July 21, 2026 • 8 mins
Michael Johnston (of the movie Obsession) comes on to share his hot takes! Will he survive this round of rapid fire questions the fans have been wanting the answers to?
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hey guys, I'm Tommy d Dario. Welcome to Hot Takes
and Hangouts. I am hanging out with Michael Johnston. You
know him from Obsession? How are you, my man? Doing great?
Are you ready for some hot takes? Let's go rap Okay,
rapid fire? Here we go? All right? All right, where
do I want to again? Okay? What's the craziest fan
theory you've seen online about Obsession?
Speaker 2 (00:18):
That Nicky is actually possessed by the spirit of Bear's
cat Sandy.
Speaker 1 (00:25):
It's wow crazy.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
It's totally like waiting outside of the bathroom, following around
waiting for him to get home, all that stuff, like
it all makes sense. There's a lot of stuff in
there that could prove that theory.
Speaker 1 (00:39):
That's actually kind of amazing. Yeah, whoever created that, hats
off to the kudos. Kind of amazing.
Speaker 2 (00:45):
There's a very graphic, extremely bloody scene in the film
that involves a head being smashed. So in the director's cut,
after the head is smashed, that character is still alive
for a little while and she makes some gurgling sounds.
(01:05):
Oh God, it's horrific, it's so bad. But the first time,
that was the first cut that I saw then they
had to take it out. But man, if you're like
a fan of horror and you know the brutality of it,
it's it's it's brutal.
Speaker 1 (01:21):
It sounds brutal.
Speaker 2 (01:22):
Yeah, it's great. It's it's like one of those things
that you you you want to watch it, but you
you have to look away. I just remember that moment.
I was like, damn, that's dark.
Speaker 1 (01:31):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (01:32):
And she did not Sarah did not deserve the thing.
She didn't deserve it.
Speaker 1 (01:35):
Poor thing. That would have put the rating in like
a whole different category it did. Wow. Yeah, yeah, okay,
well we have to see it now now, yeah, yeah,
we got just cut there we go. Do you have
a favorite horror movie?
Speaker 2 (01:48):
It's so hard to pick one, all right, anything? Yeah,
I mean I'm a big fan of ari Asta. I
loved Hereditarian, Midsomar. I'm just go I gotta say one.
Speaker 1 (02:00):
Okay, go ahead.
Speaker 2 (02:01):
I have a bunch. I mean, I love Silence of
the Lambs, I love the twenty eight Days Later, like.
Speaker 1 (02:10):
The brilliant message. Yeah, I'm like I like a slash
of like scream and like hollow stuff, but I want darker.
Speaker 2 (02:16):
I like some I like some really dark ship you know.
That's my dad's fault. He showed me all these movies.
He showed me Halloween when I was like nine or
ten or something, and I was terrified. But now I
have this like morbid curiosity, and anytime a movie can
get under my skin, like the tone of Blair Witch,
I'm just like.
Speaker 1 (02:35):
Oh, man, I know, Oh my god, I love it.
I want more. Did you watch Widow's Bay?
Speaker 2 (02:41):
I did, and I loved it, just so good I expected,
but no, I know I didn't. I heard that it
was horror comedy, and I kind of rolled my eyes
because it's really hard to get that right. But man,
I was cackling.
Speaker 1 (02:53):
I think they're gonna sweep Awards.
Speaker 2 (02:54):
It's oh absolutely. What's the name of the one character
the the lady and she like closes the door in
the guy's face and she's so funny.
Speaker 1 (03:02):
Yeah, I forget her her name, but.
Speaker 2 (03:06):
Man, she's fantastic everyone in that show.
Speaker 1 (03:09):
So, because you said Halloween or reminded me of the
episode that was very.
Speaker 2 (03:12):
That's the one I was yeah with the yeah.
Speaker 1 (03:15):
So good show, Me too, loved it. Okay, what is
the best song to get you out of a bad mood?
Speaker 2 (03:23):
Oh, hmmm, I feel good. That song was playing when
I was born. Really yeah, my my, my, my leg
popped out first and my my butt came out, and
that was the first thing to see the world too.
(03:43):
I feel good.
Speaker 1 (03:45):
That's what my dad says forever. Yeah, yeah, I feel good. Okay,
you might need to do a cover of that eventually.
Speaker 2 (03:52):
Yeah, I should take.
