August 23, 2024 • 17 mins
Ross Marquand sits down with us to talk about returning to Dragon Con as a guest, winning an award from the GABBY Awards, voices he hasn't quite gotten down yet and why he loves Dragon Con.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
This is the dragon Con pregame show powered by Columbus
State University's Coca Cola Space Science Center, where you can
learn the science behind the fiction.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
So it's not often that our guests for the dragon
Con pregame show come to Columbus to talk with me
about dragon Con. So it's happened. Now. My good buddy
Ross mar Kwan joins me here to talk about dragon
Con twenty twenty four.
Speaker 3 (00:33):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (00:34):
Last time we had you on the show, we won
an award, that's right, A major award, that's right.
Speaker 4 (00:39):
What's the colored Gabby.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
The Gabby Award, Gavy Award. Yeah, the Gabby Award for
best Produced Show non News or Sports. It's a separate category.
Oh man, okay, yeah, so that puts us in our
own group there. But that's great. But that's how good
the interview was. I'm giving you at least sixty percent
of the credit for it.
Speaker 4 (00:57):
Well, thank you. It's the questioned you asked, though, that
we're so poor.
Speaker 2 (01:02):
I try, I mean, I do my best to come
up with questions. In fact, our good friend Cooper Andrews,
I interviewed him. We also want to Gabby that year too.
Speaker 4 (01:12):
Nice.
Speaker 2 (01:12):
Nice, but his award doesn't have William Shatner's name next
to him. Bill So but he we finished the interview
and he's like, wow, this is a better interview than
I expected. I'd like to set the bar low. William said, no, no, well, no,
Shatner gave me some props too. That was a tough
interview because he's a really good interviewer, and he was
(01:34):
always like my white whale. He was my white whale
to say, you talk to somebody who's really good at
the craft. And I think he's just really good at
doing interviews. And I've seen him be interviewed and just
take over the interview, which is also a sign that
he just can't help himself. But you know, he gave
me some props with me and asked him to grade
(01:55):
me at the end. I thought that would be a
nice one. That's cool man, that's satisfied. No, he gave
me high marks. And he actually offered me a job.
And he's like, I was like, do I have to move?
He's like, yeah, well you'd have to. And then then
he got shut up and shut up in a rocket
right after that. Yeah, I miss that was he?
Speaker 4 (02:12):
Is he relocating to the moon? Is that where he's I.
Speaker 2 (02:14):
Don't know, we said that the rocket thing kind of
scared him. Oh yeah, I.
Speaker 4 (02:19):
Would imagine just looking up here, you're in the stratosphere.
Speaker 2 (02:22):
Ye.
Speaker 4 (02:22):
I mean, like that's that's got to be pretty intense,
you know.
Speaker 2 (02:25):
It's it's a lot. Well, I want to talk about
Dragon Con. I know it's a special place for both
of us when it comes to conventions because it's just
freaking awesome. It's the best.
Speaker 4 (02:36):
I mean, it really is so much fun. I always
say it's kind of like, I mean I've never been
to Burning Man, but I imagine if if Burning Man
and and some of the bigger comic cons had a
love child, that would be Dragon Con. Because it's just
this NonStop celebration of all the fandoms you care about
rolled into one and it's just a it's a great party.
(02:57):
I mean, like all the hotels are are, you know,
band together in Atlanta to produce one of the coolest,
most experiential uh you know weekends of the year, and
it's just it's so much fun. I love it.
Speaker 2 (03:10):
It's like being on a cruise ship. Yeah, I love
five four star hotel Ye are all linked together while
these hamster tunnels. Yep, and you never have to leave
you everything that you want.
Speaker 4 (03:20):
Is right said. The thing that I like the most
is that you never have to leave. You can go
to the was it the North Tower. There's a group
of Star Wars nerds that I've become really good friends
with it. They have for several floors, just like one
Star Wars party after the next, and they've got different
themes of course, and it's just gotten bigger every year.
(03:40):
I've been going to Dragon Con for hell nine years now,
I guess, wow, since I got on the show. Yeah,
and I just keep going every single year because it's
obviously was right down the road when we were shooting
The Walking Dead. But it's just so fun. I love it.
