Actor Michael Chiklis joins us to talk new movie 'The Senior' and more!
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Episode Transcript
Real fun with Mario Lopez's.
Speaker 2 (00:03):
Up old Mario Lopez, Jordy right now, any whinny actor?
My man, Michael Tickliss, How.
Speaker 1 (00:08):
You doing, Michael, I'm great, Mario, are you, man?
Speaker 2 (00:11):
I'm doing well sometimes to see you. Your new movie
looks fascinating. It's called The Senior. It's based on the
true story of a guy who went back to college
and played college football at the age of fifty nine
after being expelled when he was younger. I remember this story.
I'm so glad it's finally being a movie.
Speaker 1 (00:27):
It's such a great story. Man. When I read this,
I was like, could this really be? I mean, did
this actually happen? And sure enough it did? And I listen, man,
I played. I was the captain of my football team
in high school and I still have aches and pains
from that experience. Right, I like, how did this guy
do this? And meeting Mike, I'm like, okay, yeah, he
did this. He's kind of a He's a beast.
Speaker 2 (00:49):
It's unbelievable being how physical it is. Now the guy
who the film was based on, Mike Flint, was actually
on the set too, right.
Speaker 1 (00:58):
Yeah, And that was daunting because you know, I've done
some bio pictures in the past, and you know, the
idea of having the guy there, I was like, is
he going to be here every day? Right? Exactly? So
at first there was daunting, but once I got to
know the guy, he's just lovely. It ended up being
an incredible tool that he was there because I could
(01:19):
turn around and go to him and say, hey, Mike,
you know when this was going on, what were you
going through at the time. I ended up using him
as a resource, you know what I mean. It was fantastic.
It was actually beneficial for me, and Eileen was great
to his wife. And they weren't like they were completely unobtrusive.
They didn't stick their nose in it. They were fascinated
(01:39):
by the process. They had never seen a film being made,
and they were all stricken by the amount of work
we do. Like they were blown away by the work
ethic in twelve and fourteen hour days. They had no idea.
You know, I think a lot of people out there
think we just live a glamorous life and go to parties,
and you know, they don't realize that we work those
(02:04):
our tails off and you know, it's hard work.
Speaker 2 (02:08):
No, absolutely, most people are blown away when they finally
get the opportunity to kind of wuse it firsthand. By
the way, when he did decide to go back and
play at fifty nine, could he still play?
Speaker 1 (02:19):
Yeah? I mean you know that you couldn't make a
college team, especially in West Texas, unless you could run
with it. Wow. The thing is, Mike happened to be
a strength trainer and a coach for some major universities,
so he always used to say, I'm thirty days away
from being in field shape. Yeah. He always kept himself,
(02:40):
He'd always put himself through adversity physically, always so that
when he decided to do this, he was able to
get himself tuned up so that when he went into
two days, he was ready for it. Two days Man
and August in Texas at fifty nine. It hurts thinking
about absolutely. When I was making this movie, we were
(03:02):
playing football for twelve hours a day. My eyebrows hurt,
everything hurt me, and and you don't have the same recovery.
You're briddled, you know, or believe me? I know.
Speaker 2 (03:12):
That's why I love this movie and everything about it
is so inspiring, and the fact that it's true is
obviously even even better. I still participate in violent activities
like boxing and jiu jitsu, and yeah.
Speaker 1 (03:22):
Man too, you know, I listened, and that thing is
i've I'm an actor. I've. I was just coming off
of playing Red Horobox, so I was heavy, and you know,
you're playing the guy in his early seventies. And I
had six weeks and I had to just work my
ass off to get there. I'm sorry. I had to
(03:43):
work as hard as I could to get to get
rid of it. And you know, I mean, you know,
so up and down and up and down. You know. So,
by the way, no more of that now. If anyone
wants me to get heavy to use AI, I'm not
doing it.
Speaker 2 (03:59):
It is.
Speaker 1 (03:59):
It's hard. At my age. I won't do it anymore.
Just for my own health, I don't want to do
it anymore. Yeah, you know, I'm staying down. I'm staying fit. Baby.
Good for you, man, you look great. You look great.
Really quick.
Speaker 2 (04:10):
I know you got another film on the way with
Liam Neeson and Rissa Toomey.
Speaker 1 (04:13):
Uh, The Mongoose.
Speaker 2 (04:15):
That sounds cool.
Speaker 1 (04:17):
It's a fun you know, it's a it's a fun
action flick and it's really smart. Actually, when I read it,
I was like, Wow, there's Shakespeare references in this piece,
you know. And Liam is awesome. And Marissa Tomay and
I went to college together at Boston University.
Speaker 2 (04:32):
Oh wow, that's good.
Speaker 1 (04:34):
We had never gotten a chance to work together. That's fun.
I love Melbourne, Australia. I love Australia period. You know
what I love about Australia The Australians. And do you
know why if you ask an Australian what do you
guys say when something goes wrong? The first thing they
say is, maris might She'll be right. They are the
(04:55):
most can do people. They didn't. They're unflappable, like things
could be on fire and they're like, no, ourries, she'll
be right. They don't. They just don't panic. I love
just no panic in them, and so I really enjoy
that about them as a group.
