April 28, 2025 • 51 mins
He was the “The Kid” in so many of your favorite Disney movies growing up…
Spencer Breslin joins Will and Sabrina to talk about his incredible career, including the DCOMs “You Wish” and “The Ultimate Christmas Present”.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:14):
Thank you once again everybody for joining us on this
park opper episode of Magical rewind said it once, said it, twice,
said it thrice, set it.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
Whatever.
Speaker 1 (00:22):
The fourth sice is if you have to add an
ice to four, which you can't because it sounds weird.
But we've got another very special interview. We're talking to
somebody who, I mean, one of the most recognizable child
actors from his era. I would say, I mean, was
just kind of in everything at the time. I mean,
(00:43):
remember seeing this guy in just a ton of stuff.
We cannot wait. We've got so much to talk to
him about. But today we're really going to be talking
to him about you wish. Exclamation point. There's a lot
of exclamation.
Speaker 2 (00:52):
Points now that I'm really saying them out loud, Sabrina,
I don't know if.
Speaker 3 (00:55):
It's quite a bit. It's starting to mound up here.
Speaker 1 (01:00):
Everybody always say so, without any further ado, please help us.
Welcome from you Wish and from Ultimate Christmas President from
a whole bunch of different d coms. Spencer Breslan, Hi, Hello,
thank you so much for joining us.
Speaker 4 (01:18):
Absolutely I'm glad to be here. Can you guys hear me? Okay?
Perfect man, Okay, I don't have a sophisticated setup or anything,
so you're perfect awesome. I love to hear that.
Speaker 2 (01:30):
Well, thank you so much for joining us.
Speaker 1 (01:33):
You know, we're going to be talking about a bunch
of stuff, but I think we're going to start by
focusing on you.
Speaker 2 (01:37):
Wish.
Speaker 1 (01:37):
Is this the first time that anybody's had to sit
down and talk to you about this movie?
Speaker 4 (01:42):
I have been dying to talk about Paul Howan's classic
of the coin collecting genre quite a while. I've been,
I've been, I've been waiting by the phone for twenty
three years.
Speaker 5 (01:56):
Now today is your lucky day, Spencer. We are here
to make your dreams come true.
Speaker 4 (02:02):
My dream has come true. You know it's really funny,
is so I was listening to uh to the episode
you guys did about it and the whole the whole
bit about New Zealand. Why is it shot in New Zealand?
And I kid you not, as I'm listening to it.
This is like our our overlords like that are always listening.
Or it's pretty intense because as soon as you start
talking about it in air, New Zealand ad popped up
(02:24):
in the window. No, No, New Zealand. New Zealand's calling us, all, hey,
I would have been lost or something.
Speaker 5 (02:31):
Yeah, they need to call me because I will hop
on that plane and in a.
Speaker 2 (02:36):
Short twenty nine hours you will be in New Zealand.
Speaker 3 (02:39):
Do you remember, though, what the answer is to that?
What why they decided to shoot in New Zealand?
Speaker 4 (02:46):
So I kind of got in trouble on set for
talking about this because we were doing ePK for it,
and this is I guess maybe it was precocious or
something and like trying to be a know it all,
but they were they were asking, so, oh, how do
you guys like shooting in New Zealand? Blah blah blah,
it's so beautiful? Do you know why they decided to
(03:06):
shoot in New Zealand? And I know that Disney wanted
us to be like, oh, because it's so beautiful and
Lord of Rings and blah blah blah. And I remember
just as like a ten year old. I think my
mom even got annoyed, was like, you shouldn't be saying that.
I was like tax and sentence and they're like, all right,
we're gonna take that one again. I was like, what,
(03:26):
come on?
Speaker 1 (03:28):
I know, I love how you knew that right off
the bat. Okay, we have to sew in your intro
we're talking about how I mean, arguably you were one
of the i'd say, one of the most recognizable child
actors of your of your genre, of your generation, because
you were just in so many different things. So how
did you start as an actor? I mean, if I'm
(03:48):
reading all the start, you were three when you started.
So how did you get into the industry? How did
you know you wanted to do this? How did you
stick with it? I mean, walk us through that.
Speaker 4 (03:57):
Okay, So I grew up in New York City, middle child.
I guess like I was kind of a like like
a very like terrible toddler. Like I was like really
like like when you think about a terrible toddler, like
it's times one hundred. Like they at church they used
to call me Bam bam, Like I would chew up
(04:19):
furniture all the time. I wouldn't listen to anything. And
I remember there was this indoor playground that I used
to go to in New York so when I was
like two, three, four years old whatever. And this sounds creepy,
but like we we all know as former they would
send out talent scouts to the playgrounds, which now you
think about, you like, that's kind of weird, yeh, you know,
(04:45):
but no, they sent out some talent scouts, and I
guess because I was really rambunctious, they were like, oh,
this kid would be great commercials and my mom was like,
all right, I'll take him to an audition whatever. And
I ended up really liking it and I wanted to
do it, and so it got me to listen, like
I was actually able to take direction really well, which
I think maybe my parents resented it because they're like,
(05:05):
why can't, But I think there was like an incentive.
They're like, oh, I want to keep doing this because
I actually liked performing. So it actually kind of mellowed
me out as a kid because I knew I wouldn't
book or whatever. I guess on some level I knew
at the age I wouldn't book jobs or any think
if I didn't listen. So it just went from there
(05:25):
and I did like dozens of commercials and then got
you know, it just kind of went from there, did
some TV. I think one of my first big things
was after my first big commercial was at McDonald's commercial
Charles Barkley, which was talked to talk about the Big
(05:46):
Mac and I had to say the whole Big Mac
ingredients or whatever. But then after that, there was an
ABC sitcom that was pretty short lived that I did
with dan Aykroyd called soul Man.
Speaker 2 (05:55):
You were four now if memory serve, Yeah, I was like, that.
Speaker 4 (05:59):
Was ninety seven and so it's like four or five
years old, and yeah, And we shot that over at
the at the Disney lot in bur Back and that
was was it was Boynet's World still on at that point.
Speaker 2 (06:11):
Was there? Yeah, we were. We might have been.
Speaker 4 (06:13):
Did you guys shoot there at that same lot?
Speaker 2 (06:15):
We did? We were there, the former.
Speaker 4 (06:17):
Improvement was there. Yeah, we were there and.
Speaker 1 (06:19):
Yeah, and we were there, So ninety three to ninety
five we shot there and then we came back and
did I think ninety seven to two thousand there.
Speaker 2 (06:27):
So we were we were there for Yeah, I mean,
we might have been on the lot at the same time.
Speaker 4 (06:31):
It's it's entirely possible.
Speaker 5 (06:33):
Yeah, I mean, the the kids cast of this show
is like you were all stars at some point, right.
The cast that you guys were in was great, Like
you were mixed in with the great cast of young actors.
Speaker 4 (06:47):
Yeah, ye awesome, Yeah, geez, it was pretty fun that
I got fired from that show, so you did, Yeah,
I got fired from it for being four?
Speaker 2 (06:56):
How does one get fired?
Speaker 4 (06:57):
Like what happened drinking on the Yeah, I don't know,
it just happened stuff.
Speaker 2 (07:04):
And every basically every actor has gone through that.
Speaker 4 (07:08):
I think. So, yeah, they make creative changes the audience. Sure,
that's all choice?
Speaker 2 (07:13):
Do they? Did you?
Speaker 1 (07:15):
I mean, can you remember having to sit and study
and learn your lines? Did you have any trouble at
four and five years old memorizing your dialogue?
Speaker 2 (07:23):
I mean that seems insane to me.
Speaker 4 (07:25):
I've always been pretty lucky with memorizing dialogue. I panic
about the only time I'm really the only time I
struggle with it is during auditions, Like I'm a really
bad test taker?
Speaker 2 (07:37):
Me too.
Speaker 4 (07:37):
Yeah, It's like I really, I really. I don't think
there's any actor like who loves a week I love auditioning.
This is I think. I think on some level we
all think, like, oh, they should just give me the
part because I'm awesome, all right, But uh, yeah, I'm
just not a great test taker once I'm on, like
in an audition, you know, oh you got five pages
(07:58):
torn and I'll be panicking. I want the night before.
I want to vomit before. And this is after thirty
years of acting. Now I want to vomit before I
go into every audition, Like literally, I start sweating. I
want to vomit it. I'm like, they're going to figure
out that I suck. This is going to be a nightmare.
It's like really, just like such an anxiety an anxiety
(08:19):
bomb inside me. And then once I have the job,
they're like, Okay, we're gonna shoot twenty pages extra today
and it's like, okay, no problem. Up up, up, Up,
up up, It's easy. I think it's just psychological because
I have the job. Every every time I go into
like audition or like if it's the first day of
starting a project, I really feel physically ill. But then
(08:41):
I did feel better because this is years ago. Now.
I saw an interview with Dustin Hoffman, I think it
was on sixty Minutes, and he said the same thing.
I'm like, all right, if Dustin Hoffman, yes one of
the greatest actors of all time, then I guess like
it's okay for like little of me to feel that way.
So I think it's probably a pretty pretty universal thing
for most is your music or acting or you know,
(09:04):
athletics or anything. You know.
Speaker 3 (09:05):
I live in Orange County, so it's a long drive
up to auditions.
Speaker 4 (09:08):
You know.
Speaker 5 (09:09):
When I was really auditioning, it's like, I can't even
tell you how many times I'm like, nah, I mean
the slightest bit of traffic.
Speaker 3 (09:15):
I'm like, you know, I'm just gonna drive home.
Speaker 4 (09:20):
Anyway. They're gonna they're gonna hate. They're gonna talk about
me when I leave the.
Speaker 5 (09:24):
Room, tell me how stupid I was thinking I was
gonna wear this stupid pink top.
Speaker 3 (09:28):
I hate this pink top. I'm never wearing this peak
top again.
Speaker 4 (09:30):
Like idiot, really thinking about it. As soon as we
leave the room, they're thinking about, Oh, we're gonna what
they're gonna order for exactly when you go back to torturing
more people.
Speaker 1 (09:44):
They also, we have this, especially when you're you were
a child actor, you have this idea that adults know
what they're doing, and it's not until you actually become
an adult where you're.
Speaker 2 (09:54):
Like, no one knows what the hell they're doing. This
is ridiculous.
Speaker 1 (09:57):
So it's like you're walking into this room with these
very iant people I have to audition for. And there's
times I've been on the other side of that where
I'm in the room and I, you know, as one
of the people sitting there watching people audition, I'm looking around, going.
Speaker 2 (10:08):
None of these, Yeah, who's on this side? And know
what the hell's going on? These are not important people.
It's just it's everybody's faking it.
Speaker 4 (10:15):
Well, you look at it like this. You know, you
say you're thirteen or fourteen going into an audition, and
you're you're meeting the important adults. Like you said, now,
look back and I'm like, oh, those like casting directors
are my age now? Yes, I knowing what the hell
I'm doing. No, the way they had it together, No,
they're like like in their thirties.
Speaker 2 (10:34):
No adults got.
Speaker 4 (10:36):
When you're thirteen. Of course, I'm in my thirties. I
have no idea how I'm going to get through the
day most of the.
Speaker 2 (10:43):
Time now either.
Speaker 1 (10:44):
Yeah, I thank god my wife is here to feed me,
because I don't know what the hell I would do exactly.
Speaker 4 (10:48):
Yeah, how dopoil water?
Speaker 1 (10:49):
Yeah, you're now a veteran actor at age eight.
Speaker 2 (10:54):
At eight, at.
Speaker 3 (10:56):
Eight years old, you are a veteran actor.
Speaker 2 (10:58):
When you.
Speaker 1 (11:00):
Hear about the movie the Kid, So, what can you
tell do you remember? Did you even know who Bruce
Willis was at the time? Is this the kind of
thing where was it? Just like I don't Yeah, just
another audition.
Speaker 4 (11:11):
Yeah. No. So I have a brother who's seven years
older than me, So I got to watch all of
the movies I wasn't supposed to watch. Yeah, that my
parents didn't really know about. So, like, I know, like,
let's see when I was like seven, I was seven
when when we did the movie. I had already seen
called the Diehard movies because I call my brother's like
(11:34):
VHS copies. I remember I had already listened to the
Marshall Mathers LP, which my mom caught me listening to them.
Broke my brother's CD because she was like, he was
irresponsible enough to leave it where you could find it.
So that didn't that didn't win me points with my
big brother. There might have been some you know, throwing yeah,
(11:55):
but yeah, so I knew who Bruce Willis was. And
it was honestly a pretty crazy the audition process. They
auditioned like two thousand kids. The role was supposed to
be for a kid who was like eleven. So I
went through like eight rounds of auditioning and like a
screen test and everything before I even got it because
it was originally I was too young for it.
Speaker 1 (12:14):
Right, did they ever bring you into read? I mean,
but was the final screen test with Bruce Willis.
Speaker 4 (12:19):
Or yeah, the final screen test was with Bruce Willis.
