June 11, 2025 • 34 mins
Jana and Allan are hanging out with Jana’s co-star in her new movie, the legendary Steve Guttenberg!
He takes us into the mind of a murderer for his role in “Kidnapped by a Killer”, and you might be surprised at what Steve considers the most challenging part of the performance!
Plus, he shares his story of becoming frontline response for the devastating Palisades fire in LA.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Wind Down with Janet Kramer and I'm heart Radio podcast.
All right, so excited for this bonus wind down episode
because we have Steve Gutenberg coming on the show and
our movie Kid Up by Killer The Heather Robinson Story
premiered on Lifetime Now you can stream it wherever you
stream on I believe Prime, so check that out. But
(00:26):
he is lovely and I cannot wait to dive in
and chat all things with mister Gutenberg. And we've got
mister Allen Russell, my husband, joining us for this one
because he's also a Steve Guttenberg fan, so let's get
him on.
Speaker 2 (00:41):
Hi friend, Hi, ma, You guys look good and.
Speaker 1 (00:48):
So do you. Are you in New York right now
doing press for the movie?
Speaker 3 (00:52):
Yeah, yeah, it's been going great.
Speaker 2 (00:56):
I'm sure you've been doing some stuff and getting We're
getting great reactions and people are people are loving you,
by the way, there's so many you have, so many fans,
so many people who love your work, love your music,
and it's really cool to hear that, you know, and uh,
and I'm proud that we're working together and it's it's
(01:17):
a really good thing. And people love the trailer and
they love the one sheep and it's going great.
Speaker 3 (01:24):
Yeah, it's going really good.
Speaker 1 (01:25):
I love that.
Speaker 4 (01:26):
I thought was excellent.
Speaker 1 (01:28):
Yeah, the trailer's good.
Speaker 4 (01:29):
Traila was really good.
Speaker 3 (01:30):
Wasn't it really good? It was? Yeah? How were you two?
And how's the family? How the kids?
Speaker 1 (01:35):
Yeah, everyone's good, everyone's really good.
Speaker 3 (01:38):
Good.
Speaker 1 (01:39):
I went off to do a movie in Kentucky, so
we just got back from that. He's been, you know,
grinding and doing his training with clients and so it's
been a it's been it's been a good a good
year so far.
Speaker 3 (01:51):
It's been it's been good.
Speaker 2 (01:53):
Yeah, you know what, that's the top of the line
when you can say it's been a good year so far,
that's a ten out of ten.
Speaker 1 (02:00):
Yeah, I know. But it's interesting because of how the
year started, you know, especially for you, because I remember
turning on the TV and when the fires were happening
in Californian and the Palisades, and I'm like, oh, there's
Steve Guttenberg, you know, and it's like, that was not
a good start to the year for so many people.
Speaker 3 (02:16):
And no, it was very tough.
Speaker 2 (02:21):
And it's going to take a long time for the
Palisades and for Altadena to come back but it will.
Speaker 3 (02:29):
It will.
Speaker 2 (02:31):
Everyone is resilient and very hopeful, but the reality is
it was a huge natural disaster. Yeah, and six thousand
homes were burned in Palisades and more and more structures
and staying with Altadena. So you have let's say there
were four people in each home, you have twenty five
(02:52):
thousand people in each town being displaced.
Speaker 3 (02:55):
It's rough.
Speaker 2 (02:56):
It is very rough. And there, you know, when you
have six homes, it wasn't like a forest's burning. You
have concrete burning, literally, you have metal burning, you have plastics,
you have Tesla batteries burning. There's a ton of toxins
in the air and in the ground. So there's lots
(03:19):
to do, you know, environmentally, there's lots to do. And psychologically, yeah, well.
Speaker 1 (03:24):
I remember when you were in West Virginia you had
a cough and you're like, this is from the fire.
And that was in March, and so I'm curious has
that gotten any better? And because I don't think people
realize that, I mean, you were literally, you know, ground
zero in there, and then all the smoke and inhalation
that you had from that, I mean you were cough
(03:45):
and a bunch from it. In March.
Speaker 2 (03:48):
Yeah, have the cough for one hundred days. Wow, one
hundred days since the fire, and it's gone. I don't
have it anymore, thank God.
Speaker 4 (03:58):
It's that lead that leads me to a quick just
a quick comment. And so so I look through when
I met you a couple of months ago, and you know,
you know how much a fan I am of yours, and.
Speaker 1 (04:10):
I was so excited and so was I when movies I.
Speaker 3 (04:15):
Let you do, didn't I When you met me, you.
Speaker 4 (04:19):
Did not Your aura and energy is exactly what I
thought it would be, so it was it wasn't a surprise.
But anyway, So what my point is when I look
at your Instagram, I love all the kind of motivational
and inspirational stuff that you're doing right now because you're
you're sharing stories and experiences from your from your life
(04:42):
and you're kind of opening yourself up and putting yourself
in a position where you're sharing your feelings on Instagram.
I just wanted to say, like, I listened to them
and I love.
Speaker 3 (04:54):
Thanks so much. They started out with my dad was
a few years ago and he was in the hospital.
Speaker 2 (05:02):
So during the day, you know, my sister and I
would have to take a break, you know, uh, you know,
we'd swimch off and walk outside, get a cup of
coffee and sit outside.
Speaker 3 (05:14):
And there are always people during the day to talk to.
But we would sleep there in the mid and in
the middle of the night.
Speaker 2 (05:20):
If you you can't sleep, you go outside and there's
nobody there to talk to. So a friend of mine said,
you know, talk to the internet. There are other people
who will talk back, and they did.
Speaker 3 (05:30):
You know.
Speaker 2 (05:31):
I would get on there and say, hey, you know,
I'm taking care of my dad and whatever I would
talk about, and they would say, Wow, I'm taking care
of my mom, I'm taking care of my son.
Speaker 3 (05:40):
I'm you know, I'm working late at the office.
Speaker 2 (05:43):
I'm you know, I'm a janitor, I'm a I'm a
truck driver.
Speaker 3 (05:46):
And this is what I do in the middle of
the night.
Speaker 2 (05:48):
So it was a way of communicating and then it
sort of got into I would record these little musings
about life.
Speaker 3 (05:58):
But what I really believe in my mom.
Speaker 2 (06:00):
We used to tell me was that a mother in
Nashville is the same as a mother in Jordan, and
a mother in la is the same as a mother
in Moscow, and mechanics and teachers and all of us,
all of us human beings are the same and we
(06:20):
have the same thoughts no matter where you live, we're
human beings.
Speaker 3 (06:24):
And we have.
Speaker 2 (06:27):
These these normal thoughts about the practice of living. So
I just started talking and it's sort of morphed into
that and it's just as much for me as it
is for everybody else to sort of say what I'm
thinking about and see if anybody else is thinking. It's
(06:48):
sort of like when I would talk. I have a
lot of buddies, you know, women friends, men friends, but
sometimes with men friends, you know, it's like you kind
of you know, you'll say, hey, do you different, has
this ever happened to you? Or you ever think about this?
And you know you share things. And same with my
woman friends. You know, I'll say, do you ever think
about this? This is on my mind today? And a
(07:09):
friend of mine will said, yeah, I think about that
all the time. And I'm like, wow, I'm not alone.
And I guess that's what it really comes down to.
