November 19, 2025 • 39 mins
Sure, Nathan and Alan have stellar careers now – they're number ones on their respective shows! (Have they mentioned that before?) But once upon a time, they were just starting out, hustling to make it in Hollywood. Alan was once the 104th actor to audition for a role because the casting director didn't want to call him. And another time, Nathan played an octopus named 42.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
I'm a scrapper as an artist, so I gotta I
still gotta. I have to audition a lot. A lot
of people go, we know he can be a robot,
but can he be a robot who cares? And so
I have to I have to audition for that too.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
It's can you.
Speaker 1 (00:19):
It's a different kind of caring from the last robot
who cared that he played gotchah. Once we were spaceman, man,
I tend to play weird people, usually aliens and robots
and things that don't have romance.
Speaker 2 (00:42):
I once didn't get a job where they were looking
for a Nathan Fillian type once we were spacemen.
Speaker 1 (00:50):
Once we were spacemen.
Speaker 2 (00:53):
This episode, Alan, Yes, just you and me, we're gonna
hash some things out. Oh okay, I read just read
in an article. Friends who like poke fun at each
other are more likely to be a long term friends
and the more loyal friends.
Speaker 1 (01:08):
Ah yes, because they feel like they can say whatever
and they're not like hiding their business.
Speaker 2 (01:14):
Yeah, if anyone needs to take you down a peg,
you can count on those ones to do that for
You'll they'll tell you the truth about something, and you know,
because they're always gonna they're gonna really be about something,
but in good natured way. This part of the show
is called what are you thinking? You have this incredible show,
(01:34):
You're having a great time. You're doing a lot of
really creative things. Resident Alien really enjoying it. Some great
special effects too. And you said, Oh, I'm gonna call
up my buddy Nathan to do something that will fit
in his schedule because he can't just come to Vancouver
all of a sudden. Agree, he's got his own job.
I'm gonna have him be an octopus in sushi restaurant.
Speaker 1 (01:56):
Right number forty two. You are just jealous me cause
I discovered another alien. Who is my people, my real family.
You are just a distant cousin who lives in a
mobile home.
Speaker 2 (02:08):
Hey, cousins are real family. I'm at least more family
than that dumb land seal sitting next to you.
Speaker 1 (02:14):
Do not talk badly about this beast. When I give
him treats, he is happy. When I give you shrimps,
all you do is complain.
Speaker 2 (02:23):
All I said was could you serve them with a smile?
What are you thinking?
Speaker 1 (02:28):
What was I thinking? I was thinking fans were gonna
love this, and in fact do you know what the
cast gift was, So this is a final season. We
just finished a minute ago on Monday, and at the
time of this recording, we just this week finished. Congratulations,
fourth and most likely final season. The cast gift was
(02:50):
make Up Effects gave everybody little forty two's. They gave
out a ton of your characters because it's a character favorite. Also,
I meant to send this picture to you. Did not.
At the cast party for the fourth and most likely
final season of Resident Alien was forty two. He was there.
They had a couple of alien things. They had the
(03:12):
alien body, they had some masks and some different alien faces,
and then they had forty two up on a pedestal,
which was appropriate. They loved your character and then they
loved Also, your death was one of the most exciting
things because you were killed by a dog just chew
toyed up and we didn't have much of a budget,
which is one of the reasons why it's probably most
(03:33):
likely the final season of Resident Alien. And when you died,
I insisted on giving you chest compressions in an attempt
to revive you, which when you're an octopus is it's
its own death sentence because it's all of my weight
just being forced into you. But they didn't have money
for the FX, so what they had with this rubber
(03:57):
you forty two, they had a little filament And your
tentacle came up and touched me on the cheek as
you were telling me in your dying breath to go
on and whatever happens if I when I die, eat me,
eat me with white wine and a garlic butter sauce.
I think lemon butter sauce. And the little tentacle comes
(04:19):
up and touched my cheek, and it's so obviously a
filament on there, and it's so obviously just being crappily
puppeted it it makes it that much funnier. I will
never forget to you.
Speaker 2 (04:34):
It was an honorable death. Honor my life by eating
my said bunny and a butter sauce with that, And I.
Speaker 1 (04:52):
What did you? What did you?
Speaker 2 (05:04):
But you were really selling the emotion. First of all,
thanks for having me, Thanks for having me on your
show that.
Speaker 1 (05:11):
I don't know how you died so quickly. Forty two
was gone too soon, too soon. Thanks you were you
were my compadre at home that I could confide in.
Speaker 2 (05:21):
And not the first time we were together. I actually
tried to get you on Castle. I know we had
a great character for you. This this basically we find
you having been murdered and you pop back up and
you're not dead, and someone was clearly trying to kill
you and never succeeded. You kept having these near death
(05:43):
or would actually die and come back, and I was
convinced you were Bruce Willis from the movie where he
gained superpowers and he can't be killed and oh right.
Speaker 1 (05:55):
The film Nathan is thinking of is.
Speaker 2 (05:57):
Unable and you couldn't do it. Unfortunately, you you you
were You're You're a working man, you have other jobs.
I totally got it. We got Jonathan Silverman to come
do it, actually.
Speaker 1 (06:08):
I know, and he did a really good job, which
he did.
Speaker 2 (06:11):
I'm not going to complain.
Speaker 1 (06:12):
It's it's not okay.
Speaker 2 (06:14):
We did get tour together in the Rookie.
Speaker 1 (06:17):
Yes, I've been doing Resident Alien now for seven years.
It's been my life seven years. We did four seasons
in seven years. We weren't great at scheduling. I'm gonna
I'm gonna say plus COVID and anyway, Canada doesn't get
our show, not that they don't get it like I
don't understand. More, like they turn it on, it isn't there.
(06:39):
There's nothing to turn on. It's gone to Netflix. It
has not gone to Netflix in Canada. You can't see
it on Netflix. So I went to the KHN and
I was signing Firefly things, and I was signing Star
Wars things, and I had a ton of people come
to me and talk to me about Rookie. A lot
of young people. I meant to tell you this because
(07:00):
I have none of them would like to know this.
Probably a bunch of young people like I love you
on the Rookie. Are you going to come back to
the Rookie? I love the Rookie? When do you come
back to the Rookie? So I had that because for Canada,
that's the only work I've done in the last seven
years is The Rookie, and they want more of my
character there. So just saying I'm just putting it out there.
Speaker 2 (07:20):
I'm not gonna lie. Alan, you were a big hit,
not only on the show. Your character is hilarious, you
do great stuff. You were a big hit not only
with me because you know I'm your buddy, but you
are honey as hell. Just watching your process watching you
come up with stuff, the stuff you just find just
(07:41):
that occurred to you is amazing. But you're also a
huge hit with my ladies cast and crew. Oh oh
and okay, tell of them are ladies. Right, You're a
big hit. People enjoy your company, they like having you around,
they enjoy watching what you create, but they have to
spend the day with you, and I think that's for
(08:01):
them the worthier part. And then people they go home
and people say, what's alan to look like? And then
they can go you know what, he's great, total jerk. Oh,
the total jerk. He's great at being an a hole.
Speaker 1 (08:15):
Well, you and I should probably get together and do
something again on camera. If it's the rookie, fantastic, if
it's something else, fantastic. We kind of did it on
resonating and not really you were an octopus. It was
your voice. So we didn't get as much going on,
as much play because we didn't get to do back
and forth like we would normally get to do.
Speaker 2 (08:33):
It's true, Yeah, just let it let it rip, boy.
That would have been castle, Castle be castle. We would
have had a lot of free right. I would have
tip could run that. We could run that one would
have been lovely. Yes, did get to work together in
con Man. Yeah, let's go back, Alan con Man. What
were you thinking, man?
Speaker 1 (08:54):
My career at that point in time.
Speaker 2 (08:57):
Was in the shitter. No, it wasn't.
Speaker 1 (09:02):
There was a pro I was having issues, man, that
was a big, big problem. So I wanted to make
this thing con Man because I'd been writing it for
a while. I wanted to make the heist movie. But anyway,
I had a manager say, hey, go pitch this as
a TV show, and so I pitched it at this
one company that was making little short form entertainment. So
I pitched it as a fifteen minute episode thing, and
(09:24):
then I fell in love with it. So I just
kept writing it and that thing all fell through, but
then I just enjoyed writing it. So I just kept
writing it and writing it right, and ended up writing
the first season. And I was going around with our
friend PJ, who was producing two different people. Went to
Gail Berman, who canceled a little show called Firefly, and.
Speaker 2 (09:41):
He didn't though. I think in going back, I think
she was there when it happened. I don't think it
was her call. I think that's no, it was it's
haunting her.
Speaker 1 (09:48):
I think she it is haunting her and she takes
credit for it. Though okay, she didn't deny it.
Speaker 2 (09:53):
I might be wrong.
Speaker 1 (09:54):
I always thought it was Sandy what's his name, the
other guy who she worked for, that did it. But
the way she talked about it sounded like somebody who
canceled Firefly. She said, you know what, nobody ever says Alan,
I picked up Firefly.
Speaker 2 (10:08):
See haunted that poor that poor lady.
Speaker 1 (10:12):
She's done great work in her career and she continues
to do great work. In fact, I'm working for her
right now. No, God bless yes, she and I'm doing
an animated show with her called Grimsburg and John Ham.