It was. I actually, like I remember it pretty vividly
because I auditioned in New York my first couple rounds
of auditions and meeting with John Turtletop, the director, and
all the producers were there. I remember bringing for some
reason my my batmobile toy to the audition, and half
(12:43):
the audition was just like showing them that, which like
I'm like, wow, that would just not work for me today.
But then they for the screen test, they flew us
all out to La like me and I think three
or four other contenders for it, and it was where yeah,
and they put us all a bit like the Universal Hilton,
(13:03):
and we did the screen test somewhere. I think it
was probably at Disney, Uh, probably at the Public Disney
studios again, And yeah, it was with Bruce the screen test,
so that was probably like like very very very late
nineteen ninety nine, early too, because I think we started
shooting that like January two thousand. It was all pretty
(13:24):
quick turnout because then it came out just a few
months later in June, Yeah, and.
Speaker 2 (13:28):
Did really really well.
Speaker 4 (13:30):
Yeah, I think it did. Okay, it's done better over time.
Speaker 6 (13:34):
It was.
Speaker 4 (13:35):
It was a weird one because it's not really a
kids movie. When you watch it like it's it's kind
of a movie. Now you watch as an adult and
you're like, oh, there's actually like a lot of really uh,
it's definitely family friendly, but there are a lot of
like good I guess messages that adults can pick up
from it or whatever. But they were. There was a
whole drama when we were shooting it because back in
(13:57):
the twenties there was a famous Charlie Chaplin movie called
The Kid, and the Disney brass was like, well, this
is a nightmare because now all these people are gonna
be confused about which movie. I was like, I don't
think anyone's going to confuse this to if it's the
movie from the nineteen twenties starring Charlie Chaplin.
Speaker 2 (14:13):
Or Charlie Chaplin. Bruce willis very similar.
Speaker 4 (14:16):
Similar blindfold did who knows. I mean, there's talking in
this one, so maybe that's one major difference. It's a talkie.
But then they were like, let's just call it Disney's
the Kid. So I think a lot of people thought
it was going to be like a a movie for
little kids or something.
Speaker 2 (14:35):
Yeah it's not.
Speaker 4 (14:36):
I mean it's not like inappropriate for kid, but it's
not like a movie for five year books.
Speaker 2 (14:40):
What was working with Bruce willis.
Speaker 4 (14:41):
Like that was awesome. He was a really nice guy. Yeah,
really nice guy, really patient with me. Is like a
seven year old.
Speaker 3 (14:48):
Are you close in age to any of his kids
that he has?
Speaker 4 (14:52):
Yeah? I think we were all pretty much like in
the same within a few years of each other, because
I met when we were filming at a couple of times. Yeah,
and we're all I think, Yeah, I think we're all
like late eighties early nineties babies.
Speaker 3 (15:09):
Yeah. Yeah, Well two thousand was like a huge year
for you.
Speaker 5 (15:13):
I'm looking at Yeah the Kid, Meet the Parents, then
well and Kenny the Shark, and then you also have
your first d com, which is the Ultimate Christmas.
Speaker 4 (15:22):
Present, the Ultimate Christmas Present. Yeah, the Meet the Parents
one is always funny. I always feel like like it's
like stolen valor something for me to even claim that
because I was in it for like two seconds in
the beginning. Hey you're in it. Yeah, it's pretty funny.
My girlfriend, I guess she was watching it at home
the other day and she's like, Oh, I didn't I
forgot you were in this movie. I'm like, I'm kind
of not really.
Speaker 6 (15:45):
Mean it.
Speaker 4 (15:45):
I was in the very beginning of it. I think
we did that like right before the Kid and then yeah,
Kenny the Shark funny up. I was just thinking about those.
It was a really fun series of like innerstitchals that
they made for Shark Week. It was actually like pretty creative.
It was like a shark that you never really saw
who was like a human shark, and like you just
like saw his like over the shoulder shots and he
(16:07):
was like my best friend. And they made some like
really bizarre cool kids stuff like that. You know.
Speaker 3 (16:13):
Love that.
Speaker 1 (16:14):
We got to talk Ultimate Christmas Present a little bit
because we've already recapped the Ultimate Christmas Present. Okay, yeah, yeah, yeah,
So what was it like shooting that movie that?
Speaker 4 (16:22):
I mean that it's so long ago that would that one?
That one was like you wish. I definitely remember because
you wish. We shot two years after that, but two
years when you're like seven to nine huge twenty years.
Speaker 2 (16:34):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, it's like.
Speaker 4 (16:36):
A twenty year gap just in like awareness and like
memories and and uh and that was really I mean
it was fun. We shot it in Vancouver. That was
like my first of like fifty Christmas movies I did
for Disney. I feel like so. But yeah, another another
bizarre Disney Channel storyline, like a weather changing machine.
Speaker 2 (16:57):
Uh, why does sits.
Speaker 4 (17:02):
Changing machine? Hell? Yeah, Disney, let's go.
Speaker 1 (17:05):
We just didn't get why Santa would need what would
need to cause earthquakes like the snow We understood, but
it's like Santa.
Speaker 4 (17:12):
Astrictive power the weather.
Speaker 2 (17:14):
Yes, he became like a batman villain. It was really
kind of cool.
Speaker 4 (17:19):
You're really bizarre.
Speaker 2 (17:20):
It was.
Speaker 5 (17:27):
I mean, you said you've done so many Disney. Was
that sort of the goal like for you and your team?
Was that something like they wanted to try to get
you to be you know, Disney's like go to kid?
Speaker 3 (17:39):
Is that at all? Talks while you were little? Do
you remember?
Speaker 4 (17:42):
I don't, I don't. I don't really know if there
was a goal or or I think. I think honestly,
the goal was just to do uh cool projects and
obviously like working for Disney, Like I actually really enjoyed
working for Disney.
Speaker 2 (17:58):
It was weird.
Speaker 4 (17:59):
It's funny now how to be described as a Disney
kid because I never felt like a Disney kid as
a kid, because you know, I never did a series
for them. I had a bunch of general meetings with
them back in the day where it's like, oh, we
could maybe do this or do that, and I I
did the couple of dcom movies, but I felt like
I was kind of like an adjacent Disney kid. But
I was definitely definitely more in in the Disney card,
(18:21):
like I never did anything for Nick or any of
that stuff.
Speaker 1 (18:24):
That's so funny that you say that, because as a
Disney kid, I saw you as being more.
Speaker 2 (18:30):
Than a Disney kid, like you were in the films.
Speaker 1 (18:33):
Yeah, so that was I mean that was different than
you know, we're on a sitcom or something on a show,
that's great, but when you're doing like Disney's The Kid
with Bruce Willis and you're doing the Santa Claus, I
mean you were like you were more elevated than a
Disney kid is how we looked at it.
Speaker 4 (18:49):
You just were that's nice. I mean, I I don't know.
I mean I think we're all just like working working hard,
doing doing cool stuff, doing the best stuff we can.
I just I got really lucky to be, uh you know,
just like, yeah, I really struck gold a few times
and more.
Speaker 1 (19:06):
Than a few I mean Santa Claus. Yeah, the Santa
Claus is a perfect example. You did what Santa Claus
two and three? Yeah with Tim Allen what what was
it now? And then you did Zoom with Tim Allen
as well, and Shaggy Dog.
Speaker 4 (19:18):
With Tim allow We did like we did like uh yeah,
we did like four movies in the span of like
four years together or something.
Speaker 2 (19:28):
What was he like to work with?
Speaker 4 (19:30):
I mean, he's he's great. He's he's one of the
funniest people I've ever met in my life. He's it's
I always talk about how you work with the you
know enough comics, and you realize a lot of them
are they're really on when the cameras rolling, and then
they're kind of something really reserved and they're saving it
(19:50):
or what. And Tim is like the opposite, Like he's
even more kind of just like on, like he's on.
He's not really not on ever, if that makes sense.
I'm really witty and just like really like, yeah, he's
a you're pretty much always laughing and he's just like
(20:13):
his his sense of humor is just so like kind
of just like elevated. It's it's just it's he's He's
a very funny guy and a very nice guy. He
was very nice to me, and we we worked a
lot together, and uh yeah, yeah, I I I can't
say enough good things about Tim. Uh you know, whenever
I run into him, you know, in la or anything,
(20:34):
he's always just great guy. And it's and it's weird.
I mean, we did a lot of stuff together, so
there's yeah, there's definitely history. We did like a lot
of like kind of cool movies, and you know, Santa
Claus franchise is like a pretty iconic franchise. So we
have like, yeah, some some good some good memories from
those ones for sure.
Speaker 1 (20:52):
Of the four you did, What's what's your favorite project
you ever did with Tim?
Speaker 2 (20:55):
Altin was the most fun?
Speaker 1 (20:56):
Let's put it this way, what's the most fun you
ever had shooting a movie with Tim?
Speaker 4 (21:00):
I mean it's it's pretty tough to top those Santa
Claus movies.
Speaker 6 (21:03):
Just the the sets that they built, the just the
scale of those productions is pretty crazy, just like the
physical scale of the sets and and uh and all that,
and it's just such a cool franchise to be a
part of.
Speaker 4 (21:18):
And yeah, I really I really liked playing that courtesy
Elf character. It was. It was, but I liked I
liked wearing the makeup, the al fears. I thought. I thought,
I thought it was a lot of fun. I mean,
they were, they were all great, and I have good
memories from from all of them. They all had really great,
great casts and you know, people working behind the camera too.
(21:40):
But yeah, those those those couple of Santa Claus movies
I did were pretty pretty great, pretty tough to top
those experiences. It's really cool.
Speaker 5 (21:49):
Yeah, Wow, was there has there ever been a point where,
I mean, I feel like even just as you're talking
about it, you're like talking about just going right into
the next gig, the next movie, the next show. Was
there a point where you were not really having to
audition for things, or you that they're just bringing you
(22:09):
stuff here and there, or especially with like.
Speaker 4 (22:14):
Yeah, there, I mean, there were some things that I
definitely got offered. I mean there's some things that I
still got offered to this day, but there's a lot,
I mean, ninety percent of this stuff I still I
auditioned for.
Speaker 3 (22:25):
Okay, that's.
Speaker 4 (22:28):
It's always nice when you don't have to ye oh yeah, sure,
I'll do that. That's great. But yeah, I mean I've
I've always been pretty much, uh, you know, working working
for it, right, Yeah, you know which is it's you know,
that's that's great too, because it keeps you sharp, you.
Speaker 1 (22:48):
Know, But it's not just Now here's the other thing.
It's not just you working for it. There's a whole
nother layer. Because your siblings are also in the industry,
aren't they.
Speaker 4 (22:55):
Yeah, my sister's an actress, uh, and my brother is
not an actor, has no interest in being an actor,
has never really wanted to be an actor, but he's
done some work behind the cameras and he's produced some
indie movies and stuff like that.
Speaker 1 (23:11):
So how did your parents juggle then, keeping you all
going to auditions, school, everything you've got to do. I
mean that must have been an interesting kind of Well
we got to be on this set, now, we've got
to be on that set.
Speaker 2 (23:23):
Now, your older brother's doing this, your sister's doing this.
What was that?
Speaker 4 (23:25):
Like, I mean, I have no idea how they did it,
to tell you the truth. And you know, a lot
of a lot of parents in the business can be
you know, they're the butt of jokes and old stage
mom mom ooh the dad I just know for and sure,
there's going to be crazy people everywhere, but at least
in my family, like the amount of like sacrifice that
(23:49):
they made with their own time. I remember my mom
being like, if you don't want to do this anymore,
we really don't have to, because I think she probably
wanted her free time back. Also sure, and like also
like the sacrifice like my older brother made of like
you know, one of his parents has gone like half
the time because we're off on set. So there's a
lot of sacrifices families make to do that, and it's
(24:13):
you know, so I've always been kind of one of
those people who I like, I said, they're gonna be
awful parents and great parents. And you can find them
not just on film sets, but you can find them
on a little league field, on a soccer.
Speaker 2 (24:25):
pH yeah, anywhere.
Speaker 4 (24:26):
And they can be in a in a dance studio
and any anything. There's always going to be parents and
it's but it seems like it's always like in film
that they get the brunt of this like abuse, when
you know probably it's you know, agents and managers that
maybe are more of the problems.
Speaker 2 (24:47):
No, I think you're you're also you're one hundred percent
right though.
Speaker 1 (24:49):
I mean, because being a child actor, you see the
great parents, the bad parents, all that stuff.
Speaker 2 (24:55):
But you're right, there's more good ones than bad ones.
Speaker 1 (24:58):
Yeah, and there's an there is a huge sacrifice that
has major one hundred percent. I mean, my my career
is a little bit like yours, and that I grew
up on the East Coast, so I started in New
York and then you're auditioning in New York and then
you're screen testing, you're flying out to LA you're flying here,
you're flying that, And you're right, somebody has to go
with you, and it's I'm sure that's not unless you're
forced into the industry. That's not your your parents' first
(25:21):
inclination is Okay, now I'm going to give up.
Speaker 2 (25:22):
My whole life so I can bring my kids.
Speaker 3 (25:25):
To audition season, pilot season.
