Episode Transcript
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Hey, where's the remote? It's time for TV Topics, where
those who love television discuss the series and
performances that should be on your radar.
Welcome to TV TOPICS. I'm your host, Stephen
Przykowski. Today's guest is the star of a
series which had one of my favorite lines of dialogue of
recent years. You may be surprised that my
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guest was not the actor to deliver that line of dialogue,
but it was his work in the scenethat elevated the dialogue to
much, much more. After watching his work on Prime
Video's new Alex Cross series Cross, I had to speak with him
and I'm glad I did. We had a fascinating
conversation that took me to places I didn't expect.
It's the magic of TV topics learning about my guest through
the TV they watch. Just so you know, there are mild
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spoilers ahead. My guest today, the great Aldous
Hodge. What's happening to y'all this
Alex has and I'm hanging out with Stephen Prusakowski on TV
topics. First of all, thanks for doing
this. Like was.
Thanks for having me man. Hey, the pleasure is all mine.
We'll get into your work and cross in just a few minutes.
But first, let's start with someTV topics.
Remember, there's no pressure, no right or wrong answers, it's
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all just a bit of fun. OK, I'm ready.
Let's go. So looking back over the years,
what was your relationship with TV?
Were your TV junkie watches everything?
Were you very selective to go toshows?
I was always open to everything,but it became selective.
I mean, anime was always there for me as a kid.
It still is here for me now as an adult.
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I love anime. Want to adapt anime properties
into into live action. That's like a big goal of mine.
Love comedies coming up like Fresh Prince of Bel Air.
Martin was a staple in the house.
I think a lot of us were raised on like family matters.
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My mom, my brother, and then when my sister came along
because she's 10 years younger than me.
So yeah, we, I saw those kind offamily shows and then later with
TVI started getting more into the like the niche dramas and
things like that. Yeah, I like, I like.
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Interesting twists on narrativesthat we like, interesting entry
points on there. It's like like most recently
Hijack as a Apple series with Idris, criminal record,
adolescence. I think they were all really,
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really well done. Yeah, so.
I loved Hijack. I watched that in one day.
Yeah, it was tense. We.
Started up, yeah. And I could not stop.
Like you can't stop. Like you have to see what
happens after the credits roll right up until the very end.
Yeah, it was tense. So yeah, I dig it.
What about your first primetime show that you remember loving?
What? No matter how good or bad, it is
the show that was your show. First primetime show.
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I have to think about that. I really do feel like the
earliest thing I can think aboutis probably like Martin and
Fresh Prince. Those were the the ones that we
waited for every single week. And then, you know, there was
like TGIF, thank God it's Friday.
I remember back in those days. But I think that was part of
like the whole family matter saying.
But yeah, Fresh Prince and Martin were hit.
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They were the the two big ones that were really always a
presence, you know, all the way through the years.
I mean, still to this day I love, you know, like I could sit
here, watch Martin all over and still laugh just much.
It's it's funny how the stars teamed up too.
Yeah, I mean, that was pretty awesome, especially for a kid.
When you see, you know, these two guys who are on these TV
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show that you like and then theyjoin and create a movie that you
also love because the man Bad Boys was incredible.
That first one really hit home. That's that's it's a classic
right there for me growing up. So yeah, it was a cool thing,
but also as a as an actor, somebody inspired, inspired to
want to carve a path in that space.
I was hoping to be able to have opportunities like that, you
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know, when I got older. So it was.
It gave a little hope as well. That's awesome.
It's kind of like the first caseof the multiverse.
Worlds collide. Now it's everywhere.
But back then, Yeah. And you made it happen.
Your two favorites. Boom.
Some kind of childhood wish cametrue.
What about a character from any era for any reason that you
would like to have played? I see.
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Hey, I got to think about that. Aside from gross.
Oh, yes, yeah. I'm talking I'm thinking like
even going back to your youth, to somebody that you're like,
man, if I could have, I would have loved to have been on this
set and played this character. I could have nailed it, or just
would have had fun doing so. Either Avon or Stringer Bell
from The Wire just because theircharacters had such an impact.
