October 21, 2024 • 51 mins
Peter Jacobson, the charismatic actor renowned for his role as Dr. Chris Taub on the TV show House, joins us for an enlightening conversation. He opens up about the unique experiences and challenges of playing a doctor on television and shares amusing anecdotes of being mistaken for a real physician. Peter’s academic journey from Brown to Juilliard paved the way for his acting career, and he reflects on the thrill of joining an established show, working alongside talents like Hugh Laurie, and how typecasting in roles such as doctors and lawyers has influenced his path.
We journey through Peter's transition from theater to film and television, exploring how his father's career as a news anchor unexpectedly influenced his early roles. Peter shares personal insights into the serendipitous nature of his acting journey, from the intimidating yet rewarding experience of integrating into successful TV shows midstream to his love for sci-fi and horror genres. His roles in series like Fear the Walking Dead and films like Smile 2 reveal his passion for blending humor with drama, and the thrill of embodying complex characters in fantastical worlds.
As we talk about the upcoming release of Smile 2, Peter shares the excitement and anticipation surrounding the film's debut. We delve into the art of horror film making, highlighting Parker Finch's innovative storytelling and Naomi Scott's exceptional performance. Our conversation wraps up with an appreciation for the camaraderie behind the scenes and a light-hearted nod to Hugh Laurie’s versatility. Join us as we celebrate Peter Jacobson's dynamic career and the captivating world of acting. Also Check out Smile 2 now playing!
Photo by Luke Fontana
We mash genres. We pitch games. You question our sanity.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Tom (00:23):
Hello and welcome to Entertain this.
It's a podcast about movies, TVshows and video games.
My name is Tom.
With me I have Mitch and a verywell-known man, A man known for
playing a doctor.
Is he really a doctor?
Are you asking a question?
I feel like you deserve anhonorary doctorate for playing a
doctor.
Peter Jacobson (00:45):
Oh please, I feel like I've basically been
doctorate for playing a doctor.
Oh please, I feel like I'vebasically been a doctor for the
last 15 years, In terms of theway people respond who like the
show.
I've been asked at airports toexamine family members' arms and
legs.
Tom (00:57):
I was just about to ask you if anybody really thought you.
It's like hey, since you'rehere, though, could you take a
look at this?
Peter Jacobson (01:04):
Literally it's happened.
I mean those there's so manypeople who love house and uh.
So it's always wonderful tohave the response.
But every now and then you getthe person who is sort of thinks
that you might be a real doctorand it's a little bit unnerving
.
Tom (01:17):
But that's okay, it's like you know, it's a show, it's,
it's it's fiction.
Please tell me you know, Idon't know you're in I don't
know, you're in people's livingrooms.
Peter Jacobson (01:26):
That's the joy of TV, is that you feel very
connected and sometimes, I guess, a little too connected.
Tom (01:31):
Well, I would be remiss to not introduce our guest, mr
Peter Jacobson, a man well knownfor playing Dr Chris Taub on
House with Hugh Laurie, a verypopular show that ran for many
years, also on the sciencefiction drama Colony.
Dozens of acting credits infilm and television, including
(01:53):
both series iterations of theshow Bull.
That's right.
I feel like you deserve anaward for being on both.
Peter Jacobson (02:00):
I know, I think 20 years apart.
Different networks, obviously,but if there's a show that's
called Bull, I'll be on it.
Tom (02:08):
He's one of our more academically impressive
interviewees we've had on ourshow.
Graduating from Brown andJuilliard, the closest I could
ever get to Brown would be ifthey hired me to landscape.
Peter Jacobson (02:23):
Believe me, when I went there was no great
academic speech.
Getting in.
Brown was known for theirloosey-goosey curriculum and I
think I just finessed my way insome of that.
But I'll take the complimentand the feeling of being elite
even though it's not real.
Tom (02:38):
Still, ivy League still counts the closest.
I ever got was a shirt thatsaid Harvard Law, and underneath
it said just kidding, I justwear clothes with the color
brown.
Peter Jacobson (02:48):
It makes me feel good, that's it.
Tom (02:51):
Well, we have a very special treat for you today,
listeners, we have Mr PeterJacobson, like we said, and
we're going to do a little diveinto his background, how he got
into the acting game and whatreally made him just want to
play a doctor on TV.
Peter Jacobson (03:05):
Well, I don't think I ever really thought, oh,
I want to play a doctor.
Doctor roles came somewhateasily to me, like lawyer roles.
You know you get typecast inthis business, so it wasn't a
threat for me to be a doctor.
But, you know, the auditioncame my way and it felt like a
really great fit.
Uh, how, and I, um, or tellthem me see, I did go to Brown
(03:29):
but I, my grammar stinks, um anduh, you know it was.
I wasn't in the, I wasn't inthe business of being too picky,
whether you know I wasn't like,oh, I got to play a doctor.
Um, and it's just.
The bottom line is that thisdoctor on this show was going to
be fun.
I mean, obviously house was ahuge hit already.
I was joining a little bitlater, so I knew what, how it
was, and obviously I was.
(03:50):
You know, it was going to be adoctor on the show with a chance
of becoming a regular and thescript was so great.
The role was already reallycompelling and interesting and
snarky and somewhat mysteriousis too strong of a word,
somewhat secretive, and I justloved the role on the page so I
was happy he could have been adoctor, a lawyer you know,
worked in the Department ofStreets and Sanitation.
(04:12):
I was happy to play him.
Tom (04:18):
Now as an actor is it a little, I guess a little bit
more of a challenge where youstep into a main role, that's.
Peter Jacobson (04:24):
Can you hear me now?
Tom (04:24):
Yeah, I got you now as an actor, Go ahead.
As an actor, is it difficulttaking a role on an already
established hit show Like, hey,you're going to be a series
regular and you're going to beacting, obviously, Hugh Laurie
and all these other peoplewho've already made the show?
Peter Jacobson (04:39):
That's a really good question.
That's a totally uniqueexperience I have.
Any actor who's worked a fairamount in TV has a lot of
experience coming on as a gueststar, which means you know you
jump in, like with House, you'dbe the patient of the week and
that's always sort of a reallyfun experience on a great show
like House I mean, we had somany great actors who wanted to
be on it because it was such awell-written show and it was
such a hit.
(04:59):
But when come on for oneepisode, it's really exciting.
But there's also a bit of afeeling of disconnect because
you're not a regular, you're notas part of it.
It's always great fun to do itand it's part of how we make our
money and get to playinteresting roles.
I had never been joinedmidstream which is your question
and certainly that season wasweird.
We were given contracts.
(05:21):
The four of us who were meantto be the, or the five of us
were meant to be the finalistsin that weird sort of real life
um survivor game and uh, we weretold that after nine episodes
they would make a decision.
So you knew you had a season tosort of establish, establish
yourself, but it was a bit of aof a weird sort of dogfight, I
mean in the best way.
(05:41):
We were all very had, a lot offun and loved each other and but
we knew it was a weirdcompetition.
Um, and it was certainlyintimidating as hell to come on
when Hugh, who is just this sortof, you know, wonderful,
fabulous actor and comedian andjust a great man, but it's, you
know, it's a big show at themoment.
I think it was the most popularshow on the planet at that
point and, uh, so there is anintimidation factor.
(06:03):
You don't want to mess thingsup.
You want to try to be part ofthe gang, but you're not really
yet.
And eventually, when I made itby then I had a whole season
under my belt and so the nextseason as a regular felt really
comfortable and lovely.
But it was weird.
You're jumping on a barrelingfreight train.
That's already as an actor.
You want that, that.
Actually, you want to get onsomething and and become part of
(06:25):
something that's alreadyestablished hit.
But the guy you know, like Omarand Jesse and Jennifer and Lisa
and everybody, they, they spentthree years making this show.
So there's a certain level ofgratitude as well.
We like wow, I just kind of gotlucky to get on this thing and
you obviously hit every mark.
Tom (06:39):
You had to, because you got 96 episodes to your name.
Peter Jacobson (06:42):
Yeah, I did it all right.
You know, it was really a weirdexperience.
It was like I was waiting toliterally get fired and I think
one of the advantages with thoseof us who made it, somehow I
think the writers clicked intoour characters.
I mean, they click into anycharacter.
But you can tell as an actoryou've been doing it for a while
(07:04):
when the writing sort of speaksto you and they got to know me
and they were writing to mystrengths and I certainly didn't
think, oh yeah, I've got thismade.
But I felt like the characterhad really sort of expanded and
deepened by the time I got tothe point where they were making
their choice and I wouldn'thave been surprised if I didn't
get it.
But I wasn't shocked that I gotit.
It just felt like a real.
(07:25):
It was a real good vibe and itfelt pretty comfortable.
Tom (07:28):
It was an overall, just a natural kind of transition.
Peter Jacobson (07:31):
I guess you could say Well, certainly it was
.
Once I got sick I was thrilled.
I tried not to look like toomuch of an idiot.
I'll win one day check cut.
But you know, you just neverknow how do these decisions get
made, or a mystery still after30 years in the business.
It felt like the role madesense and sort of the fun stuff
(07:51):
that they had going with me andhow.
You know, hugh, you know how Ithink more than some, more than
a lot of these characters waspicked on a lot and that was
sort of a really fun thing toplay and the writers kind of
began to lean into that.
Somehow my character justbegged to be teased.
I don't know why.
Maybe it's me, I think it's me.
Tom (08:11):
So I'm looking at your vast acting credits, starting in
1993 on television when youappeared on NYPD Blue and
multiple iterations of Law andOrder, and then your first
acting credit into a film, alsoplaying a reporter.
It could happen to you in the1994 film.
(08:33):
So you start your career herein the early 90s, you know,
graduating Brown Juilliard,you're from Chicago.
What made you want to be anactor?
Peter Jacobson (08:41):
Yeah, Um, it's funny because my first two,
you're right, my first TV rolewas a reporter and my first film
role was a reporter.
And, um, my father, um, is awas a news anchorman.
I started out as a reporter andwas a sort of pushy, successful
, uh, political reporter inChicago for years.
Um, and I grew up with him onTV and I would often go with him
(09:05):
to work when I was a kid andhe'd have to get makeup on and
you know there's a certain drama.
So you know he was doing livebroadcasts and it was an open
newsroom back in the 70s inChicago.
It was sort of thisrevolutionary idea and so I was
sort of always around that andwatching him sort of even though
he's a journalist perform liveand on his feet and having, you
know, getting makeup and takingit on and taking it off, and
(09:27):
somehow that was something thatseemed really, you know,
romantic and fun to me as a kid.
So when I knew growing up thatI wanted to be an actor, it felt
like sort of a natural thing tome.
It wasn't like looking sooutside the box.
And then it was sort of sweetfor me when I wound up being a
reporter.
It was kind of neat because Iwas like well, I can remember
(09:49):
watching my dad with amicrophone in his hand and
shoving a microphone in front ofpeople's faces, and that's what
I basically did my first tworoles.
And then recently this year Iplayed a very pushy reporter on
this movie Fly Me to the Moon,and I drew on my knowledge of my
dad and watching him for mywhole life as a reporter.
Tom (10:09):
Already drawing on great vast personal experiences.
Peter Jacobson (10:13):
Yeah, I think so , Whether it made me want to be
an actor.
I spent my years in high schooland college, and after college
at Juilliard, really beingserious about acting.
I started out in the theaterwhen I got out of Juilliard.
I spent you know, seven or eightyears acting on the stage and
then, as TV work began to comefrom the West, I began flying
(10:38):
out and doing more TV and film.
And then TV kind of hit alittle bit more and then the
house sort of put me in adifferent place and suddenly I'm
doing that instead of theater.
I kind of miss it.
Mitch (10:47):
Well, I was going to kind of ask you for your theater
roles.
You've done several big plays.
Peter Jacobson (10:56):
I guess, were they on Broadway?
I never actually had the chanceto be on Broadway in a full
production.
I did a Broadway like aworkshop musical actually, with
something called Circus long agoand Anne Hathaway was just
becoming a star.
It was funny because I wound upworking playing her father in
this Apple Plus series a coupleof years ago and I was too
embarrassed to say, hey, about20 years ago we were in
something I didn't think she'dremember.
(11:17):
Now I'm your dad but my theaterwas almost all off-Broadway and
somewhat regional.
The difference in Broadway andoff-Broadway is that the size of
the theater itself if it's twothousand seat house, then your
broadway.
You get a different pay scaleand there's way more
off-broadway in new york.
But some of the better you know, sort of like um network and
(11:37):
cable now we're streaming.
Off-broadway was always alittle more experimental and you
could push the envelope alittle bit more.