Speaker 1 (03:53):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (03:53):
I started in twenty sorry, two thousand and one, okay, okay,
and consecutive so yeah, yeah, and I count the COVID
year because I covered it. We also did a show
that year because for to promote the fact that it
was virtual, so that was you know, we still covered
it that year. Yeah, but it is it's a special
(04:14):
kind of convention. Uh. So, last time we talked, we
didn't really get into the impressions. I was trying not
to do that because I feel like, is it tough
that people always want you to do impressions or do
you just enjoy it so much that it's just I mean,
I think.
Speaker 4 (04:29):
It's an easy ask because of course it's you know,
what I was known for before The Walking Dead, you know,
So I never get upset about it.
Speaker 2 (04:36):
Yeah, never at all.
Speaker 4 (04:37):
No, No, I mean like sometimes if people were asking
for too much, then it gets uh, yeah, you know
a little much. But yeah, yeah. Other than that, it's good.
Speaker 2 (04:44):
What's what's one that you're working on now that maybe
you're close to getting it but you don't, cause I
know how that works.
Speaker 4 (04:50):
You talked about white whales earlier, Like my white whale
is is Ryan Gosling. I can't get him. I don't
know what it is about his voice. I've tried so
many years to get his voice and DiCaprio. I can't
get DiCaprio or Gossling. But I was able to crack
Tom Hiddleston a few years ago watching Loki on repeat
because I love that show and I think he's the
(05:12):
most interesting character in the MCU. So that was quite
a breakthrough when I finally had that day where it
was like, oh, glorious purpose there it is Loki. Yes,
like and that was such a such a profound achievement
in my head. I was like, ah, that's great, and
I couldn't It was during the pandemic, so I couldn't
really show it to anybody at first, and then like
(05:33):
finally when we started doing cons again, I was like, Okay,
I got to show you guys something.
Speaker 2 (05:36):
You know, sometimes it's fine in that one thing, right,
that one thing that they say that you can get,
and then you can kind of spin off of that. Well.
Speaker 4 (05:44):
So I think we talked about this yesterday, but I'm
playing Professor X and New X Men ninety seven and
like that was tricky at first to find the right
nasal quality with his voice, because he does have this
sort of pinched nerve. And I realized that my key
word for getting into Xavier was Scott Scott no or
(06:04):
gene no, Gene. You must resist the power of the phoenix,
you know, And I was like, ah, there it was.
Speaker 2 (06:11):
You know, sometimes it just says those things a lot.
Speaker 4 (06:13):
Yeah, he really he gets and he gets so emphatic
when he performs. Cedric Smith, who played him originally, you
could just tell there was a lot of passion there. Yeah,
you know, And I think that's why the original series
was so profound for me as a kid, because it
was the first time that I can remember that a
cartoon really challenged its audience. I mean, most cartoons obviously
(06:37):
made for kids, and this show was like, no, we're
gonna We're gonna make a show that's really more geared
towards adult themes and for everybody. It's for everybody, but
it's we're dealing with more adult themes about loss and
death and sadness and love and unrequited love in the
case of Wolverine and Jean Gray, of course, and I
just love that. I thought it was it was it
(06:59):
was hitting on something that I think a lot of
kids were trying to convey to their parents, which is,
don't don't just always treat us like kids. We want
to be challenged, we want to be taken seriously. And
I think that show really did it. And it was
really large part due to the writing and also the
voice acting. The voice acting and across the board was
(07:20):
just phenomenal.
Speaker 2 (07:22):
You know. I interviewed Chris Claremont a while back, and
him being able to put in some of those aspects
of that into words as far as people don't get
it now and they think, oh, well we've got morph
now and morph is now are they there? And and
when you talk to him and you realize sort of
that vision once he took over. For it was just
(07:42):
about people being different and trying to be understood and
all of it. So all of that does make a
lot of sense. And what I liked about the show
then is that was pre MCU. That was pre I mean,
we had you know, we had Keaton Batman at that point,
but we didn't have you know, the huge like we
(08:03):
didn't have Iron Man yet. We didn't have all of
those things and certainly not the X Men movies yet.
So it was just exciting to be able to see
X Men on TV. And I.
