July 2, 2025 • 28 mins
ICYMI: ‘Later, with Mo’Kelly’ Presents – Actor Merrick McCartha; best known for his roles in series like the CW’s ‘All American’ and Netflix's Unstable, joins the program to introduce his new role as ‘Los Angeles District Attorney, Grayson Valwell’ in the hit new Prime Video series ‘Countdown’…Created, written, and produced by Derek Haas (Chicago Med, Chicago P.D.); “Countdown follows the journey of an LAPD officer who joins a secret task force to investigate a suspicious murder but instead uncovers a sinister plot that requires the team to unite to save millions of people in the city” - on KFI AM 640…Live everywhere on the iHeartRadio app & YouTube @MrMoKelly
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
You're listening to Later with Moe Kelly on demand from
KFI A M six forty.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
You are the best, or I would not have selected you.
Our mission could prevent another nine to eleven foreign players
planning with your noble level of that here.
Speaker 3 (00:17):
In Los Angeles, nobody can know what we're working on.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
We've done if you want a couple of months. Yeah,
in Bob, you almost shot me here, but I didn't.
I thought it looked really good. Really no, right, we're
working to stop the weapon of mass destruction. They were
just here. I got one mistake. We are dead showtime. Okay, No,
(00:52):
you care about me? No, it's very sweet. They don't
play the bubo question. We I'll play this however you
want to play it? What the consequences?
Speaker 3 (01:07):
I Am six forty is Later with mo Kelly alive
everywhere on the iHeartRadio app and YouTube. An LAPD officer
joins a secret task force to investigate a suspicious murder,
but uncovers a sinister plot that requires a team to
unite and save millions like right here in La Merrick
MacArthur can be seen right now in the hit new
Prime video series Countdown as Da Grayson Vowwell, but you
(01:31):
may also know him from the CW series All American
from Netflix's Unstable opposite Rob Low. Countdown's first three episodes
are now available, with episode four dropping tomorrow. Is my
pleasure to welcome Merrick MacArthur to the show right now, sir.
Speaker 2 (01:46):
How you doing this evening? Great? Great? Really have pleasure
to be here, Monk.
Speaker 3 (01:49):
I have to tell you because whenever I run into
someone from Detroit, there's this almost like this secret handshake
where they ask, like, what high school did you go to? Okay,
I'm not from Detroit, but my mother's family's from Detroit
and she went to cast Tech. She's watching right now
on YouTube. Great, So what why high school did you
go to?
Speaker 2 (02:09):
Detroit? I went to cast Tech?
Speaker 3 (02:11):
Oh, of one of the best science schools in America.
Speaker 2 (02:17):
Yes, and now a prominent football school. Is that right?
I did not know that. Yeah, oh yeah, they're producing
them in cast Tech.
Speaker 3 (02:25):
I got to ask, though, because given you your math
and science inclination, you came from a household of not one,
but two Detroit police officers.
Speaker 2 (02:35):
What was that like growing up? So? What strict? They
were already strict, but then making them cops? It was
just they ain't set a lot of great values to me,
being honest, good, hardworking police officers in town. So they
were known. They graduated the same night at the police
Academy and at the time they got in amongst a
(02:59):
wave of new black police officers in Detroit after the
riots had happened, you know, maybe a decade before that.
They came in and they were part of this new
wave of let's really have the police represent more of
the community. And yeah, they they they applied at the
same time and they graduated the academy of I think
they were the first married couple to ever graduate the
(03:20):
academy together. Aren't there rules against that? They never worked
in the same precinct Okay, yeah, they never They never
worked together in it, and they were they were always separate, separate,
you know, separate groups SEFN precincts all the time.
Speaker 3 (03:33):
What type of wisdom, what type of advice were they
imparting to you? Do you have any siblings?
Speaker 2 (03:39):
I do, Yeah, I have three sisters, and they're all younger.
I'm the oldest. My father was a very strong, you know, masculine,
blue collar type of guy, so he always instilled those
masculine you know protective instincts in me about my family,
it's particularly my sisters. And what about your mother? Given
(04:00):
have sisters, three sisters. I think my mother was stronger
will than my father.
Speaker 3 (04:06):
So who was the who was who wielded the hand
of discipline?
Speaker 2 (04:09):
As all they both were, they were both a very
well coordinated disciplinary parent group. They had it together. They
had together.
Speaker 3 (04:19):
I set that up because you went to CAST Tech
and you go on to college I believe it was
the University of Michigan. Yes, and then you go to
work as an engineer and you're working on space satellites
as an electrical design engineer after you graduated college.
Speaker 2 (04:39):
Did I get all that right? That's right, that's right.
Speaker 3 (04:42):
I'm waiting for how the hell does you don't see
the logical progressions? It is scientifically sensible way through the
scientific method.
Speaker 2 (04:51):
It's obvious. Next step is to be a struggling actor
for three or four years after the age of thirty.
After the after the age of thirty, after it, I
didn't know anything. So I studied engineering and electronics in
high school at CASTS and at cast it also had
a really strong creative arts program, dance, acting. All this
stuff was there, so I kind of got into the
(05:11):
theater stuff when I was at CAST and I loved it.
I loved it, but I also knew that I had
a strong propensity from math, and I just you know,
and you know, my parents, my family. It's like, hey,
you know, Detroit, you get a job. You know, you
have a steady job. There was no risk involved in
a thinking about a job, so acting was out. I
(05:32):
thought it was fine, blah gah. But later, like after
I became an engineer and being so regimented with everything,
I just felt like I'd never want to go through
life and wonder what if But you were an engineer
in California? Right? Yes, where were you working? If you're
allowed to tell us? The original was a company called
(05:53):
Space Electronics, and then it went to a company called
Maxwell Technologies, and we designed computer systems for South Lights.
I feel inadequate. So I was a design engineer for
this building computer systems that were specifically designed to survive
(06:13):
the space environment.
Speaker 3 (06:15):
I say all that to say, and I want to
hear about your background. Of course I've read up on it,
but I wanted other people to hear it because you
seem like you would come from this very regimented, segmented,
directed background, which doesn't allow for the realm of creativity
and free expression to grow. Yes, you might have taken
(06:35):
some acting in theater in high school, but what was
it always pulling at you along the way, like, look,
I have this.
Speaker 2 (06:42):
Itch I just need to scratch. It was because the
first inkling I had was in elementary school. Actually went
to a place called Quarters Elementary which is no longer there,
and one class, the teacher had all of us come
up one by one and do what I now know
to be an improv Skit just individual come up and
just say anything. And I was petrified because I was
(07:02):
always shy and a bookworming kid. And I get up
there and it just something happened. It just clicked. The
class is going nuts laughing at whatever I was doing.
I was like, you know, putting. I was on a
phone call with someone's something I just made up on
the spot, and that gave me the knowledge that, hey,
I have something else. It's not just the books for me.