Speaker 1 (03:52):
A stripped down acoustic version, just saying I'd love to,
Just saying, all right, what's something you always do before
an audition?
Speaker 2 (04:03):
Are we talking about like the old days where you
kind of show up when you go in person?
Speaker 1 (04:06):
Yeah, because it's changed now.
Speaker 2 (04:08):
Yeah, the tapes. It's almost all tapes. Something that I
learned from a little bit of theater that I've done
is to sort of kind of be aware of the
surroundings and kind of like find a way to kind
of root myself in this in the space where I am.
(04:29):
So something that I loved to do when we did that,
when we used to go into the rooms, was just
sort of like really kind of take in everything around me, like,
so I'm learning my lines, I got my lines, blah
blah blah. But then the last thing that goes through
my mind is like just kind of be very like
there's a table there, there's a rug here, like feel
like just kind of try to like ground myself in
(04:50):
the current moment, because once you're there, the preparation's done,
you gotta just let it go. If you don't know
the lines that well, you know, just vacant acting.
Speaker 1 (04:57):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (04:58):
I do have a crazy story though on I'm I.
It was like Pilot season when that was a thing
and I was running driving all around town. He's spend
like three hours in the car, and I messed up
and I thought I was a different audition and I didn't.
I wasn't prepared enough and a guy was coming out
of the room and I just like snatched his lines
out of his hand and went straight in. It was really.
Speaker 1 (05:20):
Bad, like without any concept. Yeah, it was.
Speaker 2 (05:23):
I was like hanging up brow that he was like,
oh wait, and then I like was I was reading
like basically cold reading and he had like notes in there,
and oh it was. It was awful. I did get
that rule. I did, and then that and now from
now on, I'm like, geez, I'm always so stressed about this.
Just just throw it away, just be yourself. I don't know,
(05:44):
maybe that's terrible advice.
Speaker 1 (05:45):
It depends on the rule. No, oh, I like that advice,
and that guy now is gonna.
Speaker 2 (05:49):
Be like, I can't believe that I shouldn't have done it,
but I just panicked and I just kind of made
a decision. You got to just sometimes you.
Speaker 1 (05:55):
Just gotta look, it was game day. How to do it?
How to make a decision? Okay, which Obsession cast member?
Would you want to be stuck on an island with you?
Speaker 2 (06:05):
Megan Lawless?
Speaker 1 (06:06):
Why?
Speaker 2 (06:07):
Because she's just a sweetheart and we just like giggle
together and I feel like we might not survive, we'll
have a great time.
Speaker 1 (06:17):
Okay, I guess it counts for something.
Speaker 2 (06:21):
Yeah, but if I'm thinking in terms of like who
hm survival? Well, Indy loves well No, Cooper really knows
all these interesting facts. He's very wise. He has a
lot of trivia on his brain, so he might be
a good choice. But also Indy is a hardcore gamer
(06:42):
and she used to like stream so maybe she's played
a lot of games. We have to survive. That's a
tough one. I'd probably be the most useless one.
Speaker 1 (06:53):
So he would you take them all?
Speaker 2 (06:54):
I'd be like, oh man, we gotta make a mattress.
Speaker 1 (06:59):
Like you know, it would be like not the most
important thing, right, sleep in the sand?
Speaker 2 (07:03):
Yeah, yeah, like I need some bugs, all.
Speaker 1 (07:07):
Right, so a combination of all of them. We'll take it.
You're doing fine. Oh here's a nice one. Oh perfect
first date.
Speaker 2 (07:19):
Oh, perfect first date.
Speaker 1 (07:25):
Hmmm.
Speaker 2 (07:25):
A walk. I love a good walk, just you know,
because it's nice because if it's not going great, you
can kind of like probably wrap it up. You can
figure that out. And if it is going great, it's
it'll last. It could last a little longer. Or if
if you're kind of like having some butterflies while you're walking,
(07:47):
so you don't like look at them the whole time.
Speaker 1 (07:49):
Yeah, I like I like a walk.
Speaker 2 (07:51):
I don't get people who go to the movies for
a first date. You're not even like talking to each other. No,
I don't like that unless you go to see Obsession. Okay,
that's a great first.
Speaker 1 (08:01):
Dage suttle plug all right, my man, Well, thank you
so much. You survived the rapid fire around and everybody.