Speaker 4 (25:27):
The season we're gonna go out there. You know. My
mom's like I'm gonna be away from like my husband
and like my other son who's like in high school
right now, to go and do this, uh you know.
And in New York, like like you're talking about Will,
it's like, uh, you know, you got parents who are
driving you know, from like the South Jersey into Midtown
Manhattan on a Friday at like three pm, Like, oh,
(25:48):
we got an audition at at the Three of Us
at four on Friday or this, Yeah, like shout out
to the three of Us. That was an old casting studio.
Speaker 2 (25:58):
I remember Three of Us.
Speaker 4 (25:59):
I remember yeah, And it's like, oh cool, yeah, I'm
sure that they want to be driving seven hours, yeah,
on a Friday and to midtown Manhattan to uh to
audition for a cheese it's commercial.
Speaker 2 (26:10):
Yeah, that's how it was.
Speaker 4 (26:12):
I fun. But then it was fun too because we'd
all go out and like get food afterwards, like all
the kids like in that. So it was kind of
like a cool, like little after school thing because a
lot of like a lot of the kids like even
though we're all competitors or whatever, we all kind of
became pals too. So yeah, that was kind of fun.
Speaker 5 (26:29):
Yeah, or it's like also I think of the days
to you know, I lived in Orange County, so it
was always a big drive. It was not seven hours,
but there were days where it was two to two
and a half hours. Yeah, we're just to traffic. But
you know, you get there and then you know I've
fallen asleep in the car, having to wake me up,
get me like get you know, kind of get back
(26:49):
in that mindset. I'm young, and I think now with
my kids, like, there is zero chance I'm going to
go take that drive to then let them go into
a room and not know if they just side to
do this today it's just like a bad day, you know,
and you're going, that's kind of sacrifice that parents do
is just so huge, and and to not know if
(27:11):
it's ever going to amount to anything that your kid
wants it to amount to, you know, exactly.
Speaker 4 (27:16):
Yeah, it's it's definitely uh yeah, definitely definitely a big
sacrifice that you know, families make as a whole to
support dreams or ambition of you know, their kids. So
I think that's pretty cool. I'm very grateful for me too.
Speaker 1 (27:33):
Yeah, you're right, You're right, there isn't enough flowers given
to the parents.
Speaker 5 (27:36):
Right, it's the ones that that are issues that all
wear the bad.
Speaker 2 (27:40):
And there's a lot of great everywhere.
Speaker 4 (27:42):
There's a lot, there's a lot of good. There's some bad,
but like I said, you can find it on the
Little League Diamond. You know, I found some abusive parents
there when I was playing Little League as a kid.
You know. Yeah, that's just human beings. You're gonna find
good and bad everywhere, but they're very underappreciated in our
showbiz world.
Speaker 2 (28:02):
You couldn't couldn't agree with you more.
Speaker 4 (28:05):
I'll get that now.
Speaker 1 (28:07):
No, you're right, No, you're right, And it needs to
be talked about more because we do talk about all
the bad, uh and and we we need to talk
about the good a little more. Yeah, we also need
to talk about the acid trip.
Speaker 2 (28:25):
That is You Wish a little bit weird movie, so we.
Speaker 1 (28:29):
You know again, I I'm older, so I had not
usually grown up with with a lot of the dcoms,
so I hadn't seen them. So I'm watching these movies
for the first time, and some of them it is
like I've just drunk a big thing of ayahuasca.
Speaker 2 (28:40):
So you Wish, do you remember this audition.
Speaker 1 (28:44):
Do you remember kind of reading the script the first
time and and loving it or hating it, or being like,
what is this?
Speaker 2 (28:51):
I'm not sure that I auditioned for you wish ah Okay.
Speaker 4 (28:54):
I think this might have been one of those. And
this was getting not to get back to the New
Zealand thing, but this is like the second movie I
did in New Zealand in the span of a year.
Speaker 3 (29:05):
Wow.
Speaker 4 (29:06):
Yeah, they were shooting a lot in New Zealand after
The Rings and it was about the time. But yeah,
I did right before that, I did a movie. Yeah,
this one was a doozy. It was another acid trip
movie was called Ozzie about a talking Koala. Yes, with
Joan Collins Yes.
Speaker 1 (29:28):
Oh please tell me Joe Collins play and Rachel Wait,
the model, Rachel model, Rachel Hunter.
Speaker 4 (29:35):
Yes, she played my mom, as they would say in
New Zealand, my mom.
Speaker 1 (29:40):
Uh.
Speaker 4 (29:41):
Yeah. So I did that, got back to America. I think.
I think it was back to back with Santa Claus too,
that you wish happened. I can't remember what came first, though,
I think maybe, yeah, I know it was it was
the same time because they were both done in two
two thousand and two, and yeah, I don't know if
(30:03):
I auditioned for that one, but I I think as
a ten year old kid, you read the script and
you're like, oh, this totally makes sense. Yeah right, yeah, right,
of course it checks out. Yeah, probably this all seems
this all seems right. Yeah, do you remember it?
Speaker 2 (30:20):
Was it a good shoot? Did you get along with
the cast?
Speaker 4 (30:22):
Yeah? I got along with the cast. I think looking
back on it, there are probably some you know, life
imitates art moments, because I definitely as a you know,
going back to that whole age gap thing in two
years at that age seems like a lifetime of experience
or whatever. I was ten, I guess when we did this,
(30:43):
so AJ was probably like fifteen sixteen, and I just
remember thinking he was like the coolest fing guy. Of course,
I remember I remember Maven the band that you I
remember hearing you talk about it in the podcast. Oh yeah,
he was a band called me even, and I just
remember being like, this guy's so cool, so cool, and
(31:05):
like I worshiped him on set kind of, and I
think I probably annoyed him a little bit, but uh yeah,
like I worship and Elaine was great too, And I
think at that age there's something about like when you're
a ten year old boy looking up to the older
and I'm sure it's the same thing for girls too,
like always wanting to be near the older girl or
you know, oh she's wearing makeup and like oh he's
(31:25):
got a guitar. Oh you know. It's so definitely like
there was like some hero worship I had of like
of Aj at that time. For sure.
Speaker 3 (31:36):
I'm sure too, because of how much you were like
working at this time, he was feeling it was pretty
cool to have you as his like, you know, co
star on the film, thinking like hell yeah, like this
movie's gonna be so bad. The best you're playing my
little brother good.
Speaker 1 (31:59):
Man.
Speaker 2 (31:59):
Did you like working in New Zealand? Was this something
that you enjoyed? Was it?
Speaker 5 (32:03):
Did you guys get any days off to hang out
or go see anything?
Speaker 4 (32:07):
Yeah, yeah, no, there's plenty of days off we did. Yeah,
there was a It's it's like big, like it's a
big destination Mu Zealand for like all sorts of outdoor
uh doorsman sports kind of activities. So we did like
horseback riding on the black sand beaches, riding around on
(32:29):
four wheelers, all sorts of really cool stuff, like a
lot of a lot of like field trips like with
the studio teachers to uh to two different different towns
and stuff throughout the country. H historical sites and stuff
(32:49):
like that. You know, yeah we're learning about the Maori
people in certain towns. It was it was really cool.
I mean it's yeah, it was awesome. And and the
New Zealand film scene was like still pretty like kind
of new and small at that time. So uh for me,
it was cool going back because we had pretty much
(33:12):
the same crew on You Wish that I had had
on the other.
Speaker 3 (33:14):
Movie The Oh cool.
Speaker 4 (33:17):
It was kind of it was kind of cool.
Speaker 5 (33:19):
Were you guys doing Were you in school at the time,
like having to do your school hours or was it
during a time where you were out of school and
could kind of have more play than school work.
Speaker 4 (33:30):
I definitely remember having to do school on some of it,
and I always hated that, like more than anything.
Speaker 5 (33:37):
I feel like a big school promoter.
Speaker 3 (33:41):
But on set, it sucks.
Speaker 4 (33:44):
It sucks, and you got, you know, just the smug agees.
You go to bank your hours, inno, like bank your hours,
you know.
Speaker 3 (33:54):
Fifteen minutes there, ten minutes there.
Speaker 2 (33:55):
When is it going to add up to three hours.
Speaker 4 (34:00):
I would just like wear my teachers down with questions,
like just like question after question to avoid like actually
doing any coursework. Like I would just like I would
like buster them out of like having to do that
up there, like talking to avoid having to do any
math anything. I think I just wear them down so
(34:21):
I didn't.
Speaker 5 (34:21):
The ultimate worst I think I remember was the days
where they were we were needed on set so much
so then they're like, Okay, you only got an hour
and a half today done for school, so tomorrow you
now have four and a half hours, and you're going
I'm gonna die in.
Speaker 3 (34:41):
This stupid makeshift freaking school.
Speaker 5 (34:45):
I just like hope they would add their on to
the next day and you love it gonna die?
Speaker 2 (34:50):
I did. I loved it. I absolutely loved it. It
was great.
Speaker 3 (34:55):
It's like doing homework.
Speaker 4 (34:56):
Well, I treat it like when they would say stuff
like that at that age, that was like I felt
like in like an attack on my constitutional rights. I
was like, this is unacceptable again a half hours. That's
why we bought a revolution to get away from it
was like a big assault on.
Speaker 5 (35:16):
Me court, Like, how is this my fault that you
didn't allow me to have the three hours I think
this night needs.
Speaker 3 (35:23):
You need to go in the room for your.
Speaker 4 (35:26):
Time management skills. Sucks. Are you chasing gay light? The
sun sets every day and like you got you gotta
anticipate that it's going to happen every day people, and
then oh the sun's out again every day, guys. Just
we've had billions of years to prepare for that. The
sun always goes down.
Speaker 2 (35:49):
If you so you get the script?
Speaker 1 (35:52):
And was any of it art imitating life in a
way where you're like you're playing a kid, then who
is now a star star? Who's like, you know, I
don't get a lot of time to just be a
kid and I've got was was was there any part
of you that was kind of like, man, this is
a little bit like my.
Speaker 2 (36:10):
Life minus the coin collecting and magic.
Speaker 4 (36:14):
Not really, you know what. I was pretty lucky. I
had a pretty good like work life balance, so I
didn't feel like like that the character, I forget that,
I forget I know, the little brother Stevie, I forget
the the the uh, the actor, the child actor?
Speaker 2 (36:29):
Oh was it on the show called.
Speaker 4 (36:34):
You Have Like Three Names, which was like the big
nineties child? Of course, names. Of course it was not enough,
so but he was always like he was just kind
of like a real sad boy, like I don't know, yeah,
such a weirdo like I I actually like. I. I
think part of it was like I was like growing
up in New York predominantly. Uh, I had a good
(36:57):
amount of time away from like showbiz. When we weren't work,
We're in New York, and I was like at the
playground and playing Little League, and like kids in New
York just like really don't care. It's just like it's
not the thing there. So like you're not like going
to the playground being like, oh who you represented by right?
Seem oh you go? So in New York, Uh, I
(37:21):
don't know. There was just like a separation. Like when
when I wasn't working, I was doing other stuff or
spending time with my mom, you know, all my mom's
Sam was out in New Jersey, so we'd be taking
weekend trips to New Jersey. Or I'd be playing in
the park in New York or playing Little League and
doing stuff. And then when I was working, I'd be
traveling to work. So I didn't I didn't really see
(37:43):
too many parallels. I was like, oh, yeah, this this
character is kind of sad, like it sucks. He doesn't
really have a life, right, because I always had a
pretty It was always pretty separate.
Speaker 2 (37:52):
I guess.
Speaker 5 (38:00):
Were you able to stay in like a regular school
and go in and out for filming or did you
have to do homeschooling at any point.
Speaker 4 (38:07):
I was homeschool but that was kind of like a
choice my parents made regardless of whether we'd gotten into
acting or not. They were already homeschooling my brother in
New York. He was not in showbiz at all at
the time, so I think that would have just happened anyway.
(38:28):
So yeah, that that worked out well. And then when
I went to high school, I did it all online
through that like like Laurel Springs and got my diploma
you know, by the skin of my teeth or whatever.
Speaker 2 (38:43):
Well you'd found your love by that point. That's how
I was too. I liked studying, but I was also like, yeah,
but this is just I want to finish this because
this is what I could do. The acting thing is
that's my life.
Speaker 4 (38:52):
So yeah, I like learning and I like reading and
I like all that. I just I really I think
I think I have an issue with like, once someone
tells me I have to do something I don't like
to do it, and that's like definitely like a character
flaw in me that, like I have to work at
a lot because like life is ninety percent people telling
you to do stuff you don't want to do, pretty much,
(39:13):
like you kind of have to come to grips at
that at some point. I think I am slowly, But
I think that was my problem with school, was like
this is a stupid but if I if it's my idea,
it's a great idea.
Speaker 2 (39:26):
Yeah that makes sense.
Speaker 4 (39:27):
But if it's like the state of California or New
York's idea, then I'm not.
Speaker 2 (39:33):
Ridiculous.
Speaker 4 (39:35):
So what now?
Speaker 1 (39:37):
Curiously, were you a Disney Channel or Disney fan before
you had been booking for them, or I mean, did
you grow up watching d coms?
