Starring Dwier Brown as Ben Miller in “Rip Girls”

Dwier Brown joins Will to talk about the evolution of his career, “Rip Girls” and more! 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:14):
Thank you everybody for joining us on this par copper
episode of Magical Rewind. It's gonna be a little bit
different today because I am flying solo.

Speaker 2 (00:22):
That's right. My partner in crime, the tallest girl I've
ever met in my life. She's very short.

Speaker 1 (00:27):
Sabrina Brian is not able to join me today because
she is off with fabulous people doing fabulous things. Well,
she is actually off with fabulous people. She's off with
her daughter on a special daughter day and she couldn't
come for this amazing interview we have today. So I
am flying solo with somebody I'm very happy to talk
to because he's been in some incredible projects. But we're
really interested in his dcom work and we just watched

(00:50):
his movie.

Speaker 2 (00:51):
That's right. I am talking of course about rip Girls.
Please help me welcome dwi or Brown. Hi.

Speaker 1 (00:59):
Hello, thank you so much for joining us. We have
so much to talk to you about. We usually like
to start how one finds the entertainment industry. So what
led you into being an actor? How did it all
start for you?

Speaker 3 (01:11):
Gosh? Well, I grew up on a farm in Ohio
and you know, just loved movies and you know, one
of the one of the two things we could get
out of farm work for was playing sports or being
in plays. So I was tried to get in as
many plays as I could. As in Sharon Center, Ohio,
population three hundred, so all that was was church plays.

(01:34):
My brother started a little theater group in it was
called Sharon Center Youth Theater skit huh ah, okay there,
So we just did plays and it was just always
fun for me. But of course everybody told me, hey,
you can't make a living as an actor. What are
you going to do for real life? You know? So

(01:54):
when I went to college, I got into radio and television.
I thought, oh, this is kind of like acting, but
maybe you can make money. I think I was wrong
on both counts. Nonetheless, I ended up, you know, just
getting cast in plays and just loving it so much.
And when I got out of school, I was going
to try to get into advertising, which I thought, now
that might be fun, but I couldn't get a job.

(02:15):
So I thought, well, if I ever wanted to try acting,
I should do it now. And I don't have a
family or anybody depending on me. So I moved to
Chicago and got into improv and Second City and doing
a bunch of stuff like that, and then got an
opportunity to come to la and and you know, I
ended up getting in The Thornbirds the Miniscaries when I
first got here, and gosh, after that, it was kind of,

(02:38):
you know, you get bitten by the bug. I mean
I got to work with stan Wick who i'd movies
and on Big Valley and Richard Chamberlain and you know
all these you know, big stars, and you know, here
I still feel like this little farm kid from Ohio.
So anyway, it was, Yeah, it was really a series
of coincidences and and you know, lucky breaks and misfortunes,

(03:01):
all those things.

Speaker 1 (03:02):
She So your early Hollywood life was it a struggle
at the start or was it one of those things
because we've heard different stories. We hear some people that
came in that were like, man, I struggled every day.
And we had some people that came in and said
I was just booking left and right, and I just
was getting everything.

Speaker 3 (03:17):
Yeah, I guess I was kind of lucky when I came.
My agent sponsored me to come out from Chicago, I
mean kind of on a fluke. What happened was I
was a pretty new actor in Chicago, but I had
this agent, An Getty's. She used to sponsor like a
dozen of her actors to come out during pilot season
back when they had pilot season in January and February,

(03:38):
and somebody canceled at the last moment. They got a
gig in Chicago and couldn't come, And I happened to
be in the office at the time, and they're like,
what are we going to do? We already got the
plane ticket and everything else, and I was like, I'll go.
And so I came to La and you know, it
was just unbelievable to me. Palm trees even I was like,
I couldn't have been more of a hay seed, you know.

(03:58):
I was just having the time. But I auditioned for
The Thornbirds while I was out here, and we were
only coming out for six weeks, and I didn't get anything.
But I went back and I got back to Chicago,
Thornbirds said hey, we're lucky to come back for a callback,
and I was like, so anyway, Then I ended up
building The Thornbirds, which was at the time a very big,

(04:18):
huge series, and so it became something that everyone needs
in the acting business, is a show that somebody can say, oh,
he was so and so in the thornbirds, and people
sort of start to know who you are, and so
I guess I was pretty lucky. But I did suffer.
I mean, I mean I was living on people's couches
and all those things until you know, until that the

(04:41):
checks came in and I could afford. But you know,
it was a I mean, it was such an adventure.
Like I said, I moved to Venice, you know, Venice Beach,
of all places, from my stupid little farm to you know,
one of the craziest places in America, I think, And
I moved there just for that reason. You know, I
could go out on the board walk and just see
people doing the most outrageous things, and that made me

(05:04):
feel like, Okay, there's a home for me out there somewhere.

Speaker 2 (05:06):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (05:07):
Well, yeah, I think you probably couldn't get much more
diametrically opposed in the United States than moving from a
small town in Ohio to Venice, California. That's that's a
pretty good one now in your early career, because you've
done some really great stuff and stuff that was very
important to me when I was growing up. For instance,
just literally two weeks ago. I just watched To Live
in die La again. So you're working with somebody, you

(05:29):
get to work with somebody like William Friedkin, who's another legend.
And for all of our younger listeners out there who
maybe haven't seen To Live in die in La, it
was up there at the time with having one of
the greatest chase scenes that was probably ever put on film.
And so what was you know, walk us through that
a little bit? Was what was that film experience?