Speaker 4 (08:13):
Don't think this is I'm putting too fine of a
point on this, but like I really do believe the
MCU would not exist without X Men, the animated series,
and I stand by that because or the X Men
movies for that matter. That show was so revolutionary. It
got kids like me and their parents excited about Marvel
(08:33):
comics again. It got I mean, it was the reason
why I wanted to become an actor after watching that show.
And also there really wasn't anything that strong in the
superhero genre before that. I mean, Superman it was good,
but it wasn't it wasn't so good that people were like,
we need more of this all the time. It was
obviously a running franchise, and you mentioned Batman, but as
(08:56):
far as the MCU goes, you know, there was of
course a version of Nick Fury. I think David Hasselhoff played, Yeah,
that's version, you know, and then there was a there
was a Spider Man, and there was also a Captain
America from the seventies or eighties Fantastic four. Fantastic four, right,
Roger Corman, Right, Yeah, that's right. And you know, these
(09:18):
are like kind of B movies. They were kind of like,
you know, jokey, corny B movies that really didn't take off.
So it was X Men, the animated series that really
put the MC the Marvel Universe on the map in
a big way and people were like, oh, wow, these
characters are great, this ip is great. These characters are
(09:39):
all rooted in somewhere very realistic in there, and they're
they're they're relatable, you know, in a way that other
characters just haven't been because Superman he's not relatable.
Speaker 2 (09:50):
No, he's not.
Speaker 4 (09:51):
He's perfect. He literally no, no human can relate to
Superman because he's a he's a perfect alien creature, you know.
And even Batman, he's a billionaire playboy who fights crime
on on a side time.
Speaker 3 (10:03):
You know.
Speaker 4 (10:03):
But but the X Men, they were all kind of
outcasts obviously right there. And and and I think myself
and a lot of people who were beat up a
lot and bullied in high school and middle school, we
related to these characters like I see myself in them,
you know, they they and they they they remind me of,
you know, that some of the struggles that we went through.
So I just you know, I keep saying this, but
(10:25):
I really think the MC would not exist without X Men,
the anime series.
Speaker 2 (10:29):
I hadn't really thought about that, but that makes sense.
And plus it took it took the shows. I mean,
it took the characters seriously, it took the content seriously.
It wasn't just corny, it wasn't goofy, It wasn't that
Justice League TV series. Yeah, yeah, you know, like some
of the where are the big hitters? What are we
doing here with this?
Speaker 4 (10:48):
From the seventies and eighties.
Speaker 2 (10:49):
Yeah, yeah, those more with Ross mar kwand right after this.
(11:11):
As far as the projects you got, you told me
that there's one there's a couple that you can't talk
about yet.
Speaker 4 (11:17):
Correct.
Speaker 2 (11:18):
I'm not gonna ask about those with the with the
camera on it, but uh, as far as uh, I know, uh.
And by the way, I just started season two of Invincible,
and I just like it's one of those deals where
I kind of forget, like you got a couple of
roles in there, and there's occasionally I'll hear and there's
(11:39):
Ross again. But I know, like I interviewed uh Steven
a long time ago pre you know, still walking down
at that point, but hearing him talk about what that
shows meant to him, it's just a cool experience for
you guys. Isn't as far as Invincible is just its
own it really is.
Speaker 4 (12:01):
Yeah, Yeah, I mean it's it's incredible to see how
much that show has blown up, because you know, we
were kind of this scrappy, you know, new animated show
on Amazon Prime that you know, Amazon is really trying
to stretch their creative legs, so to speak, and they're
(12:21):
doing a lot of original content with the Boys and
with us. Yeah, and it's been really great to see
the fan reaction around the globe. I was just doing
a convention in Puerto Rico last weekend and so many
people in the audience were there because they watched Invincible,
and it's like, man, most of the time, it's just
all walking dead fans and a lot of you know,
going to show a hands like who's seen Invincible and
(12:42):
half the people raise their hands. I said, oh my god,
that's that's great.
Speaker 2 (12:47):
You know.
Speaker 4 (12:47):
And I think when you have great writers, when you
have interesting characters and you have great voice talent, you
can't help but win. You know absolutely, it has all that.