What I think about my musings is like, you know,
I'm not alone.
Speaker 1 (07:23):
You know, yeah, I think there's such you know, benefits,
you know, again, because you're same thing, like, you know,
we I've openly shared things on Instagram, and it's it's
helping people. And the other side of that is it
does open the door for people's opinions and not so
nice comments and and so I don't know if you've
(07:45):
experienced that piece of it through sharing, but I still
think that regardless, it's that's what I'm like because the
positive always outweighs the one negative comment. But sometimes the
negative comment is the one that stands out the most.
Speaker 2 (08:01):
Yes, you know, I can put on a new outfit
which I think is really cool, great jacket, pants and everything,
and I have ninety nine people say how great it is.
And there's a homeless guy sitting on the just drank
a bottle of vodka, and I walked by him. He goes,
that outfit looks terrible, and I'll think, to myself, what
(08:24):
are you talking about. I'll say to him, we're talking
about I just bought this. It's a great new shirt
and pants and a great jacket. He goes, doesn't really match.
And you want to know something, He's someone I think
about all day. You know, I'll say, you know, this
guy told me that it doesn't look good. He'll go, God,
buddy of am I going, what guy? I go guy
on the street kind of street homeless guy who just
(08:47):
drank a bottle.
Speaker 3 (08:47):
Of vodka, And that's the guy you're listening to. But
we as humans, we do that.
Speaker 2 (08:53):
You know, we're attracted to drama, We're attracted to the
dark side. So I do find that eighty percent of
the comments are good comments and then twenty percent are
you know, deranged or or you know, not constructive and
(09:14):
and a little mean.
Speaker 3 (09:15):
But that's actually how life is.
Speaker 2 (09:18):
Life is supposed to be eighty percent great and twenty
percent hard. I think that's the way God made it,
so it sort of works out in everything. And I
think in the morning, you know, you got to wake
up and say, I choose happy, and I know that
you know, there's going to be twenty percent not so great.
(09:39):
But it's not supposed to be eighty twenty, like eighty
percent horrible comments and twenty percent great. You know, it's
supposed to be eighty twenty.
Speaker 1 (09:49):
And I like the eighty twenty. That's that's a nice rule.
Are you happy that social media wasn't around when you
were back in the day doing you know, the two
men and the baby's and that it takes too, like
are you are you happy that you lived in I
think you're the success and the rise of your career
wasn't in social media times.
Speaker 2 (10:09):
Well, I'm glad there were no no, no techie phones
when I was a kid that I would, you know,
go out in the street and play stickball and kickball
and baseball and football and ring a libo and you know,
(10:30):
and live a normal life without these phones. I think
these phones and social media is terrific because you can
you can educate and entertain with them, but they have
changed the timber of the psychology of the planet, and
(10:51):
sometimes not so good, you know. You know, it's sometimes
it's much better to get on the phone and talk
rather than tech. And the texting is so easy that
we lose that ability to converse, you know, and we
need that. Like if I was texting you right now,
(11:14):
I wouldn't say and you know, or you wouldn't say,
oh yeah yeah. And I think it's social media eighty
percent of it is great, twenty percent of it is not.
And there's a lot of selling going on and promoting,
and it's also fake.
Speaker 3 (11:35):
You know. I'll look at someone social media and.
Speaker 2 (11:37):
I'll see everybody in like, all dressed in white and
their house is white in the Hamptons and it's a mansion,
and the kids are running and the husband saying about
the message is such stank, so blessed. And I look
at them and I'm like, you, man, I'm not blessed
(11:58):
like that. You you know how happy you bastards are,
you know? And then I'll realize, wait a minute, dude,
that's fate. It's not real. That's just not real. And
you and you know, so I think that it can
you know, I mean we I mean, there's so many
studies on that that you know, it can make you feel.
(12:20):
You start going, you start scrolling and seeing everybody so
happy and laughing.
Speaker 3 (12:24):
Well, that's just like one, you know, one part of
their lives, you know. But you have to be so compared.
A friend of mine always says, compare and despair.
Speaker 4 (12:35):
You know, Steve, is this the first time that you
have played the role of a murderer?
Speaker 3 (12:52):
A murderer?
Speaker 1 (12:54):
I love your Scottish accent when you do.
Speaker 2 (12:57):
By the way, you have the greatest voice. You got
to do, you gotta do something you do. You have
the most beautiful voice.
Speaker 3 (13:05):
Let me think here, No, I did play a murderer
in a very small horror movie out of Brussels. I
shot in Brussels and it was a job. You know,
I went there to work and it never went anywhere.
And I've been a villain.
Speaker 2 (13:19):
I've been a pedophile in Veronica Mars pretty good.
Speaker 3 (13:24):
You know. She was a mean Las Vegas hotel owner
in Ballers.
Speaker 4 (13:31):
I remember that.
Speaker 2 (13:32):
Yeah, yeah, putting Dwayne you know Dwayne Down and I.
Speaker 3 (13:38):
Did when I when I.
Speaker 2 (13:40):
Was eighteen or seventeen, I did a show called Family,
which was many years ago, and I played a very
bad kid.
Speaker 3 (13:49):
So I and on stage, I've played villains.
Speaker 2 (13:53):
But you know, as an actor, I think you only
get to play a serial killer basically once in your life.
And and and this was a great opportunity. I'm so
grateful to Lifetime for you know, for choosing me and
offering me the part. Because you know, as actors, we
(14:13):
like to work first of all, and then when you
get it, you know, you're given a certain amount of equipment.
You know, you look at Robert de Niro and he
looks like an Italian mafia boss.
Speaker 3 (14:26):
So what does he get? A lot of.
Speaker 2 (14:29):
Mafia boss guys and a lot of you know, a
lot of mafia soldiers that's a big part of his career,
or tough guys. But every once in a while you
see him do meet the fockers or the intern where
he's this, you know, a father or a sweet older
man trying to help a you know, a young lady
(14:50):
find her way. So we're actors and we love to
bring out our toolbox.
Speaker 3 (14:57):
You know.
Speaker 2 (14:57):
I always say, like, if you're an architect and all
you do our barns and people go, oh, I want
you to build an apartment building, but I know you can't.
Speaker 3 (15:05):
You go, no, I can. I just have made my
living building barns.
Speaker 2 (15:09):
But man, I can building you an apartment house and
knock your socks off, so you know, and then long
wood away.
Speaker 3 (15:15):
I'm really grateful for this part.
Speaker 1 (15:17):
Yeah, and then you were so in on being like, hey,
I want the mustache, I want a mustache, I want this.
I want to be able to have, you know, like
you were. You know, I was hearing those discussions when
when they were doing my putting my bangs on. But yeah,
you know, Steve is like really invested in wanting to
change his look. And I think that was really cool
because you were truly invested in creating a character.
Speaker 3 (15:40):
Yeah, so much of what we do is physical. You know.
Speaker 2 (15:47):
I tried to create a walk and a posture and
cadence of talking and the look, you know, shave my
hairline back and put the mustache in the glasses and
even make my skin have eggzema, you know, those like
little red dots on it, and it really changes not
(16:09):
only your look, but how you feel when you're acting.
That equipment. I remember years ago I worked when I started,
I was eighteen, and I worked with Larry Olivier who said,
use a fake nose as much as you can fake
teeth wigs.