Speaker 4 (05:47):
Like?

Speaker 3 (05:48):
Well, it was pretty weird. You know. I went in
for the audition and it was a you know, fairly
small part, and Bill Friedkin himself decided he wanted to
improvise with me. Geez, so he you know, he pretends that,
you know, he wants to you know, this information whatever
happened to the scene. I think I give up some
information that helps you know, Bill Peterson. Anyway, So I'm

(06:09):
improvising with with you know, William Friedkin, you know, this
Academy Award winning director, and you know, you're so nervous
in the time I left and I thought, I don't know,
I did that go okay? I guess anyway, I got
cast in the thing, and what was kind of funny
is gosh, how many years later must have been twenty
years later. I was up for the lead just after
Field of Dreams came out. They were looking for somebody

(06:31):
in this movie called the Guardian, that freakin director. And
I went in to audition and he, you know, he
and he said, well, it's nice to meet you. And
I said, well, actually, Bill, I've already been in one
of your movies. And you know, I rarely do things
like that. You know, I'm still weterned, and I don't
usually you know, confront people. But I think he was
so taken aback. I think it had a lot to

(06:53):
do with that. I got the part because it was
so like, oh yeah, I remember, you know. Anyway, it
was it was experience, but yeah, I got to do
two movies with uh, with Bill, with Hurricane Billy as
they called him.

Speaker 1 (07:04):
I was gonna say, he's got kind of quite the
reputation of kind of famously making actors live the roles.

Speaker 2 (07:09):
That they're playing.

Speaker 1 (07:11):
I mean, what was your experience with him, like, was
it was it, uh, you know, conducive to the kind
of the creative atmosphere, or was it a little intense?

Speaker 3 (07:19):
It was a little intense. I think I think Bill
Freed can rest his soul. I he did, you know,
won the Academy Award for French Connection, and yeah, he
had had a sort of a reputation as an enfant,
you know that he acted like a child, basically, very
petulant and do this and let's do this, and you know,
I think it worked, you know, certainly in uh in

(07:42):
French Connection and a lot of his other movies. But
I think as he got older, he kept trying to
play that, you know, that role. And I think, I mean,
he was a very very smart guy. He used to
run tours at the Getty Center. I mean, he's very
educated in art and all kinds of things. But you know,
he was He was perfectly fine to me on the
set of The Guardian, but he was kind of mean

(08:03):
to the women my My My co stars Carrie Lowell
and Jen pc you know, like he that carry Lowlell
was supposed to be scared in the scene walking down
the stairs. It was inside a sound stage, you know,
paper thin walls, and she's walking down the stairs because
somebody's in the house, and he had somebody behind the

(08:24):
set right right next to her, like this far away
but there's a you know, little luon panel here, fire
a gun. Oh geez, like practically jumped off the stairs.
And you know, he was just totally amused by this
kind of manipulation. And you know, I didn't like that,
you know, to me, it shows a lack of trust
in your actors that you like, I do stuff like

(08:45):
that anyway. But you know, Bill and I got along.
Find In fact, I told that story on a on
a I think it was a video release re release
of the Guardian. And then I got a phone call
on my answering machine. This is Bill Friedkin. I heard
what you said on the thing. Maybe we should have
lunch sometime, and then he hung up. You know, geez,

(09:08):
I just got threatened by you know, My thinking was,
you know, I mean, I know it's not necessarily a flattering,
flattering story, but when you're trying to resell a movie,
you know, you want some drama. Sure, sure, that's trying
to spoil the beans, you know anyway, but.

Speaker 1 (09:22):
Yeah, the I mean, he could he could do French connection,
another great example of just a chase scene.

Speaker 2 (09:26):
The man could do a chase scene. So yeah, he
knew what he was doing.

Speaker 3 (09:29):
Yeah, absolutely, And yeah, and like I said, brilliant, but
just I don't know a little. Definitely, he was like
a five year old child. That's the way I described
to anybody. He's serious. And you know it was good
and bad for all those reasons.

Speaker 1 (09:43):
So then you how much longer after something like To
Live and Die in La was then you know, Field
of Dreams, which is was is in the lexicon as
one of the most famous films arguably of all time.

Speaker 3 (09:54):
Oh oh, thank you. Yeah, I guess it had been like,
you know, five or six years. I think I had
some lean years in the You know, in Hollywood, you
have a hot thing like the thorn Bird. If you
don't capitalize on it and get to the next one,
then you know, you the heat diminishes and you have
to over again. And I found myself doing that many
times in my career, you know, even even To Live

(10:15):
and Die in La like you said, it was kind
of this hot movie at the time, and so you know,
and but you know, I, yeah, you've got to parlay
it to the next thing is really the way it
comes down to it. And so yeah, it was probably
five or six years before The Thornbirds or before a
Field of Dreams. Came down the pike.

Speaker 1 (10:31):
And now, so what was that, Like, you're getting that script,
did you understand the scope of what field of dreams
at least had the possibility of being. I mean, obviously,
no no actor knows what project is going to be
what it is before you do it. But at the
same time, was there kind of that feeling in your
stomach of ooh, this could be something special?