Broadway was a little bit morecommercially oriented.
So I I did a lot of really fun,interesting plays, worked with
some great people, was verysteeped in the theater community
for years in New York and Ijust loved that.
I mean, that's what I wastrained to do, what I thought I
would do, but that became myworld right out of school.
Tom (11:59):
Was it a difficult transition or was there a
noticeable transition going fromtheater acting into acting on
film or acting in television?
Peter Jacobson (12:08):
It's huge and I was totally unprepared for it.
I think now when you are goingto acting school, somehow
they've just sort of figured itout that it doesn't make sense
to be training actors and notmake a significant part of the
training be for film and TV,because it is a totally
different experience than onstage.
Ultimately, the process is thesame mentally for an actor.
(12:32):
You are creating a character,you are in a relationship with
somebody, you are learning ascript and the circumstances of
your scene need to be consideredand that's true on stage and on
film.
But the actual physicalexperience is so much different
on film and TV and your impulsesneed to be reined in.
You know a big smile for 2000people on the stage, which is
(12:53):
what you need to do.
You know you look like an idioton film If you're doing that,
and for the first few years thatI was auditioning for things,
you know I was auditioning forTV and film while I was on stage
, but I had nothing with it.
I think I needed to learn bymyself to sort of bring
everything down, tone it down,and you can get away with just a
thought and a twinkle in theeye and a grin.
(13:15):
It sells so much more.
The camera picks up everythingPlus just.
You know acting with amicrophone in your face and you
know 50 people in front of youmessing with your clothes and
you know you have to reallylearn how to focus in a
different way.
But my theater training was allbroader, and for the stage and
at juilliard back in the late80s, early 90s they didn't take
(13:37):
the time to uh teach you anyfilm acting skills, and so it
did.
Took me a while to learn how tosort of calm down and not look
like a clown I imagine thetransition stuff.
Tom (13:47):
I've seen other interviews where actors talk about their
theater life and it's like youknow you go out there, you know
there's thousands of people,hundreds of people that are all
just staring at you.
They're all just eating out ofthe palm of your hand and then
you act on film and it's likeyou look, there's a guy eating a
sandwich, just looking at you,that's great.
Peter Jacobson (14:03):
You've got to be on your hand and somebody's
eating a sandwich.
Literally, the distractions arehysterical.
Sometimes in TV or film, I meanpeople yeah you literally have
to sort of shut yourself down tothe outside world.
And on stage it's the opposite.
You are sort of expanding yourenergy and doing it live.
I had the joy of going back to aplay after it had been over 10
(14:25):
years.
This was about three years ago.
I did this play in LA LA thatEthan Cohn of the Cohn brothers
some great filmmakers Ethan isalso a playwright, a wonderful
playwright, and he did this playas a bunch of one acts and I
got to be in that and I had ithad been 10 years since I've
been on stage and so I had tofirst sort of remember to
generate more energy.
(14:46):
But I had to first sort ofremember to generate more energy
.
But once I got back into thelive experience I remembered the
joy of that.
And you know, when you'rerolling on stage and you're
getting laughs, it's acompletely different experience
and you're really out there in away.
You know the cast is sort ofalways bombed over the terror of
acting.
Tom (15:04):
You're out there together?
Peter Jacobson (15:06):
Yes, exactly, and things happen.
You know, and you're sort of,either you make it, you get out
there and you live through theperformance, or, you know, you
forget your line, which I now domore than I used to because I'm
basically an old man.
It's a different experience andthere's a certain bond over the
live theater.
You know you have to rehearseit for a month and, uh, that's a
(15:27):
whole different experience thanin tv and film, where you don't
really get much rehearsal.
You kind of jump in.
There's something very bondingabout the live theater which I
missed and it was a real joy tocome back to it I don't think I
could do live theater.
Tom (15:39):
I just yeah, having like a little bit of stage fright
because I'll be a.
Do I forget my lines?
Am I wearing the appropriatecostume?
Because I know me like I wouldtake parts of it off to go to
the bathroom if I wasn't upthere and I'd just walk out
there without pants on.
Peter Jacobson (15:52):
I've never gone that far, but it was a weird
thing.
Yes, there is a.
There is something terrifying.
A little bit of stage frightgoes a long way and it can roll
onto itself and then suddenlyyou've got a little bit of a
blackout going.
But hopefully your musclememory is so great.
(16:13):
It is scary.
I have sweated through somepretty scary moments and,
weirdly, what I remembered waslike I would make sure to go to
the bathroom before I went onand, um, you know, I'm not so
old, I don't have such aprostate issue that I'd have to
go to the bathroom every 30seconds.
But somehow I would feel like Ihad to go again like 30 seconds
later and whether or not yourfly is up, like I could check
fly.
Maybe this isn't right for youraudience, but you check your
fly as I'm walking to myentrance.
I check it's up, it's good.
(16:33):
And then my first thought asI'm walking on four seconds
later is is my fly up?
It's weird paranoia.
It's like I know it's up, Ijust checked it, like it's going
to go down on its own.
It's just the anxiety of livetheater that makes you wonder
about your fly.
Tom (16:48):
Is my fly up, is it down?
Do I have a booger in the cave?
Mitch (16:51):
Do I have?
Tom (16:52):
salad in my teeth.
I didn't eat salad.
I didn't get there somehow.
Peter Jacobson (16:56):
Right, right, it's essentially the same thing.
I miraculously got a lot ofspinach in my mouth.
I don't know how it wouldhappen, because I didn't have a
salad.
I never was as worried as yousaid like that my pants would
not be there but certainlywhether the flyer would be up,
and I understand why you wouldhave that worry, having not sort
of you know, but maybe you haveacted.
Did you act in high school?
Tom (17:15):
No, I did not.
I mean, I acted up.
That's really about it.
Mitch (17:19):
We've done a couple of like live shows.
We normally do one once a yearlike locally.
And then we've done one we didlike a Aurora Theater here
locally and we did a Halloweenpresentation where we reviewed a
movie and we kind of comicallytalked about the scenes, stuff
like that.
Tom (17:36):
It was bad it was bad.
Peter Jacobson (17:40):
Come on, something either good or
something really bad comes outwhen you lie.
It's that crap shoot that somepeople love and some people
really don't.
Tom (17:49):
And some of our other ones have been good.
Not the Halloween one.
We don't talk about that oneNow.
Peter Jacobson (17:53):
I want to see that when you look back, that's
the great stuff.
How bad was I?
Well see for the.
Mitch (18:00):
Halloween one.
It couldn't have been too badbecause people were allowed to
drink in the theater, so thedrunker they got, the funnier we
were the problem was our thirdco-host.
Tom (18:10):
He's not here.
He's currently in Iraq, Part ofthe army.
They were selling Beetlejuicelike Hunch Punch, I guess you
could say and the two of themare just getting blitzed out of
their mind and I'm normally thestronger Constitution person
with drinking, Unfortunately,Based on my collegiate
(18:31):
experiences and the two of themwere just sloshed and I'm like,
damn it, I'm going to go outwith you two.
It was like herding cats.
Mitch (18:37):
I did all my parts correctly.
I'm just saying.
Peter Jacobson (18:41):
Right, but you also had somebody in charge.
Right by having someone incharge, we didn't have anyone
charge.
And, uh, right by someone incharge, we didn't have anyone.
I was in a play where part ofit was one of those, a small
theater in new york and and you,part of the thing was I would
go into the audience and sitwith the audience for like a
stretch about 40 minutes, andone night I dozed off because I,
(19:02):
you know, and I woke up likeprobably 30 seconds later, but
because I had been unconscious.
Essentially I had no idea if Ihad missed my entrance.
To come back onto it, and itwas.
I just remember the jolt ofelectricity and air was pretty
strong.
So, you know, never would occurto me to drink and do that.
That would have been even worse, but I know what it's like to
(19:23):
be terrified terrified.
Mitch (19:30):
Well, more recently, in like, uh, I guess, the more
recent years, you've done stuffmore, I guess, kind of sci-fi
and horror.
As far as, like you, you wereon colony, um, because you were
on fear, the walking dead, yeah,what made you, you know, did
you choose to go towards that,or did your your uh agent just
kind of like get you the roles,or is that something you've kind
of pursued as more sci-fi orhorror genre stuff?
Peter Jacobson (19:48):
No, like it was an interesting question, like
with you know you say, did Iwant to play that doctor?
I wanted to play that role andI was not looking to be on a
doctor show.
Same thing.
This has been sort of aninteresting little twist.
I also got a chance to be onthe Star Wars show, the Ahsoka,
for an episode and, yeah, fearthe Walking Dead, the script
comes your way.
I certainly don't say to myagents I won't do this or I want
(20:12):
to only do this.
They send me hopefully reallygood roles and good scripts.
And Fear the Walking Dead wasalready again like with House,
was on the air and a hit and hadits audience and they were
adding characters and this was areally interesting character
and I have no problem being on ahorror film.
You know I had so much funkilling zombies.
(20:34):
I mean, I love it.
I'm just up.
I'm game for different genresand in Ahsoka I was.
You know I had a droid, like aC-3PO droid.
It was amazing.
I grew up on Star Wars.
My son was the next generationof Star Wars and so he was
obviously thrilled when I got onthat and it's just great.
And Colony was a little bitfurther ago, but that was a
(20:56):
really, really wonderful sci-fiyou know future Armageddon kind
of show and with aliens, and youknow Carlton Hughes and Ryan
Condal who's now doing House ofthe Dragon.
These were great writers andthey had just had a great
concept and I love being in thatworld.
The best thing about the bestsci-fi and horror stuff is,
(21:19):
again always like anythinggrounded in real humans and real
relationships.
And Colony, this character Iplayed, was so real and so fun
and you know I tried to make mythe rabbi and fear the walking
dead as real as I could be andthe writing was great and I got
to stab and shoot zombies alongthe way.
So I loved it.
Mitch (21:36):
And another question I had for you is you've played a
lot of like intense scenes andstuff but your character always
seems to bring like a little bitof comedy to those situations.
Is that more your personalityor is that more the writing that
they give you?
Peter Jacobson (21:49):
Well, interestingly that stuff kind of
merges Sometimes you don'treally know which comes first.
A little bit of a chicken-eggthing, I think, on House.
Over the years, the seasons,the writers began to see that,
while I can certainly hold myown and play, the drama of it,
which is probably why I wasthere in the first place.
(22:09):
I'm a goofy guy.
I think I bring a certain sortof levity to a lot of situations
and they start to use that totheir advantage in the scenes
and in sort of the mix ofcharacters in the house.
And, yeah, I found that thatsort of became a calling card is
a hard thing to say because youjust never know in this
business.
Suddenly you know I'm being aclown and next thing I'm, you
(22:31):
know, only doing drama.
But I would say if there's,yeah, if there's one theme that
has stuck for me with charactersover the years, it's that yeah,
I can bring kind of a light,fun, devilish something to a
very serious situation and Idon't know what that says about
me.
Mitch (22:46):
Uh, that's probably my friends and family would say
yeah, you never actually tooserious, dad, um, and uh, it
works, it works for me and hashelped pay the bill, so I'm
happy because I was gonna say inyour, your star wars character
when you were sitting therebeing questioned, your guy he
does a really good job of liketrying to be serious, but then
he's like you could tell he'snervous, so he's kind of like a
little fidgety yeah yeah, yeah,that I believe me.
Peter Jacobson (23:09):
That's actually if I was going to say there's
one thing that has helped me getwork, it's the fidget and the
nervous and the anxiety that Ido know I have in abundance.
I let it rip, you know, I getcast and there it is.
Tom (23:32):
I think in some ways you know there's.
You know, if you need a nervousor an anxious guy, then
probably somebody somewhere isthinking of me, and I'm grateful
for that.
Now I'm sorry I had not watchedfear of the walking dead.
I think I watched like thefirst episode when that show
first came out.
Mitch (23:36):
However, long ago it was I've watched it.
Tom (23:39):
Well, there are a lot of them now.
Peter Jacobson (23:40):
I mean, there's a lot of spinoffs.
Yeah, there was walking deadand fear, I think was the first
spinoff.
Now they, they've got one.
That's like you know a lot ofthe kids, it's a whole universe,
that the characters are in andout.
There's a big fan base for thatshow.
They love that show, but it's aparticular taste For your
character.
Tom (23:58):
I think you did what.
Ten episodes on Fear theWalking Dead?
Yeah, I think so.
Yeah, over a couple seasons Idon't know if we're doing like a
spoiler reveal what happens toyour character.
Do you get eaten by zombies?
Do you get shot by some othersurvivor?
Peter Jacobson (24:11):
Well, I will not .
