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September 9, 2024 41 mins
In this episode of Pop Culture Weekly.  Cody Walker returns to share the inspiring journey of FuelFest and Reach Out Worldwide, shedding light on how these initiatives have grown from heartfelt tributes to global sensations. In his conversation with Cody, Kyle McMahon explores how FuelFest has become a haven for car enthusiasts, with its blend of motorsports, music, and family-friendly activities. 

They then take a moment to honor the legacy of Paul Walker, reflecting on how his vision continues to drive these impactful endeavors. Cody and Kyle exchange personal stories that underscore their belief in the enduring presence of lost loved ones, and we salute the teams and families whose unwavering support propels these missions forward.

Shifting gears, we dive into the world of Middle-Earth with exclusive insights from the cast of "The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power." Join Benjamin Walker, Ismael Cruz Cordova, Megan Richards, Markella Kavanaugh, Daniel Wayman, Charlie Vickers, and Charles Edwards as they share their excitement about Season 2, revealing behind-the-scenes camaraderie and character arcs that promise to captivate fans. From Arondir's complex journey to Gil-Galad's pivotal role, and even some Elvish humor, this segment offers a tantalizing peek into the epic adventures that await. Don't miss this blend of philanthropy, horsepower, and fantasy!

Kyle McMahon's Death, Grief & Other Sh*t We Don't Discuss is now streaming: https://www.deathandgrief.show/Chapter-One-The-Diagnosis-AKA-WTF/

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Transcript

Episode Transcript

Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
In this episode of pop Culture Weekly, I talk with
the cast of Amazon Prime Videos Lord of the Rings,
Rings of Power season two, and I talked to Cody
Walker about fuel Fest.

Speaker 2 (00:10):
Let's go.

Speaker 3 (00:12):
Welcome to pop Culture Weekly with Kyle McMahon from my
Heart Radio, your pop culture news, views, reviews and celebrity
interviews on all the movies, TV, music and pop culture
u Crab Weekly. Here's Kyle Mcmahonni.

Speaker 1 (00:31):
Noah, what's up? Welcome the pop Culture Weekly with Kyle McMahon.
I of course am Kyle McMahon. I thank you once
again for hanging out with me for another.

Speaker 2 (00:41):
Episode of pop Culture Weekly.

Speaker 1 (00:44):
This week, it's all interviews, no rotating panel of guest
hosts for this episode because we have so many interviews
relating to the Lord of the Rings, The Rings of Power.
I also Cody Walker returns, the brother of Paul Walker,
the founder of fuel Fest and the CEO of reach

(01:05):
Out Worldwide, an incredible organization. Cody comes back once again
and we discuss fuel Fest, which is a amazing time
if you haven't been, and also reach Out Worldwide, what
he's doing with that, which is such an incredible organization
that you know, his brother Paul Walker started and Cody

(01:26):
is keeping that legacy going. Depending on when you are listening.
The mid Atlantic fuel Fest date is in at New
Jersey Motorsports Park in Jersey September fourteenth, from one to eight,
and then there's a bunch of dates coming up including
Atlanta in October and.

Speaker 4 (01:46):
Tokyo as well as Scottsdale.

Speaker 1 (01:50):
Arizona, which is where Cody is from and it's kind
of his hometown, you know. Finale for the season that's
December seventh. Can get all the info at Fuelfest dot com.
So let's jump in to my conversation with Cody Walker.
So once again, I welcome to iHeartRadio Pop Culture Weekly,

(02:15):
Cody Walker, fuel Fest reach Out Worldwide.

Speaker 2 (02:18):
How you doing man, I'm doing great, Kyle.

Speaker 5 (02:20):
Thanks for having me back man.

Speaker 2 (02:22):
Of course he applies by fast, it really does. So
what is the last year brought for you?

Speaker 6 (02:29):
The last year's has been epic, man. We've just had
a bunch of shows all across the world. I'm leaving
for Japan in two days for our third year of
fuel Fest in Tokyo. I'm really looking forward to that, obviously,
but it's just been incredible.

Speaker 5 (02:47):
It's been a good ride. So far. I've got three
kids now.

Speaker 6 (02:49):
I got to home from sick sick from school today,
So if you hear anything, apologies.

Speaker 5 (02:55):
My wife and I work, so it's tough.

Speaker 2 (02:57):
Yeah, for sure. So fuel Fest continues to grow.

Speaker 1 (03:01):
If somebody hasn't yet heard of it, tell me tell
them about it.

Speaker 5 (03:05):
Yeah.

Speaker 6 (03:05):
Well, it's like a gathering of a car enthusiasts and
movie lovers. It's it's putting together love of cars, bringing
the culture together.

Speaker 5 (03:15):
So it's a it's a car meet.

Speaker 6 (03:17):
And a car show, and it has motorsports all day long.
And in New Jersey this year, we'll have role racing
again down the down the back street, and we're also
going to be drifting.

Speaker 5 (03:30):
All day long.