We just got picked up for season three.
Speaker 2 (10:28):
Love that guy Hulu. I really like that guy.
Speaker 1 (10:31):
Yeah, so she's She's so, I was. I was At
the time. We were taking it around, trying to get
it sold, trying to get sold. Nobody was buying it. No,
everybody kept saying, we know, I don't think short form anyway.
It was ahead of its time. And my agents came
to me and said, we want you to be on
this TV show. And there was a TV show that
was going to be going on NBC and they wanted
(10:52):
me for the role, and I said, they need to
carve out con Man. I've been working on this too
long not to do it. And NBC said no, I
won't be allowed to do it, and it was ABC,
I apologies, ABC, you won't be.
Speaker 2 (11:04):
Allowed to do it, and I said, okay, our apologies
go out to NBC.
Speaker 1 (11:07):
Yes, And then I said, let me just do one
episode of con Men on YouTube and that's all I
need to do. I just need to do one episode.
It will satisfy the itch. That's my final offer. And
they were going back and forth with the lawyers, going
back and forth lawyers. I was having to go up
and test for the thing at ABC, and I was
(11:30):
in line to go through the guard shack thing to
get on the lot at ABC, and I got a
call from my lawyer saying they won't go for it.
You can't do any con Man for as long as
you're doing this show. And I said all right, and
I got out of the line, to which my agent
said we're out of here, to which I fired my lawyer.
It was like a mutual thing with my agent. I had,
(11:51):
I had a manager, I had lost all my representation.
Speaker 2 (11:54):
This sounds a lot darker than I remember it because
it ends up being a success story. Right, So they
sounded like really they said this long sounds like it
was soul crushing.
Speaker 1 (12:03):
They said, if you if you go. My agent said,
if you keep pursuing con Man, we can't be your
agents anymore. We need to make money off of you.
And you're not making any money. You keep turning things
down that get in the way of Conman, and but
nobody's buying con Man. So what are you doing. You're
doing nothing. I said, goodbye, get out of here, goodbye.
Speaker 2 (12:20):
I feel that's unfortunate that they didn't see the long
term potential of just the relevance and the idea, the
love letter, that it was just that's that's good distance.
Speaker 1 (12:32):
I wonder if they regret that now they did, because
it wasn't Once we after that, it was like we're
going to do go to Indigogo, go to the fans,
and the fans supported it so much so as you
know that we broke all sorts of records and ended
up being three million dollars to make the first season,
plus we made the game, and we made comic books.
Speaker 2 (12:50):
And I remember, can I do a side note here? Yes,
I remember we did a promo video and they said
something to the effect of, you can't have it be
longer than two minutes. None going to watch it, and
yours was like upwards of seven. Yeah, that's right, and
you said no, no, no, it's gonna be. You don't understand.
He said, no, you don't understand and cut to the
(13:11):
incredible How many huge, big stars, by the way, did
you have in your little promo video? I remember James
Gunn was there, right, Jane, I want to say, was there?
Jeana Torres was there?
Speaker 1 (13:21):
I was there, You were there? Seth Green was there.
I got to go. I went by where he records
all of his Robot Chicken and we he did a
promo there.
Speaker 2 (13:31):
And then there was the unfortunate timing. There was another
couple of guys who wanted to do another show based
in the convention circus. Guy guys who were, you know,
in sci fi shows and.
Speaker 1 (13:40):
Called like con Men.
Speaker 2 (13:41):
Yeah, it was basimilar name and everything. Yeah, just the
timing was unfortunate. But their their video was like the
two of them saying, hey man, this is something we
want to do, sitting on lawnchairs in front of a garage.
It came out like the day after hours did. Yes,
I feel kind of terrible about that.
Speaker 1 (13:57):
They're very nice guys. I'm sure they really are a
star at the time they did, because yeah, we we
just upstaged them. We upstaged them, and we had a
big production vale it because PJ, our producer friend who
was producing with us, he had a flair for you know,
let's get a studio, let's get it. This is how
we need to make it. You know. He had better
(14:19):
idea of production value going in. But I also got
Star Wars then right after the Indigogo launched, and so
my agents who had just fired me, I had a
Star Wars movie and this success Indigogo and all these
people who then really wanted to be in it because
it was such a hit. Everybody knew that it was
a big success on Indigogo. A lot of actors were
(14:40):
very you know, remember you were tweeting. It was back
when Twitter was still fresh and fun, and William Shatner
tweeted for us, and yes, it was really really cool man.
People still ask about it, definitely at the cons. They
would love to have more of it because it tells
the story of people who do cons. So I feel
like it's something that could all be done for YouTube
(15:01):
now finding for YouTube, which is one of the most
successful streaming platforms out there, if not the most successful
streaming plan.
Speaker 2 (15:07):
I'm still pitching the movie. By the way, I have
a little I've got the I got ears out, you know,
people listening, and I always throw that idea out there
and people go h and they write something down. I
don't know, Like I said, never in a million years,
I don't know what they're writing, but they always write
something down. I have another question for you, Alan.
Speaker 1 (15:24):
Yes, what was I thinking?
Speaker 2 (15:26):
What were you thinking? Clearly you're a huge success. You have,
you know, tons of movies, incredible voiceovers. I don't think
Pixar makes a movie without you. Congratulations, it's amazing you
all these incredible things that you do. You lead this
incredible show. How about a failure the worst audition you
(15:47):
ever did that just haunts you to this day.
Speaker 1 (15:50):
But I have so many bad ones. There's so many.
Speaker 2 (15:52):
I don't know if they haunt me, which one would
I enjoy hearing? Here's one that was fast?
Speaker 1 (15:59):
Well is this one's bad? But it also I almost
didn't get Resident Alien because of this that's recent, that
is recent, So it was four. Do you remember that
movie A Dinner with Dinner of Schmucks Dinner with Steve
Carell and right, So I was coming in to audition
(16:21):
for the director and the casting director had said they
wanted me to DG. I audition for somebody else, but
they said, we want to see you for The Blind
Swordsman and we want to see what you do with that.
And so I came in early before the director came there,
and she said, we want you to know that he
does not think that it should be funny that he's blind,
(16:43):
like that shouldn't be the humor. He's a great swordsman.
He just happens to be blind. So I was meeting
Jay Roach and I was like, well, it's kind of
missing a lot of humor there, and she said, well
that's don't don't do anything, just be a good swordsman, okay.
And so the joke was there was a joke in
the scene where he says he goes up to the
(17:03):
wall and he flips a switch which he thinks is
the light switch, and it turns on a ceiling fan
and he says, now I will make everything equal. See
how good you are in the dark, and he flips
a switch and the ceiling fan goes on and I
did that and then I jumped, like did a fencing jump,
right into a wall. And it was exactly what I
(17:29):
was asked not to do, was to be to making
fun of his blindness. I considered it a success because
the two people the guy was running the camera, the
assistant was running the camera, and the other sistant who
was a second reader, both went. They were there laughing,
but they're trying not to laugh out laugh, laugh, so
they're trying to hold in their laugh going. Jay Roach
(17:53):
is dismayed and is like, oh, like, ohh what just
happened in the In the casting director, I remember her
look of just betrayal. She felt like I had betrayed her.
And that's who cast Resident Alien. And they all tell
this great story about Alan. When Alan came in, we
knew it was him, and we had auditioned one hundred
and three people before Alan came in. There's a reason
(18:16):
why I was one hundred and four because she didn't
want to call me. Oh. She's like, I can't trust
that guy. He's going to jump into walls. But I
considered a success because I made those two guys laugh
and it was obviously funny, and wasn't that what it
was supposed to be? So that's me. I have a
lot of failures that are based in my own my
(18:38):
poor judgment in what is important. Making the people who
are running the audition laugh when they're not supposed to laugh.
That was the acme of success, not getting the job.
That's a problem. How about you, Nathan, What were you
thinking that one time when you auditioned and everything? What happened?
What didn't you get?
Speaker 2 (18:58):
I wish I could remember what the project was. It
was on Bob Hope Drive over by. Yeah, I think
the NBC studios in Burbank Warner Brothers. No, Yes, it's
on the backside of Warner Brothers way over there, but
I think it was a separate thing from the Warner
Brothers lot. But I think it's it's over there. And
it was hot. It was like one hundred and nine
(19:20):
degrees in the shade in the valley and I get
to this spot and there's like an entry with a
little lobby, but you can't sit in there. You have
to wait outside. And like I said, it was hot,
and they're behind and they've got I don't know, eleven
people out there wandering around and shade is at a premium.
Everybody's trying a crowd under a tree, and there were
(19:44):
no less than fifteen pages of sides that I have
been preparing, and I am an hour and forty five minutes,
I think outside waiting in this heat because I need
the job, and I get called in. I finally go
in and there's like nine people lined up in chairs
(20:07):
and they're all having what looks to be the same
kind of day. I'm happy they're not. Everybody's unhappy. It's
hot in there as outside. And the casting director who
led me in said, we're just doing scene four, and
it was kind of abrupt, and scene four was like
a quarter of a page, less than one side of
a phone conversation where it's just you on the phone.