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And I think there was a sort of a pivotal crossover in terms of
the appeal of their characters into the viable commercial
space. But they also were very much in
the sort of the niche space of being well reviewed and well
received on on both sides of, you know, critics and, and
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commercial audience, apart from the statistics of their their
environments, you know, or the apart from the stereotypes of
their environments. We, we saw a lot of beautiful
careers grow from the wire, But there was something about that
show that really made people lock in and to be a part of sort
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of a, a, a legendary experience like that on the creative side,
I think would be a great opportunity.
So as yeah, it's one of those that.
'D be amazing to see, yeah. And it's such good, layered,
complex characters too. They're not just painted with 11
brush. So you get to, you know, would
you have something really to diginto?
Exactly. Exactly.
Yeah. And is there ATV show that you
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watch that you would think wouldwould surprise your fans that
you enjoy so much? Probably every anime show that I
watch. Which is your favorite?
So stand out. A favorite?
That's a tough one. I would say Jiu Jitsu Kaizen is
definitely there. Demon Slayer commits to no
Yaiba, One punch man let me see.Ronnie Kenshin is always there.
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Berserk was great. Ninja Scroll.
Where did the love originate forthese?
I think just growing up, always being a creative, imaginative
kid, really sort of stepping into my own.
I mean, there was always like, you know, Pokémon and dragon
Dragon Ball Z, then Naruto and Imean Naruto is just span so many
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different eras. It was, it was amazing, you
know, and now I'm just kind of like an anime junkie.
I mean, I kind of watch I'm I'm always searching for things.
I you know, my Hero Academia is great.
I'm always looking for somethingnew that can inform me of one.
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I'm just naturally interested init.
But there's something hidden within anime that is a beautiful
sort of like coded secret to their success.
They get to balance so many tones in terms of the drama, the
comedic aspect of it. Also great narratives.
But their action sequences when done right are incredible.
I mean, there's a anime called Gods of High School and there
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are fight sequences. I could take those frame by
frame, put those into a live action movie and you're looking
at something you've never seen before.
You know, they have so much creative freedom that I love and
it just informs me the way I walk through the world is I look
at artistic things that inspire my my creative sort of back for
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what I want to do and how I wantto do it.
And that's what my language is. You know, I walk through through
arts. So when I see with anime, they,
they, there's so much that, that, you know, so probably over
stimulation. I don't know, but there's so
much there that teaches me aboutdifferent ways to approach
certain things that aside from it just being entertaining, it's
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just equally educational. And I just, I love it.
I love it. So I think anime is probably
what we get people like really. Yeah, Anime, man, it's dope.
Yeah, I was surprised when you said it at 1st and you know,
it's a, it's a kind of a huge audience, but I never, I could
never connect. I always felt like I don't know
where the end point is so. What is the?
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I can tell you that. Have you ever gone to like a
Comic Con? Your Comic Con ISM an amazing
amount of anime coverage. Yeah, I, I've been to Comic Con
a couple times, always invited as a guest, but I've never gone
just to just to go. But I mean, it's amazing.
Last time I was at Comic Con wasfor Cross and we had a great
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time there. But I've been there for like,
like Adam, for Green Lantern, even for, for leverage.
And it's always just been an amazing time.
But yeah, me and me and Comic Con, man, it's it's fun.
You get to see so much cool stuff.
You're kind of like a kid in theplay place.
And I mean, the effort that these people put into their
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cosplay costumes is insane. I'm like, why?
At least everybody that needs tohave a career in costume because
the way they build these things up is, is absolutely nuts.
And they're so impressive. And a lot of times they they
look like, like this outfit could stand.
It's, you know, could stand the test of time on a film set and
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actually be used for, you know, these people are incredibly
talented. So for me, it just, I soak it
all up, man. I soak up the art.
Well, your passion for anime is on display, like when you walk
the floor, you're just immersed in people who are, you know,
like you said, the the time put into the cosplay, but the
knowledge they have and the amount of different things you
can, you know, the things you can buy and discuss and the, and
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the panels they have going on. It's like it's such a massive
world. It's not just, you know, ATV
show, it's it's connects with a much different level.
There's also this thing called Lightbox.
So I Co owned a company called 9B collective.
It's a visual development studioand you know, there's that we do
world building character design for projects and things like
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that. And sometimes we have to design
and make characters, things likethat.
So me and my partners, it's PhilPete Junior, Mike Gawande.