I mean Fear has been doneshooting for a year or so, but
because of streaming anybody canpick it up.
So I will not spoil whathappens to me but I'm no longer
on it.
But how I become no longer onit, I'll leave that to the
audience.
There's some dramatic events asthe series winds to a close,
(24:31):
and I am indeed swept up in that.
Tom (24:35):
You get eaten by a zombie?
Peter Jacobson (24:37):
I don't get it I don't get it, come on.
Mitch (24:38):
I survive, I like how, in Fear of the Walking Dead, your
character was introduced, beinglike the rabbi that I mean.
I guess kind of.
He kind of failed his communion.
Peter Jacobson (24:52):
I don't know what you call them.
You're mixing religions here.
Sorry, the group that you lead,jews, don't do communion, come
on.
Tom (24:58):
God Mitch, get it together.
Mitch (24:59):
Sorry, sorry Come on Mitch, the group that you're in
charge of, basically they kindof perish.
So then your character isintroduced that way as someone
that's just you know trying tofind his, continue to find his
way, so I thought it was reallygood, yeah.
Peter Jacobson (25:16):
Yeah, it was very dramatic.
That's what I loved about whenI read the script you know, he's
a, very he's a.
He's a rabbi and he has asynagogue and a and a community
of people who go to the templeand they've all perished.
I've got them all locked awayin the temple and so you don't
realize that he's living.
You know he's being a rabbialone and that he's struggling.
This is the good part as anactor, that he really was
(25:38):
struggling with the tragedy oflosing his whole.
What you would say in thechurch is Paris, I guess, his
whole community Congregation,yeah, his congregation, his
whole community, and that's sortof the yeah, it's congregation,
exactly, thanks, oh, mygrandmother would be so upset I
needed to ask if that works.
Um, but yeah, and the greatreveal in that episode is that
you know he's all by himself andall of his congregation are
(25:59):
zombies in the back room and uh.
So, yeah, taping that was, uh,both physically and mentally,
was a really fun thing to play.
Tom (26:09):
I also wanted to just talk about one movie in particular
that I saw, because, as a fan ofthe New York Yankees, there's a
great movie in here that livesin Yankees lore and that's 61.
Oh yeah, For that movie.
How'd you get brought into thatproduction?
Peter Jacobson (26:31):
well, congrats.
I hope you guys make it to theWorld Series this year first.
I hope so, because it's beenquite a while since we've been
back yeah, although as a youknow, growing up a Cubs fan, I
can't feel too sorry for youbecause we're sort of at
opposites of the spectrum.
My dad was a bat boy for theCubs in 1952, which is a pretty
(26:52):
cool thing as a Chicagoan so Ido feel very connected to
baseball and the Cubs.
But I'm a huge sports fan.
So anytime again, like with,you know, with sci-fi, getting
to kill zombies, that's a reallyfun thing to do.
Playing anything with sports isfun for me to do.
(27:15):
I just auditioned for BillyCrystal when I, you know, just
liked everybody else and somehowhe, you know, latched on to me
a bit and, you know, and thoughtI'd be good in this part.
Again, a reporter, a pushyreporter, so maybe I've got that
in my blood.
He saw that and I went throughthe audition process and just
got it.
I was, you know, I was sothrilled because, you know, we
were out at the LA Coliseumshooting these sports scenes.
And then in Detroit, at the oldComiskey not Comiskey, that's
(27:36):
my Chicago, that's White Sox theold Tiger Stadium which had
been abandoned but they gussiedit up to be the old Yankee
Stadium and it was just great.
Yogi Berra came to the set.
Mickey Mantle's family andBilly Crystal was so passionate
about that movie.
You know, it was right at thetime when McGuire I guess
McGuire and Sosa had just, youknow, broken the records a
(27:57):
season or two before, and sothat was, you know, it was a
great, great.
I mean, that's probably my.
It was my first sort of decent,decent role in a film and I was
in heaven the whole time.
I love sports, I love baseball,and so to be around that was
just a total joy.
I loved it.
And then so, yeah, it's a moviethat people really connected to.
I mean, billy just knew what hewas doing and it was his
(28:19):
greatest love.
I mean he's a huge Yankee fanand it was great, I also.
His all, his daughter, jennyJenny Holy, she was in it.
She played Roger Maris's wife.
So we, jenny Foley, she was init, she played Roger Maris' wife
.
So we sort of crossed paths alittle bit in that movie.
And then years later she playedmy wife on that, which was
really fun.
Tom (28:35):
Really Kind of coming back full circle.
Yeah, I guess we didn't seepeople from back in the past,
and now they're along for theride further on.
Peter Jacobson (28:44):
Totally, it's really fun.
I mean, ultimately, it's a hugegroup of people out there who
are acting and sometimes itfeels really small.
Mitch (28:51):
Even.
Peter Jacobson (28:51):
Lisa Adelstein, who is Dr Cuddy, and how she and
I had done a scene together ina movie 15 years earlier in New
York and as good as it gets withJack Nicholson and you know
just were introduced to him, andthen, decades later, literally
we're, you know, on housetogether.
It's very fun.
Did she recognize you?
Uh, no, I recognize her, soyeah we did this movie.
(29:12):
Like who are you?
No, no, no, I think she did.
She remembered Because we hadthis like three days of doing
this long restaurant scene withJack Nicholson.
She and I didn't really haveany lines.
He was reacting to us, we wereyou know, in this character as
good as it gets.
She was nominated for an Oscarfor he just cropped the old man.
He's anti-Semitic and we're,these two Jewish people at the
(29:34):
table and he's, you know, sayingthese anti-Semitic things and
we just had to really react.
It was a fun scene but it was along scene that we shot over a
few days and we got to sort ofsit there with Jack Nicholson
for a couple days.
There's a lot of downtime.
He's so great and was just solovely and warm and open and
(29:54):
telling us about his life.
Tom (30:00):
So that was an experience that neither of us ever forgot.
I wouldn't be able to act.
I'd just be like holy crap,it's Jack frickin' Nicholson.
That is basically what happenedto me.
Now everybody kind of jokes.
It's like you'll be seeing himstand there.
He won't have sunglasses on.
Then you'll turn, look back andhe has them on.
No one ever saw him, they popout.
Peter Jacobson (30:19):
It's like Wolverine they just pop out of
the temples in some weirdsuperpower way.
Tom (30:25):
Now looking at all this other stuff that you've been in
in movies and shows for manyyears, even a video game credit
for Cars.
Peter Jacobson (30:34):
Oh, yeah, that's right.
Oh my God, my son loved that.
That was amazing.
Yeah, that's cool.
Tom (30:45):
When did you?
I mean, as you worked your waythrough the, I guess, the
hierarchy of acting and gettingmore roles, getting steady work,
you know, getting pitched a lotof stuff like, oh hey, we saw
you in this, what do you thinkabout doing this?
Like, when'd you feel like you?
Peter Jacobson (31:06):
I guess you made it.
Um, I don't, I think you know,except for that upper, upper
level.
Um, my, at least the peoplethat I know, and I know a lot of
people who have succeeded uh,you know her fabulous careers.
And then people like me who,well, I feel like I have a
fabulous career but I'm more ofa journeyman, and you know, I
mean, not everybody knows who Iam and I can't just, you know,
I'm not making movies, gettingmovies made on my own.
And then there are those whoI've worked with who have
struggled more to, you know, tohave a regular career, and all
actors, and I think on mostlevels, rarely feel like they've
(31:28):
made it.
That's a part of it, for sort ofone of the weird tricky things
in this business where you makeit for a certain amount of time
and then you don't, because youknow you can get hot or you can
for, for whatever reason, youwork for two straight years and
then suddenly you're not workingand there's no real logic to it
.
So I felt there's been markersin my career over the years when
I felt like, wow, I certainlyhave been bumped up to another
(31:49):
level and I think there is anoverarching growth to my career,
which I feel very blessed aboutand love it, and I work
steadily and that's great.
But along the way, I would saythings like house or 61 was
probably one of those momentswhere I thought, whoa, I'm
moving up.
You know, I I've never.
Maybe it's just my anxiouspersonality.
I never feel like boy.
I've made it, um, you know, andI don't know what making it
(32:12):
really means.
If having a career and making aliving is making it, then yeah,
I've done that.
But in terms of being like astar or somebody who can
generate projects on my own withmy name power, then I've got a
ways to go.
Still, cars 2 was one of thoseweird moments where I was on
House and I got the offer.
I didn't even audition.
Doing a Pixar film was fabulous.
(32:35):
They knew who I was.
People at Pixar put me and joemontagna together as these two
sort of funny bad guys and if Igot the script, I was like wow,
yes, like you want to do this,I'm like uh, yeah and uh.
But the fact that I didn'taudition felt like, oh, you know
, I I have made it to a certainlevel here I'm getting offered a
pixar.
That's a wonderful thing.
(32:56):
So, um, you know, but it goesup and down.
When I'm not working for sixmonths, eight months or a year,
for whatever reason, I you know,at night I'm like, oh, have I
really made it?
Tom (33:06):
I mean I feel like you have .
I mean looking at your crap.
I mean Transformers is on there, cars, cars 2.
Mitch (33:11):
Well, moving on to kind of the meat and potatoes of why
we're here today, is the Smile,the Smile 2 that comes out on
October 18th.
What was your thoughts when youlanded a role with this movie?
Peter Jacobson (33:22):
I was very excited, first and foremost
because the character was justgreat and I fell in love with
him in my first read of the role.
And then, when I auditioned forhim and put him on his feet and
was called back to meet thedirector and read it with him, I
just felt like this guy fits mereally well and I and I love
(33:46):
his, just the depth and thesadness and the anxiety of him
and he's sort of an odd duck inthis world because you know,
he's not.
I'm a bit of an outsider inthis movie.
Now, honestly, I'm not a.
You know I had not seen thefirst one and I'm not a horror
film fanatic.
I love a good movie and a goodscary movie, but I had to go
ahead and watch the first onewhen I was auditioning, before I
got the role.
I went and watched the first oneand I was absolutely terrified,
(34:09):
but in a good way.
And you know, I know thedifference between schlock and
great filmmaking and this again,it's not something that I'm pro
at in terms of horror.
But I knew right away that thisguy, parker Finch, this guy
knows how to make a movie and Ithink that's what happened for
him.
He's a young guy who did thisindependent or short film that
(34:29):
some that people saw, orParamount did it, and suddenly
it was a bit of a discovery,like wow, this guy really knows
what he's doing and you can tellwhen you're in the hands of a
filmmaker.
And just watching Smile 1, theoriginal Smile, I was like just
the movie angles, the shots, theway he moves the camera.
I was like this is a differentkind of horror movie and that's
saying something because,believe me, the market is
(34:50):
saturated with horror films andit's hard to break out.
And he broke out with this, andrightfully so, I think.
And so I was excited that thiswas a good movie and I think the
script was great and sureenough doing it.
You know you're with a filmmakerwho knows what he's doing and
even if terror and horror andgore and shock is not my strong
(35:13):
suit, at least in terms of myexperience, it's great fun and I
love doing this new kind ofmovie.
And you know Naomi Scott wasunbelievable.
She's this young woman, she'sBritish.
I didn't know, I mean I knewher from.
I guess she'd been in a Disneymovie.
But you know she's also afabulous singer and you know our
stuff was all together.
(35:34):
I just had my stuff with herand she was such a pro and so
good and carrying the film onher shoulders so I was just like
, wow, I'm going along for thisgreat ride and it's so scary and
so fun and uh was thrilled tobe on it well, from a lot of the
early reviews that I've kind ofread over.
Mitch (35:50):
In different articles they've talked about how it's
already gotten pretty successful.
This is what people think sofar, after seeing seeing the
first one.
What do you think makes thissuch a successful sequel?
Peter Jacobson (36:03):
Well, again, parker instinctively writes very
real people, even thoughobviously what makes it a horror
film is that it's not a kind ofcircumstance that we get
through every day.
It's not a rom-com, it's notlike the West Wing or whatever.
It's not a rom-com, or you know, it's not like the West Wing or
you know whatever.
It's not a naturalistic pieceof work.
(36:23):
But no matter how heightened orscary or crazy something is,
it's always successful.
The rule of thumb has to bethat you believe these people
and you believe their situationsand that comes from
well-written characters inhonest relationships and really
well-acted.
And he knows how to get a goodperformance out of somebody and
(36:44):
he knows how to set realsituations that we as the
audience are going to get drawninto.
So you've got real people.
I remember Stacey Bacon in thefirst movie was fabulous.
I mean, she sustained thisterror for two hours and I was
like that is a.