Speaker 2 (05:11):
That's a great learned I learned that in Crocodile Dundee.
That's all right, that's right.
Speaker 1 (05:16):
You came out with that should be right?
Speaker 2 (05:19):
Yeah, let me say all right, last question. You were
recently on the cover of Cigar and Spirits magazine. I
happen to have grace that cover myself. You got a
favorite cigar.
Speaker 1 (05:28):
Yes, I do. I love the my father beju. It's
a torpedo. It's not for the faint of heart. It's
a strong cigar. But it's that last thing of the day,
you know, when you're when everything's quiet. Yeah, and uh,
you know, I just once in a while, I like
to have me a nice strong cigar and a little
(05:51):
scotch and there you go. Likewise, that would a man
of taste. I love it. After all the hard work.
Speaker 2 (05:56):
Hey, you deserve it. Congratulations on the film. I really
look forward to checking it out. Hope to get to
see you in person, and everyone be sure to check
out Michael in the new film The Senior, which hits
theaters on September nineteenth.
Speaker 1 (06:09):
Thanks for checking in, Michael, Hey, thanks for being with me.
Speaker 2 (06:12):
Pau with Mario Lopez.
Host
Mario Lopez
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
The Burden
The Burden is a documentary series that takes listeners into the hidden places where justice is done (and undone). It dives deep into the lives of heroes and villains. And it focuses a spotlight on those who triumph even when the odds are against them. Season 5 - The Burden: Death & Deceit in Alliance On April Fools Day 1999, 26-year-old Yvonne Layne was found murdered in her Alliance, Ohio home. David Thorne, her ex-boyfriend and father of one of her children, was instantly a suspect. Another young man admitted to the murder, and David breathed a sigh of relief, until the confessed murderer fingered David; “He paid me to do it.” David was sentenced to life without parole. Two decades later, Pulitzer winner and podcast host, Maggie Freleng (Bone Valley Season 3: Graves County, Wrongful Conviction, Suave) launched a “live” investigation into David's conviction alongside Jason Baldwin (himself wrongfully convicted as a member of the West Memphis Three). Maggie had come to believe that the entire investigation of David was botched by the tiny local police department, or worse, covered up the real killer. Was Maggie correct? Was David’s claim of innocence credible? In Death and Deceit in Alliance, Maggie recounts the case that launched her career, and ultimately, “broke” her.” The results will shock the listener and reduce Maggie to tears and self-doubt. This is not your typical wrongful conviction story. In fact, it turns the genre on its head. It asks the question: What if our champions are foolish? Season 4 - The Burden: Get the Money and Run “Trying to murder my father, this was the thing that put me on the path.” That’s Joe Loya and that path was bank robbery. Bank, bank, bank, bank, bank. In season 4 of The Burden: Get the Money and Run, we hear from Joe who was once the most prolific bank robber in Southern California, and beyond. He used disguises, body doubles, proxies. He leaped over counters, grabbed the money and ran. Even as the FBI was closing in. It was a showdown between a daring bank robber, and a patient FBI agent. Joe was no ordinary bank robber. He was bright, articulate, charismatic, and driven by a dark rage that he summoned up at will. In seven episodes, Joe tells all: the what, the how… and the why. Including why he tried to murder his father. Season 3 - The Burden: Avenger Miriam Lewin is one of Argentina’s leading journalists today. At 19 years old, she was kidnapped off the streets of Buenos Aires for her political activism and thrown into a concentration camp. Thousands of her fellow inmates were executed, tossed alive from a cargo plane into the ocean. Miriam, along with a handful of others, will survive the camp. Then as a journalist, she will wage a decades long campaign to bring her tormentors to justice. Avenger is about one woman’s triumphant battle against unbelievable odds to survive torture, claim justice for the crimes done against her and others like her, and change the future of her country. Season 2 - The Burden: Empire on Blood Empire on Blood is set in the Bronx, NY, in the early 90s, when two young drug dealers ruled an intersection known as “The Corner on Blood.” The boss, Calvin Buari, lived large. He and a protege swore they would build an empire on blood. Then the relationship frayed and the protege accused Calvin of a double homicide which he claimed he didn’t do. But did he? Award-winning journalist Steve Fishman spent seven years to answer that question. This is the story of one man’s last chance to overturn his life sentence. He may prevail, but someone’s gotta pay. The Burden: Empire on Blood is the director’s cut of the true crime classic which reached #1 on the charts when it was first released half a dozen years ago. Season 1 - The Burden In the 1990s, Detective Louis N. Scarcella was legendary. In a city overrun by violent crime, he cracked the toughest cases and put away the worst criminals. “The Hulk” was his nickname. Then the story changed. Scarcella ran into a group of convicted murderers who all say they are innocent. They turned themselves into jailhouse-lawyers and in prison founded a lway firm. When they realized Scarcella helped put many of them away, they set their sights on taking him down. And with the help of a NY Times reporter they have a chance. For years, Scarcella insisted he did nothing wrong. But that’s all he’d say. Until we tracked Scarcella to a sauna in a Russian bathhouse, where he started to talk..and talk and talk. “The guilty have gone free,” he whispered. And then agreed to take us into the belly of the beast. Welcome to The Burden.