If you want more from this amazing dude sitting right here,
you can hear our full interview, which is out now,
so go listen and go watch obsession. You can watch
us from the comfort of your couch right now. Thank
you so much, thank you
Hey guys, I'm Tommy d Dario. Welcome to Hot Takes
and Hangouts. I am hanging out with Michael Johnston. You
know him from Obsession? How are you, my man? Doing great?
Are you ready for some hot takes? Let's go rap Okay,
rapid fire? Here we go? All right? All right, where
do I want to again? Okay? What's the craziest fan
theory you've seen online about Obsession?
Speaker 2 (00:18):
That Nicky is actually possessed by the spirit of Bear's
cat Sandy.
Speaker 1 (00:25):
It's wow crazy.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
It's totally like waiting outside of the bathroom, following around
waiting for him to get home, all that stuff, like
it all makes sense. There's a lot of stuff in
there that could prove that theory.
Speaker 1 (00:39):
That's actually kind of amazing. Yeah, whoever created that, hats
off to the kudos. Kind of amazing.
Speaker 2 (00:45):
There's a very graphic, extremely bloody scene in the film
that involves a head being smashed. So in the director's cut,
after the head is smashed, that character is still alive
for a little while and she makes some gurgling sounds.
(01:05):
Oh God, it's horrific, it's so bad. But the first time,
that was the first cut that I saw then they
had to take it out. But man, if you're like
a fan of horror and you know the brutality of it,
it's it's it's brutal.
Speaker 1 (01:21):
It sounds brutal.
Speaker 2 (01:22):
Yeah, it's great. It's it's like one of those things
that you you you want to watch it, but you
you have to look away. I just remember that moment.
I was like, damn, that's dark.
Speaker 1 (01:31):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (01:32):
And she did not Sarah did not deserve the thing.
She didn't deserve it.
Speaker 1 (01:35):
Poor thing. That would have put the rating in like
a whole different category it did. Wow. Yeah, yeah, okay,
well we have to see it now now, yeah, yeah,
we got just cut there we go. Do you have
a favorite horror movie?
Speaker 2 (01:48):
It's so hard to pick one, all right, anything? Yeah,
I mean I'm a big fan of ari Asta. I
loved Hereditarian, Midsomar. I'm just go I gotta say one.
Speaker 1 (02:00):
Okay, go ahead.
Speaker 2 (02:01):
I have a bunch. I mean, I love Silence of
the Lambs, I love the twenty eight Days Later, like.
Speaker 1 (02:10):
The brilliant message. Yeah, I'm like I like a slash
of like scream and like hollow stuff, but I want darker.
Speaker 2 (02:16):
I like some I like some really dark ship you know.
That's my dad's fault. He showed me all these movies.
He showed me Halloween when I was like nine or
ten or something, and I was terrified. But now I
have this like morbid curiosity, and anytime a movie can
get under my skin, like the tone of Blair Witch,
I'm just like.
Speaker 1 (02:35):
Oh, man, I know, Oh my god, I love it.
I want more. Did you watch Widow's Bay?
Speaker 2 (02:41):
I did, and I loved it, just so good I expected,
but no, I know I didn't. I heard that it
was horror comedy, and I kind of rolled my eyes
because it's really hard to get that right. But man,
I was cackling.
Speaker 1 (02:53):
I think they're gonna sweep Awards.
Speaker 2 (02:54):
It's oh absolutely. What's the name of the one character
the the lady and she like closes the door in
the guy's face and she's so funny.
Speaker 1 (03:02):
Yeah, I forget her her name, but.
Speaker 2 (03:06):
Man, she's fantastic everyone in that show.
Speaker 1 (03:09):
So, because you said Halloween or reminded me of the
episode that was very.
Speaker 2 (03:12):
That's the one I was yeah with the yeah.
Speaker 1 (03:15):
So good show, Me too, loved it. Okay, what is
the best song to get you out of a bad mood?
Speaker 2 (03:23):
Oh, hmmm, I feel good. That song was playing when
I was born. Really yeah, my my, my, my leg
popped out first and my my butt came out, and
that was the first thing to see the world too.
(03:43):
I feel good.
Speaker 1 (03:45):
That's what my dad says forever. Yeah, yeah, I feel good. Okay,
you might need to do a cover of that eventually.
Speaker 2 (03:52):
Yeah, I should take.
Speaker 1 (03:52):
A stripped down acoustic version, just saying I'd love to,
Just saying, all right, what's something you always do before
an audition?