(20:27):
There's no one else there. Just good. What do you mean, well,
I can't be there at four o'clock? No you okay, yes,
it's just.
Speaker 1 (20:34):
That you got the job as far as I'm concerned,
my friend, But go ahead, I she.
Speaker 2 (20:39):
Said, we're just doing scene four, and I go. And
I had just kind of come to a thing where I,
by the way, I hadn't worked in a long time.
This is my long stretch of being unemployed and just
a lot of projection. I wanted to try to control
that experience a little more. So I said, clearly, you
guys are running late, and what I hear you saying
(21:00):
is you don't have a lot of time. How about
I do Scene seven. It's about the same length of time.
But I worked really hard, and I think you're gonna
like what I did with it. And she looks at
me with this snarly face like I just slapped her,
and she goes now seen four and I it was
so abrupt and so awful. I just said, well, there's
(21:21):
no way I'm getting this role now, and there's no
way I'm acting for this lady. I said, you know what,
this job is it for me? And I kind of
rustled up the papers and I walked toward the door,
threw them in the trash can, and I swung open
the door and I left, and I was just like
chest out strutting, and I said, yeah, that's a whole
room of people who will never ever hire me ever,
(21:44):
Like have I done? What was I thinking? I learned
a lesson that day. I learned a lesson that day.
Keep it to yourself.
Speaker 1 (22:00):
Man, I don't know.
Speaker 2 (22:02):
Also, go home, man, go home. If they're making you
wait outside one hundred and nine degree heat, say hey,
you guys are running late. Let's reschedule this because that
would have power and three quarters. It's inhuman yeah, in human.
Speaker 1 (22:14):
Yeah, there's a lot of a lot of bad auditions.
It's crap. Now. You don't get the Now you don't
have the fun of going in and sitting in one
hundred and three degree heat. Now, people just give you roles,
or offer you roles, or you audition on tape at home,
and you do it. Have you done any of this?
(22:34):
You don't have to do this stuff. And let me
tell you what it's like. I'm a scrapper as an artist.
So I got I still got I have to audition
a lot. A lot of people go, we know he
can be a robot, but can he be a robot
who cares? And so I have to I have to
audition for that too.
Speaker 2 (22:53):
It's can you.
Speaker 1 (22:56):
It's a different kind of caring from the last robot
who cared that he played gotch Yeah, I have to
audition a lot. So now it's all on. Now it's
all on. You get to just do it. Yourself.
Speaker 2 (23:06):
For you younger listeners at home, going on tape means
recording yourself digitally and bring back to an older technology
where we used VHS magnetic tapes. They were the size
of a shoe box.
Speaker 1 (23:21):
It's so true. So yeah, there have been errors, and
I continue to make them. I still gosh, I'm really
good at making errors. I just so I know that
whatever I am doing is meant to be because I
screw up a lot. I just I make bold choices
when I audition.
Speaker 2 (23:41):
Yeah, but you fall upwards. Alan, You've clearly harved something
out for yourself. But it's not cheap. It's not easy
what you do.
Speaker 1 (23:52):
We'll see from this date on how long it takes
me to get out of acting, because I do feel
like I'm going to get out of acting. I said
this to my wife the other day. You're married, Yes, yes,
you were there at the wedding.
Speaker 2 (24:07):
Remember yes, right, he's a Canadian. She's from my hometown.
Speaker 1 (24:10):
Yes, she's from Edmonton, Carisa. I said, I'm going to
quit acting. And then I got a job offer to
do something in June, and I was like, maybe I
should do this job. Though, this is one job I'll
do because it's an independent movie and it's some really
cool actors, and it was a play that they're going
to make into a movie, and I want to do
a play. So I'll just do a play for a
movie in Chicago and June, because who doesn't want to
be in Chicago and jew So I'm not quitting yet,
(24:32):
but it seems like I'm just all. I think I'm
always going to be quitting now. I'm at that point
in my life. We're at the same age in our
fifties where I think, you know, what will you do?
I think I just write. I could maybe start smoking
weed again. I don't know that the second one sounds
like a bad idea.
Speaker 2 (24:53):
Here's what I see you doing. I'm gonna quit acting.
I'm gonna do this writing thing. I'm pretty good at it. Oh,
I've been writing this. I've been writing this. Oh, I
got sol to be on the set. I'm going to
be talking about No no, no, okay, that's not how
no this. You're playing that step back and now you're
in it.
Speaker 1 (25:09):
So I end up acting my own writing. It's possible.
I do want to I do want to create something again.
I do want to write something again. You mentioned comment
now enough time has gone by from Comman. I remember
it was very hard. I gave myself. I didn't I
didn't allocate enough jobs. I like directed most of the
episodes just because I was afraid to ask directors to
do it.
Speaker 2 (25:29):
So you were afraid, Oh yes, what would happen? Like
what was the fear? Like? Oh if I do this,
then what would happen.
Speaker 1 (25:37):
If they said no? It would make me feel bad?
I don't know.
Speaker 2 (25:41):
If you're a rejection, that's real, that's that's a real thing.
Speaker 1 (25:43):
Yeah, And I had built it up, so I was like,
I'll just do it. I'll just I'll just direct it.
And I gave myself too many jobs. So now I
like directing and I learned a lot from that. But
I now now directing something else, like after after doing
it for con Man, then acting after that was different.
So I was watching directors in a different way after directing,
and now I've directed again and again, it's changing.
Speaker 2 (26:06):
If you could reboot a show from your childhood, Firefly,
oh for my childhood, got it?
Speaker 1 (26:12):
Got it?
Speaker 2 (26:15):
I like, where are you going with this?
Speaker 1 (26:16):
Though?
Speaker 2 (26:18):
If you rebooted Firefly, would you bring it back or
would you reboot it?
Speaker 1 (26:22):
I would do the thing that you know about that
we talked about one day in your house. It was
a fan fiction where they we didn't read. I didn't
read the whole thing. I read page one, which was
somebody lands on some distant moon somewhere there's no habitation.
They're making their way out to this little shack of
(26:44):
a cabin and they knock on the door and older
mal Reynolds opens the door and says what, and he says,
we need you. And that's how you started. It's rebooted.
You're now flying the spaceship. You've got a new spaceship,
probably a Firefly class. I don't know. My guess is yes.
And you come and you find us all all the
(27:05):
ones that are still alive. I'm currently dead. I'm a
leaf on the wind two. So, but you find the
other guys and then you're you're you. You put together
a new crew.
Speaker 2 (27:18):
Now, that was very good. I'm not gonna I'm not
gonna think it was. It was a fan I'm writing
this down as well. I wrote that down. Now. Television
shows from your childhood what made an impression on you.
I loved Simon and Simon. I thought Mash was cool,
but it got me down sometimes. Gilligan's Island was the
only kind of window into a non winter tundra that
(27:44):
I had access to. I just liked the beach, the sand,
the palm trees, the leaves.
Speaker 1 (27:49):
Were you Ginger or Marianne?
Speaker 2 (27:51):
Oh? It would shift constantly, it would shift constantly. I
mean you couldn't. You couldn't shake stick at either one
of those ladies. They were wonderful for different reasons, but
solidly Marianne, I don't know.
Speaker 1 (28:01):
Something about loved her. I realized that most boys who
watched Gilligan's Island had that question in their mind, which
one would you want to date? Of those two women.
Miss Howell wasn't really on the She wasn't dating. She
was married, That's why. But if a girl watched that show,
she didn't have the same options.
Speaker 2 (28:21):
She either had the Professor or Gilligan or Gilligan, Yeah,
unless you like the big, hunky guys. And then she
got the skipper.
Speaker 1 (28:29):
She wanted a bear. I bet there were some young
men who wanted the skipper. That's a type.
Speaker 2 (28:34):
Who would you play in this scenario with at Gilligan's
Island reboot?
Speaker 1 (28:38):
I would want to play Gilligan but now I'm too
old to play Gilligan, so I guess i'd play mister Howell.
I don't know. There's no reboot of that show. It's
too it's too ridiculous. Now in this world, it would
have to be sci fi.
Speaker 2 (28:50):
They did reboot it, they called it lost. It was
a big hit. Next question. Yes, we've talked a lot
about the project. You've done, the successes. You've had to me,
what's a part that you didn't get that you are
really happy about?
Speaker 1 (29:07):
Now, part I didn't get that. I'm happy I didn't get. Okay,
there's a lot of these ones that I thought were
going to be good. Oh, okay. I went up for uh,
m Night Shamalan movie.
Speaker 2 (29:24):
Very talented, very nice man.
Speaker 1 (29:26):
I want to cover our basis by saying, M Night
Shyamalan is very talented. He did Old, a movie called Old,
and you are not allowed to read the script when
you audition for M Night Shyamalan.
Speaker 2 (29:39):
You, Oh, yeah, they want to keep that a big secret.
Speaker 1 (29:41):
God, there's a big secret, because that's his trick at
the end. Oh my god, it's a beach where everybody's
getting older. It's in the title. It's called Old. Anyway,
So I auditioned for that and I actually know who
got the role. It was the actor who played Count
Adamar and A Night's Tale. Oh yeah, he's great, Rufus sewell, yes,
(30:05):
and so Rufus got the role. And I remember doing
it and I was like, I thought I did a
good job, and I thought I did. I do get
so down on myself because I never get to play
just normal people and it was kind of a normal guy,
and it's like, I want to play a normal guy.
