Colin Hanks: "I'll be acting until I die"

on today's episode of the Nick Stanley show I sit down with my friend Colin Hanks actor and Storyteller we discussed the challenges of creative work his new upcoming projects and we have quite a good time along the way that's why I love my job I'll be able to do it until literally I die intent is like someone says like okay ready rolling and action and then I just [ __ ] you know die like that's how I'm that's how I'm going out do we get that yeah yeah yes exactly Colin dives into his process in making documentary films ask a million dumb questions and maybe one right one as you hear people's answers the film starts to reveal itself when it comes to advice in Creative work Colin doesn't hold back something that I really did just learned in the last I would say 10 years huge chunk of that is leaning into being incredibly uncomfortable and having self-doubt not being sure if it's going to work got to lean into that we're going to boil down your wisdom there focus on the things you can control not the things that you can't whether that's acting making movies or any other line of work and you're not getting the opportunities you want you are building skills towards something and you never know what those opportunities might be and when it comes you'll be ready to seize that opportunity yeah yeah that that's wow you actually you made me sound really really [Music] smart Colin Hanks what is up my man you know this that the other thing just trying to trying to stay you know stay busy and stay sane those are those are the things I'm sorry that I can't be there in person I really wish I could be uh because I'd love to see you uh I mean we've known each other for decades now I'm afraid to say yeah so yeah it would have been good to see you in person but I'm glad we have this well it's funny I've been thinking that what the show really is now is a chance to hang out with people like you that it's it's so hard right with kids and careers and I mean both of our wives work and the kids are older so they're all doing stuff I mean when when we when we were a little younger it was easy to just get together and hang yeah absolutely uh and and and nurse to hang over uh the next day but uh yeah things have changed but uh it's all all all in a good direction that's right that's right it is all for the better um so what what you been doing lately I know you've been all over the globe and running around yeah I've been I've been uh fortunate I've been really uh busy had a writer strike and an actor strike not too long ago and as a result of that there's been a lot of um change in the entertainment industry and so there's a lot less stuff getting made and so aside from just the general hustling that you have to do to try and get projects going and all that sort of stuff I've been fortunate and been able to land a couple of uh couple of acting gigs um and as well as uh uh you know I direct documentaries so um I've been directing a documentary as well so I've just kind of been juggling I I guess is the best way to describe it I kind of feel like I'm trying to juggle on a unicycle except I don't know how to do either of those things um that I guess is an app description although I know how to do these things I I know how to act I know how to direct documentaries but I don't just uh yeah just juggling a Bunch oh see I already you want to know what I don't know how to do just silence my phone it's funny is I was on a zoom earlier and I did that and I only said it for an hour and then it literally just lapsed so there you go see I'm human J yeah that's right so not everybody knows that you make documentary films and I love your documentary work um and I want to talk about the the upcoming movies as well but let's touch on the on the documentary because I think that's super interesting um it's about John Candy right and I I'm a I'm a huge fan myself I think this is a really cool project and we haven't had a chance to like chat about it so I'm I'm real curious about how it's how it's developing um how it got started all that good stuff uh yeah well it's you know it's been a long process each one of the Endeavors is is a little bit different and this one uh is definitely been uh been different um you know I'll be honest I'm sort of wary to sort of get too much into the actual movie itself just because we're we're still making it uh and you know the movie uh doesn't really reveal itself until the end and then you abandon it because uh you know the clock has run out and the bell has rung but the way it sort of came about was really uh unique um I uh got an email one day saying that uh Ryan Reynolds uh and his production company uh were involved in doing a John Kanga documentary and they wanted to talk to me about directing it um and the prospect of doing doc on John had had come up in the past uh and I had sort of politely sort of said no um but you know Ryan being the excellent salesman that he is uh didn't really uh push me too hard and and we just had you know just long conversations uh about you know uh the process of of making a doc and you know there there's so many um there's so many ideas that you have for documentaries right everyone just it's kind of like a a catchall phrase now like someone should make a documentary about that and I think that's a very simple statement to make but what that actually what that story actually is a lot of times does not pass the test of okay let's actually make a documentary about that um the actual like process of it of like okay what is the actual story what is the theme what is it that you're trying to explore what is it that we don't know um what is it that we think we know but we actually don't I mean there's any number of sort of questions that you need to ask yourself uh about making you know documentary films and to Ryan's credit he really gave me the time to really genuinely think about it and and really just try and Hammer home okay what exactly could this be and uh you he has a relationship with uh John's uh children Chris and and Jennifer I have a relationship with them as well so I called them and just sort of said hey you know is this a real thing are you guys really behind this and they said