Speaker 3 (16:29):
You know, you'll love it, and the audience will love it.
They'll see something different. We love to see people popping
up different holes. You know, when you see a friend
all the time is in sweats and T shirts and
you know, never does her and all of.
Speaker 2 (16:45):
A sudden you go to the wedding, you know, a
wedding or an event, and she's all dolled up. You're
like wow, you know, you get a real kick out
of that. So same with actors. And Olivier was a
huge proponent of fakery.
Speaker 3 (17:02):
And you know, and and when I was very young.
Speaker 2 (17:05):
I took it to heart, saying, she can you know,
unless you know, you're doing a picture or a movie
or a play where they go, we just want you
to look like you. And that happens a lot when
you know, producers kind of want to emulate the successes
you've had. We no, no, no, we don't want that
fake nose. We want you, you know. And and that's
(17:26):
a different ballgame. But I was so grateful to the
producers and our director, you know, yeah, yeah, I mean,
Marty was great and the Tanell brothers just great to
let me do my thing, you know. And did you
feel that way when you were working that they gave
you a lot of rooms?
Speaker 1 (17:45):
Yeah, I mean I love them. That was the second
time that I got to work with them, and they
were great. And it was funny cause Stacy or their
you know, the makeup girl, she was like, hey, you know,
we're not going to be able to do your typical
beach curls. I'm like, no, I don't want that, Like
I'm excited to, like, yes, change it up. This is
where this is going through eras of or different decades
(18:06):
from the eighties to you know, the two thousands and
so like yes, change it up. Let's do it like
that is excited for that piece of it.
Speaker 2 (18:13):
Yes, that's that's our job to to bring all our
tools out and figure out, Okay, how do I I'm
going to decorate this house?
Speaker 3 (18:23):
How do we decorate this house?
Speaker 2 (18:24):
You know, we usually do ten paintings those kids with
the big eyes, but I don't want to do that
on this one.
Speaker 3 (18:31):
Let will you allow me to do something new? You know,
and and it's terrific.
Speaker 2 (18:36):
You know, I'm sure that you know, as you said,
you know, we as actors, we we.
Speaker 3 (18:41):
All enjoy it.
Speaker 2 (18:42):
And I'm sure that every actor, no matter where you are,
you know, you get a chance to play you know,
mercutio or something. You know you want a different look
or you know you want to play you know, you know, uh,
you know, you know make in the Scottish play you know,
you want a different look. You know.
Speaker 3 (19:03):
Uh, it's cool. It's really fun to play. To dress up.
That's what we do, right, we dressed up.
Speaker 1 (19:09):
So we were having a Steve Guttenberg weekend in the
house the other the other weekend because I've been introducing
the kids to movies that I watched when I was
around my daughter's age, and so one of my favorites
was It Takes two. So we were watching like parent
Trap and then I was like, guys, here's like this
is the one that I'm like stee like, I just
(19:30):
like love that movie so much, and you know, you
and Christiality's you know, chemistry was so great in that
and I just like I And of course I fan
grolled when I met you, like, you know, A Three
Minute Baby and a Little Lady were like my favorite movies.
Speaker 2 (19:44):
You didn't give me usually yet I get paid like
the fan fan stuff.
Speaker 3 (19:49):
It was like twelve dollars and I never got it.
Just yeah, okay, I was like twelve dollars.
Speaker 1 (19:57):
I was like, I'm a really big fan and I'm
just going to get that out by the way. And
I love a love your movies. And then of course,
you know, he was a big on Police Academy. But
is there a movie you look back and go like
that that was special or that that connection was special
doing that movie.
Speaker 3 (20:11):
I don't I don't have a favorite. You know, I
love them all.
Speaker 2 (20:16):
I love the experience of working, of meeting people, of
becoming intimate with them in conversations. You know, you become
you know, it's a really it's a really great part
of our job that we of all we're pretty sent
All actors are sensitive and that like if you know
your two plumbers that you get to a building and
(20:37):
you got to fix a leak, you.
Speaker 3 (20:39):
Know, how you doing? How you doing? You know, you
just get to work. But what we do is we
start to find out, you know, oh, what's your husband like,
you know, and where do you live?
Speaker 2 (20:48):
And you know, where do you come from and what
do you do? And this is what I do and
this is where I come from, and you exchange intimacies
that make you closer and then able to work. So
I've found out on every job I've ever had that
(21:11):
there's something very similar to all of us that we
like to share and be close and open ourselves up
because I think we all look different, whether it's Duane
Johnson or you know, or you know, you know, or
George Clooney or no matter who you are, we all
were that weird kid, you know, that sort of was
(21:33):
different and tried to fit in and all that, and
then we found as an adult or maybe as a kid,
we found other actors and we say.
Speaker 3 (21:42):
Wow, you're like me too.
Speaker 2 (21:44):
Wow, you you know you like musical You know you
like musicals, So do I, you know, and and so
I enjoyed.
Speaker 3 (21:52):
I've always enjoyed every job. Had one job.
Speaker 2 (21:55):
In Spain where the director was lusting after my girlfriend,
so I thought he was weird. And that was the
only job where I'm like, this guy's really weird.
Speaker 3 (22:09):
But you know, it was one of those, you know.
Speaker 4 (22:25):
So I've watched a lot of like true crime stuff
and serial killer stuff that sounds weird and it sounds
a bit dark. But how much I'm always interested, right
like you are obviously top of your profession. How much
work and research, Steve, did you put into the real
(22:45):
John Edward Robinson. What were some of the things that
you did so that you could maximize your craft?
Speaker 3 (22:53):
Thank you nice for asking.
Speaker 2 (22:55):
I spent a lot of time looking over newspaper articles,
magazine articles, from television and video on him and on
people discussing him, on Heather, on his wife is some
of his kids, and and after about an hour and
(23:15):
then then about his actions, and then after about an
hour and a half of studying, I had to take
a break.
Speaker 3 (23:23):
It was so painous. His life was so disgusting.
Speaker 2 (23:28):
Beyond disgusting, so low that I sort of had to
clean out after about an hour and a half and
watch some Seinfeld and just just you know, go back
to the real world. I don't think it's good for
anybody to spend too much time.
Speaker 3 (23:50):
With undesirables. Although you know, my dad was a cop, and.
Speaker 2 (23:58):
You know that's what they do all and it creates
a certain type of person. It really affects you. I'm very,
very cognizant to not let it affect my outside life
because I don't think it's fair for my family and
friends to deal with me saying, oh, I can't talk
to you now because I doing my research. I'm a
(24:21):
serial killer and I'm all screwed up, so I try
to just clean it off at the end of the day.
Speaker 3 (24:27):
But the research was rough.
Speaker 1 (24:33):
Did you ever talk to Heather.
Speaker 2 (24:35):
No, I didn't speak to anybody nobody at all, and
I kind of didn't want to.
Speaker 3 (24:44):
I just I don't know. I just didn't think it
was something I needed to do. Yeah, you know, did
you speak to anybody?
Speaker 1 (24:54):
I didn't know, but I did on my previous one
was a true story, and you know, I remember talking
to Marty because she directed that one. Too, where it
was like, okay, she said she wasn't emotional in the scene,
and she was. She's like, but you also got to
play it how you would how you think it should
be played too. So it's like meeting it kind of
in the middle. And so sometimes where I want to
honor their story, it's also you're telling a story too,
(25:17):
you know, and what would be coming up for you.