That was a real feat.
And you don't do that without agreat director, a great script,
great writing and great crewand great fellow actors.
And so Parker's gathering thisgroup for the first movie and he
(37:08):
just hit it out of the park.
It's a very real.
What's unique is totally real,real people doing real things in
a very unreal situation.
So the creepy is deep, becauseyou're relating to these people,
I mean.
So she was just so real and yetshe's got this insane situation
happening.
(37:28):
And he's done it again, parker,with the second one, just on a
higher scale.
Just everything's elevated,it's universal Now.
It's just much.
It's just much bigger andscarier and more terrifying for
more people.
And I think you could goforever with this thing.
Mitch (37:46):
It's great, it's just up the ante, as I see in the first
movie.
It was really creepy and it hada lot of kind of like the jump
scares and stuff.
And then I haven't seen thesecond one yet, but I've seen
the trailer for it and it feelslike it does a lot more with
psych, like your psychology, asopposed to just what jumps out
at you in this one right andthat's the difference, you know
when you're watching a movie.
Peter Jacobson (38:07):
Look, anybody can do a jump scare.
Um, I could even do it, like Icould probably do that, and I
don't.
I don't know how to do it.
Um, I'm not minimizing thosewho are great horror film
directors is obviously not thateasy, but I mean, it's an easy
way to scare somebody.
And Parker is smarter than thatand has combined and there are
great horror films and they alldo this.
(38:28):
They're jump scares, but theyare even jumpier and scarier if
you are connected to the peopleand the situation and the
relationships.
He's really taken the time todo that, to make sure these are
real people, and so that's goingto make the jump scare even
greater.
And I just think he knows thatinstinctively.
And yes, in Smile 2, there aremore, but they work because you
(38:52):
are even that much more investedin the people in this film.
Mitch (38:56):
Okay, and then another question I had for you was we
talked about this earlier.
You might not be able to tellus a whole lot for you, was you?
We talked about this earlier.
You might not be able to tellus a whole lot, but what's?
What can you tell us about yourcharacter in this film?
Peter Jacobson (39:06):
well, I can say that he's this sort of
mysterious outsider who knowswhat's going on in terms of the
smile terror, and I cross pathswith Skye, who is the star Naomi
, and I am you know, she's in astate she's, you know, this has
(39:28):
taken a hold of her life and Itry to help her and to break the
terror and to break the chainof the terror before it's too
late.
So you know, we know from thefirst movie this unbelievably
malevolent and sinister force,um, and I somehow, as knowledge
and information, I'm going totry to help her through this Um
(39:49):
and uh, that's, that's what Ican say.
But the film is uh, the filmitself is relentless and it's in
this air and in this scare andin this sinister force.
And what's sort of sweet aboutmy character is that there's a
little bit of a calm.
He's there to help, and that'spart of what turned me on about
(40:12):
the role.
I was like, wow, this movie isterrifying and yet I felt right
away how real my guy is.
Morris is a very real man who'sbeen through a lot and he's
there to help.
I like the sort of sweethumanity of that in this
terrifying situation.
Mitch (40:28):
After seeing the trailer for this one and watching the
first one.
The first one kind of leavesyou on your edge of your seat
because the threat can basicallycome from anyone, because it's
kind of in the character's mind.
So I'm interested to see how,because, like in the trailer,
you see her doing like herdancing on stage, and then like
she sees somebody on the stagewith her and there's one where,
like she's in her dressing roomand the guy's not there, and
(40:51):
then she looks in the mirror andhe's there.
Tom (40:53):
I don't watch too much show anymore.
I like sleeping at night.
Peter Jacobson (41:00):
I don't.
But yeah, that's what was sogreat about the first one the
line between what's real andwhat's not, which is not
something that's you know,that's a pretty common theme in
horror.
But again, parker does this sowell.
He does it in terms of storyand he does it technically.
As a filmmaker, you don'talways know what's real when
(41:22):
you're in a human's head of notknowing what's real.
That's terrifying, and it's notjust a jump scare.
Is that real or not?
You're coming at it from thecharacter's perspective and
that's terrifying.
Tom (41:35):
I was wondering what your take would be on this.
I'd seen a lot of other actorsdoing interviews talk about it,
where they act in dramatic stuffand they were so scared between
takes.
It's very serious.
They acted in a horror movieand it was the most fun I ever
had in my life.
Peter Jacobson (41:49):
Yeah, it is really fun the stuff that I do
with Naomi as our story,whatever part of the movie is
our story.
As that goes on, it gets moreintense and it's really fun and
for me it wasn't scary.
Let me tell you what was scarywas Naomi, because she's so
committed and she's so real inthis role and she's so good that
(42:10):
when you're playing the scene,that terror is real.
I'm watching a young woman thatterrified and that's Naomi is
an actress and she's fabulous.
But you know, when they say cut, yeah, you've got to get 200
people around you and you mightget hit in the ear and then
somebody you know picking theirnose in the corner and we're
back to work.
So it didn't really scare me.
(42:31):
The scariest part was thatbecause the lighting was also
really great.
I mean Parker, he's got a greatteam and this is a
terrifying-looking film.
There were a couple momentswhen I couldn't find my mark in
the dark.
I was scared of that.
I wasn't scared of the dark, Iwas scared I was not going to
hit my mark and then we've gotto do it again and then I'm
pissing everybody off.
So that was a scary moment.
Tom (42:48):
It's like get another guy in here.
We need somebody else who canfind these.
But they need you becauseotherwise you're going to get
your eighth Oscar for this one,honestly.
Peter Jacobson (43:00):
Yeah, that's right.
We're going to get on Wikipediatogether after this interview
and fix something.
Tom (43:06):
I'm going to make an account just so we can edit.
It's like he's also the person.
He's the first person to everland on Mars.
He can divide by zero.
That's right.
Peter Jacobson (43:14):
We're just going to stow you all these laurels.
Fine man, A couple of NobelPrizes, I'll take it.
Tom (43:22):
I mean, you're the only one I've ever seen who has seven.
It's absolutely wild, it'sgetting scary.
Looking at all these peopleyou've obviously acted with, I
have one question and I knoweverybody's probably like well,
you guys are going to talk aboutHouse, you guys are probably
going to talk about Hugh Laurieand I know people who have
thought Hugh Laurie was actuallyan American.
But, knowing what I know, he'sEnglish and you see him in house
, you know serious to sardonic,sarcastic witty, and then you
(43:44):
watch him in blackadder and he'sjust a bumbling imbecile.
Yeah, and you want well, hughis go ahead.
I'm sorry, is he like that?
Which version, I guess, wouldyou say, is he like normally?
Peter Jacobson (43:59):
he's got both of them and that's what's amazing.
He was, first and foremost, anamazing actor and he is an
amazing clown and again, he'snot just goofy.
His work, even his bumblingclown work is so grounded and so
real because he's such a greatactor.
That's why he's an exceptionalcomedian and an exceptional
(44:21):
dramatist.
I mean not dramatist, he's nota writer, he's an exceptional
comedian and an exceptionaldramatist.
I mean not dramatist, he's nota writer, he's an exceptional
dramatic actor.
And House was.
Again, he brought his twinkleto House, who is a very dramatic
role.
But you know as well what madehim so successful is that he
brings his comedy to it.
But the comedy comes after thereality and that's what makes
him so funny.
Hugh, as a person, is thefunniest and smartest person
(44:45):
you'll meet.
He's very serious and he had ahuge show to make work and we
all knew we were doing that.
The bar was set incredibly highand at the same time he's the
most clever and funniest personyou'll ever meet, at any moment.
That was there.
So it was sort of a big jumbleof Hugh talent and just a joy to
be with.
Tom (45:04):
Makes me happy to hear that .
You always see these actors andit's just like, oh, what are
they like in real life?
You see posts on Facebook allthe time.
It's like 10 actors I met whowere total dicks and it's like
you know, and they're theserenowned people and I was like
there's no way.
Peter Jacobson (45:21):
No, no way at all.
I mean, that's not to say Iwasn't scared of him when I
first met him, because, you know, first of all, he's like quite
my height and size, but you know, but that happens to me a lot
I'm smaller than just abouteverybody.
No, he wasn't physicallyintimidating, he you know, he
was you know, he set the bar sohigh.
(45:44):
But you don't have a show likethat that successful with a dick
at the helm?
You can't.
You know, number one on thecoffee.
You've got to set the tone andyou've got to.
You know you're essentially.
You know, I mean he's notwriting the thing, but he's
running the thing.
It's his show and it's his.
Uh, it's his game and um, andif he's not pleasant and
(46:09):
wonderful, then everybody'smiserable.
For eight years, and he wasfantastic.
I mean, we look, it's a, it's afamily and it's a rigorous bit
of work.
And so over the years that Iwas on it, there are moments
when you know there are tantrumsand there are.
You know things happen serious,not serious.
There are.
You know things happen serious,not serious, but you know it's
hard work.
And so there are certainlystressful moments, but all of it
(46:29):
was uh, ultimately, you know,you have to have people in
charge who are people at the top, who are setting the tone and
doing it right and and arefriendly and loving and caring,
and uh, and that's you would youalways?
Tom (46:41):
we always like to ask actors this question when we
have them on, especially if theyhave quite a substantial amount
of acting credits.
If they ever had a goodstarstruck moment.
One of my favorites was a guywe interviewed a couple months
ago.
He was on Walker Texas Rangerand he got to meet Chuck Norris
and fight him and get his buttkicked by Chuck Norris.
He's like the whole time I wasjust smiling, he's roundhouse,
kicking me in the face.
I'm like this is great, it'sChuck.
Mitch (47:00):
Norris, chuck Norris and Flash Gordon at the same time.
Peter Jacobson (47:04):
Yeah, it was a double whammy.
Wow, I don't know that I couldact in that situation.
Yeah, I mean, I was firststruck by Hugh initially.
There were moments throughouthouse when we had scenes
together and he's giving me helland we're shooting you with a
ray gun, or you know.
Uh, you know, there were somany great fun scenes and there
(47:27):
were.
It's never, I was never without, even though he becomes your
friend.
There was.
There were so many moments whenI was like, wow, I am sure
lucky getting to do this withyou, this is you, this is house
and I'm doing it.
It's great fun.
But then even something likewith jack Nicholson, where I
hardly I don't really have anylines, and it's only a few days.
Yeah, I was lucky, I didn'thave lines because I wouldn't be
(47:47):
able to remember, because I waswith Jack Nicholson.
Tom (47:51):
So so no, just major starstruck moment, where you
just stand like holy crap,that's Michael Caine or
so-and-so.
Peter Jacobson (48:04):
Well, Robert De Niro, I did a movie called what
Just Happened and my scene wasRobert De Niro and we had a
walk-and-talk where we'rearguing about the movie.
Yeah, I mean, I don't know,maybe I'm distracted, but it's
rare that you can find an actorwho can be that focused, that
you don't have that moment whereyou're like, well, I'm doing
this to Robert De Niro.
I mean, come on, I'm not, I'm ahuman and it's intimidating.
Tom (48:25):
Did you hit him with any of his quotes?
Like he starts talking andyou're like are you talking to
me?
Peter Jacobson (48:29):
No, that I will not.
That I'm, you know.
Because I think, if any adviceto a young actor, don't do that
with a star, because Becauseyou're pretending like you're
not starstruck, and so the firstsign of starstruckness is to
quote him back to himself.
That would have been a deathsentence.
Tom (48:48):
Top tip of the day Don't quote famous lines from an actor
to that actor while you'reworking with that actor.
Peter Jacobson (48:53):
Totally, absolutely.
Any bit of advice before I die,that's it.
Tom (48:59):
Now, obviously we're coming towards the end of 2024.
We're in the final few months.
Is there anything big you gotplanned that's coming up that
you can share?
Um?
Peter Jacobson (49:11):
well, this movie is the biggest thing for me on
the docket.
I'm uh shot an indie film, uh awonderful film a few weeks ago
in colorado and I've got anotherfun film coming up in a few
weeks in New York.
It's sort of a smallindependent feature, so it's fun
to go from sort of thebig-budget thing to the
small-budget thing, but nothingbig on the scale of Smile.
(49:33):
So for me at the end of 24,smile's the thing and I hope
that people are still watchingit at the end of the year.
Tom (49:40):
I'm going to watch the first one and this one and have
nightmares, and Mitchell willlaugh at me when we talk about
it.
I'm the only person who can bescared by a kid's video game,
Spider, suddenly appearing onthe screen.
Peter Jacobson (49:51):
You're going to enjoy this.
I kind of hope you're miserable.
I hope you're miserable.
It means that film works.