We do light box where it's celebrates, you know, artists in
the industry who do all these things, all the anime artists,
all the cartoon artists, all thepainters, all the, you know, so
we have a panel there with our artists, but you get exposed to
so many great talents that you're like, wow, I didn't even
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know this kind of level, this skill level was possible.
But these people are truly incredible, man.
So I'm just a fan of it because I'm an I'm an artist myself, not
on the the anime side. I wish, but I do product design
and you know, things like that, But it just, it's, it really is
amazing what people are capable of.
It's intriguing. I want to learn more.
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I've got to check your check that out lightbox you said.
Yeah, Lightbox, it's a cool event, you know, we have like
that and then we have awards after for for artists, but.
I'll be sure to check that out. Before we continue with the TV
topics, let's discuss some of your incredible work in Cross.
Let's get it, brother. It was quite the surprise.
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I didn't even know it was coming.
So when I saw the name, I was like, could it be?
And then when it was, I was like, oh, I was.
I was pulled in from the first episode all the way to the end.
Thank you. I I read you were the first pick
for the character, is that true?Yeah.
And and what was the pitch for you to on Alex Cross?
Well, so far as I know it is true and, and I'm really
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grateful for that. And it really wasn't a pitch.
It's just I heard that I, the script came across my desk.
I read like maybe the 1st 10 to 15 pages.
And I said I definitely want to be a part of this.
I'm good because, you know, I, this is already answered
everything that I I've been looking for and asking for the
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last couple months. So I just met with Ben, the
creator, and we sat down and really just talked about life.
We didn't really talk so much about the show directly.
We didn't even talk about the character in terms of how we saw
him being played. We just talked about, you know,
where we were in our lives as men, as individuals and got a
sense of one another. And that's kind of what kicked
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off our working relationship. You know, it was very open,
honest discussion and a very forward discussion about what
the how we saw things, how we saw responsibilities, how we saw
the, the tone of the nature of the show being driven.
You know, because I was also coming into it as a producer and
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we, we talked about how we see the set being run and we had a
lot of synergy. And from there, we just moved on
to getting the ball rolling and making the show.
Was it always from day one an original story or did they
consider doing some of the booksor how did that?
Always, always been said from from the beginning to the teams,
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he said. I'm going to do original stories
every season. It's basically going to be a a
new book, you know, book and basically a start and finish.
But we treat each season like 1111 whole story.
But it's always going to be driven by original foundation
and I think that is great. What it does to me personally as
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a fan and audience member is it allows us to explore the world
across, but we have the books and now we have a show to
complement the world across. And we get, you know, we have
the books that we love and then we get new adventures with the
TV show and we get to see how the crown across reference,
which is just it's amazing. So I think that the way it's
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done and the way it's sort of orchestrated is the best way to
go about it. And I'm happy that we we get to
breathe new life into some of these characters footsteps.
And the character's been around for decades, so and it played by
also, you know, the the legendary Morgan Freeman.
What did you want to do to make cross your own?
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Do you have any goals? I mean, so I answered like this,
I didn't have any direct goals about trying to make it my own
because I knew as a as an actor,we're always going to whatever
role we do, whatever we step in is always going to automatically
be ours, right? So, and I tell actors this like
that's the thing you don't have to worry about because the thing
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that makes you special is you. That's something no one else can
duplicate, right? So what I focused on was how do
I make him honest? How do I make him a full human
being and, and layered and sincere And what he was going
through, how he was trying to approach it.
I was just trying to navigate through the trials of being a
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man, being a father, and then having to step up to the plate
to be what he represents to the people around the city that he
protects. But he's going through so much.
So I, I approach like I approachevery other character.
What is the nucleus of his honesty?
And then, you know, I move out from there.
So it wasn't Alex Cross, it was who is this, who this man is,
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what this man's dealing with, what you know, what are the
ingredients of his life and thatmake him who he is.
And then and finding that like you said, finding that that core
and building out. Yeah, exactly.
It removes a lot of pressure from having to fit into a
particular mold, you know, and it allows you the freedom.
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As long as I understand the tenets of the character and what
the principles, the foundationalprinciples of this character's
ambition and motives are, I can anchor any truth to that and
make it viable. So for me, it, it just really
came down to just that. Where's his sincerity?
Where's where does his fear lie?What does he want?
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Why can't he get it? You know those things.