Speaker 6 (03:31):
And that is getting in these high horse power rear
reel drive cars and going very fast and sliding around corners.
And we're going to be using the entire track, the
Big Track at New Jersey Motorsports Park this year, and
I believe that's a first.

Speaker 5 (03:45):
They've never allowed that before.

Speaker 6 (03:46):
And people can go for ride alongs on the Big
Track with a pro.

Speaker 1 (03:50):
Wow.

Speaker 5 (03:51):
Pretty cool.

Speaker 2 (03:52):
Yeah, yeah for sure.

Speaker 6 (03:53):
And and I can't And one other thing I can't
forget is we do a big stage with live music.
This year, we're gonna have Asap twelve is going to
be performing for us from the Asap crew, so we're
really excited about that too.

Speaker 2 (04:05):
It's gonna be cool, yeah, for sure.

Speaker 1 (04:06):
And that's actually that's what I was going to bring up,
was you also, it's also you have a whole music
element and there's vendors, you know, it's kind of a
whole community there for the day, which is pretty cool.

Speaker 5 (04:20):
Yep, that's right.

Speaker 6 (04:21):
It's a family for the event. So kids twelve and
undred are in free, and it's there's something for everybody
at all these shows.

Speaker 5 (04:29):
So we're very proud of that.

Speaker 1 (04:31):
And why was that important to you to make make
it free for kids twelve and under?

Speaker 6 (04:37):
Oh man, I if there's any way that we can
help families out. I mean, times are tough right now,
but I think the biggest part of it was I
want to make it as accessible for youth as I can,
because they are the future. I'm trying to generate more
love and affection for cars, so like feed the use,

(04:57):
create that next generation of car lover and so that's
that's been part of the game plan since day one.

Speaker 5 (05:03):
That's why we do it. That way.

Speaker 1 (05:05):
I love that, and as a father of three, I'm
sure you you can get it exactly.

Speaker 2 (05:11):
And you can get in. I mean, it's it's super affordable.

Speaker 1 (05:15):
That it's it's like forty dollars for a four pack
right now or something, which is awesome, you know. So
it's not like one of these events where you're spending
one hundred dollars just for yourself to get in and that,
you know, I mean you can go affordably yourself, your family,
your friends, whatever, a date and and go and have

(05:36):
a great time. And all of this stuff is going on.
And it's for like seven hours too.

Speaker 6 (05:41):
Yeah, from it's from one to eight. And the other
thing I wanted to add that we got into last year,
Kyle is the other big The main reason why I
even put this thing together was to create a fun
way to yes, inspire the next generation, but also create
something that can generate some funding for reach Out Worldwide,

(06:02):
which is the foundation that my late brother Paul Walker
founded back in twenty ten. And so to date, through
these shows, we've been able to raise over half a
million dollars for reach Out Worldwide. So it's really incredible,
it feels good, it's it's and whether people know it
or not when they come to the show, like a

(06:24):
portion of everything they're doing is going to reach Out Worldwide,
So it's it's really special.

Speaker 5 (06:29):
It's really cool.

Speaker 6 (06:30):
I love to brag about that a little bit, but
it's really everybody that comes to the show that's made.

Speaker 5 (06:35):
That happen, you know what I mean. For sure, it's.

Speaker 1 (06:37):
Really really neat and that is that's a great thing
to brag about because half a million dollars is a
lot of money, and it's helped a lot of people
to tell somebody that may be unfamiliar what reach Out
Worldwide does.

Speaker 6 (06:48):
Specifically, the reach Out Worldwide does disaster relief. Don't think
like Red Cross level anything like that. It's a small organization,
but it's small by design.

Speaker 5 (06:59):
It's what Haull wanted.

Speaker 6 (07:01):
It allows the organization to get through a lot of
the red tape and get small groups of people in
there to help with either mucking and gutting houses or
getting people medical supplies, water, food. It's coming in after
tornadoes and tsunamis and hurricanes and earthquakes. We've responded to

(07:24):
wildfires and done wildfire relief for communities that have been
devastated by that. I mean, there's there's no shortage of
natural disasters to go around and or just one of
those little groups in there that you know, we encourage
our followers and supporters to directly get involved ro oww
dot org.

Speaker 5 (07:44):
People can learn about how.

Speaker 6 (07:46):
They can get involved, whether that's being the boots on
the ground, being a volunteer, or wanting to start their
own fundraiser.

Speaker 5 (07:53):
So I encourage everyone to go and check that out.

Speaker 2 (07:55):
I love that so much.

Speaker 1 (07:56):
And what got you into your passion for cars and
the community.

Speaker 5 (08:03):
It's like so many people that I meet. I'm the
youngest of four, Paul was the oldest.

Speaker 6 (08:09):
I'm fifteen years younger than he was, so naturally had
a huge impact on me. You know, Fast and Furious
came out along well before I had my driver's license
or could drive or you know, I was just dreaming
of driving at that point, you know.

Speaker 5 (08:24):
And who instilled that in Paul was our father.