Thank you, Peter my pleasure.
Mitch (50:02):
Smile 2 comes out October 18th.
Tom (50:05):
Right around the corner, friday.
Mitch (50:07):
Tune in to see Naomi Scott, see Mr Peter Jacobson and
their starring roles in thefilm and let us know what you
think.
Or let him know we should thinkit's his movie.
Tom (50:18):
That would be great.
Yeah, we don't want to keep youany longer on your Saturday
thank you so much for sittingdown and talking with the two of
us on our little pokey podcastshow totally my pleasure.
Peter Jacobson (50:30):
I hope you guys like the movie and thanks for
your time.
Tom (50:33):
Thank you so much.
This was it for Entertain this.
I'm Tom, and our guest was MrPeter Jacobson.
We'll catch you on the next one.
Hello and welcome to Entertain this.
It's a podcast about movies, TVshows and video games.
My name is Tom.
With me I have Mitch and a verywell-known man, A man known for
playing a doctor.
Is he really a doctor?
Are you asking a question?
I feel like you deserve anhonorary doctorate for playing a
doctor.
Peter Jacobson (00:45):
Oh please, I feel like I've basically been
doctorate for playing a doctor.
Oh please, I feel like I'vebasically been a doctor for the
last 15 years, In terms of theway people respond who like the
show.
I've been asked at airports toexamine family members' arms and
legs.
Tom (00:57):
I was just about to ask you if anybody really thought you.
It's like hey, since you'rehere, though, could you take a
look at this?
Peter Jacobson (01:04):
Literally it's happened.
I mean those there's so manypeople who love house and uh.
So it's always wonderful tohave the response.
But every now and then you getthe person who is sort of thinks
that you might be a real doctorand it's a little bit unnerving
.
Tom (01:17):
But that's okay, it's like you know, it's a show, it's,
it's it's fiction.
Please tell me you know, Idon't know you're in I don't
know, you're in people's livingrooms.
Peter Jacobson (01:26):
That's the joy of TV, is that you feel very
connected and sometimes, I guess, a little too connected.
Tom (01:31):
Well, I would be remiss to not introduce our guest, mr
Peter Jacobson, a man well knownfor playing Dr Chris Taub on
House with Hugh Laurie, a verypopular show that ran for many
years, also on the sciencefiction drama Colony.
Dozens of acting credits infilm and television, including
(01:53):
both series iterations of theshow Bull.
That's right.
I feel like you deserve anaward for being on both.
Peter Jacobson (02:00):
I know, I think 20 years apart.
Different networks, obviously,but if there's a show that's
called Bull, I'll be on it.
Tom (02:08):
He's one of our more academically impressive
interviewees we've had on ourshow.
Graduating from Brown andJuilliard, the closest I could
ever get to Brown would be ifthey hired me to landscape.
Peter Jacobson (02:23):
Believe me, when I went there was no great
academic speech.
Getting in.
Brown was known for theirloosey-goosey curriculum and I
think I just finessed my way insome of that.
But I'll take the complimentand the feeling of being elite
even though it's not real.
Tom (02:38):
Still, ivy League still counts the closest.
I ever got was a shirt thatsaid Harvard Law, and underneath
it said just kidding, I justwear clothes with the color
brown.
Peter Jacobson (02:48):
It makes me feel good, that's it.
Tom (02:51):
Well, we have a very special treat for you today,
listeners, we have Mr PeterJacobson, like we said, and
we're going to do a little diveinto his background, how he got
into the acting game and whatreally made him just want to
play a doctor on TV.
Peter Jacobson (03:05):
Well, I don't think I ever really thought, oh,
I want to play a doctor.
Doctor roles came somewhateasily to me, like lawyer roles.
You know you get typecast inthis business, so it wasn't a
threat for me to be a doctor.
But, you know, the auditioncame my way and it felt like a
really great fit.
Uh, how, and I, um, or tellthem me see, I did go to Brown
(03:29):
but I, my grammar stinks, um anduh, you know it was.
I wasn't in the, I wasn't inthe business of being too picky,
whether you know I wasn't like,oh, I got to play a doctor.
Um, and it's just.
The bottom line is that thisdoctor on this show was going to
be fun.
I mean, obviously house was ahuge hit already.
I was joining a little bitlater, so I knew what, how it
was, and obviously I was.
(03:50):
You know, it was going to be adoctor on the show with a chance
of becoming a regular and thescript was so great.
The role was already reallycompelling and interesting and
snarky and somewhat mysteriousis too strong of a word,
somewhat secretive, and I justloved the role on the page so I
was happy he could have been adoctor, a lawyer you know,
worked in the Department ofStreets and Sanitation.
(04:12):
I was happy to play him.
Tom (04:18):
Now as an actor is it a little, I guess a little bit
more of a challenge where youstep into a main role, that's.
Peter Jacobson (04:24):
Can you hear me now?
Tom (04:24):
Yeah, I got you now as an actor, Go ahead.
As an actor, is it difficulttaking a role on an already
established hit show Like, hey,you're going to be a series
regular and you're going to beacting, obviously, Hugh Laurie
and all these other peoplewho've already made the show?
Peter Jacobson (04:39):
That's a really good question.
That's a totally uniqueexperience I have.
Any actor who's worked a fairamount in TV has a lot of
experience coming on as a gueststar, which means you know you
jump in, like with House, you'dbe the patient of the week and
that's always sort of a reallyfun experience on a great show
like House I mean, we had somany great actors who wanted to
be on it because it was such awell-written show and it was
such a hit.
(04:59):
But when come on for oneepisode, it's really exciting.
But there's also a bit of afeeling of disconnect because
you're not a regular, you're notas part of it.
It's always great fun to do itand it's part of how we make our
money and get to playinteresting roles.
I had never been joinedmidstream which is your question
and certainly that season wasweird.
We were given contracts.
(05:21):
The four of us who were meantto be the, or the five of us
were meant to be the finalistsin that weird sort of real life
um survivor game and uh, we weretold that after nine episodes
they would make a decision.
So you knew you had a season tosort of establish, establish
yourself, but it was a bit of aof a weird sort of dogfight, I
mean in the best way.
(05:41):
We were all very had, a lot offun and loved each other and but
we knew it was a weirdcompetition.
Um, and it was certainlyintimidating as hell to come on
when Hugh, who is just this sortof, you know, wonderful,
fabulous actor and comedian andjust a great man, but it's, you
know, it's a big show at themoment.
I think it was the most popularshow on the planet at that
point and, uh, so there is anintimidation factor.
(06:03):
You don't want to mess thingsup.
You want to try to be part ofthe gang, but you're not really
yet.
And eventually, when I made itby then I had a whole season
under my belt and so the nextseason as a regular felt really
comfortable and lovely.
But it was weird.
You're jumping on a barrelingfreight train.
That's already as an actor.
You want that, that.
Actually, you want to get onsomething and and become part of
(06:25):
something that's alreadyestablished hit.
But the guy you know, like Omarand Jesse and Jennifer and Lisa
and everybody, they, they spentthree years making this show.
So there's a certain level ofgratitude as well.
We like wow, I just kind of gotlucky to get on this thing and
you obviously hit every mark.
Tom (06:39):
You had to, because you got 96 episodes to your name.
Peter Jacobson (06:42):
Yeah, I did it all right.
You know, it was really a weirdexperience.
It was like I was waiting toliterally get fired and I think
one of the advantages with thoseof us who made it, somehow I
think the writers clicked intoour characters.
I mean, they click into anycharacter.
But you can tell as an actoryou've been doing it for a while
(07:04):
when the writing sort of speaksto you and they got to know me
and they were writing to mystrengths and I certainly didn't
think, oh yeah, I've got thismade.
But I felt like the characterhad really sort of expanded and
deepened by the time I got tothe point where they were making
their choice and I wouldn'thave been surprised if I didn't
get it.
But I wasn't shocked that I gotit.
It just felt like a real.
(07:25):
It was a real good vibe and itfelt pretty comfortable.
Tom (07:28):
It was an overall, just a natural kind of transition.
Peter Jacobson (07:31):
I guess you could say Well, certainly it was
.
Once I got sick I was thrilled.
I tried not to look like toomuch of an idiot.
I'll win one day check cut.
But you know, you just neverknow how do these decisions get
made, or a mystery still after30 years in the business.
It felt like the role madesense and sort of the fun stuff
(07:51):
that they had going with me andhow.
You know, hugh, you know how Ithink more than some, more than
a lot of these characters waspicked on a lot and that was
sort of a really fun thing toplay and the writers kind of
began to lean into that.
Somehow my character justbegged to be teased.
I don't know why.
Maybe it's me, I think it's me.
Tom (08:11):
So I'm looking at your vast acting credits, starting in
1993 on television when youappeared on NYPD Blue and
multiple iterations of Law andOrder, and then your first
acting credit into a film, alsoplaying a reporter.
It could happen to you in the1994 film.
(08:33):
So you start your career herein the early 90s, you know,
graduating Brown Juilliard,you're from Chicago.
What made you want to be anactor?
Peter Jacobson (08:41):
Yeah, Um, it's funny because my first two,
you're right, my first TV rolewas a reporter and my first film
role was a reporter.
And, um, my father, um, is awas a news anchorman.
I started out as a reporter andwas a sort of pushy, successful
, uh, political reporter inChicago for years.
Um, and I grew up with him onTV and I would often go with him
(09:05):
to work when I was a kid andhe'd have to get makeup on and
you know there's a certain drama.
So you know he was doing livebroadcasts and it was an open
newsroom back in the 70s inChicago.
It was sort of thisrevolutionary idea and so I was
sort of always around that andwatching him sort of even though
he's a journalist perform liveand on his feet and having, you
know, getting makeup and takingit on and taking it off, and
(09:27):
somehow that was something thatseemed really, you know,
romantic and fun to me as a kid.
So when I knew growing up thatI wanted to be an actor, it felt
like sort of a natural thing tome.
It wasn't like looking sooutside the box.
And then it was sort of sweetfor me when I wound up being a
reporter.
It was kind of neat because Iwas like well, I can remember
(09:49):
watching my dad with amicrophone in his hand and
shoving a microphone in front ofpeople's faces, and that's what
I basically did my first tworoles.
And then recently this year Iplayed a very pushy reporter on
this movie Fly Me to the Moon,and I drew on my knowledge of my
dad and watching him for mywhole life as a reporter.
Tom (10:09):
Already drawing on great vast personal experiences.
Peter Jacobson (10:13):
Yeah, I think so , Whether it made me want to be
an actor.
I spent my years in high schooland college, and after college
at Juilliard, really beingserious about acting.
I started out in the theaterwhen I got out of Juilliard.
I spent you know, seven or eightyears acting on the stage and
then, as TV work began to comefrom the West, I began flying
(10:38):
out and doing more TV and film.
And then TV kind of hit alittle bit more and then the
house sort of put me in adifferent place and suddenly I'm
doing that instead of theater.
I kind of miss it.
Mitch (10:47):
Well, I was going to kind of ask you for your theater
roles.
You've done several big plays.
Peter Jacobson (10:56):
I guess, were they on Broadway?
I never actually had the chanceto be on Broadway in a full
production.
I did a Broadway like aworkshop musical actually, with
something called Circus long agoand Anne Hathaway was just
becoming a star.
It was funny because I wound upworking playing her father in
this Apple Plus series a coupleof years ago and I was too
embarrassed to say, hey, about20 years ago we were in
something I didn't think she'dremember.
(11:17):
Now I'm your dad but my theaterwas almost all off-Broadway and
somewhat regional.
The difference in Broadway andoff-Broadway is that the size of
the theater itself if it's twothousand seat house, then your
broadway.
You get a different pay scaleand there's way more
off-broadway in new york.
But some of the better you know, sort of like um network and
(11:37):
cable now we're streaming.
Off-broadway was always alittle more experimental and you
could push the envelope alittle bit more.
Broadway was a little bit morecommercially oriented.
So I I did a lot of really fun,interesting plays, worked with
some great people, was verysteeped in the theater community
for years in New York and Ijust loved that.
I mean, that's what I wastrained to do, what I thought I
would do, but that became myworld right out of school.
Tom (11:59):
Was it a difficult transition or was there a
noticeable transition going fromtheater acting into acting on
film or acting in television?
Peter Jacobson (12:08):
It's huge and I was totally unprepared for it.
I think now when you are goingto acting school, somehow
they've just sort of figured itout that it doesn't make sense
to be training actors and notmake a significant part of the
training be for film and TV,because it is a totally
different experience than onstage.
Ultimately, the process is thesame mentally for an actor.