Speaker 3 (10:48):
Well, you know, it was such a beautiful script. And
what was interesting is I had read the book Shoeless
Joe that it's based on when I was in college,
and my friend of mine had told me about it,
and I just love this book. And so when you
get an audition for a book that you love, you know,
it was just I was just so excited, you know,
and I you know, it's kind of interesting. I went

(11:10):
into it, you know, when they said, oh you're going
to You're up for John can Sell, and I was like, oh, man,
that's such a small part. Like, you know, I thought
this page, I thought, gosh, is there somebody else? Couldn't
I play one of the other ballplayers or something, you know.
And the reason was I didn't understand the import of
my part in the movie. Partially because in the book,
John Kinsella appears in the first chapter I think, and

(11:32):
sort of has an ongoing dialogue with Ray throughout the movie.
So it's not pivotal in any way. It's this little
side story in a way, along with a lot of
other stories that were cut out of the book before
they made the movie. And so I am embarrassed about
it now. But I didn't understand how much focus would

(11:53):
be put on my appearance at the end of the movie. Yeah,
I mean, I think it was definitely assisted by James
Horner's beautiful score, you know, the way that movie is,
so it's kind of comical and weird and you're following along,
but that thunderous, kind of rumbling soundtrack kind of build

(12:14):
to this like it was a storm coming across the prairie,
and then it hits there's my face, you know, forty
feet high on the screen. And you know, even throughout
the shooting, it was only when we had the cast
and creuse screening, you know, the day before it's released
to the public, and we were all in the room.
You know, usually those affairs, the cast and creuse screenings,

(12:35):
are pretty joky. You know, people are making fun stuff
that they see, like, hey man, you forgot to paint
that side of the barn. And you know, people are
joking around, you know, that movie all of us. You know,
we were joking around at the beginning, and then about
half hour in you could see its kind of everybody's
getting a little more quiet, you know, it got more serious,
and by the end we were all I mean, I'm
looking at my own face and I'm crying my eyes out,

(12:58):
and you know it's me. I can't like say that.
You know, it's a really performance and I'm appreciating it
was something that they captured in the process of the shooting,
and you know, and then we were all like bumping
into each other after the screening going like, oh my god,
what this is? This is so great. But I mean,
even at that point, Universal didn't think much of the movie.

(13:19):
They were gonna they were planning to release it straight
to video after they'd seen it, and it was only
this is kind of a great story. I mean, it's
not about rip girls.

Speaker 2 (13:28):
But they get there. I promise we'll get the repels.

Speaker 3 (13:33):
Our writer, director Phil Robinson, was finishing up the editing
over at Universal and Steven Spielberg, who had just moved
to his ambulance offices there after, you know, Et and Jaws.
He was the hottest thing around obviously still is. But
he snuck into one of the screenings pre release screenings,
and Phil was upset about it. He didn't want Spielberg

(13:55):
to see his movie before it was finished. But he
snuck into it, and he convinced Lou Oscerman over at Universal.
He said, hey, you got to give this movie a chance.
And you know, Lou wasn't gonna you know, yeah off
in the face of his book style. He you know,
he gave it a thing. But it was only opening
like I don't know, fifteen screens across the country when
it opened in April of eighty nine, and you know,

(14:17):
they were just hoping it would just die and they
could say to Spielberg, Hey, I.

Speaker 2 (14:20):
Did you know Yavid to do what you said?

Speaker 3 (14:22):
Yeah, But you know, back then before the Internet, people
would see it and they'd go, I can't tell you
anything about this movie because it'll ruin it, but you
have to go seefield of dreams. And they did, and
people went, and they ended up opening it. Oh then
they you know, had fifty theaters and then it became
under it, and it ended up in you know, thousands
of theaters across the country, ran for like a year

(14:43):
and a half in first one, and you know made
you know, obviously made a bunch of money and I mean.

Speaker 2 (14:49):
More than the point careers.

Speaker 3 (14:51):
And yeah, thirty five years later, we're still talking about it.

Speaker 4 (14:55):
You know.

Speaker 3 (14:55):
I ended up having such a great time. I wrote
a book, you know, because so many people came up
to me, you know, and they would say, do I
know you did we go to high school together? And
I'm like, no, I'm from Ohio, and oh my god,
well you feel the dreams? And I'd like yeah, and
they'd be like no, like no, they don't know. And

(15:15):
I say so, I'm trying to convince them that I'm
exactly who they thought I was. But once they registered,
they would just start start crying. I'd be standing there
in a grocery store or something.

Speaker 4 (15:25):
Yeah, it's impactful film, yeah, And I would just listen
to them, you know, and I'm so sorry about that,
you know, and like, I'm sure your dad would be
very proud of, you know somebody.

Speaker 3 (15:36):
Some of them they'd had a great relationship with their
dad and just wanted one more game of catch. Some
of them their dad died, you know, where they were
an infant and they never had a chance to have
a relations. Other ones their dads were abusive and they
just wanted to have a catch with them, and their
dad was like a jerk, and but they all were just,
you know, broken up about this. So I, you know,

(15:58):
a lot of people don't know my father died thirty
days before we went to go shoot that movie. He
was and he died suddenly, and I was already on
my way to Iowa to shoot the movie. So I
just left my father's funeral and I'm going to go
play a dead father coming out of the corner to
have a catch with their son.

Speaker 2 (16:15):
Oh my goodness.