Speaker 6 (08:27):
Our father was always into cars and motorcycles, and our grandfather.
So I think it's something that runs in the family.
But you know, those are your formative years when I
being fifteen years younger, when Paul was doing all these
crazy Fast and Furious movies and really getting indoctrinated himself
by the tuner culture. Like he became really into the

(08:48):
whole tuner car scene, and it obviously brushed off me
in a big way. I was going parrides in his
you know, his his epic cars at the time that
were unobtainium you know, our thirty four GTRs and all
of that stuff back when they were getting those in
long before they were twenty five years old. There's some

(09:10):
for those that don't know, there's some funny import rules
when it comes to vehicles that were never originally sold in.

Speaker 5 (09:16):
The United States. But yeah, he had a huge impact
on me.

Speaker 6 (09:21):
I grew up loving cars and and he just fed me,
fed me even more of it.

Speaker 5 (09:26):
So that's kind of how that's all has come together.

Speaker 1 (09:29):
And it's you know, it's beautiful that you have, you know,
making this one of your making making you have making this,
I think is the right word, one of your life's
missions now to to carry on that legacy, you know,
in both reach Out Worldwide and fuel Fest and kind

(09:50):
of combining those two with that lifelong you know, passion
that you've had honoring Paul, you know, and and doing
great work surrounding it.

Speaker 2 (10:02):
You know, it's really a beautiful thing.

Speaker 5 (10:05):
I appreciate that.

Speaker 6 (10:07):
You know, you never know where life's gonna what life's
gonna throw out you, or you know what's gonna change.
It's typically when you think you have things figured out
that you know. Uh, someone said, like life has like
got two hands, you know, in the one hand they're
giving you the the butterscotch, and then the other hand,
it's like smacking you across the face. I was a

(10:29):
paramedic up in Oregon at the time that Paul passed away,
So it was this kind of a weird uh, you
know how everything kind of felt together. I him and
I were extremely close, so everything that he had done
was like a part of him that he had left
left behind. And so me, being a paramedic, I was like, Okay,

(10:50):
reach out worldwide, like how do we help this survive
without Paul? He was the heart and soul of this.
He funded this one hundred percent. How do we make
sure this can tenues onward?

Speaker 7 (11:02):
You know?

Speaker 6 (11:02):
And then of course my genuine love of cars, And
then here we are, all these years later. It's been
a wild ride, but I'm so humbled and touched by
the success that we've been able to see with fuel
Fest and then therefore allowing reach out worldwide to continue
to thrive and grow and do more good.

Speaker 5 (11:21):
It's just been it's it's been incredible.

Speaker 6 (11:23):
I know Paul would be blown away because it was
just such a simple, small idea that he had years ago.
And the fact that it's still going on strong. Yeah,
it's we're we're eleven. November is gonna be eleven years.

Speaker 5 (11:37):
Since we lost Paul. So it's just it's a it's
a big deal.

Speaker 8 (11:42):
M h.

Speaker 1 (11:43):
Yeah. And you know, I my belief is that he is, uh,
you know, watching you do this and is with you,
and is you know, so proud of all that you're doing.
And you know, I'm sorry.

Speaker 6 (11:58):
No, no, I'm sorry. Yeah, there's a lot of people
that make this whole thing possible. I want to make
sure everybody realizes that, Like, there's there's a lot of
there's a lot of folks in this wheel. I have
an incredible team, my wife just as incredible in my family.
To be able to do this, I'm just I'm just
kind of a face, I guess in a way. But
there's so many there's so many incredible people behind the

(12:20):
scenes that work to make all of this possible reach
out worldwide, and of course these events feel fest.

Speaker 1 (12:27):
So yeah, yeah, there's a whole Yeah, absolutely, there's always
a whole team behind all of us that do you know,
do various things that often don't get that that love.

Speaker 4 (12:39):
So I love that that you shouted them out. But
you and I talked.

Speaker 1 (12:43):
I think about my mom who had passed a few
years ago last year, and one of the things she
said to me before she passed was, if you're you know,
when you need me, just talk to me. You know,
you may not see me, you know, you may not

(13:05):
hear me, but I promise you I'm there, you know,
And so just talk to me.

Speaker 2 (13:10):
You know I'm there.

Speaker 1 (13:11):
And I truly believe that, you know, I have had experiences,
which you know we'll get into in this show, but
I had experiences that I you know there. To me,
there's no doubt that that she is there and they
are with us and not only live through our work
and our lives, but come and check us out, you

(13:33):
know what I mean. And so for me my belief,
there's no doubt that he is with you and watching
you and and just egging you on to keep going
because you're doing such great things and.

Speaker 5 (13:44):
Your mom is there as well.

Speaker 6 (13:45):
I have no doubt I'm with you on that, Kyle,
one hundred percent. I often talk to those that I've lost,
sometimes out loud, even you.

Speaker 5 (13:54):
Know me too, Yeah, I feel that, brother.

Speaker 2 (13:57):
Yeah, you are so up.

Speaker 1 (14:00):
Besides Japan coming up, then you have Jersey, and then
I believe Atlanta.