But I, I, I stay away from any distractions that may
unintentionally impede my process or, or influence my
process. I didn't even read the books
prior to taking on the role. I started reading the book maybe
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after second season because thatwas another thing they told us
like don't read the books. It was like, all right, because,
you know, they didn't want us toget ahead and know too much to
try to fit into that and us to fill up the characters
ourselves. And then, you know, ride that
first season and find it as performance.
And we did. And then afterwards start
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reading the books and, you know,obviously I, I understand why
the books are so successful, they're great.
But there's just a different process when you're actually
doing the research to application.
Our job as actors is to build, and we got to build.
Yeah, well, that's a great approach because like when
you're playing an Alex Cross or James Bond or a character that
has an established people have an established idea who they
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are. Well, you can try.
You might want to try your instincts make say, let me try
to play this character. So for your approach to go the
opposite way and say, OK, I'm going to play this person and
who grows into this character. And then you nailed it.
He lands and he's got a great foundation to him where I don't
I never once in a compare. I just watched and I got totally
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wrapped up in who he was and andthe situation he was in.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Thank you, man.
I appreciate that. Thank you.
I mean, we had fantastic writingthat was from the get go.
And then we got lucky with amazing casting and you know, we
had great directors, great producers and just honestly, it
takes a lot to make some of these things work.
And we just had the right positioning when it came to, you
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know, our team. And I'm, I'm just happy that I'm
a part of this production because professionally I don't
think I've ever been this fulfilled ever.
So that's great. And, and, and when you're doing
something like this, it's deals with serial killers and and very
dark parts of the world. Were you a fan of that?
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Like that genre, crime shows, serial killers, things of that
nature before joining on? Oh, yeah, You know, I mean, I
remember growing up watching like Dexter and things like
that. You know, I'm always, I'm
interested in human motivations as it relates to certain things
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that seem for me personally, like uncomprehensible.
I'm like, how could one do this,you know?
So it's interesting to go down aroad map of somebody's being
just to understand what people are capable of, what they what
they go through, what pushes them to do certain amount of
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things. And then also in the sense of
understanding motives. When it's done well, when it's
done right, I think ATV show is more than just entertaining.
It's engaging, it's educating, it's exposing 1 to a different
side. So and I just like mysteries.
I like capers, you know, I like clues and puzzles.
That's how my brain works. I'm a big nerd.
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So when there's something where like, oh, I got to go figure
this out, how do I, you know, jump on it?
And then each episode is hit me with a cliffhanger or something
like that. Now I'm I'm no longer just
watching a show, I'm engaged in an experienced.
So yeah, man, I love all that stuff.
So when they brought this to you, did you know everything
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going forward? Like, did you just get all the
scripts or were you kind of leftin the dark for some of it?
So you did have that kind of moment of discovery as a
character does. Yeah, there's, you know, for the
scripts, we got them like week by week, but sometimes at the
table read, like sometimes we would get the scripts with
certain moments redacted or blacked out.
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And then you get to the table read and you figure out, oh,
this person dies and this persondid that.
You're like, damn, man, this is how it went down South.
It was actually pretty fun. But I, I have obviously an
overall understanding of what the season is and what what was
going to happen. But you know, Ben even likes to
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keep certain things away from mejust so that when we're working
and acting, we're not working ahead of ourselves, performing
to get to a point. He likes to keep that surprise
factor. But yeah, I generally know what
the what the season is supposed to look like.
Yeah, well, he had some great cliffhangers.
That was some of it, you know, some of the slow reveals trying
to piece together what exactly, you know, the motive is, and
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then the involvement of different people and and, you
know, there's so many different parts.
It's not just like, you know, this one piece, it's pieces all
over and you're trying to see where this puzzle and how it
takes takes shape. So even like at the end of some
episodes, you had one that endedwith some sound effects and
you're like, wait, well, how who's dead?
Who's who's injured? After this, you like, you have
to skip to the next thing. It's like, definitely keeps you,
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you know, strung along. Exactly.
That is one of the things that Ilove the most about the shows,
that it did keep me on my toes. It kept me excited and I felt
like I if I'm excited, hopefullythe audience is going to be
excited. But he just really did a great
job of stringing out like suspense and it got real
intense. It got, you know it.
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It took you to that place where you didn't know what was going
to happen, jumping out of your seat.
That's the kind of like event television I like to be a part
of. So I just like I said, I got
lucky to be a part of an amazingly gifted crew.