So I could see the poll of not wanting to
as well.
Speaker 2 (25:22):
Yeah, I kind of wanted to make a painting of
the experience rather than a photograph. And that's why I
didn't want to look just like John. I wanted to
create my own look of somebody who's so disturbed. What
would that look like? And I kind of felt the
(25:46):
same thing about my relationship with Heather and relationship with
you and the relationship with my wife in that I
wanted to create a painting of it. I wanted to
put it through a few prisms, not just a straight photograph.
Speaker 1 (26:04):
I'm reading this thing right now, where it's basically A
jury found the man guilty on three counts of capital
murder in two thousand and two, and he was sentenced
to death. He later admitted to five additional murders in
Missouri as part of a plea agreement, and received five
life sentences his prison in prison. But I just saw
a thing like kind of where is John Edward Robinson today?
And it says he remains in prison, has and has
appealed to his sentence numerous times. And I'm like, how
(26:25):
does he appeal when he's when a he's I mean,
he's a murderer, He's pled guilty to these you know,
numerous women, Like, what do you mean you're appealing your sentence?
I don't understand.
Speaker 3 (26:36):
I did some research on that too.
Speaker 1 (26:38):
Okay, do you have any like can you help me
understand that piece? Or like, is he just trying not
to be sentenced to death?
Speaker 2 (26:44):
Or in our country, the way the legal system works
is you could sue your couch if you think that
the couch is hurting your back, and do you the
reason that your postures and correct just because of your couch.
Speaker 3 (27:01):
You could sue the company that made that couch. You're
allowed now, whether the court takes it and decides it's
all right, that's one thing. But you're allowed to sue anybody.
For you sue the guy who sells pretzels, on the
corner because you don't like the look of his pretzels
reminded you of a terrible experience, and you can sue him.
Speaker 2 (27:23):
You know, if your coffee is not is too hot,
spills on your lap, you can sue the company for
too hot coffee.
Speaker 1 (27:30):
That McDonald's lawsuit, Yeah right, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2 (27:37):
So with with appeals, you can appeal anything.
Speaker 3 (27:41):
Now, whether the court takes it seriously or not. That's
another thing wild.
Speaker 1 (27:46):
I mean, he killed eight women in Kansas, right.
Speaker 3 (27:48):
And he's allowed to be that's the law. You're allowed
to appeal.
Speaker 2 (27:52):
That's because that's for the innocent man who actually they
say killed all those women and he didn't, and he's
in jail and he's allowed to appeal, and that appeal
proves that somebody else did it and then he and
then he can go free. And that's really what it's for.
It's for the innocent, you know.
Speaker 4 (28:13):
Yeah, it's the So when I was reading up a
little bit about it's the scheming side of it also,
I mean those those are the actual mothers of the women,
which is disgusting. But there's the scheming side of it,
where he was his own brother that he took money
from yeah, yeah, and say that was the money for
(28:34):
the baby when obviously we knew, we know where the
baby came from. But to do things to that extent
to your family members as well as strangers of people
that are in your.
Speaker 1 (28:45):
Cuckles, it's just like and then for that brother too,
for his head to spend like what like not knowing
you know, that's just that's tough, and that's got to
be it's got to be hard for you to then
play that kind of character and then separate because you
were such a good man and he was such a
bad man. And then like, obviously it's your craft and
you're but it's also it's I gotta imagine that's tough too,
(29:07):
Like you're not playing a great human.
Speaker 3 (29:11):
You know.
Speaker 2 (29:11):
The research and the thinking about it was tough. Yeah,
But the playing it, you know, the acting it in it,
you know the scenes we did, the scenes I did
with Rachel.
Speaker 3 (29:23):
I enjoyed it. I loved it. I had a great time.
It was so cool to play not that to play
you know, this true life character, but to act and
to use my.
Speaker 2 (29:38):
Skills and to see what I can do different and
how do I become believable And at the end of
the day. It's always been easy for me to hang
it up and it's gone. And there were moments when
I really thought about him and what he did, and
I felt the scene where I murder head. There's mother
(30:01):
in the in the in the motel that was terrible,
you know, now that you bring it up, you're right,
that really bothered me a great deal. We were, you know,
there was a small crew in the motel room. I
(30:23):
haven't thought about this, you know. I'm glad you both
burned up. Thanks Ellenen, Thanks Janathan. But the baby was
on the bed, and I've seen lots of babies on
the bed, so it reminded me of you know, how
sweet it is to have a baby on the bed
because it's safe. You know, the baby can't really roll off,
(30:44):
you know, because if you're right there and there's the mother,
the sweet mother, and I seduced her, you know, with
my language or whatever, and then murder her with a
hammer in front of the baby. And that was a
(31:05):
very very difficult moment. Uh, you know, a difficult shoot time,
whether you know, I don't know. It was a half
a day. And then at the outside near the car. Uh,
she gives me the baby to hold or something. You know,
this is the devil and he's holding this little baby.
Speaker 3 (31:27):
Ah. That was terrible. That was terrible.
Speaker 4 (31:32):
M h I can't wait to see the movie.
Speaker 3 (31:35):
Mm hmm.
Speaker 2 (31:35):
You like it was you know, Marty did a great
job on in the Tinnels, you know, and all of
us actors. But it was a good movie, you know,
and it directed really well. The music is excellent. I
thought the production value was high and being every all
the actors were seamless.
Speaker 3 (31:56):
You know, you never saw anything other than realism. It
was good. It was a good little movie. And I
think it's gonna make some noise, I really do. Well.
Speaker 1 (32:06):
Everyone watched Kidnapped by a Killer The Heather Robinson Story.
It has aired on Lifetime, but you can stream it now.
Not by a Killer, The Heather Robinson Story. Steve, you
were a pleasure. It was a joy to work with you.
I mean, you're you're a force. So thank you for
I was. I was honored to be in a scene
with you.
Speaker 3 (32:24):
So I was too.
Speaker 2 (32:26):
You're a really great actor, and you're such a great couple.
You know, you're you have such love for each other.
It's so beautiful to see because that's what the world
is about you know, and you have a great family,
and you know, you move to Nashville and you're making
a great life and you're you're both are working and contributing.
Speaker 3 (32:46):
So and I can't wait to come down there at
Nashville and see you guys.
Speaker 1 (32:50):
And the invitation is there, and we're gonna, you know,
maybe well we'll find you a nice little Southern girl
for you. Steve.
Speaker 3 (32:58):
Hey, you.
Speaker 1 (33:00):
Don't worry. I remember our talk. I'm trying to I'm
trying to match make don't you worry. I'm not. I
have you right here in my brain vibe. I might
have mentioned you to a girlfriend the other day. So
I'm just saying, you know, I've got you. I've got
you in mind, one of the best, so you deserve
the best. Is as all I'm want to say.
Speaker 3 (33:22):
Thanks. I love you guys. Thanks for thank you for that.
Speaker 4 (33:25):
So nice to see you.
Speaker 3 (33:26):
Great to see you both. All right, Chad, soon talk
to you.
