Season 2 Ep 4 - Interview with William Sadler 3: Back with a Vengeance (and a new album) - The After Movie Diner Podcast

Episode Transcript
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(00:13):
Yes, that's right back by populardemand, well, that by a deafening
silence that we took to be areasonable demand that you're all just too polite
to make. It's the inevitably nonsensical, yet hopefully enjoyable After Movie Diner Season
two. That's right. The firstthree hundred and fifty three episodes were just

(00:36):
season one, that is just mad. Like all good sequels, in season
two, you can expect us toramp up the action, core expletives,
gratuitous mentions of donald, pleasance,and of course the requisite nudity. So
when you hear this noise, that'senough moderate remove your first item of clothing

(01:00):
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(01:23):
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(01:46):
dribbling, please put down your leninmeringues, silence your bowels, and rub
two nearby dogs together for the onethe only, thank goodness, because any
more of him and we'd have tostart a call. Chah cross up,
a bit up, a bit left, left left, that's perfect, all

(02:13):
right, Hello and welcome to theAfter Movie Diner Podcast. How have you
all been m I know that Ihave been adequate, So on this very
special show, we have someone whois well at this point, probably the
patron saint of the Aftermovie Diner,being our first ever well known actor interview

(02:34):
on the show many many moons ago, and who is now kindly returning to
these dingy booths for a third time. It's legendary actor, producer, director,
singer, songwriter, musician, andeveryone's favorite sore loser of battleships William
Sadler. All right, you havesunk my better ship. And although it's

(02:57):
always a pleasure to talk to misterSadler about his variety of ongoing acting works,
he's actually on the show this timearound because he is happy and proud
to announce that he has his firstever album of music, The Kitchen Tapes,
coming out in just a couple ofdays on August first, available wherever
you find music streaming, Spotify,Apple Music, all the usual places.

(03:21):
In fact, the first single offthe album, Thoughts and Prayers, is
already up on Spotify if you golooking for it, so William Sadler Thoughts
and Prayers, you'll find it.It's fantastic. Take a listen. Full
album out on August first, butalso very soon there'll be a new website,
the real William Sadler dot Com.I'll put the link in the show
description where folks will be able tobuy actual CDs or vinyl albums that he

(03:46):
has personally autographed, with all theprofits going to Saint Jude's children's cancer research.
That's fantastic. Can't wait for that. I'll be picking up a vinyl
album of my very own, youbetter believe it. So it's exciting stuff.
We get into this and some ofhis more recent film roles in the
wonderful chat that follows. Unfortunately,these annoying, awful, irritating adverts that

(04:08):
speaker demands I include in my otherwiseunblemished and perfect podcast. Please be patient.
You can most likely fast forward themdepending on where you're listening to this.
Whatever you do, definitely don't encouragethem. Instead, use your time,
energy and money to support William Sadler'sThe Kitchen Tapes album when it arrives
on August first, And don't forgetto check the real William Sadler dot com

(04:31):
for being able to purchase the albumon either seed or vinyl, with all
those profits going to an incredibly worthycause of the Saint Jude's Children's cancer research.
All right, so none of myblathering. Fast forward the following adverts
and then on to this phenomenal conversationwould the excellent William Sadler. But I

(05:15):
wanted to say, Bell, it'sit's it's always a pleasure to talk to
you. Um, we first talkedten years ago. Can you believe that?
Has it been that long? Itwas twenty thirteen. You had the
double whammy of iron Man three andMachete Kills coming out. That was our
first conversation, the greats and thenear greats. Wow, yes, well

(05:40):
that kind of you know, that'sa that's amazing. I would not have
if you'd ask me, you know, yeah, how long ago was our
first our first encounter. I wouldn'thave thought ten years time fly. Time
definitely flies, especially especially the lastten years. So much has happened,
so much has gone on that remarkablebaffles the mind. No, but it's

(06:05):
it's it's funny because you were thefirst experience I think I had. I
may have interviewed some sort of independentfilmmakers or independent actors or someone, but
you were certainly the first person whohad been in Hollywood movies or no name
actor that I that I had interviewed. And um, I just I remember

(06:26):
us having a fantastic conversation. Wetalked about kind of your action work from
the eighties and nineties. I thinkI got you thinking more about the fact
that you were sort of iconic backin that genre. I remember you kind
of having a realization during the conversation, Oh yeah, I kind of did
do a few of those sort ofbig Hollywood action films. I did,
and I think you enjoyed reminiscing.I think no, I did. It's

(06:50):
Funny Time a Time as a CruelMistress, and some of those films hold
up in some of them, don'tI know, every once in a while,
I'll see I'll see something that I'vedone twenty years ago, we're thirty
years ago, and I'll think,whoah, my god, look at that.

(07:13):
You can tell by the style,you can tell by the dialogue,
you can tell by the acting.Yeah, I won't I don't want to
name names. But and then therewas and then you know, and and
then on the other hand, therewere films. Um. I think Diehard
two holds up pretty well. Theyshow it every Christmas. It's like it's

(07:35):
a thing. Yeah, it's athing over here. It's like, you
know, Mirror Fell on thirty fourthStreet or whatever it is. You know,
the the Christmas movies, and wellthe movies are right there. Bang

(07:56):
bang, I I agree, Andthere's a lot of those that I think.
Um, I don't know whether dieHard or Lethal Weapon started the tradition,
but of course, Shane Black,every movie he's made has been set
at Christmas. Even Iron Man threeis technically set at Christmas. Um,
which is sort of an in joketo all the fans, because the first
Lethal Weapon is of course set atChristmas, and then die Hard one and

(08:18):
two of both set at Christmas.And uh, I think of all the
of all the Christmas messages that right, you can put out there. You
know, He's He's on earth,and goodwill toward men and yes and let's
you know fightings. Look at yourneighbor and put your arms around your neighbor

(08:43):
and see if you can't find somesome common commonality. Die Hard to die
Hard one and two or like,Yeah, it always strikes me as just
completely bizarre that those are the arenow Christmas movies Christmas movies, well,
because my generation official at Christmas movies. Yeah, well my generation got I

(09:07):
mean I used to watch I meanI used to watch all those Medical or
thirty fourth Street and things like that. But also weirdly, musicals like Oliver
and things like that were sort ofChristmas movies that would play on British TV
when I was growing up. Butbut no, I think our generation sorry,
yeah, no, that's the spirit. But well so our generation it

(09:28):
was weird when we were growing upin the UK the films that would come
on TV around Christmas time because theyalways they always waited to show Hollywood blockbusters
that had been out on video buthad never had their TV debut. They
would wait to show those at Christmasso we would end up watching Jurassic Park

(09:50):
or James Bond or like all thesesort of big Indiana Jones was like a
big thing that was showing right hard. So action at Christmas makes sense to
us. I don't know if itwas the same over here. I mean
I suppose, yeah, I thinkover a year there's a there's a I
don't know, maybe it's maybe it'sjust it has to do with the oscars

(10:13):
or something. They they tend tothey tend to release the the the blockbust,
the big action flicks, or theyused to. Anyway, they would
release them in the summer, thebeginning of the summer, and people would
go to the go to the theater, you know, um and see them.
But but that's sort of and thenas Christmas got closer and the end