Did you get involved in researchor anything for the role?
Like to play somebody who does track down these type of
killers. Oh, yeah.
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When it came to the actual work,we talked to detectives prior to
getting into the first week of shooting.
Isaiah and I went. We did ride alongs.
We interviewed detectives, homicide detectives in in the DC
districts who run cases like ours.
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Talk to actually, a detective whose life nearly mirrored
crosses, almost beat by beat. You know, he's father.
He had kids. His wife was murdered.
Unfortunately, he had to deal with the grief of how he felt
about the killer during the trial, areas where he felt like
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the, you know, the sort of the police community may have let
him down in that particular situation.
And there there was just so manythings that I, I really
appreciate speaking to him aboutthat because I saw the human and
I saw where Cross was not a caricature of a situation or
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scenario because this was real. And like I said, only difference
between me and that brother or Cross and that brother is that
Cross is black and he was white.And other than that, almost beat
by beat, they had the same experience.
And I said, wow, talk to an actual friends and psychologist
to see how she one, she counseled other police officers
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as a therapist, but also understood how to break down the
mindset and the psyche of a criminal and learning those
things and those tactics, understanding how to just read
people, bodies, habits, ticks, things like that.
Definitely not an expert, but you know, we're, if you know
what to look for, we are far more obvious than even we know.
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And it gives you a different sense of awareness whenever
you're, you know, walking through a space and, and what
you look for. So but that was pretty cool.
And on the physical side, you know, Isaiah and I are both very
Isaiah plays Samson. We're both very particular about
getting the movements right, thebehavior when we're walking
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around, when we're in pursuit ofof criminal, when we're doing
gun work, all that kind of stuff.
We want to make sure that if a cop looks at the show, they're
looking at it saying, all right,they know what they're doing,
you know, they know how to answer a room.
They know how to move through getting a suspect.
They know how, you know what I mean?
So yeah, we take it very, very seriously, man.
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Yeah, one thing I really liked about the character is how, and
it probably some of it was comesfrom you getting to learn from a
real life person dealing with this.
But it's how there's an open wound with his wife and it's,
it's never healing. You know, it's, you could see
the pain in him and he still hasto go after this person who's
hurting others and find that balance where you're not taking
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out your, your grief and your anger about what happened and,
and staying cool enough just to to, you know, follow the law and
to do the right thing. Especially when you have the
fanboy killer and you have Ryan,who's so great as Ramsay and
just want to punch him in the face.
And you're like, how does he notjust grab him and just like just
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throw him off a bridge? Just say game over.
Well, yeah, man, it's I I love the way that grief was handled
because it is real and it's not something that you would pass
over. I mean, I could imagine.
I love the fact that they kept it throughout the storyline
instead of maybe tossing it off in one or two episodes.
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And it's like, all right, well, what happened to that?
It's like, no, this is what really shapes him.
And this is what really, you know, motivates or deflates
whatever he does and how he doesit because this is the human
journey. You know, it's not about the
situation of cops running aroundcatching bad guys.
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It's a, you know, people who arewho happen to have these jobs
when they're trying to get through their life and what else
affects them around who they areas human beings.
You know, to it's a story reallyabout brotherhood, friendship,
you know, between Samson and cross family, because cross
sitting there trying to be the best father he can be while in
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the midst of doing this very dangerous job, you know, and
single parents. So what does that look like
being ATV show? We get to explore all these
things, which is amazing. We get the runway to to dive
into all these things that, you know, are in the books that we
love and we want to see sort of maximized.
And for me, the vulnerable bits are the human bits.
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And that's what people really connect to.
And that's what me as an actor, I I love because that's where
the opportunity lies in performance is how far and how
deep can we go emotionally to tell the story?
And what are the stakes and surroundings surrounding factors
that challenges in that space and how do we move?
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I'm interested to see how he gets through problems.
So again, you know, with the grief being an anchor for what
could push him forward or hold him back, we see how that
permeated every area of his life, which it was just a
wonderful, wonderful opportunityfor performance that that I
just, you know, I'm grateful for.
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And it's so much more than just like a mystery or being focused
on how it all comes together andhow it ends.
It's about the characters. It's about the scenarios, the
writing, the humanity, the emotion.
That's why it works. Exactly.