Speaker 2 (12:57):
You know, it does every bit of that. So you
mentioned Puerto Rico. Uh follow you on Instagram and I
saw your Jesse Ventura from Puerto Rico. Predator is one
of Ventura. You bet your ash. I loved your your
comments about makes this Cambodia a look like Kansas.
Speaker 3 (13:16):
This this strungle makes Cambodia look like Kansas.
Speaker 2 (13:20):
He I love the way he speaks.
Speaker 4 (13:22):
And I did a movie with him like fifteen years ago.
He's a Maze.
Speaker 2 (13:24):
Which movie was this?
Speaker 4 (13:25):
It's Uh we shot it in my home state. Of Colorado,
but it's called wood Shop and I play a psychotic
bully who tries to kill everyone. Really dark character. But
but he was the wood Shop teacher and he he
had the best stories, just the most amazing stories about
shooting Predator. Uh and and you know, of course being
(13:45):
a governor and everything. But we were he was, he was,
he was a tree.
Speaker 2 (13:49):
Two of those guys became going to and actually it's funny.
Speaker 4 (13:53):
And I talked to Carl Weathers before we passed, got
rest in his soul, and uh, you know, he was
lovely and I just said, you know, hey, man, I
know everyone's pushing for have you thought about it? And
I think he was considering it at one point. That
would have been so cool if we had three Predator governors,
you know, like, I just think that would be awesome.
Speaker 2 (14:09):
That movie is such a beast of its own, like
it's so good.
Speaker 4 (14:14):
It's That and die Hard, both directed by John McTiernan.
I think are the best action movies of all time. Yeah,
hands down.
Speaker 2 (14:21):
Yeah, It's I've got friends. We would get together and
do like Friends Giving, but we called it Predsgiving and
we've watched Oh yeah, Billy, what's the Turkey. What are
you doing? Come on, turn up the oven.
Speaker 3 (14:37):
What are you doing?
Speaker 2 (14:39):
We would bring everybody brings a dish and I would
bring mac and cheese.
Speaker 4 (14:46):
That's amazing, that's awesome, looking.
Speaker 2 (14:49):
Forward to I got some impressions out of you with that.
They kind of happened naturally, so we'll let that happen.
But we were going to just quickly talk about Trump.
I told you he was in Columbus not long ago.
O faic really terrific and one of the buildings you
were recently in. Yes, he was in an old iron mill.
Speaker 3 (15:12):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, it's a beautiful, most gorgeous facility.
Speaker 2 (15:16):
Believe me.
Speaker 3 (15:16):
I've seen a lot of repurposed buildings in my day,
and this has got to be one of the most beautiful,
gorgeous buildings I've ever seen, believe me. And they it
used to be an iron milk can you believe it?
So bizarre that they can turn is. It's wonderful what
people are capable of if they've just put their hearts
and their heads together. It's really incredible. It's a beautiful
facility and I love it here. It's very nice. So
(15:39):
come to Columbus, Georgia and check out the convention set
that used to be an iron mill and now it's
something it could be whatever. You There was a prom
here last night.
Speaker 2 (15:47):
Did you see this?
Speaker 3 (15:48):
There was a prom and a wedding at the same time,
and then they had Sunday church, which everyone knows. I
love church, I love the Bible, and they had it
this morning.
Speaker 2 (15:57):
Can you believe it?
Speaker 3 (15:58):
So yeah, there's Bill has a lot of potential and
that they really usually get. I like that.
Speaker 2 (16:03):
Did you see his speech from here? No, I really didn't.
Speaker 4 (16:08):
I didn't see it. I must have missed. I had no.
He was here two weeks ago.
Speaker 2 (16:12):
It was a few months back, but it was in
this building, this building. Yeah, absolutely, yeah, no, And you're
really not far off other than the church. You know,
he didn't mention that, but how you're really close about
what a great facility it is. That's awesome, Ross, my friend.
I'm looking forward to hanging out again at Dragon.
Speaker 4 (16:30):
Con September right or end of August.
Speaker 2 (16:33):
That's right, Labor Day weekend, and it's always a great time.
Was great to see you, and yes, brother Roscoe, always
good to hang out man.
Speaker 4 (16:44):
Thanks a lot, Thanks thanks for having me.
Speaker 2 (16:46):
Catherine Tate joins us next
Speaker 1 (16:49):
This is the dragon Con pregame show powered by Columbus
State University's Coca Cola Space Science Center, where you can
learn the science behind the fiction.