yes we are and we want you to do it too so after a lot of internal discussions with them we sort of landed on a general sort of theme and idea and that tends to be sort of the launching point and then as you shoot interviews and you start edting things together and you hear people's answers the film starts to reveal itself as to what it actually really is and what you actually have and so you kind of scorch Earth uh in these interviews and ask a million dumb questions and maybe one right one um and you search and you look like an idiot you know trying to say you know ask these question and people just said you could not be more wrong um but you just collect and collect and collect and that's pretty much been the story with with with candy I think what's been unique about it is I've been able to make all my previous stocks both the ones that I've directed and the ones that I've produced in a certain layer of not necessarily secrecy but no one really knew that I was making them um this one because Ryan is so famous and so many people pay attention to him uh word got out that we were doing it he confirmed it and like we hadn't even found a home for it yet we hadn't even made it so I've probably talked more about the John Candy do not only in these what last 10 minutes I've been monologuing but for the last two years um because there's this incredible interest in John um simple as that and so so we're getting closer still probably going to be another year or so um in reality but uh we're getting close yeah I promise all of my answers will be much more succinct from now on it's all good is uh is Ryan as as fun and cool to work with as as it would seem yeah I mean our conversations have been nothing but but delightful and you know he is an incredibly busy guy so I really am working uh uh very closely with his partner George dwey and the team over at maximum effort and theyve been incredibly um involved and I think you know without knowing too much about how their organization runs I have a feeling once we start getting assemblies and cuts together then you know then Ryan will be able to to give his his expertise and that's kind of what I wanted that that was kind of what we discussed is like look let let me go off and do this um and I'll work with everybody um so you'll you know you'll be informed and but wait until we actually have something because that's really you only get one chance at making a first impression wasn't that like some horrible shampoo commercial tagline um but uh it's true and so I'm probably going to be leaning on him a whole lot more um as we get closer to the finish line but yeah dudes he said dude's cool man he's great he really is he's a genuine article there's no doubt about him are you going to get out to a reom game at some point I'm thinking about it actually yeah it's funny I actually helped to Range tickets for my brother-in-law and his wife and a couple of friends I haven't even gone yet but I'm going to be over in the UK quite a bit over the course of the next year so I'm probably going to be making my way to uh to Wales nice nice yeah we're hoping hoping hoping to check out a bunch of football when I'm over there because I'm a huge Liverpool supporter I've never been to anfield I've never never seen a game there and and I I love soccer I love football so I me the last time I saw you was at a a proper football match so at the lafc game yeah yes and all the uh parents from my sons soccer team were very excited Colin Hanks was uh hanging hanging in the crowd with us that was fun well this spring we're we're talking about taking the the family over there anfield is on the is on the list for sure um and and possibly Rex them if it like worked into the travel plans just because I think that's like a it's a whole different uh feeling that Stadium being small and it that it's that small town and it's a uh I attended a few games like that 20 years ago in Italy in these small towns and it's I mean man it's really cool uh and those people love their teams like in a way that is it's just different than with the with the huge clubs oh absolutely and you know I mean I'm not talk too much about it but you know talking about documentaries I had been wanting to do a documentary about like a minor league baseball team and how important teams are to communities and you know obviously America being America baseball being the national past time that sort of seemed like such a great idea and we pitched a whole bunch and everyone just said no no it's not that interesting and then when I start with Ryan I said you know you actually cracked the code what I didn't have were two incredibly famous guys becoming owners and buying a sports club of a sport they didn't really even know in a foreign country I didn't know that was the missing piece so right uh yeah but um no I'm it's uh I'm I would be really excited to go over there because again it's just a a completely different experience and Liverpool looked good under slot um I thought they were gonna take a yeah a real dip like for a few years thank you for inviting me to your sports podcast this is yeah um how did you uh take some perverse joy in the Dodgers pain last night uh as I told somebody uh last night uh although I do not care for either the Dodgers or the Padres um I've definitely been enjoying the series it's a great series um and if the Padre's beat the Dodgers totally cool with that totally cool with that but I also just want a great series um and that one's definitely it uh so you know I'm a big believer in sort of highlighting the fact that uh you know West Coast baseball although majority of the country doesn't see it is just as good and just as tense um as you know your Red Sox Yankees so the fact that you know the Padre's are able to to you know have that kind of rivalry with the Dodgers the same way that well not the same way that the Giants do but you know close enough enough is uh pretty great you just got back from Germany is that right what were you doing over there so I would no I was so I started out the year in Budapest uh working on an independent movie called nurenberg which you takes place which is a city located in Germany okay uh and then um I just recently got back from