I just want to play a guy, and for a change,
everybody wants to play the thing they don't get to
play all the time. So I want to play that.
And I didn't get it. And then I came out
(30:26):
and that thing is difficult to watch. It doesn't make
any sense. I mean, it makes sense, but you get
it and it doesn't. It's not it's what the people
who don't like him that Seamla would say is typical.
Speaker 2 (30:39):
You were there. I did a movie with the lovely
and talented rene Es Elviiger. Oh yes, it was a
romantic comedy with Harry conne Junr. Both very charming, trying.
People didn't end up hitting it didn't. It just didn't.
Speaker 1 (30:55):
It didn't.
Speaker 2 (30:55):
I came for whatever reason, you came to set when
I was filming. You were hanging out with me and
rene Es Owiger. Just she is so pleasant and lovely.
Speaker 1 (31:05):
True, we had a shot. I thought her and I
had a shot there for a second, I really did.
That's how, that's how, that's my foolish optimism. I invited
her out for beer and burgers. Oh remember, right there
on set, I was like, Hey, we're gonna go grab
a beer and some burgers over at Hanano.
Speaker 2 (31:22):
Did you tap Pat Pat on your back?
Speaker 1 (31:25):
Not a chance, she said, I can't just go hang
out in a bar. She said, it sounds really great,
but I just can't go hang out like that.
Speaker 2 (31:34):
Well, she was absolutely adorable. She was really, really wonderful,
really kind. Myself and another actress had more secondary roles
in that show, and by the end of the movie,
when it was all cut together, we got a call
from the director saying, so sorry, but your parts just
(31:54):
we cut them, cut your parts out entirely, so you're
not going to be in the movie anymore.
Speaker 1 (32:00):
You had a shower scene.
Speaker 2 (32:02):
I remember that. That sounds like it was more.
Speaker 1 (32:05):
I was in the shower pressing your breast up against
the glass steam have to do that.
Speaker 2 (32:11):
I do that every time I should.
Speaker 1 (32:12):
It was that loofo.
Speaker 2 (32:15):
Well, no hands. Anyway, the movie came out and and
to you know, not not not very glorious fan fair.
And to this day that actress and I we kind
of when we run into each other before that it
comes up, we're gonna look at each other and go
kind of kind of dodge the bullet there. Not that
we would, you know, have our faces all over it
and be responsible for the movie not doing well. Again,
(32:36):
we had smaller parts that could be easily cut out
of the film. I know that feeling, man, but it's
not the first movie I was cut out of.
Speaker 1 (32:43):
Do you know?
Speaker 2 (32:44):
I was cut out of Deadpool?
Speaker 1 (32:45):
That's right, you were that you were in it. I
remember the picture. I don't want to get I'll let
you say who you were.
Speaker 2 (32:51):
I remember I was the bathroom attendant in the strip club. Yes,
Marina worked in and Ryan Reynolds comes in.
Speaker 1 (33:00):
And Morina's character worked in. What Marina worked in was
down by the Air Force.
Speaker 2 (33:04):
Jesus, and oh we should get we need to get
Marina for the show.
Speaker 1 (33:08):
Yeah. If I don't, if I'll stop insulting her. Maybe
she'll say yes.
Speaker 2 (33:13):
And Guardians too, Guardians of the Galaxy too, cut out?
What Yeah, Oh you were in three and one. I'm
pretty sure I saw I'm in all three cut out
of number two. It happens in this industry, right. But
sometimes you say, I don't mind so much that that happened.
Sometimes you think I would have been great if I
(33:34):
could have been in Here's one.
Speaker 1 (33:36):
But I was almost in Guardians of the Galaxy as
Rocket Raccoon Raccoon.
Speaker 2 (33:42):
That's true.
Speaker 1 (33:44):
It's before they got Tradley Cooper and I went to
London even I got confused about what I was supposed
to be doing, and I flubbed the audition, and I
flubbed it in a room full of people like actors.
David Bautista was there. There's a lot of people just around.
It was very strange. I kind of remember. I kind
of don't remember it, but I it was kind of.
(34:05):
It was kind of it was a shoe in situation
that then I didn't get. And because I didn't get that.
Had I gotten that, I would not have been able
to do Star Wars, I would have been busy and
I wouldn't have been up for doing another motion capture role.
I would have done one once I did Rocket. I
would have been like, I can't do any more motion
capture because motion capture is great, but people don't get
(34:28):
how much work goes into it, and there's a certain
amount of It's one of those times you have to
appreciate everything you're doing. You have to appreciate the creative
process and like it for what it is, because people
are not going to see you in the role. They're
going to watch the role and they're not going to go, hey,
that's that guy. That's part of our job. A good
part of our job or good for our business is exposure.
(34:50):
And when you were a digital person, you're not exposed.
They don't expose you. It's not in the final exposure. Alan.
Speaker 2 (34:58):
Let's wrap it up with worst advice you ever got, Oh.
Speaker 1 (35:03):
Don't go to Juilliard. They can't teach you anything that
you don't already know.
Speaker 2 (35:07):
Who told you that.
Speaker 1 (35:09):
This dumbass his name I forget, luckily, so I don't
have to hear from. But he was a stunt choreographer
guy in Dallas, Texas. And I had already gotten into
Juilliard and I was back in Dallas bartending to make
money so that I had some money to go to
restaurants and buy cigarettes. And Ron was, I'll just go
(35:31):
with Ron. I remember his name now, but he went
by Ron and I knew him from the Dallas theater world.
And I told him I got into Juilliard. And that's
what he said, Juilliard.
Speaker 2 (35:40):
You don't need to go to Juilliard.
Speaker 1 (35:41):
They can't teach you anything you don't already know. And
I thought, God, I kind of was thinking you might
be an idiot, but now I know you're not. Impositive, Yeah,
you're not very bright.
Speaker 2 (35:51):
I had a guy when I was on soaps, the
fellow one of my mentors, Bob Woods, who played my
uncle Bob Buchanan, sat me down two years in two
three year contract and said, here's what's gonna happen. They're
gonna say, do we invest more time in this kid
or does he want to get out? And we need
to start phasing him out so they don't notice so
much when we replace him. And you're gonna tell them
(36:13):
you're out, and they're gonna offer you more money and
you're gonna say no, and they're gonna say, we're gonna
let you out for other projects. You're gonna say, can
I get that in writing? They're gonna say, well, we
can't put in writing, but we'll do our best. And
that means it's not gonna happen. Here's what you're gonna do.
And he told me to move to LA and he
had a whole plan for me. Wow, and he said,
and you can't fail because if it doesn't work out,
pick up the phone, call One life to live and well,
(36:35):
we'll welcome you back. Whoever took your place. We're gonna
fire that guy. Don't worry about that guy. We don't
love that guy. We love you. No one's gonna say, oh,
you tried to get out and they did. No, we're
just gonna embrace you and welcome you home and we'll
pick up where we left off and everything's gonna be
safe and fine. And he just gave me the courage
to pick up and leave. And I said, okay, Wow,
that's what I'm gonna do. Everything turned out exactly like
(36:57):
he said. Everything he said, they're gonna say, they said.
When I responded everything he said they were gonna respond with,
they responded with it was crazy. Thank god I had
him wait a second.
Speaker 1 (37:08):
This is the worst advice that you.
Speaker 2 (37:10):
Ever Another kid on another show who was my age, said,
you're gonna what You have a job, you have a
steady gig as an actor, and you're gonna let it
go on a chance in some other city where.
Speaker 1 (37:26):
Nobody knows you.
Speaker 2 (37:27):
Are you crazy? You're making a terrible mistake.
Speaker 1 (37:31):
Wow. And that actor was mister James Franco.
Speaker 2 (37:36):
And that actor was James Franco. James, thanks for your advice, Alan,
Thank you very much. It's just for being amazing and
it's been my friend all these years.
Speaker 1 (37:47):
I guess you too, buddy, You're too man. I think
we are still spaceman.
Speaker 2 (37:51):
We are still you know what once you once you're
a spaceman. That's it, man. You can't you can't go back. No,
you go out to it black. There's no coming back.
Speaker 1 (38:02):
That's what I've heard.
Speaker 2 (38:03):
Thanks, hello, and thank you for listening. This is Nathan Fillian.
Now is the part where I read aloud the credits
for our show in my best telephone voice. So put
on some headphones, lay back and relax, because this is
(38:24):
our time. If you have it yet, you can always
head over to our Patreon to get bonus content. Longer
episodes and a chance to get your hands on some
incredible crap. If you love the show, please leave us
a review and feel free to tell all your friends.
If you didn't love the show, now is the time
for quiet contemplation. Once We Were Spacemen is a Collision
(38:46):
thirty three production. Some of the names I will mention
are my favorite people in the world, and some of
them have room for improvement. You know who you are.
If you hear your name being read, please stand up.
This show was produced by Schabon Holman and Josh Leppe
of Collision thirty three. We are edited, mixed, and produced
by Resonate Recordings, with special thanks to Courtney Blanquist and
(39:10):
Adam Townseil. Our theme music is done by Carlas Sousa
and Joshua Moore. Artwork by the incredible and incomparable Louis Jensen.