Speaker 2 (39:46):
Did you have a favorite or was it just kind
of like this was work?
Speaker 4 (39:50):
Honestly, I to be totally honest with you, I didn't
grow up as much watching D coms. So I grew
up like being an obsessive fan of Boy meets World.
Really like I like me and my brother like like
like obsessive fan of Boy meets Wow. Like literally like
(40:16):
obsessed with that show really all through, Like you know
the scene where they all go to college and that's
like I I loved I Love Boy Meets World. So
I would watch that a lot. Yeah that whenever that
was on Disney Channel in the later years, I would
always watch it too, So I was I was a
big fan of that, and Abby was also like my
(40:39):
sister die hard, diehard Cheetah Girls stand, die Hard Diehard
Cheetah Girls Stand.
Speaker 3 (40:46):
Can you tell her I am such a fan of her?
I was not.
Speaker 5 (40:53):
I thought she was also a boy.
Speaker 4 (40:58):
Diehard Cheeta Girls. But yeah, no, but I didn't watch
a ton I did. I it was so weird back
the Yeah I did. My sister watched a ton of
Disney Channel, like she was all about like Cheetah Girls,
Lizzie Maguire. I in terms of like Disney Channel shows,
you know, can possible also, but like in terms of
(41:22):
Disney Channel shows, like I've been close with Steven Anthony
Lawrence for like twenty years, so I was always a
big even Steven Stam. Yeah, I watched some of that
Disney stuff, but a lot of that I feel like
was geared more. My sister is a few years younger
than me, so she was into that, and I guess
i'd been watching stuff with my older brothers, so I
kind of skipped some of it, right, you know. But
(41:46):
looking back, I've seen I've seen a few of them,
and I I've seen a few of them over the years,
and it's kind of weird, how like how weird a
lot of those movies are.
Speaker 5 (41:55):
They can be odd, yes, but there are such some
like great gems that oh yeah, and some of them
have We've come across some horse.
Speaker 1 (42:04):
Horse sense, we're doing horse sense, coming jumping ship, jumping ship,
We're doing We're doing the whole Lauren family clan. If
you want to see a crazy one, just go watch Dad.
Napped was wild another crazy one, smart house great one.
Speaker 3 (42:20):
Nap was also filmed by Paul Everything.
Speaker 4 (42:24):
A lot of a lot of a lot of movies. Yeah,
have you seen that?
Speaker 5 (42:28):
He's behind like the all the whole zombie franchise is
all Paul.
Speaker 3 (42:33):
Like literally has just I mean, he's we like, he's
just insane.
Speaker 4 (42:37):
He's a nice guy.
Speaker 3 (42:38):
Yeah, Oh he's the best.
Speaker 4 (42:39):
He's the best, nice guy.
Speaker 2 (42:41):
He was cool.
Speaker 4 (42:42):
Yeah, he's a super nice guy. But yeah, I I
I I did watch some of them. But my sister
was the huge Disney Channel now and I don't think
she did anything for Disney Channel at all, but she
was like a huge, huge fan of Wow. She was
a big Cheata Girls fan, and I was a big
big boy meets that's cool. I appreciate that.
Speaker 2 (43:03):
Thank you so much.
Speaker 3 (43:04):
Thank you for letting us know. That's so cool.
Speaker 4 (43:06):
Yeah, I didn't want to be weird and like just jump.
Speaker 2 (43:11):
That's really cool.
Speaker 1 (43:12):
But so with your entire career, what do you think
you get recognized the most from Yeah.
Speaker 4 (43:21):
Hey, you're that guy who owes me money. No, probably
like Cat and Hat and the Santa Claus stuff, And
a lot of times it's like you're that, You're you're that.
I don't I never know how to answer that because
I don't want to seem like conceded. The good way
I am as a matter of why do I know
(43:43):
you from?
Speaker 2 (43:43):
Is my favorite? It's like, yeah, here, let me give
you my resume.
Speaker 4 (43:46):
Yeah, it's weird. It's like it's always a little uncomfortable.
I'm just like, okay, yeah, that's and then but usually
people be like, oh, cat and Hat or uh, the
Santa Claus. Sometimes from the from the d Coom movies,
but usually the dcom people that they'll also know the
rest of the Disney like the Santa Claus, they'll know
(44:07):
that all that war already.
Speaker 1 (44:08):
I thought Zoom was underrated. I'm gonna be honest. I
thought Zoom was a really good movie. I thought it
was fun.
Speaker 4 (44:14):
It was probably appropriately rated.
Speaker 2 (44:15):
Maybe then it was underrated.
Speaker 4 (44:18):
It was a weird year because it was the same
year as sky High, and so there's that whole craze
of like teen superheroes. But yeah, I mean that was
That was a fun movie.
Speaker 1 (44:27):
That was sky High, by the way, written by the
same two guys who created him Possible.
Speaker 4 (44:32):
There you go, that's true. Yeah, my uh yeah that was.
That was a good one. And I think they were
both the same year. We did that one in Canada.
Shout out to the Canadian Productions did a lot of those. Yeah,
a lot of those Ultimate Christmas Present was also Canada.
Speaker 1 (44:51):
Yeah, Canada or Utah and then and then I was
got New Zealand and we got to.
Speaker 4 (44:56):
Throw New Zealand into the million. Yeah, but yeah, Zoom
Zoom was. Zoom was a fun one. Great cast for
that phenomenal cast. He walks Tim Allen, Kate Marra and
Michael cass Torn, Chevy Chase, Torn and Chevy Chase.
Speaker 2 (45:10):
It was I mean, it was that's I thought it was.
Speaker 4 (45:14):
It was a great soundtrack by smash Mouth.
Speaker 2 (45:16):
Yes, it was all around just a good movie.
Speaker 4 (45:20):
All right.
Speaker 2 (45:20):
So final question, Okay, time.
Speaker 1 (45:23):
Machine exists, you can go back and give your younger
self any advice. What would you tell young Spencer?
Speaker 4 (45:32):
Uh, I don't know, this is a tough one. I'd
say probably just to you know, save money. No, Uh,
I'd say just to you know, uh, probably just enjoy
a lot of those moments and you know more. And
(45:53):
you know, because I look back and I'm like, oh,
you know, I kind of like rushed through a lot
of stuff on set, maybe not a you know, appreciated
like at the time, like how cool, Like everything I
was doing was. I guess, I don't know. That's a
tough one because I'm one of those kind of no
regrets people. That's good too, you know, like I I
but yeah, I don't know, that's that's a tough question
(46:13):
because yeah, I really try to be one of those
no regrets. You can't really change anything anyways. So and
I'm like a pretty cool life so far, and I
I'll say, living a pretty cool life doing cool stuff.
So yeah, I don't know, that's a tricky one.
Speaker 3 (46:29):
I think that's amazing.
Speaker 4 (46:31):
No regrets.
Speaker 5 (46:32):
Way, Yeah, but I'm the same way too, Like I
wish I would have kind of allowed myself to slow
down during some time.
Speaker 3 (46:40):
Not more pictures.
Speaker 5 (46:41):
I feel like I have so many pictures, but still
not enough, you know, Like I'm just like the memories
because you're right, you had such an amazing career and
I but I'm sure it was really hard because everything
was back to back.
Speaker 3 (46:54):
I mean, you get down your IMDb and it's like.
Speaker 4 (46:57):
You just keep scrolling two thousand and four.
Speaker 3 (46:59):
Here's twenty things that I did. That's what all came
out in twenty two thousand and four.
Speaker 2 (47:05):
I mean, that's ye.
Speaker 3 (47:06):
That is amazing. It's hard when you're and when you're young,
you're just like in the moment, you're just going for
your kids still and you're like, what's next next, what's next?
Here we go, here we go? You know. So that's amazing.
No regrets. I love that's good.
Speaker 4 (47:19):
I try to be yeah, try to be.
Speaker 1 (47:21):
Yeah, Well, thank you so much for joining us. Can
we will you come back sometime because I feel like
there's fifty more stories to.
Speaker 4 (47:29):
Any time I'd be I'd love to come back up beyond.
This has been so much fun.
Speaker 2 (47:33):
Okay, great, thank you so much, and yeah, good luck
with everything. We're going to have you back because there's
plenty of stuff we want to talk.
Speaker 1 (47:39):
Great, great, awesome, thank you, thank you, good bye, good
one too.
Speaker 2 (47:48):
Oh man, Well, I mean, what a career.
Speaker 5 (47:52):
It's like, I literally I knew he was on everything.
There was just a massive amount of time to where
he was in just so many things. And honestly, I
just kind of he mentioned I think it was Shaggy
Dog or something that I went, what's that? So I
just quickly went on IMDb and then I'm like, holy cow, this.
Speaker 1 (48:12):
Kid we didn't even talk about We can talk about
Shaggy Dog, Princess Diaries to Mark Wall.
Speaker 3 (48:18):
I mean, he was on and on and the things
happening each thing he's.
Speaker 4 (48:22):
In your life.
Speaker 3 (48:24):
Who did you not work with?
Speaker 2 (48:26):
No, I don't think.
Speaker 1 (48:27):
I don't think it would be hyperbole to say that
if you put a list together of the fifty biggest
child actors of all time.
Speaker 2 (48:33):
His name would be on it.
Speaker 3 (48:34):
Oh for sure.
Speaker 2 (48:34):
I mean his name would be on that list because
he's was in everything.
Speaker 1 (48:39):
I mean, he started working at three, he's still going
and he's worked with everybody.
Speaker 2 (48:43):
And when you say things like you know it was Disney's,
the kids.
Speaker 1 (48:46):
Like oh yeah, yeah, Bruce Willis, Yeah, it's just one
after another, so yeah another forever his.
Speaker 5 (48:52):
Mom talk about being busy. He's got him and his career.
Speaker 4 (48:56):
And then his.
Speaker 5 (48:57):
Sister who's like HERDB list is just like pages and
pages too, like when was that lady ever home?
Speaker 3 (49:05):
Never?
Speaker 4 (49:06):
Never?
Speaker 1 (49:06):
And he you know what I'm going to take away
from this, he is one hundred percent right. We need
to spend more time talking about the positive parents, because
there's more of them than there are the momagers and
the stage parents and the parents that sacrificed huge for
their kids. I think of like Lynn and King Strong,
of the families of you know, the Savages and families
(49:29):
that I've grown up. The lawrence is that there these
are great parents all the way around, love their kids.
This was not you're going to work damn it, or
or you're you know, we're going to have problems.
Speaker 2 (49:40):
This was you do this until it's no longer fun.
Speaker 1 (49:43):
But you don't get to do that at five, six,
seven years old without huge support from your family, and.
Speaker 5 (49:49):
On top of it, you being around those kinds of parents. Yeah,
and I think of like so many of the life
lessons I learned from the talks I had with my
dad from me observ being another parent who was not
being that positive role model and my dad having to
rework on our drive home.
Speaker 3 (50:08):
Okay, when this happens today, let's talk about that.
Speaker 2 (50:11):
Yeay, My parents are the same way, you.
Speaker 3 (50:12):
Know, And it was like how you navigate that?
Speaker 5 (50:15):
And parents don't, like we said, they're not all superhumans,
Like they don't know anything.
Speaker 3 (50:19):
They're going on the fly, and a.
Speaker 1 (50:22):
Lot of them are not, you know, they've never had
kids in the entertainment industry.
Speaker 2 (50:26):
They don't know anything about the business.
Speaker 1 (50:27):
Danielle Fischel's mom went and got a book out on
the lib from the library about a kid who wanted
to be in the entertainment industry. My dad came home
with the Yellow Pages from New York to try to
find a manager. We didn't nobody knew how to do
any of this stuff. And these are parents that sacrifice.
Speaker 3 (50:42):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (50:42):
He called a friend whose daughter was like, do like
doing modeling, but she was an adult. She wasn't a
kid act kid model, she was an adult. And he goes,
can I get on the phone with her? My kid
wants to do this and.
Speaker 3 (50:54):
Have no idea?
Speaker 2 (50:55):
What do you do?
Speaker 4 (50:56):
He just started?
Speaker 2 (50:56):
So yeah, yes, that was a cool thing.
Speaker 1 (51:00):
That needs to be talked about more is the positive
parents that are out there in the entertain entertainment industry,
because there are a ton of them. Yes, but well,
thank you everybody for joining us. We are going to
have him back because he's just a wealth of knowledge.
And again, because we've we talked to him for about
forty five minutes, we're on like, you know, the ninth
thing he did exactly of the six hundred things he did.
(51:23):
So thank everybody for joining us in this amazing park
Opper episode. Don't forget to join us on our other feed,
where we again find all the awesome movies, the bad movies,
the good movies, the great movies. The Beast talk to
them about and the people that want to talk to
us about him, which is great.
Speaker 2 (51:35):
So we'll see everybody next time. Bye.
Thank you once again everybody for joining us on this
park opper episode of Magical rewind said it once, said it, twice,
said it thrice, set it.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
Whatever.
Speaker 1 (00:22):
The fourth sice is if you have to add an
ice to four, which you can't because it sounds weird.