There's something else there. And so when I got the cast,
(07:23):
it continued on and I knew I had this love
for it, but I didn't pursue it because the risk factor,
And you know, when you grew up in Detroit, you're
being a black manatory you don't there's the risk factor.
You need to have something that's going to be more
for sure.
Speaker 3 (07:38):
Well I understand that, and maybe that was the function
of my mother and her Detroit roots, because the whole idea.
I went to Georgetown University and then I wanted to
work in the in the music industry, and they're like,
what the what you trying to do?
Speaker 2 (07:50):
What? Yeah, the uncertainty of entertainment.
Speaker 3 (07:53):
But when you came to California, was it ever in
the back of your mind that I'm in quote unquote La.
Why do I just maybe send up some smoke signals
and see what type of response I get?
Speaker 2 (08:06):
Yeah, that kind of happened a little bit because I
was in San Diego, which isn't the big LA market,
but they were filming some TV shows in San Diego
at the time, and I was like, you know, maybe
you know, see you know, and I got a big response.
I got an agent right away. I met a couple actors.
They are like, yeah, Mick, you could you could really
study and improve and grow in this. And so I started,
you know, dipping, going further and further into the pool,
(08:29):
so to speak, and then I got an Asian la
and you know, you know, it doesn't happen that easily,
you know that, right, I That's not usually how it
got I heard, you know, it told me to say
that was it was easy. I mean, maybe it's maybe
me finding out and realizing this is something that I
could really do that I felt like I really had
(08:49):
a shot at might have been sort of easy for
me to figure out about myself. But I think the
row was hard, you know, from from the beginning for
me because I, you know, you you learning. I didn't
know anything about the business at all at all. I knew,
were you taking acting classes? I hadn't started that yet.
I didn't start until you had an agent before you
(09:09):
started acting classes. I did not. Well, it was kind
of at the same time, okay, yeah, it was kind
oft the same time. I was. I had a friend
that was an actor and they knew some agents, and
like the first acting class I did, they did a
showcase and the agent games, yes, I definitely want to
sign Merek for my agency. So that was kind of
(09:30):
the first showcase. Yeah, yeah, yeah, you know, it doesn't
happen like that. Well, I feel like in a pool
as small as San Diego maybe, but yeah, I get that,
that's okay. I hadn't thought of that before.
Speaker 3 (09:45):
But then outside of looking in you know, I know
you're not an overnight sensation, but there's some things which
happened starting later in the game, in your thirties, it's
easier for people to pass you over.
Speaker 2 (10:01):
Again, I didn't know about the business well and to
know that would be a major factor. And looking back,
people are like, wow, you started when because aidents stop
signing people at twenty five. Oh yeah, so I and
I guess maybe that sort of helping with that. I
didn't know that I was supposed to not make it
after I started thirty, but I did. I felt like
(10:21):
I wanted to go forward to something I truly love,
and that's what really kept me moving throughout this whole journey.
Speaker 3 (10:29):
My guest right now in studio is Merk MacArthur. He
is playing da Grayson Valwell on the new Prime video
series Countdown.
Speaker 2 (10:37):
Three episodes are available right now. Episode four drops tomorrow.
Speaker 3 (10:40):
More with Merrick MacArthur in Just a Moment It's later
with mo Kelly k if I Am six forty Live
everywhere on YouTube and the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 1 (10:47):
You're listening to Later with Moe Kelly on demand from
KFI AM six forty.
Speaker 2 (10:52):
K IF I Am six forty. This is Later with
Mo Kelly.
Speaker 3 (10:55):
We're live on YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, and the iHeartRadio app.
I'm right now in the middle of conversation with actor
Merreck MacArthur. We're talking about the new Prime video series Countdown,
and he stars as Da Grayson Vowwell. If three episodes
are already available, you need to go check it out.
It's really good, full of action and adventure from all
(11:15):
around the world. It's a lot of intrigue. You don't
know who to trust, you don't know who to believe,
you don't know who's a good guy or a bad guy.
And Marck MacArthur, I'm still trying to figure you out.
Speaker 2 (11:27):
I'm the DA of Los Angeles.
Speaker 3 (11:30):
Oh so being the DA of Los Angeles means you're
a good guy. Let's not talk about real life.
Speaker 2 (11:35):
Wait wait, hit a second, it's a fun show man.
Speaker 3 (11:40):
I got to ask, though, did the law enforcement aspect
of your family in any way influence your character?
Speaker 2 (11:49):
Sure? Sure, but also the political of their politicians in
Detroit when I was growing up, and I'll talk about
Coleman Young. Hey, you know what Home and y'all alone?
That was the man the years years, Yes, yes, years.
So yeah, I kind of model a bit off of
off of that. But I think in general my career,
(12:12):
I feel like, I'm not sure how, but I play
detective cop a lot. And I was with I was
on Curby Enthusiasm. I was talking to JB. Smooth, who
hangs out in Neutral all the time, and we're talking
and I was like, so, what are you think of
my pulling off? Is? Oh, man, you look like a cop?
You know JB's talk. I was like, freeze, all man,
you definitely like a cop. So, uh yeah, I just
(12:32):
it's something that just comes across from me. I'm not
sure if it's my parents or just I don't know. Well,
let me take a quote from you to better explain that.
You said.
Speaker 3 (12:40):
Acting isn't all pretending you're someone else. Acting is finding
the parts of the character that are are authentically you.
Acting isn't lying, it's telling the truth, Oh, Kelly, doing
the research.
Speaker 2 (12:54):
Yes, yes, yes, that's why I asked the question.
Speaker 3 (12:57):
You know, are you pulling from somewhere where obviously you
are pulling from somewhere which is informing da Grayson Falwell.
Speaker 2 (13:06):
Yes, yes, I think like you said, it's something that's
truthful within you, and so I look at the circumstances
where we are in this story. But I'm also working
with the actual person, which in a lot of cases
in the series is Eric Daine, who you know, he's
just this steely FBI chief and he doesn't want to
give anything of what he's thinking at all. And so
(13:28):
that was like something I took as a personal chance
because I'm trying to get in with him, you know,
and that was a thing. And Eric himself is a
legend on TV, yes, and I'm brand new that he's writing.
Don't know me from Adam, And so when I'm up
there acting in the first time, at least the first
scenes we did, it was really that it was that
feeling of I want this. I want Eric to know
(13:48):
that I'm good, that I'm with him, and that was
something I was honest within me that I put into
the performance. Let's talk about countdown.
Speaker 3 (13:57):
We played some of the trailer at the beginning of
our conversation, and we know that there is an undercover
agent who was killed in broad daylight. I'm just telling
you a little bit of the first episode. And then
there is this task force which is brought together, this
interdepartmental task force. You got some FBI people, you have
an LAPD contingent who've all been brought together to figure
(14:21):
out what happened. And then in trying to figure out
what happened, there a whole nother story unfurls. Yes, take
it from there, as far as we don't want to
give everything away.