(12:32):
You are creating a character,you are in a relationship with
somebody, you are learning ascript and the circumstances of
your scene need to be consideredand that's true on stage and on
film.
But the actual physicalexperience is so much different
on film and TV and your impulsesneed to be reined in.
You know a big smile for 2000people on the stage, which is
(12:53):
what you need to do.
You know you look like an idioton film If you're doing that,
and for the first few years thatI was auditioning for things,
you know I was auditioning forTV and film while I was on stage
, but I had nothing with it.
I think I needed to learn bymyself to sort of bring
everything down, tone it down,and you can get away with just a
thought and a twinkle in theeye and a grin.
(13:15):
It sells so much more.
The camera picks up everythingPlus just.
You know acting with amicrophone in your face and you
know 50 people in front of youmessing with your clothes and
you know you have to reallylearn how to focus in a
different way.
But my theater training was allbroader, and for the stage and
at juilliard back in the late80s, early 90s they didn't take
(13:37):
the time to uh teach you anyfilm acting skills, and so it
did.
Took me a while to learn how tosort of calm down and not look
like a clown I imagine thetransition stuff.
Tom (13:47):
I've seen other interviews where actors talk about their
theater life and it's like youknow you go out there, you know
there's thousands of people,hundreds of people that are all
just staring at you.
They're all just eating out ofthe palm of your hand and then
you act on film and it's likeyou look, there's a guy eating a
sandwich, just looking at you,that's great.
Peter Jacobson (14:03):
You've got to be on your hand and somebody's
eating a sandwich.
Literally, the distractions arehysterical.
Sometimes in TV or film, I meanpeople yeah you literally have
to sort of shut yourself down tothe outside world.
And on stage it's the opposite.
You are sort of expanding yourenergy and doing it live.
I had the joy of going back to aplay after it had been over 10
(14:25):
years.
This was about three years ago.
I did this play in LA LA thatEthan Cohn of the Cohn brothers
some great filmmakers Ethan isalso a playwright, a wonderful
playwright, and he did this playas a bunch of one acts and I
got to be in that and I had ithad been 10 years since I've
been on stage and so I had tofirst sort of remember to
generate more energy.
(14:46):
But I had to first sort ofremember to generate more energy
.
But once I got back into thelive experience I remembered the
joy of that.
And you know, when you'rerolling on stage and you're
getting laughs, it's acompletely different experience
and you're really out there in away.
You know the cast is sort ofalways bombed over the terror of
acting.
Tom (15:04):
You're out there together?
Peter Jacobson (15:06):
Yes, exactly, and things happen.
You know, and you're sort of,either you make it, you get out
there and you live through theperformance, or, you know, you
forget your line, which I now domore than I used to because I'm
basically an old man.
It's a different experience andthere's a certain bond over the
live theater.
You know you have to rehearseit for a month and, uh, that's a
(15:27):
whole different experience thanin tv and film, where you don't
really get much rehearsal.
You kind of jump in.
There's something very bondingabout the live theater which I
missed and it was a real joy tocome back to it I don't think I
could do live theater.
Tom (15:39):
I just yeah, having like a little bit of stage fright
because I'll be a.
Do I forget my lines?
Am I wearing the appropriatecostume?
Because I know me like I wouldtake parts of it off to go to
the bathroom if I wasn't upthere and I'd just walk out
there without pants on.
Peter Jacobson (15:52):
I've never gone that far, but it was a weird
thing.
Yes, there is a.
There is something terrifying.
A little bit of stage frightgoes a long way and it can roll
onto itself and then suddenlyyou've got a little bit of a
blackout going.
But hopefully your musclememory is so great.
(16:13):
It is scary.
I have sweated through somepretty scary moments and,
weirdly, what I remembered waslike I would make sure to go to
the bathroom before I went onand, um, you know, I'm not so
old, I don't have such aprostate issue that I'd have to
go to the bathroom every 30seconds.
But somehow I would feel like Ihad to go again like 30 seconds
later and whether or not yourfly is up, like I could check
fly.
Maybe this isn't right for youraudience, but you check your
fly as I'm walking to myentrance.
I check it's up, it's good.
(16:33):
And then my first thought asI'm walking on four seconds
later is is my fly up?
It's weird paranoia.
It's like I know it's up, Ijust checked it, like it's going
to go down on its own.
It's just the anxiety of livetheater that makes you wonder
about your fly.
Tom (16:48):
Is my fly up, is it down?
Do I have a booger in the cave?
Mitch (16:51):
Do I have?
Tom (16:52):
salad in my teeth.
I didn't eat salad.
I didn't get there somehow.
Peter Jacobson (16:56):
Right, right, it's essentially the same thing.
I miraculously got a lot ofspinach in my mouth.
I don't know how it wouldhappen, because I didn't have a
salad.
I never was as worried as yousaid like that my pants would
not be there but certainlywhether the flyer would be up,
and I understand why you wouldhave that worry, having not sort
of you know, but maybe you haveacted.
Did you act in high school?
Tom (17:15):
No, I did not.
I mean, I acted up.
That's really about it.
Mitch (17:19):
We've done a couple of like live shows.
We normally do one once a yearlike locally.
And then we've done one we didlike a Aurora Theater here
locally and we did a Halloweenpresentation where we reviewed a
movie and we kind of comicallytalked about the scenes, stuff
like that.
Tom (17:36):
It was bad it was bad.
Peter Jacobson (17:40):
Come on, something either good or
something really bad comes outwhen you lie.
It's that crap shoot that somepeople love and some people
really don't.
Tom (17:49):
And some of our other ones have been good.
Not the Halloween one.
We don't talk about that oneNow.
Peter Jacobson (17:53):
I want to see that when you look back, that's
the great stuff.
How bad was I?
Well see for the.
Mitch (18:00):
Halloween one.
It couldn't have been too badbecause people were allowed to
drink in the theater, so thedrunker they got, the funnier we
were the problem was our thirdco-host.
Tom (18:10):
He's not here.
He's currently in Iraq, Part ofthe army.
They were selling Beetlejuicelike Hunch Punch, I guess you
could say and the two of themare just getting blitzed out of
their mind and I'm normally thestronger Constitution person
with drinking, Unfortunately,Based on my collegiate
(18:31):
experiences and the two of themwere just sloshed and I'm like,
damn it, I'm going to go outwith you two.
It was like herding cats.
Mitch (18:37):
I did all my parts correctly.
I'm just saying.
Peter Jacobson (18:41):
Right, but you also had somebody in charge.
Right by having someone incharge, we didn't have anyone
charge.
And, uh, right by someone incharge, we didn't have anyone.
I was in a play where part ofit was one of those, a small
theater in new york and and you,part of the thing was I would
go into the audience and sitwith the audience for like a
stretch about 40 minutes, andone night I dozed off because I,
(19:02):
you know, and I woke up likeprobably 30 seconds later, but
because I had been unconscious.
Essentially I had no idea if Ihad missed my entrance.
To come back onto it, and itwas.
I just remember the jolt ofelectricity and air was pretty
strong.
So, you know, never would occurto me to drink and do that.
That would have been even worse, but I know what it's like to
(19:23):
be terrified terrified.
Mitch (19:30):
Well, more recently, in like, uh, I guess, the more
recent years, you've done stuffmore, I guess, kind of sci-fi
and horror.
As far as, like you, you wereon colony, um, because you were
on fear, the walking dead, yeah,what made you, you know, did
you choose to go towards that,or did your your uh agent just
kind of like get you the roles,or is that something you've kind
of pursued as more sci-fi orhorror genre stuff?
Peter Jacobson (19:48):
No, like it was an interesting question, like
with you know you say, did Iwant to play that doctor?
I wanted to play that role andI was not looking to be on a
doctor show.
Same thing.
This has been sort of aninteresting little twist.
I also got a chance to be onthe Star Wars show, the Ahsoka,
for an episode and, yeah, fearthe Walking Dead, the script
comes your way.
I certainly don't say to myagents I won't do this or I want
(20:12):
to only do this.
They send me hopefully reallygood roles and good scripts.
And Fear the Walking Dead wasalready again like with House,
was on the air and a hit and hadits audience and they were
adding characters and this was areally interesting character
and I have no problem being on ahorror film.
You know I had so much funkilling zombies.
(20:34):
I mean, I love it.
I'm just up.
I'm game for different genresand in Ahsoka I was.
You know I had a droid, like aC-3PO droid.
It was amazing.
I grew up on Star Wars.
My son was the next generationof Star Wars and so he was
obviously thrilled when I got onthat and it's just great.
And Colony was a little bitfurther ago, but that was a
(20:56):
really, really wonderful sci-fiyou know future Armageddon kind
of show and with aliens, and youknow Carlton Hughes and Ryan
Condal who's now doing House ofthe Dragon.
These were great writers andthey had just had a great
concept and I love being in thatworld.
The best thing about the bestsci-fi and horror stuff is,
(21:19):
again always like anythinggrounded in real humans and real
relationships.
And Colony, this character Iplayed, was so real and so fun
and you know I tried to make mythe rabbi and fear the walking
dead as real as I could be andthe writing was great and I got
to stab and shoot zombies alongthe way.
So I loved it.
Mitch (21:36):
And another question I had for you is you've played a
lot of like intense scenes andstuff but your character always
seems to bring like a little bitof comedy to those situations.
Is that more your personalityor is that more the writing that
they give you?
Peter Jacobson (21:49):
Well, interestingly that stuff kind of
merges Sometimes you don'treally know which comes first.
A little bit of a chicken-eggthing, I think, on House.
Over the years, the seasons,the writers began to see that,
while I can certainly hold myown and play, the drama of it,
which is probably why I wasthere in the first place.
(22:09):
I'm a goofy guy.
I think I bring a certain sortof levity to a lot of situations
and they start to use that totheir advantage in the scenes
and in sort of the mix ofcharacters in the house.
And, yeah, I found that thatsort of became a calling card is
a hard thing to say because youjust never know in this
business.
Suddenly you know I'm being aclown and next thing I'm, you
(22:31):
know, only doing drama.
But I would say if there's,yeah, if there's one theme that
has stuck for me with charactersover the years, it's that yeah,
I can bring kind of a light,fun, devilish something to a
very serious situation and Idon't know what that says about
me.
Mitch (22:46):
Uh, that's probably my friends and family would say
yeah, you never actually tooserious, dad, um, and uh, it
works, it works for me and hashelped pay the bill, so I'm
happy because I was gonna say inyour, your star wars character
when you were sitting therebeing questioned, your guy he
does a really good job of liketrying to be serious, but then
he's like you could tell he'snervous, so he's kind of like a
little fidgety yeah yeah, yeah,that I believe me.
Peter Jacobson (23:09):
That's actually if I was going to say there's
one thing that has helped me getwork, it's the fidget and the
nervous and the anxiety that Ido know I have in abundance.
I let it rip, you know, I getcast and there it is.
Tom (23:32):
I think in some ways you know there's.
You know, if you need a nervousor an anxious guy, then
probably somebody somewhere isthinking of me, and I'm grateful
for that.
Now I'm sorry I had not watchedfear of the walking dead.
I think I watched like thefirst episode when that show
first came out.
Mitch (23:36):
However, long ago it was I've watched it.
Tom (23:39):
Well, there are a lot of them now.
Peter Jacobson (23:40):
I mean, there's a lot of spinoffs.
Yeah, there was walking deadand fear, I think was the first
spinoff.
Now they, they've got one.
That's like you know a lot ofthe kids, it's a whole universe,
that the characters are in andout.
There's a big fan base for thatshow.
They love that show, but it's aparticular taste For your
character.
Tom (23:58):
I think you did what.
Ten episodes on Fear theWalking Dead?
Yeah, I think so.
Yeah, over a couple seasons Idon't know if we're doing like a
spoiler reveal what happens toyour character.
Do you get eaten by zombies?
Do you get shot by some othersurvivor?
Peter Jacobson (24:11):
Well, I will not .
I mean Fear has been doneshooting for a year or so, but
because of streaming anybody canpick it up.
So I will not spoil whathappens to me but I'm no longer
on it.
But how I become no longer onit, I'll leave that to the
audience.
There's some dramatic events asthe series winds to a close,
(24:31):
and I am indeed swept up in that.
Tom (24:35):
You get eaten by a zombie?
Peter Jacobson (24:37):
I don't get it I don't get it, come on.
Mitch (24:38):
I survive, I like how, in Fear of the Walking Dead, your
character was introduced, beinglike the rabbi that I mean.
I guess kind of.
He kind of failed his communion.
Peter Jacobson (24:52):
I don't know what you call them.
You're mixing religions here.
Sorry, the group that you lead,jews, don't do communion, come
on.