One of my favorite lines of of the year, maybe one of my
favorite lines ever is you had me at motherfucker when that
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happened. I was, I don't know, I, I
watched it twice and both times had the same reaction.
I don't know, it's just like it's just some kind of visceral
reaction because it's so it's ina moment where you are are kind
of letting down your guard and you're finally and you're
finally saying, Hey, here's what's going on.
You're being, you're being raw, you're being vulnerable.
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And then there's this, there's this true motion, but then
there's also humor. And then but what it really
exposes this, this silent bond between between the characters.
Yeah. Just want to say how great that
was. I wonder was that always
scripted exactly like it was? How?
The script is titled You Had Me a Motherfucker.
It was always written in there. It was great for me.
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That was one of my favorite moments, and it was obviously
motivated by the previous, you know, fight where we were
blowing up in the locker room scene.
And to me, that was my favorite scene to actually shoot was the
locker room scene because we hadbuilt this and established this
beautiful relationship of brotherhood between these two.
And now, you know, it may all just crumble.
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And I was imagining how the audience was going to receive
that and take it. And Isaiah and I, we had a great
deal of fun shooting that scene because we were like, yo, man,
let's go harder. Let's make it crazy.
Let's do that. You know, so we were pushing
each other and behind video village, every, every time we
did a take, people would get emotional.
Some people were crying. They were like, oh, no, the the
boys are breaking up and Isaiah and I are sitting in the back.
(29:38):
We're laughing because it is, you know, it's like some people
felt like, oh, this is real, youknow, but we had a lot of fun
because we understood the value of what those moments meant.
Obviously, coming to that pivotal moment where, you know,
Carlos goes so apologize. You see what real brotherhood
actually is and what it should look like because it doesn't
(30:00):
matter what goes down. We still, I'm still be here for
you. And I love what that moment
represented. But yeah, it was it was cool.
It's one of the coolest moments I've been able to be a part of
in TV. I, I think, you know, maybe you
know, of course, the, you blowing it up and making it so
big beforehand really had you questioning, is he going to just
shut the door in his face? Is, is he going to turn his back
(30:21):
on him? And then when he says that line,
you're like relieved. Like I said, it's just so many
different emotions and reactionsto it.
And it's like, and then you're like, it's kind of like, it's
kind of like the couple superheroes getting back
together, like let's go, let's go and just solve this crime.
And you're like, shit. Yeah, yeah, man, that's awesome.
Cool. There you, man.
Thank you. I absolutely loved it.
(30:41):
I I as soon as I watched it, as soon as it happened, I was on
online tweeting about it and I'mlike holy shit I love this.
Oh, that's it. Look.
I know more Alex Cross is coming.
Yeah. Anything you could share about
that upcoming seasons? I wish I could, I can't, but I,
I can do that. It's, it's really good.
(31:03):
I, I, I think I can share that we have tested it and a lot of
people really love it. And with, with a great deal of
people saying, look, love the first season, but the second one
is better than the first. And we're like, really, I guess
we'll take it. But yeah, man, that's all I can
say. That's all I can say.
Well, some dried bread crumbs were thrown out there in the the
(31:24):
mid credits scene at the finale,so we're wondering how that all
comes into play. Yeah, yeah.
You know, can't speak to it, butmaybe 2.
I don't know, you know, do. You know when it comes out.
I wish I could tell you. Oh, you don't.
Even have a date. You don't have a hard date yet.
But yeah, we're still waiting onon when that date drop is going
(31:49):
to be. I hope soon.
I mean, I wish it was yesterday,but yeah.
But well, it's done, so I peoplehave seen it.
So obviously we're we're, we're getting close.
Yeah, yeah, absolutely. All right.
Let's close out with a few more TV topics questions.
So you you grab a remote control, the genie pops out.
He offers you ATV based wish that your your option is your
(32:12):
the question is this or the offer is this.
What TV show do you want one more season of?
It can be a prequel, it can be an extra season added somewhere
in the middle, or it can be 1 tagged on at the end to to close
it out or to extend the story. Same cast everyone, it's magic.
So everybody and everything is the same as it was as if it was
produced when it was originally produced.
What series and why? It's a lot of power, so you can
(32:37):
take your time. There's a few, there's a few and
that's tough. And well, they just brought back
Black Mirrors, so I can't say that because I did get another
season there. I would say it's either like
Hijack, Game of Thrones or Top Boy.