Speaker 3 (16:17):
So anyway, I understood when people came up to me
and had feelings about their dads, because you know, obviously
I didn't. You know, My only regret is I never
got to watch that movie with my dad. But so
I tried to be there for him, you know, and
I just give him a hug and say, you know, man,
I'm so sorry, and you know, just trying to acknowledge
their dad the way we all want some of the
world for a second and say, oh, my god, you know,

(16:40):
Will's father died or you know, my dad is dad,
and you know it feels like the world should stop,
but it doesn't, you know. Yeah, And anyway, so that's
just been because of those interactions and because so many
people want to hear stories about the movie, I ended
up writing a book which which which has been great
right to this day. Now I do speaking engagements all
over the country, you know, going to Iowa three times

(17:02):
this summer, and I was just an Arkansas Dallas and yeah,
I'm speaking in front of lawyers and the Arkansas Farm Bureau,
you know, thousands of people telling him growing up on
a farm, shooting this movie on a farm and having
my father die in this very kind of pivotal and.

Speaker 2 (17:25):
Sad well for everybody out there. So we know. The
book is called If You Build It.

Speaker 1 (17:30):
Yeah, and you can get this on Amazon or anywhere else,
I imagine.

Speaker 3 (17:33):
Yeah, yeah, it's it looks like this I just happened.
I was reading it anyway. Yeah, I sell signed copies
on my website, which is just Dwyer Brown dot com.
But yeah, it's available on Amazon. It's got a lot
of great reviews, and especially around now Father's Day, I'm
sending out books.

Speaker 1 (17:50):
Yeah, I'm going I'm certainly going to be picking up
a copy of that. That's really absolutely incredible. And now
that story about your father is amazing. So wow, shooting
that must have been a number of different emotions going
through you as you're doing this film.

Speaker 2 (18:04):
You couldn't even imagine.

Speaker 3 (18:05):
Yeah, oddly, you know, I thought maybe I wouldn't be
able to make it through the scene. I'd be such
a wreck. But yeah, somehow, my father had a pretty
rough life, and shortly after he died, I was kind
of mad at myself that I couldn't cry. I hear,
I'm an actor, supposed to be in touch with my emotions.
But I realized that my dad had this rough life,
and there was something about his death that felt like
like he was released from this. You know, he'd been

(18:26):
in World War Two and the depression. His dad has
been a terrible, terrible father, you know, ignored him and
abused him in trying to get a divorce from my grandmother,
and it was just a mess. And and so it
felt free. I felt like my dad was like a hummingbird,
like buzzing out to Saturn and coming back and like, oh,
my gosh, do I saturns incredible? I gotta go, you know.

(18:47):
And so I was this confused emotion and I felt
him there at the field, you know, all these ghost
players that are coming out of the corner, and I
felt like, oh my, my dad is here, you know,
so man it. But I you know, I think in
a small way it contributed to the sense of happiness
and longing and sadness that that movie I think share

(19:10):
so much with people and out of people, because it's
you know, it's it's a bittersweet, it's it's at once
beautiful and you know, sad that Yeah.

Speaker 1 (19:18):
It's also an eternal story. That's why it's lasted so long,
and we'll continue to last. It's a story that will
resonate now as much as it will fifty years from now.

Speaker 2 (19:26):
So really incredible. Okay, So we do have to move
on to one.

Speaker 1 (19:37):
We had to stop one place before Rip Girls, because
there's one more stop that is a perfect bridge between
films like To Live and Die in La and Field
of Dreams to.

Speaker 2 (19:47):
Then Rip Girls.

Speaker 1 (19:48):
In the middle there's something that is a great stop
gap for our audience, which is cutting edge. Okay, So
ninety two, you do a move which which has all
the kind of same vibes as a d com. Uh,
very much kind of familiar territory for those of us
who'd love to watch the d com.

Speaker 2 (20:06):
So what is what is shooting something like cutting edge?

Speaker 3 (20:10):
Like, well, it was incredible For the first place I
got cass in a movie that was being directed by
Paul Michael Glazer, who played Starsky. It was like hera
to a lot of us who grew up in the seventies,
he was this, you know, Starsky and Hutch. He was
definitely the cooler. Everybody wanted to be Starsky and nobody
wanted to be Hutch. And uh, I hear you directing

(20:31):
this movie I'm in. I'm like, I couldn't. I was
beside myself, you know. And obviously Moira Kelly was just
a beautiful person inside and out and dB Sweeney and
so it's very exciting, you know, shot in Canada, in Montreal,
and uh, you know, I don't love playing a jerk
boyfriend or in case of rip girls kind of you know,

(20:52):
overprotective father's kind.

Speaker 1 (20:53):
You know, it's not complicated father, My boyfriend definitely a
but complicated father.

Speaker 2 (20:58):
I would say, yeah, okay, thank.

Speaker 3 (20:59):
You, for that. But anyway, yeah, it was still just
it was just such a hoot. And you know, surprisingly,
I mean, Paul Michael Glazer, he was a great guy,
but he was a I mean, he was an extremely
controlling director. I was surprised. I remember dB Sweeney and
I are meeting in this one scene. It's a big soiree,

(21:21):
and I shake his hand, and I swear we spent
you know, twenty takes and two hours on the handshake.
He would say, okay, put your hand out, No, totally,
a little to the right, a little more, okay, now
reach and not too far, you know, like I.

Speaker 2 (21:35):
Mean, it's like an adventure.

Speaker 3 (21:38):
Yeah, anyway, it was kind of amazing. We were like,
you know, it felt again like you know, not not
really trusting an actor, which was strange coming from it.
You know, Like anyway, the movie ended up being mean,
I thought the movie is gonna be terrible for that reason.
I was like, I mean, how could this be good
when you're micromanaging like that? But you know, I think
it's a pretty good rom com.

Speaker 2 (21:57):
You know, it's a great rom com. Definitely.