Speaker 2 (14:33):
Sure, sure, there there just seems to be a lot
more going on than initially suspected by the team. But
it turns out that you know, Ery Dane might have known.
We're not sure if you knew he might have known.
We're not sure about that. But yeah, there's a lot
more going on. It affects a lot more important people.
And uh yeah, we're we're on the ride. I mean
(14:54):
that first episode, you're on the right.
Speaker 3 (14:55):
To ride on the right and they don't tell like
it starts off in a prison, but you I don't
know what's going on, and you're they drop hints. It's like, oh,
this person is not who they're presenting themselves to us.
And I think that's a recurring theme. Eric Dane is
someone who fills up the screen. He's he's eminently watchable.
You see him in a thousand things, and every time
(15:17):
you see him, you're just focused in on him. He commands,
he has that screen presence. But I'm not so sure
about him his character in this.
Speaker 2 (15:27):
That he's on the up and up. Not only three episodes. Yeah,
but you know, yeah, good points, good observations there. Yeah,
I'm just saying I trust no one. Yeah, he's got that.
It's got the element when you really aren't sure. What
aren't sure? I mean, yeah, there's there's certain characters that
turn out to be not on the side of good,
(15:48):
and this show takes you through finding out who these
people are and aren't, and you're gonna have your suspicions
and that's just part of this ride that the show
takes you on. Obviously, Jensen Ackles is an actor I enjoy.
Speaker 3 (15:59):
I saw him more recently as Soldier Boy in The Boys,
and it's like you recognize him. It's like, oh, yeah,
I remember him from the Boys. And he has a
lot of ry, dry humor. You know, he says all
the inappropriate things and it makes it fun. I say
that to say how much improv is going on?
Speaker 2 (16:18):
Oh, A fair amount, Okay, I mean I didn't shoot
really any scenes with but I talked to him and
seeing what he's saying about the show. Fair amount and
it's funny too. About the show is when I finally
was able to tell people I'm on this show. Usually
I'm like, hey, getting the congratulations on that show. This time,
everybody's like, Jensen Ackles.
Speaker 1 (16:38):
That was it.
Speaker 2 (16:39):
It was like Jensen Ackles exclamating boy x mex boy
question mark. That was the response. He is the star
of the show and he carries it very well. He
leads this crew, this cast, and he's he's just a
great guy all around. I met him on Steff for
the first time and he couldn't be more generous.
Speaker 3 (16:53):
What is what are some of the fun parts of
doing a series like this that people like me and
everyone else who's never done a TV show would want
to know the.
Speaker 2 (17:07):
Fun parts about? You mean, actually, this work, but.
Speaker 3 (17:11):
At the same time, you probably have some fun in
doing it. Is it something that you have a freedom
to make that part your own on some level or
is it something.
Speaker 2 (17:20):
Else you do you do? I mean, Derek hass is
a showrunner, and he's from you know, the Chicago Mad
Chicago Pago Fire. Maybe that's why I liked this because
I love all the Chicago series. Yeah, so he from
the start gave me a lot of freedom to kind
of make it my own. Very few notes, if anything,
it was like, you know, blocking notes or you know,
don't wear the jacket here or something, but the acting notes. No,
(17:42):
it was he's he gives you a lot of freedom
to that fun. A lot of the guys did. A
lot of the guys did a lot of stuff. A
fair amount was not scripted. Scripted, but yeah, I'm sure
I changed up a few things too, and they were fine.
I added some things, they were fine, Okay, Yeah, Yeah,
it's it's it's one of the experiences as an actor
where you love because you can truly create and creating
(18:02):
your own thing and bringing your true self into something
and it still it still tells the story the right way.
My guest in studio right now is actor Merick MacArthur.
Speaker 3 (18:11):
We're talking about Countdown, the hit series, which is available
right now on Prime Video. Three episodes have dropped. Episode
number four drops is at midnight. I know it's tomorrow,
it's midnight. It's midnight, so I'll have something to watch
as soon as I get home tonight and before I forget.
I know, people are know more about you now than
(18:33):
before when we started. But how can they get in
touch with you? How can they reach out with you?
How can they go on this journey with you?
Speaker 2 (18:38):
Oh, I'm on social media. I'm on Instagram at the
real Marck MacArthur and so on Instagram on Facebook also.
I mean that's kind of you know, family, close friends,
but I'm certainly you know, put things out there as well,
and Blue Sky as well.
Speaker 3 (18:51):
All right, Yeah, we'll have more in just a moment.
Kaf I Am six forty It's Later with mo Kelly.
We're live everywhere on YouTube, Instagram and the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 1 (18:58):
You're listening to Later with Mo Kelly on demand from
KFI AM six forty.
Speaker 3 (19:09):
Kf I AM six forty It's Later with mo Kelly
Live on YouTube, Instagram and the iHeartRadio app. At my
guest and studio is Marck MacArthur. We've been talking about
the new Prime video show. It's really good. Countdown and
three episodes have been released. Episode four. We've been going
back and forth and so like midnight is about nine pm,
which is midnight on the East Coast.
Speaker 2 (19:28):
But it'll be available by tomorrow.
Speaker 3 (19:31):
Yes, so watch the first three episodes if you have
it already, and then you'll be ready for episode four.
Speaker 2 (19:36):
But your backstory is just fascinating to me.
Speaker 3 (19:41):
Not only did you arrive at this point later in life,
not only do you have some common roots with me?
Speaker 2 (19:48):
What is this this I'll say this. I don't want
to call it an obsession, but this fascination with kung fu?
Oh really, so you should know this. And Detroit growing
up when I was a little shoot, my cousins and
I we would take the bus to the Fox Theater
which is downtown Detroit. You have to tell me. And
(20:10):
they had like a yeah, yes, I had three pictures.
But you could be there all day. You bought you
paid a dollar, you could be there all day watching
comft movies if you wanted to. And so they had
like the Shaw Brothers movies and uh, you know you Uh,
it's been a thing. And I think maybe since I
was a little kid, because at the time, when I
was a little kid, my dad took me to see uh.
I think it was Game of Death and Game of
it had been released all three, Yeah, but I think
(20:32):
it had been released already. But it was a thing
where every year they would re show, like Game of
Death or whatever, the End of the Dragon in the
theater in Detroit, and there would be a line around
the block every year. Every year. Everyone it was like
a thing to do to go see the Bruce Lee movie.
So from then I was hooked. So when I got
(20:53):
to be a little bit older and my cousin, I'd
go to the Fox Theater and watch comfu movies. That
was it. It was like it was interesting and it
looked cool, and uh, it was like fighting, so cool fighting.