Tom (24:58):
God Mitch, get it together.
Mitch (24:59):
Sorry, sorry Come on Mitch, the group that you're in
charge of, basically they kindof perish.
So then your character isintroduced that way as someone
that's just you know trying tofind his, continue to find his
way, so I thought it was reallygood, yeah.
Peter Jacobson (25:16):
Yeah, it was very dramatic.
That's what I loved about whenI read the script you know, he's
a, very he's a.
He's a rabbi and he has asynagogue and a and a community
of people who go to the templeand they've all perished.
I've got them all locked awayin the temple and so you don't
realize that he's living.
You know he's being a rabbialone and that he's struggling.
This is the good part as anactor, that he really was
(25:38):
struggling with the tragedy oflosing his whole.
What you would say in thechurch is Paris, I guess, his
whole community Congregation,yeah, his congregation, his
whole community, and that's sortof the yeah, it's congregation,
exactly, thanks, oh, mygrandmother would be so upset I
needed to ask if that works.
Um, but yeah, and the greatreveal in that episode is that
you know he's all by himself andall of his congregation are
(25:59):
zombies in the back room and uh.
So, yeah, taping that was, uh,both physically and mentally,
was a really fun thing to play.
Tom (26:09):
I also wanted to just talk about one movie in particular
that I saw, because, as a fan ofthe New York Yankees, there's a
great movie in here that livesin Yankees lore and that's 61.
Oh yeah, For that movie.
How'd you get brought into thatproduction?
Peter Jacobson (26:31):
well, congrats.
I hope you guys make it to theWorld Series this year first.
I hope so, because it's beenquite a while since we've been
back yeah, although as a youknow, growing up a Cubs fan, I
can't feel too sorry for youbecause we're sort of at
opposites of the spectrum.
My dad was a bat boy for theCubs in 1952, which is a pretty
(26:52):
cool thing as a Chicagoan so Ido feel very connected to
baseball and the Cubs.
But I'm a huge sports fan.
So anytime again, like with,you know, with sci-fi, getting
to kill zombies, that's a reallyfun thing to do.
Playing anything with sports isfun for me to do.
(27:15):
I just auditioned for BillyCrystal when I, you know, just
liked everybody else and somehowhe, you know, latched on to me
a bit and, you know, and thoughtI'd be good in this part.
Again, a reporter, a pushyreporter, so maybe I've got that
in my blood.
He saw that and I went throughthe audition process and just
got it.
I was, you know, I was sothrilled because, you know, we
were out at the LA Coliseumshooting these sports scenes.
And then in Detroit, at the oldComiskey not Comiskey, that's
(27:36):
my Chicago, that's White Sox theold Tiger Stadium which had
been abandoned but they gussiedit up to be the old Yankee
Stadium and it was just great.
Yogi Berra came to the set.
Mickey Mantle's family andBilly Crystal was so passionate
about that movie.
You know, it was right at thetime when McGuire I guess
McGuire and Sosa had just, youknow, broken the records a
(27:57):
season or two before, and sothat was, you know, it was a
great, great.
I mean, that's probably my.
It was my first sort of decent,decent role in a film and I was
in heaven the whole time.
I love sports, I love baseball,and so to be around that was
just a total joy.
I loved it.
And then so, yeah, it's a moviethat people really connected to.
I mean, billy just knew what hewas doing and it was his
(28:19):
greatest love.
I mean he's a huge Yankee fanand it was great, I also.
His all, his daughter, jennyJenny Holy, she was in it.
She played Roger Maris's wife.
So we, jenny Foley, she was init, she played Roger Maris' wife
.
So we sort of crossed paths alittle bit in that movie.
And then years later she playedmy wife on that, which was
really fun.
Tom (28:35):
Really Kind of coming back full circle.
Yeah, I guess we didn't seepeople from back in the past,
and now they're along for theride further on.
Peter Jacobson (28:44):
Totally, it's really fun.
I mean, ultimately, it's a hugegroup of people out there who
are acting and sometimes itfeels really small.
Mitch (28:51):
Even.
Peter Jacobson (28:51):
Lisa Adelstein, who is Dr Cuddy, and how she and
I had done a scene together ina movie 15 years earlier in New
York and as good as it gets withJack Nicholson and you know
just were introduced to him, andthen, decades later, literally
we're, you know, on housetogether.
It's very fun.
Did she recognize you?
Uh, no, I recognize her, soyeah we did this movie.
(29:12):
Like who are you?
No, no, no, I think she did.
She remembered Because we hadthis like three days of doing
this long restaurant scene withJack Nicholson.
She and I didn't really haveany lines.
He was reacting to us, we wereyou know, in this character as
good as it gets.
She was nominated for an Oscarfor he just cropped the old man.
He's anti-Semitic and we're,these two Jewish people at the
(29:34):
table and he's, you know, sayingthese anti-Semitic things and
we just had to really react.
It was a fun scene but it was along scene that we shot over a
few days and we got to sort ofsit there with Jack Nicholson
for a couple days.
There's a lot of downtime.
He's so great and was just solovely and warm and open and
(29:54):
telling us about his life.
Tom (30:00):
So that was an experience that neither of us ever forgot.
I wouldn't be able to act.
I'd just be like holy crap,it's Jack frickin' Nicholson.
That is basically what happenedto me.
Now everybody kind of jokes.
It's like you'll be seeing himstand there.
He won't have sunglasses on.
Then you'll turn, look back andhe has them on.
No one ever saw him, they popout.
Peter Jacobson (30:19):
It's like Wolverine they just pop out of
the temples in some weirdsuperpower way.
Tom (30:25):
Now looking at all this other stuff that you've been in
in movies and shows for manyyears, even a video game credit
for Cars.
Peter Jacobson (30:34):
Oh, yeah, that's right.
Oh my God, my son loved that.
That was amazing.
Yeah, that's cool.
Tom (30:45):
When did you?
I mean, as you worked your waythrough the, I guess, the
hierarchy of acting and gettingmore roles, getting steady work,
you know, getting pitched a lotof stuff like, oh hey, we saw
you in this, what do you thinkabout doing this?
Like, when'd you feel like you?
Peter Jacobson (31:06):
I guess you made it.
Um, I don't, I think you know,except for that upper, upper
level.
Um, my, at least the peoplethat I know, and I know a lot of
people who have succeeded uh,you know her fabulous careers.
And then people like me who,well, I feel like I have a
fabulous career but I'm more ofa journeyman, and you know, I
mean, not everybody knows who Iam and I can't just, you know,
I'm not making movies, gettingmovies made on my own.
And then there are those whoI've worked with who have
struggled more to, you know, tohave a regular career, and all
actors, and I think on mostlevels, rarely feel like they've
(31:28):
made it.
That's a part of it, for sort ofone of the weird tricky things
in this business where you makeit for a certain amount of time
and then you don't, because youknow you can get hot or you can
for, for whatever reason, youwork for two straight years and
then suddenly you're not workingand there's no real logic to it
.
So I felt there's been markersin my career over the years when
I felt like, wow, I certainlyhave been bumped up to another
(31:49):
level and I think there is anoverarching growth to my career,
which I feel very blessed aboutand love it, and I work
steadily and that's great.
But along the way, I would saythings like house or 61 was
probably one of those momentswhere I thought, whoa, I'm
moving up.
You know, I I've never.
Maybe it's just my anxiouspersonality.
I never feel like boy.
I've made it, um, you know, andI don't know what making it
(32:12):
really means.
If having a career and making aliving is making it, then yeah,
I've done that.
But in terms of being like astar or somebody who can
generate projects on my own withmy name power, then I've got a
ways to go.
Still, cars 2 was one of thoseweird moments where I was on
House and I got the offer.
I didn't even audition.
Doing a Pixar film was fabulous.
(32:35):
They knew who I was.
People at Pixar put me and joemontagna together as these two
sort of funny bad guys and if Igot the script, I was like wow,
yes, like you want to do this,I'm like uh, yeah and uh.
But the fact that I didn'taudition felt like, oh, you know
, I I have made it to a certainlevel here I'm getting offered a
pixar.
That's a wonderful thing.
(32:56):
So, um, you know, but it goesup and down.
When I'm not working for sixmonths, eight months or a year,
for whatever reason, I you know,at night I'm like, oh, have I
really made it?
Tom (33:06):
I mean I feel like you have .
I mean looking at your crap.
I mean Transformers is on there, cars, cars 2.
Mitch (33:11):
Well, moving on to kind of the meat and potatoes of why
we're here today, is the Smile,the Smile 2 that comes out on
October 18th.
What was your thoughts when youlanded a role with this movie?
Peter Jacobson (33:22):
I was very excited, first and foremost
because the character was justgreat and I fell in love with
him in my first read of the role.
And then, when I auditioned forhim and put him on his feet and
was called back to meet thedirector and read it with him, I
just felt like this guy fits mereally well and I and I love
(33:46):
his, just the depth and thesadness and the anxiety of him
and he's sort of an odd duck inthis world because you know,
he's not.
I'm a bit of an outsider inthis movie.
Now, honestly, I'm not a.
You know I had not seen thefirst one and I'm not a horror
film fanatic.
I love a good movie and a goodscary movie, but I had to go
ahead and watch the first onewhen I was auditioning, before I
got the role.
I went and watched the first oneand I was absolutely terrified,
(34:09):
but in a good way.
And you know, I know thedifference between schlock and
great filmmaking and this again,it's not something that I'm pro
at in terms of horror.
But I knew right away that thisguy, parker Finch, this guy
knows how to make a movie and Ithink that's what happened for
him.
He's a young guy who did thisindependent or short film that
(34:29):
some that people saw, orParamount did it, and suddenly
it was a bit of a discovery,like wow, this guy really knows
what he's doing and you can tellwhen you're in the hands of a
filmmaker.
And just watching Smile 1, theoriginal Smile, I was like just
the movie angles, the shots, theway he moves the camera.
I was like this is a differentkind of horror movie and that's
saying something because,believe me, the market is
(34:50):
saturated with horror films andit's hard to break out.
And he broke out with this, andrightfully so, I think.
And so I was excited that thiswas a good movie and I think the
script was great and sureenough doing it.
You know you're with a filmmakerwho knows what he's doing and
even if terror and horror andgore and shock is not my strong
(35:13):
suit, at least in terms of myexperience, it's great fun and I
love doing this new kind ofmovie.
And you know Naomi Scott wasunbelievable.
She's this young woman, she'sBritish.
I didn't know, I mean I knewher from.
I guess she'd been in a Disneymovie.
But you know she's also afabulous singer and you know our
stuff was all together.
(35:34):
I just had my stuff with herand she was such a pro and so
good and carrying the film onher shoulders so I was just like
, wow, I'm going along for thisgreat ride and it's so scary and
so fun and uh was thrilled tobe on it well, from a lot of the
early reviews that I've kind ofread over.
Mitch (35:50):
In different articles they've talked about how it's
already gotten pretty successful.
This is what people think sofar, after seeing seeing the
first one.
What do you think makes thissuch a successful sequel?
Peter Jacobson (36:03):
Well, again, parker instinctively writes very
real people, even thoughobviously what makes it a horror
film is that it's not a kind ofcircumstance that we get
through every day.
It's not a rom-com, it's notlike the West Wing or whatever.
It's not a rom-com, or you know, it's not like the West Wing or
you know whatever.
It's not a naturalistic pieceof work.
(36:23):
But no matter how heightened orscary or crazy something is,
it's always successful.
The rule of thumb has to bethat you believe these people
and you believe their situationsand that comes from
well-written characters inhonest relationships and really
well-acted.
And he knows how to get a goodperformance out of somebody and
(36:44):
he knows how to set realsituations that we as the
audience are going to get drawninto.
So you've got real people.
I remember Stacey Bacon in thefirst movie was fabulous.
I mean, she sustained thisterror for two hours and I was
like that is a.
That was a real feat.
And you don't do that without agreat director, a great script,
great writing and great crewand great fellow actors.
And so Parker's gathering thisgroup for the first movie and he
(37:08):
just hit it out of the park.
It's a very real.
What's unique is totally real,real people doing real things in
a very unreal situation.
So the creepy is deep, becauseyou're relating to these people,
I mean.
So she was just so real and yetshe's got this insane situation
happening.
(37:28):
And he's done it again, parker,with the second one, just on a
higher scale.
Just everything's elevated,it's universal Now.
It's just much.
It's just much bigger andscarier and more terrifying for
more people.
And I think you could goforever with this thing.
Mitch (37:46):
It's great, it's just up the ante, as I see in the first
movie.
It was really creepy and it hada lot of kind of like the jump
scares and stuff.