But I'm going to tell you right now, I think
he fakes his accent. Until next time, I
Speaker 1 (39:26):
Could maybe start smoking wheed again.
I'm a scrapper as an artist, so I gotta I
still gotta. I have to audition a lot. A lot
of people go, we know he can be a robot,
but can he be a robot who cares? And so
I have to I have to audition for that too.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
It's can you.
Speaker 1 (00:19):
It's a different kind of caring from the last robot
who cared that he played gotchah. Once we were spaceman, man,
I tend to play weird people, usually aliens and robots
and things that don't have romance.
Speaker 2 (00:42):
I once didn't get a job where they were looking
for a Nathan Fillian type once we were spacemen.
Speaker 1 (00:50):
Once we were spacemen.
Speaker 2 (00:53):
This episode, Alan, Yes, just you and me, we're gonna
hash some things out. Oh okay, I read just read
in an article. Friends who like poke fun at each
other are more likely to be a long term friends
and the more loyal friends.
Speaker 1 (01:08):
Ah yes, because they feel like they can say whatever
and they're not like hiding their business.
Speaker 2 (01:14):
Yeah, if anyone needs to take you down a peg,
you can count on those ones to do that for
You'll they'll tell you the truth about something, and you know,
because they're always gonna they're gonna really be about something,
but in good natured way. This part of the show
is called what are you thinking? You have this incredible show,
(01:34):
You're having a great time. You're doing a lot of
really creative things. Resident Alien really enjoying it. Some great
special effects too. And you said, Oh, I'm gonna call
up my buddy Nathan to do something that will fit
in his schedule because he can't just come to Vancouver
all of a sudden. Agree, he's got his own job.
I'm gonna have him be an octopus in sushi restaurant.
Speaker 1 (01:56):
Right number forty two. You are just jealous me cause
I discovered another alien. Who is my people, my real family.
You are just a distant cousin who lives in a
mobile home.
Speaker 2 (02:08):
Hey, cousins are real family. I'm at least more family
than that dumb land seal sitting next to you.
Speaker 1 (02:14):
Do not talk badly about this beast. When I give
him treats, he is happy. When I give you shrimps,
all you do is complain.
Speaker 2 (02:23):
All I said was could you serve them with a smile?
What are you thinking?
Speaker 1 (02:28):
What was I thinking? I was thinking fans were gonna
love this, and in fact do you know what the
cast gift was, So this is a final season. We
just finished a minute ago on Monday, and at the
time of this recording, we just this week finished. Congratulations,
fourth and most likely final season. The cast gift was
(02:50):
make Up Effects gave everybody little forty two's. They gave
out a ton of your characters because it's a character favorite. Also,
I meant to send this picture to you. Did not.
At the cast party for the fourth and most likely
final season of Resident Alien was forty two. He was there.
They had a couple of alien things. They had the
(03:12):
alien body, they had some masks and some different alien faces,
and then they had forty two up on a pedestal,
which was appropriate. They loved your character and then they
loved Also, your death was one of the most exciting
things because you were killed by a dog just chew
toyed up and we didn't have much of a budget,
which is one of the reasons why it's probably most
(03:33):
likely the final season of Resident Alien. And when you died,
I insisted on giving you chest compressions in an attempt
to revive you, which when you're an octopus is it's
its own death sentence because it's all of my weight
just being forced into you. But they didn't have money
for the FX, so what they had with this rubber
(03:57):
you forty two, they had a little filament And your
tentacle came up and touched me on the cheek as
you were telling me in your dying breath to go
on and whatever happens if I when I die, eat me,
eat me with white wine and a garlic butter sauce.
I think lemon butter sauce. And the little tentacle comes
(04:19):
up and touched my cheek, and it's so obviously a
filament on there, and it's so obviously just being crappily
puppeted it it makes it that much funnier. I will
never forget to you.
Speaker 2 (04:34):
It was an honorable death. Honor my life by eating
my said bunny and a butter sauce with that, And I.
Speaker 1 (04:52):
What did you? What did you?
Speaker 2 (05:04):
But you were really selling the emotion. First of all,
thanks for having me, Thanks for having me on your
show that.
Speaker 1 (05:11):
I don't know how you died so quickly. Forty two
was gone too soon, too soon. Thanks you were you
were my compadre at home that I could confide in.
Speaker 2 (05:21):
And not the first time we were together. I actually
tried to get you on Castle. I know we had
a great character for you. This this basically we find
you having been murdered and you pop back up and
you're not dead, and someone was clearly trying to kill
you and never succeeded. You kept having these near death
(05:43):
or would actually die and come back, and I was
convinced you were Bruce Willis from the movie where he
gained superpowers and he can't be killed and oh right.
Speaker 1 (05:55):
The film Nathan is thinking of is.
Speaker 2 (05:57):
Unable and you couldn't do it. Unfortunately, you you you
were You're You're a working man, you have other jobs.
I totally got it. We got Jonathan Silverman to come
do it, actually.
Speaker 1 (06:08):
I know, and he did a really good job, which
he did.
Speaker 2 (06:11):
I'm not going to complain.
Speaker 1 (06:12):
It's it's not okay.
Speaker 2 (06:14):
We did get tour together in the Rookie.
Speaker 1 (06:17):
Yes, I've been doing Resident Alien now for seven years.
It's been my life seven years. We did four seasons
in seven years. We weren't great at scheduling. I'm gonna
I'm gonna say plus COVID and anyway, Canada doesn't get
our show, not that they don't get it like I
don't understand. More, like they turn it on, it isn't there.
(06:39):
There's nothing to turn on. It's gone to Netflix. It
has not gone to Netflix in Canada. You can't see
it on Netflix. So I went to the KHN and
I was signing Firefly things, and I was signing Star
Wars things, and I had a ton of people come
to me and talk to me about Rookie. A lot
of young people. I meant to tell you this because
(07:00):
I have none of them would like to know this.
Probably a bunch of young people like I love you
on the Rookie. Are you going to come back to
the Rookie? I love the Rookie? When do you come
back to the Rookie? So I had that because for Canada,
that's the only work I've done in the last seven
years is The Rookie, and they want more of my
character there. So just saying I'm just putting it out there.
Speaker 2 (07:20):
I'm not gonna lie. Alan, you were a big hit,
not only on the show. Your character is hilarious, you
do great stuff. You were a big hit not only
with me because you know I'm your buddy, but you
are honey as hell. Just watching your process watching you
come up with stuff, the stuff you just find just
(07:41):
that occurred to you is amazing. But you're also a
huge hit with my ladies cast and crew. Oh oh
and okay, tell of them are ladies. Right, You're a
big hit. People enjoy your company, they like having you around,
they enjoy watching what you create, but they have to
spend the day with you, and I think that's for
(08:01):
them the worthier part. And then people they go home
and people say, what's alan to look like? And then
they can go you know what, he's great, total jerk. Oh,
the total jerk. He's great at being an a hole.
Speaker 1 (08:15):
Well, you and I should probably get together and do
something again on camera. If it's the rookie, fantastic, if
it's something else, fantastic. We kind of did it on
resonating and not really you were an octopus. It was
your voice. So we didn't get as much going on,
as much play because we didn't get to do back
and forth like we would normally get to do.
Speaker 2 (08:33):
It's true, Yeah, just let it let it rip, boy.
That would have been castle, Castle be castle. We would
have had a lot of free right. I would have
tip could run that. We could run that one would
have been lovely. Yes, did get to work together in
con Man. Yeah, let's go back, Alan con Man. What
were you thinking, man?
Speaker 1 (08:54):
My career at that point in time.
Speaker 2 (08:57):
Was in the shitter. No, it wasn't.
Speaker 1 (09:02):
There was a pro I was having issues, man, that
was a big, big problem. So I wanted to make
this thing con Man because I'd been writing it for
a while. I wanted to make the heist movie. But anyway,
I had a manager say, hey, go pitch this as
a TV show, and so I pitched it at this
one company that was making little short form entertainment. So
I pitched it as a fifteen minute episode thing, and
(09:24):
then I fell in love with it. So I just
kept writing it and that thing all fell through, but
then I just enjoyed writing it. So I just kept
writing it and writing it right, and ended up writing
the first season. And I was going around with our
friend PJ, who was producing two different people. Went to
Gail Berman, who canceled a little show called Firefly, and.
Speaker 2 (09:41):
He didn't though. I think in going back, I think
she was there when it happened. I don't think it
was her call. I think that's no, it was it's
haunting her.
Speaker 1 (09:48):
I think she it is haunting her and she takes
credit for it. Though okay, she didn't deny it.
Speaker 2 (09:53):
I might be wrong.
Speaker 1 (09:54):
I always thought it was Sandy what's his name, the
other guy who she worked for, that did it. But
the way she talked about it sounded like somebody who
canceled Firefly. She said, you know what, nobody ever says Alan,
I picked up Firefly.
Speaker 2 (10:08):
See haunted that poor that poor lady.
Speaker 1 (10:12):
She's done great work in her career and she continues
to do great work. In fact, I'm working for her
right now. No, God bless yes, she and I'm doing
an animated show with her called Grimsburg and John Ham.
We just got picked up for season three.
Speaker 2 (10:28):
Love that guy Hulu. I really like that guy.