(10:37):
of the year got closer, that'swhen you release the the ones that you
thought had a shot at at AcademyAwards. Oh yeah, same, that's
when you release the ones that hadBritish actors, right and so well,
but he's English. Well, sothat's the truth in that's the same in

(11:03):
the UK in the theaters, buton TV because they wanted every you know,
the new families would be home atChristmas and everyone's sitting around the boob
tube or the goggle box or whateveryou want to call it. Um,
people they would put on. Sofor example, I think if Jurassic Park
came out in the theaters in ninetythree, it probably screened Christmas of ninety

(11:26):
five on TV because it used totake about two years for it to kind
of go out on BBC or ITVor whatever, so for it to finish
it yeah yeah, yeah, yeahyeah, so money out in the theaters
and then right and then on VHSof course, and all the other formats
before it hit TV. UM.So I think that's me. I mean,

(11:48):
certainly for us, that's where itcame from. In the US,
I think, Um, you know, the generation I've met and I now
lived here. I've lived here fifteenyears now. All the friends I have
of kind of my edge group justall grew up with those genre films.
They just much prefer genre film.Genre film just became the thing. And
so you look for Christmas movies.So you look for whether it's Silent Night,

(12:11):
Deadly Night on the horror side ofthings, so whether it's die Hard
or die Hard two on the actionside of things. You know, we
have now this long list of moviesthat are set up Christmas, but I
really have nothing to do with Christmasuntil it's like there's no Santa clause,
there's nothing I haven't. I havea new I have. There's one that

(12:33):
I made. I think I madeit a year and a half ago.
UM called Salem's Lot. That's yeah, that's a a good size Hollywood movie
based on the Stephen King novel.UM and it was made in It came
out as a mini series with DavidSewell. Yeah, I think in ninety

(12:58):
seven or something like that. Andoh, they've done it a couple of
times. They did it and theyscared the living crap out of people.
Yeah, uh and they and sowe took another shot at it. And
um, it's during Lewis Pullman andand Alfie Woodard and it's gonna that one,

(13:20):
they say, they say it's gonnabe out in twenty twenty three.
I hope, I hope that's right. I don't know why they keep kind
of pushing it off and pushing itoff, but I bet they're just seeing
it depends what I think. Theytend to see what's playing. As you
say, like the big blog bustersummer stuff. You know, they probably

(13:43):
decided to make it, and Idon't know, I'm just guessing, but
off the back of the success ofit, you know, the rebrid of
it, right, and and actuallyit's funny you bring us up, Bill,
because yesterday I just got a screenerthrough for the new documentary King on
Screen, which sort of talks abouteverything that that Stephen King, Yeah,

(14:05):
and it has um Yeah, Shure, Shank is on there and shining and
Mick Garris is interviewed and the Mist. I watched King on Screen last night
and followed it up with the Missbecause I knew I'd be talking to you.
And Frank Darabon is your friend.Frank Darabon is is interviewed repeatedly throughout

(14:28):
the documentary. It's a really screenKing on Screen, It's called but Yes,
so they were talking about Obviously,I think Toby Hooper did Salem's Lot
as a mini series or at leastan extended TV movie back the Day Um,
which Larry Cohen then followed up withReturn to Salem's Lot some years later.

(14:50):
But then there was a Donald SutherlandRob Low version that came out I
think in the early two thousands.That was a lot. It's like thing,
I think, you know, youwrite something as good as that,
and everybody wants to get their teethinto it, you know story, Yeah,

(15:11):
exactly, everybody wants everybody wants apiece of that one or let me
let me add it, let meadd it, yeah, or lends itself
to the retelling. I think it'sit's so good. Especially, Wow,
it's such a good story, youknow. Yeah, scares it scared the

(15:33):
crap out of me. I'd neverseen I had never seen the David Sewell
miniseries. I remember. I rememberthat scene because we're Danny, a little
boy, floating boy in the window. I remember just seeing that in like,
you know, a review or somethingof it, and it's scared the

(15:56):
shit out of me. I'm notthe shit out of all of us where
sorr the first time, I'm nota Yeah, it's hard to go home,
you know, it's hard to goit's hard to go back and retell
stories if you know what's coming.But I think we've I think we may.
I think we did a terrific job. I was like I was.
I had a lot of fun withthe character that I played. I was,

(16:18):
Yeah, I was the town sheriffwho's just a coward through and through
and through every time, every timeanyone asks him to come and investigate another
weird death, he's like, oh, look at the time, right exactly.
Uh, oh geez, I'd loveto, you know, yeah,

(16:41):
and he just wants to know partof of what's happening in Salem. Um
doesn't serve him well in the end, but it also brings up So one
of the one of the subjects Iwanted to chat about is also the fact
I think you're just you've executive producedbefore, but you just produced your first

(17:03):
film, which was a horror film. She Came from the Woods, and
obviously you we I think we talkedbefore about like Demon Knight and Bordello Blood
and some of some of the otherhorror films that you've been in. Horror,
along with kind of action, hassort of been peppered throughout your career,
and so do you have a particularconnection or affinity with a genre or

(17:29):
is it just that that's what comesacross your desk. So I think it's
a fair amount of it is thatthat's what comes across my desk, and
I get but I get attracted tothe I get attracted to the roles.
I get attracted to the to theto the people that you get to play

(17:49):
um and Stephen King in particular writes, these humans, you know, fantastic,
Um, this wonderful. These they'rejust they're they're so fun to get
get under the skin of, youknow, Haywood and find your path through

(18:10):
Haywood in this story. Um Or, I forget the care of my character's
name in the mist. But umyeah, I don't know. I guess.
I don't think I gravitated to horrorbecause I'm such a fan. I
actually I don't watch. I don'twatch a lot of horrors. I get

(18:33):
too scared, I do. Iget scared. I get I get caught
up in the story, even thoughI know, I know how they shot
it. I know, but that'sfantastic and yeah, but I still get
caught up in the stories and Iget you know, if I get scared
enough, I just like I can'tI can't win. I don't want.

(18:57):
I don't want to deal with theeightmares later on when I have to go
down in the basement and change alight bulb or something by myself, you
know, switch the loads in thelaundry at night and oh I get it,
I love you know, and there'sa sound behind me or something.
It's like a jump out of I'venever And the slasher rooms, especially this

(19:22):
the I mean, I can't evenname them because I just don't watch them.
Like yeah, just um, I'mjust not a fan. I like,
I like all my fingers. Yes, well I was, so I'm
not a fan of No. Um, I like them because I mean everything

(19:44):
you just describe. So we wejust bought this house last year and I
made the little screening room in thebasement of course. Um yeah, right,
But why I stay up watching moviesand it's it's fun. Sometimes I
do like put on like I puton The Mist last night at like midnight.
I was still watching it to himor whatever. And you do turn

(20:07):
a film off like that, especiallyyou know. I watched the Frank Darabon
Director's cut in black and white,that the really atmospheric version that on DVD.
Yeah, and uh yeah, turningyou know, and I have all
the lights off because it's a butthen turning the lights on, you know,
I do have to even though,as you say, like we know

(20:29):
how it shot now and da dada da I have to turn all the
lights on, I have to openall the doors, I have to check
everything from I go upstairs. Youknow, you don't grow out of that.
But no, no, we're stillWe're still like ten years old when
we're in the movies. You know. I think that's the that's part of
the joy of movies, because weall turned back into the kid that sat