So I always wanted to study kung fu since I
was a little kid, but there were no kung fu
schools in Detroit when I was growing out. But you
eventually found your with When I eventually found I moved
(21:15):
to San Diego and there's a couple of kung fu
schools down there, one in particular that I went to,
and uh it was It's Shaolin Green Dragon kung Fu.
And I started studying again as an old man, but
over you know, in my twenty somethings that you know.
Speaker 3 (21:30):
It's a beautiful thing, and I I want to live
my life in a way that when all of a
sudden done, I want to be able to say that
I don't have any what ifs, I wonder what if
or I wish I would have. I can say I've
done it, may not have even liked it, but I
can say that I've done it, I've experienced it, I've
pushed myself to it.
Speaker 2 (21:50):
And martial arts has always been one of those things
for me. Yeah. Yeah, it's uh, you know, there's a
beauty to it, elegance, it's entertaining, but it's also it's
a it's a it's a life along to me as
well as I learned as I studied it. So yeah,
I agree with you. I was. It's been a favorite life.
So that means we need to get a role for
(22:10):
you in which you're a detective or fight white, you
know the show we get on the Phone. Yes, okay, so.
Speaker 3 (22:22):
That's that's a part of your wish list. As far
as what possibly you would want to do in the future,
I would I would love to star in a major
production in a Marshall in some sense. Yeah, that I would.
Speaker 2 (22:35):
I think for me my demeanor, it would be a
surprise that I knew come from. If you one of
those guys, Oh shoot, this dude knows come.
Speaker 3 (22:43):
Well, can't you like just go up to the director
and say, hey, you know, is there any way that
you could just write in like a little choreography, kung
fu choreography where maybe Eric Dane comes here and he
tries to make a move with me and I kick
him in his face or something.
Speaker 2 (22:56):
Yeah, let me see how that was. Let me see.
I mean Eric's Eric's are pretty savvy, dude. I wouldn't
I wouldn't doubt he has the moves already, but it
wasn't in the vein of the show for me to
do that. You've got you know, people like Uli and Yante,
those guys, and and and Jessica Camancho and uh, well
they can get down. Oh yeah, yeah, I agree. I
(23:17):
mean they they they know how to do it. So
but my character, I'm more of a I'm a I'm
a politician.
Speaker 1 (23:23):
I use my my.
Speaker 2 (23:24):
Words, my your wills of persuasion. Yeah, before we get
out of here, we close out this conversation.
Speaker 3 (23:32):
I know you can't give away where the totality of
the countdown storyline goes.
Speaker 2 (23:38):
Has there been any discussion of renewal. At this point,
there's been discussed. It's been discussed as to whether or
not there will be a season two. Absolutely, I'm sure
that Eric is down and and Derek Coss is down,
so and everyone else is down. I'm sure to do
the season two.
Speaker 3 (23:57):
I know it could be hard, though, because you put
all the work into this season, and I know this
is more just emblematic of the landscape of streaming or
even broadcast television where tomorrow's not promised in a creative sense.
And you know, I know when I watch a series,
I get emotionally attached to not only the characters, but
(24:18):
also the show, the storyline. You talk about the Chicago shows,
I'm emostally attached to all of them. But I've also
been lucky enough like all the other fans to know
that there's another season.
Speaker 2 (24:28):
There are plenty of seasons.
Speaker 3 (24:29):
And do you here's the question, do you, as an
actor get emotionally attached to the characters or is it
are they disposable to you? It's like, oh, it's just
a job, move on to the next world.
Speaker 2 (24:39):
Oh no, No, I'm attached to the characters, yeah, because
when they're part of me, like really that's how acting works.
That you're giving. You're putting yourself into this, so you
can't really let it go. And if something that's been
moving you throughout the performance, whether it's on screen or
on stage, you take it with you. There's plays I've done, yeah,
decade ago, that I still take with me. So you,
(25:01):
I mean, you could probably try to push it aside,
you know, but there are things you're going to take
with you, and that's one of the beautiful things about
being an actor. That's one of the things that she
will take with you.
Speaker 3 (25:10):
But I want you to leave something here because I
know someone is listening right now who's either at the
beginning of his or her career or maybe a little
bit later in their life, and thought about this as
a career as you did.
Speaker 2 (25:23):
What would you recommend to him, her, they, them, whoever.
I think I always say to remember that this is
a journey and don't expect to come in, you know,
making a big splash where you're like the next Will
Smith all of a sudden. I think you gotta love
acting first. If this is what you want to do,
(25:45):
love that first, Know you love that first, and then
know that you're going to have to persevere to have,
you know, any kind of commercial success with it. But
as long as you have that love the acting, you'll
have the you'll have the motivation to keep going because
you're going to need that. You're gonna need that. And
also know the business. Acting schools are fantastic, fantastic, fantastic,
(26:06):
but very if you teach you the business and the
business is something different, it is something different, and you
got to know that going in. You want to know
that as soon as you can, rather because that will
help you knowing how the business works.
Speaker 3 (26:19):
Do you have one more question? Do you still have
pinch me moments? I can say this, even though I've
done this for many, many years. I get a kick
out of oh that's me on the radio, or if
I hear a commercial I've done, or if I see
something which may be replayed from a political commentary I've done.
I still have these pinch me moments, whereas like I'm
(26:39):
living the dream and I'm self aware that I'm in
the middle of living the dream.
Speaker 2 (26:44):
Do you have those moments? Oh? Absolutely, I think the
first time I saw myself on the big screen pinched me.
And even recently when my publicistm manager, my wife and
I went to the premiere and they just flashed me
on the screen. I was like, Oh, that's me, and
it was.
Speaker 1 (27:00):
It was.
Speaker 2 (27:00):
It's one of those things, you know, and that's part
of the love of it, you know.
Speaker 3 (27:04):
Maric MacArthur, I could speak to you all night, but
I know you got other stuff to do, and I
know that you have other work to do. Probably go
home so you can watch yourself an episode.
Speaker 2 (27:12):
Four which I am in, which I am in. Yeah,
it's been a pleasure. Well, thank you so much for
having me. It's been, you know, so nice to be
invited out here to talk to you. And I know
you've had great guests on here before, and I'm happy
to be included in that history with your show. Whenever
you want to come back, if you have something that
you're working on, you are, Oh I do here, I do. Okay.
Speaker 3 (27:31):
That means we don't have to make it happen, right, Yeah,
we could do that. Yeah, he is Mark MacArthur. I
have a pleasure speaking with him. The show is obviously countdown.
It's available right now on Prime Video. Three episodes are available.
Episode four is coming up. Let's say it just in
a few hours, you know.
Speaker 2 (27:48):
Bye. Bye tomorrow. It'll be there for you. Yes, midnight
on the West coast. We're confirmed. Yes, we're sure. We're
pretty sure. Oh okay, all right, good good see you, Sue,
my friend, Thank you so much.