Speaker 1 (33:30):
By loving so much amazing, all right, everybody will watch
Kidnap by Killer. The Heather Robinson story disturbing, but so
proud of Heather for letting us share her story and
giving her a voice in the tragedy that was her mom,
and and all those women so stream watch and support
(33:52):
Heather
Wind Down with Janet Kramer and I'm heart Radio podcast.
All right, so excited for this bonus wind down episode
because we have Steve Gutenberg coming on the show and
our movie Kid Up by Killer The Heather Robinson Story
premiered on Lifetime Now you can stream it wherever you
stream on I believe Prime, so check that out. But
(00:26):
he is lovely and I cannot wait to dive in
and chat all things with mister Gutenberg. And we've got
mister Allen Russell, my husband, joining us for this one
because he's also a Steve Guttenberg fan, so let's get
him on.
Speaker 2 (00:41):
Hi friend, Hi, ma, You guys look good and.
Speaker 1 (00:48):
So do you. Are you in New York right now
doing press for the movie?
Speaker 3 (00:52):
Yeah, yeah, it's been going great.
Speaker 2 (00:56):
I'm sure you've been doing some stuff and getting We're
getting great reactions and people are people are loving you,
by the way, there's so many you have, so many fans,
so many people who love your work, love your music,
and it's really cool to hear that, you know, and uh,
and I'm proud that we're working together and it's it's
(01:17):
a really good thing. And people love the trailer and
they love the one sheep and it's going great.
Speaker 3 (01:24):
Yeah, it's going really good.
Speaker 1 (01:25):
I love that.
Speaker 4 (01:26):
I thought was excellent.
Speaker 1 (01:28):
Yeah, the trailer's good.
Speaker 4 (01:29):
Traila was really good.
Speaker 3 (01:30):
Wasn't it really good? It was? Yeah? How were you two?
And how's the family? How the kids?
Speaker 1 (01:35):
Yeah, everyone's good, everyone's really good.
Speaker 3 (01:38):
Good.
Speaker 1 (01:39):
I went off to do a movie in Kentucky, so
we just got back from that. He's been, you know,
grinding and doing his training with clients and so it's
been a it's been it's been a good a good
year so far.
Speaker 3 (01:51):
It's been it's been good.
Speaker 2 (01:53):
Yeah, you know what, that's the top of the line
when you can say it's been a good year so far,
that's a ten out of ten.
Speaker 1 (02:00):
Yeah, I know. But it's interesting because of how the
year started, you know, especially for you, because I remember
turning on the TV and when the fires were happening
in Californian and the Palisades, and I'm like, oh, there's
Steve Guttenberg, you know, and it's like, that was not
a good start to the year for so many people.
Speaker 3 (02:16):
And no, it was very tough.
Speaker 2 (02:21):
And it's going to take a long time for the
Palisades and for Altadena to come back but it will.
Speaker 3 (02:29):
It will.
Speaker 2 (02:31):
Everyone is resilient and very hopeful, but the reality is
it was a huge natural disaster. Yeah, and six thousand
homes were burned in Palisades and more and more structures
and staying with Altadena. So you have let's say there
were four people in each home, you have twenty five
(02:52):
thousand people in each town being displaced.
Speaker 3 (02:55):
It's rough.
Speaker 2 (02:56):
It is very rough. And there, you know, when you
have six homes, it wasn't like a forest's burning. You
have concrete burning, literally, you have metal burning, you have plastics,
you have Tesla batteries burning. There's a ton of toxins
in the air and in the ground. So there's lots
(03:19):
to do, you know, environmentally, there's lots to do. And psychologically, yeah, well.
Speaker 1 (03:24):
I remember when you were in West Virginia you had
a cough and you're like, this is from the fire.
And that was in March, and so I'm curious has
that gotten any better? And because I don't think people
realize that, I mean, you were literally, you know, ground
zero in there, and then all the smoke and inhalation
that you had from that, I mean you were cough
(03:45):
and a bunch from it. In March.
Speaker 2 (03:48):
Yeah, have the cough for one hundred days. Wow, one
hundred days since the fire, and it's gone. I don't
have it anymore, thank God.
Speaker 4 (03:58):
It's that lead that leads me to a quick just
a quick comment. And so so I look through when
I met you a couple of months ago, and you know,
you know how much a fan I am of yours, and.
Speaker 1 (04:10):
I was so excited and so was I when movies I.
Speaker 3 (04:15):
Let you do, didn't I When you met me, you.
Speaker 4 (04:19):
Did not Your aura and energy is exactly what I
thought it would be, so it was it wasn't a surprise.
But anyway, So what my point is when I look
at your Instagram, I love all the kind of motivational
and inspirational stuff that you're doing right now because you're
you're sharing stories and experiences from your from your life
(04:42):
and you're kind of opening yourself up and putting yourself
in a position where you're sharing your feelings on Instagram.
I just wanted to say, like, I listened to them
and I love.
Speaker 3 (04:54):
Thanks so much. They started out with my dad was
a few years ago and he was in the hospital.
Speaker 2 (05:02):
So during the day, you know, my sister and I
would have to take a break, you know, uh, you know,
we'd swimch off and walk outside, get a cup of
coffee and sit outside.
Speaker 3 (05:14):
And there are always people during the day to talk to.
But we would sleep there in the mid and in
the middle of the night.
Speaker 2 (05:20):
If you you can't sleep, you go outside and there's
nobody there to talk to. So a friend of mine said,
you know, talk to the internet. There are other people
who will talk back, and they did.
Speaker 3 (05:30):
You know.
Speaker 2 (05:31):
I would get on there and say, hey, you know,
I'm taking care of my dad and whatever I would
talk about, and they would say, Wow, I'm taking care
of my mom, I'm taking care of my son.
Speaker 3 (05:40):
I'm you know, I'm working late at the office.
Speaker 2 (05:43):
I'm you know, I'm a janitor, I'm a I'm a
truck driver.
Speaker 3 (05:46):
And this is what I do in the middle of
the night.
Speaker 2 (05:48):
So it was a way of communicating and then it
sort of got into I would record these little musings
about life.
Speaker 3 (05:58):
But what I really believe in my mom.
Speaker 2 (06:00):
We used to tell me was that a mother in
Nashville is the same as a mother in Jordan, and
a mother in la is the same as a mother
in Moscow, and mechanics and teachers and all of us,
all of us human beings are the same and we
(06:20):
have the same thoughts no matter where you live, we're
human beings.
Speaker 3 (06:24):
And we have.
Speaker 2 (06:27):
These these normal thoughts about the practice of living. So
I just started talking and it's sort of morphed into
that and it's just as much for me as it
is for everybody else to sort of say what I'm
thinking about and see if anybody else is thinking. It's
(06:48):
sort of like when I would talk. I have a
lot of buddies, you know, women friends, men friends, but
sometimes with men friends, you know, it's like you kind
of you know, you'll say, hey, do you different, has
this ever happened to you? Or you ever think about this?
And you know you share things. And same with my
woman friends. You know, I'll say, do you ever think
about this? This is on my mind today? And a
(07:09):
friend of mine will said, yeah, I think about that
all the time. And I'm like, wow, I'm not alone.
And I guess that's what it really comes down to.
What I think about my musings is like, you know,
I'm not alone.