(20:51):
and watched Ben her and was youknow the popcorn hit the ceiling when the
you know, or or oh,what was the one Jason and the Argonauts.
Yes, I saw that. Isaw that when I don't know how
old. I was a mirror pupand my brother and I went to see

(21:15):
Jason and the Argonauts in a theaterin the afternoon because we were little kids.
Yeah, you know, our parentsdropped us off and came and picked
us up and so on. Butbut the skeletons coming up out of the
ground, you know, he throwsthrows dragon's teeth on the ground or something,
and then these skeletons come up andfight him. Yeah. I just

(21:40):
I think there's something about movies wejust sort of automatically switched. We switch
on that ten year old head again. Yeah, and say Okay, take
what do you got? Oh?I agree, And there's that there's nothing
worse than seeing the um sometimes theinternet chatter where it's like you can tell
someone has lost that innocence if youcan't sit down in front of a movie

(22:03):
and be an awed but you know, in awe of it in some way.
And I'm talking about like good filmshopefully rather than being an awe of
h But you yeah, it's agreat if you're telling a great story and
you're telling it, well, yeah, I'm there, I'm there. I'm

(22:26):
just I'm a goner. Yeah,you know, I can't. I can't.
Look. It's funny because there's alwaysa lot of discussions about bringing back
to Stephen King. There's always alot of discussions about like remakes right that
they're they're kind of the they're sortof problematic part of the horror genre in
a weird way. But what Ialways think of like King when they've redone

(22:49):
them, as you say, becausethey're so character driven. I always think
of Shakespeare. People have done fivehundred million different versions of Shakespeare, right,
because it's all about the characters andthe language and the interpretation. It's
always about like what can I bringto it that someone else maybe didn't.
Right adaptations of King I feel likeI don't feel that they're remakes. I

(23:12):
feel that they are exactly that,like that Shakespearean thing of what can we
bring to this story? What canwe bring to these characters. That's how
I always look at it, ratherthan well, let's remake Evil Dead,
you know what I mean? LikeEvil Dead was a movie. It doesn't.
It's you know, it's horror wasin the way it was directed or
the way it was acted. It'snot anything to do with the script or

(23:33):
the characters or the novel or anything. Right. So yeah, anyway,
so we never saw you know,I do get your point, and I
think I agree. There was athere was a remake of Psycho not too
long a long time ago. It'sforn one where they did it shot shot
for shot. Yeah, and Icouldn't figure it. I know, I

(23:55):
didn't see it, so I probablyshouldn't criticize it. But you're going to
do it's shot for shot. It'slike show me the show me the original.
You know, I'm if you're onif you're gonna do a remake of
uh, you know, a streetcarnamed Desired remake it, dude. You

(24:18):
know, show me a different versionof Stanley Kowalski. Yeah, you know,
show me that, show me thatanimal in a in a with a
different face and a different voice,and you know I can watch it.
I think you're I think you're right. I think that's the reason that it's
the It's exactly the same reason thatpeople want to you know, every generation

(24:44):
wants to play you know, everyonewants to play their Hamlets and the McBeth.
You know, it's not not becauseit hasn't been done before. It's
because it's such good, stuffy,it's such rich stuff for actors. And
the best thing about good writing isthat it is relevant no matter what year

(25:07):
it's made it, So you canyou can take like Carpenter redoing the thing
in the eighties. Uh, he'stalking very much about the Not only did
he refer back to the original book, but he's talking very much about the
paranoia and the um, you know, in fighting or whatever that was happening
at the time. If you can, if you you know, I would
love to see a street car namedDesire, a movie that is about kind

(25:32):
of today, if that was atall possible, you know what I mean?
And try and bring I think youprobably could. I think you know
you have to. I mean,you really have to look at it and
say, you know how what wouldyou lose? Right? What? What?
What wouldn't work? Yeah, ifyou said it in twenty twenty three.

(25:52):
But as long as there are actors, as long as they're as long
as there are directors who are greatstorytellers and writers who are great storytellers,
there's kind of you'll you know,will will we won't be able to start.
I'm surprised they haven't made done aremake of shawshank it um Oh.

(26:14):
I think, I mean, Ithink that would be They must have.
They must have thought about it.Someone's probably discussed it. But you know,
there are some films that feel untouchableto someone could although I could do
Citizen Kane or Right or The Wizardof Oz or something to take. What

(26:36):
are you gonna do? You're gonnado it, You're gonna do this better?
Yeah, I mean there's certainly differenttakes. You could probably if you
went back to the original novella,although I know Darabot likes to keep it
as close as possible, you couldpossibly go back to the original novella.
And find an angle in there thatmay not be in the film, but

(26:57):
it's uh, you know that thatcomparisons. You'd be killed by the comparisons.
Of course, I mean I've always, I've often felt and I love
I love Frank dearly and I I'llbe in anything that he ever directs,
no matter what. Um. Butbut I think the fact that Shank came

(27:22):
out so early in his career asa director, it's it feels a little
bit like Orson Welles and Citizen Kane, where no matter what, you know,
the great Ambersons, no matter whatyou do after that, it's going
to be compared to, right thatCitizen Kane. And you know it isn't

(27:48):
going to be Citizen Kane. It'sgonna be some other movement, you know.
Yeah, but he is he He'she's a fantastic and in fact,
the documentary talks about this, buttwo or three directors, you know,
Rob Brian has done a couple ofKing adaptations, Darabon has done a few.
Um, they talk about those kindof director writer partnerships. Obviously Romero

(28:12):
of course was a great friend ofStephen King and did some collaborations with him
as well. So they do goin depth in to both Frank's collaboration with
him, but also George Romero's andRob Braners. And And it's funny because
even though you probably couldn't get youknow, three more eclectic directors in a

(28:33):
weird way than Roban, Frank Darabonand George A. Romero. Um,
their King adaptations all share obviously theyshare King, but they share also I
feel like a cinematic DNA. Youcould kind of play them together and they
would sort of fit. Um,maybe it's the Americans. Yeah, I

(28:56):
don't know whether it's the Americana settingsor the characters of the way King kind
of, but there's sort of areally lovely through love. They will take
place in the same world. Iguess as what I'm trying to try to
say, it's King's world. Yeah, I think, um, yeah,
no, it's fast. I'll haveto look for that documentary. Yeah,

(29:18):
that's great. It sounds like fun. So I was also looking at your
recent career and I'm really trying toget hold of some of the independent films.
You've been doing. A stage ofTwilight. I would love to see
a stage of Twilight. So I'ma big Karen. I'm a big Bill
Sutl fan, as you know,but I'm also a big Karen Allen fan,

(29:38):
so I would love. She's sogood in this movie. We have,
we had so much fun. Ikeep thinking that the shoot was very
low budget. Yeah, the directorwas Sarah Schwab, wrote it and directed
it. And it's sort of thestory loosely based on the story of her

(29:59):
own father and as uh as hehad he got sick and and it turned
out, through just happenstance that herher dad worked at the steel mill in
Buffalo, and so did I.Yea early on I had. I had
a summer job at the steel plantwhere he worked. We she grew up

(30:23):
in Eden and I grew up inOrchard Park, and they're like ten miles
apart, you know, we wereas we were like we were sort of
ticking off the likenesses and they weregreat. But what I felt, I
mean, generally the story was wasso beautiful and so so so beautifully drawn.