Speaker 2 (04:03):
Are we talking about like the old days where you
kind of show up when you go in person?
Speaker 1 (04:06):
Yeah, because it's changed now.
Speaker 2 (04:08):
Yeah, the tapes. It's almost all tapes. Something that I
learned from a little bit of theater that I've done
is to sort of kind of be aware of the
surroundings and kind of like find a way to kind
of root myself in this in the space where I am.
(04:29):
So something that I loved to do when we did that,
when we used to go into the rooms, was just
sort of like really kind of take in everything around me, like,
so I'm learning my lines, I got my lines, blah
blah blah. But then the last thing that goes through
my mind is like just kind of be very like
there's a table there, there's a rug here, like feel
like just kind of try to like ground myself in
(04:50):
the current moment, because once you're there, the preparation's done,
you gotta just let it go. If you don't know
the lines that well, you know, just vacant acting.
Speaker 1 (04:57):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (04:58):
I do have a crazy story though on I'm I.
It was like Pilot season when that was a thing
and I was running driving all around town. He's spend
like three hours in the car, and I messed up
and I thought I was a different audition and I didn't.
I wasn't prepared enough and a guy was coming out
of the room and I just like snatched his lines
out of his hand and went straight in. It was really.
Speaker 1 (05:20):
Bad, like without any concept. Yeah, it was.
Speaker 2 (05:23):
I was like hanging up brow that he was like,
oh wait, and then I like was I was reading
like basically cold reading and he had like notes in there,
and oh it was. It was awful. I did get
that rule. I did, and then that and now from
now on, I'm like, geez, I'm always so stressed about this.
Just just throw it away, just be yourself. I don't know,
(05:44):
maybe that's terrible advice.
Speaker 1 (05:45):
It depends on the rule. No, oh, I like that advice,
and that guy now is gonna.
Speaker 2 (05:49):
Be like, I can't believe that I shouldn't have done it,
but I just panicked and I just kind of made
a decision. You got to just sometimes you.
Speaker 1 (05:55):
Just gotta look, it was game day. How to do it?
How to make a decision? Okay, which Obsession cast member?
Would you want to be stuck on an island with you?
Speaker 2 (06:05):
Megan Lawless?
Speaker 1 (06:06):
Why?
Speaker 2 (06:07):
Because she's just a sweetheart and we just like giggle
together and I feel like we might not survive, we'll
have a great time.
Speaker 1 (06:17):
Okay, I guess it counts for something.
Speaker 2 (06:21):
Yeah, but if I'm thinking in terms of like who
hm survival? Well, Indy loves well No, Cooper really knows
all these interesting facts. He's very wise. He has a
lot of trivia on his brain, so he might be
a good choice. But also Indy is a hardcore gamer
(06:42):
and she used to like stream so maybe she's played
a lot of games. We have to survive. That's a
tough one. I'd probably be the most useless one.
Speaker 1 (06:53):
So he would you take them all?
Speaker 2 (06:54):
I'd be like, oh man, we gotta make a mattress.
Speaker 1 (06:59):
Like you know, it would be like not the most
important thing, right, sleep in the sand?
Speaker 2 (07:03):
Yeah, yeah, like I need some bugs, all.
Speaker 1 (07:07):
Right, so a combination of all of them. We'll take it.
You're doing fine. Oh here's a nice one. Oh perfect
first date.
Speaker 2 (07:19):
Oh, perfect first date.
Speaker 1 (07:25):
Hmmm.
Speaker 2 (07:25):
A walk. I love a good walk, just you know,
because it's nice because if it's not going great, you
can kind of like probably wrap it up. You can
figure that out. And if it is going great, it's
it'll last. It could last a little longer. Or if
if you're kind of like having some butterflies while you're walking,
(07:47):
so you don't like look at them the whole time.
Speaker 1 (07:49):
Yeah, I like I like a walk.
Speaker 2 (07:51):
I don't get people who go to the movies for
a first date. You're not even like talking to each other. No,
I don't like that unless you go to see Obsession. Okay,
that's a great first.
Speaker 1 (08:01):
Dage suttle plug all right, my man, Well, thank you
so much. You survived the rapid fire around and everybody.
If you want more from this amazing dude sitting right here,
you can hear our full interview, which is out now,
so go listen and go watch obsession. You can watch
us from the comfort of your couch right now. Thank
you so much, thank you
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