This is the dragon Con pregame show powered by Columbus
State University's Coca Cola Space Science Center, where you can
learn the science behind the fiction.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
So it's not often that our guests for the dragon
Con pregame show come to Columbus to talk with me
about dragon Con. So it's happened. Now. My good buddy
Ross mar Kwan joins me here to talk about dragon
Con twenty twenty four.
Speaker 3 (00:33):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (00:34):
Last time we had you on the show, we won
an award, that's right, A major award, that's right.
Speaker 4 (00:39):
What's the colored Gabby.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
The Gabby Award, Gavy Award. Yeah, the Gabby Award for
best Produced Show non News or Sports. It's a separate category.
Oh man, okay, yeah, so that puts us in our
own group there. But that's great. But that's how good
the interview was. I'm giving you at least sixty percent
of the credit for it.
Speaker 4 (00:57):
Well, thank you. It's the questioned you asked, though, that
we're so poor.
Speaker 2 (01:02):
I try, I mean, I do my best to come
up with questions. In fact, our good friend Cooper Andrews,
I interviewed him. We also want to Gabby that year too.
Speaker 4 (01:12):
Nice.
Speaker 2 (01:12):
Nice, but his award doesn't have William Shatner's name next
to him. Bill So but he we finished the interview
and he's like, wow, this is a better interview than
I expected. I'd like to set the bar low. William said, no, no, well, no,
Shatner gave me some props too. That was a tough
interview because he's a really good interviewer, and he was
(01:34):
always like my white whale. He was my white whale
to say, you talk to somebody who's really good at
the craft. And I think he's just really good at
doing interviews. And I've seen him be interviewed and just
take over the interview, which is also a sign that
he just can't help himself. But you know, he gave
me some props with me and asked him to grade
(01:55):
me at the end. I thought that would be a
nice one. That's cool man, that's satisfied. No, he gave
me high marks. And he actually offered me a job.
And he's like, I was like, do I have to move?
He's like, yeah, well you'd have to. And then then
he got shut up and shut up in a rocket
right after that. Yeah, I miss that was he?
Speaker 4 (02:12):
Is he relocating to the moon? Is that where he's I.
Speaker 2 (02:14):
Don't know, we said that the rocket thing kind of
scared him. Oh yeah, I.
Speaker 4 (02:19):
Would imagine just looking up here, you're in the stratosphere.
Speaker 2 (02:22):
Ye.
Speaker 4 (02:22):
I mean, like that's that's got to be pretty intense,
you know.
Speaker 2 (02:25):
It's it's a lot. Well, I want to talk about
Dragon Con. I know it's a special place for both
of us when it comes to conventions because it's just
freaking awesome. It's the best.
Speaker 4 (02:36):
I mean, it really is so much fun. I always
say it's kind of like, I mean I've never been
to Burning Man, but I imagine if if Burning Man
and and some of the bigger comic cons had a
love child, that would be Dragon Con. Because it's just
this NonStop celebration of all the fandoms you care about
rolled into one and it's just a it's a great party.
(02:57):
I mean, like all the hotels are are, you know,
band together in Atlanta to produce one of the coolest,
most experiential uh you know weekends of the year, and
it's just it's so much fun. I love it.
Speaker 2 (03:10):
It's like being on a cruise ship. Yeah, I love
five four star hotel Ye are all linked together while
these hamster tunnels. Yep, and you never have to leave
you everything that you want.
Speaker 4 (03:20):
Is right said. The thing that I like the most
is that you never have to leave. You can go
to the was it the North Tower. There's a group
of Star Wars nerds that I've become really good friends
with it. They have for several floors, just like one
Star Wars party after the next, and they've got different
themes of course, and it's just gotten bigger every year.
(03:40):
I've been going to Dragon Con for hell nine years now,
I guess, wow, since I got on the show. Yeah,
and I just keep going every single year because it's
obviously was right down the road when we were shooting
The Walking Dead. But it's just so fun. I love it.