Speaker 1 (07:23):
You know, yeah, I think there's such you know, benefits,
you know, again, because you're same thing, like, you know,
we I've openly shared things on Instagram, and it's it's
helping people. And the other side of that is it
does open the door for people's opinions and not so
nice comments and and so I don't know if you've
(07:45):
experienced that piece of it through sharing, but I still
think that regardless, it's that's what I'm like because the
positive always outweighs the one negative comment. But sometimes the
negative comment is the one that stands out the most.
Speaker 2 (08:01):
Yes, you know, I can put on a new outfit
which I think is really cool, great jacket, pants and everything,
and I have ninety nine people say how great it is.
And there's a homeless guy sitting on the just drank
a bottle of vodka, and I walked by him. He goes,
that outfit looks terrible, and I'll think, to myself, what
(08:24):
are you talking about. I'll say to him, we're talking
about I just bought this. It's a great new shirt
and pants and a great jacket. He goes, doesn't really match.
And you want to know something, He's someone I think
about all day. You know, I'll say, you know, this
guy told me that it doesn't look good. He'll go, God,
buddy of am I going, what guy? I go guy
on the street kind of street homeless guy who just
(08:47):
drank a bottle.
Speaker 3 (08:47):
Of vodka, And that's the guy you're listening to. But
we as humans, we do that.
Speaker 2 (08:53):
You know, we're attracted to drama, We're attracted to the
dark side. So I do find that eighty percent of
the comments are good comments and then twenty percent are
you know, deranged or or you know, not constructive and
(09:14):
and a little mean.
Speaker 3 (09:15):
But that's actually how life is.
Speaker 2 (09:18):
Life is supposed to be eighty percent great and twenty
percent hard. I think that's the way God made it,
so it sort of works out in everything. And I
think in the morning, you know, you got to wake
up and say, I choose happy, and I know that
you know, there's going to be twenty percent not so great.
(09:39):
But it's not supposed to be eighty twenty, like eighty
percent horrible comments and twenty percent great. You know, it's
supposed to be eighty twenty.
Speaker 1 (09:49):
And I like the eighty twenty. That's that's a nice rule.
Are you happy that social media wasn't around when you
were back in the day doing you know, the two
men and the baby's and that it takes too, like
are you are you happy that you lived in I
think you're the success and the rise of your career
wasn't in social media times.
Speaker 2 (10:09):
Well, I'm glad there were no no, no techie phones
when I was a kid that I would, you know,
go out in the street and play stickball and kickball
and baseball and football and ring a libo and you know,
(10:30):
and live a normal life without these phones. I think
these phones and social media is terrific because you can
you can educate and entertain with them, but they have
changed the timber of the psychology of the planet, and
(10:51):
sometimes not so good, you know. You know, it's sometimes
it's much better to get on the phone and talk
rather than tech. And the texting is so easy that
we lose that ability to converse, you know, and we
need that. Like if I was texting you right now,
(11:14):
I wouldn't say and you know, or you wouldn't say,
oh yeah yeah. And I think it's social media eighty
percent of it is great, twenty percent of it is not.
And there's a lot of selling going on and promoting,
and it's also fake.
Speaker 3 (11:35):
You know. I'll look at someone social media and.
Speaker 2 (11:37):
I'll see everybody in like, all dressed in white and
their house is white in the Hamptons and it's a mansion,
and the kids are running and the husband saying about
the message is such stank, so blessed. And I look
at them and I'm like, you, man, I'm not blessed
(11:58):
like that. You you know how happy you bastards are,
you know? And then I'll realize, wait a minute, dude,
that's fate. It's not real. That's just not real. And
you and you know, so I think that it can
you know, I mean we I mean, there's so many
studies on that that you know, it can make you feel.
(12:20):
You start going, you start scrolling and seeing everybody so
happy and laughing.
Speaker 3 (12:24):
Well, that's just like one, you know, one part of
their lives, you know. But you have to be so compared.
A friend of mine always says, compare and despair.
Speaker 4 (12:35):
You know, Steve, is this the first time that you
have played the role of a murderer?
Speaker 3 (12:52):
A murderer?
Speaker 1 (12:54):
I love your Scottish accent when you do.
Speaker 2 (12:57):
By the way, you have the greatest voice. You got
to do, you gotta do something you do. You have
the most beautiful voice.
Speaker 3 (13:05):
Let me think here, No, I did play a murderer
in a very small horror movie out of Brussels. I
shot in Brussels and it was a job. You know,
I went there to work and it never went anywhere.
And I've been a villain.
Speaker 2 (13:19):
I've been a pedophile in Veronica Mars pretty good.
Speaker 3 (13:24):
You know. She was a mean Las Vegas hotel owner
in Ballers.
Speaker 4 (13:31):
I remember that.
Speaker 2 (13:32):
Yeah, yeah, putting Dwayne you know Dwayne Down and I.
Speaker 3 (13:38):
Did when I when I.
Speaker 2 (13:40):
Was eighteen or seventeen, I did a show called Family,
which was many years ago, and I played a very
bad kid.
Speaker 3 (13:49):
So I and on stage, I've played villains.
Speaker 2 (13:53):
But you know, as an actor, I think you only
get to play a serial killer basically once in your life.
And and and this was a great opportunity. I'm so
grateful to Lifetime for you know, for choosing me and
offering me the part. Because you know, as actors, we
(14:13):
like to work first of all, and then when you
get it, you know, you're given a certain amount of equipment.
You know, you look at Robert de Niro and he
looks like an Italian mafia boss.
Speaker 3 (14:26):
So what does he get? A lot of.
Speaker 2 (14:29):
Mafia boss guys and a lot of you know, a
lot of mafia soldiers that's a big part of his career,
or tough guys. But every once in a while you
see him do meet the fockers or the intern where
he's this, you know, a father or a sweet older
man trying to help a you know, a young lady
(14:50):
find her way. So we're actors and we love to
bring out our toolbox.
Speaker 3 (14:57):
You know.
Speaker 2 (14:57):
I always say, like, if you're an architect and all
you do our barns and people go, oh, I want
you to build an apartment building, but I know you can't.
Speaker 3 (15:05):
You go, no, I can. I just have made my
living building barns.
Speaker 2 (15:09):
But man, I can building you an apartment house and
knock your socks off, so you know, and then long
wood away.
Speaker 3 (15:15):
I'm really grateful for this part.
Speaker 1 (15:17):
Yeah, and then you were so in on being like, hey,
I want the mustache, I want a mustache, I want this.
I want to be able to have, you know, like
you were. You know, I was hearing those discussions when
when they were doing my putting my bangs on. But yeah,
you know, Steve is like really invested in wanting to
change his look. And I think that was really cool
because you were truly invested in creating a character.
Speaker 3 (15:40):
Yeah, so much of what we do is physical. You know.
Speaker 2 (15:47):
I tried to create a walk and a posture and
cadence of talking and the look, you know, shave my
hairline back and put the mustache in the glasses and
even make my skin have eggzema, you know, those like
little red dots on it, and it really changes not
(16:09):
only your look, but how you feel when you're acting.
That equipment. I remember years ago I worked when I started,
I was eighteen, and I worked with Larry Olivier who said,
use a fake nose as much as you can fake
teeth wigs.
Speaker 3 (16:29):
You know, you'll love it, and the audience will love it.
They'll see something different. We love to see people popping
up different holes. You know, when you see a friend
all the time is in sweats and T shirts and
you know, never does her and all of.