Speaker 1 (10:31):
Yeah, so she's She's so, I was. I was At
the time. We were taking it around, trying to get
it sold, trying to get sold. Nobody was buying it. No,
everybody kept saying, we know, I don't think short form anyway.
It was ahead of its time. And my agents came
to me and said, we want you to be on
this TV show. And there was a TV show that
was going to be going on NBC and they wanted
(10:52):
me for the role, and I said, they need to
carve out con Man. I've been working on this too
long not to do it. And NBC said no, I
won't be allowed to do it, and it was ABC,
I apologies, ABC, you won't be.
Speaker 2 (11:04):
Allowed to do it, and I said, okay, our apologies
go out to NBC.
Speaker 1 (11:07):
Yes, And then I said, let me just do one
episode of con Men on YouTube and that's all I
need to do. I just need to do one episode.
It will satisfy the itch. That's my final offer. And
they were going back and forth with the lawyers, going
back and forth lawyers. I was having to go up
and test for the thing at ABC, and I was
(11:30):
in line to go through the guard shack thing to
get on the lot at ABC, and I got a
call from my lawyer saying they won't go for it.
You can't do any con Man for as long as
you're doing this show. And I said all right, and
I got out of the line, to which my agent
said we're out of here, to which I fired my lawyer.
It was like a mutual thing with my agent. I had,
(11:51):
I had a manager, I had lost all my representation.
Speaker 2 (11:54):
This sounds a lot darker than I remember it because
it ends up being a success story. Right, So they
sounded like really they said this long sounds like it
was soul crushing.
Speaker 1 (12:03):
They said, if you if you go. My agent said,
if you keep pursuing con Man, we can't be your
agents anymore. We need to make money off of you.
And you're not making any money. You keep turning things
down that get in the way of Conman, and but
nobody's buying con Man. So what are you doing. You're
doing nothing. I said, goodbye, get out of here, goodbye.
Speaker 2 (12:20):
I feel that's unfortunate that they didn't see the long
term potential of just the relevance and the idea, the
love letter, that it was just that's that's good distance.
Speaker 1 (12:32):
I wonder if they regret that now they did, because
it wasn't Once we after that, it was like we're
going to do go to Indigogo, go to the fans,
and the fans supported it so much so as you
know that we broke all sorts of records and ended
up being three million dollars to make the first season,
plus we made the game, and we made comic books.
Speaker 2 (12:50):
And I remember, can I do a side note here? Yes,
I remember we did a promo video and they said
something to the effect of, you can't have it be
longer than two minutes. None going to watch it, and
yours was like upwards of seven. Yeah, that's right, and
you said no, no, no, it's gonna be. You don't understand.
He said, no, you don't understand and cut to the
(13:11):
incredible How many huge, big stars, by the way, did
you have in your little promo video? I remember James
Gunn was there, right, Jane, I want to say, was there?
Jeana Torres was there?
Speaker 1 (13:21):
I was there, You were there? Seth Green was there.
I got to go. I went by where he records
all of his Robot Chicken and we he did a
promo there.
Speaker 2 (13:31):
And then there was the unfortunate timing. There was another
couple of guys who wanted to do another show based
in the convention circus. Guy guys who were, you know,
in sci fi shows and.
Speaker 1 (13:40):
Called like con Men.
Speaker 2 (13:41):
Yeah, it was basimilar name and everything. Yeah, just the
timing was unfortunate. But their their video was like the
two of them saying, hey man, this is something we
want to do, sitting on lawnchairs in front of a garage.
It came out like the day after hours did. Yes,
I feel kind of terrible about that.
Speaker 1 (13:57):
They're very nice guys. I'm sure they really are a
star at the time they did, because yeah, we we
just upstaged them. We upstaged them, and we had a
big production vale it because PJ, our producer friend who
was producing with us, he had a flair for you know,
let's get a studio, let's get it. This is how
we need to make it. You know. He had better
(14:19):
idea of production value going in. But I also got
Star Wars then right after the Indigogo launched, and so
my agents who had just fired me, I had a
Star Wars movie and this success Indigogo and all these
people who then really wanted to be in it because
it was such a hit. Everybody knew that it was
a big success on Indigogo. A lot of actors were
(14:40):
very you know, remember you were tweeting. It was back
when Twitter was still fresh and fun, and William Shatner
tweeted for us, and yes, it was really really cool man.
People still ask about it, definitely at the cons. They
would love to have more of it because it tells
the story of people who do cons. So I feel
like it's something that could all be done for YouTube
(15:01):
now finding for YouTube, which is one of the most
successful streaming platforms out there, if not the most successful
streaming plan.
Speaker 2 (15:07):
I'm still pitching the movie. By the way, I have
a little I've got the I got ears out, you know,
people listening, and I always throw that idea out there
and people go h and they write something down. I
don't know, Like I said, never in a million years,
I don't know what they're writing, but they always write
something down. I have another question for you, Alan.
Speaker 1 (15:24):
Yes, what was I thinking?
Speaker 2 (15:26):
What were you thinking? Clearly you're a huge success. You have,
you know, tons of movies, incredible voiceovers. I don't think
Pixar makes a movie without you. Congratulations, it's amazing you
all these incredible things that you do. You lead this
incredible show. How about a failure the worst audition you
(15:47):
ever did that just haunts you to this day.
Speaker 1 (15:50):
But I have so many bad ones. There's so many.
Speaker 2 (15:52):
I don't know if they haunt me, which one would
I enjoy hearing? Here's one that was fast?
Speaker 1 (15:59):
Well is this one's bad? But it also I almost
didn't get Resident Alien because of this that's recent, that
is recent, So it was four. Do you remember that
movie A Dinner with Dinner of Schmucks Dinner with Steve
Carell and right, So I was coming in to audition
(16:21):
for the director and the casting director had said they
wanted me to DG. I audition for somebody else, but
they said, we want to see you for The Blind
Swordsman and we want to see what you do with that.
And so I came in early before the director came there,
and she said, we want you to know that he
does not think that it should be funny that he's blind,
(16:43):
like that shouldn't be the humor. He's a great swordsman.
He just happens to be blind. So I was meeting
Jay Roach and I was like, well, it's kind of
missing a lot of humor there, and she said, well
that's don't don't do anything, just be a good swordsman, okay.
And so the joke was there was a joke in
the scene where he says he goes up to the
(17:03):
wall and he flips a switch which he thinks is
the light switch, and it turns on a ceiling fan
and he says, now I will make everything equal. See
how good you are in the dark, and he flips
a switch and the ceiling fan goes on and I
did that and then I jumped, like did a fencing jump,
right into a wall. And it was exactly what I
(17:29):
was asked not to do, was to be to making
fun of his blindness. I considered it a success because
the two people the guy was running the camera, the
assistant was running the camera, and the other sistant who
was a second reader, both went. They were there laughing,
but they're trying not to laugh out laugh, laugh, so
they're trying to hold in their laugh going. Jay Roach
(17:53):
is dismayed and is like, oh, like, ohh what just
happened in the In the casting director, I remember her
look of just betrayal. She felt like I had betrayed her.
And that's who cast Resident Alien. And they all tell
this great story about Alan. When Alan came in, we
knew it was him, and we had auditioned one hundred
and three people before Alan came in. There's a reason
(18:16):
why I was one hundred and four because she didn't
want to call me. Oh. She's like, I can't trust
that guy. He's going to jump into walls. But I
considered a success because I made those two guys laugh
and it was obviously funny, and wasn't that what it
was supposed to be? So that's me. I have a
lot of failures that are based in my own my
(18:38):
poor judgment in what is important. Making the people who
are running the audition laugh when they're not supposed to laugh.
That was the acme of success, not getting the job.
That's a problem. How about you, Nathan, What were you
thinking that one time when you auditioned and everything? What happened?
What didn't you get?
Speaker 2 (18:58):
I wish I could remember what the project was. It
was on Bob Hope Drive over by. Yeah, I think
the NBC studios in Burbank Warner Brothers. No, Yes, it's
on the backside of Warner Brothers way over there, but
I think it was a separate thing from the Warner
Brothers lot. But I think it's it's over there. And
it was hot. It was like one hundred and nine
(19:20):
degrees in the shade in the valley and I get
to this spot and there's like an entry with a
little lobby, but you can't sit in there. You have
to wait outside. And like I said, it was hot,
and they're behind and they've got I don't know, eleven
people out there wandering around and shade is at a premium.
Everybody's trying a crowd under a tree, and there were
(19:44):
no less than fifteen pages of sides that I have
been preparing, and I am an hour and forty five minutes,
I think outside waiting in this heat because I need
the job, and I get called in. I finally go
in and there's like nine people lined up in chairs
(20:07):
and they're all having what looks to be the same
kind of day. I'm happy they're not. Everybody's unhappy. It's
hot in there as outside. And the casting director who
led me in said, we're just doing scene four, and
it was kind of abrupt, and scene four was like
a quarter of a page, less than one side of
a phone conversation where it's just you on the phone.
(20:27):
There's no one else there. Just good. What do you mean, well,
I can't be there at four o'clock? No you okay, yes,
it's just.
Speaker 1 (20:34):
That you got the job as far as I'm concerned,
my friend, But go ahead, I she.