Winnipeg uh man as I like to call I like to call it Winnipeg Manitoba um because I think the province names uh are essential um and uh I was doing uh this sequel to nobody uh when I was there so um yeah that I was in fake faked uh faked Germany for for Budapest but most recently Winnipeg Manitoba okay okay it's a lot it's a headache already right it's it's like it's it's hard to keep up with your schedule I know I know I know what's nernberg all about let's start with that one uh nernberg is a movie that is uh based on a a book called uh the Nazi and the psychiatrist or the psychiatrist and the Nazi I I can't remember off the top of my head but it is about uh the nerur uh War trials uh after World War II and sort of the intricacies and the Delicacies of actually putting people on trial for the first time for crimes against humanity and um at the core there's a relationship between uh Herman uh uh guring and a psychiatrist and uh they form a a relationship but it obviously has uh tremendous um uh relevancy in terms of you know modern day uh politics and the current rise of you know dictatorships and fascism and and things of that nature um and so the film really sort of explores you know uh the fact that uh the world uh you know growing up when we when we were kids you we were just sort of T yeah the Nazis are the bad guys that's why yeah that's who Indiana Jones fights um right but uh the truth is is yes they were bad guys but it's a lot grayer than I think uh anyone cares to admit it's not so black and white you know um the truth is is that really bad people have wives and mothers and kids and Neighbor come from neighborhoods and they make everything seem to make sense and seem kind of rational and there's always a kernel of Truth in what it is that they're saying right like it's this really delicate thing where you can't just say that they are an Abomination they're monsters because they were human beings you know and so it's a delicate thing and you know I I I don't mean to to to speak for for the movie at all really um you know the movie will come out and people will will will make their own decisions but there just seemed to be a lot uh in that subject matter that I thought was really uh really interesting yeah it sounds interesting and it's also I think there's a lot of value in exploring the gray area there because if they are just monstrous bad guys then you can kind of put that to the side wherever you live and say it could never happen here it could never happen to us yeah if and if you understand the nuances just a little bit through a story you can kind of understand how it can happen even in a I mean it's not like all German people were bad people they just got sucked into a movement that was bad yeah yeah well you know I mean they were lied to and manipulated and forced into a thought process that was perverted and uh wrong and that's unfortunately very common throughout history um and if you don't actually take a look uh a real look at what history is like you're doomed to repeat it um and I think that's really what the film uh kind of explores um and you know I think ultimately you know in this in the context of the last couple of years I I I think there's a lot of that going around I mean that I think that's kind of one of the reasons why we're um sort of in the position that we're in now um as a country we've been taking a much harsher look at what our American history is and it's pretty brutal at times and it's pretty dark at times um for a lot of people um and you know just taking the time and having the awareness of really trying to understand just what was at stake in those moments and what happened what transpired and the thought process that got everyone there like you have to look at that and it's not just their bad guys and they're good guys it's just not that's just not how life operates that's how movies operate uh that's you know a lot of them um but you know we've seen this a lot with you know American history you know Civil War history but we've also seen it you know in regards to uh World War II you know in fact a couple of weeks ago I saw um Moyes Coffman who I I did a a play with many many moons ago in New York he's got a new play that's All About You know these collections of photos of the families that worked at uh uh a concentration camp uh who's you know the the heads of the family that were Nazis and you know it's these idilic photos and the whole play is like how can these photos that looks so joyful and so happy be Nazis and you know in charge of these horrible horrible horrible atrocities um so I think there's sort of a cultural shift um and there's some push back and fight about it but um it's amazing to me that you know and I think this is one of the trips about getting older it's amazing to me remembering how I was taught history and the difference between how the history is now being taught and and I think it's a fabulous thing I am much more interested in truth than I am uh in in falsehoods so the idea of being able to sort of explore that uh is pretty exciting but also at the end of the day and then I'm I'm just an actor so I go and I've got a you know I got a few scenes in this great movie I'm super excited about you know people are going to see the movie and be like he was barely in the thing got be so excited well to your point there I think on like the stories that we tell ourselves or the stories that we're told I think it was Kurt vaget who said as kids we grow up learning that 1492 is this moment and this year to be celebrated because that's when people first came to North America and started Living vibrant exciting lives and he said in the truth is that there were people living vibrant exciting lives for hundred of years there 1492 was just when sea Pirates showed up and killed most of them yeah yeah and brought horrible diseases that wiped out yeah I mean that's yeah yeah bonette was interested you know he he definitely believed in you know give me some truth as the wise uh wise man once said I am reading uh a book by Naval Harari he's the guy that wrote sapiens and he has a new book out called Nexus and it's about information systems and he goes from like the most basic information systems all the way