Speaker 6 (14:06):
In Atlanta, that'll be the first we've never we've never
gone to Atlanta before, so that's that's the first for us.

Speaker 5 (14:13):
That's October the nineteenth.

Speaker 1 (14:14):
Actually, okay, and then you you kind of that's your
last one for the season, right for the year.

Speaker 6 (14:21):
No, we we actually in the year in what is
now my home state of Arizona.

Speaker 2 (14:25):
Okay, Scottsdale. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, Okay.

Speaker 6 (14:28):
So for those listening, if you if you've heard of
you know, Barrett Jackson, Big Auction House, car auction House,
wonderful people over there. That's where they have their big
auction every year, is at Westworld. So this is going
to be our second year at West World, I believe,
our fourth or fifth year here in Arizona now, so
it's cool.

Speaker 5 (14:48):
We kind of bring it home at the very end
of the year.

Speaker 4 (14:50):
Yeah, yeah, I love to have a big homecoming.

Speaker 1 (14:53):
And then then in at the end of the year
you'll announce states and cities for next year as well.

Speaker 5 (15:00):
That's right towards the towards the end of this year.

Speaker 6 (15:04):
We hope to have the whole thing all scheduled out
and drop that as as soon as possible, because we
do have some new locations for next year and a
lot of fun stuff up our sleeves and in the
works that I'm really excited about, really excited about.

Speaker 2 (15:19):
Awesome. That's so dope.

Speaker 1 (15:20):
Where can we you know, no matter where they're watching
or listening, where can we get information on fuel Fest
and reach out worldwide and everything?

Speaker 5 (15:30):
Yeah, we made it easy for everyone.

Speaker 6 (15:31):
It's fuelfest dot com and on over there fuelfest dot com.
Give the Instagram page, Facebook page a follow as well.
Obviously that's the quickest you know, in turnover of information.
But Fuelfest dot com that's how you can find your
way to get tickets or get involved being a vendor
or sponsor and a future show.

Speaker 5 (15:53):
And then for.

Speaker 6 (15:54):
Reach out Worldwide, we just do r o w W
for reach Out Worldwide, r o w W do that'll
take you to the U the homepage for reach Out Worldwide,
where you can learn how to get involved with the foundation.

Speaker 1 (16:08):
I love that so much. Cody, thank you as always
for speaking with me. I can't thank you, of course.
I can't wait till until fuel Fest comes to Jersey
and uh and I can't wait for everybody to go
and see it at their nearest location.

Speaker 5 (16:26):
Yeah, man, me neither.

Speaker 6 (16:27):
It's gonna be a good time. Year two in Atlanta.
Last year was an awesome year, which is why we're back.
So we're realleaking forward to the show.

Speaker 2 (16:35):
Yeah, that'll be a great one.

Speaker 1 (16:36):
Is there any and you might not be able to
tell me, but is there any cities in like your
you know, five ten year plan or whatever that you're like,
I want to go that's a you know, culturally relevant
city for Turner heads or is that that's what? Right know?

Speaker 5 (16:52):
For sure?

Speaker 6 (16:53):
There's so many I really want to get. I want
to I really want to get down into South America.
Central South America would be just absolutely nuts.

Speaker 5 (17:03):
I think like.

Speaker 6 (17:04):
Brazil would be wild for a lot of reasons. You know,
the Brazilians love motorsports too, so that would be that
would be pretty neat. I want to get back over
to the UK and and do another show. It's been
years since we've done that. We've grown so much. Uh
in Europe in general, I want to get over to Germany.

(17:26):
Germany would be nuts. I think Germany would be a
place where we'd need to do two cities, you know,
two weekends in a row to like spread the love
because there's obviously no surprise, there's a lot of people
that love cars over there, so the list could go
on and on.

Speaker 5 (17:42):
Really, it's really special, really cool to.

Speaker 6 (17:45):
Be doing a show in Japan. I mean for obvious reasons.
For for for the tuner folk out there that is home.
So it's been really incredible to be able to do that.
This is going to be year number three for us
over in Japan. There's a lot of places. Uh, there's
there's that I say, you know, this isn't me, this

(18:07):
is this has been used a million times.

Speaker 5 (18:09):
I know it has.

Speaker 6 (18:10):
It's you know, cars are a it's a universal language,
you know, love of love of cars. So you can
go anywhere and make friends real quick. You go to
like a car meet or a car you know meet
up or something. It's like it's a shared passion. So
the automotive culture is just it's alive, and it's just

(18:30):
it's everywhere.

Speaker 5 (18:31):
It's everywhere.

Speaker 6 (18:33):
You will find motor lover, motorheads everywhere, and so I
think the sky is really the limit. I think as
we kind of move along doing more of these shows,
we're gonna identify more places that would be a really
good fit and and and you know, put it together,
and it takes an incredible team, and to do these
international shows, it requires a lot of trust and finding

(18:56):
the right people to work within those countries, because you know, motorhead,
you know who no one knows it better than the locals, right,
So you know, that's that's that's.

Speaker 5 (19:08):
Kind of how we play that.