Speaker 2 (20:39):
Said, we're just doing scene four, and I go. And
I had just kind of come to a thing where I,
by the way, I hadn't worked in a long time.
This is my long stretch of being unemployed and just
a lot of projection. I wanted to try to control
that experience a little more. So I said, clearly, you
guys are running late, and what I hear you saying
(21:00):
is you don't have a lot of time. How about
I do Scene seven. It's about the same length of time.
But I worked really hard, and I think you're gonna
like what I did with it. And she looks at
me with this snarly face like I just slapped her,
and she goes now seen four and I it was
so abrupt and so awful. I just said, well, there's
(21:21):
no way I'm getting this role now, and there's no
way I'm acting for this lady. I said, you know what,
this job is it for me? And I kind of
rustled up the papers and I walked toward the door,
threw them in the trash can, and I swung open
the door and I left, and I was just like
chest out strutting, and I said, yeah, that's a whole
room of people who will never ever hire me ever,
(21:44):
Like have I done? What was I thinking? I learned
a lesson that day. I learned a lesson that day.
Keep it to yourself.
Speaker 1 (22:00):
Man, I don't know.
Speaker 2 (22:02):
Also, go home, man, go home. If they're making you
wait outside one hundred and nine degree heat, say hey,
you guys are running late. Let's reschedule this because that
would have power and three quarters. It's inhuman yeah, in human.
Speaker 1 (22:14):
Yeah, there's a lot of a lot of bad auditions.
It's crap. Now. You don't get the Now you don't
have the fun of going in and sitting in one
hundred and three degree heat. Now, people just give you roles,
or offer you roles, or you audition on tape at home,
and you do it. Have you done any of this?
(22:34):
You don't have to do this stuff. And let me
tell you what it's like. I'm a scrapper as an artist.
So I got I still got I have to audition
a lot. A lot of people go, we know he
can be a robot, but can he be a robot
who cares? And so I have to I have to
audition for that too.
Speaker 2 (22:53):
It's can you.
Speaker 1 (22:56):
It's a different kind of caring from the last robot
who cared that he played gotch Yeah, I have to
audition a lot. So now it's all on. Now it's
all on. You get to just do it. Yourself.
Speaker 2 (23:06):
For you younger listeners at home, going on tape means
recording yourself digitally and bring back to an older technology
where we used VHS magnetic tapes. They were the size
of a shoe box.
Speaker 1 (23:21):
It's so true. So yeah, there have been errors, and
I continue to make them. I still gosh, I'm really
good at making errors. I just so I know that
whatever I am doing is meant to be because I
screw up a lot. I just I make bold choices
when I audition.
Speaker 2 (23:41):
Yeah, but you fall upwards. Alan, You've clearly harved something
out for yourself. But it's not cheap. It's not easy
what you do.
Speaker 1 (23:52):
We'll see from this date on how long it takes
me to get out of acting, because I do feel
like I'm going to get out of acting. I said
this to my wife the other day. You're married, Yes, yes,
you were there at the wedding.
Speaker 2 (24:07):
Remember yes, right, he's a Canadian. She's from my hometown.
Speaker 1 (24:10):
Yes, she's from Edmonton, Carisa. I said, I'm going to
quit acting. And then I got a job offer to
do something in June, and I was like, maybe I
should do this job. Though, this is one job I'll
do because it's an independent movie and it's some really
cool actors, and it was a play that they're going
to make into a movie, and I want to do
a play. So I'll just do a play for a
movie in Chicago and June, because who doesn't want to
be in Chicago and jew So I'm not quitting yet,
(24:32):
but it seems like I'm just all. I think I'm
always going to be quitting now. I'm at that point
in my life. We're at the same age in our
fifties where I think, you know, what will you do?
I think I just write. I could maybe start smoking
weed again. I don't know that the second one sounds
like a bad idea.
Speaker 2 (24:53):
Here's what I see you doing. I'm gonna quit acting.
I'm gonna do this writing thing. I'm pretty good at it. Oh,
I've been writing this. I've been writing this. Oh, I
got sol to be on the set. I'm going to
be talking about No no, no, okay, that's not how
no this. You're playing that step back and now you're
in it.
Speaker 1 (25:09):
So I end up acting my own writing. It's possible.
I do want to I do want to create something again.
I do want to write something again. You mentioned comment
now enough time has gone by from Comman. I remember
it was very hard. I gave myself. I didn't I
didn't allocate enough jobs. I like directed most of the
episodes just because I was afraid to ask directors to
do it.
Speaker 2 (25:29):
So you were afraid, Oh yes, what would happen? Like
what was the fear? Like? Oh if I do this,
then what would happen.
Speaker 1 (25:37):
If they said no? It would make me feel bad?
I don't know.
Speaker 2 (25:41):
If you're a rejection, that's real, that's that's a real thing.
Speaker 1 (25:43):
Yeah, And I had built it up, so I was like,
I'll just do it. I'll just I'll just direct it.
And I gave myself too many jobs. So now I
like directing and I learned a lot from that. But
I now now directing something else, like after after doing
it for con Man, then acting after that was different.
So I was watching directors in a different way after directing,
and now I've directed again and again, it's changing.
Speaker 2 (26:06):
If you could reboot a show from your childhood, Firefly,
oh for my childhood, got it?
Speaker 1 (26:12):
Got it?
Speaker 2 (26:15):
I like, where are you going with this?
Speaker 1 (26:16):
Though?
Speaker 2 (26:18):
If you rebooted Firefly, would you bring it back or
would you reboot it?
Speaker 1 (26:22):
I would do the thing that you know about that
we talked about one day in your house. It was
a fan fiction where they we didn't read. I didn't
read the whole thing. I read page one, which was
somebody lands on some distant moon somewhere there's no habitation.
They're making their way out to this little shack of
(26:44):
a cabin and they knock on the door and older
mal Reynolds opens the door and says what, and he says,
we need you. And that's how you started. It's rebooted.
You're now flying the spaceship. You've got a new spaceship,
probably a Firefly class. I don't know. My guess is yes.
And you come and you find us all all the
(27:05):
ones that are still alive. I'm currently dead. I'm a
leaf on the wind two. So, but you find the
other guys and then you're you're you. You put together
a new crew.
Speaker 2 (27:18):
Now, that was very good. I'm not gonna I'm not
gonna think it was. It was a fan I'm writing
this down as well. I wrote that down. Now. Television
shows from your childhood what made an impression on you.
I loved Simon and Simon. I thought Mash was cool,
but it got me down sometimes. Gilligan's Island was the
only kind of window into a non winter tundra that
(27:44):
I had access to. I just liked the beach, the sand,
the palm trees, the leaves.
Speaker 1 (27:49):
Were you Ginger or Marianne?
Speaker 2 (27:51):
Oh? It would shift constantly, it would shift constantly. I
mean you couldn't. You couldn't shake stick at either one
of those ladies. They were wonderful for different reasons, but
solidly Marianne, I don't know.
Speaker 1 (28:01):
Something about loved her. I realized that most boys who
watched Gilligan's Island had that question in their mind, which
one would you want to date? Of those two women.
Miss Howell wasn't really on the She wasn't dating. She
was married, That's why. But if a girl watched that show,
she didn't have the same options.
Speaker 2 (28:21):
She either had the Professor or Gilligan or Gilligan, Yeah,
unless you like the big, hunky guys. And then she
got the skipper.
Speaker 1 (28:29):
She wanted a bear. I bet there were some young
men who wanted the skipper. That's a type.
Speaker 2 (28:34):
Who would you play in this scenario with at Gilligan's
Island reboot?
Speaker 1 (28:38):
I would want to play Gilligan but now I'm too
old to play Gilligan, so I guess i'd play mister Howell.
I don't know. There's no reboot of that show. It's
too it's too ridiculous. Now in this world, it would
have to be sci fi.
Speaker 2 (28:50):
They did reboot it, they called it lost. It was
a big hit. Next question. Yes, we've talked a lot
about the project. You've done, the successes. You've had to me,
what's a part that you didn't get that you are
really happy about?
Speaker 1 (29:07):
Now, part I didn't get that. I'm happy I didn't get. Okay,
there's a lot of these ones that I thought were
going to be good. Oh, okay. I went up for uh,
m Night Shamalan movie.
Speaker 2 (29:24):
Very talented, very nice man.
Speaker 1 (29:26):
I want to cover our basis by saying, M Night
Shyamalan is very talented. He did Old, a movie called Old,
and you are not allowed to read the script when
you audition for M Night Shyamalan.
Speaker 2 (29:39):
You, Oh, yeah, they want to keep that a big secret.
Speaker 1 (29:41):
God, there's a big secret, because that's his trick at
the end. Oh my god, it's a beach where everybody's
getting older. It's in the title. It's called Old. Anyway,
So I auditioned for that and I actually know who
got the role. It was the actor who played Count
Adamar and A Night's Tale. Oh yeah, he's great, Rufus sewell, yes,
(30:05):
and so Rufus got the role. And I remember doing
it and I was like, I thought I did a
good job, and I thought I did. I do get
so down on myself because I never get to play
just normal people and it was kind of a normal guy,
and it's like, I want to play a normal guy.
I just want to play a guy, and for a change,
everybody wants to play the thing they don't get to
play all the time. So I want to play that.