Speaker 1 (03:53):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (03:53):
I started in twenty sorry, two thousand and one, okay, okay,
and consecutive so yeah, yeah, and I count the COVID
year because I covered it. We also did a show
that year because for to promote the fact that it
was virtual, so that was you know, we still covered
it that year. Yeah, but it is it's a special
(04:14):
kind of convention. Uh. So, last time we talked, we
didn't really get into the impressions. I was trying not
to do that because I feel like, is it tough
that people always want you to do impressions or do
you just enjoy it so much that it's just I mean,
I think.
Speaker 4 (04:29):
It's an easy ask because of course it's you know,
what I was known for before The Walking Dead, you know,
So I never get upset about it.
Speaker 2 (04:36):
Yeah, never at all.
Speaker 4 (04:37):
No, No, I mean like sometimes if people were asking
for too much, then it gets uh, yeah, you know
a little much. But yeah, yeah. Other than that, it's good.
Speaker 2 (04:44):
What's what's one that you're working on now that maybe
you're close to getting it but you don't, cause I
know how that works.
Speaker 4 (04:50):
You talked about white whales earlier, Like my white whale
is is Ryan Gosling. I can't get him. I don't
know what it is about his voice. I've tried so
many years to get his voice and DiCaprio. I can't
get DiCaprio or Gossling. But I was able to crack
Tom Hiddleston a few years ago watching Loki on repeat
because I love that show and I think he's the
(05:12):
most interesting character in the MCU. So that was quite
a breakthrough when I finally had that day where it
was like, oh, glorious purpose there it is Loki. Yes,
like and that was such a such a profound achievement
in my head. I was like, ah, that's great, and
I couldn't It was during the pandemic, so I couldn't
really show it to anybody at first, and then like
(05:33):
finally when we started doing cons again, I was like, Okay,
I got to show you guys something.
Speaker 2 (05:36):
You know, sometimes it's fine in that one thing, right,
that one thing that they say that you can get,
and then you can kind of spin off of that. Well.
Speaker 4 (05:44):
So I think we talked about this yesterday, but I'm
playing Professor X and New X Men ninety seven and
like that was tricky at first to find the right
nasal quality with his voice, because he does have this
sort of pinched nerve. And I realized that my key
word for getting into Xavier was Scott Scott no or
(06:04):
gene no, Gene. You must resist the power of the phoenix,
you know, And I was like, ah, there it was.
Speaker 2 (06:11):
You know, sometimes it just says those things a lot.
Speaker 4 (06:13):
Yeah, he really he gets and he gets so emphatic
when he performs. Cedric Smith, who played him originally, you
could just tell there was a lot of passion there. Yeah,
you know, And I think that's why the original series
was so profound for me as a kid, because it
was the first time that I can remember that a
cartoon really challenged its audience. I mean, most cartoons obviously
(06:37):
made for kids, and this show was like, no, we're
gonna We're gonna make a show that's really more geared
towards adult themes and for everybody. It's for everybody, but
it's we're dealing with more adult themes about loss and
death and sadness and love and unrequited love in the
case of Wolverine and Jean Gray, of course, and I
just love that. I thought it was it was it
(06:59):
was hitting on something that I think a lot of
kids were trying to convey to their parents, which is,
don't don't just always treat us like kids. We want
to be challenged, we want to be taken seriously. And
I think that show really did it. And it was
really large part due to the writing and also the
voice acting. The voice acting and across the board was
(07:20):
just phenomenal.
Speaker 2 (07:22):
You know. I interviewed Chris Claremont a while back, and
him being able to put in some of those aspects
of that into words as far as people don't get
it now and they think, oh, well we've got morph
now and morph is now are they there? And and
when you talk to him and you realize sort of
that vision once he took over. For it was just
(07:42):
about people being different and trying to be understood and
all of it. So all of that does make a
lot of sense. And what I liked about the show
then is that was pre MCU. That was pre I mean,
we had you know, we had Keaton Batman at that point,
but we didn't have you know, the huge like we
(08:03):
didn't have Iron Man yet. We didn't have all of
those things and certainly not the X Men movies yet.
So it was just exciting to be able to see
X Men on TV. And I.
Speaker 4 (08:13):
Don't think this is I'm putting too fine of a
point on this, but like I really do believe the
MCU would not exist without X Men, the animated series,
and I stand by that because or the X Men
movies for that matter. That show was so revolutionary. It
got kids like me and their parents excited about Marvel
(08:33):
comics again. It got I mean, it was the reason
why I wanted to become an actor after watching that show.