Speaker 3 (22:00):
I really don't think it often gets the credit it
deserves it. You know, Walks a pretty fine line, and
I think it does it pretty well.

Speaker 1 (22:06):
It does, and I also think it is it's one
of those movies that when our audience finds it, it
does it has that vibe of a decom. It's slightly elevated,
obviously from from a Disney Channel original movie, but it's
that same kind of message, same kind of love relationship,
same kind of bad boyfriend or yeah.

Speaker 3 (22:23):
So even I think I think Moira's mother's gone out
of the picture. She just rate raised by her father
or something too, which is, you know, very Disney.

Speaker 2 (22:31):
Very very Disney. We say on Disney.

Speaker 1 (22:33):
The one thing we've noticed as we're watching all of
these dcoms is it's okay for the other parent to
be dead. It's not okay for them to be divorced.
So dead fine, divorce not good. Okay, So now we
get to why we're here. I'm curious, when was the
first time you heard about rip Girls. Was this just
a regular audition or did they just offer you the role?

Speaker 2 (22:53):
How did you hear about this one?

Speaker 3 (22:55):
No, it was an audition, as I recall, it was
over where the new Disney studios are. It was I
think very fairly soon after they had just moved in
there because I don't think i'd ever been there before,
and yeah, yeah, they had me audition, and you know,
I it was exciting because I you know, the show
takes place in Hawaii, and I thought, oh man, if
I get to get Hawaii, that's my favorite way to travel,

(23:17):
you go, you know, get getting paid to be some
beautiful player. So I was very excited about it. And
and when I ended up getting it, what was even
more crazy was that they said we're shooting in Australia,
and I'm like that, that's even better, you know. And
uh it was kind of ironic because you know, I
was in The Thornbirds, which is this you know, typically

(23:38):
Australian story, and we end up shooting in Seene Valley,
you know, So I thought I was going to get
to go to Australia on that one, but no, now
I'm supposed to be in Hawaii, end up in Australia.
So I guess I you know, evened up. But yeah,
I was. I was just very excited. And you know,
uh yeah, I was a young father myself then I
had you know, my my my son was just barely

(23:59):
a year old. He learned a lot while we were
in uh In uh In Kulan Gatta in Australia. She's
my daughter who was doubven. I mean we got her
like surfing, you know, a little uh rash guard and
you know she learned to you know, go on a
boogie board and stuff down there. So it was it
was pivotal time, and you know, it was a it

(24:21):
was a great experience. I mean, you know, Australia I
had never been, of course, and right it was just amazing.
I I the plantation we shot on was incredible.

Speaker 2 (24:31):
Well, the movie's beautiful.

Speaker 1 (24:32):
But did you ever find out why they decided to
shoot in Australia as opposed to Hawaii?

Speaker 2 (24:36):
Is it just was it a was it a money thing?

Speaker 3 (24:38):
Or Yeah? I'm pretty sure it's because that was a
buy out. That's the only show I've ever done that
I don't get residuals for because they paid a lump
sum and then that's it, you know, and Disney's you know,
sort of famous for that, and you know, but you know,
it was enough of a buy out that at the
time I thought, you know, you know, and plus I
was going to Australia, I didn't really care. But yeah,

(24:59):
I'm pretty sure it was for you know, for money reasons,
and you know, Hawaii would have been a lot more expensive.
And so anyway.

Speaker 2 (25:06):
That was very, very interesting.

Speaker 1 (25:08):
So you're you're working with a young cast of relatively
unknowns is which is the other thing we talked about
a little bit as we're watching. This is Disney So
this is two thousand, so figure you shoot ninety nine
two thousand. Disney by this point is starting to realize
the synergy that they have, so they're they're going to
start loading their projects with all of their stars and
this is kind of one of the last ones where

(25:29):
they didn't really do that. And the young cast you're
working with or relatively green, but we thought they did
a great job. What was it like working with all
the kind of the younger people in the film?

Speaker 3 (25:40):
Uh, yeah, it was. It was pretty great. I mean,
obviously I didn't have a lot of scenes with the
young kids, but they seemed great. I mean, what there
was a great atmosphere on that shoot. The you know,
some of the local kids who played you know, uh,
some of the other roles like Gina or Gia. She
was was a local and a good surfer. They needed
the kind of because Camilla hadn't, you know, wasn't a surfer.

(26:03):
They had to kind of fill out the cast and
choose who they could put it as an actor who
could surf or a surfer who could act. Sure, yeah so,
but but they seemed to get along really well. I
remember there's a big controversy at the time. It just
occurred to me when you were saying that that about
their belly buttons showing, because.

Speaker 2 (26:19):
Oh, yes, Disney, oh man.

Speaker 3 (26:21):
It was a big deal because everybody just then those
little midriff things were coming in, but it had already
been decided that no belly buttons were going to be
exposed in the shoot. And I mean, you know, the
young girls were like, oh man, I want to wear
a cool bathing suit. Anyway. I just remember it kind
of being a big deal, and.

Speaker 1 (26:38):
It was a big deal for years because as my
co host often because so she was in a film
franchise called The Chetah Girls and they were it was
that same thing. She said, we would have standards and
practices around us. No, you can't show this bra strap,
you can't this shirt has to come this high, the
belly button has to be covered this and we then
will watch movies now because we'll now watch dcoms that

(26:58):
are from twenty twenty twenty two one and all that's.

Speaker 2 (27:01):
Out the window.

