oh, I love that. Did you immediately tell your dad? You call it Dave and you're just like, yes, what? He might be finding out right now. Oh, God, I don't know if I ever told him. Oh, my God. That's so fun. Well, I mean, I think about all the amazing things that you did. And no surprise, you know, you were tearing up these incredible movies. You hit the scene in such a big way, man, like day after tomorrow and Wimbledon. And, you know, getting to see you play an athlete like looking back at that feels so fun because, of course, your discipline from water sports was so easily applied, I would imagine, to tennis, right? Had you ever played tennis before that movie? I had sent in some audition tapes. And they said, look, can you even play because this guy needs to be able to play. So they sent me to the valley to coach some coach in the valley. Yeah. And he's like, we're going to video you and just, you know, don't be tentative. Just swing through. Like, don't worry about where the ball goes because we're not going to see where the ball goes. So just swing through like hard. I was launching balls out of the court. I couldn't I couldn't keep a ball in bounds. Yeah. I did not know how to play tennis. And then I was so lucky to have Murphy Jensen, French Open Doubles champion teach me for two months in LA. We're doing like two days. And then Pat Cash, who was an Australian Wimbledon champion, teach me in London for a month. Wow. And with other coaches and biomechanics. And I mean, it was. It was a dream to have this sort of infrastructure and this team behind me, making sure I knew how to play tennis was just one of the coolest things I've ever gotten to do. That's so cool. I think about how much sport has been part of your career from that movie to John from Cincinnati. Like you got to do this tennis movie. You got to do this big surf show. I mean, did you just were you just gagged? I also did a basketball movie, Glory Road. And yeah, honestly, never. I was kind of thinking about it at the time I was kind of going, well, I was an athlete and maybe I'm athletic, so maybe I'm getting these athletic roles. But I wasn't hyper aware of it. I was really more focused on being an actor. Yeah. And then it wasn't until many years later where I kind of look back and I go, oh, that's interesting. That's cool. That makes sense. Yeah. Well, I think when your life informs your career, you know, something that dawned on me when you've obviously been on the other podcast so much. When we started Drama Queens and we got to the third season and Brooke Davis gets the job at Carl's Crab Shack and like unionizes all the waitresses. I was like, oh, my God, I was politically organizing even then. That's so brilliant. I mean, his life is imitating art or the other way around. It's so cool. Well, and you realize the things you're drawn to that you talk about, particularly in TV, in front of your writers, become passion points for your characters. You know, it's like even now, you know, watching your movie, the whole time I'm watching it, knowing Austin, you know, as a city from living there for movies, from spending so much time there, you know, as I was so lucky to with your family and, you know, especially when your mom was around and like going back there so much for conferences and other projects. It's like, I've known that city for 20 years also. Yes. And you guys are talking about these secret spots and these beautiful swimming holes and Barton Springs and Muny and these natural resources, these areas that you want to protect. And halfway through the movie at Don Don Me, I'm like, this is a this is a hilarious comedy, but it's also a love letter to protecting your environment. And then I was like, thinking back to us, we're doing all that global green work after the oil spill in 2010 from Wilmington. And I was like, did you mean to make a climate movie? Did you even know that that's what you were doing? Oh, no, not at all. And I only started to realize that recently. I mean, we the movies finished. We're in theaters in Austin right now and we come out April 10th, but it wasn't until like a few weeks ago that I really started to think about like, then there's an environmental message in this movie. Yeah, because when they're at that that that secret gym swimming hole and he's talking about this endangered species, I I was telling a story of Austin. Like that really happened here at Barton Springs. And I was telling that story. But it wasn't until much later that with reflection, because like getting a movie like sold and out to the world is so like you go crazy. It wasn't until recently that I've had some time to think about it that I went, oh, well, the environmental activists in me, that makes sense that, you know, yeah, in my first that's in my first movie. And, you know, it I don't know what else to say, except it's a nice little sign that you're kind of going in the right direction. Yeah. Yeah. I think that's really true. And you know what I appreciate about it? I think back to like 2010, you know, being on the ground in Louisiana. Yeah. Working with all the folks in those fishing communities. And, you know, people in New Orleans who had just years before been so affected by Hurricane Katrina. And I think there was such a purity at that time of no matter where you are, red state, blue state, no matter how you vote, what you do, if you have money, if you have none, like the environment is all of ours. Like we're