(30:52):
Um. These two characters, KarenAllen and myself's characters, this couple
who have been married forever and ever, and this illness comes along. Um.
But what was wonderful for me wasthat I've never in my career and
all the movies that I've made,I've never been asked to sit down and

(31:15):
play all the keys on the piano. I've played the villain over here,
and you get you know, they'rethis, You get to this is what's
required. You need to you needto stay in this world, or or
you're the sheriff in this town that'sbeing chased by vampires, and you figure

(31:40):
out quickly what's required and what's whatthey want and what you have to offer
that's you know, worth watching.Yeah, this one, he this one,
he just goes. The two ofthem go on this journey together and
it's and it's just this beautiful,big, long journey. I felt.

(32:04):
I told her, I felt likeI'd gone to OZ. Yeah, I
would, you know, I wouldcome home and I don't know how to
explain it to anybody else where where. It was more honest and more real
and more it was more it hadmore me in it. Yeah, I

(32:27):
mean it. If that's that's ahard that's a weird thing to say.
I guess I think I understand whatyou mean. But I had but I
got to use me. Yeah,I got to use me in great abundance
and um um and as a result, it was just this beautiful, you
know, little dance between the twoof us, and she's so lovely to

(32:52):
work with, and it won.It's it's making, it's still making this
the rounds of the Fast Falls.So yeah, it's going to be at
the um Long Island International Film Festival. It's one. It's one, all
kinds of awards and best yeah,I see that on the trailer on the

(33:13):
Best Actor and Best Film, youknow. Yeah. Um, but and
I guess I'm assuming one day itwill find a it'll find a release of
some kind because I think I thinkit's a good enough film. Of course.
Yeah, I mean it's as Isay, it's in the circuits.

(33:34):
There's been a lot of award buzzabout it. Um. I think what
I found from the trailer. Andagain I've only seen the trailer, and
I'm excited. I'll figure out thepr company and get in contact so I
can see a screener when it's aboutto do the either streaming and or blue
ray and or whatever release it.Hopefully that would be fantastic. I think
you'd be surprised because, like Isaid, I've never played I've never been

(33:58):
asked to play I've never been askedto do that, right in all the
films and all of the you know, the funny characters and the Grim Reaper
and the villains and the President andIron Man three and all of the different
roles that I've been able to play, and I've loved playing. I've never

(34:21):
I've never felt I've never had onethat was so full yeah, of just
humanity and love and and she was, you know, she was just a
exquisite partner to bounce off of becauseshe's, Um, I'm so glad she's
sort of coming back to she yeah, yeah, because she was I mean,

(34:45):
the iconic performances she gave throughout theearly part of her career. Um,
and I know she was still doingthings here and that. But then
obviously, I think the fourth IndianaJones she came back to the big screen
in a big way. And thenI think since then has been doing more

(35:05):
films again, which is for usfans. That's fantastic what I what I
got from the trailer. And thismight be personal to me, so I
might be sharing a lot of meright now that as and and I don't
know whether this is a male femalething. I don't wish to make it
necessarily gender specific. But while Idon't necessarily fear death, in other words,

(35:28):
the idea of the end or notexisting anymore whatever, I fear getting
ill, you know what I mean. I feel I fear that having to
go through the treatments and the illness, especially as I get older and I
see friends of mine, you know, get cancer unfortunately, and other diseases
that thankfully they survive mostly touch Wood. But I fear that. I fear

(35:51):
that process. And it felt likefrom the trailer that your character is kind
of going through that a little bit, like he doesn't want to have people
see him go through the illness,and he doesn't want to have to emotionally
share that with the other characters inthe I think that I think that's accurate.
He doesn't. He's he's a proudman, yea. And he married

(36:15):
above his he married above himself.He's stationed in life. She's, you
know, a librarian, she's ateacher, she's a she's she's written a
book. She's and he can't.I think he can't stand the idea of

(36:37):
her seeing him that way, thatthat she'll sum that there's something in there's
something wrong with that in his eyes, seeing him weakened or you know,
helpless or or in pain or whateverwhatever is in store for him. He's

(37:02):
um, he he, He'd rathergo finish it somewhere else, um,
and just make a clean end ofit. And you know, I'll get
enough wood in for the next threeyears, right, so for the fireplace.
And then you know, so he'slike he he goes around the house

(37:27):
doing stuff to get get her ready. Yeah. Um, so she'll be
okay, yeah um. But thenbut then he doesn't um. And that's
really where they butt heads because she'sof course having none of that. You're
not gonna, you know, you'renot gonna go crawl off under the porch
and die like a cat. Um, You're gonna. We're gonna. This

(37:52):
is gonna. We're going to andthey work it out. They they they
they've come to a solution, whichis great. I can't wait to see
it. I really can't wait tosee it. I love seeing um.
I love seeing films about. Youknow, we've we've sort of had a

(38:15):
platora of things that have been maderecently with at least a teen audience in
mind, right, which is whichis absolutely fine. Like we said earlier,
we're all ten year olds at heart. Um, but there is that,
you know, occasional lack of justa mature film or an intelligent film
or a dramatic film that doesn't necessary. And so when one comes along,

(38:37):
especially one starring actors that I soadmire, it's um uh, it's you
know, it goes to the topof my left So I can't I can't
wait to see it. It's fantastic. And I also think what I what
I really UM, I think respectis the right word about your career.
Is you're an actor who, um, seemingly from your IMD BE credits and

(39:00):
from everything I watched the meat,the medium doesn't seem to bother you,
meaning you know, TV, bigbunk buster film, independent film, you
know, whatever, video, whateverit is, You just you know,
show up when you want to act, you want to play that character,
you want to perform, and soon. And seeing you in these independent

(39:23):
films recently, because you know fromI think we talked about VFW last time
you were on all right, right, right right? Yeah, yeah,
well I think I was you wereback. I think the last time you
chatted was twenty twenty in the lastaction film I did. I think yeah,
we Yeah, you had talked aboutBill and Ted three and VFW and
even Bill and Ted three, whichbaffles my mind. Even that was one

(39:46):
that the studios kind of reject andkind of Keyana and Alex kind of had
to make it. It didn't itdidn't have the budget of the previous two
as far as I'm aware, Sowhich's baffling because Keyanu Reeves is like the
biggest star on the planet, Solike, why wouldn't you make Bill and
Ted three? Um, But soit's nice. It's been nice to see

(40:07):
you in these independent films. Andlike I said, you you produced She
Came from the Woods, which Iwas just watching the first half of before
I uh's joined the interview. Ishould also mention that, um, well,
there are two things I did.An HBO miniseries called Full Circle,
Um HBO Max, I guess,or maybe it's just called Max now.