If it was Game of Thrones, wherewould you want the extra season?
(33:00):
In the middle of the tag on to the end Extension of the story.
If I could do another season of Game of Thrones, I probably
would take the last season and stretch that out, probably throw
in a bigger budget for a few more of those battle scenes, but
stretch it out to to let a few more of those storylines
breathe, you know, amongst the Starks and all that kind of
(33:21):
stuff. But if it was top boy, I mean,
you know, our guys died in the end.
But I think I would want to stretch a season in there to
show how they started, you know,so I think the the beginnings of
(33:47):
their relationships and how theyeven got to the game.
And with Hijack, I just want to see an extra season where, I
mean, I don't know if they're hijacking something else, but I
I want to see, you know, what the next what adventure looks
like for, for Idris's character,just because he's a great
(34:09):
negotiator. And it was, yeah, it's a really
psychologically, it was really quite an interesting take on how
to deal with a hostile situation.
So I want to see what the next adventure looks like there.
A lot of holding your breath during that one.
(34:29):
Also actually the Watch Watchmenwas a well done series and I
would want to see what the next chapter of that looks like as
well. That's a great choice.
I think it's the first time thatcame up.
But you have to make a choice. You have to roll the dice.
You only get one. But we'll, you know, when that
genie shows up, you've thought it through.
So so how about favorite theme song?
(34:52):
Is there one that you can't skip?
Every time you watch a show, youhave to listen to it.
Fresh Prince of Bel Air is pretty iconic.
You know, it's oddly it's eitherthat or power on stars.
You know, they have a very iconic theme song as well.
When you hear that theme song, you know it's about to go down,
you know? So yeah, it's either the the
(35:12):
song Powers or Fresh Prince of LA all.
Right. I had a feeling that Fresh
Prince would pop up when you when you said it early on.
I'm like that's that's that's anold timer.
On the playground, that's where I spend my days, chilling out,
maxing out. Man.
Come on bro, we all know that song.
That sounds so good. It doesn't need ATV show, that's
(35:33):
how good it is. Yeah, it's awesome.
How about ATV death? You would stop if you could.
All right, so there's Pedro Pascal's character in Game of
Thrones. The leg sweep is torture when
they're going. We're we're, we got past this,
(35:54):
we're all good. And then the leg sweeping like.
Yeah, so it's it's I would say it's either that or I'm going to
go to Jujitsu Kaizen and I wouldstop, even though it's in the
manga, I would stop Megan me cook cooking Saki's death.
Yeah, yeah, I would stop that. I, I mean, the, the JJK fans
(36:16):
know exactly what I'm talking about.
And I mean nobody. No, I said mega, mega me is a
different nobody Kukatsaki, because yeah, that's a that's a
hard one. I mean, I, I'm AI love the the
(36:37):
show, I love the characters. Unfortunately, some people got
to go, but nobody Kukatsaki's death was a hard one to take and
one I didn't even want to believe.
So yeah, I would say that one all.
Right now I'll have to look intothat.
I I anime is not my thing but. Trust me, when you see you're
going like, Oh no, the way she goes.
(36:59):
But it's tough, man. It's tough.
And how about the greatest moment in TV history?
Oh man, you know I can't. It's a big question.
I have no clue what that is. It doesn't really have to be the
like the defined the objectively, it's just one that
that had the most impact on you.Something that happened when
you're done, you're like, OK, that was great.
(37:20):
TVI just started asking this question and I've I've loved the
answers like it's a tough one, but it's really.
You know what, I I got to give that to most recently,
adolescence because of the way the cinematography was handled.
I mean, these single runners done, I can imagine what the
(37:40):
rehearsal look like on I mean, they treated these episodes like
they were plays And you know, the mastery of going from a
close up to A to to a wide to anaerial shot all the way back
down to a close up seamlessly without stopping, without
cutting that I was like in my whole mind after a certain time
(38:04):
I I was watching the show, I think it was around the second,
second or third episode where I'm real.
I'm like, Oh, wait, this is one shot.
Actually after the first episode, towards the end of the
first episode, I had to rewind and I was like, wait a minute
and I didn't. Then I realized I was like, Oh,
it's been one shot this entire time.
You know what? It was done.
So I think I got to give it to them because talk about a feat
(38:30):
to accomplish that, That's brave.