stewards of this place. And over the last 20 years, any kind of care about your neighbor, care about your climate messaging has just gotten so stomped on and like pounced on and co-opted and people roll their eyes about it. And you made this movie in the heart of Texas. You've got hilarious characters like real, you know, your, your, your groundsmen slash Coyote Hunter in the movie is like such a Southern dude. Yeah. And all he wants to do is protect this green space. And you didn't hit anybody over the head with it. And you didn't, you didn't like go make a disaster movie. You made a love story to your city. And you're reminding, I think, everybody that those spaces are for us. That's where everybody gathers, whether you're a larper, a golfer, a hunter, you know, a researcher, like the woman who works for the city. It's like you did it in this way that I went, oh, shit. You you told such a beautiful story with a bigger context without even making it obvious. And I was really excited about it for you. It's cool. That's really sweet. And I'm I'm thank you. I don't I don't know what to say. That's it's that's what we that's the best we could hope for, you know, like, yeah. You know, we want to we want people to laugh. We want people to cry. We want to entertain. But yeah, if there's if there's a good message in there too, that's icing on the top. Yeah, I really love too, like, because the story reflects. It's a specific thing, like that golf course in your home city is a specific place. But it feels universal because there's this core truth, right? That love and community is what motivates people to fight and to show up and to protect something. Even if there's something they're trying to protect is where they drink beer with their friends. And the sweetness of. Just how fun it is to be with your people that the movie highlights was so fucking enjoyable to watch. Like, I just had the best time laughing and especially, you know, watching, feeling like your sensibility in the whole movie. And then seeing Ryan Hansen, who's a really old dear friend of mine, like play the guy who's kind of you, but not you. And then you guys have a scene together. I just was like, this is so it's perfect in so many layers. I giggled through the whole thing. And I'm curious, having grown up there and and having the outdoor spaces in Austin be so integral to your life and your family's life. Were there specific locations or sets that you put in the movie because they're precious to you? Or were you, you know, doing the thing with your location scout, figuring out what was available, what was affordable? And that's how you decided, like, like, how did you do the behind the scenes bits? I mean, a little bit of a combination, because, you know, with a with a small indie, we can't just do anything and go anywhere. We can't afford it. So there's definitely times where you look at your location person, you go, OK, well, if we can't do that, then show me what else what else can we do? But the big one is where we did this one because that was originally written as Barton Springs. Right. But Barton Springs is extremely crowded and getting to shoot there is very difficult. Yeah. Their message is basically like, yeah, you can shoot here, but we can't we can't close the pool. And you're just going to have to kind of deal with the crowd. And for a movie shoot, that's a continuity nightmare. It's a sound nightmare. Yeah. And so I went to the writer and I said, hey, is there maybe we we tweak this? And what he did was he made it into like a hidden gym. Yeah. You know, one of these little ones that people haven't found yet. Yeah, I loved that, which I actually think worked better for the movie because it's like the last place, you know, it's like the last remaining place. And it gave you that hilarious moment. I don't want to spoil this. So if you haven't watched the movie yet, well, what are you doing? Watch the movie and plug your ears for 30 seconds. You know, when your caddy pulls up on the golf cart and you're like, did anybody fall? You know, the guys are like, did anybody follow you? Take a different route home? It's like we all have those places that we don't want to become the next TikTok trend or whatever and get invaded. And it just felt so real to me. Oh, good. Good. And that place is to further answer your question. Was a place I went as a kid. And and this is part this speaks to, you know, making a film in your in your hometown. Like I always think about Greta Gerwig and Lady Bird in Sacramento. And how it was like not cool. But then she made this beautiful story about this place and these people. And if I hadn't grown up here, I never would have known about. Yeah, a lot of our crew and cast and people that have watched the movie still don't know about it. Well, so I mean, I'm a little bit. I feel a little bit bad about blowing it up. Not that we're going to do that, but it's this place because a lot of the swimming holes in Austin are municipally owned. Yeah, they're owned by the city and they're taken care of by the city. And actually privately owned by the family. And part of the magic is that they've kind of taken care of it themselves. That's really cool. You don't have like big money, municipal projects coming in. It's like, oh, we're going to build a retaining wall here to help protect. Right. You know, so it's very natural. And it's it's a real, real special area. And we are really lucky to get to use it. I love that. Do you want us to bleep it out in the whole podcast so no one knows where it is? Maybe. Yeah, maybe. Honestly, I think it would be really funny. No gatekeeping. No gatekeeping. Some things we have to gatekeep for their purity. We'll be back in just a minute, but here's a word from our sponsors. 