Speaker 1 (27:02):
It's it's belly belly shirts. They're at cup parties drinking alcohol.
I mean, it is a very different year of the
d com than it was. Well, you said your daughter
was seven at the time that you were doing this.
Was was she a Disney fan? Were you familiar with
Disney Channel from kind of watching with your daughter?

Speaker 3 (27:19):
Yeah, absolutely, we watched a bunch of stuff. And I
have to say it's at the time, it was the
only job I've ever done that gave me some some
street cred with my daughter. And it came out the
following year was right around her birthday in two thousand
and you know, she was in school and everybody, all
her friends were watching Disney Channel and they're like, oh
my god, Lily's dad. You know, like it was just,

(27:43):
you know, it was just so cool. You know, this
little school where there's you know, three hundred students total
in the whole thing. I was, I was, you know,
I was all that for for you know, a short
few weeks.

Speaker 2 (27:55):
That is incredible.

Speaker 1 (28:02):
One of the things we really noticed about the film,
which Disney sometimes does very very well, and they did
in this one. Is they wrote the adults very well.
We noticed specifically the scenes that you had with the
character of Elizabeth. They it was almost as if they decided,
we're going to kind of break the Disney Channel mold
right here, and it's going to be a quiet scene

(28:23):
between adults. And we just thought that the co parenting
that they had them doing with a step parent, which
is again odd for Disney, really seemed to work. What
was your chemistry like with your actress as you were
working out those scenes.

Speaker 3 (28:38):
Yeah, Lauren Sinclair played my wife and she was great.
You know, I've been lucky to have a lot of
you know, women who played my wife who have just
made things really easy. The one thing about that shoot
that I remembered was that the director, Joyce Chopra, I
forget now the circumstances of it, but she had decided
that that emotional scene we ended up doing, she was

(29:01):
going to cut that, you know, or something after we'd
already there on location everything, And I meant, I just
got so upset because it's sort of why I talk
myself into doing the movie. That there was this nice
thing because you know, Usually it's the mother daughter relationship.
That's that's so you know, pivotal, and in most stories
as well, it should be, but this seemed, you know,

(29:22):
I thought, you know, I had a very kind of
My daughter was a was a daddy's boy when she
was little, and so I was really into this, this
idea of the father, you know, even though, like I
said in the show, he becomes you know, sort of
overprotective and and against her wishes. But uh, you know,
I I just I it was the first time I'd
ever sort of fought for you know, I said, we

(29:42):
have to shoot the scene. Let's just shoot it if
you don't use it or whatever, you know, Like I
I just remember pleading my case. And you know, obviously
it's much easier for the production if you can cut
a scene and not have to shoot it, more time
to do everything else. But anyway, I just remember it
being this bone of contention and then and then you know,
I mean, we have shot it. I guess I don't
even know if the whole thing ended up being in there,

(30:02):
if they did a shortened version, but uh yeah, that
part of it was kind of it was kind of
fun that that the parents weren't complete buffoons, as frequently
happens in those things. I mean, obviously I'm doing stupid
things wanting to sell this plantation rather than and you know,
but I think it's done at least with some sincerity

(30:24):
and some you know, you can see why maybe he
chose to, you know, want to shield his daughter from
surfing because his wife had died in a surfing accident.
Oh yeah, yeah, anyway, it was, uh but you know
it was it was cute, but you know, typical creative differences,
and you know, you know.

Speaker 2 (30:43):
Yeah, that sounds I think that's pretty normal for the
creative process. So I'm curious. So we had to ask this.
First of all, when's the last time you saw it?

Speaker 3 (30:51):
I sort of watched the trailers and stuff preparing for this,
but yeah, I haven't seen a long time. I had
to mind myself, Yeah, what even the whole plot was?
I wanted to be honest, But there's there's some movies
I've been in I still haven't seen, which is I
find kind of incredulous.

Speaker 2 (31:08):
But it's not. It's totally normal.

Speaker 1 (31:10):
I could be the number of actors we have come
on the show that are like, I haven't seen it
since it came out or I haven't seen it maybe ever,
or but one of the things we're asking if you can,
if you can remember, so twice in the movie they
cut to someone in the woods with binoculars.

Speaker 2 (31:30):
Oh wow, and.

Speaker 1 (31:31):
They're they're obviously spying on the girl as she first
gets to Hawaii or supposed to be Hawaii.

Speaker 2 (31:39):
Okay, and then they never address it again.

Speaker 1 (31:43):
And it was one of those things if we could remember,
we were hoping maybe you could remember if there were
other scenes shot, or other scenes in the film where
that is in some way, shape or form explained, because
it's just it's weird and we were just curious as
to why it happened.

Speaker 3 (31:58):
Wow, yeah, I do not remember that, Okay, fair enough,
relight on it. I mean I went there with my family, obviously,
my one year old and my year old and my
wife and and we the plantation scenes were quite separate
from the beach scenes. I don't know if I even
appeared at any of the beach scene. So yeah, so

(32:21):
we were you know, it's kind of one of those
that frequently happens on a set. If you're not sure
in today, you you're just not part of that whole thing.
But that's a good one. I'll I wonder, Oh, do
you have a thought?

Speaker 1 (32:33):
No, the only thing we could think was that maybe
there was another scene where they figure out who it
was that made the cutting room floor. Other than that,
it's just it's a storyline that it went nowhere. They
just twice cut to somebody appearing in like a trench
coat with a hat on, putting binoculars out, and then
you just never it's never discussed ever again.