Speaker 2 (16:45):
A sudden you go to the wedding, you know, a
wedding or an event, and she's all dolled up. You're
like wow, you know, you get a real kick out
of that. So same with actors. And Olivier was a
huge proponent of fakery.
Speaker 3 (17:02):
And you know, and and when I was very young.
Speaker 2 (17:05):
I took it to heart, saying, she can you know,
unless you know, you're doing a picture or a movie
or a play where they go, we just want you
to look like you. And that happens a lot when
you know, producers kind of want to emulate the successes
you've had. We no, no, no, we don't want that
fake nose. We want you, you know. And and that's
(17:26):
a different ballgame. But I was so grateful to the
producers and our director, you know, yeah, yeah, I mean,
Marty was great and the Tanell brothers just great to
let me do my thing, you know. And did you
feel that way when you were working that they gave
you a lot of rooms?
Speaker 1 (17:45):
Yeah, I mean I love them. That was the second
time that I got to work with them, and they
were great. And it was funny cause Stacy or their
you know, the makeup girl, she was like, hey, you know,
we're not going to be able to do your typical
beach curls. I'm like, no, I don't want that, Like
I'm excited to, like, yes, change it up. This is
where this is going through eras of or different decades
(18:06):
from the eighties to you know, the two thousands and
so like yes, change it up. Let's do it like
that is excited for that piece of it.
Speaker 2 (18:13):
Yes, that's that's our job to to bring all our
tools out and figure out, Okay, how do I I'm
going to decorate this house?
Speaker 3 (18:23):
How do we decorate this house?
Speaker 2 (18:24):
You know, we usually do ten paintings those kids with
the big eyes, but I don't want to do that
on this one.
Speaker 3 (18:31):
Let will you allow me to do something new? You know,
and and it's terrific.
Speaker 2 (18:36):
You know, I'm sure that you know, as you said,
you know, we as actors, we we.
Speaker 3 (18:41):
All enjoy it.
Speaker 2 (18:42):
And I'm sure that every actor, no matter where you are,
you know, you get a chance to play you know,
mercutio or something. You know you want a different look
or you know you want to play you know, you know, uh,
you know, you know make in the Scottish play you know,
you want a different look. You know.
Speaker 3 (19:03):
Uh, it's cool. It's really fun to play. To dress up.
That's what we do, right, we dressed up.
Speaker 1 (19:09):
So we were having a Steve Guttenberg weekend in the
house the other the other weekend because I've been introducing
the kids to movies that I watched when I was
around my daughter's age, and so one of my favorites
was It Takes two. So we were watching like parent
Trap and then I was like, guys, here's like this
is the one that I'm like stee like, I just
(19:30):
like love that movie so much, and you know, you
and Christiality's you know, chemistry was so great in that
and I just like I And of course I fan
grolled when I met you, like, you know, A Three
Minute Baby and a Little Lady were like my favorite movies.
Speaker 2 (19:44):
You didn't give me usually yet I get paid like
the fan fan stuff.
Speaker 3 (19:49):
It was like twelve dollars and I never got it.
Just yeah, okay, I was like twelve dollars.
Speaker 1 (19:57):
I was like, I'm a really big fan and I'm
just going to get that out by the way. And
I love a love your movies. And then of course,
you know, he was a big on Police Academy. But
is there a movie you look back and go like
that that was special or that that connection was special
doing that movie.
Speaker 3 (20:11):
I don't I don't have a favorite. You know, I
love them all.
Speaker 2 (20:16):
I love the experience of working, of meeting people, of
becoming intimate with them in conversations. You know, you become
you know, it's a really it's a really great part
of our job that we of all we're pretty sent
All actors are sensitive and that like if you know
your two plumbers that you get to a building and
(20:37):
you got to fix a leak, you.
Speaker 3 (20:39):
Know, how you doing? How you doing? You know, you
just get to work. But what we do is we
start to find out, you know, oh, what's your husband like,
you know, and where do you live?
Speaker 2 (20:48):
And you know, where do you come from and what
do you do? And this is what I do and
this is where I come from, and you exchange intimacies
that make you closer and then able to work. So
I've found out on every job I've ever had that
(21:11):
there's something very similar to all of us that we
like to share and be close and open ourselves up
because I think we all look different, whether it's Duane
Johnson or you know, or you know, you know, or
George Clooney or no matter who you are, we all
were that weird kid, you know, that sort of was
(21:33):
different and tried to fit in and all that, and
then we found as an adult or maybe as a kid,
we found other actors and we say.
Speaker 3 (21:42):
Wow, you're like me too.
Speaker 2 (21:44):
Wow, you you know you like musical You know you
like musicals, So do I, you know, and and so
I enjoyed.
Speaker 3 (21:52):
I've always enjoyed every job. Had one job.
Speaker 2 (21:55):
In Spain where the director was lusting after my girlfriend,
so I thought he was weird. And that was the
only job where I'm like, this guy's really weird.
Speaker 3 (22:09):
But you know, it was one of those, you know.
Speaker 4 (22:25):
So I've watched a lot of like true crime stuff
and serial killer stuff that sounds weird and it sounds
a bit dark. But how much I'm always interested, right
like you are obviously top of your profession. How much
work and research, Steve, did you put into the real
(22:45):
John Edward Robinson. What were some of the things that
you did so that you could maximize your craft?
Speaker 3 (22:53):
Thank you nice for asking.
Speaker 2 (22:55):
I spent a lot of time looking over newspaper articles,
magazine articles, from television and video on him and on
people discussing him, on Heather, on his wife is some
of his kids, and and after about an hour and
(23:15):
then then about his actions, and then after about an
hour and a half of studying, I had to take
a break.
Speaker 3 (23:23):
It was so painous. His life was so disgusting.
Speaker 2 (23:28):
Beyond disgusting, so low that I sort of had to
clean out after about an hour and a half and
watch some Seinfeld and just just you know, go back
to the real world. I don't think it's good for
anybody to spend too much time.
Speaker 3 (23:50):
With undesirables. Although you know, my dad was a cop, and.
Speaker 2 (23:58):
You know that's what they do all and it creates
a certain type of person. It really affects you. I'm very,
very cognizant to not let it affect my outside life
because I don't think it's fair for my family and
friends to deal with me saying, oh, I can't talk
to you now because I doing my research. I'm a
(24:21):
serial killer and I'm all screwed up, so I try
to just clean it off at the end of the day.
Speaker 3 (24:27):
But the research was rough.
Speaker 1 (24:33):
Did you ever talk to Heather.
Speaker 2 (24:35):
No, I didn't speak to anybody nobody at all, and
I kind of didn't want to.
Speaker 3 (24:44):
I just I don't know. I just didn't think it
was something I needed to do. Yeah, you know, did
you speak to anybody?
Speaker 1 (24:54):
I didn't know, but I did on my previous one
was a true story, and you know, I remember talking
to Marty because she directed that one. Too, where it
was like, okay, she said she wasn't emotional in the scene,
and she was. She's like, but you also got to
play it how you would how you think it should
be played too. So it's like meeting it kind of
in the middle. And so sometimes where I want to
honor their story, it's also you're telling a story too,
(25:17):
you know, and what would be coming up for you.
So I could see the poll of not wanting to
as well.