Speaker 3 (28:00):
It's letter with Mokelly Kiff. I am six forty. We
live everywhere the iHeartRadio app A s
Speaker 1 (28:06):
I and k os T h D two, Los Angeles,
Orange County more stimulating talk
You're listening to Later with Moe Kelly on demand from
KFI A M six forty.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
You are the best, or I would not have selected you.
Our mission could prevent another nine to eleven foreign players
planning with your noble level of that here.
Speaker 3 (00:17):
In Los Angeles, nobody can know what we're working on.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
We've done if you want a couple of months. Yeah,
in Bob, you almost shot me here, but I didn't.
I thought it looked really good. Really no, right, we're
working to stop the weapon of mass destruction. They were
just here. I got one mistake. We are dead showtime. Okay, No,
(00:52):
you care about me? No, it's very sweet. They don't
play the bubo question. We I'll play this however you
want to play it? What the consequences?
Speaker 3 (01:07):
I Am six forty is Later with mo Kelly alive
everywhere on the iHeartRadio app and YouTube. An LAPD officer
joins a secret task force to investigate a suspicious murder,
but uncovers a sinister plot that requires a team to
unite and save millions like right here in La Merrick
MacArthur can be seen right now in the hit new
Prime video series Countdown as Da Grayson Vowwell, but you
(01:31):
may also know him from the CW series All American
from Netflix's Unstable opposite Rob Low. Countdown's first three episodes
are now available, with episode four dropping tomorrow. Is my
pleasure to welcome Merrick MacArthur to the show right now, sir.
Speaker 2 (01:46):
How you doing this evening? Great? Great? Really have pleasure
to be here, Monk.
Speaker 3 (01:49):
I have to tell you because whenever I run into
someone from Detroit, there's this almost like this secret handshake
where they ask, like, what high school did you go to? Okay,
I'm not from Detroit, but my mother's family's from Detroit
and she went to cast Tech. She's watching right now
on YouTube. Great, So what why high school did you
go to?
Speaker 2 (02:09):
Detroit? I went to cast Tech?
Speaker 3 (02:11):
Oh, of one of the best science schools in America.
Speaker 2 (02:17):
Yes, and now a prominent football school. Is that right?
I did not know that. Yeah, oh yeah, they're producing
them in cast Tech.
Speaker 3 (02:25):
I got to ask, though, because given you your math
and science inclination, you came from a household of not one,
but two Detroit police officers.
Speaker 2 (02:35):
What was that like growing up? So? What strict? They
were already strict, but then making them cops? It was
just they ain't set a lot of great values to me,
being honest, good, hardworking police officers in town. So they
were known. They graduated the same night at the police
Academy and at the time they got in amongst a
(02:59):
wave of new black police officers in Detroit after the
riots had happened, you know, maybe a decade before that.
They came in and they were part of this new
wave of let's really have the police represent more of
the community. And yeah, they they they applied at the
same time and they graduated the academy of I think
they were the first married couple to ever graduate the
(03:20):
academy together. Aren't there rules against that? They never worked
in the same precinct Okay, yeah, they never They never
worked together in it, and they were they were always separate, separate,
you know, separate groups SEFN precincts all the time.
Speaker 3 (03:33):
What type of wisdom, what type of advice were they
imparting to you? Do you have any siblings?
Speaker 2 (03:39):
I do, Yeah, I have three sisters, and they're all younger.
I'm the oldest. My father was a very strong, you know, masculine,
blue collar type of guy, so he always instilled those
masculine you know protective instincts in me about my family,
it's particularly my sisters. And what about your mother? Given
(04:00):
have sisters, three sisters. I think my mother was stronger
will than my father.
Speaker 3 (04:06):
So who was the who was who wielded the hand
of discipline?
Speaker 2 (04:09):
As all they both were, they were both a very
well coordinated disciplinary parent group. They had it together. They
had together.
Speaker 3 (04:19):
I set that up because you went to CAST Tech
and you go on to college I believe it was
the University of Michigan. Yes, and then you go to
work as an engineer and you're working on space satellites
as an electrical design engineer after you graduated college.
Speaker 2 (04:39):
Did I get all that right? That's right, that's right.
Speaker 3 (04:42):
I'm waiting for how the hell does you don't see
the logical progressions? It is scientifically sensible way through the
scientific method.
Speaker 2 (04:51):
It's obvious. Next step is to be a struggling actor
for three or four years after the age of thirty.
After the after the age of thirty, after it, I
didn't know anything. So I studied engineering and electronics in
high school at CASTS and at cast it also had
a really strong creative arts program, dance, acting. All this
stuff was there, so I kind of got into the
(05:11):
theater stuff when I was at CAST and I loved it.
I loved it, but I also knew that I had
a strong propensity from math, and I just you know,
and you know, my parents, my family. It's like, hey,
you know, Detroit, you get a job. You know, you
have a steady job. There was no risk involved in
a thinking about a job, so acting was out. I
(05:32):
thought it was fine, blah gah. But later, like after
I became an engineer and being so regimented with everything,
I just felt like I'd never want to go through
life and wonder what if But you were an engineer
in California? Right? Yes, where were you working? If you're
allowed to tell us? The original was a company called
(05:53):
Space Electronics, and then it went to a company called
Maxwell Technologies, and we designed computer systems for South Lights.
I feel inadequate. So I was a design engineer for
this building computer systems that were specifically designed to survive
(06:13):
the space environment.
Speaker 3 (06:15):
I say all that to say, and I want to
hear about your background. Of course I've read up on it,
but I wanted other people to hear it because you
seem like you would come from this very regimented, segmented,
directed background, which doesn't allow for the realm of creativity
and free expression to grow. Yes, you might have taken
(06:35):
some acting in theater in high school, but what was
it always pulling at you along the way, like, look,
I have this.
Speaker 2 (06:42):
Itch I just need to scratch. It was because the
first inkling I had was in elementary school. Actually went
to a place called Quarters Elementary which is no longer there,
and one class, the teacher had all of us come
up one by one and do what I now know
to be an improv Skit just individual come up and
just say anything. And I was petrified because I was
(07:02):
always shy and a bookworming kid. And I get up
there and it just something happened. It just clicked. The
class is going nuts laughing at whatever I was doing.
I was like, you know, putting. I was on a
phone call with someone's something I just made up on
the spot, and that gave me the knowledge that, hey,
I have something else. It's not just the books for me.
There's something else there. And so when I got the cast,
(07:23):
it continued on and I knew I had this love
for it, but I didn't pursue it because the risk factor,
And you know, when you grew up in Detroit, you're
being a black manatory you don't there's the risk factor.
You need to have something that's going to be more
for sure.