Speaker 3 (32:54):
Logically, I mean, maybe it would have been Malia, my
ex friend Ginney Moorey. I think her name is, Yeah,
you know, maybe because she wants to see what the
daughter looks like now, or but that's pretty, or maybe
it's the Yeah, maybe it's the people who want to
turn the plantation into a resort.

Speaker 2 (33:14):
Yeah, it could be could be the people the buyers, but.

Speaker 3 (33:16):
Not to pay it off and not pay it off.

Speaker 2 (33:19):
That was the thing. So we were wondering. We're like,
all right, we're seeing if maybe there's something on the
cutting room floor.

Speaker 3 (33:23):
I don't know, probably yeah, red Herring, But I might
still have that script. But I wonder if they even
have that in there.

Speaker 2 (33:29):
Oh god, that would be very interesting.

Speaker 3 (33:31):
Well you got me. I was hoping I wouldn't be stumped, but.

Speaker 2 (33:34):
Now I don't know if you're aware. But so.

Speaker 1 (33:38):
The dcom itself, there's been a huge resurgence in the
nostalgia around the Disney Channel original.

Speaker 2 (33:44):
Movie So have You.

Speaker 1 (33:45):
You say you do a lot of these engagements, a
lot of speaking things, you signed books. My guess, as
you do conventions things like that. Are people in twenty
twenty five coming up and talking to you about Rip Girls?

Speaker 3 (33:56):
I mean, I guess probably over the years there's been
a few people who've come up, you know, usually girls
that were teenagers at that time, you know. But you know,
I don't look exactly like I did, and I don't
really do too much of the convention stuff I find that.
I mean, I did a few, but not very much.
And the speaking engagements, like I said, are lawyers or
farmers and stuff. But it is interesting what some people

(34:21):
are just you know, like I did an episode of
Firefly and there is a hardcore group of people out
there who you know, they pick you up, you know,
out of a crowd of a thousand or something. But yeah,
I've been recognized a few times for Rip Girls, and
it's always you know, flattering and surprising to me. But yeah,
it's it's you know, it's just one of those things,

(34:41):
you know. Field to Dreams is the one that I
think somehow subliminally gets into people's minds. They might not
even know they recognize me until they figure it out.

Speaker 1 (34:50):
But yeah, anyway, So no, it's because I don't know
if you're aware, but Entertainment Weekly Collider, I mean, all
the big PubL lolications that rank the dcoms. Rip Girls
is always, you know, on the list of the top ten,
top fifteen, top twenty five. It's on almost every major
list of the ones that were super important to people.

Speaker 3 (35:13):
So when I did the search, I was like, who's
what are all these reviews And they weren't even like
from the time they're yeah, like not twenty fifteen or something.

Speaker 1 (35:21):
I'm like, okay, no, it's hugely, hugely important. Okay, a
couple more questions before I let you go.

Speaker 2 (35:26):
First.

Speaker 1 (35:27):
Another thing we were curious about in your opinion, it's
two thousand now sitting on the plantation. Yeah, what do
you think the offer was for? How much do you
think they were offering for the land.

Speaker 3 (35:38):
Did you know I happen to know how many acres
I was looking at the.

Speaker 1 (35:41):
Did they say it was two hundred I can't remember
what they said, I'm not sure, but it's a decent
sized plantation, supposedly in Hawaii.

Speaker 3 (35:49):
Jeez, what would that have been? Even back then? It
probably would have been five millions?

Speaker 1 (35:55):
Okay, we figured between five and ten million was probably probably.
My co host, by the way, said the entire movie
would have been thirty seconds long. Would have been her
getting a call in Chicago saying to sell the land,
and she would have signed the paperwork right there.

Speaker 3 (36:07):
Yeah, so that's kind of hard to believe these days.
But yeah, yeah, that's also a good question. I was, Yeah,
I was looking at it, Like I said, I kind
of skimmed through and saw the little model with the
lake and everything, and I thought, wow.

Speaker 2 (36:19):
I mean, yeah, millions.

Speaker 1 (36:23):
I mean, but the turned down millions is probably what
we figured it was.

Speaker 3 (36:27):
Particularly the father, you know, but you know, fortunately they
have the they can always say, well, he was traumatized
by the loss of his wife and therefore, you know,
but you know, so anyway.

Speaker 2 (36:36):
No, it makes it makes sense. And have you have
you worked for Disney since I don't think I have.

Speaker 3 (36:42):
I mean not, Gosh, there was another thing I did
called Lillian Winter, but it wasn't a direct but for
some reason, I feel like it was worked on that
studio or something. But yeah, well you know, like I said,
I went there with my kids and the shoot was
done in like mid December, I think, and we decided

(37:03):
I planned to stay another two weeks, you know. So
we Christmas had that Christmas in Australia, which was fantastic cool, yeah,
and you know it's a memory forever. And like I said,
my son took his first steps there and in uh
cooling Gata in Australia, and that was great. But what
was kind of funny is I just realized that the
reason we came home is because after Christmas, uh what

(37:26):
was coming up? Y two k.

Speaker 2 (37:30):
Yeah, and the world is going to end all this
crazy hype.

Speaker 3 (37:34):
We thought, what if we get stuck down here and
planes can fly for who knows? I mean, everybody just
thought the whole world, you know, ye, the computers were
just gonna.

Speaker 1 (37:43):
Yeah, the ball was going to drop in Times Square
and everything was going to go dark.

Speaker 2 (37:46):
That's what everybody And.

Speaker 3 (37:47):
That's actually why we came home just before, like I
think the day before New Years that year was because
we didn't want to get stuck, you know, indefinitely in Australia,
even though that wouldn't have been such a bad thing.