up to Ai and the first chapter is on how humans naturally exist in tribes of 1 to 200 people and function a lot like chimpanzees do or the Neanderthals did and he says it was an information system known as the story he's like that's what allowed humans to exist in groups that suddenly were thousands large or tens of thousands hundreds of thousands Thrive versus these other groups the chimpanzees the Neanderthals couldn't tell each other stories they couldn't all believe in the same story and when we share a story suddenly we don't need to know each other personally to work together or trust each other and I thought it was this this penetrating insight into the importance of story because he says you know over thousands of years we actually evolved to internalize stories take them very seriously and then live our lives according to these stories and so and I I just thought man that really puts a nice context around the work that that you do as a Storyteller whether you're making a documentary or working as an actor or all the people that you work with it still is fundamental to to what we are and who we are like people always say things like oh it's playing pretend it's um running off to join the circus and and sure there's there's an element of that because I think I'm sure it's a it's a very it's a very fun exciting lifestyle when it's when it's all going well but it really is this important critical work at the same time yeah I'm a big believer in both things can exist both things can be true and I think that applies to everything it applies to every interaction it applies to every relationship um you know there's your truth my truth and the truth you know um and both can be true and you know while I always like to say I you know ran off and joined the circus or you know my job is to wear makeup and pretend to be other people for a living that's true and sometimes I make big silly movies that could never actually happen you know I mean I'm you know just did nobody uh to with Bob Odenkirk and that's like an that's an action movie man and it's like I'm I'm a bad guy and I'm menacing and I'm you know and it's starts in reality and then it just goes completely action movie crazy czy nuts and and that's what that is that's a story and it's you know fun um that can exist so can you know telling stories uh a little bit more seriously like nurg um and so does you know documentaries and you know having the people that actually lived it help tell that story I remember someone once sort of said to me and they were being very gracious and very poetic but I I really did take them at their word where they said and it's like my therapy watching movies it's my Escape it's where I learn about myself you know I learn about um you know I learn about culture I learn about Society I I you know I can see things that that maybe I I haven't seen before and I think there's power to that um I think it's also good to know that at the end of the day I am still wearing makeup and pretending to be other people for a living you know I don't want to take myself that seriously right um so you know you try and take everything with a grain of salt but yeah I mean both things are true story is incredibly important you know and it can also be very dangerous uh if told the wrong way um or manipulated and so uh at the end of the day I it's pretty fascinating that idea of you know story being the thing that helped make it expand you know bigger than just those 200 you know one to 200 that's pretty fascinating have you watched uh peaky blinders yeah that I did yeah yeah I've watched peeky blinders of course I I just discovered it recently um I love the show like I'm great show nuts for it I mean that dude that uh every time Arthur screams like buy order the pey blinders I just H it it uh Taps into the the Irish in me um but I man I was watching it the other night and I just I was moved by how I thought man like this group of people came together they're all these grown adults and they're playing pretend so hard and so well that I am just lost in this show every every episode that it comes on I am transported back to the early 1900s about a bunch of Irishmen in England I mean doesn't even and and they're all and they're all gangsters like I have no relation to that um subject matter on the on the surface but it it yeah just it just touched me on on how well executed it is and how it transports me to this other place well I mean that that that's the magic of you know the the the industry um you know based on the Storyteller and who is telling the story and how they do it quality of it can you know help you escape you know I mean they so you always said you know the Escape of the movies and yeah it's true you know you escape to a darken theater and you watch something communally with other people um or now you just watch it you know on your phone when you're uh you know stuck at a red light but um the quality of the storytelling it's important and when it works man it's it really is magical I mean it's it is Magic and part of it is luck part of it is literally just all these things line up and it just it it it presents itself um and a lot can go wrong and when it goes wrong it's pretty evident I mean you you kind of know um and yeah costumes help yeah you know stories set in another time that helps you know there are crutches the same way you know tell uh in a documentary you know if you hear a narrator okay well that's them using that crutch of being able to say we really want you to know these specific facts um but if anything is done well particularly storytelling that can have a tremendous effect I mean that that to me I I remember in high school having a history teacher who for the first time was honestly I just went like he's just telling stories like he's presenting Concepts about ancient civilizations and cultures and he's presenting it in a way that I can understand because he's taking the time to paint the picture that changed my view of History you know and and what I what I what I draw from it uh uh the same way you know uh a movie about complex personal relationships can change the way I feel about my own personal complex relationships um so there's great power um you know as well as