But we've got another very special interview. We're talking to
somebody who, I mean, one of the most recognizable child
actors from his era. I would say, I mean, was
just kind of in everything at the time. I mean,
(00:43):
remember seeing this guy in just a ton of stuff.
We cannot wait. We've got so much to talk to
him about. But today we're really going to be talking
to him about you wish. Exclamation point. There's a lot
of exclamation.
Speaker 2 (00:52):
Points now that I'm really saying them out loud, Sabrina,
I don't know if.
Speaker 3 (00:55):
It's quite a bit. It's starting to mound up here.
Speaker 1 (01:00):
Everybody always say so, without any further ado, please help us.
Welcome from you Wish and from Ultimate Christmas President from
a whole bunch of different d coms. Spencer Breslan, Hi, Hello,
thank you so much for joining us.
Speaker 4 (01:18):
Absolutely I'm glad to be here. Can you guys hear me? Okay?
Perfect man, Okay, I don't have a sophisticated setup or anything,
so you're perfect awesome. I love to hear that.
Speaker 2 (01:30):
Well, thank you so much for joining us.
Speaker 1 (01:33):
You know, we're going to be talking about a bunch
of stuff, but I think we're going to start by
focusing on you.
Speaker 2 (01:37):
Wish.
Speaker 1 (01:37):
Is this the first time that anybody's had to sit
down and talk to you about this movie?
Speaker 4 (01:42):
I have been dying to talk about Paul Howan's classic
of the coin collecting genre quite a while. I've been,
I've been, I've been waiting by the phone for twenty
three years.
Speaker 5 (01:56):
Now today is your lucky day, Spencer. We are here
to make your dreams come true.
Speaker 4 (02:02):
My dream has come true. You know it's really funny,
is so I was listening to uh to the episode
you guys did about it and the whole the whole
bit about New Zealand. Why is it shot in New Zealand?
And I kid you not, as I'm listening to it.
This is like our our overlords like that are always listening.
Or it's pretty intense because as soon as you start
talking about it in air, New Zealand ad popped up
(02:24):
in the window. No, No, New Zealand. New Zealand's calling us, all, hey,
I would have been lost or something.
Speaker 5 (02:31):
Yeah, they need to call me because I will hop
on that plane and in a.
Speaker 2 (02:36):
Short twenty nine hours you will be in New Zealand.
Speaker 3 (02:39):
Do you remember, though, what the answer is to that?
What why they decided to shoot in New Zealand?
Speaker 4 (02:46):
So I kind of got in trouble on set for
talking about this because we were doing ePK for it,
and this is I guess maybe it was precocious or
something and like trying to be a know it all,
but they were they were asking, so, oh, how do
you guys like shooting in New Zealand? Blah blah blah,
it's so beautiful? Do you know why they decided to
(03:06):
shoot in New Zealand? And I know that Disney wanted
us to be like, oh, because it's so beautiful and
Lord of Rings and blah blah blah. And I remember
just as like a ten year old. I think my
mom even got annoyed, was like, you shouldn't be saying that.
I was like tax and sentence and they're like, all right,
we're gonna take that one again. I was like, what,
(03:26):
come on?
Speaker 1 (03:28):
I know, I love how you knew that right off
the bat. Okay, we have to sew in your intro
we're talking about how I mean, arguably you were one
of the i'd say, one of the most recognizable child
actors of your of your genre, of your generation, because
you were just in so many different things. So how
did you start as an actor? I mean, if I'm
(03:48):
reading all the start, you were three when you started.
So how did you get into the industry? How did
you know you wanted to do this? How did you
stick with it? I mean, walk us through that.
Speaker 4 (03:57):
Okay, So I grew up in New York City, middle child.
I guess like I was kind of a like like
a very like terrible toddler. Like I was like really
like like when you think about a terrible toddler, like
it's times one hundred. Like they at church they used
to call me Bam bam, Like I would chew up
(04:19):
furniture all the time. I wouldn't listen to anything. And
I remember there was this indoor playground that I used
to go to in New York so when I was
like two, three, four years old whatever. And this sounds creepy,
but like we we all know as former they would
send out talent scouts to the playgrounds, which now you
think about, you like, that's kind of weird, yeh, you know,
(04:45):
but no, they sent out some talent scouts, and I
guess because I was really rambunctious, they were like, oh,
this kid would be great commercials and my mom was like,
all right, I'll take him to an audition whatever. And
I ended up really liking it and I wanted to
do it, and so it got me to listen, like
I was actually able to take direction really well, which
I think maybe my parents resented it because they're like,
(05:05):
why can't, But I think there was like an incentive.
They're like, oh, I want to keep doing this because
I actually liked performing. So it actually kind of mellowed
me out as a kid because I knew I wouldn't
book or whatever. I guess on some level I knew
at the age I wouldn't book jobs or any think
if I didn't listen. So it just went from there
(05:25):
and I did like dozens of commercials and then got
you know, it just kind of went from there, did
some TV. I think one of my first big things
was after my first big commercial was at McDonald's commercial
Charles Barkley, which was talked to talk about the Big
(05:46):
Mac and I had to say the whole Big Mac
ingredients or whatever. But then after that, there was an
ABC sitcom that was pretty short lived that I did
with dan Aykroyd called soul Man.
Speaker 2 (05:55):
You were four now if memory serve, Yeah, I was like, that.
Speaker 4 (05:59):
Was ninety seven and so it's like four or five
years old, and yeah, And we shot that over at
the at the Disney lot in bur Back and that
was was it was Boynet's World still on at that point.
Speaker 2 (06:11):
Was there? Yeah, we were. We might have been.
Speaker 4 (06:13):
Did you guys shoot there at that same lot?
Speaker 2 (06:15):
We did? We were there, the former.
Speaker 4 (06:17):
Improvement was there. Yeah, we were there and.
Speaker 1 (06:19):
Yeah, and we were there, So ninety three to ninety
five we shot there and then we came back and
did I think ninety seven to two thousand there.
Speaker 2 (06:27):
So we were we were there for Yeah, I mean,
we might have been on the lot at the same time.
Speaker 4 (06:31):
It's it's entirely possible.
Speaker 5 (06:33):
Yeah, I mean, the the kids cast of this show
is like you were all stars at some point, right.
The cast that you guys were in was great, Like
you were mixed in with the great cast of young actors.
Speaker 4 (06:47):
Yeah, ye awesome, Yeah, geez, it was pretty fun that
I got fired from that show, so you did, Yeah,
I got fired from it for being four?
Speaker 2 (06:56):
How does one get fired?
Speaker 4 (06:57):
Like what happened drinking on the Yeah, I don't know,
it just happened stuff.
Speaker 2 (07:04):
And every basically every actor has gone through that.
Speaker 4 (07:08):
I think. So, yeah, they make creative changes the audience. Sure,
that's all choice?
Speaker 2 (07:13):
Do they? Did you?
Speaker 1 (07:15):
I mean, can you remember having to sit and study
and learn your lines? Did you have any trouble at
four and five years old memorizing your dialogue?
Speaker 2 (07:23):
I mean that seems insane to me.
Speaker 4 (07:25):
I've always been pretty lucky with memorizing dialogue. I panic
about the only time I'm really the only time I
struggle with it is during auditions, Like I'm a really
bad test taker?
Speaker 2 (07:37):
Me too.
Speaker 4 (07:37):
Yeah, It's like I really, I really. I don't think
there's any actor like who loves a week I love auditioning.
This is I think. I think on some level we
all think, like, oh, they should just give me the
part because I'm awesome, all right, But uh, yeah, I'm
just not a great test taker once I'm on, like
in an audition, you know, oh you got five pages
(07:58):
torn and I'll be panicking. I want the night before.
I want to vomit before. And this is after thirty
years of acting. Now I want to vomit before I
go into every audition, Like literally, I start sweating. I
want to vomit it. I'm like, they're going to figure
out that I suck. This is going to be a nightmare.
It's like really, just like such an anxiety an anxiety
(08:19):
bomb inside me. And then once I have the job,
they're like, Okay, we're gonna shoot twenty pages extra today
and it's like, okay, no problem. Up up, up, Up,
up up, It's easy. I think it's just psychological because
I have the job. Every every time I go into
like audition or like if it's the first day of
starting a project, I really feel physically ill. But then
(08:41):
I did feel better because this is years ago. Now.
I saw an interview with Dustin Hoffman, I think it
was on sixty Minutes, and he said the same thing.
I'm like, all right, if Dustin Hoffman, yes one of
the greatest actors of all time, then I guess like
it's okay for like little of me to feel that way.
So I think it's probably a pretty pretty universal thing
for most is your music or acting or you know,
(09:04):
athletics or anything. You know.
Speaker 3 (09:05):
I live in Orange County, so it's a long drive
up to auditions.
Speaker 4 (09:08):
You know.
Speaker 5 (09:09):
When I was really auditioning, it's like, I can't even
tell you how many times I'm like, nah, I mean
the slightest bit of traffic.
Speaker 3 (09:15):
I'm like, you know, I'm just gonna drive home.
Speaker 4 (09:20):
Anyway. They're gonna they're gonna hate. They're gonna talk about
me when I leave the.
Speaker 5 (09:24):
Room, tell me how stupid I was thinking I was
gonna wear this stupid pink top.
Speaker 3 (09:28):
I hate this pink top. I'm never wearing this peak
top again.
Speaker 4 (09:30):
Like idiot, really thinking about it. As soon as we
leave the room, they're thinking about, Oh, we're gonna what
they're gonna order for exactly when you go back to torturing
more people.
Speaker 1 (09:44):
They also, we have this, especially when you're you were
a child actor, you have this idea that adults know
what they're doing, and it's not until you actually become
an adult where you're.
Speaker 2 (09:54):
Like, no one knows what the hell they're doing. This
is ridiculous.
Speaker 1 (09:57):
So it's like you're walking into this room with these
very iant people I have to audition for. And there's
times I've been on the other side of that where
I'm in the room and I, you know, as one
of the people sitting there watching people audition, I'm looking around, going.
Speaker 2 (10:08):
None of these, Yeah, who's on this side? And know
what the hell's going on? These are not important people.
It's just it's everybody's faking it.
Speaker 4 (10:15):
Well, you look at it like this. You know, you
say you're thirteen or fourteen going into an audition, and
you're you're meeting the important adults. Like you said, now,
look back and I'm like, oh, those like casting directors
are my age now? Yes, I knowing what the hell
I'm doing. No, the way they had it together, No,
they're like like in their thirties.
Speaker 2 (10:34):
No adults got.
Speaker 4 (10:36):
When you're thirteen. Of course, I'm in my thirties. I
have no idea how I'm going to get through the
day most of the.
Speaker 2 (10:43):
Time now either.
Speaker 1 (10:44):
Yeah, I thank god my wife is here to feed me,
because I don't know what the hell I would do exactly.
Speaker 4 (10:48):
Yeah, how dopoil water?
Speaker 1 (10:49):
Yeah, you're now a veteran actor at age eight.
Speaker 2 (10:54):
At eight, at.
Speaker 3 (10:56):
Eight years old, you are a veteran actor.
Speaker 2 (10:58):
When you.
Speaker 1 (11:00):
Hear about the movie the Kid, So, what can you
tell do you remember? Did you even know who Bruce
Willis was at the time? Is this the kind of
thing where was it? Just like I don't Yeah, just
another audition.
Speaker 4 (11:11):
Yeah. No. So I have a brother who's seven years
older than me, So I got to watch all of
the movies I wasn't supposed to watch. Yeah, that my
parents didn't really know about. So, like, I know, like,
let's see when I was like seven, I was seven
when when we did the movie. I had already seen
called the Diehard movies because I call my brother's like
(11:34):
VHS copies. I remember I had already listened to the
Marshall Mathers LP, which my mom caught me listening to them.
Broke my brother's CD because she was like, he was
irresponsible enough to leave it where you could find it.
So that didn't that didn't win me points with my
big brother. There might have been some you know, throwing yeah,
(11:55):
but yeah, so I knew who Bruce Willis was. And
it was honestly a pretty crazy the audition process. They
auditioned like two thousand kids. The role was supposed to
be for a kid who was like eleven. So I
went through like eight rounds of auditioning and like a
screen test and everything before I even got it because
it was originally I was too young for it.
Speaker 1 (12:14):
Right, did they ever bring you into read? I mean,
but was the final screen test with Bruce Willis.
Speaker 4 (12:19):
Or yeah, the final screen test was with Bruce Willis.
It was. I actually, like I remember it pretty vividly
because I auditioned in New York my first couple rounds
of auditions and meeting with John Turtletop, the director, and
all the producers were there. I remember bringing for some
reason my my batmobile toy to the audition, and half
(12:43):
the audition was just like showing them that, which like
I'm like, wow, that would just not work for me today.
But then they for the screen test, they flew us
all out to La like me and I think three
or four other contenders for it, and it was where yeah,
and they put us all a bit like the Universal Hilton,
(13:03):
and we did the screen test somewhere. I think it
was probably at Disney, Uh, probably at the Public Disney
studios again, And yeah, it was with Bruce the screen test,
so that was probably like like very very very late
nineteen ninety nine, early too, because I think we started
shooting that like January two thousand. It was all pretty
(13:24):
quick turnout because then it came out just a few
months later in June, Yeah, and.