Speaker 3 (07:38):
Well I understand that, and maybe that was the function
of my mother and her Detroit roots, because the whole idea.
I went to Georgetown University and then I wanted to
work in the in the music industry, and they're like,
what the what you trying to do?
Speaker 2 (07:50):
What? Yeah, the uncertainty of entertainment.
Speaker 3 (07:53):
But when you came to California, was it ever in
the back of your mind that I'm in quote unquote La.
Why do I just maybe send up some smoke signals
and see what type of response I get?
Speaker 2 (08:06):
Yeah, that kind of happened a little bit because I
was in San Diego, which isn't the big LA market,
but they were filming some TV shows in San Diego
at the time, and I was like, you know, maybe
you know, see you know, and I got a big response.
I got an agent right away. I met a couple actors.
They are like, yeah, Mick, you could you could really
study and improve and grow in this. And so I started,
you know, dipping, going further and further into the pool,
(08:29):
so to speak, and then I got an Asian la
and you know, you know, it doesn't happen that easily,
you know that, right, I That's not usually how it
got I heard, you know, it told me to say
that was it was easy. I mean, maybe it's maybe
me finding out and realizing this is something that I
could really do that I felt like I really had
(08:49):
a shot at might have been sort of easy for
me to figure out about myself. But I think the
row was hard, you know, from from the beginning for
me because I, you know, you you learning. I didn't
know anything about the business at all at all. I knew,
were you taking acting classes? I hadn't started that yet.
I didn't start until you had an agent before you
(09:09):
started acting classes. I did not. Well, it was kind
of at the same time, okay, yeah, it was kind
oft the same time. I was. I had a friend
that was an actor and they knew some agents, and
like the first acting class I did, they did a
showcase and the agent games, yes, I definitely want to
sign Merek for my agency. So that was kind of
(09:30):
the first showcase. Yeah, yeah, yeah, you know, it doesn't
happen like that. Well, I feel like in a pool
as small as San Diego maybe, but yeah, I get that,
that's okay. I hadn't thought of that before.
Speaker 3 (09:45):
But then outside of looking in you know, I know
you're not an overnight sensation, but there's some things which
happened starting later in the game, in your thirties, it's
easier for people to pass you over.
Speaker 2 (10:01):
Again, I didn't know about the business well and to
know that would be a major factor. And looking back,
people are like, wow, you started when because aidents stop
signing people at twenty five. Oh yeah, so I and
I guess maybe that sort of helping with that. I
didn't know that I was supposed to not make it
after I started thirty, but I did. I felt like
(10:21):
I wanted to go forward to something I truly love,
and that's what really kept me moving throughout this whole journey.
Speaker 3 (10:29):
My guest right now in studio is Merk MacArthur. He
is playing da Grayson Valwell on the new Prime video
series Countdown.
Speaker 2 (10:37):
Three episodes are available right now. Episode four drops tomorrow.
Speaker 3 (10:40):
More with Merrick MacArthur in Just a Moment It's later
with mo Kelly k if I Am six forty Live
everywhere on YouTube and the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 1 (10:47):
You're listening to Later with Moe Kelly on demand from
KFI AM six forty.
Speaker 2 (10:52):
K IF I Am six forty. This is Later with
Mo Kelly.
Speaker 3 (10:55):
We're live on YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, and the iHeartRadio app.
I'm right now in the middle of conversation with actor
Merreck MacArthur. We're talking about the new Prime video series Countdown,
and he stars as Da Grayson Vowwell. If three episodes
are already available, you need to go check it out.
It's really good, full of action and adventure from all
(11:15):
around the world. It's a lot of intrigue. You don't
know who to trust, you don't know who to believe,
you don't know who's a good guy or a bad guy.
And Marck MacArthur, I'm still trying to figure you out.
Speaker 2 (11:27):
I'm the DA of Los Angeles.
Speaker 3 (11:30):
Oh so being the DA of Los Angeles means you're
a good guy. Let's not talk about real life.
Speaker 2 (11:35):
Wait wait, hit a second, it's a fun show man.
Speaker 3 (11:40):
I got to ask, though, did the law enforcement aspect
of your family in any way influence your character?
Speaker 2 (11:49):
Sure? Sure, but also the political of their politicians in
Detroit when I was growing up, and I'll talk about
Coleman Young. Hey, you know what Home and y'all alone?
That was the man the years years, Yes, yes, years.
So yeah, I kind of model a bit off of
off of that. But I think in general my career,
(12:12):
I feel like, I'm not sure how, but I play
detective cop a lot. And I was with I was
on Curby Enthusiasm. I was talking to JB. Smooth, who
hangs out in Neutral all the time, and we're talking
and I was like, so, what are you think of
my pulling off? Is? Oh, man, you look like a cop?
You know JB's talk. I was like, freeze, all man,
you definitely like a cop. So, uh yeah, I just
(12:32):
it's something that just comes across from me. I'm not
sure if it's my parents or just I don't know. Well,
let me take a quote from you to better explain that.
You said.
Speaker 3 (12:40):
Acting isn't all pretending you're someone else. Acting is finding
the parts of the character that are are authentically you.
Acting isn't lying, it's telling the truth, Oh, Kelly, doing
the research.
Speaker 2 (12:54):
Yes, yes, yes, that's why I asked the question.
Speaker 3 (12:57):
You know, are you pulling from somewhere where obviously you
are pulling from somewhere which is informing da Grayson Falwell.
Speaker 2 (13:06):
Yes, yes, I think like you said, it's something that's
truthful within you, and so I look at the circumstances
where we are in this story. But I'm also working
with the actual person, which in a lot of cases
in the series is Eric Daine, who you know, he's
just this steely FBI chief and he doesn't want to
give anything of what he's thinking at all. And so
(13:28):
that was like something I took as a personal chance
because I'm trying to get in with him, you know,
and that was a thing. And Eric himself is a
legend on TV, yes, and I'm brand new that he's writing.
Don't know me from Adam, And so when I'm up
there acting in the first time, at least the first
scenes we did, it was really that it was that
feeling of I want this. I want Eric to know
(13:48):
that I'm good, that I'm with him, and that was
something I was honest within me that I put into
the performance. Let's talk about countdown.
Speaker 3 (13:57):
We played some of the trailer at the beginning of
our conversation, and we know that there is an undercover
agent who was killed in broad daylight. I'm just telling
you a little bit of the first episode. And then
there is this task force which is brought together, this
interdepartmental task force. You got some FBI people, you have
an LAPD contingent who've all been brought together to figure
(14:21):
out what happened. And then in trying to figure out
what happened, there a whole nother story unfurls. Yes, take
it from there, as far as we don't want to
give everything away.
Speaker 2 (14:33):
Sure, sure, there there just seems to be a lot
more going on than initially suspected by the team. But
it turns out that you know, Ery Dane might have known.