you know as the meme says the with great power comes responsibility that is that you know that is true yeah Spider-Man's uncle was right um but he knew something yeah he knew something you know and got it out like right at the last second too which is I mean good for him um but uh yeah I mean when when it's done well it it it can be really great and the the the truth is is when when you're working on one that's not that's when you go oh [ __ ] this is hard I this is challenging this and that's when you got to be like hey man we're just wearing makeup and pretending to be other people no one wants to hear you complain about this [ __ ] so just right right take the lumps you know take the L yeah yeah uh watch the game tape and then okay what can we do better next time right so Winnipeg motoba am I saying that right yeah you are Winnipeg Manitoba uh nooba Manitoba oh Manitoba Manitoba okay I maybe it's an accent you're doing though I could be it I've working on that Canadian one yeah the uh so nobody's two uh I I just recently saw the first one and it's crazy to me that you are going to be in the sequel because I swear before knowing that I had this thought watching this movie and I thought man I gotta get Colin on the show soon because in the next two or three years like obviously you have done all kinds of stuff from Orange County to Fargo to we'll put all we'll I'll list all of them in the show notes uh for people that that want to go find all of all of your work like it's been a super successful career already but I have this uh theory if you want to hear it because it's completely basis and I have uh no Authority on this topic so let's just uh let's just [ __ ] into these microphones and into people's ears there we go go uh I think the next two three years your career is going to explode and I had the thought watching nobody's and thinking about Bob Odenkirk where this guy he was always a super creative interesting person I saw him do standup I mean I think I was 20 years old and he was doing standup at some 200 person theater out on Melrose and then he suddenly hits a a certain age has certain qualities and talents and it kind of all came together for him with first Breaking Bad and then call Saul and now I mean talk about something that's completely out of his wheelhouse going and doing action star stuff but it works he's fantastic in it and and it was like this this snap Insight where I I thought of your first big break was Orange County and you have this face where I think you know you're blessed with a face where you look 10 years younger than than you are which is a good thing it's finally paying off it sucks for a good long while let me tell you but it's yeah it's definitely paying off now yeah and I just thought man as Colin suddenly hits a certain age and look like all of these uh layered bad person or people not not bad but like people that are very complex with good qualities and bad qualities I think it's just going to come flooding your way kind of like Bob Odenkirk and the fact that you ended up in the sequel uh just seems very serendipitous to me I mean I yeah I still imp pinching myself that that Bob even thought of me to be quite honest um I would like to think that it's because of all that you just said in terms of what his journey is you know um all of us as performers as creative people trying to make you know some some semblance of art you're constantly wanting to do more um but you're you have these obstacles and limitations in front of you and so there's some people that self-generate and do it and they have the hustle and they have the skills and they're able to go out and make it I really wasn't able to do that you know I don't have the skill set to sit down and actually write something um I mean I literally don't have the academic skill set to do it um but uh that's a joke um but I could only really work when given the opportunity and a lot of times the opportunity is not quite what you know you the performer wants it to be you know know they want to be better they want to be in something of quality they want to say something important they don't want to be in a slapstick comedy where it's the people fall down show um and I think it's taking me it's taken me a very long time to really understand a very basic premise it which is you know each experience is going to be its own it's going to be different the same way each project is going going to be its own it's going to be different and if you're fortunate enough and given enough opportunities you can have a wide variety of different you know roles in different kinds of movies and it's not you know it's not the easier path um you know at times it's been really difficult and you know challenging just for me you know and not physically or you know anything like that but you know from an emotional standpoint from a psychological standpoint you know every actor every writer within us there is this fear of like has my window closed you know is that all I get is that my shot um that's just in that's just baked into the our DNA um and you know it took me a long while and a lot of therapy to be able to learn how to to navigate that and have it not be the end of the world when it's not you know exactly you know what you you you you hoped your opportunity would be but I have been incredibly fortunate to have been able to play in a lot of different genres and do a lot of really different stuff Bob is a shining example of that you know I mean this is the guy he wrote you know the Super Fan sketch you know the Bears the Bears the Bulls wrote that sketch like he wrote on SNL he created co-created Mr show which for my money is the funniest You Know sketch comedy program of you know of all time but unbelievable also my Generations you know Monty Python if you will um yes uh he directed movies for years you know um trying to get something going and then happen to be given the opportunity to play what was supposed to be a small part on Breaking Bad and all of this lessons that he had learned up to that point you know they stacked up and he was able to deliver in a way that no one else was prepared for and then all of a sudden they went oh [ __ ] this is so good we should make him a bigger part of