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I'm curious because to your point, the city of Austin does such a good job maintaining so many of these municipal spaces. But in the movie, Muni as a golf course is this historic site that's kind of run down. It's the other side of the tracks for a golf course, golf course. Is this inspired by like true events at all? Was there a fight to save Muni? There is. It's still ongoing. I mean, Lyons Municipal Golf Course is a real place here and they have the Save Muni campaign because the land is owned by someone else that potentially could sell it whenever they want. Because Muni had like a 99 year lease and that came and went. But the people in Austin love it so much and they don't want it to be developed and turned into like condos and retail that they mounted a huge effort to save it. And they got a historical designation and it's still alive, you know, and it but it's really people loved a place and they fought for it. Yeah, that's really special. The second half of that is we couldn't afford to shoot there. So we went out 45 minutes outside of town where Willie Nelson has a nine hole golf course. No way. No one really nobody knows about. It's I don't know how they it's such a secret, but the fairways are dirt. But the tee boxes in the greens are perfect. So we it's kind of like outlaw redneck golf and you go out there and when you are in the fairway, you can put down a little AstroTurf mat and hit off that. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But it's like no other golf course in the world. And, you know, people have written about it and like travel magazines and stuff. But it is a real it's a real little hidden, kept secret. And we couldn't have filmed the movie without it. And with the people, the people that let us film there, it was such a little nugget that we like it just happened and we didn't even like plan it. We were just lucky that we found out about it. Oh, that's so special. Oh, my God. I can't believe. So wait, if you had to go out to this place, were you were you CGI'ing the Austin skyline behind it? That was no. That was my one like one of my only CG shots in the movie. There's very few. And we pinpointed that early on. We're like, look, this has a great backdrop. We can shoot a plate of the downtown skyline. Just put it in. Put it in. And it worked out so well because people come up to me and they're like, wait, that that doesn't exist. Where is that? Yes. It's like, yeah, we made that up. By the way, not to say I know the city as well as you, but I had the same thought. I was like, where is this? I've been all over that city for so long because the the summer that I filmed the hitcher, I lived in Austin that whole summer and I lived along the river. And and I even now, like when I go back and I see how much the skyline has changed, I can't imagine how it feels for you because you have 20 more years of history there than than I do as a friend and fan of the city. Yeah. And I was looking at it and I was like, I think that I think the view I'm looking at is from Zilker, but that's not in Zilker Park. Like no, you're spot on because I shot the plate shot of the skyline from Zilker. I knew it. Are you so proud? I feel you nailed it. You nailed it. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, my goodness. So. Interesting. That was fun. I am Peter Kowalski, who we both know well. He was our director of photography on One Tree Hill, was the DP on my movie. Yeah. And that was such a gift to have him. But that was something, you know, because, you know, as long as I've been making movies, you still there's there's things you don't know. And of course, visual effects is something that I still have a lot to learn about. Yeah. So that was one thing I went to Peter and was like, hey, can we do this? And he was like, yeah, no problem. Easy to shoot a plate and we'll put it in later. Peter is amazing for our friends at home. Pete, when I first started on One Tree Hill was our B camera operator. He eventually became our DP. In the later seasons, you know, season seven, eight and nine, when we were both directing, I cannot imagine pulling off what we did, directing these massive episodes of network television with special effects and fires and Halloween horror nights and all the shit we were doing without Pete. Like I don't I knew he was amazing at his job. I don't think I realized how unbelievably talented he is until I started working with other people. And I was like, whoa. So I love that you guys got to do this movie together. I mean, MVP status for sure. And yeah, I would imagine on multiple shows and movies that you and I never even set a foot on set. He was as well. I mean, he's such a such a talented guy, so brilliant, but no pretense. I mean, he's like cracking jokes. DPs can be very quiet and artsy. And Peter's a funny, fun, hilarious DP. He's so fun on set and that was so big for my movie because it's a comedy. Yeah. And but he'll never really let you know how brilliant he is. You know, he kind of he keeps it real low key and he's still he'll send me little messages all the time. He's like, I'm watching this movie