And also there really wasn't anything that strong in the
superhero genre before that. I mean, Superman it was good,
but it wasn't it wasn't so good that people were like,
we need more of this all the time. It was
obviously a running franchise, and you mentioned Batman, but as
(08:56):
far as the MCU goes, you know, there was of
course a version of Nick Fury. I think David Hasselhoff played, Yeah,
that's version, you know, and then there was a there
was a Spider Man, and there was also a Captain
America from the seventies or eighties Fantastic four. Fantastic four, right,
Roger Corman, Right, Yeah, that's right. And you know, these
(09:18):
are like kind of B movies. They were kind of like,
you know, jokey, corny B movies that really didn't take off.
So it was X Men, the animated series that really
put the MC the Marvel Universe on the map in
a big way and people were like, oh, wow, these
characters are great, this ip is great. These characters are
(09:39):
all rooted in somewhere very realistic in there, and they're
they're they're relatable, you know, in a way that other
characters just haven't been because Superman he's not relatable.
Speaker 2 (09:50):
No, he's not.
Speaker 4 (09:51):
He's perfect. He literally no, no human can relate to
Superman because he's a he's a perfect alien creature, you know.
And even Batman, he's a billionaire playboy who fights crime
on on a side time.
Speaker 3 (10:03):
You know.
Speaker 4 (10:03):
But but the X Men, they were all kind of
outcasts obviously right there. And and and I think myself
and a lot of people who were beat up a
lot and bullied in high school and middle school, we
related to these characters like I see myself in them,
you know, they they and they they they remind me of,
you know, that some of the struggles that we went through.
So I just you know, I keep saying this, but
(10:25):
I really think the MC would not exist without X Men,
the anime series.
Speaker 2 (10:29):
I hadn't really thought about that, but that makes sense.
And plus it took it took the shows. I mean,
it took the characters seriously, it took the content seriously.
It wasn't just corny, it wasn't goofy, It wasn't that
Justice League TV series. Yeah, yeah, you know, like some
of the where are the big hitters? What are we
doing here with this?
Speaker 4 (10:48):
From the seventies and eighties.
Speaker 2 (10:49):
Yeah, yeah, those more with Ross mar kwand right after this.
(11:11):
As far as the projects you got, you told me
that there's one there's a couple that you can't talk
about yet.
Speaker 4 (11:17):
Correct.
Speaker 2 (11:18):
I'm not gonna ask about those with the with the
camera on it, but uh, as far as uh, I know, uh.
And by the way, I just started season two of Invincible,
and I just like it's one of those deals where
I kind of forget, like you got a couple of
roles in there, and there's occasionally I'll hear and there's
(11:39):
Ross again. But I know, like I interviewed uh Steven
a long time ago pre you know, still walking down
at that point, but hearing him talk about what that
shows meant to him, it's just a cool experience for
you guys. Isn't as far as Invincible is just its
own it really is.
Speaker 4 (12:01):
Yeah, Yeah, I mean it's it's incredible to see how
much that show has blown up, because you know, we
were kind of this scrappy, you know, new animated show
on Amazon Prime that you know, Amazon is really trying
to stretch their creative legs, so to speak, and they're
(12:21):
doing a lot of original content with the Boys and
with us. Yeah, and it's been really great to see
the fan reaction around the globe. I was just doing
a convention in Puerto Rico last weekend and so many
people in the audience were there because they watched Invincible,
and it's like, man, most of the time, it's just
all walking dead fans and a lot of you know,
going to show a hands like who's seen Invincible and
(12:42):
half the people raise their hands. I said, oh my god,
that's that's great.
Speaker 2 (12:47):
You know.
Speaker 4 (12:47):
And I think when you have great writers, when you
have interesting characters and you have great voice talent, you
can't help but win. You know absolutely, it has all that.
Speaker 2 (12:57):
You know, it does every bit of that. So you
mentioned Puerto Rico. Uh follow you on Instagram and I
saw your Jesse Ventura from Puerto Rico. Predator is one
of Ventura. You bet your ash. I loved your your
comments about makes this Cambodia a look like Kansas.