Speaker 2 (25:22):
Yeah, I kind of wanted to make a painting of
the experience rather than a photograph. And that's why I
didn't want to look just like John. I wanted to
create my own look of somebody who's so disturbed. What
would that look like? And I kind of felt the
(25:46):
same thing about my relationship with Heather and relationship with
you and the relationship with my wife in that I
wanted to create a painting of it. I wanted to
put it through a few prisms, not just a straight photograph.
Speaker 1 (26:04):
I'm reading this thing right now, where it's basically A
jury found the man guilty on three counts of capital
murder in two thousand and two, and he was sentenced
to death. He later admitted to five additional murders in
Missouri as part of a plea agreement, and received five
life sentences his prison in prison. But I just saw
a thing like kind of where is John Edward Robinson today?
And it says he remains in prison, has and has
appealed to his sentence numerous times. And I'm like, how
(26:25):
does he appeal when he's when a he's I mean,
he's a murderer, He's pled guilty to these you know,
numerous women, Like, what do you mean you're appealing your sentence?
I don't understand.
Speaker 3 (26:36):
I did some research on that too.
Speaker 1 (26:38):
Okay, do you have any like can you help me
understand that piece? Or like, is he just trying not
to be sentenced to death?
Speaker 2 (26:44):
Or in our country, the way the legal system works
is you could sue your couch if you think that
the couch is hurting your back, and do you the
reason that your postures and correct just because of your couch.
Speaker 3 (27:01):
You could sue the company that made that couch. You're
allowed now, whether the court takes it and decides it's
all right, that's one thing. But you're allowed to sue anybody.
For you sue the guy who sells pretzels, on the
corner because you don't like the look of his pretzels
reminded you of a terrible experience, and you can sue him.
Speaker 2 (27:23):
You know, if your coffee is not is too hot,
spills on your lap, you can sue the company for
too hot coffee.
Speaker 1 (27:30):
That McDonald's lawsuit, Yeah right, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2 (27:37):
So with with appeals, you can appeal anything.
Speaker 3 (27:41):
Now, whether the court takes it seriously or not. That's
another thing wild.
Speaker 1 (27:46):
I mean, he killed eight women in Kansas, right.
Speaker 3 (27:48):
And he's allowed to be that's the law. You're allowed
to appeal.
Speaker 2 (27:52):
That's because that's for the innocent man who actually they
say killed all those women and he didn't, and he's
in jail and he's allowed to appeal, and that appeal
proves that somebody else did it and then he and
then he can go free. And that's really what it's for.
It's for the innocent, you know.
Speaker 4 (28:13):
Yeah, it's the So when I was reading up a
little bit about it's the scheming side of it also,
I mean those those are the actual mothers of the women,
which is disgusting. But there's the scheming side of it,
where he was his own brother that he took money
from yeah, yeah, and say that was the money for
(28:34):
the baby when obviously we knew, we know where the
baby came from. But to do things to that extent
to your family members as well as strangers of people
that are in your.
Speaker 1 (28:45):
Cuckles, it's just like and then for that brother too,
for his head to spend like what like not knowing
you know, that's just that's tough, and that's got to
be it's got to be hard for you to then
play that kind of character and then separate because you
were such a good man and he was such a
bad man. And then like, obviously it's your craft and
you're but it's also it's I gotta imagine that's tough too,
(29:07):
Like you're not playing a great human.
Speaker 3 (29:11):
You know.
Speaker 2 (29:11):
The research and the thinking about it was tough. Yeah,
But the playing it, you know, the acting it in it,
you know the scenes we did, the scenes I did
with Rachel.
Speaker 3 (29:23):
I enjoyed it. I loved it. I had a great time.
It was so cool to play not that to play
you know, this true life character, but to act and
to use my.
Speaker 2 (29:38):
Skills and to see what I can do different and
how do I become believable And at the end of
the day. It's always been easy for me to hang
it up and it's gone. And there were moments when
I really thought about him and what he did, and
I felt the scene where I murder head. There's mother
(30:01):
in the in the in the motel that was terrible,
you know, now that you bring it up, you're right,
that really bothered me a great deal. We were, you know,
there was a small crew in the motel room. I
(30:23):
haven't thought about this, you know. I'm glad you both
burned up. Thanks Ellenen, Thanks Janathan. But the baby was
on the bed, and I've seen lots of babies on
the bed, so it reminded me of you know, how
sweet it is to have a baby on the bed
because it's safe. You know, the baby can't really roll off,
(30:44):
you know, because if you're right there and there's the mother,
the sweet mother, and I seduced her, you know, with
my language or whatever, and then murder her with a
hammer in front of the baby. And that was a
(31:05):
very very difficult moment. Uh, you know, a difficult shoot time,
whether you know, I don't know. It was a half
a day. And then at the outside near the car. Uh,
she gives me the baby to hold or something. You know,
this is the devil and he's holding this little baby.
Speaker 3 (31:27):
Ah. That was terrible. That was terrible.
Speaker 4 (31:32):
M h I can't wait to see the movie.
Speaker 3 (31:35):
Mm hmm.
Speaker 2 (31:35):
You like it was you know, Marty did a great
job on in the Tinnels, you know, and all of
us actors. But it was a good movie, you know,
and it directed really well. The music is excellent. I
thought the production value was high and being every all
the actors were seamless.
Speaker 3 (31:56):
You know, you never saw anything other than realism. It
was good. It was a good little movie. And I
think it's gonna make some noise, I really do. Well.
Speaker 1 (32:06):
Everyone watched Kidnapped by a Killer The Heather Robinson Story.
It has aired on Lifetime, but you can stream it now.
Not by a Killer, The Heather Robinson Story. Steve, you
were a pleasure. It was a joy to work with you.
I mean, you're you're a force. So thank you for
I was. I was honored to be in a scene
with you.
Speaker 3 (32:24):
So I was too.
Speaker 2 (32:26):
You're a really great actor, and you're such a great couple.
You know, you're you have such love for each other.
It's so beautiful to see because that's what the world
is about you know, and you have a great family,
and you know, you move to Nashville and you're making
a great life and you're you're both are working and contributing.
Speaker 3 (32:46):
So and I can't wait to come down there at
Nashville and see you guys.
Speaker 1 (32:50):
And the invitation is there, and we're gonna, you know,
maybe well we'll find you a nice little Southern girl
for you. Steve.
Speaker 3 (32:58):
Hey, you.
Speaker 1 (33:00):
Don't worry. I remember our talk. I'm trying to I'm
trying to match make don't you worry. I'm not. I
have you right here in my brain vibe. I might
have mentioned you to a girlfriend the other day. So
I'm just saying, you know, I've got you. I've got
you in mind, one of the best, so you deserve
the best. Is as all I'm want to say.
Speaker 3 (33:22):
Thanks. I love you guys. Thanks for thank you for that.
Speaker 4 (33:25):
So nice to see you.
Speaker 3 (33:26):
Great to see you both. All right, Chad, soon talk
to you.
Speaker 1 (33:30):
By loving so much amazing, all right, everybody will watch
Kidnap by Killer. The Heather Robinson story disturbing, but so
proud of Heather for letting us share her story and
giving her a voice in the tragedy that was her mom,
and and all those women so stream watch and support
(33:52):
Heather
Host
Jana Kramer
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