(40:32):
Stephen Soderberg directed, Yeah, andit's written by Ed Solomon, who wrote
the Bill and Ted movies and managedBlack Movies. And Yeah, and it
starts July sixteenth, thirteen July thirteenth, um here on HBO Max. And
it's a six it's a six partmini series and I'm in the I think

(40:57):
I'm in the first four episodes ofit. Claire Danes and Dennis Quaid.
Oh no, it's a. It'sa it's a it's a great cast and
it's kind of a who it's EdSolomon's version of who Done It? It's
that it's that there are these peoplehave secrets. And I played Dennis Quaid's

(41:27):
brother and we've had this hate thiswe've we've had this thing between us for
twenty five or thirty years or somethingthat UM and all based on something that
neither one of us knew. UM. But he was lovely anyway. I

(41:49):
mentioned it because it's coming up andit's and that should be. That should
be a lot of fun. ClaireDanes was wonderful, always is. And
I I have a that's coming outon an album. Yes, no,
it's called William Selder The Kitchen Tapes. I considered calling it William Selder's Greatest
Hits Album, but I've never putup I never put out an album before,

(42:14):
so, but that would be great, wouldn't it, Just to like,
I think my second album is goingto be lives Hader's Greatest Hits UM,
like you know, like I've beenmaking songs for thirty years, but
during the pandemic I finally got I'vebeen writing and I used to do these.
I used to do like a oneman show of my songs UM in

(42:37):
Los Angeles, and I would playthe play guitar and sing and tell stories
and you know, yeah, um, and it was and it was great
fun. And I had written,I had written quite a few songs too.
I never I've never really been goto to doing covers. I am.
I find the songs that I love. I generally love the way that

(43:00):
they've been done. And if you'renot going to improve on it, I
don't know. I'm I'm sending anagreement with you. I don't play covers
either. I write all my ownstuff, so right right, And it's
not easy to write good songs.But I've written enough. But I've written
enough of them now that I cansort of pick and choose the ones that

(43:21):
I like. Um. And whenthe pandemic hit and I came home,
I was shooting grudge at the time. No, um, unholy time?
Are we shooting the unholy? Oh? Yeah, you play father Hagen?

(43:43):
Okay, I did, I did? Oh he has killed by another demon?
Yes, I hate, What alife? Bell what a life?
Hate hate demons? Yeah? Right, Um, anyway, I thought,
you know, I have all ofthese songs and I and I I would
do open mics and things and aroundhere. But it but it all of

(44:08):
a sudden during the pandemic there wasthere was really nothing to do UM in
the business. So I thought,I'll start I'll start recording these because that
I could do UM remotely. Andthis gentleman named Matt Pulowitz, who was

(44:30):
in fact, we both won Emmysfor or cont We got certificates saying that
we won Emmy's. We didn't actuallyget the statue. Stephen Colbert got the
statue. Okay, well we did. We did this show called um Our

(44:51):
Cartoon President. Yes, and Iand I did all of these funny voices
for you know, all these politicians. I I would contribute. But anyway,
he's a sound engineer. When heheard some of my songs, he
said, let me let me hookyou up, and he set me up
with this recording thing in my inmy house. Yeah. And because I'm

(45:15):
a kind of a luddye with computers, we rigged it up. He moved
to California and we rigged it upso that he can go on my computer
and all of a sudden, thebuttons and sliders are moving all around.
He does it remotely from California.And I'll sing, you know, I'll

(45:38):
sing, or I'll play, orI'll play along with a track that someone
else's. We have a a friendwho plays piano, and he would lay
down the piano track and then Iwould sing over it. And we managed
to put together this this album,which I love, and I think they're
good songs. I'm some some ofthem are funny as you might imagine,

(46:06):
some are romantic, some of them. Yeah, over the pandemic, you
put I think a video out ofthe talking with you on the telephone,
which is sort of a lovely takeon um, you know, being remote
but you know, still being inlove with someone and not being able to
you know, being in love atlong distance. UM that song. And

(46:27):
then more recently you put out Thoughtsand Prayers, which is obviously more of
a tongue in cheek but but alsoa very serious song about UM kind of
gun control and and sort of thepro gun side of their their way they
react to things. I don't wantto necessarily get all political, but you
know, but the way they reactto things or the way and what I

(46:51):
loved about I want to talk aboutboth songs because they're the ones I know,
but what thoughts and prayers? WhatI absolutely loved about it outside of
the subject, which is something thatis dead to my heart. I I've
friends who lived down in in Beatthel, Connecticut who know about the Sandy Hook
tragedy and various other things I have. I have other friends who have been

(47:12):
touched by other issues with that,and even if I didn't, it would
still be as certainly as a britliving in America, I'm like, why
do you need all these guns?But anyway, what I loved about it
was that you, you know thethoughts and prayers response, right, which
seems sort of very hollow and verycynical, You were able to write the

(47:32):
song with you know that. Iknow this sounds on, but with an
acknowledgement of a god. Right.So instead of it being like an atheist
song where it's just like, shutup with your thoughts and prayers, it's
actually a song that goes well,Actually, why blame or label or give
God all this responsibility? Which Ireally loved about it because is it what

(48:00):
it does, is it goes.This isn't just some angry, you know,
cynical response to the response of thosepeople on Twitter or whatever it is.
Um, this is actually something thatit's like, well, we're all
in this together. And while Idon't necessarily believe in a deity, those
that do, you know, whywould you want to burden them with it?

(48:23):
And so so I really love thattake on it because you're not you're
not singling anyone out in a ina negative way. You've actually found a
way to kind of go like,well, there's actually solutions to this down
on earth. Like That's which Ireally loved on it because your right,

(48:44):
he says, how to go downthere? Yeah, exactly did you try
to feed the hungry? Did youtry to stop the bloodshed? Come on,
tell me what you do? Yeah? And you say, Lord,
I left it up to you,right Like it was such a I mean,
I didn't do anything. I II left it to this deity to

(49:08):
you know, which is not tomake fun of people's belief in the deity.
It's just it's just, you know, unless you follow it up with
something. I've often thought that youknow, all the folks that have the
folks that hold the Second Amendment,and they they they feel like they're under

(49:32):
attack, they feel like they youknow, they're coming from my guns.
That they really should help us figureout. They should help us figure out
a way. They know these machines, they know these guns. They could

(49:52):
be so helpful, you know,their advice there, They could be so
if they they would allow themselves tobe part of the conversation, right,
rather than things being decided by peoplewho've never held a gun and are horrified
by the idea of guns. Um, it would be so, it would

(50:15):
be so much better, you know, and more effective if the people that
if the people that love and youknow, treasure these things and really want
it, they're not going to letgo of them no matter what. Could
help us figure out how to solvethem. That just that problem, you

(50:42):
know, crazy people walking into schoolsand killing twenty first graders. You know
you can't you can't tell me you'reokay with that. You can't tell me,
you know, I'm not going tobelieve. I'm not going to believe
that. I don't care how muchyou love your guns, but don't don't
make me fix this problem. Howyou know, jo join this conversation so

(51:09):
that they were not yelling at eachother across you know, a gulf.
I really that's just my personal takeon it. No, I love it
because it's solution driven rather than justnegative reactionary, which is what we state.
They're the ones. Yeah you want, you don't, you don't want
a whole lot of people who youknow, I don't want to characterize liberals,

(51:34):
but like me, you know,latte sipping liber I grew up around
guns. I do understand that.I do understand the love of them.
I went hunting every year with mydad. Um, But you know,
they're those those are the guys,those are the those are the people who

(51:54):
should be involved, you know,help us fix this thing that you love.
And I don't know how we getback from the US. And if
you leave it to us, you'renot gonna like, You're not gonna like
the solution that you know, justmelt them all down. But yeah you

(52:15):
might, yeah you might. Youreally might not like the solution that we
come up with, right, um, not being gun lovers. So anyway,
that's my soapbacks. I'm glad youliked the song though. I tried
to make it thoughtful and and lookat it from a different just look at
it from you know, I likeanyone who is I like anyone or anything