this series same thing happened with a and Paul by the way too um oh and you know and then it's well then let's do our show about that so he took all of that and then he took the skills he learned from being a creative and doing the writing and coming up with a story and and working with other creative people and he helped come up with the ideas for you know for nobody and he surrounded himself with people that know how to make those kinds of movies and so I was incredibly inspired to be able to get that you know that email from Bob saying like will you please do this um I was shocked because it doesn't happen to me very often you know it hasn't in the past um where people just say like they give you the role I I I I still audition you know 99% of the time you know it's taken me a good long while to learn that you know it's not actually like a line you know your career your life is not actually line it actually stacks on top of each other and um you know it's taken me a long time to to understand that and I kind of feel like I have a little bit more of an understanding now and you know look my life's purpose is to try and learn as much as I can so uh yeah I look I hope you're right I'm touching all sorts of what appears to be wood but it could just be plastic for Micah that looks like wood um but yeah I'm I'm hoping the next two years are uh are are good and I keep being able to get the the you know those opportunities yeah okay question for you so my son who's in Middle School loves storytelling acting it's his favorite thing to do has been for several years and I have a a buddy who's a a talent agent for kids and he's his advice he just said hey don't put him in the an adults world uh stay stay away from that he's like if he's telling his own stories right now where he's you know writing something out and shooting it and then cutting it together like just let him keep having fun and learn to do that but I wanted to know and I agree with that um and we've taken that advice to heart but I wanted to get your advice on I agree one th% 1,000% I've had a lot of parents come up to me um you know I'm doing something where I'm you know working with this young kid actor and you know it used to not happen so much it happens more now because I'm playing like the dad but uh it would always sort of come up like hey what should my kid do like what kind of acting class should we do do you have any suggestions and and I would just say like you should do the school play uhhuh you know or if you just graduated college you should go do an improv class like just you know I I there's no specific thing but give yourself an opportunity to do it at any level that is presented to you that is available and focus on that and if you love it enough and the world is kind and presents enough of those opportunities to you based on luck magic someone else's Talent your talent any number of things then maybe those opportunities will still present themselves and yes some of it involves hustle and all of those kinds of things they not denying that at all but if you know we're talking about a kid I mean it's amazing that kid talent agent said that because it's 100% true just do that know and specifically as you know talking as about an actor you know in regards to a child actor be a kid acting will always be there you'll be that's why I love my job I'll be able to do it until literally Lally I die I mean literally someone's going to say like my intent is like someone says like okay ready rolling and action and then I just [ __ ] you know die like that's how I'm that's how I'm going out um do we get that exactly uh um but you know like that's how much I I I I actually genuinely love the doing of the thing and that was like one of the big Les for me was like don't worry about the you know yes you want to worry about the quality of it yes you want to do good work you want to do all those things but don't obsess over that stuff the art is in the doing and so do it at any opportunity you can at any opportunity that is presented and you know for kids that's school so go to school you know not an acting school justce school yeah um you know do it in you know people in college you know should I go to college yeah go if you have the opportunity go take a theater class take an improv class because hell they do improv classes for kids now I mean you know this is very different from when when when we were growing up so there are tons of opportunities um and you know look I also say this to writers and filmmakers where they just go like I'm just not given the opportunity to do I said that is nonsense you have a phone if you have a phone you can make short films you have the ability um you're focusing on someone you know it needs to be of a certain caliber and a certain thing that's not that's not true and I've been guilty of it too by the way I you know I'm not certainly no uh no uh Authority on on any of this uh um but yeah just uh and this is going to be easy for you just tell your kid to go to school yeah yeah just shut up go to school kid yeah yeah well it sounds like leaning into the the love of it especially when you're young is key because what I'm hearing from you is that the love as an adult it's the love of The Craft that's going to sustain you through these insane ups and downs which are just completely 1 again 1,000% and the trap is just complaining about all the stuff that is not going your way you know well oh if I had only been G you know if they didn't do this or if the business worked differently or you know if I they had this head shot instead of that you know just complaining and being bitter about the state of things like I understand that and look I've bent about it too you know I'm not always you know this uh I'm not always this great um but you know it's all about really just sort of having to be honest and truthful about your situation and finding out if you have that passion and the truth is is I I really do not have the desire to to really be anything else nor nor do I have the skill set in order to do so um but you know there's room you know there's leeway for that I mean that's how Doc started for me you know I didn't have the skill set of being able to sit down and write