and they have a drone shot that went through a skyscraper. I don't know how they did it. And you know, he's still got this curious kid inside him. Yeah. Wants to keep going and like keep creating cool shots and and keep shooting. And he's just got that sort of magic about him. Yeah. When do you think? Because you know, the way that you talk about all of this, you love being an actor, but you love being a director, too. When do you think you got bit by the directing bug? Was it when we were all doing one tree hill and we got the chance? Or did you know you wanted to direct before that? Well, so I was interested. I knew I it was another thing where I was like it was there, but I wasn't paying a lot of attention to it because when you're an actor and you're busy, it really takes over. So, you know, for my in my younger years, I was, you know, acting was working. It was happening. So I was focused on that. But I was going to video. It's the video store in Santa Monica and I was going to the director section and I was looking at like all of Robert Altman's movies or Francois Truffaut or, you know, some of these, you know, great, great directors. And I would kind of like go down the line. And if I could, I'd watch them in order. And I wanted to see like the trajectory of a career and like, what was the first movie and how did they make that? And then what was the second movie? And then like, how did this all flow together? Yeah, you know, because that information is not really out there. You kind of have to look a little deeper. And I was doing that while I was an actor, but it wasn't until One Tree Hill where suddenly you're you're on set every day for years. Right. And you're kind of like have a minute to breathe and not just be an actor and go, oh, I'm noticing things I never noticed before. Yeah. Or I'm sitting at the video village in a chair watching one and I'm listening to the conversations. I'm going, oh, I never really knew that because I was always on set talking to the actors and rehearsing. And so that's where it really started to happen. And I saw you direct an episode and I went, oh, OK, this might be my chance. So yeah, I snuck into a scout van. You might have been in there, too. I snuck into a scout van. I remember this. Director came because what are you doing here in the van? And they kind of go, oh, OK, got it. OK. And it wasn't too long after that that I got the chance to do one in season eight and then I got to do one in season nine. Yeah, it's so cool. It's just like such a neat opportunity. And I think to your point, you know, one of the things we now see in hindsight about that set, because we were such an ensemble cast, like, look, we've all been on the shows where you're fighting for your life just to stay afloat in the amount of acting work you have. And on that show, because we all kind of got to breathe, especially in the later seasons, we would have days and we were so tight with the crew. It's like sometimes you'd rap midway through a Wednesday. But also what the hell else was there to do? We'd been to every restaurant in that small town a hundred times. So we'd stay on set and shoot the shit from Video Village and learn something. And it really it really did feel like there were waves of that show in my own experience that were the continuation of my BFA acting program. And then waves of that show that were my film school and waves of that show that were a course on directing. And, you know, I don't think it's something people get anymore when you do three seasons and it's six episodes a season. Like the world we got to experience, I think really shaped us all and it's really it's really cool. It's it's such a blessing to be able to have spent that much time on a set. You know, because I mean, directing is a big mountain to climb. And and if you're a young aspiring director and you want to go make a movie or whatever, I mean, there's not a lot of places. I mean, you can go to film school, but you're never going to learn at all until you're on sets. And yeah, I mean, I was I used to say this this thing where like when I was really young, I had the confidence. I was like, yeah, I can I can direct a movie, but I'm glad I didn't. I'm glad I didn't then. I know I'm glad I waited and I had had all this time. And I understood every job, every every job on the crew has. And I've spoken in depth with them about what they do now. And then I made a movie because there's so so much to learn. And you never stop learning. There's so much that goes in. It's true. And making a movie is hard. Like, can you give people a little peek behind the curtain from from writing to fundraising, to shooting, to now the movie coming out this week? Yeah. How long of a process was it? So we talked about it for two years and we were going back and forth like, I thought this should be a workplace comedy. It'd be perfect to be like Parks and Rec. Yeah. And so I was doing that and I was trying to go to people in LA and talk them into it, nobody bit. Finally, Drew, the writer said, let's let's make an indie movie. And I go, great, write it. He write it, script turned out great. And it wasn't until we found our producer, Jennifer Kuchai, she came on with so much energy that we raised the money in less than a year. And then we started shooting. So from talking about it to shooting was close to three years. Then shooting was 19 days. Post, you know, post varies, you know. Yeah. I think it took me a couple of