And then I haven't seen thesecond one yet, but I've seen
the trailer for it and it feelslike it does a lot more with
psych, like your psychology, asopposed to just what jumps out
at you in this one right andthat's the difference, you know
when you're watching a movie.
Peter Jacobson (38:07):
Look, anybody can do a jump scare.
Um, I could even do it, like Icould probably do that, and I
don't.
I don't know how to do it.
Um, I'm not minimizing thosewho are great horror film
directors is obviously not thateasy, but I mean, it's an easy
way to scare somebody.
And Parker is smarter than thatand has combined and there are
great horror films and they alldo this.
(38:28):
They're jump scares, but theyare even jumpier and scarier if
you are connected to the peopleand the situation and the
relationships.
He's really taken the time todo that, to make sure these are
real people, and so that's goingto make the jump scare even
greater.
And I just think he knows thatinstinctively.
And yes, in Smile 2, there aremore, but they work because you
(38:52):
are even that much more investedin the people in this film.
Mitch (38:56):
Okay, and then another question I had for you was we
talked about this earlier.
You might not be able to tellus a whole lot for you, was you?
We talked about this earlier.
You might not be able to tellus a whole lot, but what's?
What can you tell us about yourcharacter in this film?
Peter Jacobson (39:06):
well, I can say that he's this sort of
mysterious outsider who knowswhat's going on in terms of the
smile terror, and I cross pathswith Skye, who is the star Naomi
, and I am you know, she's in astate she's, you know, this has
(39:28):
taken a hold of her life and Itry to help her and to break the
terror and to break the chainof the terror before it's too
late.
So you know, we know from thefirst movie this unbelievably
malevolent and sinister force,um, and I somehow, as knowledge
and information, I'm going totry to help her through this Um
(39:49):
and uh, that's, that's what Ican say.
But the film is uh, the filmitself is relentless and it's in
this air and in this scare andin this sinister force.
And what's sort of sweet aboutmy character is that there's a
little bit of a calm.
He's there to help, and that'spart of what turned me on about
(40:12):
the role.
I was like, wow, this movie isterrifying and yet I felt right
away how real my guy is.
Morris is a very real man who'sbeen through a lot and he's
there to help.
I like the sort of sweethumanity of that in this
terrifying situation.
Mitch (40:28):
After seeing the trailer for this one and watching the
first one.
The first one kind of leavesyou on your edge of your seat
because the threat can basicallycome from anyone, because it's
kind of in the character's mind.
So I'm interested to see how,because, like in the trailer,
you see her doing like herdancing on stage, and then like
she sees somebody on the stagewith her and there's one where,
like she's in her dressing roomand the guy's not there, and
(40:51):
then she looks in the mirror andhe's there.
Tom (40:53):
I don't watch too much show anymore.
I like sleeping at night.
Peter Jacobson (41:00):
I don't.
But yeah, that's what was sogreat about the first one the
line between what's real andwhat's not, which is not
something that's you know,that's a pretty common theme in
horror.
But again, parker does this sowell.
He does it in terms of storyand he does it technically.
As a filmmaker, you don'talways know what's real when
(41:22):
you're in a human's head of notknowing what's real.
That's terrifying, and it's notjust a jump scare.
Is that real or not?
You're coming at it from thecharacter's perspective and
that's terrifying.
Tom (41:35):
I was wondering what your take would be on this.
I'd seen a lot of other actorsdoing interviews talk about it,
where they act in dramatic stuffand they were so scared between
takes.
It's very serious.
They acted in a horror movieand it was the most fun I ever
had in my life.
Peter Jacobson (41:49):
Yeah, it is really fun the stuff that I do
with Naomi as our story,whatever part of the movie is
our story.
As that goes on, it gets moreintense and it's really fun and
for me it wasn't scary.
Let me tell you what was scarywas Naomi, because she's so
committed and she's so real inthis role and she's so good that
(42:10):
when you're playing the scene,that terror is real.
I'm watching a young woman thatterrified and that's Naomi is
an actress and she's fabulous.
But you know, when they say cut, yeah, you've got to get 200
people around you and you mightget hit in the ear and then
somebody you know picking theirnose in the corner and we're
back to work.
So it didn't really scare me.
(42:31):
The scariest part was thatbecause the lighting was also
really great.
I mean Parker, he's got a greatteam and this is a
terrifying-looking film.
There were a couple momentswhen I couldn't find my mark in
the dark.
I was scared of that.
I wasn't scared of the dark, Iwas scared I was not going to
hit my mark and then we've gotto do it again and then I'm
pissing everybody off.
So that was a scary moment.
Tom (42:48):
It's like get another guy in here.
We need somebody else who canfind these.
But they need you becauseotherwise you're going to get
your eighth Oscar for this one,honestly.
Peter Jacobson (43:00):
Yeah, that's right.
We're going to get on Wikipediatogether after this interview
and fix something.
Tom (43:06):
I'm going to make an account just so we can edit.
It's like he's also the person.
He's the first person to everland on Mars.
He can divide by zero.
That's right.
Peter Jacobson (43:14):
We're just going to stow you all these laurels.
Fine man, A couple of NobelPrizes, I'll take it.
Tom (43:22):
I mean, you're the only one I've ever seen who has seven.
It's absolutely wild, it'sgetting scary.
Looking at all these peopleyou've obviously acted with, I
have one question and I knoweverybody's probably like well,
you guys are going to talk aboutHouse, you guys are probably
going to talk about Hugh Laurieand I know people who have
thought Hugh Laurie was actuallyan American.
But, knowing what I know, he'sEnglish and you see him in house
, you know serious to sardonic,sarcastic witty, and then you
(43:44):
watch him in blackadder and he'sjust a bumbling imbecile.
Yeah, and you want well, hughis go ahead.
I'm sorry, is he like that?
Which version, I guess, wouldyou say, is he like normally?
Peter Jacobson (43:59):
he's got both of them and that's what's amazing.
He was, first and foremost, anamazing actor and he is an
amazing clown and again, he'snot just goofy.
His work, even his bumblingclown work is so grounded and so
real because he's such a greatactor.
That's why he's an exceptionalcomedian and an exceptional
(44:21):
dramatist.
I mean not dramatist, he's nota writer, he's an exceptional
comedian and an exceptionaldramatist.
I mean not dramatist, he's nota writer, he's an exceptional
dramatic actor.
And House was.
Again, he brought his twinkleto House, who is a very dramatic
role.
But you know as well what madehim so successful is that he
brings his comedy to it.
But the comedy comes after thereality and that's what makes
him so funny.
Hugh, as a person, is thefunniest and smartest person
(44:45):
you'll meet.
He's very serious and he had ahuge show to make work and we
all knew we were doing that.
The bar was set incredibly highand at the same time he's the
most clever and funniest personyou'll ever meet, at any moment.
That was there.
So it was sort of a big jumbleof Hugh talent and just a joy to
be with.
Tom (45:04):
Makes me happy to hear that .
You always see these actors andit's just like, oh, what are
they like in real life?
You see posts on Facebook allthe time.
It's like 10 actors I met whowere total dicks and it's like
you know, and they're theserenowned people and I was like
there's no way.
Peter Jacobson (45:21):
No, no way at all.
I mean, that's not to say Iwasn't scared of him when I
first met him, because, you know, first of all, he's like quite
my height and size, but you know, but that happens to me a lot
I'm smaller than just abouteverybody.
No, he wasn't physicallyintimidating, he you know, he
was you know, he set the bar sohigh.
(45:44):
But you don't have a show likethat that successful with a dick
at the helm?
You can't.
You know, number one on thecoffee.
You've got to set the tone andyou've got to.
You know you're essentially.
You know, I mean he's notwriting the thing, but he's
running the thing.
It's his show and it's his.
Uh, it's his game and um, andif he's not pleasant and
(46:09):
wonderful, then everybody'smiserable.
For eight years, and he wasfantastic.
I mean, we look, it's a, it's afamily and it's a rigorous bit
of work.
And so over the years that Iwas on it, there are moments
when you know there are tantrumsand there are.
You know things happen serious,not serious.
There are.
You know things happen serious,not serious, but you know it's
hard work.
And so there are certainlystressful moments, but all of it
(46:29):
was uh, ultimately, you know,you have to have people in
charge who are people at the top, who are setting the tone and
doing it right and and arefriendly and loving and caring,
and uh, and that's you would youalways?
Tom (46:41):
we always like to ask actors this question when we
have them on, especially if theyhave quite a substantial amount
of acting credits.
If they ever had a goodstarstruck moment.
One of my favorites was a guywe interviewed a couple months
ago.
He was on Walker Texas Rangerand he got to meet Chuck Norris
and fight him and get his buttkicked by Chuck Norris.
He's like the whole time I wasjust smiling, he's roundhouse,
kicking me in the face.
I'm like this is great, it'sChuck.
Mitch (47:00):
Norris, chuck Norris and Flash Gordon at the same time.
Peter Jacobson (47:04):
Yeah, it was a double whammy.
Wow, I don't know that I couldact in that situation.
Yeah, I mean, I was firststruck by Hugh initially.
There were moments throughouthouse when we had scenes
together and he's giving me helland we're shooting you with a
ray gun, or you know.
Uh, you know, there were somany great fun scenes and there
(47:27):
were.
It's never, I was never without, even though he becomes your
friend.
There was.
There were so many moments whenI was like, wow, I am sure
lucky getting to do this withyou, this is you, this is house
and I'm doing it.
It's great fun.
But then even something likewith jack Nicholson, where I
hardly I don't really have anylines, and it's only a few days.
Yeah, I was lucky, I didn'thave lines because I wouldn't be
(47:47):
able to remember, because I waswith Jack Nicholson.
Tom (47:51):
So so no, just major starstruck moment, where you
just stand like holy crap,that's Michael Caine or
so-and-so.
Peter Jacobson (48:04):
Well, Robert De Niro, I did a movie called what
Just Happened and my scene wasRobert De Niro and we had a
walk-and-talk where we'rearguing about the movie.
Yeah, I mean, I don't know,maybe I'm distracted, but it's
rare that you can find an actorwho can be that focused, that
you don't have that moment whereyou're like, well, I'm doing
this to Robert De Niro.
I mean, come on, I'm not, I'm ahuman and it's intimidating.
Tom (48:25):
Did you hit him with any of his quotes?
Like he starts talking andyou're like are you talking to
me?
Peter Jacobson (48:29):
No, that I will not.
That I'm, you know.
Because I think, if any adviceto a young actor, don't do that
with a star, because Becauseyou're pretending like you're
not starstruck, and so the firstsign of starstruckness is to
quote him back to himself.
That would have been a deathsentence.
Tom (48:48):
Top tip of the day Don't quote famous lines from an actor
to that actor while you'reworking with that actor.
Peter Jacobson (48:53):
Totally, absolutely.
Any bit of advice before I die,that's it.
Tom (48:59):
Now, obviously we're coming towards the end of 2024.
We're in the final few months.
Is there anything big you gotplanned that's coming up that
you can share?
Um?
Peter Jacobson (49:11):
well, this movie is the biggest thing for me on
the docket.
I'm uh shot an indie film, uh awonderful film a few weeks ago
in colorado and I've got anotherfun film coming up in a few
weeks in New York.
It's sort of a smallindependent feature, so it's fun
to go from sort of thebig-budget thing to the
small-budget thing, but nothingbig on the scale of Smile.
(49:33):
So for me at the end of 24,smile's the thing and I hope
that people are still watchingit at the end of the year.
Tom (49:40):
I'm going to watch the first one and this one and have
nightmares, and Mitchell willlaugh at me when we talk about
it.
I'm the only person who can bescared by a kid's video game,
Spider, suddenly appearing onthe screen.
Peter Jacobson (49:51):
You're going to enjoy this.
I kind of hope you're miserable.
I hope you're miserable.
It means that film works.
Thank you, Peter my pleasure.
Mitch (50:02):
Smile 2 comes out October 18th.
Tom (50:05):
Right around the corner, friday.
Mitch (50:07):
Tune in to see Naomi Scott, see Mr Peter Jacobson and
their starring roles in thefilm and let us know what you
think.
Or let him know we should thinkit's his movie.
Tom (50:18):
That would be great.
Yeah, we don't want to keep youany longer on your Saturday
thank you so much for sittingdown and talking with the two of
us on our little pokey podcastshow totally my pleasure.
Peter Jacobson (50:30):
I hope you guys like the movie and thanks for
your time.
Tom (50:33):
Thank you so much.
This was it for Entertain this.
I'm Tom, and our guest was MrPeter Jacobson.
We'll catch you on the next one.
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