Speaker 6 (19:09):
We want to we want to play nice with everybody
and not step on toes and just put together like
a fun event with no ego.

Speaker 5 (19:16):
Yeah, and we succeed in doing that. We crushed that.

Speaker 6 (19:19):
That's why people like our shows, and that's why we
always are so open to families and stuff.

Speaker 5 (19:24):
You'll see kids and stuff, and it's just fun. It's
a lot of fun.

Speaker 2 (19:27):
Yeah. I can't wait.

Speaker 1 (19:28):
I can't wait to watch you continue to expand and
grow and raise money for a great cause. Man, You're
you're doing awesome more Cody.

Speaker 5 (19:37):
Thank you so much, Kyle of course, brother, Yeah.

Speaker 2 (19:39):
Thank you you as well.

Speaker 1 (19:41):
Cody Walker. It's always a great time talking with him.
Fuel Fest it's such a cool event, you know, tour
really that is just such a It's this community that
comes together and everybody is so friendly and you know,
there's so much stuff to do and you could go,

(20:01):
you know, and not spend a dollar if you don't
want and see all this cool stuff. I mean, all
these cool people. It's really really, really great. You can
get more information on Fuelfest at fuelfest dot com get
your tickets as well. And for reach Out Worldwide the organization,
you can go to ROWW dot org. Your donation to

(20:24):
reach Out Worldwide helps the teams there of medical experts
and disaster release and disaster relief professionals to immediately respond
when disasters strike. They have over three thousand volunteers across
the country. It is a pretty incredible organization. It's a

(20:46):
registered five oh one c three nonprofit founded by Paul
in twenty ten after the Haiti earthquake, and it's only
grown from there and thanks to Cody and his team,
you know, it's continued to grow and continued to help

(21:07):
people all across the not just the country, but all
across the world. So there you go, reach out world wide,
roww dot org and Fuelfest at fuelfest dot com. All right,
next up, you may remember that I last year, it

(21:27):
was actually two years ago, for the first season of
Lord of the Rings Rings of Power, I interviewed the
entire cast and we had a great time talking to
you know, I had a great time talking to all
of them before the show started. Now that we're in
season two two years later, you know, some different perspective

(21:48):
and season two was really good.

Speaker 4 (21:51):
So I had to a bunch of questions to ask
the cast.

Speaker 1 (21:54):
I talk with Charlie Vickers, Charles Edwards, Daniel Wyman, Meghan Richer, Markleek,
Havenaw Benjamin Walker, and Ismael Cruz Cordova. And it is
a really great group that talking with, great groups groups
that I'm talking with today.

Speaker 2 (22:13):
But we're all it's all about.

Speaker 4 (22:15):
Lord of the Rings the Rings of Power season two.

Speaker 2 (22:18):
It is so good.

Speaker 1 (22:21):
It is streaming right now exclusively on Prime Video. And
you know it is if you're a Lord of the
Rings fan, you haven't watched Rings of Power. Even if
you're not a Lord of the Rings fan. If you
enjoy you know, fantasy and wizards and power and Rings
and Rings of Power, you will love the Lord of the.

Speaker 2 (22:43):
Rings The Rings of Power.

Speaker 1 (22:45):
So make sure that you tune in. You can check
out my interviews with the cast from season one. I'll
have that in the show note, so just click on
that and that'll take you to that episode. If for
some reason you have missed an episode of my show
and you have like what But if not and you
just want to listen to it again, obviously, then click

(23:07):
on that link in the show notes and that'll take
you to that episode.

Speaker 2 (23:10):
So, without further ado, let's just.

Speaker 1 (23:12):
Jump into these interviews. So, as you know, the Lord
of the Rings The Rings of Power, it's based on
the J. R. R. Tolkien's History of Middle Earth and
the appendence you know, primarily taken from the appendices of
The Lord of the Rings. The series is set thousands

(23:32):
of years before the books, in the Second Age of
Middle Earth, and so season one depicts the emergence of
the Dark Lord sar On and the forging of the
first Rings of Power that you know become prominent in
the Lord of the Rings and the Hobbit. But it's
incredible you know, Amazon acquired the rights to the series

(23:56):
back in twenty seventeen. The first season came out in
twenty twenty two, and now season two is here for
twenty twenty four. So first up, let's talk with Benjamin
Walker and Ismael Cruz Cordova. Benjamin plays Gilgelad, the high
King of Elves, and Ismael plays Are and Deer, who

(24:19):
you know has that kind of forbidden love thing going on.
So let's jump right into my interviews with ben and Ismael.
Here they are Benjamin Walker and Ismael Cruise Cordova. First
of all, great speaking with both of you. Congratulations on
season two. Your characters are are layered and complicated and

(24:43):
amazing as a viewer to watch. What is it like
for both of you to be in this world of
Middle Earth?

Speaker 8 (24:52):
Boyhood dream come boyhood dream come true? I'm gonna say,
you know, it's what when you're a kid and you're
running around in the woods with a bow and arrow
you made out of sticks and shoelace.