We're not sure if you knew he might have known.
We're not sure about that. But yeah, there's a lot
more going on. It affects a lot more important people.
And uh yeah, we're we're on the ride. I mean
(14:54):
that first episode, you're on the right.
Speaker 3 (14:55):
To ride on the right and they don't tell like
it starts off in a prison, but you I don't
know what's going on, and you're they drop hints. It's like, oh,
this person is not who they're presenting themselves to us.
And I think that's a recurring theme. Eric Dane is
someone who fills up the screen. He's he's eminently watchable.
You see him in a thousand things, and every time
(15:17):
you see him, you're just focused in on him. He commands,
he has that screen presence. But I'm not so sure
about him his character in this.
Speaker 2 (15:27):
That he's on the up and up. Not only three episodes. Yeah,
but you know, yeah, good points, good observations there. Yeah,
I'm just saying I trust no one. Yeah, he's got that.
It's got the element when you really aren't sure. What
aren't sure? I mean, yeah, there's there's certain characters that
turn out to be not on the side of good,
(15:48):
and this show takes you through finding out who these
people are and aren't, and you're gonna have your suspicions
and that's just part of this ride that the show
takes you on. Obviously, Jensen Ackles is an actor I enjoy.
Speaker 3 (15:59):
I saw him more recently as Soldier Boy in The Boys,
and it's like you recognize him. It's like, oh, yeah,
I remember him from the Boys. And he has a
lot of ry, dry humor. You know, he says all
the inappropriate things and it makes it fun. I say
that to say how much improv is going on?
Speaker 2 (16:18):
Oh, A fair amount, Okay, I mean I didn't shoot
really any scenes with but I talked to him and
seeing what he's saying about the show. Fair amount and
it's funny too. About the show is when I finally
was able to tell people I'm on this show. Usually
I'm like, hey, getting the congratulations on that show. This time,
everybody's like, Jensen Ackles.
Speaker 1 (16:38):
That was it.
Speaker 2 (16:39):
It was like Jensen Ackles exclamating boy x mex boy
question mark. That was the response. He is the star
of the show and he carries it very well. He
leads this crew, this cast, and he's he's just a
great guy all around. I met him on Steff for
the first time and he couldn't be more generous.
Speaker 3 (16:53):
What is what are some of the fun parts of
doing a series like this that people like me and
everyone else who's never done a TV show would want
to know the.
Speaker 2 (17:07):
Fun parts about? You mean, actually, this work, but.
Speaker 3 (17:11):
At the same time, you probably have some fun in
doing it. Is it something that you have a freedom
to make that part your own on some level or
is it something.
Speaker 2 (17:20):
Else you do you do? I mean, Derek hass is
a showrunner, and he's from you know, the Chicago Mad
Chicago Pago Fire. Maybe that's why I liked this because
I love all the Chicago series. Yeah, so he from
the start gave me a lot of freedom to kind
of make it my own. Very few notes, if anything,
it was like, you know, blocking notes or you know,
don't wear the jacket here or something, but the acting notes. No,
(17:42):
it was he's he gives you a lot of freedom
to that fun. A lot of the guys did. A
lot of the guys did a lot of stuff. A
fair amount was not scripted. Scripted, but yeah, I'm sure
I changed up a few things too, and they were fine.
I added some things, they were fine, Okay, Yeah, Yeah,
it's it's it's one of the experiences as an actor
where you love because you can truly create and creating
(18:02):
your own thing and bringing your true self into something
and it still it still tells the story the right way.
My guest in studio right now is actor Merick MacArthur.
Speaker 3 (18:11):
We're talking about Countdown, the hit series, which is available
right now on Prime Video. Three episodes have dropped. Episode
number four drops is at midnight. I know it's tomorrow,
it's midnight. It's midnight, so I'll have something to watch
as soon as I get home tonight and before I forget.
I know, people are know more about you now than
(18:33):
before when we started. But how can they get in
touch with you? How can they reach out with you?
How can they go on this journey with you?
Speaker 2 (18:38):
Oh, I'm on social media. I'm on Instagram at the
real Marck MacArthur and so on Instagram on Facebook also.
I mean that's kind of you know, family, close friends,
but I'm certainly you know, put things out there as well,
and Blue Sky as well.
Speaker 3 (18:51):
All right, Yeah, we'll have more in just a moment.
Kaf I Am six forty It's Later with mo Kelly.
We're live everywhere on YouTube, Instagram and the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 1 (18:58):
You're listening to Later with Mo Kelly on demand from
KFI AM six forty.
Speaker 3 (19:09):
Kf I AM six forty It's Later with mo Kelly
Live on YouTube, Instagram and the iHeartRadio app. At my
guest and studio is Marck MacArthur. We've been talking about
the new Prime video show. It's really good. Countdown and
three episodes have been released. Episode four. We've been going
back and forth and so like midnight is about nine pm,
which is midnight on the East Coast.
Speaker 2 (19:28):
But it'll be available by tomorrow.
Speaker 3 (19:31):
Yes, so watch the first three episodes if you have
it already, and then you'll be ready for episode four.
Speaker 2 (19:36):
But your backstory is just fascinating to me.
Speaker 3 (19:41):
Not only did you arrive at this point later in life,
not only do you have some common roots with me?
Speaker 2 (19:48):
What is this this I'll say this. I don't want
to call it an obsession, but this fascination with kung fu?
Oh really, so you should know this. And Detroit growing
up when I was a little shoot, my cousins and
I we would take the bus to the Fox Theater
which is downtown Detroit. You have to tell me. And
(20:10):
they had like a yeah, yes, I had three pictures.
But you could be there all day. You bought you
paid a dollar, you could be there all day watching
comft movies if you wanted to. And so they had
like the Shaw Brothers movies and uh, you know you Uh,
it's been a thing. And I think maybe since I
was a little kid, because at the time, when I
was a little kid, my dad took me to see uh.
I think it was Game of Death and Game of
it had been released all three, Yeah, but I think
(20:32):
it had been released already. But it was a thing
where every year they would re show, like Game of
Death or whatever, the End of the Dragon in the
theater in Detroit, and there would be a line around
the block every year. Every year. Everyone it was like
a thing to do to go see the Bruce Lee movie.
So from then I was hooked. So when I got
(20:53):
to be a little bit older and my cousin, I'd
go to the Fox Theater and watch comfu movies. That
was it. It was like it was interesting and it
looked cool, and uh, it was like fighting, so cool fighting.
So I always wanted to study kung fu since I
was a little kid, but there were no kung fu
schools in Detroit when I was growing out. But you
eventually found your with When I eventually found I moved
(21:15):
to San Diego and there's a couple of kung fu
schools down there, one in particular that I went to,
and uh it was It's Shaolin Green Dragon kung Fu.