something for myself to to star in um but I wasn't working as much as I wanted and I was sort of angry and bitter about that and and so I said uh I I want to do something and I said well I'm a storyteller I mean literally I said I'm a Storyteller um I've done interviews where I've been interviewed I like photography I like composition I know about how movies are actually made physically made what it takes to make a movie what if I try doing a documentary and it just so happened that the idea had already presented itself and in Tower Records closing and so I spent the better part of seven years learning how to make a documentary uh and surrounding myself with people that helped me uh that had those skill sets and so found a way based on you know the opportunities that presented themselves or that I hustled for and I was able to do it and you know look I would have Lov to have made that for a significantly more amount of money and I would have loved to have made it with an you know an RA camera but I was shooting we shot sequences of that movie on a Canon 5D like camera you know like yeah the kind that you could buy at like just a camera shop for a couple hundred bucks now that's how we did it because it was just like that's that's that's the opportunity that we have um so to say I've not talked myself into a box I don't know how we got on this subject but um you know you you just try to enjoy I remember now you you just have to enjoy the process of of what you do and in that regard I'm incredibly lucky because there are a lot of people that don't have that you know that they don't have that job that they're super passionate about they don't have that opportunity uh they were not given that opportunity that's um something that is not lost on me at all um you know especially you know given my circumstance I I I get it so um that's why for me I always just want to focus on you know do I enjoy it and am I what am I learning from it and and just kind of concentrating on that well seems like if we were going to boil down your wisdom there we'd come back to well remember watch pot never boils so you know I don't know I don't know we're g actually get to the wisdom yeah yeah yeah we're gonna get to the wisdom that focus on what you can control no matter what it is you're doing focus on the things you can control not the things that you can't yeah and whatever it is you're doing you're building up skills towards something and you may not know what that something is but whether that's acting making movies or any other line of work and you're not getting the opportunities you want you are building skills towards something and you never know what those opportunities might be and when it comes if you spent that time building up those skills you'll be ready to seize that opportunity when it comes yeah yeah that that's wow you actually you made me sound really really smart um yeah it's true and you know and look again you majority of the time you learn more from your failures than you do your successes you know I mean I did I had the the the hair brain notion of you know starting a handkerchief company um I learned I had to learn an entire new industry in my 40s um and it was a Challenge and it was hard and ultimately um it didn't succeed to the level I wanted it to but it it was a success I did it I have them you know I I you know I I have a couple too there you go um so even that's a good example of you know Bing your gut and you look sometimes it doesn't work out and it sucks and it's hard but you know you you do more often than not you build on all of your experiences and you know it'll guide you you know it'll it'll it'll get you somewhere you know and and if you know a lot of people that I talk to I mean I remember hearing this very early on someone you know hit big and you know had this great job that I was you know I can't remember exactly what it was what it was doesn't matter but what they had said really struck me which was that it wasn't planned they were in the right place at the right time with the right attitude and that is kind of how I've operated since trying to be in the right place at the right time but most importantly with the right attitude and um go from there I had some trepidation about starting a podcast in my 40s where it was like man if this thing fails like it's it's not like a business venture where there's a little distance from it and you're selling something and maybe they don't want the service or the product that your sell I'm like this is like my I'm I'm in this as a person and my face is on it man if that thing Fails Like that's me failing uh and I to bring it back to football I remember thinking about full the shape of the shape of a ball full circle we're we're bringing it all the way back around bring it all the way back tying it up in a nice bow go ahead what were you say pep they just had a big Champions League game and a guy had missed a PK that would have tied it up and taken Man City into into extra time but he missed and they lost the game that was it they were out and they asked him about the guy missing the PK in the oh pep and for those who don't know English football pep is Pep is the first name of the head coach of Manchester yes and one of the greatest coaches of all time formerly of Barcelona my uh that's in my heart and in my veins and he said the only people that Miss penalties are those that have the balls to get up there and take one in the first place wow yeah yeah yeah yeah totally so if we're talking handkerchiefs or just putting yourself out there for in whatever line of work you're in just like you said you you're learning something from it you're building skills from it no matter what and focusing on the success or failure well that part of it is usually out of your control but if you man you focus on all the stuff you can control there is a form of success that you will achieve no matter what if you execute the things you can execute and and by the way something that I really did just learned in the last I would say 10 years a huge chunk of that is leaning into being incredibly uncomfortable and having self-doubt and not being sure if it's the right thing not being sure if it's going to work um or being