months to get the movie to final cut to locked. But, you know, there's weird things like people want to do screenings and get opinions and all this stuff. And that is weird with time. You never know how long that's going to take. But then it took more time to go through the festival circuit and then go out to the buyers and the distributors and have them watch it. So all in all, I think it's, you know, close to four and a half years. And it making a movie is a startup. It is starting a business. Yes. You have to come up with the idea, come up with the product, build a deck, go out to investors, show them your deck, be excited, talk about it, get everybody a thousand knows. Yeah. And to give you their money, they're harder money. And it's it's so, so hard. It's a miracle that these things ever get made. Well, I think it's so incredible. I'm just so I'm so happy for you, friends. You have to check out the long shot. It's on Amazon, Apple and Fandango. So you have multiple places to watch it. I'm going to pick your brain a little more in depth about the movie. We're going to do a little bonus chat. But great to wrap up this perfect hang. And it feels like a crazy question, particularly on the other side of a, you know, nearly half decade love story with this piece of work you've made. But from this point you're in right now, what feels like your work in progress? Oh, great question. You know, I don't know when this happened, but I'm very in a new way. I'm like really proud of my acting career. And I have no ideas to stop at all. I'm about to go to Ireland to do a TV show. But I want to make five movies and I want to direct five movies. And, you know, they may not all be good, but I want to I want to leave behind. You know, some movies that I'm really proud of that that came out of my soul. You know, I want to leave something behind that, you know, as an actor, it's so fun and it's literally the coolest job in the world. But you are an instrument for someone else's idea. And I can't tell you how satisfying it is to have an idea and go execute it and then see a finished product. I mean, I went to the Violet Crown here tonight where it's playing in Austin and I peaked in the theater just to just to look at their faces. And you just see these these faces lit up just staring up at the screen, smiling and laughing. And I've never felt anything like that. And I just, you know, maybe I'll do a few more before I call it a day. I love that for you. I'm just I'm so happy for you, man. This is so cool. Thank you. Thank you so much for having me. When I'm choosing a Mother's Day gift, I always ask myself, will this still matter a year from now? And that is why I love the Lennox Spice Village. It is a charming set of 24 hand painted spice jars. Each one shaped like a little house. It is beautiful. It's actually useful and it brings a little joy into the everyday, which honestly is where the best moments live. Buying a meaningful gift can be a challenge sometimes, but the spice village feels practical and thoughtful and enduring, plus unique, just like mom. Explore the full Lennox Spice Village collection at Lennox.com slash Spice Village. Zolaire O'Malizumab has proven to significantly reduce allergic reactions if a food allergy accident happens. Zolaire, 150 milligrams is a prescription medication used to treat food allergy in people one year of age and older to reduce allergic reactions due to accidental exposure to one or more foods. While taking Zolaire, you should continue to avoid all foods to which you are allergic. Don't use if you are allergic to Zolaire. Zolaire may cause a severe life threatening allergic reaction called anaphylaxis. Tell your doctor if you have ever had anaphylaxis, get help right away. If you have trouble breathing or if you have swelling of your throat or tongue, Zolaire should not be used for the emergency treatment of allergic reactions, including anaphylaxis. Zolaire is for maintenance use to reduce allergic reactions, including anaphylaxis, while avoiding food allergens. Serious side effects such as cancer, fever, muscle aches and rash, parasitic infection or heart and circulation problems have been reported. Please see Zolaire.com for full prescribing information. Ask an allergist about Zolaire. This is an advertisement for Zolaire paid for by Genentech and Novartis. From coast to coast, unlock adventure at Red Lion Hotels by Sinesta, where restful sleep, friendly service and trusted local knowledge are part of every stay. Red Lion makes it easy to feel welcomed, comfortable and connected wherever the road takes you. Whether you're traveling for business or pleasure, you can spend less and make more of every trip when you sign up for Sinesta Travel Pass. You'll get our best rates instantly. Go to sinesta.com to book your stay and unlock the best rates with Sinesta Travel Pass. Here today, Rome tomorrow. Join now at sinesta.com. Terms and conditions apply. Are you a parent who feels guilty about screen time? No. No, not you, sweetheart. But your mommy and daddy do, because too many apps are filled with AI garbage, inappropriate videos and random content. Like a dancing potato. Or worse, that's what parents worry about. Wear lingo kits, the number one entertainment platform for young kids, because kids love it and parents can trust it. They want songs, videos and interactive games that are safe and fun and fun. Everything kids love. This is an iHeart podcast. Guaranteed human.