Speaker 2 (25:04):
You had shoelaces.

Speaker 9 (25:07):
I found it in the dirt.

Speaker 7 (25:09):
It's uphill both ways.

Speaker 8 (25:11):
But genuinely, like you wish you could go back to
that kid and and say someday you're gonna get paid
to do that.

Speaker 2 (25:21):
I mean, it's it's.

Speaker 8 (25:21):
It's just so.

Speaker 7 (25:23):
I mean, we're gonna talk about this for ages. But
I have to second that is it is a childhood
dream and that informs a lot and it really does
help that it is a childhood dream because the kind
of wonder, sense of wonder and commitment and passion, and
you have to all that that it requires to be

(25:45):
a middle Earth. You have to allow yourself to be
completely engulfed by what it is. You can't have a
foot in and a foot out. You have to be
Gil Gold. You have to be out on it. You
have to really am by what he is. So I mean,
i'm I'm and I speak for both of us. I
think it's a dream come true or extremely grateful to

(26:07):
be working and to be in something that means so
much to so many people.

Speaker 1 (26:12):
And speaking of out in there, you you had you know,
your I would say your theme in a lot of
ways with the first season was this kind of forbidden love,
which obviously is uh is going to be a little
bit different this season.

Speaker 2 (26:29):
How how for you as an actor, how is that arc?

Speaker 1 (26:34):
You know, how are you tackling that that arc I should.

Speaker 7 (26:39):
It's you know, there's deep, deep, there's deep wound that
only came into the show already. You can sense there's
something that bothers him. There's like a crack in his
in his heart, there's a crack in his holder, then
his soul. There's so much, so many questions that he
has about who he is and what life is, what

(27:00):
is being enough? And so so this this shift in
this Forbidden Love just further deepens those questions. What his
position is in Middle Earth there's a huge question, and
I think the audience sees it too. It's like, so,
where where is this guy going?

Speaker 2 (27:19):
What is he doing here?

Speaker 7 (27:21):
You know, because we have all these the heavy hitters
were like what is this guy? And he asked himself
that that the same question. What role do I play
in this whole thing? And I think that's uh, that's
the guiding motivation. Just to give you a general.

Speaker 2 (27:38):
Spoiler free yeah.

Speaker 1 (27:40):
Yeah, and Benjamin for you, uh, you know, the High
King of Elves And in the interest of time, what
is your favorite Elvish saying that you have learned?

Speaker 3 (27:53):
Uh?

Speaker 8 (27:54):
And Number one I think actually is pretty applicable to
the second season is the the term grach, which is
an Elvish slayer slurlaer, it's an Elvis slur which no
slaring you watch your slare and mount. It's an Elvish

(28:17):
square thank you. That means basically like or like a
cleaner version will be are because they the Elves, in
spite of their infinite wisdom, have found themselves uh, having

(28:38):
made some mistakes, were caught on the back foot. And
there's no better way to sum it up other than crah.

Speaker 2 (28:47):
I love that crah. Thank you both very much.

Speaker 1 (28:51):
I can't wait for everybody to see The Lord of
the Rings Rings of Power exclusively on Prime.

Speaker 2 (28:57):
Thank you, Benjamin Walker.

Speaker 4 (28:59):
And it's my Cruz Cordova.

Speaker 1 (29:01):
Love those guys and their character arcs in season two.
I can't wait to talk to you about it. So anyway,
we got a lot to cover. Let's take a quick
break to pay the bills and we'll be back.

Speaker 2 (29:19):
All right.

Speaker 1 (29:19):
Thank you for hanging with me through our sponsors. They
allow me to do this show. They allow me to
do this as a job, to talk to watch movies
and series like before they come out, and then go
and talk to them, like talk to the people in them,
talk to you know, some of my favorite actors and

(29:40):
artists and all. So anyway, thank you to my sponsors,
to our sponsors, thank you for you, to you for
making this show grow each and every week and supporting
our sponsors.

Speaker 2 (29:50):
That's so huge.

Speaker 1 (29:52):
Okay, Daniel Wayman, Meghan Richard, and Marklee Havanaugh. And Mark
plays Norri Brandy Foot, a kind of predecessor to Hobbits.
Same thing with Meghan, who plays Poppy. I love Poppy
so much. And then Daniel Weyman plays the mysterious the

(30:13):
Stranger who I thought was sore On but is not.
And I think lots of people thought that according to
like Reddit and you know what you guys were talking
about during season one, but it went on a very
different track, surprising and awesome. So anyway, I'm getting sidetracked,
as I always do. Let's get into my interviews with
Daniel Weyman, Meghan Richard, and Marcella Kavanaugh. First of all,

(30:37):
it's great to speak to all of you again. Thank
you so much for speaking with me. I've got to
say so.

Speaker 2 (30:43):
I enjoy all of you.

Speaker 1 (30:46):
But Markella and Meghan, Poppy, you know Noorri and Poppy,
your relationship, the two of you together. It's so endearing
and I really love it. And then Daniel, your relationship
with the two two of them is also you know,
it's such an interesting thing. So my my point in
question is is does that come off you know, offset

(31:10):
as well? Is that why it's translating so well?