And I started studying again as an old man, but
over you know, in my twenty somethings that you know.
Speaker 3 (21:30):
It's a beautiful thing, and I I want to live
my life in a way that when all of a
sudden done, I want to be able to say that
I don't have any what ifs, I wonder what if
or I wish I would have. I can say I've
done it, may not have even liked it, but I
can say that I've done it, I've experienced it, I've
pushed myself to it.
Speaker 2 (21:50):
And martial arts has always been one of those things
for me. Yeah. Yeah, it's uh, you know, there's a
beauty to it, elegance, it's entertaining, but it's also it's
a it's a it's a life along to me as
well as I learned as I studied it. So yeah,
I agree with you. I was. It's been a favorite life.
So that means we need to get a role for
(22:10):
you in which you're a detective or fight white, you
know the show we get on the Phone. Yes, okay, so.
Speaker 3 (22:22):
That's that's a part of your wish list. As far
as what possibly you would want to do in the future,
I would I would love to star in a major
production in a Marshall in some sense. Yeah, that I would.
Speaker 2 (22:35):
I think for me my demeanor, it would be a
surprise that I knew come from. If you one of
those guys, Oh shoot, this dude knows come.
Speaker 3 (22:43):
Well, can't you like just go up to the director
and say, hey, you know, is there any way that
you could just write in like a little choreography, kung
fu choreography where maybe Eric Dane comes here and he
tries to make a move with me and I kick
him in his face or something.
Speaker 2 (22:56):
Yeah, let me see how that was. Let me see.
I mean Eric's Eric's are pretty savvy, dude. I wouldn't
I wouldn't doubt he has the moves already, but it
wasn't in the vein of the show for me to
do that. You've got you know, people like Uli and Yante,
those guys, and and and Jessica Camancho and uh, well
they can get down. Oh yeah, yeah, I agree. I
(23:17):
mean they they they know how to do it. So
but my character, I'm more of a I'm a I'm
a politician.
Speaker 1 (23:23):
I use my my.
Speaker 2 (23:24):
Words, my your wills of persuasion. Yeah, before we get
out of here, we close out this conversation.
Speaker 3 (23:32):
I know you can't give away where the totality of
the countdown storyline goes.
Speaker 2 (23:38):
Has there been any discussion of renewal. At this point,
there's been discussed. It's been discussed as to whether or
not there will be a season two. Absolutely, I'm sure
that Eric is down and and Derek Coss is down,
so and everyone else is down. I'm sure to do
the season two.
Speaker 3 (23:57):
I know it could be hard, though, because you put
all the work into this season, and I know this
is more just emblematic of the landscape of streaming or
even broadcast television where tomorrow's not promised in a creative sense.
And you know, I know when I watch a series,
I get emotionally attached to not only the characters, but
(24:18):
also the show, the storyline. You talk about the Chicago shows,
I'm emostally attached to all of them. But I've also
been lucky enough like all the other fans to know
that there's another season.
Speaker 2 (24:28):
There are plenty of seasons.
Speaker 3 (24:29):
And do you here's the question, do you, as an
actor get emotionally attached to the characters or is it
are they disposable to you? It's like, oh, it's just
a job, move on to the next world.
Speaker 2 (24:39):
Oh no, No, I'm attached to the characters, yeah, because
when they're part of me, like really that's how acting works.
That you're giving. You're putting yourself into this, so you
can't really let it go. And if something that's been
moving you throughout the performance, whether it's on screen or
on stage, you take it with you. There's plays I've done, yeah,
decade ago, that I still take with me. So you,
(25:01):
I mean, you could probably try to push it aside,
you know, but there are things you're going to take
with you, and that's one of the beautiful things about
being an actor. That's one of the things that she
will take with you.
Speaker 3 (25:10):
But I want you to leave something here because I
know someone is listening right now who's either at the
beginning of his or her career or maybe a little
bit later in their life, and thought about this as
a career as you did.
Speaker 2 (25:23):
What would you recommend to him, her, they, them, whoever.
I think I always say to remember that this is
a journey and don't expect to come in, you know,
making a big splash where you're like the next Will
Smith all of a sudden. I think you gotta love
acting first. If this is what you want to do,
(25:45):
love that first, Know you love that first, and then
know that you're going to have to persevere to have,
you know, any kind of commercial success with it. But
as long as you have that love the acting, you'll
have the you'll have the motivation to keep going because
you're going to need that. You're gonna need that. And
also know the business. Acting schools are fantastic, fantastic, fantastic,
(26:06):
but very if you teach you the business and the
business is something different, it is something different, and you
got to know that going in. You want to know
that as soon as you can, rather because that will
help you knowing how the business works.
Speaker 3 (26:19):
Do you have one more question? Do you still have
pinch me moments? I can say this, even though I've
done this for many, many years. I get a kick
out of oh that's me on the radio, or if
I hear a commercial I've done, or if I see
something which may be replayed from a political commentary I've done.
I still have these pinch me moments, whereas like I'm
(26:39):
living the dream and I'm self aware that I'm in
the middle of living the dream.
Speaker 2 (26:44):
Do you have those moments? Oh? Absolutely, I think the
first time I saw myself on the big screen pinched me.
And even recently when my publicistm manager, my wife and
I went to the premiere and they just flashed me
on the screen. I was like, Oh, that's me, and
it was.
Speaker 1 (27:00):
It was.
Speaker 2 (27:00):
It's one of those things, you know, and that's part
of the love of it, you know.
Speaker 3 (27:04):
Maric MacArthur, I could speak to you all night, but
I know you got other stuff to do, and I
know that you have other work to do. Probably go
home so you can watch yourself an episode.
Speaker 2 (27:12):
Four which I am in, which I am in. Yeah,
it's been a pleasure. Well, thank you so much for
having me. It's been, you know, so nice to be
invited out here to talk to you. And I know
you've had great guests on here before, and I'm happy
to be included in that history with your show. Whenever
you want to come back, if you have something that
you're working on, you are, Oh I do here, I do. Okay.
Speaker 3 (27:31):
That means we don't have to make it happen, right, Yeah,
we could do that. Yeah, he is Mark MacArthur. I
have a pleasure speaking with him. The show is obviously countdown.
It's available right now on Prime Video. Three episodes are available.
Episode four is coming up. Let's say it just in
a few hours, you know.
Speaker 2 (27:48):
Bye. Bye tomorrow. It'll be there for you. Yes, midnight
on the West coast. We're confirmed. Yes, we're sure. We're
pretty sure. Oh okay, all right, good good see you, Sue,
my friend, Thank you so much.
Speaker 3 (28:00):
It's letter with Mokelly Kiff. I am six forty. We
live everywhere the iHeartRadio app A s
Speaker 1 (28:06):
I and k os T h D two, Los Angeles,
Orange County more stimulating talk
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