(52:39):
or any art that's created that is. And I try so hard to do
this in my day to day lifebecause obviously doing the movie, website,
in the podcast and everything like that, there's a necessity to be on social
media. But certainly in the lastfive whatever years, um as a human
being, if I wasn't kind ofcreating something, I would have no interesting

(53:00):
on social media at all. Um. I have I have family back in
the UK, so it's useful tokind of keep in contact with them.
But we we what what has happenedis is that more often than not,
you just get the whether it's ameme or whether it's a comment, or
whether it's a post or whatever.Most things are driven from this sort of

(53:25):
US and them division thing, whichyou know has no end. There's no
end to that, right, There'sno there's no suddenly one side or the
other kind of suddenly going oh shit, yeah it was wrong all this time,
Like no one's gonna do, noone's gonna we're gonna happen that,
right. So what I always lookfor and what I loved about the song
and and you're take in general becauseI've seen you. I saw your post

(53:46):
about um performing in drag and andother things that you've posted the hot button
topics. It's always coming from aplace of positive or support or we're in
this together or something. It's alwaysa the solution is right in front of

(54:08):
us. Let's all stop, youknow, uh kind of arguing about the
minute times. And I love that, Like the more the more the most
supportive people can be, and theless. I would rather support drag acts
than attack the people against drag acts, if that makes any you know,

(54:28):
I'd rather I'd rather support the familieswho have status people from violence than attack
the people with guns, because attackingthe people with guns doesn't solve the virus.
It won't get you, Yeah,but it won't get you anything.
It won't get you anywhere or anywon't nor will nor will attacking people who
feel that way about drag acts.I think right, I was, I

(54:51):
was. I mean the reason thatI made that post was not to it
was not simply to come voice apolitical or or a social position. It
was it was because I personally havedone drag in the theater. I've played
Betty Jerry, Betty and Jerry andin Cloud nine on Christopher Street in New

(55:15):
York. Um, and I've playedwomen. Um, and there's a it's
a I don't know how how doyou say this? It was it was
a revelation. Yeah, for me, it was an edgy. It was

(55:36):
truly a revelation. I was.I sat there in front of the mirror
when they got me ready and themakeup and the wig and so on,
and I just sat there in frontof the mirror and I saw this and
looked I looked exactly like my mother'swedding pictures. Yeah, And all of
a sudden I realized they were like, it's like, we're all the same,

(55:57):
We're we're all basically the same creature. Of course, Yeah, you
know, inside and out. Andit doesn't I mean, they're not trying
to enlist your children into the lifeinto the life of No, what is
cross dressing or something? Yeah,it was. I mean I just thought

(56:19):
it was misplaced fear and if andif my voice sounded reasonable or made someone
or made someone think about it fora second. You came at it from
an artistic perspective. You came atit from a what acting and art and
in this case, drag or whatevercan teach people not only about each other

(56:40):
but ourselves. And art is good, Art is good. Art will always
teach you something, and good artwill always good. Art is always political,
even if it's the silliest thing you'veever seen, and you it's not
about the god you've got, aboutreligion or whatever, there's always a politic
to it. Um good uh uhalways takes the stance. Whether whether people

(57:02):
like that or not. It alwaysmakes it laugh when people go, oh,
I wish actors would shut up andan act And I'm like, the
whole point of acting, the wholepoint of of of being an artist is
that voice. Because if art isn'tshowing us our humanity and our future and
past and everything that we are,who is I'm not leaving it to politicians

(57:29):
and priests, I mean anything.I was going to say, you know,
it's like, let's leave it toTed Cruise, you know, and
let's leave it right man with noartistry whatsoever. Well, yeah, and
he went to you know some politicianwho has gone to you know, he
was a lawyer, became a lawyerand then went into politics and achieved this

(57:52):
office. But and that's and that'shis expertise. That's what, that's what,
that's what gives him the the licenseto have an opinion. I have
an opinion about that, yeah,you know. And the more I listen
to politicians, the less I'm interestedin their opinions about almost anything. They

(58:15):
don't, you know, they're they'reso good at saying what they think the
audience wants to hear. That's that'sreally, that's really ninety nine percent of
it, to the point where theyyou can no longer recognize what it was
that they believe. Yeah, youknow, if they ever believe, if

(58:36):
they ever believed anything themselves at all. Yeah, it's it's been washed away
by by years of that doesn't allThey know you're all and I know you're
all in favor of this, right, there's an all jump please saying that
something along the lines of anyone witha big desire to be a politician should

(58:59):
start up someone from ever being apolitician or something that that couldn't agree a
phrasing, but I couldn't agree more. That's like you know that anyway.
But it is music. Yeah,back to these songs, I keep putting
it off. They're funny they're they'rethoughtful. Well, you have a great

(59:22):
way. I was reminded. Iwas reminded of Tom Lera. You have
a great way with words. Iwas reminded of Tom Lera's lyrics a lot.
That's that's what I was reminded ofa couple of songs that I heard
already. I was raised that.That's funny. My father was My father
was a milkman in Buffalo um inOrchard Park, New York, and we
lived on a farm. But hewe play. We used to sit in

(59:47):
the den just off the living roomand I would play the the soprano ukulele
and he would play a baritone ukulele, and we would go through the melbo
music books that he had of howto play the ukulele, and we play
all the of these. You know, there is a tavern in the town

(01:00:10):
in Yeah. But but it wasgreat because it was my dad, and
you know, and I was learning. I was soaking up all of these
songs and all of these. Thenhe got a guitar and I got a
banjo. Then the Beatles happened andI got an electric guitar, and all
of a sudden, I was ina band a garage band called we were

(01:00:35):
called the Kegs first, and thenwe and then we got really cool and
called ourselves the Night Riders K KN I g H T y r R.
Why the why, the why?And we were nineteen, you know,

(01:00:57):
eighteen nineteen year eighteen seventeen, eighteenyears old, blonde, you know,
blonde hair, um dumb as asack of hammers. But we made
a lot of noise and we playedin the garage. We I mean,
we got we practiced in the garageand then we would go to dances.

(01:01:19):
You know, we would play fordances and it was all covers. Yeah,
you know, it was it wasstones songs and you know, anything
we could figure out to play thathad three chords in it um Louis lu
I or glo r I egg glow. Yeah. But the British invasion had

(01:01:43):
happened and we were we were justcaught up in it um. And somewhere
in there I discovered that was likemy senior year. I still have the
nineteen sixty five epiphones Sorrento O lovely. That sounds fantastic. I know,
I know, it's a great guitarum and I could have bought it took

(01:02:07):
me the whole summer to pay forit. Um. They was hanging on
the wall in this music store inEast Aurora, about fifteen miles from my
hometown, and I used to goand visit it, and hanging next to
it all over the wall were stratocastersand telecasters and I could have bought.

(01:02:29):
Yeah, I could have filled theguitar the garage with those, you know,
if I'd wanted to. But Ibut I thought this eper phone Sorrento
was beautiful. So that's what.So that's the one I bought. Actually,
have a funny story. Dweezel Zappawas visiting my house one time.
I'm gonna drop a name on you. That's a fantastic beginning to any story.