Speaker 2 (37:57):
No, that's not an awful thing.

Speaker 1 (37:59):
Is it true that in Australia on Christmas Santa goes
down the chimney in the opposite direction?

Speaker 3 (38:04):
Boy, that's an interesting point. All I know is in
our little hotel room, we didn't have a Christmas tree.
I don't even if they we had. We took the uh,
the apartments vacuum cleaner and hung ornaments on it and
that year was our our Christmas vacuum Tho.

Speaker 2 (38:20):
It's really cool though, that's the one you remember.

Speaker 3 (38:23):
Yeah, yeah, exactly. My kids remember it for the reason
because it was so such a silly, uh you know,
expression of Christmas. We didn't have anything else to Uh
that's really cool celebrate around Okay.

Speaker 2 (38:34):
And then finally, last question, where do you think the
family is? Now?

Speaker 3 (38:40):
Wow?

Speaker 1 (38:41):
If there's a sequel that takes place right now twenty
twenty five, what's everybody doing for rip girls?

Speaker 3 (38:48):
Wow? That's pretty good because let's say then obviously Camilla
keeps the property, Okay, she allows it to behave in
for the whales, to return every year she gets older,
does she you know, does she stay true to that
or does she finally succumb when the offer goes from
five to seven million to five million?

Speaker 2 (39:11):
Right exactly?

Speaker 3 (39:13):
Gosh, yeah, I guess hopefully my character. I hope Ben
got some therapy much needed. And uh, you know, I
I think Elizabeth was great, you know, Lawrence. I'll put
myself still with her, you know, years hence. And Camilla
maybe she's an environmentalist, you know who's who's has a

(39:37):
you know, a little protective area for for the whales,
you know, breeding and feeding down there in Hawaii.

Speaker 2 (39:45):
Maybe teaching maybe teaching her daughter how to surf too.

Speaker 3 (39:48):
Well, absolutely, yeah, yeah, And and I would have to
come back to kind of be sitting on the lawn
shew front of going annoying smile like.

Speaker 2 (39:58):
The Disney dads.

Speaker 3 (40:00):
I love it, but my daughter did, darn it.

Speaker 2 (40:04):
Oh that's so awesome. Well, thank you so much for
joining me today.

Speaker 1 (40:08):
This has been really really cool to hear all the
inside scoops about everything I love. Oh man, I could
listen to film stories just all day long, and I
would suggest, if you get them in it, you should
watch the movie again.

Speaker 2 (40:19):
It holds up.

Speaker 1 (40:20):
I mean, obviously there's some some plot holes in it,
like who is Binocular's man?

Speaker 2 (40:24):
And did that guy really need a broken arm? ConA.

Speaker 1 (40:26):
But other than that, the whale CGI probably needs an upgrade.
But the film itself, it's got some great quiet moments
and it really does hold up. I think you'd be
very happy if you watch it again.

Speaker 2 (40:37):
I really do.

Speaker 3 (40:37):
Well. I appreciate that. Well, even if you're just saying
it because you have to.

Speaker 2 (40:40):
No, it's true, I don't trust trust me.

Speaker 1 (40:42):
We there are times we rip these movies to shreds,
and we did not have to do that at all
with this movie. And don't forget everybody out there, if
you build it is Dwyer's just memoirs about a lot
of different things, about Field of Dreams and about life, right, yeah, No, you.

Speaker 3 (41:00):
Know my relationship with my dad and how that kind
of fit into the greater story of Field and Dreams
and a lot of stories about shooting it and fans
that have shared their very touching stories with me over
the decades, and it continues to amaze me and I'm grateful.

Speaker 2 (41:16):
Now that's great.

Speaker 1 (41:17):
Well, I'm going to go pick up my copy. Everybody
should do the same. Doy Er, thank you so much
for joining us. I really appreciate you taking the time,
and we hope to see you again.

Speaker 3 (41:25):
Thank you, will and say hi to Sabrina for me.

Speaker 2 (41:27):
I will definitely bye. Oh man. That was a cool interview.

Speaker 1 (41:34):
It's one of those things where actors and I very
rarely use that word because I consider myself an entertainer.

Speaker 2 (41:42):
I don't consider myself an actor.

Speaker 1 (41:43):
I'm all about the audience and it's not a personal
journey for me.

Speaker 2 (41:46):
Where when you.

Speaker 1 (41:47):
Talk to a real actor and how much they can
internalize everything that's going on. And you saw that with
or heard that, I should say, with how how he
broke talking about his father and how he was just
about to go shoot Field of Dreams. I mean I
could just talk to actors all day. Really really incredible.
Go check out by the way, if you build it,
it sounds like a really cool memoir. I'm going to
be picking up my copy and you can hear all

(42:08):
the good scoop and everything.

Speaker 2 (42:10):
I miss you, Sabrina.

Speaker 1 (42:11):
It was a great conversation, but not nearly as fun
as it would have been if you were here with us.
And thank you all for being here with us on
this wonderful Park Copper episode. While you're here on this feed,
why don't you go check out all the other interviews
we've done with everybody, because we have talked to some
really incredible people and we'd love for you to listen
to kind of the journeys they've taken and just they
take the time to share it with us.

Speaker 2 (42:31):
So we're super appreciative.

Speaker 1 (42:32):
Of them, as we are of all of you listening,
and we'll be back next time with Sabrina with me.

Speaker 2 (42:38):
Absolutely Thanks everybody. Bye.