intimidated you know um you got to lean into that and I've found that you know that doesn't just apply for when I'm dressed up like a wizard and I need to say the thing like you feel super dumb doing it but you can't look you can't look like you're feeling super dumb you have to you have to fake it um but it also applies to hey what about this for an idea you know hey let me give you a call and I got this idea what do you think I mean even just that you got to put yourself on the line you have to lean into that that feeling of of the uncomfortable and it's not easy it's not easy and there's still plenty of stuff that I'm uncomfortable about that I'm like I can't lean into that yet or I need to be better at leaning in on that that's all part of it so yeah that quote is actually really interesting because it's it's really that it's it's it's that perspective right both things can be true you know both things can be true well along those lines I I find somehow cold plunging comes up in every conversation that I have a lot of people talk about all these oh physical benefits from doing it I really think at the end of the day it just comes down to it is super uncomfortable and there's something really great about routinely doing something that is always going to be uncomfortable you never really get fully used to it you get better at it but you're always uncomfortable doing it and it does somehow make it easier the more often you do uncomfortable things and put yourselves in those in a in a position whether it's physical discomfort or emotional mental discomfort you do get better at that part over time you start to learn being uncomfortable isn't so bad completely to the point where I mean I'll even simplify it to a much more granular level you know when I started doing cold plunges and stuff and uh sort of learned to love sort of the rush of it it still hasn't gotten any easier it's still brutal but I remember my kids going like why why do you do that and I go I don't know you know I don't know it's like an old man thing you know but it it feels good on my body and I learn I learned to like it they go oh I can't do that I'm like you know when you get older all of a sudden you you realize you know the stuff that you did like as a kid all of a sudden you like like I don't know a kid in the world that is like man do I love mustard but as an adult as you grow up people learn to love mustard you know yeah uh to the point where it's like the only thing they want on their hot dog that's me um but you'll the uncom you get used to that uncomfortable and then all of a sudden you don't feel it anymore you don't taste it anymore it's super you know like odd parallel but but I think it's it's true you're just leaning into that uncomfortable trying something new you know um those kinds of things that's I believe that's part of you know being being alive being being a human you know I if you get to the point where you just go I know everything that probably means you're um sto growing or you're officially too old to really care you know in which case I say hey you've earn the right to not to not do that but you know right now at least that's not how I want to to think you're GNA keep putting mustard on it whatever whatever thing is exactly and take it with a grain of salt we've got a lot of food metaphors going there well I am a Storyteller I like I like putting a good button on a on on thought all right col I know you need to get out of here in a minute many times you've turned me on to new bands or old bands or just different kinds of music you got anything that um yeah of of Interest right now that's just just peing your interest man I'm so glad that I have't answered to this question because last week I probably didn't but um there's this guy his name is JD mcferson he's a great musician uh I discovered him when we were uh we licensed a song of his for Tower Records and I've been following him ever since and he just came out with a new record called night owls which is a really great um a really great record really cool sound and a really cool sort of progression from how he started to to where he's at now and to sort of see how his his music has has evolved and and his skills have have evolved but that literally I I I put it on in the car the other day and was I just went like this like to myself like oh my gosh this is great this is so good and it had been a while since I had had that feeling so it was really really nice to be able to experience that again so yeah JD McPherson's night outl record is H pretty fabulous well I love it and to bring it all back around just one more time for fun that's probably a guy that has lived all the stuff we've been talking about in terms of grinding away at it building those skills I know for fact he h i know for fact he has you know I I I I I know um he was I mean he used to work at the barber shop apparent he used to work at one of my old uh barber shops I used to go to I didn't see him when he was there but he KN knew all these Barbers that I know I'm like how you guys know J like worked at the shop oh my God so I know he's worked hard you know creative yeah and now he's got Colin Hanks talking about him on a podcast and he's just gonna he's gonna go huge uh every little bit helps that's right that's right well hey lovely to get to hang out with you today and enjoy the ride man uh exciting things are are coming I can feel it I really appreciate that man this has been really fun it's been I know it's been a long time since you and I have actually been able to sit down and really have a conversation so this has been great and uh while I wish it was face to face in person I'm glad we were able to at least get this as I like to say I want the most but I'll take the least so I'm glad we got those there there we go there we go well yeah we'll uh we'll have to get a uh another lafc game on the books or if we if we really get ambitious uh maybe we'll meet up for a rexam game no hey come on now let's start looking at our schedules okay only the ban of my existence looking at a schedule but let's do it okay all right thanks so much for having me dude okay everybody until next time ask questions don't accept the status quo and be curious [Music] n