Speaker 2 (13:28):
Did really really well.
Speaker 4 (13:30):
Yeah, I think it did. Okay, it's done better over time.
Speaker 6 (13:34):
It was.
Speaker 4 (13:35):
It was a weird one because it's not really a
kids movie. When you watch it like it's it's kind
of a movie. Now you watch as an adult and
you're like, oh, there's actually like a lot of really uh,
it's definitely family friendly, but there are a lot of
like good I guess messages that adults can pick up
from it or whatever. But they were. There was a
whole drama when we were shooting it because back in
(13:57):
the twenties there was a famous Charlie Chaplin movie called
The Kid, and the Disney brass was like, well, this
is a nightmare because now all these people are gonna
be confused about which movie. I was like, I don't
think anyone's going to confuse this to if it's the
movie from the nineteen twenties starring Charlie Chaplin.
Speaker 2 (14:13):
Or Charlie Chaplin. Bruce willis very similar.
Speaker 4 (14:16):
Similar blindfold did who knows. I mean, there's talking in
this one, so maybe that's one major difference. It's a talkie.
But then they were like, let's just call it Disney's
the Kid. So I think a lot of people thought
it was going to be like a a movie for
little kids or something.
Speaker 2 (14:35):
Yeah it's not.
Speaker 4 (14:36):
I mean it's not like inappropriate for kid, but it's
not like a movie for five year books.
Speaker 2 (14:40):
What was working with Bruce willis.
Speaker 4 (14:41):
Like that was awesome. He was a really nice guy. Yeah,
really nice guy, really patient with me. Is like a
seven year old.
Speaker 3 (14:48):
Are you close in age to any of his kids
that he has?
Speaker 4 (14:52):
Yeah? I think we were all pretty much like in
the same within a few years of each other, because
I met when we were filming at a couple of times. Yeah,
and we're all I think, Yeah, I think we're all
like late eighties early nineties babies.
Speaker 3 (15:09):
Yeah. Yeah, Well two thousand was like a huge year
for you.
Speaker 5 (15:13):
I'm looking at Yeah the Kid, Meet the Parents, then
well and Kenny the Shark, and then you also have
your first d com, which is the Ultimate Christmas.
Speaker 4 (15:22):
Present, the Ultimate Christmas Present. Yeah, the Meet the Parents
one is always funny. I always feel like like it's
like stolen valor something for me to even claim that
because I was in it for like two seconds in
the beginning. Hey you're in it. Yeah, it's pretty funny.
My girlfriend, I guess she was watching it at home
the other day and she's like, Oh, I didn't I
forgot you were in this movie. I'm like, I'm kind
of not really.
Speaker 6 (15:45):
Mean it.
Speaker 4 (15:45):
I was in the very beginning of it. I think
we did that like right before the Kid and then yeah,
Kenny the Shark funny up. I was just thinking about those.
It was a really fun series of like innerstitchals that
they made for Shark Week. It was actually like pretty creative.
It was like a shark that you never really saw
who was like a human shark, and like you just
like saw his like over the shoulder shots and he
(16:07):
was like my best friend. And they made some like
really bizarre cool kids stuff like that. You know.
Speaker 3 (16:13):
Love that.
Speaker 1 (16:14):
We got to talk Ultimate Christmas Present a little bit
because we've already recapped the Ultimate Christmas Present. Okay, yeah, yeah, yeah,
So what was it like shooting that movie that?
Speaker 4 (16:22):
I mean that it's so long ago that would that one?
That one was like you wish. I definitely remember because
you wish. We shot two years after that, but two
years when you're like seven to nine huge twenty years.
Speaker 2 (16:34):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, it's like.
Speaker 4 (16:36):
A twenty year gap just in like awareness and like
memories and and uh and that was really I mean
it was fun. We shot it in Vancouver. That was
like my first of like fifty Christmas movies I did
for Disney. I feel like so. But yeah, another another
bizarre Disney Channel storyline, like a weather changing machine.
Speaker 2 (16:57):
Uh, why does sits.
Speaker 4 (17:02):
Changing machine? Hell? Yeah, Disney, let's go.
Speaker 1 (17:05):
We just didn't get why Santa would need what would
need to cause earthquakes like the snow We understood, but
it's like Santa.
Speaker 4 (17:12):
Astrictive power the weather.
Speaker 2 (17:14):
Yes, he became like a batman villain. It was really
kind of cool.
Speaker 4 (17:19):
You're really bizarre.
Speaker 2 (17:20):
It was.
Speaker 5 (17:27):
I mean, you said you've done so many Disney. Was
that sort of the goal like for you and your team?
Was that something like they wanted to try to get
you to be you know, Disney's like go to kid?
Speaker 3 (17:39):
Is that at all? Talks while you were little? Do
you remember?
Speaker 4 (17:42):
I don't, I don't. I don't really know if there
was a goal or or I think. I think honestly,
the goal was just to do uh cool projects and
obviously like working for Disney, Like I actually really enjoyed
working for Disney.
Speaker 2 (17:58):
It was weird.
Speaker 4 (17:59):
It's funny now how to be described as a Disney
kid because I never felt like a Disney kid as
a kid, because you know, I never did a series
for them. I had a bunch of general meetings with
them back in the day where it's like, oh, we
could maybe do this or do that, and I I
did the couple of dcom movies, but I felt like
I was kind of like an adjacent Disney kid. But
I was definitely definitely more in in the Disney card,
(18:21):
like I never did anything for Nick or any of
that stuff.
Speaker 1 (18:24):
That's so funny that you say that, because as a
Disney kid, I saw you as being more.
Speaker 2 (18:30):
Than a Disney kid, like you were in the films.
Speaker 1 (18:33):
Yeah, so that was I mean that was different than
you know, we're on a sitcom or something on a show,
that's great, but when you're doing like Disney's The Kid
with Bruce Willis and you're doing the Santa Claus, I
mean you were like you were more elevated than a
Disney kid is how we looked at it.
Speaker 4 (18:49):
You just were that's nice. I mean, I I don't know.
I mean I think we're all just like working working hard,
doing doing cool stuff, doing the best stuff we can.
I just I got really lucky to be, uh you know,
just like, yeah, I really struck gold a few times
and more.
Speaker 1 (19:06):
Than a few I mean Santa Claus. Yeah, the Santa
Claus is a perfect example. You did what Santa Claus
two and three? Yeah with Tim Allen what what was
it now? And then you did Zoom with Tim Allen
as well, and Shaggy Dog.
Speaker 4 (19:18):
With Tim allow We did like we did like uh yeah,
we did like four movies in the span of like
four years together or something.
Speaker 2 (19:28):
What was he like to work with?
Speaker 4 (19:30):
I mean, he's he's great. He's he's one of the
funniest people I've ever met in my life. He's it's
I always talk about how you work with the you
know enough comics, and you realize a lot of them
are they're really on when the cameras rolling, and then
they're kind of something really reserved and they're saving it
(19:50):
or what. And Tim is like the opposite, Like he's
even more kind of just like on, like he's on.
He's not really not on ever, if that makes sense.
I'm really witty and just like really like, yeah, he's
a you're pretty much always laughing and he's just like
(20:13):
his his sense of humor is just so like kind
of just like elevated. It's it's just it's he's He's
a very funny guy and a very nice guy. He
was very nice to me, and we we worked a
lot together, and uh yeah, yeah, I I I can't
say enough good things about Tim. Uh you know, whenever
I run into him, you know, in la or anything,
(20:34):
he's always just great guy. And it's and it's weird.
I mean, we did a lot of stuff together, so
there's yeah, there's definitely history. We did like a lot
of like kind of cool movies, and you know, Santa
Claus franchise is like a pretty iconic franchise. So we
have like, yeah, some some good some good memories from
those ones for sure.
Speaker 1 (20:52):
Of the four you did, What's what's your favorite project
you ever did with Tim?
Speaker 2 (20:55):
Altin was the most fun?
Speaker 1 (20:56):
Let's put it this way, what's the most fun you
ever had shooting a movie with Tim?
Speaker 4 (21:00):
I mean it's it's pretty tough to top those Santa
Claus movies.
Speaker 6 (21:03):
Just the the sets that they built, the just the
scale of those productions is pretty crazy, just like the
physical scale of the sets and and uh and all that,
and it's just such a cool franchise to be a
part of.
Speaker 4 (21:18):
And yeah, I really I really liked playing that courtesy
Elf character. It was. It was, but I liked I
liked wearing the makeup, the al fears. I thought. I thought,
I thought it was a lot of fun. I mean,
they were, they were all great, and I have good
memories from from all of them. They all had really great,
great casts and you know, people working behind the camera too.
(21:40):
But yeah, those those those couple of Santa Claus movies
I did were pretty pretty great, pretty tough to top
those experiences. It's really cool.
Speaker 5 (21:49):
Yeah, Wow, was there has there ever been a point where,
I mean, I feel like even just as you're talking
about it, you're like talking about just going right into
the next gig, the next movie, the next show. Was
there a point where you were not really having to
audition for things, or you that they're just bringing you
(22:09):
stuff here and there, or especially with like.
Speaker 4 (22:14):
Yeah, there, I mean, there were some things that I
definitely got offered. I mean there's some things that I
still got offered to this day, but there's a lot,
I mean, ninety percent of this stuff I still I
auditioned for.
Speaker 3 (22:25):
Okay, that's.
Speaker 4 (22:28):
It's always nice when you don't have to ye oh yeah, sure,
I'll do that. That's great. But yeah, I mean I've
I've always been pretty much, uh, you know, working working
for it, right, Yeah, you know which is it's you know,
that's that's great too, because it keeps you sharp, you.
Speaker 1 (22:48):
Know, But it's not just Now here's the other thing.
It's not just you working for it. There's a whole
nother layer. Because your siblings are also in the industry,
aren't they.
Speaker 4 (22:55):
Yeah, my sister's an actress, uh, and my brother is
not an actor, has no interest in being an actor,
has never really wanted to be an actor, but he's
done some work behind the cameras and he's produced some
indie movies and stuff like that.
Speaker 1 (23:11):
So how did your parents juggle then, keeping you all
going to auditions, school, everything you've got to do. I
mean that must have been an interesting kind of Well
we got to be on this set, now, we've got
to be on that set.
Speaker 2 (23:23):
Now, your older brother's doing this, your sister's doing this.
What was that?
Speaker 4 (23:25):
Like, I mean, I have no idea how they did it,
to tell you the truth. And you know, a lot
of a lot of parents in the business can be
you know, they're the butt of jokes and old stage
mom mom ooh the dad I just know for and sure,
there's going to be crazy people everywhere, but at least
in my family, like the amount of like sacrifice that
(23:49):
they made with their own time. I remember my mom
being like, if you don't want to do this anymore,
we really don't have to, because I think she probably
wanted her free time back. Also sure, and like also
like the sacrifice like my older brother made of like
you know, one of his parents has gone like half
the time because we're off on set. So there's a
lot of sacrifices families make to do that, and it's
(24:13):
you know, so I've always been kind of one of
those people who I like, I said, they're gonna be
awful parents and great parents. And you can find them
not just on film sets, but you can find them
on a little league field, on a soccer.
Speaker 2 (24:25):
pH yeah, anywhere.
Speaker 4 (24:26):
And they can be in a in a dance studio
and any anything. There's always going to be parents and
it's but it seems like it's always like in film
that they get the brunt of this like abuse, when
you know probably it's you know, agents and managers that
maybe are more of the problems.
Speaker 2 (24:47):
No, I think you're you're also you're one hundred percent
right though.
Speaker 1 (24:49):
I mean, because being a child actor, you see the
great parents, the bad parents, all that stuff.
Speaker 2 (24:55):
But you're right, there's more good ones than bad ones.
Speaker 1 (24:58):
Yeah, and there's an there is a huge sacrifice that
has major one hundred percent. I mean, my my career
is a little bit like yours, and that I grew
up on the East Coast, so I started in New
York and then you're auditioning in New York and then
you're screen testing, you're flying out to LA you're flying here,
you're flying that, And you're right, somebody has to go
with you, and it's I'm sure that's not unless you're
forced into the industry. That's not your your parents' first
(25:21):
inclination is Okay, now I'm going to give up.
Speaker 2 (25:22):
My whole life so I can bring my kids.
Speaker 3 (25:25):
To audition season, pilot season.
Speaker 4 (25:27):
The season we're gonna go out there. You know. My
mom's like I'm gonna be away from like my husband
and like my other son who's like in high school
right now, to go and do this, uh you know.
And in New York, like like you're talking about Will,
it's like, uh, you know, you got parents who are
driving you know, from like the South Jersey into Midtown
Manhattan on a Friday at like three pm, Like, oh,
(25:48):
we got an audition at at the Three of Us
at four on Friday or this, Yeah, like shout out
to the three of Us. That was an old casting studio.
Speaker 2 (25:58):
I remember Three of Us.