(01:02:52):
Weazel zappadwezel Zappa came up to ourhouse and he saw the guitar.
He saw, ye think that it'sa single cutaway the sort of um twin
humbuckers, So it's kind of likea ES three thirty five UM, but

(01:03:13):
it has a shorter a shorter neck. And he started fiddling with it,
and he asked if he could borrowit for his album that he was making,
and I said sure, just toyou know when when you bring it
back, make a tape of youplaying it. I would love to hear
you playing it, you know myguitar. Yeah, because I've never gonna

(01:03:35):
I've never been an outstanding guitar player. Um, I'm sort of a chunk
of chunka chunk. But he broughtit back like six months later and it
was in perfect condition, and withit was this little cassette that he had
made, and the cassette went somethinglike this. It said, Bill,

(01:03:57):
Hi, Bill Dweezel, here,this is what your guitarists probably sounds like
when you play it. And hejust is like and he said, this
is what your guitar sounds like whenI play it, and he and he

(01:04:18):
hits some pedal and turned this thinginto you know, Jimmy Hendrix, you
did like eight bajillion notes yeah intwenty seconds. Um, And then it
said thanks for the loan of theguitar in its career. Oh, that's
fantastic. And then that can setaround here somewhere that there are places in

(01:04:41):
the world musically for both chunka chunk, chunk and many notes at once.
So don't sell yourself. Sure,um, but there's not anyway, the
songs are. The songs are reallyfun, and I've written a number since
then, and I get better withage. I think it's like anything,
and I'm sure you found this withacting. I found this with songwriting.
So I've been writing songs. Firststarted when I was very young. I

(01:05:05):
had a good friend of mine stilldo for thirty plus years, where we
wrote comedy songs together because we weredoing my sketches and stuff like that when
we were kids, writing comedy sketches, very Pythonesque influenced. And then then
I kind of quietly went away andwrote quote unquote serious songs. And I

(01:05:26):
don't like using that distinction anymore becauseI don't believe that there should be.
But back then, it was like, oh, these are private to me
because they're about a girl I like, or they're about an experience I had,
or they're about a depression or whateverit is. They were. They
were little private songs. I didn'tplay them to anyone for years and years.
I just recorded them on four tracksand kind of listened to them and
got better playing them, and Ishared I think three or four with a

(01:05:53):
dear old friend of mine on acassette. We went to different universities,
and we used to send each othertake cassettes all the time with the music
we were looking to. And atthe end of one I was like,
oh, I I put four ofmy favorites. You know, you don't
have to please don't comment. Blahblah blah blah blah. Anyway he was
I remember, he responded. Imust have been about eighteen nineteen at the
time when he responded to sounds justlike Dave Davies from the Kinks, is

(01:06:16):
what he responded. Um, AndI was like really, um. And
that gave me the confidence to thenbe more public with it, and and
and and and let people hear itoccasionally, to the point where now I
release stuff all the time on Spotifyand another places. Um, well that's
mine's going to come out on Spotifyon yeah, August first. But I

(01:06:41):
found that I got much much.The more you do it, the more
you exercise the muscle, the hopefullythe better you get. I mean,
that's that's that's so. The moresongs you write, the more things you
put out, the more um.Because I I've learned over the years about
constructing an album and what song togo best next to each other. And
mixing and mastering and all that stuff. I'm very amateur, by the way.

(01:07:02):
I'm not trying to claim anything otherthan a budding amateur. But uh,
there things you learn and the thingsyou grow, and the things that
you experience and the subjects you wantto write about. I've I feel like
i've I've I've grown a lot,and I'm sure you have. The more
you write and the more you doit, I think. I think so.
I think so the things that I'minterested in now that are or the

(01:07:25):
way that I look at relationships oryeah, things it's um, you know,
I boil them down differently and songyou know, and and and it's
funnier too. Songs will sometimes cometo me. I'm a fan of the
nineteen thirties, sort of Cold PorterDial. I've written. I've written a

(01:07:47):
couple of them that are going tocome out. They're not on this album,
but they're going to come out.This albums is mostly acoustic. Um,
it's just stuff you did during thepandemic. Yeah. Yeah, it's
like just I have a friend who'sDenny Bennet, who's a wonderful violin player,
and she she added these strings underneathit, and it was like,

(01:08:10):
oh my god, it was itwas so beautiful and simple and I just
left it, you know. Yeah, but but I've always been a fan
of this sort of oh, Idon't know, these sort of thirties songs
that have an intro. Yeah,you know, um, everything looked lovely

(01:08:32):
when you start to roam the birdsare singing in the day that you're strayed
and wait until you get further away. That's a that's al Jolson. But
yeah, yeah, but they butthe idea that, um, but your
lyrics reflect your lyrics, have that, uh or certainly, as I say,
I've only I think I've seen thosetwo of them, none of them

(01:08:55):
do. Yeah, yeah, theyhave that kind of uh wrap up.
I don't know why I'm trying tosay, you know what I mean that
patter almost I don't know, butI think I'm a um a lyricist,
yeah first first, but they butthey any anywhere. So there's a fair

(01:09:17):
number of them that are, um, I can't I can't play I don't.
I don't play the piano, andI don't play well enough on the
guitar to play these things. SoI would like sing them into a tape
recorder and or a digital record,Yeah, I understand M. And I

(01:09:38):
would send it to um, myfriend John Colbert, who used to play
piano for John Lennon. Yeah,and he would listen to it once and
go, oh and no, it'slike this. Literally he would lay down
the track and send it back andthen I would sing to it. Yeah.

(01:10:02):
I have friends who are annoyingly talentedlike that as well, and I
just kind of this is your rightoff. It's just raw talent. You're
like, I couldn't do that ina million years or practicing, but yeah,
yeah, no, I'm I'm reallygood with words because I think because
of the acting thing, I've spentmy whole life playing with language, playing

(01:10:24):
with words, and yeah, um, but well we're also living with a
piano for shit. No, well, we're also living in a world where
all this stuff is now possible.Like during the pandemic, I decided,
Um. I had done a fewcollaborative albums where I had told people like,

(01:10:45):
oh, I'm recording these songs.I would send them out and then
people would overdub tracks onto them.But during the pandemic, I really up
to it up, put it upa notch. I had people from I
had a female singer from Belgium.I had a trumpeters from England. I
had um a guy from Australia.Various different people who will kind of put
stuff on the albums, like alot of that sounds fantastic. There was,

(01:11:09):
there was a lot of creative outreach, yes happening. I did a
music video that included people from somethinglike thirty countries. I just said to
all these different people on Facebook,send me thirty seconds of you dancing.
That's all I wanted, thirty secondsof you dancing. And I put together
this video from around the world.And to me, that's the way you

(01:11:30):
handle. Did you give them themusic at least? So they were all
dancing to this? I know everyoneeveryone had the song, but but yeah,
dancing their own dance. Yeah yeah, yeah, it's fair. It's
I love stuff like that. That'show that's how we get through big issues.
Yes, so the Aftermovie Diner rightnow, we're doing this series on
the Aftermovie dinna Um about me makingmy first adult independent movie. I made

(01:11:55):
one back in college, but I'mmaking an independent movie. So I wanted
to ask you very quickly, basedon your recent experiences, if you had
a nugget of advice for someone who'sabout to go down the road of making
an independent film. Wow, collaboratewith the best people you can get your
hands on. Yeah, it'll ifif the story is good, if the

(01:12:19):
writing is good, they'll be interested. Don't don't be shy about getting this
in front of people who your respect, who you might think, oh,
they're never going to want to dothis movie this, you know, if
you've written a role, you'd besurprised. And if you're talking to someone

(01:12:43):
who is passionate about acting and alwayshas been. But I think that's true
of cinematographers and sound people, andso is work with the work with the
best people you can get your handson. And also it just elevates everything,

(01:13:05):
It lifts everything, um, youknow. And all it takes is
like a little magic to happen oncamera in a room with you know,
boom mics and all the people around. A little magic to happen and the
whole crew goes, oh, man, that was it. That was it.