And I didn't get it. And then I came out
(30:26):
and that thing is difficult to watch. It doesn't make
any sense. I mean, it makes sense, but you get
it and it doesn't. It's not it's what the people
who don't like him that Seamla would say is typical.
Speaker 2 (30:39):
You were there. I did a movie with the lovely
and talented rene Es Elviiger. Oh yes, it was a
romantic comedy with Harry conne Junr. Both very charming, trying.
People didn't end up hitting it didn't. It just didn't.
Speaker 1 (30:55):
It didn't.
Speaker 2 (30:55):
I came for whatever reason, you came to set when
I was filming. You were hanging out with me and
rene Es Owiger. Just she is so pleasant and lovely.
Speaker 1 (31:05):
True, we had a shot. I thought her and I
had a shot there for a second, I really did.
That's how, that's how, that's my foolish optimism. I invited
her out for beer and burgers. Oh remember, right there
on set, I was like, Hey, we're gonna go grab
a beer and some burgers over at Hanano.
Speaker 2 (31:22):
Did you tap Pat Pat on your back?
Speaker 1 (31:25):
Not a chance, she said, I can't just go hang
out in a bar. She said, it sounds really great,
but I just can't go hang out like that.
Speaker 2 (31:34):
Well, she was absolutely adorable. She was really, really wonderful,
really kind. Myself and another actress had more secondary roles
in that show, and by the end of the movie,
when it was all cut together, we got a call
from the director saying, so sorry, but your parts just
(31:54):
we cut them, cut your parts out entirely, so you're
not going to be in the movie anymore.
Speaker 1 (32:00):
You had a shower scene.
Speaker 2 (32:02):
I remember that. That sounds like it was more.
Speaker 1 (32:05):
I was in the shower pressing your breast up against
the glass steam have to do that.
Speaker 2 (32:11):
I do that every time I should.
Speaker 1 (32:12):
It was that loofo.
Speaker 2 (32:15):
Well, no hands. Anyway, the movie came out and and
to you know, not not not very glorious fan fair.
And to this day that actress and I we kind
of when we run into each other before that it
comes up, we're gonna look at each other and go
kind of kind of dodge the bullet there. Not that
we would, you know, have our faces all over it
and be responsible for the movie not doing well. Again,
(32:36):
we had smaller parts that could be easily cut out
of the film. I know that feeling, man, but it's
not the first movie I was cut out of.
Speaker 1 (32:43):
Do you know?
Speaker 2 (32:44):
I was cut out of Deadpool?
Speaker 1 (32:45):
That's right, you were that you were in it. I
remember the picture. I don't want to get I'll let
you say who you were.
Speaker 2 (32:51):
I remember I was the bathroom attendant in the strip club. Yes,
Marina worked in and Ryan Reynolds comes in.
Speaker 1 (33:00):
And Morina's character worked in. What Marina worked in was
down by the Air Force.
Speaker 2 (33:04):
Jesus, and oh we should get we need to get
Marina for the show.
Speaker 1 (33:08):
Yeah. If I don't, if I'll stop insulting her. Maybe
she'll say yes.
Speaker 2 (33:13):
And Guardians too, Guardians of the Galaxy too, cut out?
What Yeah, Oh you were in three and one. I'm
pretty sure I saw I'm in all three cut out
of number two. It happens in this industry, right. But
sometimes you say, I don't mind so much that that happened.
Sometimes you think I would have been great if I
(33:34):
could have been in Here's one.
Speaker 1 (33:36):
But I was almost in Guardians of the Galaxy as
Rocket Raccoon Raccoon.
Speaker 2 (33:42):
That's true.
Speaker 1 (33:44):
It's before they got Tradley Cooper and I went to
London even I got confused about what I was supposed
to be doing, and I flubbed the audition, and I
flubbed it in a room full of people like actors.
David Bautista was there. There's a lot of people just around.
It was very strange. I kind of remember. I kind
of don't remember it, but I it was kind of.
(34:05):
It was kind of it was a shoe in situation
that then I didn't get. And because I didn't get that.
Had I gotten that, I would not have been able
to do Star Wars, I would have been busy and
I wouldn't have been up for doing another motion capture role.
I would have done one once I did Rocket. I
would have been like, I can't do any more motion
capture because motion capture is great, but people don't get
(34:28):
how much work goes into it, and there's a certain
amount of It's one of those times you have to
appreciate everything you're doing. You have to appreciate the creative
process and like it for what it is, because people
are not going to see you in the role. They're
going to watch the role and they're not going to go, hey,
that's that guy. That's part of our job. A good
part of our job or good for our business is exposure.
(34:50):
And when you were a digital person, you're not exposed.
They don't expose you. It's not in the final exposure. Alan.
Speaker 2 (34:58):
Let's wrap it up with worst advice you ever got, Oh.
Speaker 1 (35:03):
Don't go to Juilliard. They can't teach you anything that
you don't already know.
Speaker 2 (35:07):
Who told you that.
Speaker 1 (35:09):
This dumbass his name I forget, luckily, so I don't
have to hear from. But he was a stunt choreographer
guy in Dallas, Texas. And I had already gotten into
Juilliard and I was back in Dallas bartending to make
money so that I had some money to go to
restaurants and buy cigarettes. And Ron was, I'll just go
(35:31):
with Ron. I remember his name now, but he went
by Ron and I knew him from the Dallas theater world.
And I told him I got into Juilliard. And that's
what he said, Juilliard.
Speaker 2 (35:40):
You don't need to go to Juilliard.
Speaker 1 (35:41):
They can't teach you anything you don't already know. And
I thought, God, I kind of was thinking you might
be an idiot, but now I know you're not. Impositive, Yeah,
you're not very bright.
Speaker 2 (35:51):
I had a guy when I was on soaps, the
fellow one of my mentors, Bob Woods, who played my
uncle Bob Buchanan, sat me down two years in two
three year contract and said, here's what's gonna happen. They're
gonna say, do we invest more time in this kid
or does he want to get out? And we need
to start phasing him out so they don't notice so
much when we replace him. And you're gonna tell them
(36:13):
you're out, and they're gonna offer you more money and
you're gonna say no, and they're gonna say, we're gonna
let you out for other projects. You're gonna say, can
I get that in writing? They're gonna say, well, we
can't put in writing, but we'll do our best. And
that means it's not gonna happen. Here's what you're gonna do.
And he told me to move to LA and he
had a whole plan for me. Wow, and he said,
and you can't fail because if it doesn't work out,
pick up the phone, call One life to live and well,
(36:35):
we'll welcome you back. Whoever took your place. We're gonna
fire that guy. Don't worry about that guy. We don't
love that guy. We love you. No one's gonna say, oh,
you tried to get out and they did. No, we're
just gonna embrace you and welcome you home and we'll
pick up where we left off and everything's gonna be
safe and fine. And he just gave me the courage
to pick up and leave. And I said, okay, Wow,
that's what I'm gonna do. Everything turned out exactly like
(36:57):
he said. Everything he said, they're gonna say, they said.
When I responded everything he said they were gonna respond with,
they responded with it was crazy. Thank god I had
him wait a second.
Speaker 1 (37:08):
This is the worst advice that you.
Speaker 2 (37:10):
Ever Another kid on another show who was my age, said,
you're gonna what You have a job, you have a
steady gig as an actor, and you're gonna let it
go on a chance in some other city where.
Speaker 1 (37:26):
Nobody knows you.
Speaker 2 (37:27):
Are you crazy? You're making a terrible mistake.
Speaker 1 (37:31):
Wow. And that actor was mister James Franco.
Speaker 2 (37:36):
And that actor was James Franco. James, thanks for your advice, Alan,
Thank you very much. It's just for being amazing and
it's been my friend all these years.
Speaker 1 (37:47):
I guess you too, buddy, You're too man. I think
we are still spaceman.
Speaker 2 (37:51):
We are still you know what once you once you're
a spaceman. That's it, man. You can't you can't go back. No,
you go out to it black. There's no coming back.
Speaker 1 (38:02):
That's what I've heard.
Speaker 2 (38:03):
Thanks, hello, and thank you for listening. This is Nathan Fillian.
Now is the part where I read aloud the credits
for our show in my best telephone voice. So put
on some headphones, lay back and relax, because this is
(38:24):
our time. If you have it yet, you can always
head over to our Patreon to get bonus content. Longer
episodes and a chance to get your hands on some
incredible crap. If you love the show, please leave us
a review and feel free to tell all your friends.
If you didn't love the show, now is the time
for quiet contemplation. Once We Were Spacemen is a Collision
(38:46):
thirty three production. Some of the names I will mention
are my favorite people in the world, and some of
them have room for improvement. You know who you are.
If you hear your name being read, please stand up.
This show was produced by Schabon Holman and Josh Leppe
of Collision thirty three. We are edited, mixed, and produced
by Resonate Recordings, with special thanks to Courtney Blanquist and
(39:10):
Adam Townseil. Our theme music is done by Carlas Sousa
and Joshua Moore. Artwork by the incredible and incomparable Louis Jensen.
But I'm going to tell you right now, I think
he fakes his accent. Until next time, I
Speaker 1 (39:26):
Could maybe start smoking wheed again.
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