Speaker 4 (25:59):
I remember yeah, And it's like, oh cool, yeah, I'm
sure that they want to be driving seven hours, yeah,
on a Friday and to midtown Manhattan to uh to
audition for a cheese it's commercial.
Speaker 2 (26:10):
Yeah, that's how it was.
Speaker 4 (26:12):
I fun. But then it was fun too because we'd
all go out and like get food afterwards, like all
the kids like in that. So it was kind of
like a cool, like little after school thing because a
lot of like a lot of the kids like even
though we're all competitors or whatever, we all kind of
became pals too. So yeah, that was kind of fun.
Speaker 5 (26:29):
Yeah, or it's like also I think of the days
to you know, I lived in Orange County, so it
was always a big drive. It was not seven hours,
but there were days where it was two to two
and a half hours. Yeah, we're just to traffic. But
you know, you get there and then you know I've
fallen asleep in the car, having to wake me up,
get me like get you know, kind of get back
(26:49):
in that mindset. I'm young, and I think now with
my kids, like, there is zero chance I'm going to
go take that drive to then let them go into
a room and not know if they just side to
do this today it's just like a bad day, you know,
and you're going, that's kind of sacrifice that parents do
is just so huge, and and to not know if
(27:11):
it's ever going to amount to anything that your kid
wants it to amount to, you know, exactly.
Speaker 4 (27:16):
Yeah, it's it's definitely uh yeah, definitely definitely a big
sacrifice that you know, families make as a whole to
support dreams or ambition of you know, their kids. So
I think that's pretty cool. I'm very grateful for me too.
Speaker 1 (27:33):
Yeah, you're right, You're right, there isn't enough flowers given
to the parents.
Speaker 5 (27:36):
Right, it's the ones that that are issues that all
wear the bad.
Speaker 2 (27:40):
And there's a lot of great everywhere.
Speaker 4 (27:42):
There's a lot, there's a lot of good. There's some bad,
but like I said, you can find it on the
Little League Diamond. You know, I found some abusive parents
there when I was playing Little League as a kid.
You know. Yeah, that's just human beings. You're gonna find
good and bad everywhere, but they're very underappreciated in our
showbiz world.
Speaker 2 (28:02):
You couldn't couldn't agree with you more.
Speaker 4 (28:05):
I'll get that now.
Speaker 1 (28:07):
No, you're right, No, you're right, And it needs to
be talked about more because we do talk about all
the bad, uh and and we we need to talk
about the good a little more. Yeah, we also need
to talk about the acid trip.
Speaker 2 (28:25):
That is You Wish a little bit weird movie, so we.
Speaker 1 (28:29):
You know again, I I'm older, so I had not
usually grown up with with a lot of the dcoms,
so I hadn't seen them. So I'm watching these movies
for the first time, and some of them it is
like I've just drunk a big thing of ayahuasca.
Speaker 2 (28:40):
So you Wish, do you remember this audition.
Speaker 1 (28:44):
Do you remember kind of reading the script the first
time and and loving it or hating it, or being like,
what is this?
Speaker 2 (28:51):
I'm not sure that I auditioned for you wish ah Okay.
Speaker 4 (28:54):
I think this might have been one of those. And
this was getting not to get back to the New
Zealand thing, but this is like the second movie I
did in New Zealand in the span of a year.
Speaker 3 (29:05):
Wow.
Speaker 4 (29:06):
Yeah, they were shooting a lot in New Zealand after
The Rings and it was about the time. But yeah,
I did right before that, I did a movie. Yeah,
this one was a doozy. It was another acid trip
movie was called Ozzie about a talking Koala. Yes, with
Joan Collins Yes.
Speaker 1 (29:28):
Oh please tell me Joe Collins play and Rachel Wait,
the model, Rachel model, Rachel Hunter.
Speaker 4 (29:35):
Yes, she played my mom, as they would say in
New Zealand, my mom.
Speaker 1 (29:40):
Uh.
Speaker 4 (29:41):
Yeah. So I did that, got back to America. I think.
I think it was back to back with Santa Claus too,
that you wish happened. I can't remember what came first, though,
I think maybe, yeah, I know it was it was
the same time because they were both done in two
two thousand and two, and yeah, I don't know if
(30:03):
I auditioned for that one, but I I think as
a ten year old kid, you read the script and
you're like, oh, this totally makes sense. Yeah right, yeah, right,
of course it checks out. Yeah, probably this all seems
this all seems right. Yeah, do you remember it?
Speaker 2 (30:20):
Was it a good shoot? Did you get along with
the cast?
Speaker 4 (30:22):
Yeah? I got along with the cast. I think looking
back on it, there are probably some you know, life
imitates art moments, because I definitely as a you know,
going back to that whole age gap thing in two
years at that age seems like a lifetime of experience
or whatever. I was ten, I guess when we did this,
(30:43):
so AJ was probably like fifteen sixteen, and I just
remember thinking he was like the coolest fing guy. Of course,
I remember I remember Maven the band that you I
remember hearing you talk about it in the podcast. Oh yeah,
he was a band called me even, and I just
remember being like, this guy's so cool, so cool, and
(31:05):
like I worshiped him on set kind of, and I
think I probably annoyed him a little bit, but uh yeah,
like I worship and Elaine was great too, And I
think at that age there's something about like when you're
a ten year old boy looking up to the older
and I'm sure it's the same thing for girls too,
like always wanting to be near the older girl or
you know, oh she's wearing makeup and like oh he's
(31:25):
got a guitar. Oh you know. It's so definitely like
there was like some hero worship I had of like
of Aj at that time. For sure.
Speaker 3 (31:36):
I'm sure too, because of how much you were like
working at this time, he was feeling it was pretty
cool to have you as his like, you know, co
star on the film, thinking like hell yeah, like this
movie's gonna be so bad. The best you're playing my
little brother good.
Speaker 1 (31:59):
Man.
Speaker 2 (31:59):
Did you like working in New Zealand? Was this something
that you enjoyed? Was it?
Speaker 5 (32:03):
Did you guys get any days off to hang out
or go see anything?
Speaker 4 (32:07):
Yeah, yeah, no, there's plenty of days off we did. Yeah,
there was a It's it's like big, like it's a
big destination Mu Zealand for like all sorts of outdoor
uh doorsman sports kind of activities. So we did like
horseback riding on the black sand beaches, riding around on
(32:29):
four wheelers, all sorts of really cool stuff, like a
lot of a lot of like field trips like with
the studio teachers to uh to two different different towns
and stuff throughout the country. H historical sites and stuff
(32:49):
like that. You know, yeah we're learning about the Maori
people in certain towns. It was it was really cool.
I mean it's yeah, it was awesome. And and the
New Zealand film scene was like still pretty like kind
of new and small at that time. So uh for me,
it was cool going back because we had pretty much
(33:12):
the same crew on You Wish that I had had
on the other.
Speaker 3 (33:14):
Movie The Oh cool.
Speaker 4 (33:17):
It was kind of it was kind of cool.
Speaker 5 (33:19):
Were you guys doing Were you in school at the time,
like having to do your school hours or was it
during a time where you were out of school and
could kind of have more play than school work.
Speaker 4 (33:30):
I definitely remember having to do school on some of it,
and I always hated that, like more than anything.
Speaker 5 (33:37):
I feel like a big school promoter.
Speaker 3 (33:41):
But on set, it sucks.
Speaker 4 (33:44):
It sucks, and you got, you know, just the smug agees.
You go to bank your hours, inno, like bank your hours,
you know.
Speaker 3 (33:54):
Fifteen minutes there, ten minutes there.
Speaker 2 (33:55):
When is it going to add up to three hours.
Speaker 4 (34:00):
I would just like wear my teachers down with questions,
like just like question after question to avoid like actually
doing any coursework. Like I would just like I would
like buster them out of like having to do that
up there, like talking to avoid having to do any
math anything. I think I just wear them down so
(34:21):
I didn't.
Speaker 5 (34:21):
The ultimate worst I think I remember was the days
where they were we were needed on set so much
so then they're like, Okay, you only got an hour
and a half today done for school, so tomorrow you
now have four and a half hours, and you're going
I'm gonna die in.
Speaker 3 (34:41):
This stupid makeshift freaking school.
Speaker 5 (34:45):
I just like hope they would add their on to
the next day and you love it gonna die?
Speaker 2 (34:50):
I did. I loved it. I absolutely loved it. It
was great.
Speaker 3 (34:55):
It's like doing homework.
Speaker 4 (34:56):
Well, I treat it like when they would say stuff
like that at that age, that was like I felt
like in like an attack on my constitutional rights. I
was like, this is unacceptable again a half hours. That's
why we bought a revolution to get away from it
was like a big assault on.
Speaker 5 (35:16):
Me court, Like, how is this my fault that you
didn't allow me to have the three hours I think
this night needs.
Speaker 3 (35:23):
You need to go in the room for your.
Speaker 4 (35:26):
Time management skills. Sucks. Are you chasing gay light? The
sun sets every day and like you got you gotta
anticipate that it's going to happen every day people, and
then oh the sun's out again every day, guys. Just
we've had billions of years to prepare for that. The
sun always goes down.
Speaker 2 (35:49):
If you so you get the script?
Speaker 1 (35:52):
And was any of it art imitating life in a
way where you're like you're playing a kid, then who
is now a star star? Who's like, you know, I
don't get a lot of time to just be a
kid and I've got was was was there any part
of you that was kind of like, man, this is
a little bit like my.
Speaker 2 (36:10):
Life minus the coin collecting and magic.
Speaker 4 (36:14):
Not really, you know what. I was pretty lucky. I
had a pretty good like work life balance, so I
didn't feel like like that the character, I forget that,
I forget I know, the little brother Stevie, I forget
the the the uh, the actor, the child actor?
Speaker 2 (36:29):
Oh was it on the show called.
Speaker 4 (36:34):
You Have Like Three Names, which was like the big
nineties child? Of course, names. Of course it was not enough,
so but he was always like he was just kind
of like a real sad boy, like I don't know, yeah,
such a weirdo like I I actually like. I. I
think part of it was like I was like growing
up in New York predominantly. Uh, I had a good
(36:57):
amount of time away from like showbiz. When we weren't work,
We're in New York, and I was like at the
playground and playing Little League, and like kids in New
York just like really don't care. It's just like it's
not the thing there. So like you're not like going
to the playground being like, oh who you represented by right?
Seem oh you go? So in New York, Uh, I
(37:21):
don't know. There was just like a separation. Like when
when I wasn't working, I was doing other stuff or
spending time with my mom, you know, all my mom's
Sam was out in New Jersey, so we'd be taking
weekend trips to New Jersey. Or I'd be playing in
the park in New York or playing Little League and
doing stuff. And then when I was working, I'd be
traveling to work. So I didn't I didn't really see
(37:43):
too many parallels. I was like, oh, yeah, this this
character is kind of sad, like it sucks. He doesn't
really have a life, right, because I always had a
pretty It was always pretty separate.
Speaker 2 (37:52):
I guess.
Speaker 5 (38:00):
Were you able to stay in like a regular school
and go in and out for filming or did you
have to do homeschooling at any point.
Speaker 4 (38:07):
I was homeschool but that was kind of like a
choice my parents made regardless of whether we'd gotten into
acting or not. They were already homeschooling my brother in
New York. He was not in showbiz at all at
the time, so I think that would have just happened anyway.
(38:28):
So yeah, that that worked out well. And then when
I went to high school, I did it all online
through that like like Laurel Springs and got my diploma
you know, by the skin of my teeth or whatever.
Speaker 2 (38:43):
Well you'd found your love by that point. That's how
I was too. I liked studying, but I was also like, yeah,
but this is just I want to finish this because
this is what I could do. The acting thing is
that's my life.
Speaker 4 (38:52):
So yeah, I like learning and I like reading and
I like all that. I just I really I think
I think I have an issue with like, once someone
tells me I have to do something I don't like
to do it, and that's like definitely like a character
flaw in me that, like I have to work at
a lot because like life is ninety percent people telling
you to do stuff you don't want to do, pretty much,
(39:13):
like you kind of have to come to grips at
that at some point. I think I am slowly, But
I think that was my problem with school, was like
this is a stupid but if I if it's my idea,
it's a great idea.
Speaker 2 (39:26):
Yeah that makes sense.
Speaker 4 (39:27):
But if it's like the state of California or New
York's idea, then I'm not.
Speaker 2 (39:33):
Ridiculous.
Speaker 4 (39:35):
So what now?
Speaker 1 (39:37):
Curiously, were you a Disney Channel or Disney fan before
you had been booking for them, or I mean, did
you grow up watching d coms?
Speaker 2 (39:46):
Did you have a favorite or was it just kind
of like this was work?
Speaker 4 (39:50):
Honestly, I to be totally honest with you, I didn't
grow up as much watching D coms. So I grew
up like being an obsessive fan of Boy meets World.
Really like I like me and my brother like like
like obsessive fan of Boy meets Wow. Like literally like
(40:16):
obsessed with that show really all through, Like you know
the scene where they all go to college and that's
like I I loved I Love Boy Meets World. So
I would watch that a lot. Yeah that whenever that
was on Disney Channel in the later years, I would
always watch it too, So I was I was a
big fan of that, and Abby was also like my
(40:39):
sister die hard, diehard Cheetah Girls stand, die Hard Diehard
Cheetah Girls Stand.