(01:13:26):
That was cool. That was cool, and now you're moving, you
know. And the other thing is, um, I said this to Frank
darabout one time, because you know, I'm full of advice, I said,
he was getting a lot of shipfrom uh because he because he went

(01:13:46):
over he went over budget. Ithink on show Shank and it was you
know, it was costing too muchand Rob Reiner they were they were butting
heads. And I said to Frank, I said, if this movie is
wonderful, ten years from now,no one will know what it cost no

(01:14:11):
one, no one. You know, it'll be written down somewhere, but
no one will know how much moneyit costs to make this movie. If
it's if it's a wonderful movie,it's it'll have a life and it will
all have been worth it. Andif it's not a wonderful movie, um,
they still won't know what it costs, right, but it won't matter.

(01:14:35):
But in that funny way, itwas like, you know, there
he's getting, you know, gettingscreamed at for um, you know,
a few thousand dollars to do thisor that. I said, at the
end of the you know, atthe end of the day, if if
you've made the movie you wanted tomake, no one's cares. No one

(01:15:00):
cares what it costs. They'll laughat twenty years from now, they'll laugh
at how little it cost to makethis movie. You know, when you
can't budgets become inflated with over time. Now you can't make a movie for
less than a you know, fuckingthree bills, then rights like nobody cares
that, you know, Die Heardtwo came in for a sixty sixty million

(01:15:27):
and then and that was way overbudget and they were screaming at the director.
This is just keep that in theback of your head, is if
you make a wonderful ten years fromnow, no one will know what this
movie costs. Yeah, well it'snot gonna cost very much, so the
little cost on it costs. Yeah, So thank you again, Bill.

(01:15:48):
This has been absolutely fantastic and that'sgreat advice. The very last thing is
you've worked with James Spader. Everyyear we do a series on the after
movie Dina Sleep He Spade Us Springtime, because we absolutely adore James's performances and
just how lascivious he can be inhis role. And we have like three

(01:16:10):
minutes after you have three words aboutworking with James Spader or a sentence about
working with James Spader. Just neverI had never met the man. We
were supposed to play best friends,yea, and I was supposed to be
my character was someone that he hadknown for forty years and something and I'm

(01:16:30):
dying of cancer and I'm in bedand I want to tell my daughter or
his daughter the truth about who sheis or whatever. And this scene.
We had two or three scenes together. And he's the best listener I've ever
worked with. I mean, he'sand and it worked both ways because you

(01:16:57):
would spend every time we went throughthe scene. It felt like an improv
It felt like it felt like Iwas hearing this all for the very first
time, Like what like I wassaying all this for the first time too,
and it and it was different.I don't even know how you pick
the take that you like, youknow, out of all of those takes,

(01:17:20):
right, But he was one ofthe best listeners I've ever worked with
as an actor. That's fantastic,excellent, excellent. Thank you so much,
Bell. Those those are two great, excellent ways to end the end
the show. Thanks always for yourgenerosity, Thanks for supporting the aftermovie,
Dina for as long as you have, and best of luck for the new

(01:17:41):
album. Thank you bye. Youknow, sometimes my life is just an
embarrassment of riches, and most ofthose times is what I'm talking to William
Sadler. My goodness, what afantastic conversation we covered so much. I
hope you all enjoyed listening to that. I hope it encouraged you to on
August first, go by William Sadlerthe Kitchen Tapes, which will be available

(01:18:06):
on bandcamp on August first, butalso available to stream on Spotify, Amazon
Music, and all of the placeswhere you normally get music. But I
would strongly recommend that you purchased iton Bankhap the day it comes out,
and then go over to the realWilliam Sadler dot com in a little while

(01:18:28):
and there will be vinyl and CDversions of the album available for purchase,
signed by the man himself, withall the proceeds of those purchases going to
Saint Jude's Children's cancer research. SoI mean, why wouldn't you do that?
Why wouldn't you go there and notonly get a fantastic vinyl or CD

(01:18:54):
album signed by the legendary William Sadler, You know, why wouldn't you do
that and at the same time supporta fantastic charity. So that was our
conversation with miss Satellite. You willbe able to check him out on Max,
the streaming service formerly HBO Max formerlyHBO formally sorry, you will be

(01:19:20):
able to check him out in theshow Full Circle, and his movie She
Came From the Words is streaming currentlyon tub or tub and the stage of
Twilight is, as we discuss,still doing the rounds currently in some film
festivals, but we'll hopefully find somedistribution soon, possibly on streaming or hopefully

(01:19:45):
in the theater. It'd be greatto see that wonderful drama with that amazing
two hander between two great actors onthe big screen. But anyway, thanks
as always for listening to the aftermovieDiner. I hope you enjoyed that episode
and go get the album on Augustfirst. All right, we'll be back
again very very soon. Thank youso much for listening. Bye. There's

(01:20:20):
a plague upon the land, thedarkness on the sun, their killers on
the looser, they've got guns.I can't watch the news. It scares
me half to death. Hold on, folks, let me catch my breath.

(01:20:41):
We send our kids to school,they hide under their desks, They
go to bed at night wondering whowill be next, and everybody knows that
something's gotta change. That's when youhear that refrain, thoughts and prayers,

(01:21:01):
Thoughts and prayers, Let's just leaveit to the man of stairs. It
doesn't matter what you saw, anddon't need to change the law. Thoughts
and prayers, thoughts and prayers,thoughts and prayers. Look at that headline,

(01:21:31):
all say it isn't true. Allthose people cry and wonder what to
do, and everybody knows that thisis just wrong. That's when you hear
that old song thousand prayers, thoughtsand prayers sent directly to the men of

(01:21:56):
stairs. It doesn't matter what yousaw, and on me to change the
lord. fALS and prayers, thoughtsand priests, thoughts and prayers. You
stand before your maker, he says, how to go down there? When

(01:22:16):
you saw my children hungry? Didyou find some food to share? Did
you try to stop the bloodshed?Come on, tell me what you do?
And you say, Lord, Ileft it up to you. M

(01:22:45):
M. There's a special place inhell for the leaders of our nation who
have the power to change this tragic, say situation. But there's money to
be made if you keep the statusquo. That's why their answers still know.

(01:23:11):
To close your eyes, my friends, and get down on your knees.
I know he can't refuse us ifwe all say pretty please. But
come election day, what I'm talkingabout, we all show up and vote
the bastards out, send them homewith thoughts and prayers, with thoughts and

(01:23:32):
prayers, and let's get some folkswho actually care. I know him,
miss sound rough, but thoughts andprayers, just saying enough thoughts and prayers
and prayers, thoughts

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Season 2 Ep 4 - Interview with William Sadler 3: Back with a Vengeance (and a new album)

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}Season 2 Ep 4 - Interview with William Sadler 3: Back with a Vengeance (and a new album)