Speaker 2 (31:13):
On set? You know on camera.

Speaker 10 (31:17):
You have a lovely voice.

Speaker 4 (31:18):
Oh, thank you, Yeah, it's very like.

Speaker 10 (31:24):
Yeah, I think I think. Yeah, it's such a pleasure
to work with people who you naturally sort of get
on with. I feel like, sort of from day one,
it's kind of been. It's felt easy anyway, and I wanted,
I've wanted to get to know you. But also what's
great is that the characters have such an incredible relationship

(31:45):
and I think that especially Poppy and Nor's relationship has
been written so well, and I feel like the show
run has really knew what that relationship was sort of
from the get go, So it kind of feels easy
for me anyway to fall into that. But yes, off set,
we are definitely family.

Speaker 11 (32:03):
Yeah, there's something cool that happens when I think your
characters all have unique character sort of characteristics that they
bring to the table. When when you're all together, that
complements each other. That means that you're all fairly equal.
That there's no you know, there's no power in bounce,
or if there is a power and bounce, it shifts
later and shifts later and shifts later. And that makes
it quite easy to both work together but also to

(32:26):
you cherish the other the other people and you respect
them for what they bring to the table. And that's
a great way of working.

Speaker 2 (32:32):
I think I love that.

Speaker 1 (32:34):
And and for you, Daniel, I you know, as I
was watching season one, I thought that you were going
to be your character was going to be somebody that
you ended up not being, And then I was shocked
at the end as you all were reading the scripts,
did you get that enjoyment in these surprises as well?

(32:55):
Or does it kind of you know, it's it's work
at the end of the day for you, so it's
just like oh okay, and you move on, Like, is
there some of that fanboy fangirl you know, excitement as
you're going through.

Speaker 9 (33:08):
Yeah, I mean I think that like with anything that
I watch or with anything that I read, it is
always exciting when you have anticipation around a character that
you think might be this, or you think might be that,
and it's it's all about you feel like you're really
involved in the journey of them discovering who they are
as characters, and you're discovering that along, you know, with them.

(33:29):
I really love that as a viewer and as a character.
I feel like it then you feel so invested.

Speaker 1 (33:33):
In their journey.

Speaker 9 (33:35):
So yeah, the what if is really it's fun and
it's exciting, and I can see why.

Speaker 11 (33:39):
People we were lucky enough to read some of the
when the episodes came out, we would read them also
get together and it was real because you didn't know
what was going to happen, and it was you know,
we'd sort of catch each other and going, oh my god,
the page turn and it keeps going, oh yeah, it
was great.

Speaker 1 (33:53):
And how do you keep I mean, besides being contractually obligated,
how do you keep the the the secrets and the
you know, I just feel like it's so exciting that
you know, I guess you can talk to each other.
That's how you can kind of talk about it, right, totally.

Speaker 10 (34:11):
Yeah, And also I think sometimes it takes the fun
out of it if you reveal too much, because otherwise.

Speaker 5 (34:16):
What is there to watch?

Speaker 10 (34:17):
Yeah, and it's really it's really fun to I think
hold things back and then you get and then especially
you know, like you said that you were surprised that
that's such a wonderful, incredible reaction that you could now
share with us, Like I think that wouldn't have necessarily
happened if we told you.

Speaker 2 (34:33):
Thank you.

Speaker 4 (34:34):
All three of you are a delight to watch and
talk to.

Speaker 1 (34:38):
I can't wait for everybody to see Lord of the
Rings the Rings of Power season two.

Speaker 4 (34:42):
Thank you, Thank you so much.

Speaker 1 (34:44):
Take care you too. Dannuel Wayman, Meghan Richard, and Mark
Kella Kevin love love love them, Love the Horfoots. I
love that storyline through the Rings of Power, and Poppy
and nor are just a good time. I love their show.
And then you know, pairing them with Daniel Wyman as

(35:07):
the Stranger, like it's just such a good mix.

Speaker 2 (35:10):
I love it.

Speaker 1 (35:11):
In any event, last set of interviews, I'm like torn
between telling you you know, but I also like, you're
gonna know if you watch season one, you already know.
I'm just gonna say it, so here's a spoiler. So
if you don't, if you haven't yet watched season one
or the end of season.

Speaker 4 (35:30):
One, then like skip the next twenty seconds. Okay, all right.

Speaker 1 (35:37):
Charlie plays the shape shifter who we know as the
evil dark Lord sore On. We saw him in many
different forms in the first season, and of course Charles
plays Celebromores. You know, he's kind of like a like
Oppenheimer in a lot of ways, which you know I'm
gonna ask him about. But in any event, I'm getting

(35:58):
distracted again like I always do. Let's get right into
the interviews. Charlie Bickers and Charles Edwards. Hey, great to
talk with both of you again. Thanks for speaking with me. Charlie,
I want to start with you. You are a shape shifter.
You've played many shapes in this series so far. What

(36:22):
has that been like for you to be able to
kind of, you know, put on different masks if you will.