Speaker 3 (40:46):
Can you tell her I am such a fan of her?
I was not.
Speaker 5 (40:53):
I thought she was also a boy.
Speaker 4 (40:58):
Diehard Cheeta Girls. But yeah, no, but I didn't watch
a ton I did. I it was so weird back
the Yeah I did. My sister watched a ton of
Disney Channel, like she was all about like Cheetah Girls,
Lizzie Maguire. I in terms of like Disney Channel shows,
you know, can possible also, but like in terms of
(41:22):
Disney Channel shows, like I've been close with Steven Anthony
Lawrence for like twenty years, so I was always a
big even Steven Stam. Yeah, I watched some of that
Disney stuff, but a lot of that I feel like
was geared more. My sister is a few years younger
than me, so she was into that, and I guess
i'd been watching stuff with my older brothers, so I
kind of skipped some of it, right, you know. But
(41:46):
looking back, I've seen I've seen a few of them,
and I I've seen a few of them over the years,
and it's kind of weird, how like how weird a
lot of those movies are.
Speaker 5 (41:55):
They can be odd, yes, but there are such some
like great gems that oh yeah, and some of them
have We've come across some horse.
Speaker 1 (42:04):
Horse sense, we're doing horse sense, coming jumping ship, jumping ship,
We're doing We're doing the whole Lauren family clan. If
you want to see a crazy one, just go watch Dad.
Napped was wild another crazy one, smart house great one.
Speaker 3 (42:20):
Nap was also filmed by Paul Everything.
Speaker 4 (42:24):
A lot of a lot of a lot of movies. Yeah,
have you seen that?
Speaker 5 (42:28):
He's behind like the all the whole zombie franchise is
all Paul.
Speaker 3 (42:33):
Like literally has just I mean, he's we like, he's
just insane.
Speaker 4 (42:37):
He's a nice guy.
Speaker 3 (42:38):
Yeah, Oh he's the best.
Speaker 4 (42:39):
He's the best, nice guy.
Speaker 2 (42:41):
He was cool.
Speaker 4 (42:42):
Yeah, he's a super nice guy. But yeah, I I
I I did watch some of them. But my sister
was the huge Disney Channel now and I don't think
she did anything for Disney Channel at all, but she
was like a huge, huge fan of Wow. She was
a big Cheata Girls fan, and I was a big
big boy meets that's cool. I appreciate that.
Speaker 2 (43:03):
Thank you so much.
Speaker 3 (43:04):
Thank you for letting us know. That's so cool.
Speaker 4 (43:06):
Yeah, I didn't want to be weird and like just jump.
Speaker 2 (43:11):
That's really cool.
Speaker 1 (43:12):
But so with your entire career, what do you think
you get recognized the most from Yeah.
Speaker 4 (43:21):
Hey, you're that guy who owes me money. No, probably
like Cat and Hat and the Santa Claus stuff, And
a lot of times it's like you're that, You're you're that.
I don't I never know how to answer that because
I don't want to seem like conceded. The good way
I am as a matter of why do I know
(43:43):
you from?
Speaker 2 (43:43):
Is my favorite? It's like, yeah, here, let me give
you my resume.
Speaker 4 (43:46):
Yeah, it's weird. It's like it's always a little uncomfortable.
I'm just like, okay, yeah, that's and then but usually
people be like, oh, cat and Hat or uh, the
Santa Claus. Sometimes from the from the d Coom movies,
but usually the dcom people that they'll also know the
rest of the Disney like the Santa Claus, they'll know
(44:07):
that all that war already.
Speaker 1 (44:08):
I thought Zoom was underrated. I'm gonna be honest. I
thought Zoom was a really good movie. I thought it
was fun.
Speaker 4 (44:14):
It was probably appropriately rated.
Speaker 2 (44:15):
Maybe then it was underrated.
Speaker 4 (44:18):
It was a weird year because it was the same
year as sky High, and so there's that whole craze
of like teen superheroes. But yeah, I mean that was
That was a fun movie.
Speaker 1 (44:27):
That was sky High, by the way, written by the
same two guys who created him Possible.
Speaker 4 (44:32):
There you go, that's true. Yeah, my uh yeah that was.
That was a good one. And I think they were
both the same year. We did that one in Canada.
Shout out to the Canadian Productions did a lot of those. Yeah,
a lot of those Ultimate Christmas Present was also Canada.
Speaker 1 (44:51):
Yeah, Canada or Utah and then and then I was
got New Zealand and we got to.
Speaker 4 (44:56):
Throw New Zealand into the million. Yeah, but yeah, Zoom
Zoom was. Zoom was a fun one. Great cast for
that phenomenal cast. He walks Tim Allen, Kate Marra and
Michael cass Torn, Chevy Chase, Torn and Chevy Chase.
Speaker 2 (45:10):
It was I mean, it was that's I thought it was.
Speaker 4 (45:14):
It was a great soundtrack by smash Mouth.
Speaker 2 (45:16):
Yes, it was all around just a good movie.
Speaker 4 (45:20):
All right.
Speaker 2 (45:20):
So final question, Okay, time.
Speaker 1 (45:23):
Machine exists, you can go back and give your younger
self any advice. What would you tell young Spencer?
Speaker 4 (45:32):
Uh, I don't know, this is a tough one. I'd
say probably just to you know, save money. No, Uh,
I'd say just to you know, uh, probably just enjoy
a lot of those moments and you know more. And
(45:53):
you know, because I look back and I'm like, oh,
you know, I kind of like rushed through a lot
of stuff on set, maybe not a you know, appreciated
like at the time, like how cool, Like everything I
was doing was. I guess, I don't know. That's a
tough one because I'm one of those kind of no
regrets people. That's good too, you know, like I I
but yeah, I don't know, that's that's a tough question
(46:13):
because yeah, I really try to be one of those
no regrets. You can't really change anything anyways. So and
I'm like a pretty cool life so far, and I
I'll say, living a pretty cool life doing cool stuff.
So yeah, I don't know, that's a tricky one.
Speaker 3 (46:29):
I think that's amazing.
Speaker 4 (46:31):
No regrets.
Speaker 5 (46:32):
Way, Yeah, but I'm the same way too, Like I
wish I would have kind of allowed myself to slow
down during some time.
Speaker 3 (46:40):
Not more pictures.
Speaker 5 (46:41):
I feel like I have so many pictures, but still
not enough, you know, Like I'm just like the memories
because you're right, you had such an amazing career and
I but I'm sure it was really hard because everything
was back to back.
Speaker 3 (46:54):
I mean, you get down your IMDb and it's like.
Speaker 4 (46:57):
You just keep scrolling two thousand and four.
Speaker 3 (46:59):
Here's twenty things that I did. That's what all came
out in twenty two thousand and four.
Speaker 2 (47:05):
I mean, that's ye.
Speaker 3 (47:06):
That is amazing. It's hard when you're and when you're young,
you're just like in the moment, you're just going for
your kids still and you're like, what's next next, what's next?
Here we go, here we go? You know. So that's amazing.
No regrets. I love that's good.
Speaker 4 (47:19):
I try to be yeah, try to be.
Speaker 1 (47:21):
Yeah, Well, thank you so much for joining us. Can
we will you come back sometime because I feel like
there's fifty more stories to.
Speaker 4 (47:29):
Any time I'd be I'd love to come back up beyond.
This has been so much fun.
Speaker 2 (47:33):
Okay, great, thank you so much, and yeah, good luck
with everything. We're going to have you back because there's
plenty of stuff we want to talk.
Speaker 1 (47:39):
Great, great, awesome, thank you, thank you, good bye, good
one too.
Speaker 2 (47:48):
Oh man, Well, I mean, what a career.
Speaker 5 (47:52):
It's like, I literally I knew he was on everything.
There was just a massive amount of time to where
he was in just so many things. And honestly, I
just kind of he mentioned I think it was Shaggy
Dog or something that I went, what's that? So I
just quickly went on IMDb and then I'm like, holy cow, this.
Speaker 1 (48:12):
Kid we didn't even talk about We can talk about
Shaggy Dog, Princess Diaries to Mark Wall.
Speaker 3 (48:18):
I mean, he was on and on and the things
happening each thing he's.
Speaker 4 (48:22):
In your life.
Speaker 3 (48:24):
Who did you not work with?
Speaker 2 (48:26):
No, I don't think.
Speaker 1 (48:27):
I don't think it would be hyperbole to say that
if you put a list together of the fifty biggest
child actors of all time.
Speaker 2 (48:33):
His name would be on it.
Speaker 3 (48:34):
Oh for sure.
Speaker 2 (48:34):
I mean his name would be on that list because
he's was in everything.
Speaker 1 (48:39):
I mean, he started working at three, he's still going
and he's worked with everybody.
Speaker 2 (48:43):
And when you say things like you know it was Disney's,
the kids.
Speaker 1 (48:46):
Like oh yeah, yeah, Bruce Willis, Yeah, it's just one
after another, so yeah another forever his.
Speaker 5 (48:52):
Mom talk about being busy. He's got him and his career.
Speaker 4 (48:56):
And then his.
Speaker 5 (48:57):
Sister who's like HERDB list is just like pages and
pages too, like when was that lady ever home?
Speaker 3 (49:05):
Never?
Speaker 4 (49:06):
Never?
Speaker 1 (49:06):
And he you know what I'm going to take away
from this, he is one hundred percent right. We need
to spend more time talking about the positive parents, because
there's more of them than there are the momagers and
the stage parents and the parents that sacrificed huge for
their kids. I think of like Lynn and King Strong,
of the families of you know, the Savages and families
(49:29):
that I've grown up. The lawrence is that there these
are great parents all the way around, love their kids.
This was not you're going to work damn it, or
or you're you know, we're going to have problems.
Speaker 2 (49:40):
This was you do this until it's no longer fun.
Speaker 1 (49:43):
But you don't get to do that at five, six,
seven years old without huge support from your family, and.
Speaker 5 (49:49):
On top of it, you being around those kinds of parents. Yeah,
and I think of like so many of the life
lessons I learned from the talks I had with my
dad from me observ being another parent who was not
being that positive role model and my dad having to
rework on our drive home.
Speaker 3 (50:08):
Okay, when this happens today, let's talk about that.
Speaker 2 (50:11):
Yeay, My parents are the same way, you.
Speaker 3 (50:12):
Know, And it was like how you navigate that?
Speaker 5 (50:15):
And parents don't, like we said, they're not all superhumans,
Like they don't know anything.
Speaker 3 (50:19):
They're going on the fly, and a.
Speaker 1 (50:22):
Lot of them are not, you know, they've never had
kids in the entertainment industry.
Speaker 2 (50:26):
They don't know anything about the business.
Speaker 1 (50:27):
Danielle Fischel's mom went and got a book out on
the lib from the library about a kid who wanted
to be in the entertainment industry. My dad came home
with the Yellow Pages from New York to try to
find a manager. We didn't nobody knew how to do
any of this stuff. And these are parents that sacrifice.
Speaker 3 (50:42):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (50:42):
He called a friend whose daughter was like, do like
doing modeling, but she was an adult. She wasn't a
kid act kid model, she was an adult. And he goes,
can I get on the phone with her? My kid
wants to do this and.
Speaker 3 (50:54):
Have no idea?
Speaker 2 (50:55):
What do you do?
Speaker 4 (50:56):
He just started?
Speaker 2 (50:56):
So yeah, yes, that was a cool thing.
Speaker 1 (51:00):
That needs to be talked about more is the positive
parents that are out there in the entertain entertainment industry,
because there are a ton of them. Yes, but well,
thank you everybody for joining us. We are going to
have him back because he's just a wealth of knowledge.
And again, because we've we talked to him for about
forty five minutes, we're on like, you know, the ninth
thing he did exactly of the six hundred things he did.
(51:23):
So thank everybody for joining us in this amazing park
Opper episode. Don't forget to join us on our other feed,
where we again find all the awesome movies, the bad movies,
the good movies, the great movies. The Beast talk to
them about and the people that want to talk to
us about him, which is great.
Speaker 2 (51:35):
So we'll see everybody next time. Bye.
Hosts And Creators
Will Friedle
Sabrina Bryan
Popular Podcasts
Are You A Charlotte?
In 1997, actress Kristin Davis’ life was forever changed when she took on the role of Charlotte York in Sex and the City. As we watched Carrie, Samantha, Miranda and Charlotte navigate relationships in NYC, the show helped push once unacceptable conversation topics out of the shadows and altered the narrative around women and sex. We all saw ourselves in them as they searched for fulfillment in life, sex and friendships. Now, Kristin Davis wants to connect with you, the fans, and share untold stories and all the behind the scenes. Together, with Kristin and special guests, what will begin with Sex and the City will evolve into talks about themes that are still so relevant today. "Are you a Charlotte?" is much more than just rewatching this beloved show, it brings the past and the present together as we talk with heart, humor and of course some optimism.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.