That is true brevity. So yeah, I'll give it to them.
Yeah, I think what they did there was incredible.
And there was one shot that I was like, wait a second, how did
the camera get through these people?
And then I think it's it's like a crane shot.
So then the camera pulls back and like, did someone grow
wings? Is it?
(38:50):
How can you possibly, you know the the ambitiousness to not
only make it a one hour show, but to throw in these complex
shots and to tell a story that completely allows you to forget
that you're watching cinematography Master class.
The shot towards the end of the first episode where they move
away from the school, go to the aerial shot and then go down to
(39:12):
where the father is visiting thespot where the little girl died.
So I think what was that what that was was because that's
that's where I first noticed it.I think that a Cam op probably
what I heard was they took the camera, it was a steady Cam and
then they hooked it to or like for the arrow shot, they hooked
(39:38):
it to to like a drone. So it was a very small camera
that they put on a drone throughmagnets and then took that arrow
shot all the way over to the parking lot.
And once it landed, the other Cam operator just smoothly
removed it and put it on their their drip so they can go for a
steady Cam shot again. I was just like how it's a whole
ballet. It's a that camera.
(39:59):
If you watch it behind the scenes, it's transferring hands
like nobody's. And I'm like, how are you doing
this so smoothly where you don'tsee the you know, man, it it was
that was a master class in in cinematic style.
That DP is insane. Completely agree on that one.
All right, I'll close out two last questions.
Four TV shows that make up your TV Mount Rushmore.
(40:23):
My TV Mount Rushmore. God Dang it, man, God Dang it.
TV We have to keep you at 4:00. There's no more room on the
mountain. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
So let me see TV. Mount Rushmore would definitely.
I got to put Martin up there. Let me see, Damn, this is a
(40:46):
hard. I'm definitely going to put
Cross up there for sure. Martin Cross solo levelling.
It's something else. Damn.
There's a lot to pick from. Or is tough or is tough.
Martin Cross solo levelling. Luther.
(41:06):
I think I'll give it to Luther. I think those are four unique
answers. It's always good so far,
everybody, I believe everybody'scome up with four completely
unique and I've had some that goback to the 70s and some that go
across the pond. So it's it's a really
interesting to to see what TV stands on that mount for you.
All right, final question. If you had a magic door, one
(41:27):
that allowed you to access ATV show and live in it whenever you
want, popping in and out, you don't.
And when you walk in that door, your regular life pauses.
So you don't list any of your real life, but you can go and be
in that world as a real world, not as this TV set anytime you
want. Which TV show and why?
(41:48):
There's something really appealing about suits for some
reason jamming in that legal world.
I mean, I might kick it to an anime just because of cool
powers like, you know, Naruto orlike I said, Solo Leveling
because, you know, it's just a cool world.
But if I had to put it to, and these are good questions, man, I
(42:13):
was, I was not prepared. touché Sir, touché.
I definitely don't want to live in a Game of Thrones world.
I'm not trying to die that every5 seconds.
Good call. I'm coming out mad at Lord of
the Rings. I mean, being an elf would be
cool, being an elf would be cool, but that's a hard one.
(42:34):
I'll be honest with you, man, I couldn't even tell you.
I don't know, I do not know, butif I had to, if I had to fall
into something, it would be either Naruto or Solo Level.
Just because I'm trying to have some cool powers, man.
Obviously the Love's there for it.
So we're cool powers enjoy the world.
I'll take it. Oh well, thank you so much for
(42:55):
your time. I really enjoyed the
conversation, learning more about your work that wouldn't
across and learning a little bitabout your TV viewing and and
how it connects with you. So thank you for your time
today. I appreciate you man, thank you
for yours. Have a great day.
Well, that was my time with eldest Hodge.
Be sure to check out his work onPrime Videos Cross.
(43:16):
As you've heard, the first season is now streaming and the
second season is not far behind.It's quite the wild ride and I
know you'll enjoy it. Keep tuning into TV topics and
be sure to subscribe on Spotify or Apple Podcast or wherever you
find your podcast. And if you really enjoy the
show, please give it a five starrating.
It really helps. You can also follow TV topics on
(43:37):
Instagram at TV under score Topics.
Thanks for listening and stay tuned for more TV topics.
TV Topics is produced by StephenBrzekowski.
ZAP.