Speaker 12 (36:29):
It's a real privilege. I mean, it's kind of an
actor's dream, right. It's why I got into acting, I think,
and something that I've connected to with the craft of it,
I guess since I started doing it. And to have
the kind of role where you can really lean into
transformative work has been really incredible. So there has been

(36:51):
a lot of hard work to distinguish the different characters.
But the stuff I've really enjoyed has been developing different
vocal changing, you know, my vocal work and physical work
to suit what I imagine the characters to be.

Speaker 2 (37:08):
I love that.

Speaker 1 (37:09):
And uh and Charles for you, Celebromore Celebramore has been
I would say, almost like that Oppenheimer of Middle Earth
in some ways. Would you agree with that kind of assessment.

Speaker 5 (37:26):
You know what?

Speaker 2 (37:27):
I like this.

Speaker 13 (37:28):
It's been coming up with a bit quite a bit recently,
and I like it because, yes, I think there are
a lot of similarities unleashing this thing that he's uncertain
of of of of the effects, well, the effect is
going to have, but there's certainly the torture that's the
kind of mental torture that's that's that that Oppenheimer goes through,

(37:50):
and the and the shall I SHANN'TI dilemma and all
those things I think are very applicable.

Speaker 2 (37:56):
But he's.

Speaker 14 (37:58):
Oppenheimer is less on in the thrall of a guy
like Saron is pulling the strings. Ultimately, although it is
very much a power play between the two of these characters,
they both need each other for various things, so that
makes it more interesting that way.

Speaker 1 (38:17):
And for both of you. You know, I spoke to
you season one before that launched. Now I'm speaking to
you before season two launches. What are where? How are
you different from when we talked this time last year
in regards to your your yourselves and the show?

Speaker 12 (38:38):
Well, I think I think it's probably two years now
since we did this press press tour.

Speaker 2 (38:43):
And has it been two years?

Speaker 5 (38:45):
Yeah?

Speaker 12 (38:46):
And I think I was cast in this show in
twenty nineteen, so and we've just done the second season, right,
So it's it's it's I think a lot of things
have changed personally, I mean, but I guess for me
it's about being getting really comfortable and adjusting to doing
a show on this scale and living in this world.

(39:08):
And I think just naturally living with a character for
so long it's my first experience of that. It just
deepens your understanding because it's kind of always there on
the back burner, in the back of your mind, whether
you're doing another project in between. I'm kind of always
thinking about this character because I know I'll be returning
to it at some point, and that's a real joy.

Speaker 14 (39:27):
Yeah, it is to know something is ongoing, even though
there are these huge gaps between each season. It really
absorbs you, but even when you're not doing it. And
I think this season we're a lot more grounded, we're
a lot more well, it's still amazing to walk onto
those sets, but we're a lot more O FAI with
it now. So and also the stories are really settling

(39:48):
now and now we're telling the stories.

Speaker 2 (39:50):
I love it. I can't wait for everybody to see
season two.

Speaker 1 (39:53):
Thank you both for speaking with me, and I look
forward to speaking with you again.

Speaker 12 (39:58):
Thank you very much, Thanks your time, Thanks Kyle.

Speaker 2 (40:01):
Thank you Charlie Vickers and Charles Edwards.

Speaker 1 (40:06):
Like, I can't tell you how cool it is for
me to be able to say that I just talked
to sore On, not only like this time, but I
talked to him last season two, not even knowing that he.

Speaker 2 (40:19):
Was sore On, which is crazy.

Speaker 4 (40:23):
Like this is like a childhood dream come true.

Speaker 2 (40:25):
So I'm so stoked.

Speaker 1 (40:26):
I'm so hyped for you to see season two of
The Lord of the Rings Rings of Power exclusively on
Prime video. Do yourself a favor, please watch it so
we can talk about episode one.

Speaker 4 (40:40):
I can't wait to talk to you about it.

Speaker 1 (40:42):
If you haven't joined the conversation yet, you can hit
me up on any social at KMAC Music or at
Real Kyle McMahon.

Speaker 4 (40:49):
Or at pop Culture Weekly. You'll find me everywhere.

Speaker 1 (40:52):
Pick one and hit me up, or send your hate
mail as always to my email, which.

Speaker 2 (40:57):
Many of you do. Love that. Keep that coming, please.

Speaker 1 (41:01):
And all right, we got some exciting stuff coming up
in the next few episodes. We're getting close to my
favorite time of year, Halloween, so you know it's gonna
be an all horror October slate of pop Culture Weekly episodes.

Speaker 4 (41:16):
All right, that's all for this episode.

Speaker 2 (41:19):
Talk to you soon. I will see you next week.

Speaker 4 (41:22):
I love you.

Speaker 3 (41:23):
We thank you for listening to pop Culture Weekly. Here
all the latest at Popcultureweekly dot com.

Speaker 10 (41:35):
I hear hobbitz, I hear hobbitzes and precious
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