Speaker 3 (13:16):
This this strungle makes Cambodia look like Kansas.
Speaker 2 (13:20):
He I love the way he speaks.
Speaker 4 (13:22):
And I did a movie with him like fifteen years ago.
He's a Maze.
Speaker 2 (13:24):
Which movie was this?
Speaker 4 (13:25):
It's Uh we shot it in my home state. Of Colorado,
but it's called wood Shop and I play a psychotic
bully who tries to kill everyone. Really dark character. But
but he was the wood Shop teacher and he he
had the best stories, just the most amazing stories about
shooting Predator. Uh and and you know, of course being
(13:45):
a governor and everything. But we were he was, he was,
he was a tree.
Speaker 2 (13:49):
Two of those guys became going to and actually it's funny.
Speaker 4 (13:53):
And I talked to Carl Weathers before we passed, got
rest in his soul, and uh, you know, he was
lovely and I just said, you know, hey, man, I
know everyone's pushing for have you thought about it? And
I think he was considering it at one point. That
would have been so cool if we had three Predator governors,
you know, like, I just think that would be awesome.
Speaker 2 (14:09):
That movie is such a beast of its own, like
it's so good.
Speaker 4 (14:14):
It's That and die Hard, both directed by John McTiernan.
I think are the best action movies of all time. Yeah,
hands down.
Speaker 2 (14:21):
Yeah, It's I've got friends. We would get together and
do like Friends Giving, but we called it Predsgiving and
we've watched Oh yeah, Billy, what's the Turkey. What are
you doing? Come on, turn up the oven.
Speaker 3 (14:37):
What are you doing?
Speaker 2 (14:39):
We would bring everybody brings a dish and I would
bring mac and cheese.
Speaker 4 (14:46):
That's amazing, that's awesome, looking.
Speaker 2 (14:49):
Forward to I got some impressions out of you with that.
They kind of happened naturally, so we'll let that happen.
But we were going to just quickly talk about Trump.
I told you he was in Columbus not long ago.
O faic really terrific and one of the buildings you
were recently in. Yes, he was in an old iron mill.
Speaker 3 (15:12):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, it's a beautiful, most gorgeous facility.
Speaker 2 (15:16):
Believe me.
Speaker 3 (15:16):
I've seen a lot of repurposed buildings in my day,
and this has got to be one of the most beautiful,
gorgeous buildings I've ever seen, believe me. And they it
used to be an iron milk can you believe it?
So bizarre that they can turn is. It's wonderful what
people are capable of if they've just put their hearts
and their heads together. It's really incredible. It's a beautiful
facility and I love it here. It's very nice. So
(15:39):
come to Columbus, Georgia and check out the convention set
that used to be an iron mill and now it's
something it could be whatever. You There was a prom
here last night.
Speaker 2 (15:47):
Did you see this?
Speaker 3 (15:48):
There was a prom and a wedding at the same time,
and then they had Sunday church, which everyone knows. I
love church, I love the Bible, and they had it
this morning.
Speaker 2 (15:57):
Can you believe it?
Speaker 3 (15:58):
So yeah, there's Bill has a lot of potential and
that they really usually get. I like that.
Speaker 2 (16:03):
Did you see his speech from here? No, I really didn't.
Speaker 4 (16:08):
I didn't see it. I must have missed. I had no.
He was here two weeks ago.
Speaker 2 (16:12):
It was a few months back, but it was in
this building, this building. Yeah, absolutely, yeah, no, And you're
really not far off other than the church. You know,
he didn't mention that, but how you're really close about
what a great facility it is. That's awesome, Ross, my friend.
I'm looking forward to hanging out again at Dragon.
Speaker 4 (16:30):
Con September right or end of August.
Speaker 2 (16:33):
That's right, Labor Day weekend, and it's always a great time.
Was great to see you, and yes, brother Roscoe, always
good to hang out man.
Speaker 4 (16:44):
Thanks a lot, Thanks thanks for having me.
Speaker 2 (16:46):
Catherine Tate joins us next
Speaker 1 (16:49):
This is the dragon Con pregame show powered by Columbus
State University's Coca Cola Space Science Center, where you can
learn the science behind the fiction.
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